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.
Cross Dressing In Sweden: Equal Road Crossings For Equal Rights
WHJAT news from Sweden?
Well, a pioneer in gender equality, is planning to introduce a green icon of a woman walking at traffic lights across the country…
Municipalities will be allowed to choose whether they want to post the sign with the woman or the man, or both.
“The Swedish government has asked the Swedish Road Administration to design the new sign. The administration should get back to us October 1 with proposals,” a spokeswoman for the infrastructure ministry told AFP.
Men in skirts and women in sensible sheos are advised not to dither but cross as smartly as their footwear will allow…
Posted: 27th, May 2008 | In: Strange But True | Comments (8)
I Married The Berlin Wall
IN I Was A Berlin Wall Bride, Eija-Riitta Berliner-Mauer, tells us how she married the Berlin Wall.
Berliner-Mayer, German for Berlin Wall, tells the Sun: “I find long slim, things with horizontal lines very sexy.”
Casting a leer over your garden fence and the protracted third runway at Heathrow Airport, she continues: “The Great Wall of China’s attractive, but he’s too thick…
“It’s not just pleasuring myself. I want to please my partner when we make love.”
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 27th, May 2008 | In: Strange But True, Tabloids | Comments (5)
Japan Gives Travellers Free Cannabis
LET no man say Japan is an inhospitable nation. There goes one passenger strolling through Narita airport, 142g of complimentary cannabis tucked securely away in his bags.
A customs officer has selected the bag at random, taking care to hide the package so well that sniffer dogs on a training exercise fail to detect it.
“This case was extremely regrettable. I would like to deeply apologise,” says Narita International Airport’s customs head Manpei Tanaka.
“I knew that using passengers’ bags is prohibited, but I did it because I wanted to improve the sniffer dog’s ability,” the officer is quoted as saying. “The dogs have always been able to find it before… I became overconfident that it would work.”
Next time, we advise the officer to hid the package in the bags of someone who look suspicious, like a young Robin Day, a swarthy man with a beard or a pasty veiny man with the complexion of ripe stilton.
Anorak believes all inbound arrivals to the UK should be asked not if they have packed their bags but if they have ever been a celebrity?
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 26th, May 2008 | In: Strange But True | Comments (2)
They Jump Over Babies In Burgos
IN Castrillo de Murcia, near Burgos (ha sido a Butgos?), men have been jumping over babies.
The jumpers are dressed as the Colacho, a character representing the Devil.
Says the BBC: “Nobody appeared to get hurt in this year’s festive event.”
Spain’s Got Talent…
Posted: 26th, May 2008 | In: Strange But True | Comment (1)
Keeping Swiss Time: Euthanasia And Time
THE Swiss run like clockwork:
Every day at exactly nine, 12 and four, the offices were all empty, and the elevators up to the staff restaurant were all full.
Why? Morning coffee, lunch and afternoon coffee it turned out. Always at the same time.
Not because the company ordered it but because the Swiss do it that way.
They have legalised euthanasia in Switzerland…
Posted: 25th, May 2008 | In: Strange But True | Comment (1)
The Sun Human Mole Con
RAYMOND Shepherd is the Sun’s “human mole”.
No, not that kind of mole – Mr Shepherd has not been grafted onto a piece of skin, a mouse’s ear or busty Dannniii’s breast; and he’s never been a member of the security services.
Mr Shepherd “can’t stop digging holes in his garden”.
The Sun says the pensioner was hit by a court order forcing him to stop burrowing. His digging has warned him a 90-day prison sentence, suspended until 2017.
The Sun says the “saga” began in 1988 when Shepherd got permission for his kitchen changes. In 2002, it was discovered that his initial digging broke planning rules.
He was fined £3,000 for failing to restore the garden and spent 28 days in jail in 2004 for the same offence. He then dug another hole at his bungalow in Oxenholme, Cumbria.
It turns out that Mr Shepherd is about as much like a mole as her is a horse, bat or bluebottle. Readers expecting tabloid shockers have every reason to feel cheated.
Unless, of course, moles are moving above ground and working as builders and kitchen fitters. In which case, we apologise…
Posted: 25th, May 2008 | In: Strange But True, Tabloids | Comments (3)
Strange But True: Inflating Cambodian Children
TO Phnom Penh, Cambodia, where a father and mechanic “learned the hard way not to inflate children when he inserted an air hose designed to fill car tires into his 5-year-old son’s anus and blew him up”.
The Khmer-language Rasmei Kampuchea daily reported Try Sienghym was “playing” with his son Sok Sambo when the incident took place.
The paper said the child’s stomach became distended and his concerned mother rushed him to hospital, where he remains in a stable condition and is expected to make a full recovery.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 24th, May 2008 | In: Strange But True | Comments (4)
Pyjamas In Shanghai, And Dewsbury
SNAPPER Justin Guariglia has just published a book called Planet Shanghai:
The prevalence of pyjamas, Guariglia explained to me, was due to both the extreme summer heat and the lack of plumbing. Most Shanghaians share outdoor communal toilets and thus the boundaries of what was considered one’s home have expanded past people’s houses to the public bathrooms. Once that relaxation of the dress code became acceptable (starting around the 1980s) the perimeter for p.j.-wear just kept expanding until many people were wearing them day in day out.
They wear them in Dewsbury, too…
Posted: 24th, May 2008 | In: Photojournalism, Strange But True | Comment
Happy Bank Holiday: We’re Off To The Beach
Posted: 23rd, May 2008 | In: Strange But True | Comments (9)
Val Thomas Dies And Comes Back From The Dead
CAN you die and come back to life? Pay attention, Gordon Brown:
A WEST Virginia woman was being transferred to the Cleveland Clinic after walking the line between life and death. Doctors are calling Val Thomas a medical miracle. They said they can’t explain how she is alive.
They said Thomas suffered two heart attacks and had no brain waves for more than 17 hours. At about 1:30 a.m. Saturday, her heart stopped and she had no pulse. A respiratory machine kept her breathing and rigor mortis had set in, doctors said.
“Her skin had already started to harden and her fingers curled. Death had set in,” said son Jim Thomas.
The family were divying up her remains:
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 23rd, May 2008 | In: Strange But True | Comments (15)
When Bodybuilders Go Too Far
BODYBUILDERS: You can be too big:
Posted: 23rd, May 2008 | In: Photojournalism, Strange But True | Comments (15)
Scientology Can Be A Cult: UK Police Drop Legal Action
IN the UK, Scientology can be called a cult – because it is:
Legal action has been dropped against a 15-year-old who faced prosecution for branding Scientology a “cult”.
The teenager held up a sign which read, “Scientology is not a religion, it is a dangerous cult”, in May outside its headquarters in the City of London.
City of London Police said it had received complaints and warned the teenager to get rid of the sign as it breached the Public Order Act.
Human rights campaigners vowed to take action against the police.
Lawyers for the human rights group Liberty represented the teenager in his legal battle.
James Welch from the organisation said: “The police may have ended their inquiries into this tawdry incident but rest assured that Liberty’s inquiry will continue.
“Democracy is all about clashing ideas and the police should protect peaceful protest, not stifle it”…
Cult:
A Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) spokesman said: “In consultation with the City of London Police, we were asked whether the sign was abusive or insulting.
“Our advice is that it is not abusive or insulting and there is no offensiveness (as opposed to criticism), neither in the idea expressed nor in the mode of expression.”
A spokeswoman for the City of London Police said: “The CPS review of the case includes advice on what action or behaviour at a demonstration might be considered to be ‘threatening, abusive or insulting’.
“The force’s policing of future demonstrations will reflect this advice.”
Posted: 23rd, May 2008 | In: Strange But True | Comments (2)
The Man Who Has Sex With Cars
IT’S stopped snowing on Channel Five. The image has cleared to reveal a burly man having relations with his current “girlfriend”. John Prescott? It’s not Chris Donald.
No, that’s a white Volkswagen Beetle named Vanilla, and Prescott would not be seen dead with one of those.
It’s American Edward Smith dating a German model, but since British Leyland curled up its toes, what chance of him loving us? And Rover was ever a dog.
“I appreciate beauty and I go a little bit beyond appreciating the beauty of a car only to the point of what I feel is an expression of love,” says Mr Smith, star of My Car Is My Lover is on Five.
“Maybe I’m a little bit off the wall but when I see movies like Herbie and Knight Rider, where cars become loveable, huggable characters it’s just wonderful. I’m a romantic. I write poetry about cars, I sing to them and talk to them just like a girlfriend. I know what’s in my heart and I have no desire to change.”
And lest you mistake him for a freak, he assures one and all: “I’m not sick and I don’t want to hurt anyone, cars are just my preference.”
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 22nd, May 2008 | In: Strange But True, TV & Radio | Comments (5)
Really Stunning Pictures
SOME pictures take the breathe away…
Posted: 21st, May 2008 | In: Photojournalism, Strange But True | Comment
Ken Oyama’s Look At Japan’s Road Interchanges
PHOTOGRAPHER Ken Oyama has a fascinating album of Japan’s interchanges…
Posted: 21st, May 2008 | In: Photojournalism, Strange But True | Comment
Donkey Jailed For Ass-ault
THE law is an ass. And to prove it a donkey has been sent to prison in Southern Mexico for ass-ault.
To the state of Chiapas where two victims accuse the best of biting one of them in the chest and fracturing another’s ankle.
“All of a sudden, the animal was on top of us like it was rabid,” says a limping Andrew Hernandez.
“Around here, if someone commits a crime they are jailed,” says Police officer Sinar Gomez. “No matter who they are.”
Posted: 21st, May 2008 | In: Strange But True | Comments (6)
Google Maps And A Boy About To Shoot
GOOGLE is a company the prides itself on being fun. It’s the corporate executive in the 1990s shorts and location T-shirt.
In the 1980s, Google Man would have worn pastel jackets with the sleeves rolled up.
In the 1970s, he’d have had big hair and talked about “the Man”.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 20th, May 2008 | In: Photojournalism, Strange But True | Comments (10)
Pregnant Man And Boy Boobs: Thomas Beatie In Liverpool
THE Mirror leads with a picture of Thomas Beatie, the “the world’s first pregnant man”.
Says he: “Wanting to have a child is neither a male nor female desire, but a human desire.”
Although Johan Hari and this lot may take exception.
“I always feel bloated,” he continues. “Unfortunately there’s is no such thing as man-ternity clothes.”
While Beatie looks for a shell suit, over in the Times, the headline screams: “Obesity fuels growing ‘boy-boob’ problems.”
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 20th, May 2008 | In: Strange But True, Tabloids | Comments (7)
Chocolate Covered Bacon
I HAVE seen the future and it is disgusting…
Posted: 19th, May 2008 | In: Strange But True | Comments (2)
Hello Kitty Is Japan’s Cultural Envoy
HELLO Kitty is Japan’s “government envoy”, chosen to represent the country in China and Hong Kong.
Sanrio Co. President Shintaro Tsuji called Hello Kitty’s new appointment “an honor” and pledged to “work hard to attract many visitors” to the land of the creepy cat.
Hello Kitty first appeared on a plastic coin purse in 1974. It now infects some 50,000 products in 60 countries.
And be afraid. According to her official profile from Sanrio, Hello Kitty lives with her family in London…
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 19th, May 2008 | In: Strange But True | Comments (13)
Saudi Woman Divorces Husband For Looking St Her Face
TO the pages of Saudi Arabia’s Al-Riyadh organ, and news of the man who wants to see the face of his wife of 30 years standing.
He waits. And when she’s asleep he lifts her veil. What terrors lurk beneath, we cannot say. Some say she has an eye in the centre of her tongue and when the moon is high looks like a young Anthea Turner with her face trapped between a pair of lift doors.
The wife awakens. She is outraged. “After all these years, he tries to commit such a big mistake,” she tells the paper. She is now suing the peeping Tom for divorce.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 19th, May 2008 | In: Strange But True, Tabloids | Comments (8)
Drew Burrows Shares His Virtual Girlfriend
DREW Burrows gives hope to nerds:
It’s simple to behold — a single mattress, tucked into a dark, curtained back room of the showcase space. On it: a lithe brunette. She’s perfectly quiet, but once you sit or lie down, she responds to your every move. Lie on your back, she snuggles up right next to you in a log position. Curl up in the fetal position, she spoons. The only hitch: She’s 2-D. “Yeah, you can’t feel the girl. That’s the thing,” Burrows explained as he demonstrated his invention, an “infrared sensitive” light projection (meaning it reacts, and the projected woman moves, based on an infrared sensor) called INBED. “Still, it’s so nice if you’re tired and worn out to have someone to curl up with.”
Posted: 18th, May 2008 | In: Strange But True | Comment
Californian Man Sought For Garlic Glove Theft
THE CAPER:
4:09 p.m. A red-haired man with a beard and mustache stole a clove of garlic from an I Street cooperative supermarket, or so the staff believed. When he came back, an employee tried to take his picture, but the clovenapper reportedly tried to knock the camera out of his hand and in doing so, struck the employee’s arm. Police were asked to find the versatile garlic grabber/camera knocker/arm whapper and tell him not to visit his versatility at the store any more.
He came back – what for?
Posted: 18th, May 2008 | In: Strange But True | Comments (2)
Eunuchs On Trains: Aboard The 7:15 To New Delhi
EUNUCHS On Trains is not the new Hollywood blockbuster, starring Dr Fonseca from EastEnders, a foundation-heavy Russell Grant and the voice of Ringo Starr.
The scene is no less chilling.
Passengers aboard the 7:32 Great Western to Paddington may care to consider goings on aboard rolling stock in New Delhi.
New Delhi’s Railway Protection Force (RPF) are on the look out for miscreants extracting money with menaces.
“The on-duty RPF staff was asked to check the illegal activity of eunuchs who were forcibly taking money from passengers”, says Additional Director General in Railway Ministry Anil Kumar Saxena to the Times of India.
Says the paper: “Most regular train passengers have a horrifying tale to tell about their brushes with eunuch’s traditional antics of hurling abuses and even taking their clothes off if the required amount is not paid for.”
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 18th, May 2008 | In: Broadsheets, Strange But True | Comments (11)
The Roots Of Breakdance: It’s Like That For Soviet Dancers
THE roots of break dance.
OK, it’s not a comment on the media or the news but Old Mr Anorak likes it…
The Red Army is much misunderstood…
Posted: 18th, May 2008 | In: Strange But True | Comments (8)
