In that peaceful oblivion, she felt swaddled in cotton, divorced from the feelings that usually plagued her, unworried about what she looked like in her homemade clothing or what others thought of the girl with a grandmother for a mother.

NEWYORKER: The Visitor

In others, Stevens paid what he thought the gifts were worth.

NPR: Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens' Trial Opens

After Googling "lost keys down sewer" to see what tactics others had used, Mr. Burks thought he could recover his keys with a fishing rod and a magnet, but had neither.

WSJ: Websites Let People Farm Out Chores

Some say they did not understand what he was after, others that they did, but thought they had to pay for the privilege of hanging out with a celebrity.

ECONOMIST: Jimmy Savile

But the reality is that the nurse was doing what she thought best, which made her appear irrational to others.

FORBES: How to Make Sense Out of Irrational Behavior