This Week In Stupid

By Matt Wood in Miscellaneous on Mar 9, 2007 4:06PM

It's impostor week here at Chicagoist, with fake websites, fake money, fake cab drivers, and fake Johnny Knoxvilles. All that's missing are the cheesy disguises. Kids, don't try any of this at home.

We kick off the Conrad Black trial news bonanza with some evidence that perhaps he wasn't the most astute media consumer. He fell for a satirical website created by the Canadian magazine Frank that's supposedly raising money for his defense. He even went so far as to invite its creators out for drinks, telling them he was touched by their plans to start wearing black ribbons in his honor.

Three Eastern Illinois University students were charged this week with trying to pass $1,500 in counterfeit bills. They allegedly made fake twenties on a copier and printer at the dorms, then spent most of it at fast food restaurants over four days.

A 14-year-old middle school student in St. Charles was suspended this week for using a stun gun on fellow students. Police say all of them were willing participants, however.

A cab driver stopped at the North Chicago police station Tuesday night to ask for directions, and left the car running with his passenger inside. Meanwhile, a woman who had just been in the station a few minutes earlier to use the bathroom stole the cab, driving away with the passenger still inside. Police eventually tracked down the cab using its GPS, along with the help of the kidnapped passenger.

And finally, a 20-year-old Eau Claire, Wis., man suffered second-degree burns on his genitals after he and his friends tried to imitate a stunt from Jackass in which they sprayed lighter fluid on his crotch and lit it on fire. This goes without saying, but yes, they were drunk.

Remember to submit your ideas for This Week In Stupid to matt+twis at chicagoist dot com.