News of the Weird

Could be lot worse. Mike Hunt for example, or even Arthur Foxache. :wink:

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Originally Posted by InsaneApache

Could be lot worse. Mike Hunt for example, or even Arthur Foxache. :wink:

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The groundsman at Lord's cricket ground, Mr. Hunt, insists on being called Michael rather than Mike. Similarly, the former Glamorgan fast bowler Greg Thomas preferred to be known be his second name, Gregory, rather than his first name, John.

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The finest of the Central Scotland force were drafted in and spent five hours attempting to catch the birds. Their efforts were captured on the mobile phone cameras of scores of motorists. The police were not amused. A spokeswoman told The Times: “It is illegal to use a mobile phone while driving.” Officers had even noted down the registration numbers of the worst offenders, and 20 of them were to be charged. “Offenders will receive a fixed penalty of three points on their licenses and a £60 fine,” she said.

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Spoilsports. :laugh4:

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“The air was thick with feathers and policemen and chicken catchers, I’ve never seen anything like it.”

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:laugh4:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle2641841.ece

I really, truly wish there were some better photos of the Scottish chicken invasion. A good weird news day in the UK.

Meanwhile, a wannabe novelist was arrested after police discovered his girlfriend's torso in his closet, a leg in the refrigerator and bones in a cereal box. Officers also found the draft of a novel titled Cannibalistic Instincts.

Horror novelist suspected of killing, cooking girlfriend

Friday, October 12, 2007

An aspiring horror novelist was arrested after police discovered his girlfriend's torso in his closet, a leg in the refrigerator and bones in a cereal box, Mexico City prosecutor's spokesman said Thursday.

Police suspect he may have been responsible for two other mutilation murders as well.

Thee spokesman said Jose Luis Calva told police he had boiled some of his girlfriend's flesh, but that he hadn't eaten it. So that's alright then.

He said investigators were trying to determine if the chunks of fried meat found in a pan in the apartment were human.

The spokesman also confirmed other details about the crime scene released by the prosecutor's office Wednesday night: that body parts were spread throughout the apartment, and that Calva is being investigated in a total of three killings of women whose mutilated bodies had been found in and around the capital.

Calva told police he was a writer and poet - officers found the draft of a novel titled 'Cannibalistic Instincts,' the spokesman said.

Calva tried to escape when officers entered his apartment, but was struck by a car and had not yet recovered enough to give a statement to police, according to the prosecutors office. He was still hospitalized on Thursday, the spokesman said.

Police had come to Calva's apartment Monday to investigate the disappearance of his girlfriend, Alejandra Galeana, a 30-year-old pharmacy clerk and single mother. Her family had reported her missing on Friday and told police of her relationship with Calva.

Galeana's dismembered body was discovered in a closet; a leg and flesh from an arm were in the refrigerator, and arm bones were inside a cereal box, the prosecutor's office said.

Calva also is being investigated in the mutilation killings of an unidentified prostitute in April and an ex-girlfriend, Veronica Martinez - also a single mother and pharmacy worker - whose dismembered body was found in 2004.

After his arrest was shown on television, Martinez's mother went to police saying Calva had also been her boyfriend, and showed officers a picture of them together. Her daughter's body was found chopped to pieces on the city's outskirts, the prosecutor's office said.

Neighbor Fermin Cruz, 41, lived several floors below Calva, and said he 'seemed ill humored at times,' adding, 'one time he slammed the door on me.'

Artist has ear created in laboratory, grafted to his arm.

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...6c70da3b4a.jpg

Talk to the arm! Artist attaches 3rd ear

Published: Oct. 12, 2007 at 4:10 PM

LONDON, Oct. 12 (UPI) -- An enterprising Cypriot artist has turned the latest in medical technology into art by having a human ear created in a laboratory and implanted on his arm.

Stelios Aroadiou had a plastic surgeon attach the ear to his forearm, making himself a topic of conversation and a main attraction at his exhibit in the British city of Newcastle on Thyme.

The newspaper The Mirror quipped it was like “Van Gogh in reverse,” a reference to the famed Vincent Van Gogh’s grand gesture of slicing off his own ear.

The artist, who goes by the name Stelarc, wants to next plant a small transmitter in the ear and rig it to a speaker so folks can hear the actual sounds the arm-ear is picking up.

I nose about that one, I've been ic chin, waiting for someone to post this. Lets face it, if it was a rhinoplasty, this one could run and run.

As it is, I ear that this is only a leg pull. That guys got some neck.

:embarassed:

First chickens, now badgers. Maybe we should be thankful that at least they're not man-eating Basran badgers.

VILLAGE STRANDED BY RAMPANT BADGERS

Sunday October 14,2007

A FAMILY of broody badgers has left a quaint village “under siege”.

The animals have built a sett under the community’s only road, causing it to collapse, and now concrete blocks have been put in place to prevent motorists driving over the damaged street.

But as badgers are legally protected, stranded villagers in Dargate, Kent, have to wait for the creatures to do what comes naturally before they can reopen what they dubbed the “road brock”. The animals are capable of shifting vast amounts of earth with their hefty claws to put a roof over their heads.

A pub landlord said his predecessor was virtually driven out by the badgers.

Malcolm MacGregor, who moved in to The Dove last Monday, said: “The previous owner said he was losing £2,000 a week because of the badgers.

“People used to like to drive out to The Dove but, with the road blocked, the business went down. It’s ridiculous. The village is under siege.”

Resident Mike Pearce said: “We’ve been told work to remove the sett can’t begin because it might interfere with the badgers’ sex lives. What’s more important – a lot of randy badgers or the life of the village? It’s crackers.”

Felix Krish, who lives next to the hole, says it is the fourth time the badgers have closed the road: “There’s a lot of cost involved and then the badgers just move further along the lane.”

Local authorities need a special licence from Natural England, the Government’s wildlife advisers, to remove the animals.

Kent Highways spokesman Phil Scrivener said drivers took down obstacles and drove on, even though they risked serious damage to their vehicles.

He said: “Cars were driving over the sett and that’s why the road collapsed.

“The road closure remains in place while we apply for the licence. “We’ve had to put concrete blocks across the road because idiots will insist on driving on it.”

Natural England said special “badger flaps” have been devised to solve the problem without killing any of the animals.

A spokesman said: “This is a one-way gate put across the entrance to a sett. It allows the badgers out but prevents them getting back in. Once they realise they can’t get back in they go elsewhere.”

Due to a mix-up at the hospital, two moms have their newborns switched. Not so strange, right? After ten months, everybody figures it out, and authorities make arrangements for the children to be exchanged. The moms refuse.

But yesterday, Ms Trojanova was adamant she could not give up her non-biological baby.

"I cannot even begin to imagine a life without Nikola," said the factory worker.

"How can I now see her as someone else's child and not my own?"

Ms Cermakova, who is pregnant again, also insisted she would not hand over the girl she was given.

"I have loved my daughter for almost a year now," she said.

"This time cannot be erased from my heart.

"But I will learn to love my other, biological daughter too."

awesome :yes:

Here's a campaign I can get behind—the Campaign Against Senseless Signs!

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...uring_rain.jpg https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v..._edge_sign.jpg

English campaigners against senseless signs

September, 2007. London campaigners who fight for the effective use of English attacked a growing tendency for obvious and senseless public information posters and instuctions, such as a police sign: "Don't Commit Crime."

"They assume a lack of intelligence on the part of the reader - says their spokeswoman. 'Do not commit crime. Pay for your fuel' is hardly a deterrent to a criminal who has every intention of driving off without paying."

The Plain English Campaign cited other examples including:

• "Warning: Platform ends here" on the end of rail station platforms,
• "May cause drowsiness" on sleeping pills,
• "Warning: contains nuts" labelled on packets of nuts,
• "Caution: water on road during rain"
• "May irritate eyes" on a can of self-defence pepper spray,
• "Do not open door while airborne except in emergency" on emergency exit doors in planes,
• "Removing the wheel can influence the performance of the bicycle" from a Dutch bicycle manual,
• "Do not iron clothes on body" from packaging on a steam iron,
• Supermarket Tesco - which also warns shoppers that cream contains milk and that salted butter contains milk and salt - defended itself, saying it gave customers "all the possible information they should need."

The Plain English Campaign said politicians were also guilty of the trend.

"Politicians declaring 'We are taking the terrorist threat very seriously', or 'We are committed to improving the health service' is just rhetoric," he said.

He added: "Our advice would be say what you need to plainly and simply then stop. If nothing needs to be said, say nothing."

I would agree with their sentiment, but I'm guessing those signs exist because of frivolous lawsuits, especially from the states.

The right one is a joke :grin2:

(see the small print? "also, the bridge is out ahead" ~:))

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He added: "Our advice would be say what you need to plainly and simply then stop. If nothing needs to be said, say nothing."

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Gah. Should listen to his own advice before preaching.

It's official! Sarkozy is now divorced from Cecilia.

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French president and wife divorce

The couple's public appearances together have grown rarer
French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife of 11 years, Cecilia, have divorced "by mutual consent", according to a statement from the Elysee Palace.
The presidency's statement clarified an earlier announcement that they were to separate.

"What is intended by the word separation is divorce," it said.

The couple's lawyer said they had seen a judge to formalise the split and "there was no problem, they resolved everything amicably".

Speculation that they were to split had been mounting for months, with the media remarking on Cecilia Sarkozy's absence from her husband's side.

Cecilia Sarkozy has had a successful career as a model and parliamentary aide and has said that she never wanted to be a traditional first lady.

Both were already divorcees when they married each other in 1996, with two children each from their previous marriages.

"I don't see myself as a first lady. It bores me. I'm not politically correct," she said two years ago

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They have a 10-year-old son together, Louis.

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~:mecry:

On the upside, this might get SuperSarko in a foul mood, which might just make him go ballistic on those transport strikers. :smash:

Perhaps Sarkozy was lured away by Japan's "Best Bottom" winner?

Kaho Watanabe claims she wants to show the world that all Japanese women don't have small bums. But I gotta say, hers is pretty small by Euro-American standards.

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...ania/DD4L2.jpg

Well, I'm not complaining.

Pro-war supporters outnumber anti-military protesters in Berkeley. For non-Americans, this is probably one of the top, if not the top, liberal city in the whole United States of America:
http://www.contracostatimes.com/news...nclick_check=1

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BERKELEY -- Flag-waving demonstrators far outnumbered a group of peace advocates who were protesting a U.S. Marine Corps recruiting center in downtown on Wednesday.

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On one side of the street was CodePINK, Grandmothers Against the War, Berkeley East Bay Gray Panthers, Women in Black and other peace groups holding "no war" signs and chanting "out of Iraq."

On the other were military veterans, mothers and fathers of soldiers, members of the UC Berkeley College Republicans and Melanie Morgan, whose conservative talk show airs on KSFO. They waved American flags and chanted "USA, USA, USA."

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:inquisitive:

A fluke in that city, but still.

CR

I've never been to Berkeley but I doubt that it is more liberal than Madison.

My friend, I know Madison is liberal, but it's just the Berkeley of the midwest - like Saruman's Orthanc in the LOTR, a strong bastion, but pale and small compared to that which it imitates; Sauron's Barad Dur, the dark tower, citadel of evil, or in Berkeley's case - leftism.

If you still doubt which has sunk to a greater degree of leftism, check out some photos from this site:
http://www.zombietime.com/

Look for the ones on protests in Berkeley.

CR

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Originally Posted by Crazed Rabbit

Pro-war supporters outnumber anti-military protesters in Berkeley.

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In Berkeley, as in assembled in Berkeley, not from Berkeley, mind.

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This is 2007 and we supportour troops. We are not going to let CodePINK disgrace our military heroes," yelled Deborah Johns, a Granite Bay woman whose 23-year-old son is preparing to head to Iraq for his fourth tour of duty. "My son is a hero and so are all the others who served this country."

One of the peace advocates, Sheila Goldmacher, a Berkeley woman with Grandmothers Against the War, said she was pushed and shoved by the flag-wavers. "They have a right to be here, they do not have the right to be thugs," she said.

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Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

But why they would all waste their time waving flags or shoving aside those that don't is beyond me, 'cause teh squids are back and this time they mean business:

https://img91.imageshack.us/img91/3879/squidhs5.jpg

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Originally Posted by Louis VI the Fat

In Berkeley, as in assembled in Berkeley, not from Berkeley, mind.

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True enough, but still very weird-newsworthy.

CR

Don't we all love art. What a dontwantwarningpoints.

NOTE: No points, but certainly this warning - the link leads to distressing news and photos of animal abuse. BG

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

http://www.theginblog.com/2007/10/ar...-animal-abuse/

This comes as no great surprise

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Brits less popular after Europeans get to know them
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - A poll of Europeans showed people of different nationalities liked each other more after getting to know each other, except in the case of the British -- who became less popular.

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071018/...y5pJ8qDMrtiBIF

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Originally Posted by Fragony

Don't we all love art. What a dontwantwarningpoints.

NOTE: No points, but certainly this warning - the link leads to distressing news and photos of animal abuse. BG

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

http://www.theginblog.com/2007/10/ar...-animal-abuse/

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What an atrocity, a rape of all that is good. The artist should be tied to a chain until he starves to death. A mere hanging is too good.

CR

Abusing dogs is on the same moral level as abusing children. Animals have close to no rights, and they depend on us not to be cruel and stupid. The artist who killed this dog should be punished. Severely. Extra-legally, if necessary.

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Originally Posted by Crazed Rabbit

What an atrocity, a rape of all that is good. The artist should be tied to a chain until he starves to death. A mere hanging is too good.

CR

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Yeah but he is an 'artist' and he has 'a vision', and of course his art and the message to the world is more important then the slow death of an innocent streetdog that was trusting enough to be caught. I could go medieval on this guy without feeling too bad, in fact, quite the opposite, make a piece of art myselve.

extremily angry I am.

Even stretching my imagination to its absurd limit, I don't see the "art" in starving a street dog. He didn't even catch the dog himself. Not everything in a gallery or at an exhibit is "art".

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Originally Posted by Fragony

I could go medieval on this guy without feeling too bad, in fact, quite the opposite, make a piece of art myselve.

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Fragony, just make sure you do it at an art venue. :no:

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Originally Posted by Prodigal

This comes as no great surprise



http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071018/...y5pJ8qDMrtiBIF

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Now let's see.......I wonder if this had owt to do with it?

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even though the number of French participants in the survey was disproportionately high.

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:laugh4:

I've got two.

Maher Security Firm

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"Do we have some (expletive) security in this building," Maher yelled, "or do I have to come down there and kick his (expletive)?"

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Dumbledore+Grindwald= Destruction of Christian Values

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She was asked by one young fan whether Dumbledore finds "true love."

"Dumbledore is gay," the author responded to gasps and applause.

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Now this is what I call direct action for peace...

Women's panties threaten Burmese junta.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Ladies' smalls sap generals' vital energy

By Lester Haines ? More by this author
Published Friday 19th October 2007 13:36 GMT

The Burmese military is facing an unexpected threat from female opponents to its regime - a deluge of panties dispatched to the country's embassies in a "culturally insulting gesture of protest" against its recent crackdown on protestors.

According to AP the Panties for Peace initiative is not merely symbolic, since the the group behind the campaign - Lanna Action for Burma - claims "superstitious generals, especially junta leader General Than Shwe... believe that contact with women's underwear saps them of power".

Spokeswoman Liz Hilton (if she's a relation of Paris's then we now know where the heiress's conspicuously absent smalls ended up) said: "It's an extremely strong message in Burmese and in all Southeast Asian culture."

Hilton added that "women in Thailand, Australia, Singapore, England and other European countries have started sending or delivering their underwear to Myanmar missions following informal coordination among activist organisations and individuals".
Quite how many pairs of panties will be required before Than Shwe is rendered powerless is not noted, but the Lanna Action for Burma website is urging women to "post, deliver or fling your panties at the closest Burmese Embassy any day from today".

Reports that Britney Spears is an active supporter of Panties for Peace are unconfirmed. ®

Bootnote

The Lanna Action for Burma website also says: "After a day of tri-panty dialogue, deep in the golden triangle due to the popular demand, the panties are back."
Readers should note the "golden triangle" in question is a geographical reference, and not the popular Lindsay Lohan upskirt website of the same name.

We never have this much fun at Amnesty... :beam: