If you find something ODD, GOOFY, SILLY, OR just plain old WEIRD in the news....post it here.

I will get it started with a few from todays news.

Thailand Bans Giant Cockroaches Due to Health Fears
Tue Aug 20, 9:19 AM ET

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand on Tuesday banned the sale and ownership of a breed of giant cockroaches from Madagascar, saying the popular pets could spread diseases.

Public Health Minister Sudarat Keyuraphun said health officials had begun raids on shops and farms that distribute the insect, the Madagascar Giant Hissing Cockroach, which grows to 4 inches, three times longer than the native variety.

"We are very worried that if these cockroaches are released into public places, they will expand in numbers at a very fast speed, which could introduce many unknown diseases to the country," Sudarat said.

"Pet owners who want to discard them should call the Public Health Ministry or the department of livestock," she said.

Until recently, the insects have been sold by pet shops and at stalls in Bangkok's Chatuchak open air market for $1.20 each.

 

World War II Hero Breaks Wing-Walking Record
Tue Aug 20, 9:16 AM ET

LONDON (Reuters) - A one-legged 88-year old British war hero became the world's oldest "wing walker" Tuesday after he spent over an hour in mid-air strapped to the top wing of a biplane.



Les "Dizzy" Seales broke the record held by an 87-year-old South African woman.

"It's very enjoyable," the new record holder told Sky News.

But the daredevil octogenarian said he would have a bruised back after a bumpy landing on the grass airstrip in southern England.

Seales, who acquired his "Dizzy" nickname after a World War II exploit when he crawled from his air gunners' turret to rescue his plane's pilot, said he would make his next wing walking attempt in two years' time.

One of Seales' friends, watching his high-flying feat, said his pal was "an absolute inspiration."

 

Would-Be Hermits Keen to Live in Dank Cave
Tue Aug 20, 9:26 AM ET

LONDON (Reuters) - Sitting on your own in a cold, damp British cave miles from anywhere may seem like the job from hell, but more than 100 candidates -- some from as far afield as Poland and Pakistan -- have applied for just such a post.



Stately home Shugborough in Staffordshire, central England, is sifting through applications for the job of "hermit in residence" and will appoint the successful candidate next month.

"A whole range of people have expressed an interest, from office workers to a Tibetan monk," organizer Corinne Caddy told Reuters Monday. She said most of the applicants were from Britain, with a few from as far afield as Pakistan and Poland.

"Our hermit will have to live as near as possible the life of an 18th century hermit," Caddy said.

In the 18th century, members of the landed gentry considered it the height of fashion to have a hermit living on their country estates. Usually given a five-year contract, hermits were often very well paid.

The Shugborough hermit, however, will receive only a "small stipend" but he won't have to be deprived of modern amenities for too long -- the post is a temporary one. "We are doing it for Heritage week beginning September 21, so our hermit, whoever it is, will only have to give up amenities for a few days," Caddy said.

 

Berlin Playboy Offers Jackpot to Final Bedmate
Wed Aug 21, 8:43 AM ET

BERLIN (Reuters) - An aging Berlin playboy has come up with an unusual offer to lure women into his bed by promising the last woman he sleeps with an inheritance of about $244,000.




Rolf Eden, a 72-year-old west Berlin disco owner famous in the German capital for his countless number of sex partners, said he could imagine no better way to die than in the arms of an attractive young woman -- preferably under 30.

"I put it all in my last will and testament -- the last woman who sleeps with me gets all the money," Eden told Bild newspaper Wednesday.

"I want to pass away in the most beautiful moment of my life. First a lot of fun with a beautiful woman, then wild sex, a final orgasm -- and it will all end with a heart attack and then I'm gone."

Eden, who is selling his popular "Big Eden" nightclub later this year, said "applicants" shouldn't wait long because of his advanced age.

"It could end very soon," he said. "Maybe even tomorrow."

 

Oddly Enough - Reuters

Passenger Strips Naked, Tries to Storm Cockpit
Wed Aug 21, 8:38 AM ET

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - An Air France flight made an emergency landing in Belgium after a naked passenger tried to force his way into the cockpit, the Brussels prosecutor's office said Tuesday.


The captain of the Paris-Oslo flight appealed to Belgian air traffic controllers for help after the 31-year-old man stripped off his clothes and headed for the flight deck.

The man, a French national of Tunisian origin, was removed from the plane and questioned after the aircraft landed, but was released without charge late Monday evening, a spokesman for the prosecutor's office said.

 

DEVILS LAKE, North Dakota (AP) -- Satan has been banished from Devils Lake.

High school teams here no longer will be known as the Satans, the school's nickname for nearly 80 years.

The school board unanimously voted Monday night to immediately drop the nickname and mascot and start the process of finding a new name to represent its athletic teams.

The 5-0 vote brought applause, hugs and a few tears of joy from an audience that favored change.

"It's hard to stand up and cheer for the Satans," said Kellie Karlstad, a parent of three and the junior varsity girls basketball coach. "It's not an appropriate name for children."

Supporters of the change said the Satans nickname had brought division and a negative image.

"As far as finding one positive for keeping the nickname, I can't," board member Julie Schemionek said. "I believe in tradition. But sometimes, traditions need to be changed."

School Board Chairman Kevin Regan, a Devils Lake alumnus and athlete, said he had not been bothered by the nickname.

"I always thought it was a natural fit that the mascot for Devils Lake would be Satans," he said.

 

LONDON (Reuters) - If you are worried about jealousy ruining your love life, here's the latest scientific advice: try measuring your partner's ears. Or feet.

Researchers have found that asymmetrical people are more likely to be jealous in love than those who are symmetrical.

Scientists have long shown that people whose faces and bodies are the same on both sides are considered more attractive and have an easier time attracting mates.

William Brown of Dalhousie University in the Canadian city of Halifax wanted to test how that effects jealous behavior, one of the strategies people use to keep their lovers from roaming, New Scientist magazine reported on Thursday.

"If jealousy is a strategy to retain your mate, then the individual more likely to be philandered on is more likely to be jealous," Brown said.

He looked at 50 men and women in heterosexual relationships of varying degrees of intensity, and compared paired features such as feet, ears and fingers to see who was symmetrical.

The volunteers then filled in a questionnaire already used in other studies to test who was jealous in love.

Brown found that lopsided people were considerably more likely to be jealous lovers, with symmetry possibly accounting for 20 percent of the difference in romantic jealousy between people.

Brown also tested whether lopsided people were jealous in other areas, such as work, but found that asymmetrical people are not more jealous in general -- just, alas, in love.

 

Villagers blame UFO for attacks


SHANWA, India (AP) -- It comes in the night, a flying sphere emitting red and blue lights that attacks villagers in this poor region, extensively burning those victims it does not kill.

At least that's what panic-stricken villagers say. At least seven people have died of unexplained injuries in the past week in Uttar Pradesh state.

"A mysterious flying object attacked him in the night," Raghuraj Pal said of his neighbor, Ramji Pal, who died recently in Shanwa. "His stomach was ripped open. He died two days later."

Many others have suffered scratches and surface wounds, which they say were inflicted while they slept. In the village of Darra, 53-year-old Kalawati said she was attacked last week and displayed blisters on her blackened forearms.

"It was like a big soccer ball with sparkling lights," said Kalawati, who uses only one name. "It burned my skin."

"I can't sleep because of pain," she said.

Doctors dismiss the stories as mass hysteria.

"More often than not the victims have unconsciously inflicted the symptoms themselves," said Narrotam Lal, a doctor at King George's Medical College in Lucknow, the state capital.

The police have another explanation: bugs.

"It is a three-and-a-half-inch-long winged insect" that leaves rashes and superficial wounds, Kavindra P. Singh, a superintendent of police, told the Press Trust of India news agency.

Police drew this conclusion after residents of one village found insects they had never seen before.

Villagers are unconvinced. In the most affected area, the Mirzapur district, 440 miles southeast of New Delhi, people have stopped sleeping outdoors despite the sweltering heat and frequent power outages.

Villagers also have formed protection squads that patrol Shanwa, beating drums and shouting slogans such as, "Everyone alert. Attackers beware."

Some accuse district officials of inaction and failing to capture the "aliens." One person died Thursday in nearby Sitapur when police fired shots to disperse a 10,000-strong crowd demanding that authorities capture the mysterious attackers.

"People just block the roads and attack the police for inaction each time there's a death or injury," said Amrit Abhijat, Mirzapur's district magistrate, who claims he has captured the UFO on film.

 

French Mayor Bans Residents from Dying
Thu Aug 22,10:25 AM ET

LE LAVANDOU, France (Reuters) - The mayor of a French Mediterranean town, faced with a cemetery "full to bursting," has banned local residents from dying until he can find somewhere else to bury them.

Gil Bernardi, mayor of Le Lavandou on the coast 15 miles west of Saint Tropez, introduced the ban after a court rejected his plans to build a cemetery in a tranquil setting by the sea.

Bernardi said most locals had obeyed the edict so far, but he was desperately trying to find a resting place for a homeless man who had recently passed away in the town.

"Initially, the decree has been remarkably well followed," the mayor said.

Bernardi has appealed against the ruling preventing the seaside cemetery being built, saying it would be the best final resting place for his townsfolk.

"What people want here, because it's a local tradition, is their own little personal plot of land, their burial spot, not an impersonal pigeonhole," he said.

 

Heroin Dealer Can Write Off Stolen Drug Money
Thu Aug 22,10:23 AM ET

SYDNEY (Reuters) - An Australian court has given a convicted heroin dealer the all-clear to write off $118,800 in stolen drug money from his tax bill.

The Federal Court ruled that as jailed felon Francesco Dominico La Rosa had earned his taxable income through selling drugs, he was likewise entitled to deduct from his taxes expenses incurred as part of his criminal endeavours.

Perth resident La Rosa was jailed for 12 years in 1996 for importing and selling heroin.

As soon as he was behind bars, Australia's meticulous tax authorities pounced and presented him with a $243,000 tax bill based on what court proceedings had revealed about his estimated illicit income.

La Rosa fired back with a claim to deduct the $119,000 he said he had buried in the garden of his daughter's home and which he intended to use to buy more drugs. He said the money had been stolen by other criminals when he went to make a deal.

He had already won an earlier court case but the Australian Taxation Office appealed.

Federal Court Justice Robert Nicholson rejected the appeal on Wednesday, according to court documents.

"The findings of the tribunal are that the occasion of the loss occurred during an intended drug purchase and was directly connected with the carrying on of the taxpayer's illicit drug dealing business," Nicholson said in his ruling.

"For these reasons I do not consider that this ground of appeal as pressed can succeed."

 

Diamonds Are Forever, and You Could Be Too
Thu Aug 22,10:17 AM ET
By Brad Dorfman

CHICAGO (Reuters) - They say diamonds are forever. And now the dearly departed can be, too.

A Chicago company says it has developed a process for turning cremated human remains into diamonds that can be worn as jewelry.

"We're building on the simple fact that all living creatures are carbon-based and diamonds are carbon-based," said Greg Herro, head of LifeGem Memorials.

The blue diamonds are the answer to people who think a tombstone or an urn full of ashes is not personal enough. And they are portable, Herro said.

Herro, who describes himself as an entrepreneur, said he has spent the past three years refining the process, successfully making a diamond from cremated human remains in July.

A small thimbleful of carbon can be made into 0.25 carat diamond, for which LifeGem would charge $4,000. A full karat would cost $22,000.

HEAT AND PRESSURE

The ash is first purified in a vacuum induction furnace at about 5,400 degrees. It is then placed in a press under intense pressure and heat, replicating the forces that create a natural diamond. It takes about 16 weeks.

Synthetic, or man-made, diamonds have been manufactured from carbon since the mid-1950s, when General Electric Co. developed the process for making small diamonds for industrial uses.

Avrum Blumberg, a chemistry professor at DePaul University in Chicago, said it is feasible to make a quality diamond from the carbon in a cremated human.

"If it's done slowly and with a great deal of care, one could have a reasonably high-quality diamond," Blumberg said.

In a telephone interview, Herro said his diamonds are of the same quality that "you would find at Tiffany's."

He said that he has had two of the diamonds certified for quality by European Gemological Laboratory, an independent laboratory that vouches for the quality of diamonds. The diamonds were submitted anonymously by a partner who sells synthetic diamonds to avoid any bias in the appraisals.

In a news release, Herro said that EGL would certify LifeGem's diamonds, though EGL said it has no formal relationship with LifeGem.

"At this time, EGL USA does not have enough information about this new product to comment about the use of the EGL name in conjunction with it." Mark Gershburg, director of EGL USA, said in a prepared statement in response to inquiries. But he said it is impossible to distinguish LifeGem synthetic diamonds from other synthetic diamonds.

A SERVICE FOR THE FAMILY

LifeGem's Web site lists a handful of funeral homes in the United States that will offer the service to customers.

One is Fergerson Funeral Home in North Syracuse, New York. Funeral director Patricia Fergerson said nobody has asked that a loved one be turned into a diamond yet. But the funeral home sees this as another service it can offer.

Meanwhile, an Illinois man with emphysema has signed up with LifeGem.

About 26 percent of U.S. residents who died were cremated last year. But Herro has his eye on a growth market. "Japan is at 98 percent," he said.

 

reviving this thread...

Woman Convicted For Paying Ticket With Feces
Schwarz Says Someone Else Mailed Ticket

POSTED: 8:14 a.m. EDT September 6, 2002

LAKEVIEW, Ore. -- Debra Angeline Schwarz contends it wasn't her fault the ticket stinks.

She's been found guilty of paying a $350 traffic fine with an envelope half-filled with feces. Prosecutors in Lake County, Ore., say Schwarz's money order was accompanied by what witnesses called at "brown, pasty substance" that really smelled.

Schwarz testified she had given the money order to someone else to mail. But her story wasn't convincing enough. Schwarz was convicted on a number of charges including criminal mischief and disorderly conduct.

quick, someone post a Triumph the Comic Insult Owned picture!!!!

 

triumph ain't showing up

 

glad someone brought this back up.....now to add to your reading pleasure!

Man in Dress Robs Credit Union
Fri Sep 6,10:14 AM ET

SPOKANE (AP) - A man wearing a shoulder-length black or brown wig and a rumpled black cotton dress robbed a Spokane Valley credit union at gunpoint Thursday, the Spokane County sheriff's office said.

The robber stuffed the stolen cash into "his tasteful black leather purse," and walked away, said sheriff's spokesman Cpl. Dave Reagan.

No one was injured, but the robber did escape with an undisclosed amount of cash.

The teller at Numerica Credit Union said the man entered the bank and handed her a note demanding cash. He displayed what she described as a black semiautomatic pistol.

Witnesses described the robber as about 35 years old, 6-foot-1 to 6-foot-2, with a husky build and no facial hair. It appeared to them that he was likely wearing other clothing underneath the dress.

White shoes with dark socks completed the ensemble.