We'd now like to point you to this story of a little girl from Los Gatos, Erica Rix, who was on the Today show this morning telling Matt Lauer about the hand she had to have sewn back on after a freak accident last year. It seems Erica was dangling a jump-rope out the window of her mom's SUV (naughty!) with a slip-knot around her wrist, and when the rope became tangled in the car's axle it ripped her little hand right off. Doctors were able to reattach it, and a year and a dozen surgeries later, Erica can wave, bend her wrist and move her thumb.

Obviously this should be a cautionary tale to everyone who may have forgotten the rules about dangling things out of cars. But with that new "mood meter" functionality on NBC Bay Area's site where readers can say whether they're "thrilled" or "furious" or "laughing" about this story, it seems the site's readers are showing a distinct lack of sympathy for the poor tyke.

Currently 29% of them are "laughing" about this story and 14% are "furious," we suppose with the mother? Or still furious with Erica a year after the fact and think she should be punished? Anyhow, embedded polls... not always appropriate. Discuss.

UPDATE: As of today (9/9/09 at 2:04 p.m.), fully 42% are "laughing" at this story, with only 45% "thrilled," and 6% have the gall to say they're "bored"!