Around the weird:news of the bizarre

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Mystery of disintegrating German euro notes. :eek: :eek: :eek:

November 02, 2006 16:01.

Investigators are attempting to learn why hundreds of euro notes in Germany have mysteriously disintegrated in recent months, the government and the country's central bank said today.
An interior ministry spokesman confirmed a report in the daily Bild that police in Berlin and the state of Rhineland-Palatinate have opened probes after about 1,000 notes self-destructed. 'This is unprecedented,' a spokeswoman for the Bundesbank central bank said.
The case surfaced in June in Berlin when a €20 note crumbled on contact. Police first suspected a fluke but the number of 'broken notes', as investigators have dubbed the bills, continued to rise in August.
Bild said that chemists believed the notes may have been sprinkled with a sulfate salt that becomes sulfuric acid when it comes in contact with moisture, such as hand sweat. The notes then gradually disintegrate.
A Berlin police spokesman confirmed that laboratory analysis of the notes had identified traces of sulfuric acid. 'To date we do not have any indication that a crime has been committed,' the spokesman said, adding that it was possible that an accident led to the contamination of the notes.
Investigators had told Bild that they suspected would-be extortionists were behind the case, aiming to prove they can destroy currency at will.
The interior ministry spokesman said it appeared Germany was the only country affected in the 12-member euro zone. One theory was that bank machines were the source of the contamination, he said.
European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said it was possible the notes were stolen during a cash shipment and that the hijackers had used chemicals to remove anti-theft coloration that can be released when cash is stolen.
But he added that the ECB had no direct involvement in the case and that German authorities were handling the investigation. The Bundesbank ruled out a printing or paper defect. Serial numbers confirm the notes were produced by the Federal Printing Press.
The spokeswoman said the affected notes posed no danger to the public and that consumers could exchange them at Bundesbank branches. She added that the chances of coming in contact with one were extremely low with five billion notes in circulation in Germany.(RTE).

*Runs to see if my euro notes are still there* :eek:
 
ROAD LESS TRAVELED


Bummerville, California, is actually a nice pleace!!!

As author gary Gladstone discorved, you can't judge a book by it's cover, or a town by it's name ;) While researching his new book "Researching Climax and Other Towns Along the American Highway" Gladstone came across Bummerville, CA. which he says is not a bum place to live!! he says the locals were so nice they actually gave him backrubs in the middle of the street :eek: (no thank's)One strange thing though, the sign in front of the post office asks visitors to exit their car before entering the building!! Other cities with negative sounding names include Troublesome, COLO., Downer, MINN. both fun places!! But some cities with negative names live down to them, such as Dismal, TENN. which Gladstone says was chock full of "rotting underbrush, swampy meadows, a landscape littered with junk, and falling down crumbling houses!!

The Buzz..Ken White..LVRJ
 
i thought this was adorable:
otter escorts mate to hospital

two otters, one injured the other not, apparently tried to get into a hospital the other night. nightshift workers saw the pair on security cameras approach the door and look back at each other as if trying to get in. when employees came to the door the otters had taken off, leaving a trail of bloody otter footprints.

hope the poor little thing will be alright! now we just need to teach them to tell the difference between human and animal hospitals :lol:
 
RENO, Nev. - A police officer who saw a sport utility vehicle weaving in a travel lane, driving slowly and stopping for no reason wasn't prepared for what he found when he pulled over the vehicle.
The driver was 7 years old and, according to the police report, the dad was in the passenger seat, drunk.
The officer says 37-year-old Alfredo Martinez said he was teaching the boy how to drive because he was too drunk to do so.
Martinez was booked on one felony count of child endangerment and is being held under 35-hundred-dollars bail.
The boy was taken home to his mother.
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WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. - A jail went into lockdown and recounted its prisoners on Halloween night after a former inmate was spotted trick-or-treating in his old orange prisoner's jumpsuit.
"Bad choice of costume," said Susan Tolchin, chief adviser to Westchester County Executive Andrew Spano.
The former inmate, Oscar Aponte, was taking his daughter trick-or-treating in Peekskill on Tuesday night when a county correction officer - also out trick-or-treating with her child - spotted the familiar jumpsuit, Tolchin said.
"She confronted him, and he ran and drove off," Tolchin said. The officer took down the man's license plate and called authorities.
The jail went into lockdown until a prisoner count established that no one was missing. Meanwhile, police found Aponte, confiscated the genuine jumpsuit and let him go.
Charges against Aponte were under consideration. Tolchin said prisoners are not permitted to take their jumpsuits home when they are released.
Aponte was in the jail from May to September for violating probation on a drunken driving charge.
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OIL CITY, Pa. (AP) - Letter carriers occasionally have to deal with angry dogs or maybe even a spider's nest in a mailbox, but a mean squirrel? Barb Dougherty, a 30-year Postal Service employee, said she was attacked and bitten Monday by a squirrel while delivering mail in Oil City, about 75 miles north of Pittsburgh.

"It was a freak thing. It was traumatic," Dougherty told The Derrick in Oil City. "I saw it there on the porch, put the mail in the box and turned to walk away and it jumped on me."

The animal ran up her leg and onto her back, she said.

"I eventually got a hold of the tail and pulled it off me," Dougherty said. "No one was home at the house where I was delivering the mail, but the neighbor lady heard me screaming and came over."

An ambulance took Dougherty to the hospital, where she was treated for cuts and scratches. The squirrel was killed with a BB gun and sent to a lab to be tested for rabies. Dougherty was given the first series of rabies shots as a precaution.

Postal officials said the attack is extraordinary.

"In about 230 years of postal history, I bet it is not the first, but I've personally never heard of another squirrel biting," said Steve Kochersperger, spokesman for the Erie district.

Squirrels do not frequently bite people, said Regis Senko, who works for the Pennsylvania Game Commission.

Steve Jolley, a Postal Service manager in Oil City, said, "We are not issuing a squirrel alert, but everyone is aware of the incident."
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EDGEWATER PARK, N.J. (AP) - Police have arrested a Burlington County man for using a lawn mower to cut a racial slur in the grass in an open field.

Dennis E. Westphal, 19, of Edgewater Park turned himself in to the Edgewater Park Township police on Thursday, a day after authorities issued a warrant for his arrest, according to a statement from the Burlington County Prosecutor's Office.

Police were initially alerted to the incident on Aug. 31 when a local resident called them, said Jack Smith, a spokesman for the prosecutor's office.

The racial slur, which was cut into a field of tall grass on township-owned property, was also spotted by someone in a plane flying overhead who then alerted police.

Westphal was charged with bias intimidation and harassment and released on his own recognizance pending a court hearing on Nov. 15.

No telephone listing could be found for Westphal.
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WHEELING, W.Va. (AP) - A man who posted his own sex offender registry photo on the social networking site MySpace.com is back behind bars.

Christian Paul Dutton, 47, of Wheeling, was arrested in September for trespassing at an elementary school but later released. He was arrested again Wednesday on charges of failing to register his MySpace account with the State Police.

Dutton, who served more than six years after a 1984 conviction in Ohio for attempted rape, had registered on the site under the name "Bubba."

He is required to register as a sex offender for life.
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SOMERSET, Pa. (AP) - A man accused of biting off a piece of a man's lip several months ago is now accused of attacking and biting the same man on the head, police said.

Jason Todd Martin, 28, of Friedens, was arraigned Tuesday before on-call District Judge Arthur Cook of Somerset on charges of aggravated assault, simple assault, disorderly conduct and harassment.

Somerset Borough police alleged that Martin and two other men beat the victim on Monday night after he asked them to leave his home, and Martin bit the man on the forehead.

Martin was earlier charged with assault, accused of biting off two inches of the same man's bottom lip in a July dispute, police said.

He was being held Thursday at the Somerset County Jail on $15,000 bond. It was not immediately clear Thursday night whether he had an attorney.
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NEW YORK (AP) - A detective suspended after testing positive for drugs says his wife served him meatballs spiked with marijuana because she wanted to keep him out of harm's way by forcing him into retirement.

An administrative judge believed him, and recommended this week that Anthony Chiofalo be reinstated.

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly has yet to decide what to do.

"We can't comment because the matter will still come before the police commissioner for a final determination," said spokesman Paul Browne.

Chiofalo, a 22-year-veteran assigned to the Joint Terrorism Task Force, was suspended without pay last year after a random drug test found marijuana in his system. The officer denied ever using drugs and demanded a hearing.

During an investigation, his wife said she had substituted marijuana for oregano in her meatball recipe in hopes of forcing him to leave police work.

The detective's lawyers also presented evidence that she had passed a lie-detector test, and offered testimony from a toxicologist that the excuse was valid.
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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - No shirt, no service? What about no clothes at all? A couple that began squabbling in a motel room Friday morning carried their dispute over to an adjacent Waffle House diner in the nude, police said.

A woman, who was not identified, told officers she was staying in a room with Larry Boyd when he took a hit of cocaine, starting trashing their room and choking her.

She ran in the buff to the 24-hour diner off Interstate 40 west of downtown Nashville and locked herself in the bathroom. Boyd, also naked, followed her into the restaurant and then fled in a car.

He was arrested - still naked - after a short chase by police and was charged with driving under the influence, felony evading arrest and other charges.
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PATNA, India (AP) - Police charged a suspect after a bus driver was robbed of his fares, then realized the suspect was a 3-month old baby.

The boy, Parveen Kumar, had been listed along with his father on an initial charge sheet after the bus driver was robbed, police in the eastern Indian state of Bihar said Friday.

The baby had been charged with robbery, extortion and banditry, said local superintendent of police Rattan Sajai.

Though the robbery in the remote village of Muzzafarpur occurred Sept. 19, the fact that a prime suspect was an infant only came to light recently when police launched their investigation, Sanjai said.

Police blamed the bus driver, saying he reported the baby as a conspirator because of a personal grudge he had with the father.

The charges against the boy have since been dropped, Sanjai said.
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TALK ABOUT SHELF LIFE

Nutritionist proud of 25-year old cupcake :eek:
A Chicago nutritionist who bought a wrapped Hostess cupcake in 1981. still has this cupcake of display at her nutrition seminars...fully intact..Bonnie Minsky kept the cupcake to show how trans fat prevents food from breaking down properly :( "The cupcake is a little hard, but still completely preserved", Minsky says. About 13 years ago a "little old lady" tried to stuff the snack into her purse at one of Mimsky's seminars.."I caught her red-handed"!!

The Buzz..Ken White..LVRJ
 
lol. That's gross. My dad (a science teacher) did an experiment with his students. Bought milkshakes from all different places, and let them sit in his classroom. After a week or so, the ones from McDonalds looked the exact same as before.
 
SURVEY REVEALS SOME STUPID RESUME TRICKS

A survey of executives by the Creative Group staffing service shows as many as 33 percent of resumes are riddled with types and 23 percent have too much imformation!!!
Blunders include one by the guy who said he could "speak English and Spinach" and the woman who wanted her future employers to know she was a "rabid typist" Other resumes include the one from the former executives vice president whose duties at his last job included "the smooth ruining of a chain store operation" One woman claimed she worked "party time as an office assistant" and one person listed his ability to "play Chop Sticks" on a toy piano with his big toe :eek: DUMMIE :lol:

The Buzz..Ken White..LVRJ
 
BUZZ BRIEFS

A man in Vienna, Austria, recently gave his ex-wife the finger!!he cut off his ring finger and presented it to her!! Facing assult charges the man as no plans to rettach the finger, claming he "not not want to get married anyway" JERKFACE :(

A burglar from Forrest City, ARK. got stuck in a window trying to rob an apt.. He was naked at the time...The robber got stuck between an air-conditiong vent and a window :eek: He said he was forced at gunpoint to break into the apartment by some man whose name he did not know.. ANOTHER FREAK :rolleyes:

The Buzz..Ken White

kwhite@reviewjournal.com
 
Here's one for Grissom:

Oklahoma Vets Use Maggot Therapy on Horse
Nov 9, 9:11 PM (ET)

STILLWATER, Okla. (AP) - Veterinarians at Oklahoma State University Veterinary Hospital successfully used maggots to clear away dead flesh from a horse that had been bitten by a rattlesnake.

"I'd heard of it being used on people," said admitting veterinarian Peggy Brosnahan, who had never tried maggot therapy. "When you have a critical case like this, it's beneficial to be open-minded."

The 16-month-old filly was bitten on the head by a rattlesnake, causing its neck to swell to five times its normal size.

After a few days at the veterinary hospital, the swelling subsided, but an area of flesh the size of a dinner plate began sloughing off the wound, which had deepened to near the bone.

The horse's owner, Janie Kaser, suggested maggot therapy. A California company shipped 4,500 maggots overnight, which doctors applied to the wound. The maggots clear away dead flesh without harming underlying tissue.

The horse went home Wednesday. Veterinarians expect the animal to recover.

-=-=-=-=-

And now to the assortment of kooks and freaks:

Men Allegedly Get Revenge on Ostrich
Nov 9, 9:03 PM (ET)

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. (AP) - A pair of men are facing animal cruelty charges for allegedly shooting an ostrich that attacked them when they trespassed on a ranch on Halloween.

Timothy McKevitt, 19, and Jonathan Porter, 20, pleaded not guilty in San Mateo Superior Court on Wednesday to the animal cruelty charge and misdemeanor possession of a loaded firearm.

San Mateo County prosecutors said Porter also is charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Authorities said the men and some friends were drinking Oct. 31 and decided to trespass on a ranch. One of the birds apparently grew incensed and attacked the group and injured both men.

The men later returned to the ranch with a rifle and shotgun and shot and killed the offending ostrich, prosecutors said.

Both men remained in custody on a $25,000 bond. A preliminary hearing for the pair was scheduled for Nov. 21.

-=-=-=-=-

Boy, 12, Takes 2-Hour Spin in Family Car
Nov 9, 9:09 PM (ET)

NEW YORK (AP) - A 12-year-old took his 7-year-old brother for a two-hour joy ride in the family car while their mother was napping. Instead of watching TV, like his mother thought he was doing, Kenny Rodriguez, accompanied by his brother, Miguel Pepin, cruised the busy Grand Central Parkway and even parallel parked before police finally found them at a friend's house.

"Kenny was angry with me so he drove to his friend's house," said their shaken mother, Carolina Rivas, 33, who works nights at a hospital emergency room.

The sixth grader "just loves cars and I think he got a little kick out of tonight," Rivas added.

"Thank God," she said. "I'm glad they're OK."

-=-=-=-=-

Brit Burns Bum With Firecracker
Nov 9, 9:37 PM (ET)

LONDON (AP) - A 22-year-old man suffered internal injuries after lighting a small firecracker he had inserted into his buttocks, paramedics said Thursday. The incident took place Sunday, when Britain celebrated Bonfire Night, traditionally marked with fireworks to celebrate the Guy Fawkes' gunpowder plot to blow up Parliament in the 17th century.

The man suffered burns and other unspecified internal injuries in the incident in Sunderland, 275 miles north of London.

Katherine Shenton, a spokeswoman for the North East Ambulance Service, said a caller had phoned in that the victim was bleeding after the firecracker exploded.

Several of the man's friends recorded the incident on a mobile phone. The blurry images show a man bent over with his pants down and a white flash as the firecracker explodes.

The Times newspaper reported the man is a soldier who recently returned from Iraq.

-=-=-=-=-

Man Uses Bug Story to Make Women Disrobe
Nov 9, 11:22 PM (ET)

WAUKESHA, Wis. (AP) - An unknown man has been bugging women - and police - by using an insect story to try to persuade women to disrobe. Police said the man, who remains at large, has told female workers in at least seven businesses they have a tick on their clothes and should remove clothing to find it, said Waukesha Police Sgt. John Konkol.

"We don't know what his potential gain is, if it's sexual gratification or he's trying to be funny, but it's a serious crime," Konkol said.

Hali Frankowski was working recently at Sunset Tan in Waukesha when the man came in and asked her to show him the tanning beds.

At one point the man told her she had a tick on her shirt, she said.

"He was like 'It's right there.' That's when he took my pants, pulled them down, pulled them over, and that's when I jumped and started walking toward the bathroom," she said.

The man left, leaving her stunned.

"You know some guy is violating your space. Just the most random story in the world," Frankowski said.

Police said the man has tried the trick in the Milwaukee-area cities of Waukesha, Muskego and Franklin. They said he seems to target younger women working alone in stores.

Police said in every case the man was wearing a green jacket with a tree-service logo.

"I hope he gets caught" Frankowski said. "He's done it to so many people and nothing has happened yet so far."

-=-=-=-=-

South Dakota Woman on Golf Cart Arrested for DUI
Nov 9, 9:08 PM (ET)

RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) - A Keystone woman was arrested early Thursday for DUI - after she was stopped while driving a golf cart. A Rapid City police officer was on patrol around midnight when he met a woman on a golf cart driving on the road.

The police report said the officer put on his emergency lights and tried to stop the golf cart because it had no lights and was a threat to traffic. The driver would not stop at first but finally did after she realized she couldn't outrun the squad car, according to police.

The woman told the officer she had borrowed the golf cart from friends at a party.

The officer smelled alcohol on her breath and tried to draw a blood sample as part of the new mandatory blood test, but when the woman became uncooperative, it took a couple of officers to hold her so they could get the blood sample, the police report said.

After the results were in, Tawanna Martin, 23, was arrested for driving under the influence.
 
Creepy.. silly.. and intersting ones Dynamo1

HUMAN REMAINS ON eBAY PROBABLY FOR THE 1800's

Port Huron, Mich...Mummified human sketal remains confiscated Oct 10. from the home opf a woman who police say was trying to sell them on eBay probably came from the early 1800's..from a Scottish collection. A Michigan State University anthhropolist said the remains probably were froma collection of anatomical specimens from Scottish anatomist Allen Burns, the Times hearld rerported!! The collection was brought to the U.S. in 1820 and has been housed at the University of Maryland. Polie said Friday that they did not plan to press charges...EWWWWWW :eek:

LVRJ
 
Don't try this at home, kids...

"A bad week for an unnamed man from Sunderland - The North East Ambulance Service has revealed that they were called out to a serious incident after a man attempted to launch a Black Cat Thunderbolt Rocket from his backside. The firework became lodged, resulting in some rather nasty injuries including internal bleeding and a scorched colon."


From the MSN UK homepage, Saturday 11 November (at 1am)
 
BIZZARE NEWS BRIEFS

A man's foot fetish has caused a woman a lot of distress in Stuart, Fla. The man enetered a home and licked the left big toe while she was sleeping!! The woman's husband woke up and chased the foot-fiend out of the house.. so far he hasn't been caught!!

A man in Batesville, Ark. was arrested for trying to use a fake $100 bill to buy cigarettes..The clerk was tipped off after he noticed that not only was the ink running but the president's face was missing :lol: and it had Bill Clinton's name written on it!! A police officer claimed "it was the sorriest bill I've ever seen"

A 26-yr. old man in Eugene, Ore. may have just broken the record for the largest rubber band ball every made!!! Steve Milton has spent more than a year creating a 3,300 pound rubber band ball that measured five feet tall and takes up half of his two car garage!!! (this guy really needs to get a real life) :( and WHY.. what's the point?

Ken White..The Buzz..LVRJ
 
desertwind said:
BIZZARE NEWS BRIEFS

A man's foot fetish has caused a woman a lot of distress in Stuart, Fla. The man enetered a home and licked the left big toe while she was sleeping!! The woman's husband woke up and chased the foot-fiend out of the house.. so far he hasn't been caught!!
Click to expand...

Hey, that sounds like an episode of CSI from season 6 :lol: (can't remember the name of the epi).
 
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