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Today's Weirdest/Offbeat News - Archives |
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| In May, a judge in Edmonton, Alberta, ordered Shee Theng, 30, to serve a nine-month community-control sentence for partially scalping his then-girlfriend by attempting to "style" her hair with a power drill, a technique he said he learned about on a TV infomercial. Theng admitted that he knew it was a bad idea because he had previously screwed up his own hair trying it out. [Edmonton Sun, 5-11-06] | |
In a May dispatch from Atlanta on Southerners' notoriously un-nutritious, fat-laden cuisine, a Chicago Tribune reporter watered readers' mouths with descriptions of the "hamdog" and the "Luther" (prized dishes of Mulligan's restaurant in Decatur, Ga.), which are, respectively, "a half-pound of hamburger meat wrapped around a hot dog, which is deep-fried and served on a hoagie topped with chili, bacon and a fried egg," and "a half-pound burger served with bacon and cheese on a Krispy Kreme doughnut." The 11 states from Washington, D.C., to Florida, west to Texas, have the nation's highest mortality rate from strokes, but, said a University of Mississippi professor, "Food is a strong emblem of identity for Southerners," uniquely shared across racial lines. [Chicago Tribune, 5-16-06] |
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| Earlier this year in separate incidents, two physical education teachers at Ernest Ward Middle School in Pensacola, Fla., were arrested and charged with bribery for allowing students to avoid gym classes by paying the teachers money. Tamara B. Tootle, 39, charged in April, allegedly gave students credits at $1 per student per class, and Terence Braxton, 28, arrested in February, pleaded guilty in May to a similar scheme, admitting to making at least $230. [Tampa Tribune-AP, 4-8-06] [Pensacola News Journal, 5-18-06] | |
| China, sensitive about the impression it will make on visitors to the 2008 Olympics, has undertaken a major campaign against open spitting, monitored by volunteer scolders who wear shirts that spell out "mucus" in Chinese and who hand out bags to spit in. (2) India's Rural Development Minister vowed in March that the country will eliminate open defecation by 2012, despite reports of toilet use in some states as low as 15 percent. The government gives homeowners toilet-installation grants. [Houston Chronicle, 4- 29-06] [International Herald Tribune, 4-4-06] | |
| On the day after a federal jury in Virginia sentenced "20th (Sept. 11) hijacker" Zacarias Moussaoui to life in prison without possibility of parole, a Florida jury in Orlando gave Carl Moore, 37, exactly the same sentence. The Virginia jury had concluded that Moussaoui could have prevented the deaths of nearly 3,000 people; the Florida jury found that Moore had fondled a 12-year-old girl, briefly, underneath her clothes on an elevator at a resort (his second such conviction). [Orlando Sentinel, 5-4-06] | |
Michigan long-distance swimmer to attempt new world record for continuous swim BYRON CENTER, Mich. (AP) - Long-distance swimmer Jim Dreyer, who has completed crossings of each of the five Great Lakes, said he will attempt to set a new world distance record for a continuous swim. Dreyer, 42, of Byron Center, announced Thursday that he will try to swim nonstop for 200 kilometres or more by making at least 31 consecutive crossings of the Straits of Mackinac, where Lakes Michigan and Huron meet. Weather permitting, he plans to begin the swim on Sept. 1 and complete it within 72 to 84 hours, returning to shore sometime on Sept. 4, which is Labour Day. |
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Sisters lose second coming cover The sisters insured themselves in case of the second coming Insurers have withdrawn the cover on their virginity taken out by three sisters in the event of the second coming of Christ. Essex-based Britishinsurance.com confirmed it had provided the £1m policy, but said it was reviewed on Thursday following complaints. The firm said the women from Inverness had renewed the policy since 2000. The cover was meant to pay for the cost of bringing up Christ if one of them has a virgin birth. |
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BELCHING SWORD SWALLOWER MAGIC, Minnesota — Spectators at the Magic Renaissance Festival got more of a show than they bargained for when sword swallower Edmund Cardoza, 52, accidentally belched up a saber that impaled audience member Mike Griffin, 26. "It happened so fast I didn't know what hit me," Griffin said. "Suddenly there was this sword sticking straight through my shoulder and my wife was screaming." The injured man was rushed to the hospital where doctors were able to remove the weapon. Griffin is expected to make a full recovery. Police officers questioned Cardoza who explained it was an accident, though he admitted to wolfing down a triple corned beef and cabbage club sandwich in the short intermission between weekend shows. "Gas is a sword swallower's greatest enemy," he said gravely. The embarrassed blade master has apologized to the Griffin family, though he has no plans to retire. "I should have remembered what my mentor, the Great Foil, told me," Cardoza said. "He warned me about having a late 'lunge'." |
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79-year-old U.S. woman given life plus 5 for killing 85-year-old boyfriend ATLANTA (AP) - A jury convicted 79-year-old Lena Driskell of murder Friday in the shooting of her 85-year-old former boyfriend, rejecting her plea of insanity. The judge sentenced her life in prison plus five years and did not say when she would be eligible for parole. The jury convicted her on all four counts - malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault and possession of a firearm. Prosecutors did not seek the death penalty. |
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TIRED OF YOUR TATTOO? SAUGERTIES, N.Y. -- A light went on -- along with the hum of a sander with fine-grain paper -- when 27-year-old Ed Melch was laid-off from a carpentry shop. "Before I got downsized, a couple of the guys were complaining about the tattoos they got in the service and college," Melch said. "Y'know, 'Mary 4Ever' and 'Quiet Riot Rocks!' I was thinkin' about that as I drove home that day." The next morning, it hit him. "I will become a 'detat-cher' and fix those youthful body design mistakes many people make," said Melch. "Instead of going through painful and expensive surgery, or time-consuming dermabrasion with those weeny little rotary wheels, I just sand the bugger right off!" Some of Melch's clients are big, tough guys who still flinch when they see the Stripper. "I tell them to stop being babies," Melch said. "They let somebody stick a needle in them, like, a zillion times -- how can a 30- second sanding be worse?" Melch's customers are not only satisfied with the results, some have viewed it as a rite of passage. "I thought I was a he-man when I had barb wire inked on my arm," said construction worker Billy Dragon. "No, man -- this was the real deal." Despite Melch's success, there is one tattoo location he is unwilling to tackle. "I don't do bathing suit areas," he said. "You ladies with your roses and butterflies -- you're stuck with them for now." |
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Fluffernutter sandwich sparks sticky debate Now, the beloved Fluffernutter sandwich - a combination of Marshmallow Fluff and peanut butter, preferably on white bread with a glass of milk handy - finds itself at the centre of a sticky political debate. State Senator Jarrett Barrios was outraged his son Nathaniel, a Grade 3 pupil, was given a Fluffernutter sandwich at the King Open School in Cambridge, Mass. He said he plans to file legislation that would ban schools from offering the local delicacy more than once a week as the main meal of the day. |
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SPACE STATION INFESTED WITH MICE - NASA TO SEND UP CAT HOUSTON, Tex. -- NASA officials were embarrassed this week to announce the Space Station is infested with mice. Project Manager Terry Duckworth told Weekly World News, "The female mice escaped from one of our onboard experiments and the male mice came up on a Russian supply ship, hidden in the cargo hold. Now we have a big predicament -- what we call UMP, or Unauthorized Mice Pairing. You might say, 'Houston we have a pest problem.' But I won't." The mice have chewed through wires and insulation, and the patter of their feet has disturbed astronauts as they've slept. For NASA, the solution was refreshingly lowcost. He may look like an ordinary housecat, but Charlie carries the fate of the multibillion dollar project on his tiny shoulders. "Charlie is my Aunt Ethel's cat and he's a great mouser," said Duckworth. NASA has developed and manufactured a specially designed space cat suit for Charlie's imminent launch. He will be hoisted spaceward as soon as the shuttle returns to service. "You might say we're hoping this will 'Kill the UMP,'" Duckworth said. "But I won't." |
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Indian film fan hurt in leap from cinema balcony NEW DELHI (AP) - An Indian film fan suffered multiple fractures when he leapt from a cinema balcony, trying to emulate hero Hrithik Roshan's stunts in the new movie Krrish, a news report said Saturday. The film, released Friday, is an action thriller in which Roshan's character is an average village boy who develops super powers. Vishnu, a hotel worker who uses one name, was hospitalized with multiple fractures after trying to imitate the actor, the Press Trust of India news agency quoted police superintendent D. C. Sagar as saying. The fan walked up to the Abhishek theatre's balcony and jumped into the lower stands Friday, panicking the audience, the report said. It said Vishnu told police he was a big Roshan fan, and made the leap after watching a stunt sequence in the movie. Police have registered a case of attempted suicide against him, the report quoted Vishnu as saying. Roshan trained in Hong Kong for months with action choreographer Tony Ching Siu-tung to prepare for the action and stunt sequences in Krrish. |
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