A Rube Goldberg machine is a device that’s incredibly complicated, using a variety of chain reactions, meant to accomplish a single simple task. The level of complexity is completely unnecessary, like with “self-operating napkin” when of course it’s easy for the majority of people to pick up a napkin and wipe your hands or mouth yourself.

Source: Collier’s September 26 1931 via Wikipedia

Take a Rube Goldberg machine, and turn its level of complexity towards a task which is no longer simple — but rather highly improbable — and you have the ‘magic bullet theory’ of the Kennedy assassination.

And you have the chain reaction by which a woman is claiming that a Singapore Airlines flight attendant spilling a drink on her husband has triggered her diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis.

On July 31, a 71 year old woman was flying from Melbourne, Australia to Singapore. The woman’s husband was seated in the aisle.

And the most improbable chain of events is alleged to have occurred:

1. A flight attendant spilled a drink on him.

2. This “caused him to ‘jerk’ into her” thus resulting in her leg hitting the metal footrest in front of her.

3. Hitting the foot rest caused a ‘soft tissue injury’ which led to “cellulitis… aggravation of rheumatoid arthritis; aggravation of type-one diabetes”

A Singapore Airlines flight attendant was busy loading drinks onto a tray as they served passengers.

At the same time Ms Green was levering herself out of her seat.

Somehow – Ms Green’s writ does not specify – the flight attendant spilt the tray of drinks onto her unsuspecting husband’s lap.

When the drinks hit him, Ms Green’s writ alleges, Mr Green “jerked” directly into his wife.

Ms Green’s right leg was in turn jerked into the metal footrest in her seat.

Make no mistake: Singapore Airlines is being sued, in part, for providing foot rests in economy.

Unfortunately there’s no Zapruder Film to help us ascertain what really happened.