Strange But True Category
Weird, offbeat and bizarre news from around the world. Funny, strange & odd news stories that make you wince, laugh and fear for humanity.
Costa Coffee Salford offers its toilet as a birthday party venue
Anyone looking for a compact and bijou venue for a birthday party, a UKIP conference, an intimate wedding or just a place to mingle with fellow urban badger enthusiasts after work can head long to Costa Coffee in Salford. The toilet is available for hire.
Spotter: @ThePoke
Posted: 9th, May 2017 | In: Strange But True, The Consumer | Comment
How to recognise the artists of classic paintings
Spotter: antique-royals
Posted: 7th, May 2017 | In: Key Posts, Strange But True | Comment
Masturbation breaks on the NHS?
Good news for you in wanky jobs seeking a healthy and more socially alternative to a cigarette break. Wanking is the way ahead. And unlike smoking, you don’t need to freeze your knackers off outdoors.
Known as a ‘masturbation break’, psychologists believes it could be a great way to combat the stress of your job. While using such a pastime as an escape, perhaps from your boss who is constantly breathing down your neck, would provide similar benefits.
Onanism is now a pastime. Well, anyone who reads the Mail Online knows that already, right?
Spotter: Daily Mail
Posted: 6th, May 2017 | In: Strange But True | Comment
Press: ‘200 year old wolves return to Denmark’
Wolves are back in Denmark. The Telegraph has the scoop:
At least five wolves, including one female, have returned to Denmark for the first time in two centuries, a zoologist who has obtained DNA evidence said on Thursday.
Those wolves sure do live for a long time.
Posted: 5th, May 2017 | In: Broadsheets, Strange But True | Comment
Have our ashes pressed into an playable vinyl LP
When you die And Vinyly will work your remains into a playable vinyl record. No, they won’t turn your arm into a novelty stylus limb and play the wrinkles on your flattened face. You need to be cremated and have your ashes pressed into an LP.
If you want to, as the company promises, “Live on from beyond the groove”, it’ll cost you $4,000 for 30 copies of the record, each with a dash of you and running for 12 minutes per side. The one downer – other than being dead (vinyl never dies!) – is that you cannot “use copyright-protected music”.
But looking aside from the restrictions, as Dan Colman wonders, what music would you forever like to be linked with?
Spotter: Mental Floss
Posted: 3rd, May 2017 | In: Strange But True, The Consumer | Comment
This photo of a sleeping woman dropping her pizza on the Tube at 8am proves chivalry is dead
On the London Underground, a woman is carrying a pizza. It’s 8am. She’s dropped it. So what do you do. Yep, you take a photo:
Spotter:Twitter/@JamesAALongman, The Poke
Posted: 2nd, May 2017 | In: Strange But True | Comment (1)
How to survive an armed robbery by Jimmy John’s manager Tuker Murray
To Kansas, where a robbery is going down. The local police tells all:
At 9:15 p.m. April 26, 2017, officers with the KCPD were dispatched to the location at 3900 Broadway Blvd. in regard to an armed robbery. An unknown black male wearing a light blue hooded sweatshirt entered the restaurant, placed an order, then pointed a gun at the cashier demanding money from the register.
Meanwhile, all eyes are on the server. Just chill….
The mellow dude behind the counter is Tuker Murray, 24-year-old assistant manager at a Jimmy John’s Gourmet Sandwiches in Kansas City, MO. Here he is talking to KCTV5:
Posted: 1st, May 2017 | In: Key Posts, Reviews, Strange But True | Comments (2)
Man adapts car to let him piss whilst driving
One man has turned his car into a mobile toilet. With the power of hosing, need and creativity, he’s created a car you can piss in without soiling the seats.
Behold the Jeep Catheter:
If that’s Number 1, is this Number 2?
Spotter: Reddit
Posted: 1st, May 2017 | In: Strange But True, Technology | Comment
Indian minister gives 700 brides wooden bats to beat drunk husbands
To India, where a politician is equipping women with foot-long wooden bats “for beating drunkards”. The first batch of bats was presented to 700 brides during a mass wedding on Saturday.
As Gopal Bhargava handed out the gifts, he told the women that only after attempting to reason with their drunk husbands should they “let the wooden paddles do the talking”.
“You’re FOUR it now!”
The Guardian notes:
Bhargava said he wanted to draw attention to the plight of rural women who face domestic abuse from their alcoholic husbands.“Women say whenever their husbands get drunk they become violent. Their savings are taken away and splurged on liquor,” he said.
He’s ordered a further 10,000 bats to give to future brides.
But all might not be as it seems. The bats are the same type used to help clean dirty laundry. Yeah. It’s a trap!
Posted: 1st, May 2017 | In: Politicians, Strange But True | Comment
William Hitler: “Why I Hate My Uncle”
On Flashbak, there’s great story about William Hitler, Adolf Hitler’s Liverpool-born nephew. In a 1939 feature for Look magazine the Scouser explains why he hates his uncle.
Why I hate my Uncle, by William Hitler – Look magazine – 1939
A few highlights:
“Being very close to my father at the time, he (Adolf Hitler) autographed this picture for me. We had cakes and whipped cream, Hitler’s favorite desert. I was struck by his intensity, his feminine gestures. There was dandruff on his coat.”
“When I visited Berlin in 1931, the family was in trouble. Geli Raubal, the daughter of Hitler’s and my father’s sister, had committed suicide. Everyone knew that Hitler and she had long been intimate and that she had been expecting a child – a fact that enraged Hitler. His revolver was found by her body.”
“I published some articles on my uncle when I returned to England and was forthwith summoned back to Berlin and taken with my father and aunt to Hitler’s hotel. He was furious. Pacing up and down, wild-eyed and tearful, he made me promise to retract my articles and threatened to kill himself if anything else were written on his private life.”
“This is Hitler’s new Berchtesgaden home which I first saw in 1936. I drove there with friends and was shown into the garden. Hitler was entertaining some very beautiful women at tea. When he saw us he strode up, slashing a whip as he walked and taking the tops off the flowers. He took that occasion to warn me to never again mention that I was his nephew. Then he returned to his guests still viciously cracking his whip.”
“I shall never forget the last time he sent for me. He was in a brutal temper when I arrived. Walking back and forth, brandishing his horsehide whip, he shouted insults at my head as if he were delivering a political oration.”
Via Flashbak, which has more on William Hitler and why he wanted to join the US military and send his uncle to Hell.
Posted: 28th, April 2017 | In: Strange But True | Comment
Mafia used SMS text-message ticker at the bottom of a sports broadcast to get reach mob bosses
To Italy, where TV show Quelli che il Calcio (That which is Football) is announcing the latest breaking news on its below the faces ticker. It slo show SMS messages sent in by fans. The potential for upset is clear. But the Mafia saw an opportunity for messages to communicate with mob bosses in their prison TV lounges.
The show’s presenter, Simona Ventura, said she was “shocked” by the revelation, and said fans would no longer be allowed to send text messages when the programme goes back on air on Sept 12.
“It strikes me as pretty ingenious,” she told La Repubblica newspaper. “We opened up a line of communication with our viewers in order to give them direct contact with the show. It proved to be all that I had expected apart from the fact that it was apparently used to send messages to mafia bosses.”
Mafia bosses looking to communicate with their minions will now revert to the old methods of bribing the referee and letting the result do the talking, allegedly.
Spotter: Telegraph
Posted: 28th, April 2017 | In: Sports, Strange But True, TV & Radio | Comment
Ironton Tribune reports the deaths of three members of the ‘asdf’ family
Sad news from the Ironton Tribune, where three members of the asdf family have died. The paper also reports the demise of sdfa, not thought to be any relation.
Posted: 28th, April 2017 | In: Strange But True | Comment
The year my father got my mother a hoover for Christmas 1984
On Reddit, Mr-Irrelevance recalls Christmas 1984, when his father gifted his mother a hoover. The picture of her present is fabulous.
Below the photo, others share their gift memories:
When I was a kid my dad pulled something similar. Mom had been dropping hints for months that she wanted speakers in the kitchen. Christmas morning arrives and Dad gives Mom her big present! I remember her saying “oh I wonder what this is!?” with a big smile on her face as she began to open it. When she realized what it really was the smile faded and the twinkle was gone from her eyes. Instead of speakers dad had gotten her a fucking ironing board. She looked at him hoping it was a joke but no…Dad was really that stupid. The next day Dad went out and bought some really expensive speakers. – foxpoint
I used to work for a charity and at Christmas we would have a stall in the mall where we wrapped up gifts in return for a donation to the charity. It was mainly men who used this service. I always remember the elderly gentlemen who came over full of excitement that he’d found a present that he thought his wife really wanted – it was an ironing board cover. Not even a whole ironing board; just the cover. Imagining Christmas morning in their house made me sad. – TrappedUnderCats
Posted: 26th, April 2017 | In: Strange But True, The Consumer | Comment
Tires down a ski jump – alternative Olympic sports
With the UK’s olympic-sized Olympics budget under review – can we just embrace technology and go long on drugs and short on training? – Anorak’s on the look out for cheap and cheerful alternative events.
And here is one: tyres down a ski jump.
Posted: 23rd, April 2017 | In: Sports, Strange But True | Comment
Nigerian spy chief had $43m dollars in his Lagos flat
Can it be that the bloke whose been emailing you all these years has been caught? Police in Nigeria have noticed Aoy Oke, the country’s National Intelligence Agency boss, after finding $43 Million in cash at his four-bedroom Lagos flat.
Police also found $36,000 worth of British pounds and $75,000 worth of Nigerian naira.
Nigeria’s anti-corruption body, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, said it suspected the funds were linked to unlawful activities.
“It’s amazing what you find down the back of the sofa”
Oke’s been suspended from his job.
Oke has’t yet made a public statement, but unnamed intelligence sources told local media there’s nothing to see here, and the cash was just being held for covert operations.
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari isn’t buying it, and has suspended Oke pending an investigation. Vice President Yemi Osinbajo will head the investigation and report back to Buhari with findings in two weeks.
Meanwhile, that email about a pressing need to deposit tens of millions of dollars into your Post Office savings account might not be all that far-fetched after all.
Spotter: Foreign Policy
Posted: 21st, April 2017 | In: Money, Strange But True | Comment
Glasgow woman gives mouth to mouth to dying pigeon
To Glasgow, where a woman is trying to resuscitate a pigeon with mouth to mouth.
Meanwhile in Glasgow… #pigeonCPR pic.twitter.com/0zkUNguwwR
— Charlotte (@Charlismyname) April 18, 2017
@charlismyname spotted this ‘Glasgow kiss’ and tweeted that the pigeon was then eaten by a seagull.
You get your protein where you can find it in Scotland.
Posted: 20th, April 2017 | In: Strange But True | Comment
Air Canada bumps young boy from overbooked flight
Someone give Macaulay Culkin a hose down and get John Hughes on the phone: Home Alone has a sequel. Cole Doyle, 10, was on his way to Costa Rica last month. Travelling with his family, Cole was looking forward to sun, sea and sloths. But he was prevented from boarding the Air Canada flight because the airline had oversold tickets and bumped him from the passenger list.
His family hadn’t already all passed though checkin in, leaving young Cole alone at Charlottetown Airport. They didn’t put him on another plane – the wrong flight! – causing him to accidentally fly to North Korea. (Call me John , I have ideas.) They drove to Montreal in an effort to connect with a flight there. But that flight was cancelled. So they drove to Halifax, Nova Scotia, where they stayed overnight in a hotel and caught a flight the following day.
(John, the movie is writing itself. And get Chevy Chase.)
Air Canada has apologised and offered the family a C$2,500 voucher (£1,495), which expires in one year. The airline also paid their expenses.
An Air Canada spokeswoman tells the Vancouver Sun: ‘We are currently following up to understand what went wrong and have apologised to Mr Doyle and his family as well as offered a very generous compensation to the family for their inconvenience.”
It’s not all that generous, though, is it? Cash would have been better.
Posted: 19th, April 2017 | In: Strange But True, The Consumer | Comment
Videos of children being terrified by the Easter Bunny
Did the Easter Bunny bring you the egg you wanted?
Not everyone loves the Easter Bunny. On YouTube there are lots of videos of well-meaning / unhinged parents scaring the crap out of their children by dressing up in bunny suits.
Posted: 16th, April 2017 | In: Key Posts, Strange But True | Comment
Is Nothing Safe? Man accused of public sex with motorbike
Is Nothing Safe? To Folkestone Magistrates’ Court, from where the Sun brings news of a man accused of “‘trying to have sex with a SUZUKI MOTORBIKE’ in city centre”.
Which begs the question: if not a city centre, where is it ok for a man to attempt coitus with a motorbike? Should we all be aware lest we spot something nasty in the local bike enthusiast’s garage?
0 – sexty
The Sun explains:
Kevin Chapman, 33, is accused of exposing himself in a busy city centre while allegedly simulating sex with a sleekly designed blue Suzuki.
Like the slim ones do you, sir? Does the look of the bike matter? The paper goes on to describe the bike as a “beautifully-crafted vehicle”. This was not on ugly old bike. It was a racy number. The paper adds:
Kevin Chapman denies having sex with a motorbike and claims he was pushed into the vehicle while his trousers were down.
Kent Live notes that Mr Chapman also denies “kicking and pushing the motorbike and said he was pushed into the vehicle by homeless people”.
Chapman, from Ashford in Kent, pleaded not guilty to indecent exposure and causing criminal damage to the bike at Folkestone Magistrates’ Court. He had “no recollection” of indecently exposing himself on March 27.
Posted: 15th, April 2017 | In: Strange But True | Comment
The Internet of things: hacker makes all city’s emergency sirens go off at once
When everything is on the Internet, it might be wise to sleep with one eye open and beneath a tinfoil blanket. People living in Dallas didn’t get much sleep when a hacker triggered the city’s 156 emergency sirens – used to hail sever weather – to wail all at once 60 times from 11.42 pm until 1.17am.
Feel safer?
You might want to unplug that toaster. When Andrew McGill linked his toaster to the web, hackers plugged in. In a day, 300 hackers had attempted to control his toaster. “I switched on the server at 1:12 p.m. Wednesday, fully expecting to wait days—or weeks—to see a hack attempt,” says McGill. “Wrong! The first one came at 1:53 p.m.”
If it’s on the web, it can be hacked.
Spotter: Telegraph, USA Today, The Inevitability of Being Hacked
Posted: 9th, April 2017 | In: Strange But True, Technology | Comment
Artist turns the dead into pencils
When you die, you can spend eternity sliding about the bottom of a kitchen drawn, stuck down a sofa and having your head shaved into a point. Artist Nadine Jarvis turns human remains into pencils.
She takes the carbon left on the floor in crematoria and as part of her “research project into post mortem” turns the dust into pencils. It turns out that “240 pencils can be made from an average body of ash – a lifetime supply of pencils for those left behind”.
The pencils are not graded. Although it would be nice if the ‘H’ (for hardness) and ‘B’ (for blackness) could reflect the donor’s personality, disposition and lifestyle.
Spotter: Cribcandy
Posted: 27th, March 2017 | In: Strange But True | Comment
Man’s vanity plate banned for being offensive to women
Lorne Grabher is the victim of bureaucrats who saw his surname and thought him guilty of offence causing. Nova Scotia’s Registrar of Motor Vehicles banned Mr Grabher’s personalised number plate – ‘GRABHER’ – on the grounds that it could be “misinterpreted as a socially unacceptable slogan”.
Worse, he could have ben mistaken for the American President.
Mr Grabher protested. “The name on the plate was my last name ‘Grabher’ and has been in the family for over 25 years,” he wrote on Facebook. “This plate changed hands within the family three times with no issue but because one complaint was lodged Ms. Director of Road Safety used her authority to cancel my plate. Where does it state that my last name is considered a ‘slogan’ in the Motor Vehicle Act?”
The Department of Transportation told CBS the plate “some individuals interpret [GRABHER] as misogynistic and promoting violence against women. With no way to denote that it is a family name on the plate, the department determined it was in the public’s best interest to remove it from circulation.”
Might it also be wise to remove Mr Grabher from society lest he adhere to the cruse of nominative determinism, by which a person’s destiny is shaped by their name?
Incidentally, the man in charge iof Nova Scotia’s transport is Mark Furey. Approach with caution.
Posted: 26th, March 2017 | In: Strange But True | Comment
