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.
Wanted: Blind Air Traffic Controller
SAYS the advert for an air-traffic controller at St Mary’s airport, Isles of Scilly:
“If you require this document in an alternative language, in larger text, Braille, easy read or in an audio format, please contact the Community Relations Officer.”
It’s political correctness gone maaad….
Posted: 11th, July 2008 | In: Money, Strange But True | Comments (4)
Matt Harding Is Dancing
DANCING:
The dancer is Matt Harding, the 31-year-old creator of the video, and with some New Agey-sounding music playing in the background, he turns up, grinning and bouncing, in 69 different locations, including India, Kuwait, Bhutan, Tonga, Timbuktu and the Nellis Airspace in Nevada, where he performs the dance in zero gravity.
He started doing it at work, years ago, when he was living in Brisbane, Australia. “I’d dance at lunchtime or during an awkward pause or just to annoy people,” Mr. Harding said. “It was sort of a nervous tic.”
Posted: 10th, July 2008 | In: Strange But True | Comment
Black Hole Is A Racist Term, So Is Angel Food Cake
THE term “black hole” is now considered racist.
Commissioner Kenneth Mayfield, who is white, said it seemed that central collections “has become a black hole” because paperwork reportedly has become lost in the office.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 10th, July 2008 | In: Strange But True | Comments (12)
Toyota Employee Worked To Death
A SENIOR car engineer at Toyota died from working too many hours. He succumbed to ischemic heart disease in January 2006.
The 45-year-old man was developing a hybrid version of Toyota’s successful Camry line at the time of his death. A victim of global warming?
In the two months leading up to his death, the man averaged more than 80 hours of overtime per month, his wife’s lawyers said. Workers in Japan often put in very long hours and “sudden death from overwork” is referred to as karoshi.
John Prescott, non-hybrid Jaguar driver, is 70.
Posted: 10th, July 2008 | In: Money, Politicians, Strange But True | Comments (3)
Vicar Begs Like A Vagrant
WE join the Reverend Derek Rigby dressed in a wig and some torn clothes, surrounded with lager cans and syringes. He has not shaved for three days and sports drawn-on tattoos.
Just another Sunday morning at the General Synod? Not this time.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 10th, July 2008 | In: Strange But True, TV & Radio | Comments (4)
Girl Wears Bat In Bra
BAT found in girls bra:
Miss Hawkins said she got dressed at 7.30am and arrived for work at the Holiday Inn Norwich North, near Norwich International Airport without noticing anything unusual.
“When I was driving to work I felt a slight vibration but I thought it was just my mobile phone in my jacket pocket,” she said.
It was not until her lunch break, at midday when she felt a strange movement inside her bra, which had been hanging on her washing line the previous night.
Bat in bra (The Telegraph, via Fortean Times)
Posted: 9th, July 2008 | In: Broadsheets, Strange But True | Comments (2)
Sex In Space
IN space, no-one can hear you…
Weddings in space could be right around the corner, and experts figure the inevitable cosmic consummation will be just around the next corner.
The Japanese firm First Advantage and the U.S.-based private spaceflight firm Rocketplane Global, Inc., announced last week they will host weddings in space for about $2.3 million (240 million yen) apiece.
For all we know, sex in space has already taken place. But NASA officials aren’t talking about that much.
…watching telly…
Posted: 8th, July 2008 | In: Strange But True | Comments (4)
French Tourists Are The Worst
IT’S not us:
Remember the tightwad tourist whose baggy shorts, frequent complaining and shouted questions about why none of the locals spoke any English made the ugly American the world’s Visitor from Hell? Well, it’s time for Archie Bunker to move over and make way for Petulant Pierre. According to a recent international survey, the French are now considered the most obnoxious tourists from European nations, behind only Indians and the last-place Chinese as the worst among countries worldwide.
Posted: 8th, July 2008 | In: Strange But True | Comment
New Zealand Hail The Great Queen Sheep
IN NEW Zealand:
New Zealand shopkeepers are being fleeced by fake 100 dollar notes featuring a sheep wearing a tiara in the place where Queen Elizabeth’s portrait should be.
Police said the notes, which all bear the same serial number, were crude forgeries but some merchants in Rodney, near Auckland, where they were circulating, were taken in, the Herald on Sunday reported.
Forgeries? Who’s to say how Her Majesty the Queen appears to Kiwi eyes? Anorak has hypnotised the barstaff at the Fox But No Hounds Lap Dance Grille and notes that the former colonials see Her Majesty thus:
Australians – A small bearded German man who looks best in ornamental gardens
South Africans – A figure of all the pastels, like an Opal fruit with a dash of sour lemon
Americans – Huge black ears atop a round face with a button nose and squeaky voice
Zimbabweans – Edible
More as and when we can get the staff
Posted: 7th, July 2008 | In: Royal Family, Strange But True | Comment
Indians Paid To Use The Toilet
OTHER than a side street in Rhyl and Bournemouth’s pedestrianised hub, the only place Anorak has witnessed a human being emptying their bowel on the street is in Indian.
Now we learn that residents in southern India are being paid to use the toilet. Spend a penny to earn a penny.
In Musiri, a town in Tamil Nadu, toilet goers are paid 10 paise (around 0.8 pence) for each “visit”. The doings are entered on a loyalty card.
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Posted: 7th, July 2008 | In: Strange But True | Comments (2)
SOS Turns 100
“Send SOS,” one of the Titanic’s radio operators supposedly said to another after the famous ship struck that infamous iceberg. “It’s the new call and besides this may be your last chance to send it.”
That “new call” is 100 years old today, and people around the world who owe their lives to that piece of Morse code may reflect this morning on its importance.
In the past century, “SOS” has become a firm part of popular culture used in everything from DIY programme titles to Abba hits. But it began life in a far more serious setting after being adopted by the international community on July 1, 1908, as the globally recognised distress signal for ships at sea.
Until then, the most commonly used distress call was the “CQD” signal, which was open to misinterpretation. After much deliberation, SOS was chosen to replace it because the signal – three dots, three dashes and three more dots – is such a clear message to send in Morse code.
Posted: 1st, July 2008 | In: Strange But True | Comments (13)
American Family Association Tampers With Tyson Gay
EVERYONE’S an editor:
Some far-right sites that subscribe to the Associated Press feed, for example, will use auto-correct to change “Democratic Party” to “Democrat Party.” This, of course, is because they have the temperament of children.
But the American Family Association’s OneNewsNow website takes the phenomenon one step further with its AP articles. The far-right fundamentalist group replaces the word “gay” in the articles with the word “homosexual.” I’m not entirely sure why, but it seems to make the AFA happy. The group is, after all, pretty far out there.
The problem, of course, is that “gay” does not always mean what the AFA wants it to mean. My friend Kyle reported this morning that sprinter Tyson Gay won the 100 meters at the U.S. Olympic track and field trials over the weekend. The AFA ran the story, but only after the auto-correct had “fixed” the article.
That means — you guessed it — the track star was renamed “Tyson Homosexual.” The headline on the piece read, “Homosexual eases into 100 final at Olympic trials.”
Posted: 1st, July 2008 | In: Strange But True | Comment
The Lobster Zone Claw Game
HOW do you choose dinner? For two dollars, ‘The Lobster Zone’ allows players to operate a mechanical claw in the hope of pulling up one form the glass case for dinner.
Winners have their lobster cooks and prepared a la mode.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) say the machine “turns torture and death into a game, pure and simple.
“Incarcerating lobsters in filthy tanks inside a boisterous club, making an abusive game out of their capture, and finally boiling them to death is every bit as reprehensible as tormenting cats, dogs, or any other animal,” says PETA vice president Tracy Reiman.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 1st, July 2008 | In: Strange But True | Comments (3)
Man Arrested For Striking Mother With Sausage
Gregory Allan Praeger was charged with battery on Saturday after the incident at a Hunters Creek home, according to a DeLand police report.
Praeger’s mother told police that her son was drinking and they got into an argument. She said Praeger picked up the pack of sausage and threw it at her, grazing the back of her head, the police report said.
When police asked Praeger what happened, he asked officers if they wanted him to lie, the report said. He then admitted that he threw the sausage at his mother, the report said.
It’s a meal out there…
Posted: 1st, July 2008 | In: Strange But True | Comments (3)
The Zhou Tiger: Faking Wildlife In China
IN China the big news is the “Zhou Tiger”, named in honour of Zhou Zhenglong, a villager in Shaanxi who claimed to have taken 71 photographs of the almost extinct South China tiger.
He received 20,000 yuan from the local forestry department for his “discovery”. Zhou also photographed a tiger’s footprint.
Who dares say China is an enemy to wildlife? The state-owned news and propaganda agency Xinhua lapped up the discovery.
The Forestry Department of northwest China’s Shaanxi Province released one image.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 30th, June 2008 | In: Photojournalism, Politicians, Strange But True | Comment
Police Log: Muggers Sues Victim For Damage To Bike
IN Cambridge, a mugger’s bike has been buckled by his victim’s mobility scooter:
The bungling street robber ambushed Pauline Pesci who was heading towards Milton from her home in Hazelwood Close, Cambridge.
Coming up from behind her on a bicycle, the thief attempted to grab Pauline’s purse. But his efforts were thwarted as the purse was firmly secured to the indicator bar on her disabled transport device. Instead of making off with his illicit gains he was pulled under her wheels and his bike mangled.
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Posted: 30th, June 2008 | In: Strange But True | Comment
CCTV Is Rubbish
THEY are watching you:
A spy camera, estimated to cost £10,000 and designed to catch fly-tippers, was cleared by council workers after it was concealed in a rubbish bag.
The expensive camera was placed inside a black bag beside a notorious illegal fly-tipping site. The disguise was so good that workers for Chichester District Council, West Sussex, cleared the camera believing it was genuine rubbish.
Which it was…
Posted: 30th, June 2008 | In: Broadsheets, Strange But True | Comments (2)
Internet Blamed For Rise In Middle-Age Sexually Transmitted Disease
CAUGHT in the web:
Viagra-fuelled over-45s having risky sex with people they meet through the internet are being blamed for a surge in sexually transmitted diseases among the middle-aged.
Growing old disgracefully…
Posted: 30th, June 2008 | In: Broadsheets, Strange But True | Comments (8)
Swedish School Bans Inhumane Pupil’s Birthday Party
TEACHER knows best:
An eight-year-old boy has sparked an unlikely outcry in Sweden after failing to invite two of his classmates to his birthday party.
The boy’s school says he has violated the children’s rights and has complained to the Swedish Parliament.
The school, in Lund, southern Sweden, argues that if invitations are handed out on school premises then it must ensure there is no discrimination.
The boy’s father has lodged a complaint with the parliamentary ombudsman.
He says the two children were left out because one did not invite his son to his own party and he had fallen out with the other one.
The boy handed out his birthday invitations during class-time and when the teacher spotted that two children had not received one the invitations were confiscated.
“My son has taken it pretty hard,” the boy’s father told the newspaper Sydsvenskan.
“No one has the right to confiscate someone’s property in this way, it’s like taking someone’s post,” he added.
A verdict on the matter is likely to be reached in September, in time for the next school year.
File under: see you at playtime…
Posted: 29th, June 2008 | In: Strange But True | Comments (4)
Ian Usher Sells His Entire Life On eBay
WHAT am I bid?
A Briton living in Australia has agreed a bid of more than £192,000 after putting his “entire life” up for sale following a split from his wife.
Ian Usher, 44, who left Darlington six years ago, included his house, car, job and friends in the online eBay auction, in an effort to make a fresh start.
The lot attracted a peak offer of 399,300 Australian dollars (£192,276) when bids closed early on Sunday.
Despite expecting higher bids, Mr Usher said he had “no regrets”.
At one point offers on the “life lot” rocketed to over two million Australian dollars (£1m) within hours of the sale’s start last Sunday.
However, Mr Usher and eBay were forced to introduce a registration system to weed out what were revealed as hoax bids, many of which were from the UK.
Up for auction was his three-bedroom home, in Western Australia’s capital Perth, and everything inside it, including his Mazda car, motorcycle, jet ski and parachuting gear.
What will he do with the money?
Posted: 29th, June 2008 | In: Strange But True | Comments (3)
Jesus Runs In India
BLESSED be the painters:
Thousands of people flocked to an iconic church in Mumbai on Friday (June 27), after people claimed a miracle was unfolding before their eyes.
Believers said a picture of Jesus Christ at Mahim’s St. Michael’s Church started ‘bleeding’ a dark red liquid resembling blood.
Police said worshippers claimed the heart of Christ in the picture first appeared to get darker and then a red liquid resembling blood began flowing from it. This resulted in at least 3,000 people from different faiths flocking to church till the wee hours of this morning.
One priest at the church reasoned that the incident might have happened due to excessive moisture leading the paint in the picture to run.
How we want to believe…
Posted: 29th, June 2008 | In: Strange But True | Comments (3)
Vegetarian Chicken
VEGETARIAN chicken. they’ll be pleased…
Posted: 29th, June 2008 | In: Photojournalism, Strange But True | Comments (41)
Smoker Gets Stuck In Smoker Hole
DON’T smoke. A man has dropped his lighter in a hole and look what happened.
We should pelt him with rotten veg, and if he ate some it might so him some good. But better to laugh – point and laugh at the sorry smoker.
Says an onlooker in the Sun: “We were all stood around this unfortunate man in the hole having a right old laugh.”
As it correct and proper…
Posted: 28th, June 2008 | In: Strange But True, Tabloids | Comment
Meteorite Hits Dusseldorf Busstop
IN Düsseldorf a meteorite has fallen on a bus stop. No-one was hurt..
Posted: 28th, June 2008 | In: Photojournalism, Strange But True | Comments (2)
The I, Libertine Hoax MP3
FANTASTIC:
Over 50 years ago, one of the greatest media hoaxes ever was foisted upon New York City and the world at large.
Overnight WOR-AM radio show host Jean Shepherd asked his listeners (“the Night People”) to go into bookstores and ask for a book that didn’t exist.
Armed with a fictitious title and author, along with a vague plot outline, the Night People got their hooks in wherever they could. Fueled by bewildered bookstore owners and distributors, I, Libertine eventually did end up as a genuine bestseller.
The crazy tale is recounted here in Shep’s own words on Long John Nebel’s radio show from 1968.
Jean Shepherd on Long John Nebel’s radio show (MP3)
Posted: 26th, June 2008 | In: Strange But True | Comment
