Weird News

VisibilityMissing · Postby **VisibilityMissing** » Wed Nov 30, 2005 2:10 pm

<table border='0' align='center' width='95%' ><tr><td class='quotetop'>Quote: (Gizensha @ Nov 30 2005, 03:46 AM)</td></tr><tr><td class='quotebody'> I believe one of the former companions once did a softcore photo shoot with a Dalek. Think 'page 3' style for what I mean by 'soft core' there. More tease than porn, but sexual based partial nudity was there. (and I don't see how the text of the article would be inappropriate, even if the actual link was, but you would be better checking with a mod on that with the specific article) </td></tr></table>  I'm going to say foul. Please end this discussion. This subject does not meet the editorial standards of this thread *snrrk* *ahem* Seriously, let's keep discussions of porn out of the Weird News thread, people. If you want to read about that, you can go over to FARK.

VisibilityMissing · Postby **VisibilityMissing** » Wed Nov 30, 2005 4:06 pm

Back to our regularly scheduled insanity . . .  <table border='0' align='center' width='95%' ><tr><td class='quotetop'>Quote: </td></tr><tr><td class='quotebody'> Nov 29, 10:48 PM EST Neb. Woman, 76, Fends Off Teen Girl LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) -- Pick on someone your own age. Maybe the 17-year-old Omaha girl will remember that the next time she decides to tangle with a feisty churchgoer. After church on Sunday, Pearl Fritts, 76, decided to drive and visit her mom at a nursing home. When Fritts arrived, she told police, she pulled up behind the home to drop off some recyclables. As she removed the articles, she heard someone behind her ask whether she wanted help. No, Fritts said. That's when she got clobbered. "She just slammed my head against that bin," Fritts said. "I was so shocked." So shocked - and now angered - that she whipped around and put up her dukes. "I think she was surprised that a little old, gray-haired lady with glasses would come around swinging," Fritts said. Why'd you do that, she asked the girl, who replied that she wanted Fritts' car. The teenager was taller, Fritts said, but couldn't weigh more than 100 pounds. Soon the girl realized Fritts wasn't about to give up the car, so she ran. Fritts drove home and a neighbor gave her a ride to a hospital for some treatment. After Fritts' report to the police, the girl was found and picked up at a nearby restaurant. A Lincoln police spokeswoman said the girl was looking for a way back home to Omaha after running away from a Lincoln treatment center. Fritts acknowledged that her feisty reaction might not have very smart. "If this never happens again it will be too soon," she said. --- Information from: Lincoln Journal Star, <a href='http://www.journalstar.com' target='_blank'>http://www.journalstar.com</a> </td></tr></table>

Steve the Pocket · Postby **Steve the Pocket** » Thu Dec 01, 2005 11:50 pm

<table border='0' align='center' width='95%' ><tr><td class='quotetop'>Quote: ("AOL News")</td></tr><tr><td class='quotebody'> President Bush Is Called to Jury Duty WACO, Texas (Dec. 1) - President Bush could get a new title: juror No. 286. The president is among 600 potential jurors who have been summoned to report to court Monday in McLennan County, where his 1,600-acre Crawford ranch is located. State District Judge Ralph Strother said he expects to get a response about the summons but doesn't expect Bush to report for duty. "I don't think I'll be sending the sheriff out to bring the president in," said Strother, a Republican who has a grandson serving in Iraq. "It seems to me that the president has plenty of things to occupy his attention. Jury duty is a very important civic function, but running the country, I think, especially in wartime, takes priority over jury service." White House spokesman Allen Abney said Bush was not aware of the situation and had not received the summons, the Waco Tribune-Herald reported Thursday. He declined to elaborate on how the president would handle the jury notice when it arrived at the White House. While it's not known if the president will report, Bush's Democratic rival in the 2004 election served on a Massachusetts jury last month. Kerry not only served, but was elected foreman of the Suffolk Superior Court jury, which rejected a claim by two men who sued the city of Boston for injuries suffered in a car accident involving a school principal.</td></tr></table>

Richard K Niner · Postby **Richard K Niner** » Fri Dec 02, 2005 1:35 pm

Anyone want a <a href='http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/12/02 ... cyclotron/' target='_blank'>cyclotron</a>?  <table border='0' align='center' width='95%' ><tr><td class='quotetop'>Quote: </td></tr><tr><td class='quotebody'> Alaska man plans 20-ton domestic cyclotron Locals none too happy By Lester Haines Published Friday 2nd December 2005 12:39 GMT A 55-year-old Alaska man has met determined local resistance to his plan to assemble a 20-ton nuclear particle accelerator in his Anchorage home, Wired reports. Albert Swank Jr - who runs an engeering firm from his house - built his first domestic cyclotron when he was 17. He now wants to upgrade to a meatier Scandiatronix MC16, donated by Johns Hopkins University. Lawmakers, however, have moved swiftly to ban the use of cyclotrons in domestic businesses. Health officials have also suspended Swank's permit to operate nuclear particle accelerators. The Scandiatronix MC16 is used to brew up radioactive material which is injected into people prior to cancer-seeking positron emission tomography (PET) scans. Swanks says he wants the cyclotron as a "community medical resource". He added that his father died of cancer and his planned facility comes from a desire to "not see other cancer patients suffer". Most locals are not impressed. Their concerns range from potential radioactive leaks, to the beast draining all of the electricity supply. Attorney Alan Tesche said: "We in Alaska embrace technology, and we love it - but we would like to see this in a hospital or industrial area, where it belongs. We don't need cyclotrons operating out of back alleys, or in someone's garage." Swank says the cyclotron is completely safe, a view endorsed by Roger Dixon of the Fermi National Accelerator laboratory: "Cyclotrons are not nuclear reactors. Probably the worst thing that could happen with small cyclotrons is that the operator might electrocute themselves." Swank says he will dismantle the cyclotron at its current home, Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, on 23 January, then ship it to Alaska by lorry and barge - whether he has a permit or not. The powers that be plan an emergency public meeting on 20 December to decide the matter. And Swank does have some support. His next-door neighbour of 36 years, Veronica Martinson, told Wired: "Albert was a star science student when he was a child. He wants schoolchildren to be around this, so they'll learn how this works, and be curious about physics. One of them might turn out to be our next big scientist."</td></tr></table>

DesertFoxCat · Postby **DesertFoxCat** » Fri Dec 02, 2005 4:45 pm

Now I'm really scared of squirrels <img src='http://definecynical.mancubus.net/forum ... /blink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='blink.gif' />  <table border='0' align='center' width='95%' ><tr><td class='quotetop'>Quote: (Pravda.ru)</td></tr><tr><td class='quotebody'> Furious squirrels attack stray dog and tear it to pieces 12/02/2005 16:41 When the people rushed to rescue the dog it was too late A pack of furious squirrels attacked a stray dog and tore it to shreds in Russia's Far East. The incident occurred in the center of the settlement of Lazo in the Dalnerechensky District. Three locals walking in a park were witnesses of the incident. They say the stray dog was barking at black squirrels jumping from one tree to another. Then the squirrels grouped and suddenly attacked the mongrel. The witnesses said the squirrels fiercely eviscerated the dog. When the people rushed to rescue the dog it was too late. The fight between the dog and the squirrels lasted for not longer than a minute. When the triumphant squirrels saw the humans approaching, they scattered carrying pieces of the prey in their mouths. The incident made locals incredibly cautious and people now prefer to pass the park by and do not let children play there. People fear that savage squirrels may attack someone again. One of the locals says that if another accident occured there it would make sense to fix traps in the forest to catch squirrels. Squirrels have little cones to eat this year. Usually, squirrels lived in the woods only but this year they have come to live right in the center of the settlement. Mikhail Tiunov from the Far East Department of the Russian Academy of Sciences says he has never heard about squirrel attacking other animals before. "This sounds nonsensical that squirrels attacked a stray dog and tore it to pieces. If this actually happened, the life of squirrels in the forest seems to be really hard this year. It is typical of squirrels to feed on nuts, seeds and mushrooms. And it is unlikely that squirrels have become so aggressive as a result of some mutation," Newsru quoted the expert as saying.</td></tr></table>

Richard K Niner · Postby **Richard K Niner** » Fri Dec 02, 2005 5:37 pm

So, now you need a license to drive a <a href='http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/12/02 ... river_rap/' target='_blank'>toy</a>?  <table border='0' align='center' width='95%' ><tr><td class='quotetop'>Quote: </td></tr><tr><td class='quotebody'> Cop cautions two-year-old driver 2.5mph speed merchant had no tax or MOT By Lester Haines Published Friday 2nd December 2005 14:51 GMT A two-year-old lad has been cautioned by a police officer in Leyland, Lancashire for driving his 2.5mph toy car on the pavement without tax or MOT, the Mirror reports. Oliver Smith was out with his grandad Derek when the authorites moved in. Oliver's father Richard said: "My dad thought it a was joke at first - he was expecting Jeremy Beadle to turn up. The officer said the buggy could damage a parked car. He gave a warning and drove off." Richard added: "I think it's utterly ridiculous. It's the funniest thing I have heard in my life because you can actually walk faster than these things. This one has a top speed of 2.5mph. "All the shops selling them should have signs to say you need driving documents to use them in a public place. Because of their size, you can't just use them in a garden." The Lancashire Police admitted: ""We cannot comment on the individual case but a child's toy car that can only travel 2-3mph does not come under motor vehicle legislation. Having said that, we would always advise children not to play near to the highway."</td></tr></table>

VisibilityMissing · Postby **VisibilityMissing** » Mon Dec 05, 2005 6:47 pm

What do you expect to happen twhen you put up a big straw farm animal?  <table border='0' align='center' width='95%' ><tr><td class='quotetop'>Quote: </td></tr><tr><td class='quotebody'> Dec 4, 9:20 AM EST Vandals Burn Swedish Christmas Goat, Again STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) -- Vandals set light to a giant straw goat Saturday night in a central Swedish town, police said - an event that has happened so frequently it has almost become a Christmas tradition. It was the 22nd time that the goat had gone up in smoke since merchants in Gavle, 150 kilometers (90 miles) north of Stockholm, began erecting it to mark the holiday season. Police spokeswoman Margareta Olander said officers received a call just after 9 p.m. to report that the goat was ablaze. "In just a couple of minutes only a sooty wooden skeleton remained," she said. There were no immediate suspects, but Olander said that one of two men seen running from the scene was wearing a Father Christmas mask. Since 1966, just 10 of the 43-foot-high goats have survived beyond Christmas Day. Most were burned - sometimes within hours of being built during the first week of December. The 1976 goat was hit by a car, while in 1997, it was damaged by fireworks. The vandals are seldom caught, but in 2001, the goat was set on fire on Dec. 23 by a 51-year-old visitor from Cleveland, Ohio. The culprit, Lawrence Jones, was convicted and spent 18 days in jail.</td></tr></table>

DesertFoxCat · Postby **DesertFoxCat** » Thu Dec 08, 2005 12:06 am

<table border='0' align='center' width='95%' ><tr><td class='quotetop'>Quote: (Pravda.ru)</td></tr><tr><td class='quotebody'> Doctors allow Russian man to live with nails in the head 12/07/2005 15:34 It looks like there is enough room for foreign bodies in the human brain Doctors discovered that Gennady Varlamov, 67, from the Russian city of Ekaterinburg has several needles stuck in the head. But neither the patient nor medics have any idea how the needles could get there. The patient appealed to doctors and complained of a headache. But doctors hesitate to extract the needles out of the man's head as they believe the headache was not connected with them. Gennady's relatives at first supposed the man was joking when said he had several needles in the head. The 67-year-old man himself did not believe a human could live with needles in the head. The patient was shocked when saw an X-ray photography of the head. "My hair stood on end when I saw there were several needles stuck in my head. This is incredible that I have been having them all my life," the man says. Neurosurgeons tell Gennady Varlamov that for the time being the needles are no longer dangerous either for his life or for his health. There was highly likely some other reason of the man's headaches. Chief of the neurosurgical department at the Ekaterinburg regional clinic, Yeugeny Danilov, says: "The patient actually has some foreign bodies in his head. However, he has been living with the needles in the head for many years already, that is why he should not pay much attention to this fact. The patient needs no surgery."needles in the head Neurosurgeons in Ekaterinburg say they have never seen patients with needles in the head. At the same time, medical sources mention such cases. Many years ago, people stuck needles in the head of an unwanted babby to kill him, and this crime could not be disclosed. But Gennady Varlamov says he was a wanted babby in the family and had both parents, that is why it is unlikely that he had got the needles at his infant age. Doctors from all over the world can tell many shocking stories of the type. American worker Patrick Loler, 23, had a 10-centimeter nail in the head. Once, the man complained to his dentist of toothache. X-ray photography revealed the patient had a 10-centimeter nail stuck in the skull. After a closer examination doctors discovered that the nail was four centimeter deep in the man's brain. As it turned out later, the worker was engaged in construction of a ski resort in Colorado and one day he negligently pressed his puncher twice and one of the nails got stuck in his head. The nail went through Patrick's palate and stuck in the brain. In December 2004, doctors at a hospital in Seoul performed a unique operation. A patient complained of terrible headache. Doctors were shocked to see that the patient had a five-centimeter nail in his forehead. It looks like there is enough room for foreign bodies in the human brain. At the end of 2003, doctors removed a splinter of wood out of the head of a Malaysian citizen after it stayed there for five years. At that, doctors stated the patient was a lucky man indeed. If the splinter had moved another half a centimeter and got into the brain the patient would have inevitably died. Australian worker Brad Shorten drove a nail in his head just for fun to demonstrate a real accident at work to his colleagues. He first had three bottles of beer, then took a puncher and put it to his head. The man swears he took a cartridge out of the puncher and turned off the compressor before that. But a nail somehow got into the man's head. It took neurosurgeons in Melbourne four hours to extract the nail out of the brain. Even being on the surgical table Shorten boasted he could easily take the nail out of his brain with pliers. </td></tr></table>

Gizensha · Postby **Gizensha** » Thu Dec 08, 2005 1:12 am

Suddenly the characters of Mummy Dog and Mummy Papa from Gregory Horror Show don't seem quite as ludicrous. I'd offer screenshots along with that, but I can't find any of those two particular characters. ...I can offer you a 'slightly' pixilated one of <a href='http://img.gamespot.com/gamespot/images ... een002.jpg' target='_blank'>Katherine</a>, though <img src='http://definecynical.mancubus.net/forum ... /smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' /> She's the pink babe, not the girl lieing down.

Zaaphod · Postby **Zaaphod** » Thu Dec 08, 2005 1:34 am

How does one get through a MEHTUL detector with nails in one's head? <img src='http://definecynical.mancubus.net/forum ... tongue.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tongue.gif' />

Gizensha · Postby **Gizensha** » Thu Dec 08, 2005 1:56 am

Well, presumably when the guards resort to the handheld one, and find that the MEHTUL is in the forehead, they presume it's a steel plate the person's forgotten about.

GhostWay · Postby **GhostWay** » Thu Dec 08, 2005 4:26 am

They could always try to run his head through the baggage x-ray, just to make sure. <img src='http://definecynical.mancubus.net/forum ... tongue.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tongue.gif' />

erikbarrett · Postby **erikbarrett** » Thu Dec 08, 2005 6:11 pm

Wow, I haven't been here in awhile. And this is the forum I post the most in! Well, to make in up to everyone, I bring a story about cheese!  <table border='0' align='center' width='95%' ><tr><td class='quotetop'>Quote: </td></tr><tr><td class='quotebody'> Woman Allegedly Hires Hit Man for Cheese Tue Dec 6, 7:01 PM ET MEMPHIS, Tenn. - In an unusual case of mistaken identity, a woman who thought a block of white cheese was cocaine is charged with trying to hire a hit man to rob and kill four men. The woman also was mistaken about the hit man. He turned out to be an undercover police officer. Jessica Sandy Booth, 18, was arrested over the weekend and remains in jail with bond set at $1 million on four charges of attempted murder and four counts of soliciting a murder. According to police, Booth was in the Memphis home of the four intended victims last week when she mistook a block of queso fresco cheese for cocaine - inspiring the idea to hire someone to break into the home, take the drugs, and kill the men. An informant described the plot to police, who arranged a meeting between Booth and the undercover officer. The undercover officer gave Booth some nonfunctioning handguns, bought ammunition for her because she was too young, and the two proceeded to the home under police surveillance. Booth told the officer that any children inside the house old enough to testify would have to be killed, police said. A search of the home with the permission of the occupants revealed no drugs - only the white, crumbly cheese common in Mexican cuisine. "Four men were going to lose their lives over some cheese," said Lt. Jeff Clark, who heads Project Safe Neighborhoods.</td></tr></table>  Hmm.... looks like the boards are working properly again! <img src='http://definecynical.mancubus.net/forum ... iggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' />

DesertFoxCat · Postby **DesertFoxCat** » Thu Dec 08, 2005 8:52 pm

Even more people <img src='http://definecynical.mancubus.net/forum ... ailwag.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tailwag.gif' /> But, to the topic...  <table border='0' align='center' width='95%' ><tr><td class='quotetop'>Quote: (china.org.cn)</td></tr><tr><td class='quotebody'> Senior Creates a Miniature World in Newspaper When you enter the home of 73-year-old Zhu Zhonghe, you will find models of the Eiffel Tower, a Dutch windmill and the former residence of the late chairman Mao Zedong. They are no ordinary models though. Zhu makes each one out of newspaper. Other models such as boats, chairs and bridges are scattered around Zhu's home. Zhu developed an interest in making paper models in 2003. "I have arthritis in my left leg, which makes it a little difficult to walk," said Zhu. "So most of the time I stay at home." In the first few years of his retirement, Zhu didn't have many things to do. He was bored. "My son bought me some airplane models to try," Zhu said. He finished assembling his first model airplane in three days. But it cost his son more than 100 yuan (US$12.30). "After I assembled three planes and it had cost about 500 yuan, I told my son it was funny but that I would also try to find a cheaper way," Zhu said. It was then that Zhu thought of replicating famous buildings made out of newspaper. "Newspaper can be rolled into sticks, long or short, thick or thin," Zhu said. "And my former work in an architecture design institution gave me much knowledge about the structure of buildings." With a little glue and some cardboard, Zhu thought it was as much fun as assembling model airplanes. Zhu also likes the idea because it reuses the newspaper and doesn't cause any pollution. At first Zhu began making chairs and then progressed to boats. As his skills developed, he moved on to more difficult projects. "Take the Eiffel Tower for example. I referred to many documents and pictures and got all the data as the first step," Zhu said. "Then I reduced it to scale and prepared the different size sticks." Finally, Zhu began to assemble the paper sticks according to photographs. He also plans to paint it. Zhu spent nearly six months to finish Rainbow Bridge on the Qingming River, which is in Luoyang, Henan Province. Zhu even went to Luoyang to make sure he got every detail right. Zhu's Rainbow Bridge was seen and appreciated by professors from Tongji University. An official surnamed Gao, from the neighborhood committee, said whenever there are shows held by the committee, they will ask Zhu to display his creations. "Neighbors like his works very much and someone even wanted to learn how to do it," said Gao.</td></tr></table>

Richard K Niner · Postby **Richard K Niner** » Fri Dec 09, 2005 5:04 pm

And in financial news... <a href='http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051209/ap_ ... d_trade_10' target='_blank'>Whoops!</a>  <table border='0' align='center' width='95%' ><tr><td class='quotetop'>Quote: </td></tr><tr><td class='quotebody'> Botched Stock Trade Costs Japan Firm $225M By HANS GREIMEL, Associated Press Writer 32 minutes ago TOKYO - Japan's government rebuked the Tokyo Stock Exchange and one of the country's biggest brokerage firms Friday after a typing error caused Mizuho Securities Co. to lose at least 27 billion yen ($225 million) on a stock trade. The error roiled the Japanese market, while jitters over the reliability of the exchange's trading system contributing to a 1.95 percent drop in the benchmark Nikkei 225 index Thursday. The Nikkei rebounded 1.45 percent Friday to finish at 15,404.05, but the mishap triggered concern among some traders just a month after an embarrassing glitch at the Tokyo exchange shut down the market for almost an entire day. The trouble began Thursday morning, when Mizuho Securities tried to sell 610,000 shares at 1 yen (less than a penny) apiece of a job recruiting firm called J-Com Co., which was having its public debut on the exchange. It had actually intended to sell 1 share at 610,000 yen ($5,041). Worse still, the number of shares in Mizuho's order was 41 times the number of J-Com's outstanding shares, but the Tokyo Stock Exchange processed the order anyway. Mizuho says it tried to cancel the order three times, but the exchange said it doesn't cancel transactions even if they are executed on erroneous orders. By the end of the day, Mizuho Securities -- a division of the nation's second-largest bank, Mizuho Financial Group, Inc., had lost at least 27 billion yen ($225 million). That total could rise, however, Mizuho Securities spokesman Hideki Sakuma said Friday, adding that the mishap was sparked by human error. Japan's Financial Services Agency, the country's financial watchdog, began an immediate probe into what went wrong and how to prevent a repeat. "In order to maintain the credibility of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, I very strongly want this issue to be resolved quickly," Economy and Banking Minister Kaoru Yosano told reporters Friday. "The first thing for the Financial Services Agency to do is to determine what happened in detail. Based on that, we will decide what is needed based on the rules and regulations." "We need to think more about putting safety measures in place to prevent confusion," Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi told reporters Friday. Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe said the Finance Ministry was working with Mizuho and the Tokyo Stock Exchange to formulate countermeasures for the future. J-Com's shares debuted at 672,000 yen ($5,600) on the Tokyo exchange's Mothers market and plunged to 572,000 yen ($4,767). But a big buy bid placed after Mizuho Securities' sell order helped lift J-Com to 772,000 yen ($6,433) at the close. According to a Ministry of Finance filing, Morgan Stanley ended the session with a 31.2 percent stake in J-Com. The Tokyo Stock Exchange suspended trading of J-Com on Friday, but declined to specify how it will sort out a mess created by the botched order. But news reports have suggested the exchange may cancel the order through penalty payments, borne by Mizuho. Many of the sell orders have yet to be carried out, meaning further trading could "cause instability in the market," the exchange's managing director, Tomio Amano, said at a news conference. The botched trade comes at a sensitive time for the Tokyo exchange, which has surged on record volume, spurred by buying from foreign investors. For Mizuho Securities, the news is even worse. Mizuho Financial Group said it would fully back its security arm's losses from erroneous trades of J-Com. But the red ink could wipe out Mizuho Securities' profit of 28 billion yen ($233 million) for the fiscal year that ended in March 2005.</td></tr></table>  EDIT: It seems that the em dash isn't working <img src='http://definecynical.mancubus.net/forum ... ns/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif' />

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