Category: Strange News
More school administrators with their head up the wrong place (it seems)
“Young Derek Jackson was suspended for an alleged violation of Bailey Middle School’s dress code because he had a close-shaved haircut.”
You can see what this is about at Pandagon. There’s even a haircut photo.
How can a kid’s haircut be too short?
(Or too long for that matter?)
‘Poppy Quarter’ Behind Spy Coin Alert
The harmless “poppy coin” was so unfamiliar to suspicious U.S. Army contractors traveling in Canada that they filed confidential espionage accounts about them. The worried contractors described the coins as “anomalous” and “filled with something man-made that looked like nano-technology,” according to once-classified U.S. government reports and e-mails obtained by the AP.
The silver-colored 25-cent piece features the red image of a poppy – Canada’s flower of remembrance – inlaid over a maple leaf. The unorthodox quarter is identical to the coins pictured and described as suspicious in the contractors’ accounts.
The supposed nano-technology actually was a conventional protective coating the Royal Canadian Mint applied to prevent the poppy’s red color from rubbing off. The mint produced nearly 30 million such quarters in 2004 commemorating Canada’s 117,000 war dead.
AP via EarthLink – Business News
There was a time when vets sold artificial poppies in the U.S., too. In any case, you’d have thought these paranoid contractors would have seen The Wizard of Oz.
Now my beauties. Something with poi-son in it I think. With poison in it. But attractive to the eye and soothing to the smell. Ha-ha-ha-ha. Poppies. Poppies. Poppies will put them to sleep. Sle-ee-p. Now they’ll sle-ee-p.
Thanks to Michelle for the tip.
I’ve had some mean bosses, but never quite this mean
RANCHI, India (Reuters) – An employer in eastern India beheaded one of his workers for failing to milk his cows, police said on Saturday.
Neighbors watched in horror as Upendra Yadav was dragged out of his house in Jharkhand state on Friday by his angry employer.
The employer’s father and brother held Yadav down before he was beheaded with a sword, police said.
The employer has been charged with murder.
Inquiring minds want to know
Women civil servants in India have expressed shock at new appraisal rules which require them to reveal details of their menstrual cycles.
. . .The questions at the root of the controversy are on page 58 of the new appraisal forms for the current year issued by the federal Ministry for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions.
Women officers must write down their “detailed menstrual history and history of LMP [last menstrual period] including date of last confinement [maternity leave],” the form says.
Americans Defeat Russians in First Space Quidditch Match
Click for larger image and to learn more.
And I’ve always thought coughing fits were required on planes
“A 16-year-old girl who caught a cold during a school trip to New York was kicked off her flight home because she was coughing.”
Yahoo! News, which has details.
Longest attack of hiccups
Stupid is as stupid does
In 1938, wallet manufacturer the E. H. Ferree company in Lockport, New York decided to promote its product by showing how a Social Security card would fit into its wallets. A sample card, used for display purposes, was inserted in each wallet. Company Vice President and Treasurer Douglas Patterson thought it would be a clever idea to use the actual SSN of his secretary, Mrs. Hilda Schrader Whitcher.The wallet was sold by Woolworth stores and other department stores all over the country. Even though the card was only half the size of a real card, was printed all in red, and had the word “specimen” written across the face, many purchasers of the wallet adopted the SSN as their own. In the peak year of 1943, 5,755 people were using Hilda’s number. SSA acted to eliminate the problem by voiding the number and publicizing that it was incorrect to use it. (Mrs. Whitcher was given a new number.) However, the number continued to be used for many years. In all, over 40,000 people reported this as their SSN. As late as 1977, 12 people were found to still be using the SSN “issued by Woolworth.”
Interesting Facts About Social Security Numbers at Money, Matter, and More Musings
The 40,000 are the same sort of people that some politicians would have manage their own social security investments.
The overhead compartments were full
“Here’s a creepy story. A guy is flying on a long flight. Six-hour flight, British Airways. Half way through the flight, he realizes the person sitting next to him is dead. Long flight. Six hours. Person in the seat next to him, dead. I say, ‘Hey, count your blessings.'”
Letterman Monday night.
Ever feel like these were the people in your hotel room last night?
SANTA CRUZ, Calif. – Santa Cruz County authorities have confiscated more than two dozen animals from a couple who were hoarding them in their motel room they shared with two children. Staff of the downtown Santa Cruz motel went to the man and woman’s room on Tuesday because they had not heard from the couple in more than a month. Inside they found 20 domestic birds, a cat and a rabbit. There was one dead bird in a cage and three others stuffed in the freezer.
Whole new meaning for ‘early-bird’ special
A brothel in Germany hopes to capitalise on the growing number of pensioners by offering them a 50 percent discount for sex in the afternoon.
The “Pascha” in the western city of Cologne has introduced reduced rates for sex sessions for clients aged 66 and above — provided they can prove they are old enough.
“All clients need to do is show us some proof of age,” said a spokesman for the brothel’s managing director Armin Lobscheid. “A ‘normal session’ costs 50 euros (34.20 pounds) with us — and we’re now paying 50 percent of that for these older guests.”
New Mexico Lawmaker Petitions to Restore Pluto’s Planet Status
The state of New Mexico could effectively secede from the astronomical community if a resolution to call Pluto a planet is passed.
Joint House Memorial 54 was introduced by representative Joni Marie Gutierrez, who represents Dona Ana County. It states that Pluto, the recently demoted object, “be declared a planet and that March 13, 2007 be declared ‘Pluto Planet Day’ at the legislature.”
Pluto was stripped of its planet status last August when a group within the International Astronomical Union voted to call the diminutive, far-flung world a dwarf planet. The decision was immediately and widely criticized by astronomers, many of whom have said it might not stand over time.
But could they dunk?
Back at the game, the halftime show was a big hit. Two male performers from one of the shows in town [Las Vegas] – the Bracket missed which one, but probably could not spell it anyway – walked solemly to center court wearing tight pants and no shirts. To the Bracket, that was daring enough. But they thrilled the crowd with several uncomprehensible feats of strength. The smaller man did a one-armed hand stand on top of the bald head of the other, did a slow motion dip and performed a slow 360-degree turn while his body was parallel to the floor. Then the smaller man, feet in the air, rested the back of his neck on the back of the other man’s neck, who was standing. Take a moment to picture that. With no hands, the big man knelt down on the court, looking as if he had an upside-down guy Velcroed to the back of his neck. The Brigham Young cheerleaders watched from the sideline, mouths agape. When they came out and the female cheerleaders were lifted into the air by their male counterparts, it suddenly didn’t seem so special.
Priests to Purify Site After Bush Visit
GUATEMALA CITY — Mayan priests will purify a sacred archaeological site to eliminate “bad spirits” after President Bush visits next week, an official with close ties to the group said Thursday.
“That a person like (Bush), with the persecution of our migrant brothers in the United States, with the wars he has provoked, is going to walk in our sacred lands, is an offense for the Mayan people and their culture,” Juan Tiney, the director of a Mayan nongovernmental organization with close ties to Mayan religious and political leaders, said Thursday.
Bush’s seven-day tour of Latin America includes a stopover beginning late Sunday in Guatemala. On Monday morning he is scheduled to visit the archaeological site Iximche on the high western plateau in a region of the Central American country populated mostly by Mayans.
Tiney said the “spirit guides of the Mayan community” decided it would be necessary to cleanse the sacred site of “bad spirits” after Bush’s visit so that their ancestors could rest in peace.
Maybe the Mayan priests could come to Albuquerque and purify the El Pinto. The restaurant hasn’t been the same since Bush started visiting it these past few years.
Sex in shop class
Indianapolis – For months it’s been a well-kept secret. But now Warren Township Schools confirm a disturbing case of sex in the classroom. The illicit activity has parents concerned and a district at a loss for words.
Shop class gives students a chance to learn outside of the book. But at Warren Township’s Raymond Park Middle School, two students engaged in illicit acts in view of goggled eyes.
13 Investigates was tipped off by a disturbed resident who writes:
“…during school hours in a classroom with an experienced teacher present, two sixth graders completed the act of intercourse…at least ten students were witnesses. No disciplinary actions were taken against the teacher… All teachers were told to keep quiet.”
NewMexiKen is quite disturbed by this story. When I was in junior-high shop class I spent my time making a copper ash tray and a plaque for an award I’d won.
Report: ‘only a matter of time’ before whale kills a trainer
Although SeaWorld Adventure Park has done a good job of preparing its trainers to work with killer whales, it is “only a matter of time” before a whale kills one, state investigators have concluded after examining a November incident in which a trainer was dragged under water and nearly drowned.
“The trainers recognize this risk and train not for ‘if’ an attack will happen but ‘when,’ ” says a report by the state Department of Industrial Relations’ Division of Occupational Safety and Health.
Word of this gets around and Sea World will be a hotter ticket than NASCAR.
Think twice before using hotel room coffee pots
Ask just about anyone in law enforcement, and they’ll tell you to be careful if you ever brew coffee in a hotel room.
“I know enough now that whenever I go to a hotel, regardless of how nice it is, I’ll never use a coffee pot,” said Marshall County District Attorney Steve Marshall.
Instead of brewing coffee, coffee pots are sometimes used to brew methamphetamine.
Convenient I suppose, but ick
A NASA astronaut who drove hundreds of miles to confront a romantic rival, wearing diapers on the journey so that she would not have to stop to use the restroom, appeared in court today facing charges that included attempted kidnapping, and was ordered released on $15,500 bond.
World’s tallest man saves dolphin
The world’s tallest man has saved two dolphins by using his long arms to reach into their stomachs and pull out dangerous plastic shards.
Mongolian herdsman Bao Xishun was called in after the dolphins swallowed plastic used around their pool at an aquarium in Fushun, north-east China.
Attempts to use instruments failed as the dolphins contracted their stomachs.
Guinness World Records list Mr Bao, 54, as the world’s tallest living man at 2.36m (7ft 8.95in).
But can he rebound and play some D?
New rules outlaw melting pennies, nickels for profit
Damn, and I had plans to put The Sweeties® to work smelting.
People who melt pennies or nickels to profit from the jump in metals prices could face jail time and pay thousands of dollars in fines, according to new rules out Thursday.
Soaring metals prices mean that the value of the metal in pennies and nickels exceeds the face value of the coins. Based on current metals prices, the value of the metal in a nickel is now 6.99 cents, while the penny’s metal is worth 1.12 cents, according to the U.S. Mint.
What’s 61 inches tall and weighs 85 pounds?
Nicole Richie under arrest for DUI.
It’s good to slim down in anticipation of all the holiday parties.
Why Didn’t She Just Call Nanny 9-1-1?
DECEMBER 5–A South Carolina boy, 12, was arrested Sunday morning after his mother called police to report that he had unwrapped a Christmas present without her permission. According to a Rock Hill Police Department report …, the child opened a Nintendo Game Boy, though he had been directed not to by family members. When the boy’s mother learned that the $85 gift had been opened, she called cops, who charged the juvenile with petty larceny. In an interview with The Herald newspaper, the boy’s mother, a 27-year-old single parent, described her son as a disruptive child, noting that she hoped his arrest would serve as a corrective to disorderly behavior at school and home.
Oh, destroy the building
… we thought you just wanted it shorter.
Video of botched demolition in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
(Reposted from one year ago because it’s so damn cool.)
That’s a Big Ol’ Boy
And the alligator is too!
But what I really want is a shirt that says “State Alligator Trapper.” That would be so cool in New Mexico. Click image to see larger version.
Read the details from the Orlando Sentinel. It seems the gator attacked some crackhead.