Around the weird:news of the bizarre

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Bad gift-wrapper solves problem on his own

Necessity is the mother of some inventions, but for David Bezar it was his bad gift-wrapping skills. Bezar unvented DazzleWrap, a product that turns a folded piece of paper into a beautiful gidt-wrapped package after he spent a few hours onenight trying to wrap his daughter's Christmas present. he says trying to get the tape, wrap and ribbon to go wheer he wanted it to, was just too frustrating, so he vowed to find something better. His product is sold in 100 stores across the U.S.

Diplomas given in Elf Studies in Iceland

A litle elf knowledge is a good thing in Reykjavik, Iceland, thanks to a man who teaches courses in Elf studies. For 26 years, Magnus Sharphendinsson has been headmaster of the Icelandic Elf School, where he teaches the finer points of the little people and takes students to areas inhabited by elves, faries and other "hidden peoples" (has this guy been sniffing fairy dust) Iceland's culture is so steeped in elf lore that it's common for road construction to be routed away from hallowed elf-ground :eek: (what the hell is that) for fear the creatures will take revenge on people who destroy their homes. Sharphendinsson has never personally seen an elf, but says many of his "more psychic students" have.. HMMMMM.. 26 years of doing this :rolleyes:.. how does one enroll & what are the qualifications? :lol:

The Buzz. Ken White..LVRJ
 
BUZZ LITES

A five year old boy in Hagerstown, Md. has been reprimanded for sexually harassing a fellow kindergartner. School officials say the boy pinched a girl's bottom and will have the offense on his record till he's in middle school :eek:

Parents of students at an elememtary school in Clayton, Ga. were shocked to discover a fourth grade teacher was tying up misbehaving students by the wrists and escorting them around a museum!!

A teen in Lancashire, England, is facing prison time for setting his friends butt on fire :eek: at a party. Kenneth wallwork sprayed his sleeping friends backside with lighter fluid and thought it would be funny to light it!! The flames got out of control, causing his unsuspecting friend to suffer massive burns on his buttocks and backside!!! nice going :(

The Buzz..Ken White..LVRJ
 
THE FLUORESCENT GREEN PIGS.
December 29, 2006.

BEIJING, China (Reuters) -- Chinese scientists have successfully bred partially green fluorescent pigs which they hope will boost stem cell research, Xinhua news agency said.
A research team at the Northeast Agricultural University in Harbin managed to breed three transgenic pigs by injecting fluorescent green protein into embryonic pigs, Xinhua quoted Professor Liu Zhonghua as saying.
"The mouth, trotters and tongue of the pigs are green under ultraviolet light," said Liu.
Genetic material from jellyfish was injected into the womb of a sow which gave birth to the three pigs 114 days later in Harbin, he said.
China celebrates the start of the Year of the Pig in February.
 
PARROT'S ORATORY STUNS SCIENTISTS.
By Alex Kirby.
BBC News.

The finding of a parrot with an almost unparalleled power to communicate with people has brought scientists up short.
The bird, a captive African grey called N'kisi, has a vocabulary of 950 words, and shows signs of a sense of humour.
He invents his own words and phrases if he is confronted with novel ideas with which his existing repertoire cannot cope - just as a human child would do.
N'kisi is believed to be one of the most advanced users of human language in the animal world.
About 100 words are needed for half of all reading in English, so if N'kisi could read he would be able to cope with a wide range of material.
He uses words in context, with past, present and future tenses, and is often inventive.
One N'kisi-ism was "flied" for "flew", and another "pretty smell medicine" to describe the aromatherapy oils used by his owner, an artist based in New York.
When he first met Dr Jane Goodall, the renowned chimpanzee expert, after seeing her in a picture with apes, N'kisi said: "Got a chimp?"
He appears to fancy himself as a humourist. When another parrot hung upside down from its perch, he commented: "You got to put this bird on the camera."
Dr Goodall says N'kisi's verbal fireworks are an "outstanding example of interspecies communication".
In an experiment, the bird and his owner were put in separate rooms and filmed as the artist opened random envelopes containing picture cards.
Analysis showed the parrot had used appropriate keywords three times more often than would be likely by chance.
This was despite the researchers discounting responses like "What ya doing on the phone?" when N'kisi saw a card of a man with a telephone, and "Can I give you a hug?" with one of a couple embracing.
Professor Donald Broom, of the University of Cambridge's School of Veterinary Medicine, said: "The more we look at the cognitive abilities of animals, the more advanced they appear, and the biggest leap of all has been with parrots."
Alison Hales, of the World Parrot Trust, told BBC News Online: "N'kisi's amazing vocabulary and sense of humour should make everyone who has a pet parrot consider whether they are meeting its needs.
"They may not be able to ask directly, but parrots are long-lived, and a bit of research now could mean an improved quality of life for years."


Ouch,I think that parrot can speak English better than me !!! :lol:
 
CHICAGO - Federal officials say it was probably just some weird weather phenomenon, but a group of United Airlines employees swear they saw a mysterious, saucer-shaped craft hovering over O'Hare Airport last fall.

The workers, some of them pilots, said the object didn't have lights and hovered over an airport terminal before shooting up through the clouds, according to a report in Monday's Chicago Tribune.

The Federal Aviation Administration acknowledged that a United supervisor had called the control tower at O'Hare, asking if anyone had spotted a spinning disc-shaped object. But the controllers didn't see anything, and a preliminary check of radar found nothing out of the ordinary, FAA spokeswoman Elizabeth Isham Cory said.

"Our theory on this is that it was a weather phenomenon," Cory said. "That night was a perfect atmospheric condition in terms of low (cloud) ceiling and a lot of airport lights. When the lights shine up into the clouds, sometimes you can see funny things."

The FAA is not investigating, Cory said.

United spokeswoman Megan McCarthy said company officials don't recall discussing any such incident from Nov. 7.

At least one O'Hare controller, union official Craig Burzych, was amused by it all.

"To fly 7 million light years to O'Hare and then have to turn around and go home because your gate was occupied is simply unacceptable," he said.
 
No Bull: Take a Taxi by the Horns
Jan 3, 10:57 AM (ET)
By RICHARD PYLE

NEW YORK (AP) - For the rest of this week, New Yorkers can take a taxi by the horns. Not just the honking kind, but also the kind that bulls sometime use to flip people bold enough to get on their backs.

Five normally yellow cabs, covered in fake brown and white cowhide and decorated with bull's horns on the roof, lined up outside Madison Square Garden on Tuesday, part of a promotion for a two-day Invitational Bull Riders event on Jan. 6-7.

"It's hard to get noticed in New York," said Gavin Harvey, a cable TV executive backing the event. Through Sunday, fares will be free for anyone willing to hail a cab that looks like a cow on wheels.

Adriano Morales, a 36-year-old Brazilian who has won the world bull-riding championship, and two other ex-champions are among 45 competitors in the event. "I've been doing this 18 years - half of my life," he said between picture-takings with passersby.

In addition to Brazil, riders come from the United States, Mexico, Canada and Australia.

It will be Gotham's first experience with professional bull-riding, which is one of the fastest growing sports in the United States, according to Harvey, president of Versus, a cable channel that features various rugged sports including professional hockey and boxing.

"We like the tough stuff, the hard-hitting sports," he said. Professional bull riding, in which a competitor has to stay aboard at least eight seconds, "is as tough as it gets," he said.

Scores are based on how well both riders and bulls do their jobs. "The bulls win more often than the riders," he said.

Harvey said PBR has been compared to NASCAR racing, another heartland-born sport that has captured a large following across the United States. Whatever the similarities, they produce different kinds of exhaust.

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Oiled Prisoner Slips Out of Norway Jail
Jan 3, 8:23 AM (ET)

OSLO, Norway (AP) - A Lithuanian held on suspicion of theft in an Arctic Norway jail slipped out of custody - literally - by stripping naked, smearing himself with vegetable oil and sliding through the prison bars, police said Wednesday.

"He slipped through the bars on Christmas Eve," said Svein-Erik Jacobsen, operation leader for the Oest-Finnmark Police District. The unusual escape made national news in Norway on Wednesday.

Another Lithuanian, held as an accomplice in the same cell, also used the technique to try to slip out of a window of the Vadsoe Jail, but failed, apparently because he was too big. The men had managed to bend the bars slightly to gain more space.

"It was a good effort," Jacobsen said. "But all he did was get his head and part of his shoulder through the bars."

A police news release identified the escaped suspect as Yuris Sinkevicius, 25, and said he was 5 feet, 8 inches tall and thin. He remained at large. The statement did not name the second suspect.

Both were arrested in Sweden in late October on suspicion of being involved in an organized grand theft ring that had hit targets in northern Norway and Sweden. They were turned over to Norway, and were being held pending an investigation and possible indictment.

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Man Proposes, Then Allegedly KOs Fiancee
Jan 2, 9:18 PM (ET)

YORK, Pa. (AP) - A man who proposed to his girlfriend at a New Year's party allegedly knocked her out with a steering wheel lock just hours after she said yes, police said.

Stephen Mujerm, 40, of Lanham, Md., and new fiancee Victorine Taboh began arguing about 6 a.m. Monday as they drove home from the party in northern York County.

Taboh, of Laurel, Md., and another passenger were complaining that Mujerm was driving recklessly, police said. He then stopped the vehicle beside Interstate 83 in Springfield Township, where he and Taboh got out and began to argue.

As the confrontation escalated, Taboh began breaking the windows of Mujerm's car with a steering wheel lock, police said. Mujerm then punched Taboh and hit her in the head with the lock, knocking her unconscious, said police.

Emergency medical workers took Taboh to a hospital, where she was treated and released, police said.

State police charged Mujerm with aggravated assault, simple assault, reckless endangering and driving while under the influence of alcohol.

A phone number for him could not be located.
 
ROME - Scientists in Italy believe they have uncovered a murder — 400 years after it is thought to have taken place. Historians have long suspected that Francesco de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, and his second wife, Bianca Cappello, did not die of malaria but were poisoned — by Francesco's brother, Cardinal Ferdinando de' Medici, who was vying for the dukedom. For four centuries that theory remained just that — a theory.

But following a study into the affair, forensic and toxicology experts at the University of Florence believe they have uncovered clear evidence of murder by poisoning.

Francesco's "was a lethal dose, but progressive, and the symptoms were compatible with arsenic poisoning" Donatella Lippi, a professor of history of medicine and a co-author of the study, published in the British Medical Journal on Dec. 21, told The Associated Press.

As rulers, art connoisseurs and financiers of kings, the Medici flourished for centuries in the rough and tumble alliances of old Europe, ruling first the city of Florence then Tuscany from 1430 to 1737.

Francesco ruled from 1574 until his death Oct. 17, 1587, at age 46, 11 days after first taking to his bed and a few hours before his wife.

Scientists Francesco Mari, Aldo Polettini, Elisabetta Bertol and Lippi collected and tested beard hairs from Francesco's grave in the Medici chapels in Florence, as well as other remains found in clay jars in a crypt about 12 miles west of Florence. Bianca's grave was never found.

Tests on the beard hairs proved inconclusive — but samples of Francesco's liver taken from the crypt showed levels of arsenic that were "significantly higher" than those normally found in humans, the scientists said.

But if Francesco was murdered, who did it?

Experts say that, though there is no proof, Ferdinando was the only person with an obvious motive. He wanted his brother's dukedom and his behavior at the time was suspicious — for example, he took charge of his brother's illness, compiling the medical bulletins and minimizing the gravity of Francesco's illness in dispatches to the Holy See.

After their deaths, he ordered immediate autopsies — an unusual step which could have been designed to cover up evidence.

"These important findings, in addition to the historical data collected on the events before and after the almost simultaneous deaths of the grand-ducal couple, allow us to rewrite the historical reconstruction of those events," the study said.

"It sounds pretty reasonable," said Richard J. Hamilton, a medical toxicologist who is Chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Drexel University, Philadelphia.

"They've established what they have, they've done an efficient job of matching the DNA," said Hamilton, who read the study but was not affiliated with it. He added that the results were consistent with poisoning.

The only surprising aspect is that Francesco — who had an interest in alchemy and chemistry and was suspected of having poisoned his first wife — could have been poisoned so easily and so quickly, Hamilton said.

However, Angelo Moretto, a clinical and experimental toxicologist with the International Center for Pesticides in Milan, is not entirely convinced.

"They make accusations that are quite strong," he said. "I would have been more low key about it."
 
^ I knew some of those lab tests they perform on CSI takes some time, but four centuries? Hard to convict when the killer has turned to dust.
 
14-FOOT PYTHON ATTACKS HANDLER AT AQUARIUM

A 14-foot python bit it's handler and tried to drag her into it's cage duringa show at an aquarium and would not release the woman until a police officer zapped the reptile with a stun gun :eek: Alison Cobianchi, 18, was taking Chloe, a Burmese python out of her cage for her daily snake presentation Saturday at the Tarpon Springs Aquarium, in Fla. when the snake wrapped itself around her arm and waist EWWWW..visitors and aquarium workers kept the nonvenonmous snake from pulling her into the cage, but could not make it release it's grip till the police used their stun gun!!!great job... NOT :mad:

The Buzz. Ken White..LVRJ,
 
I found this article while I was actually looking for a different one, and it's somewhat old it's from right before New Years.

MANCHESTER, N.H.- Police say a man they pulled over for driving drunk continued to swig his beer during his arrest. Patrick Allain, 35, faces numerous charges after his arrest Monday night, the fourth time he's been arrested for driving while intoxicated. Police say he hit two other cars and initially refused to stop when officers tried to pull him over.

When he finally stopped, Allain allegedly continued to drink a 40-ounce bottle of beer, telling officers, "You can charge me with whatever you want. It's not going to stop me from drinking and driving."

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I saw this on the news yesterday morning, and I was laughing as much as I could. Since I don't have a full article for it I'll recap it as best I can, when I saw it I was very tired and sick.

A NH man caused an accident on a highway because while he was driving, he was also cleaning his gun which shot him in the leg. Clearly he's facing multiple charges.
 
Keep People Out of Wash, Label Warns
Jan 5, 2:34 PM (ET)
By DAVID N. GOODMAN

DETROIT (AP) - Don't clean your kids in the washing machine. Don't dry your cell phone in the microwave. And be sure not to read the phone book while driving. Those are among the winning entries in this year's Wacky Warning Label Contest, run by an anti-lawsuit group.

Backers of the right to sue have a warning of their own - don't be so quick to poke fun at labels, which help save lives. They say the contest is part of an effort to pass laws that shield businesses from liability for those they hurt.

The Wacky Warning contest winners were chosen from about 150 nominations received by Michigan Lawsuit Abuse Watch, said the group's president, Robert B. Dorigo Jones. The group picked five finalists, and callers to WOMC-FM's Dick Purtan show chose the winners.

The top vote-getter was a warning tag from a front-load washing machine.

"DO NOT put any person in this washer," it read.

Bob Wilkinson, the owner of a coin-operated laundry in Northville Township, a Detroit suburb, won $500 for the submission.

Wilkinson said he always wondered why the Huebsch Originators triple-load washer carried the warning and was told it was because of a suit over a death of someone inside a running washing machine.

"I've had little children who come in here and get into one of the dryers or the triple loaders," said Wilkinson, 66. "But nobody turns it on."

Americans are too eager to sue when something goes wrong, regardless of who's at fault, he said Friday.

(AP) In this undated photo provided by the Michigan Lawsuit Abuse Watch, the cover of the book shows the...
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"That company's trying to protect itself against some vicious lawsuit," he said.

A spokeswoman for the manufacturer said the washer warning label is far from wacky.

"A front loader is just at the right height - speaking now as a mother and not a corporate spokeswoman - for a 4-year-old," said Patti Andresen-Shew, marketing director for Alliance Laundry Systems LLC in Ripon, Wis.

She said there have been lawsuits filed against companies - "fortunately not ours" - after small children got into coin-operated laundry equipment and an older child started the machine.

The Center for Justice and Democracy, a group fighting legislation to limit the right to sue, said warning labels play a vital role in protecting the public.

"Often, it is only through lawsuits brought by injured consumers that manufacturers have been forced to place critical warning labels on dangerous products, saving millions of lives and preventing innumerable injuries," it said in a statement.

Warning labels are important, Dorigo Jones agreed, but he said unwarranted lawsuits lead to labels so bizarre that people ignore them.

"People are more likely to get hurt as lawsuit-driven labels get longer and more absurd," the contest organizer said.

Dorigo Jones wrote the 2007 book "Remove Child Before Folding: The 101 Stupidest Silliest and Wackiest Warning Labels Ever."

Second place went to a warning on a personal watercraft that said, "Never use a lit match or open flame to check fuel level."

There was a tie for third place between a statement on a Super Lotto ticket that said, "Do not iron," and a warning on a cell phone that said, "Don't try to dry your phone in a microwave oven."

Honorable mention went to a telephone directory with the cover statement, "Please do not use this directory while operating a moving vehicle."

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Bra Slows Bullet Fired Into Air in Fla.
Jan 5, 5:01 PM (ET)

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) - A woman watching New Year's Eve fireworks from a picnic table found out that her bra can do more than lift and support: It also slowed a falling bullet.

The .45-caliber bullet struck Debbie Bingham, 46, after someone fired a gun into the air about 20 minutes before midnight. She still needed stitches, but the wound might have been much worse except for the bra strap, police spokesman George Kajtsa said.

Bingham, who was in town from Atlanta, said she is thankful for the undergarment, which she said was "very cheap."

"I'd love to have a couple more of those bras," she said.

Bingham said she was listening to music and enjoying the fireworks with her daughter and son when she felt a sharp pain in her shoulder.

Then Solanda Bingham, 30, noticed blood seeping through her mother's white shirt, and they found the bullet lodged halfway into the gold-colored bra. The other half was barely breaking the skin, Bingham told WTSP-TV.

Kajtsa described the wound as a "big scratch with bruising."

St. Petersburg police were searching for the shooter to determine if the shooting was intentional, Kajtsa said.

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Ham sandwiches for everybody!

Man Kills 1,100-Pound Hog in North Ga.
Jan 5, 6:46 PM (ET)

FAYETTEVILLE, Ga. (AP) - A giant wild hog boasted to be bigger than the near-mythical "Hogzilla" caught in southern Georgia a few years ago has been killed in a suburban Atlanta neighborhood.

The hog hung snout down from a tree Friday in William Coursey's front yard, not far from where the avid hunter said he shot the beast. He said he hauled it to a truck weight station, which recorded the hairy hog at 1,100 pounds.

The Department of Natural Resources did not know whether the hog was a record for the state. "We don't keep records on hogs," said Melissa Cummings of the DNR's public affairs department.

But Coursey believes his behemoth surpasses the famed super swine shot and killed in 2004 that weighed in at half a ton on the farm's scales. A team of National Geographic experts later confirmed "Hogzilla" didn't quite live up to the 1,000-pound, 12-foot hype, saying the beast was probably 7 1/2 to 8 feet long, and weighed about 800 pounds.

The news of Coursey's kill got people talking about the enormous beasts that roam the state.

"Nobody keeps official records," said Daryl Kirby, an editor with Georgia Outdoor News. "But it's one heck of a hog."
 
Tabby cat terror for black bear.

A black bear got more than it bargained for after straying into a family garden in the US state of New Jersey.
The unwelcome intruder was forced up a tree - twice - by the family pet, a tabby cat called Jack.
The terrified bear was only able to make its escape when owner Donna Dickey called the hissing cat into the house.
Ms Dickey said Jack liked to keep a close watch on his territory and often chased away small animals, but one of this size was a first.
"We used to joke, 'Jack's on duty', never knowing he'd go after a bear," Donna Dickey told local newspaper The Star-Ledger.
"He doesn't want anybody in his yard," she added.
The bear was first spotted in the tree by neighbours who thought the 15lb (7kg) cat was just looking up at it. They then realised the bear was afraid of the cat.
After some 15 minutes, the bear descended, but was chased up another tree, before finally making its escape when Jack was called indoors.
Bear sightings are not unusual in the area of West Milford in New Jersey, which experts say is one of the state's most bear-populated areas
 
:lol: :lol: :lol: Good boy Jack.. don't mess with me :lol: :lol: :lol:

DRIVERS AVOID BOY PLAYING NEAR HIGHWAY

Indianpolis, In....Drivers swerved their cars and trucks into other lanes to avoid a 3-yr. old boy, wearing only a diaper and T-shirt, who was playing along a busy highway after wandering away from home while his mother slept, police siad!!Some morotirsts stopped along Interstate 465 pn the city's west side Saturday to take care of the boy until officers arrived, said Indiana State Police. The boy, Damon Dyer, was unscathed as at least half-dozen cars and a tractor-trailer rig, swerved into other lanes to avoid hitting him. Police said they traced the toddler to an apt. complex nearby, where they found his mother sleeping, and another tot, his 2 yr. old sister eating spaghetti off the floor :eek: Nancy Dyer, 33, was arrested on two counts of child neglect.. WHY do these kind of people have kids?.. horrible :mad:

The Associated Press
 
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