News of the Weird
 

I propose a sticky for this topic....as a collection place for all the random things that get posted in this section. :D

I'll start:

Shocking



The Winner

1.) I'm not going to sticky a general news thread.

2.) I'm not going to sticky a thread that spells "weird" wrong.

well, you could have at least corrected my typing error, since that was all it was.

and you can't blame a girl for trying something new! G'nite folks! :D

Sorry, I'm just tired of all the news threads. Every time someone gets a puppy or bought some groceries, there has to be a news thread about it. Perhaps you could wait until some real news is released.

I think this is a cool idea, Katie. All the whacked-out topics people find can be posted in one thread, thereby cleaning up this section a little. I vote for a sticky, making it a total of.... 2. Well, it's a start. ;)

Wow. Vibrators seem a little less taboo now.

Love kills... =_=

Marriage's stupid.*explored*

I before E except after C unless it's weird.

Strange Time Capsule

TOKYO (AFP) - A letter that a young girl in Japan sent into the sky in a balloon some 15 years ago has been found on a fish hauled from 1,000 metres (3,300 feet) below the Pacific.

A fisherman found the still legible piece of paper sitting on a sticky flatfish in his catch on Thursday, along with a torn-off string and the fragment of a red balloon.

He opened the folded paper, discovering it was a handwritten letter from a six-year-old girl at an elementary school in Kawasaki, 150 kilometres (93 miles) away from where the fish was caught off Choshi port.

The sender, Natsumi Shirahige, and her friends released letters as part of events to mark the school's 120th anniversary, which was in 1993.

"Our school is 120 years old... If you pick up this letter, please write to me," the letter reads, listing the school's address.

The 52-year-old fisherman said the letter was a nice surprise.

"I've been in fishing for a long time but this is unbelievable," the smiling man told the Asahi television network.

Shirahige, now a 21-year-old university student, said: "I can't get over the wonder of how the letter survived 15 years. I never expected I'd get a reply this way."

SOURCE

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Ratatouille

HELSINKI (Reuters) - A hospital patient in Finland found a mouse head among the steamed vegetables on his plate.

"Understandably, he lost his appetite," said Sakari Kela, chief administrator at the Northern Karelia Central Hospital.

The health of the patient in Joensuu, eastern Finland, had not been compromised by the dead rodent, Kela said on Saturday.

The severed head most likely originated in a bag of Belgian vegetables. The body has not been found and being "a Belgian mouse, the rest of it could be anywhere in Europe", Kela said.

(Reporting by Sakari Suoninen)

SOURCE

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Jackpot Jeans

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. - All week, Sammy Zabib was getting an earful from his girlfriend for forgetting to buy her a pair of designer jeans she spotted in a casino boutique last weekend.

"She was mad," said Zabib, a 42-year-old limousine fleet manager in New York. "We had an argument. More than one."

They're not arguing now.

On a return trip to pick up the jeans and end the grief Friday morning, Zabib won nearly $800,000 playing a slot machine.

He got up at 5 a.m. and drove three hours to Atlantic City, arriving at the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa before the boutique, Whim, opened at 10 a.m.

In his pocket was a photocopy of a picture of the jeans that his girlfriend printed out for him, just to make sure there would be no confusion.

With some time to kill, he sat down at a Brazil Slingo slot machine and started playing, betting $4 a spin for about an hour.

"I was just trying to kill time until the store opened so I could get her those jeans," he said. "Then the machine stopped working. I didn't know why, so I called security. They came over, took a look at it, and said, 'You won the jackpot!'"

He called his girlfriend, whom he identified only as Anna, and she started screaming.

"She wasn't mad anymore," he said with a laugh. "She's waiting for me at home now."

After receiving his payout from the casino, Zabib completed his mission, buying the pair of "7 For All Mankind" jeans — Dojo style — that Anna had wanted so badly.

"They're the hot brand right now," said Borgata spokesman Michael Facenda. "They go for $149 a pair."

Zabib doesn't know what else he'll do with his newfound riches.

"Maybe buy her some more jeans," Zabib said.

SOURCE

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Mama's Outlaws

LODI, Calif. - Shoplifting is all in the family for one California clan, police say.

A grandmother, her daughter and some of her grandchildren tried to steal $900 worth of merchandise from a Target store in Lodi, 35 miles south of Sacramento, police Officer Misty Smith said.

The family's alleged shoplifting spree earlier this week was captured by surveillance video, which police say showed them cutting open boxes and hiding MP3 players, digital cameras, DVDs, jewelry and sports equipment in purses, bags and a backpack.

An 8-year-old and a 5-year-old were among the family members detained.

"The 5-year-old actually had a pack of gum. A small item but we could see where her life was heading because she thinks more than likely this is a normal way of life, this is what you do," said Dale Eubanks of the Lodi police.

Linda Robinson, 59, and her 36-year-old daughter, Anna Fernandez, were charged Wednesday with burglary, grand theft, vandalism and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. They were released from jail. If convicted, each could face eight years in prison.

Fernandez's teenage sons, 17 and 14, were arrested on suspicion of grand theft and will face charges in juvenille court, authorities said. Another teen not related to the family also was arrested.

The two children were released to relatives and will not face charges.

It was not immediately clear if the family had a lawyer.

SOURCE

Satelite to hit Earth
 

Hey, I'm all for a sticky thread for weird news. Krow's right, would keep the site a bit more clutter free.

Anyways, while not weird, more worrysome, a satelite which lost power, is crashing back to earth. Here's the full story on it.

Taken from CNN.com.

ADRIAN, Mich. — A man was charged with drunken driving after going through two bottles of wine, cutting through a snowstorm on his lawn mower and riding down the center of the street to reach a liquor store, authorities said.

Police found Frank Kozumplik, 49, homeward bound on a John Deere tractor Saturday night, toting four bottles of wine in a paper bag, officials said.

He told officers that his wife had taken their car to work, and that the mower was the only way he could reach the store, two miles from home.

His blood alcohol level was 2 1/2 times Michigan's legal driving limit of 0.08 percent, police told WLEN-FM. They arrested him and confiscated the mower.

Kozumplik declined to comment Monday night.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,326227,00.html

^LOL. That's when you ride a horse, cant be arrested for RUI! Not yet anyways.:ohwell:

Is That a Crowbar in Your Pants?


SWEETWATER, Tenn. (AP) — A woman has been charged with possession of burglary tools after police said a crowbar slipped out of her pants as she was lurking around a church.

McMinn County Sheriff's Deputy Rick Shadrick pulled into the church parking lot early Saturday morning after he spotted a car parked near the building.

He found Jennifer Hunt, 35, walking from behind the building, where she said she was going to bathroom. When she was walking to her car to get her ID, a crowbar dropped from her pants

The officer also found Hunt had a screwdriver and observed pry marks on church doors. Hunt was being held on $2,000 bond pending a Tuesday arraignment.



Rescue Group: Please Adopt Donkeys


ST. CLOUD, Minn. (AP) — Instead of finding homes for abandoned dogs or cats, one animal rescue group is asking Minnesotans to adopt donkeys. Peaceful Valley Donkey Rescue has more than 1,000 donkeys, including abused and neglected domestic donkeys and wild burros.

Most of the organization's adopted donkeys are kept at sanctuaries in western states such as California. But Peaceful Valley would like to find Midwest landowners willing to serve as satellite adoption centers, meaning they would agree to foster six donkeys at a time and find adoptive homes for them, said Vice President Rachael Komulainen, a Bemidji native.

Peaceful Valley also hopes to eventually get landowners to donate land for a Midwest sanctuary, Komulainen said.

The landowners provide fencing, shelter and care for the animals and are reimbursed for hay, vaccinations and other costs.

Komulainen said some people question whether donkeys really need to be rescued.

"Our society — we have really looked down upon the donkey, and it's really a shame," Komulainen said, adding that donkeys have little monetary value and are often neglected.

Donkeys are gentle, intelligent, social animals and don't deserve their reputation for stubbornness, she said.



Ribbit! This Green Isn't Part of Salad


NEW YORK (AP) — You just don't want to eat some greens. That's how a Brooklyn mom felt when she found a tiny frog comfortably nestled in the leaves of organic lettuce she was preparing to eat.

"I jumped away," said 39-year-old Yvonne Brechbuhler, who described the green critter as no bigger than the tip of her pinky finger.

"I didn't know what it was. But once I realized it was a frog, I was OK," she told the Daily News in Thursday editions.

Intrigued, she named the frog "Curious."

Brechbuhler, a stage actress, said she bought the lettuce at her local food co-op and kept it in the refrigerator three days before using it last week.

Brechbuhler and her 7-year-old daughter, Orla, placed the frog in a jar on a bed of lettuce leaves and water, and fed it fruit flies they collected at a nearby garden. Afterward, they decided Curious would be happier at an animal facility specializing in reptiles and amphibians. The facility, Sean Casey Animal Rescue, has put it up for adoption.

An employee at the food co-op said it was the first such incident in memory.




Chocolate Room Heralds Valentine's Day

NEW YORK (AP) — Don't lick the walls. An all-chocolate room was unveiled in Manhattan on Tuesday — a pre-Valentine's Day creation complete with furniture and artwork made of the sweet stuff.

"It's the perfect bit of sin," said Ali Larter, star of TV's "Heroes," of the Godiva chocolate "pearls" that are her private daily indulgence.

Here, they were dripping off the chandeliers above the dining table, which was a sea of stars, truffles and crescents — all chocolate, of course, under glass.

Larter is the celebrity face hired by the Belgian chocolatier for its annual Valentine's Day promotion contest. This year, anyone who buys the winning box of chocolates — for $23 and up — may win the chocolate room. It is to be re-created in a suite of Manhattan's Bryant Park Hotel for a pampered getaway weekend for two in May.

The winning box — sold only in North America — will contain a note informing the buyer of his or her good luck.

While no doubt a shameless commercial promotion — created by Los Angeles designer Larry Abel — the demo chocolate room set up on the sixth floor of an East Village building packed a tasteful, artsy punch.

Hanging in the "living room" was a painting built entirely of multicolored chocolate pieces inspired by Gustav Klimt's painting "The Kiss." Above the dining table was a "canvas" dripping with brown and white chocolate — a takeoff on Jackson Pollock's signature "drip" paintings.

And instead of words, books opened to a mound of chocolates.

You could actually sit on the plush sofa, which was chocolate-graced only on its sides, and the walls are made of chocolate.

There were a couple of "dont's" in the room: lighting the fireplace (with its chocolate logs and mantle) and the candles (all chocolate).

In addition, sinking into the easy chairs was discouraged — unless you wanted to rise with a chocolate-covered derriere.

mmm... Salami...

German authorities were able to pin a burglary committed in April on a suspected serial thief after he left a half-eaten slice of salami carrying a sliver of his DNA at a crime scene, police said Thursday.

The 37-year-old Romanian man is accused of breaking into a workshop office in the western city of Darmstadt, stealing cash and two locks and causing damage worth around 3,400 euros ($5,055), Suedhessen police spokesman Ferdinand Derigs said. "He didn't bring the salami with him -- it was just lying around in the office," Derigs said.

The man was already wanted in connection with 19 burglaries and had been taken into custody in January after a routine police road check, he added. Investigations are continuing.

Flying the REALLY Friendly Skies

German nudists will be able to start their holidays early by stripping off on the plane if they take up a new offer from an eastern German travel firm.

Travel agency OssiUrlaub.de said it would start taking bookings from Friday for a trial nudist day trip from the eastern German town of Erfurt to the popular Baltic Sea resort of Usedom, planned for July 5 and costing 499 euros ($735).

"It's expensive, I know," managing director Enrico Hess told Reuters by phone. "It's because the plane's very small. There's no real reason why a flight in which one flies naked should be more expensive than any other."

The 55 passengers will have to remain clothed until they board, and dress before disembarking, said Hess. The crew will remain clothed throughout the flight for safety reasons.

"I wish I could say we thought of it ourselves but the idea came from a customer," Hess told Reuters by phone. "It's an unusual gap in the market."

Naturism, or "free body culture" (FKK) as it is known in Germany, was banned by the Nazis but blossomed again after the Second World War, particularly in eastern Germany.

"There are FKK hotels where you can go into the restaurants and shops naked, for example," Hess said. "For FKK fans -- not that I'm one of them -- it's nothing unusual."

"I don't want people to get the wrong idea. It's not that we're starting a swinger club in mid-air or something like that," he added. "We're a perfectly normal holiday company."

I unfortunately have no link to this news, but...

Singer Tom Jones just insured his chest hair. Not kidding.

How can you insure something that can always grow back? About almost as bad as when Jennifer Lopez had her butt insured. Alot of good that did, she still has her butt, and her career is going nowhere.

It reminds me how food critics actually have to have their tongues insured. Of course, they have to use them every day. it's like insureing your arms if you work with wood or something.

But chest hair? Sounds like something a character from Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo would do.

Bad Cops In Florida County
 

Look what these cops did to this poor guy in a wheel chair. Apparently the main deputy didn't believe the guy was a paraplegic. After watching this video, can you say law suit!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAGb7...eature=related

Yea.. this has been all over the news today. Fraking cops.

http://www.tbo.com/video/xml/MGBBBA7WXCF.html

Well, it looks like the Elmo toys are at it again... saying mumbly, jumbly stuff a clearly hard of hearing mother misconstrues as something terrible.

That's just it... it really DOES sound like it's saying "Kill James?"

Well, of course it does. Do people think Child's Play is FICTION??

It sounds closer to "Kell James," "Tell James," or "Ghell James" to me. At least it's more audible than "Who wants to Die" in "FRRMM MRRRMRfff {crackle} Pottyfffff poofffff" in the talking book or "Rip Elmo's Fur out" in "{Crackle, crackle, crackle} FRRRRMRRUMM REFFFF GRFFF KRFFFFF NRRRRR PFFFTR {crackle}" in the singing Elmo that was recalled for Lead paint anyway.

Not really weird news, but I think it didn't really deserve it's own thread.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2...28/2175003.htm

This first one is in weird news cuz um it's in Yahoo's Oddly Enough thread....actually they all are...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080305/od_nm/vermont_dc_1

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080304...eligionoffbeat

Moses: "Duuuude....this bush talked to me....and it was burning with all these funky colours man....."
Pharoah: "......"

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080305/...speedway_ashes

That's it...when I die I want my ashes spread on a Nascar track!

http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/index...t=newsmichigan

A woman died after a sting ray leaped out of the water and hit her while she was riding a boat. The impact alone killed her. That's just terrible luck and is not funny. But our crappy local news station put up the following headline when talking about this story..."Pigeon Woman killed by Stingray". What a terrible headline. We were laughing so hard. I didn't even know there was a town here in Michigan called Pigeon. "Pigeon Woman.....wtf?"

Crikey mate!! Those Sting Rays are plotting world wide domination!! First Steve Irwin and now a bird woman from Michigan!!

And incidentally...Pigeon, Michigan. Population 1207...er oops 1206
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pigeon%2C_Michigan

^ I saw that. Isn't that crazy. An animal expert said these rays can fly out of the water for distances as far as 15 feet! :o

Local news decided to be morbid today and showed footage of the dead Ray on the boat. Poor thing was all bloodied up.

This one kind of tickled me which is the reason I'm posting it. All that's missing is a swimming pool sized glass of milk.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage...cle1234193.ece

WTF? :ohwell:

Airport security is getting ridiculous. I do understand they're only doing their job to protect passengers, but it's getting way out of hand. They're seeing things that aren't even there.

So what's next? Someone's going to be threatened with arrest for wearing a TMNT shirt? I'm certain they'll probably see it as "OMG! Weapons! They're going to skewer people! Eleventyhundred!111!!11!" :ohwell:

Next time I go to an airport Im gonna wear the Raphael shirt I have where he's throwing a sai in the air....just to see what happens. :P

Thank you, political correctness... ;)

It's ridiculous, but that's how people are getting these days...

I hope you miss your flight and get arrested for intentionally egging them on after knowing that it could cause trouble.

"Oh noes! It's a Transformers shirt! Run away!! D: "

For a race of intelligent beings, we aren't really that intelligent as a whole, are we?

I'm tempted to sew together all the t-shirts I own that could be seen as offensive into one shirt, go to my local airport, and maybe dance around the place to see if the fashion police- I mean the SECURITY GUARDS will stop me.

Player disabled in freak pillow accident.
 

source
Didn't think it was worthy for its own thread, so here ya go.

This is news to me, that you can't wear "threatening" clothing when boarding a plane. I wore my Transformers shirt when I went to Atlanta from Palm Beach. Nothing.. On my way back, I wore an old Willow shirt, that had picture of Bad Mardigan weilding his sword on his horse. No problem. And better yet, my flight mate brought on board his video game which had lots of killing going on, and no one said a thing. Seems like the airport security mentioned in the report had a bug up their nose or something. But then again, I also hear of alot of problems with the airlines lately, but I have yet to encounter any of them. I still get pretty good price quotes when I fly, ends up being way cheaper than if I were to drive.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080705/...LHXB2vlhus0NUE

BEND, Ore. - A man has taken flight in a lawn chair hoisted by more than 150 large helium-filled party balloons in a bid to ride the wind from the central Oregon town of Bend all the way to Idaho.
ADVERTISEMENT


Kent Couch was wearing a parachute Saturday morning as he kissed his wife and kids goodbye, patted his dog and took off at sunrise from his gas station.

This is Couch's third lawn chair flight in as many years.

He hopes to do better than last year, when he flew 193 miles before running low on helium and had to land in the sagebrush of northeastern Oregon.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-f...tory?track=rss

Wait...so in the UK potato chips are tax exempt??? We should have that law here...course here Pringles POTATO chips would still be considered to be potato chips. Cuz if they aren't potato chips then it's false advertising.