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Comment by johngossman | Hacker News Reader

Regarding the first anecdote about "the juice": my cousin was a crime reporter. She had dozens of similar stories about incredibly stupid crimes. The guy who signed a petition, with his real name and address, right before robbing the convenience store next to the petitioner; the person who tried to smuggle a watermelon out under her skirt; the person who fell asleep on the couch of the house he was robbing (this one is common).

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"the person who fell asleep on the couch of the house he was robbing (this one is common)." This is common? is it addicts nodding off? I'm picturing myself in this situation and imaging my anxiety how could someone possibly fall asleep? actually baffled

Alcohol and/or drugs

Probably not his first time robbing a house.

In the case I remember, the burglar broke in, started to steal the XBox, decided to play a game, and fell asleep. But I heard other variations after my cousin told me this one.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/nov/22/asleep-on-th...

I wonder if "common" in this case is relative. I.E. it's the right type of story to grab our attention so we are disproportionally more likely to hear about few cases that do happen.

Something is interpreted as "common" because it is disproportionately talked about, but it's disproportionately talked about precisely between it is uncommon and therefore interesting! Is there a name for this phenomenon?

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