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The Best Job In the World Takes a Wrong Turn

Posted by samzenpus on from the black-fly-in-your-chardonnay dept.

snl2587 writes "You may remember the story of the man who was selected for 'the best job in the world' as a blogging island caretaker in Australia for the tidy sum of 150,000 Australian dollars ($120,000). Now it seems that the stunt may have backfired as a tourism boost since the man has been stung by a potentially fatal jellyfish in his last days there. As he said, though, he 'really should have been wearing a full stinger suit.'"

11 comments

  1. Even so... by bsharp8256 · · Score: 0

    I'd still take the job.

  2. Backfired? by lightspeedius · · Score: 4, Informative

    I'd hardly consider the "stunt" backfired simply because a rarely fatal, readily treatable injury.

    1. Re:Backfired? by Fluffeh · · Score: 1

      Amusingly (Aussie here btw) most of us Aussies would have done the exact same thing, Stinger suits are meh, sure they do help protect from the very rare and occasional sting, but how many pictures do you see of Aussie beaches with the swimmers decked out in ankle and wrist length swimmers?

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    2. Re:Backfired? by scorp1us · · Score: 1

      The box jelley is lethal. From 1883, when the first reported death by box jellyfish was reported in Australia, through January, 2000, 68% of individuals stung by box jellyfish died from their stings.

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    3. Re:Backfired? by bit9 · · Score: 1

      You're missing the point entirely. It doesn't matter how infrequently such stings are fatal, or how easily treated they are. People are going to associate the island with jellyfish stings now, and lots of people who might have otherwise been drawn in by the publicity are now going to instead be thinking "Screw that. I don't want to get stung by a jellyfish!"

  3. "Publicity Stunt backfires - film at eleven." by RockDoctor · · Score: 1

    It's almost nice (in some rather nasty sort of way) to see a publicity stunt backfire heavily. (I hope the guy gets over his injuries OK - but yes, he should have been wearing that "stinger suit".)
    The drilling rig that I'm on is being set-up for a publicity stunt with the New Years Eve celebrations. A film crew form shore is coming out to do "vox pops" on the rig at midnight. Unfortunately, the weather was too bad for their helicopters to come in ... so they've come out on a boat with the intention of doing a "basket transfer" to the rig. Several of the older, grey-haired guys who were due to be going home on the helicopter have already decided that they'd rather work a few days extra instead of doing a boat transfer ... and looking at the sea state, I think they've made the right decision.
    But the film crew ... well, I hope that they have a camera running when they do the transfer, so that if something does go wrong, their next of kin have some film of their final moments to console themselves with.
    Oh well, they should be nearly finished their circuits of the rig for "background shots" soon, so they'll be coming alongside to transfer onboard.
    Me? I'm off to bed - got a derrick to climb in the pre-dawn light.

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    1. Re:"Publicity Stunt backfires - film at eleven." by kylemonger · · Score: 1

      On pins and needles here... did the film crew die? :-)

    2. Re:"Publicity Stunt backfires - film at eleven." by RockDoctor · · Score: 1

      They got out and back OK, and apparently did a live slot from the rig on Korean TV yesterday morning (don't know for myself - there's only one TV I know of on the rig and that's normally stuck on Myanmar MTV or something equally enthralling).
      They went back yesterday - but by helicopter instead of by basket transfer into the boat. I don't think that they liked the experience. I know that they didn't like being told that a number of the "grey beards" had refused to take the boat transport option on the night they arrived.

      --
      Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
  4. Tampon x-ray? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Was I the only one who looked at the photo and though "tampon x-ray"?

    1. Re:Tampon x-ray? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes.

    2. Re:Tampon x-ray? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      i thought LED mutation?