News of the Weird

[Gregoshi]

It's Science: Zombie Fire Ants

That just rocketed to the top of my list of "Coolest Things in Nature".

[InsaneApache]

Not to mention that only their heads fall off. Don't ants have penises?

[Hosakawa Tito]

Wow, Night of the Living Dead for ants. I didn't know they had brains or penises

[seireikhaan]

nevermind...

[Pannonian]

Footballer has egg on his face

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

It has emerged that Rangers defender Kirk Broadfoot was treated in hospital on Sunday after an egg exploded in his face.

The Scotland player was inspecting two eggs he had poached in the microwave when one of them blew up, squirting scalding water onto his face.

[Caius]

What a way to kick again the News of the Weird thread.

[Lemur]

Disgraced Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich returns ... in shampoo form!

According to the website, the shampoo contains silk protein, keratin and panthenol to strengthen hair and add body and shine as well as vitamin E, and a host of extracts, including green tea, rosemary, comfrey and orchid (for their "anti-oxidant and stimulating qualities").

The end result is described as "a beautiful golden hue," a reference, like the name, to a particularly notable naughtiness he allegedly uttered on a wiretapped conversation.

While the idea may, indeed, turn out to be golden for Fath — he told me this morning he's received as many as 500 orders in a day and a half — don't think the preening pol that inspired it is making a dime from it.

"I've never spoken to him, he has nothing to do with it, and he isn't getting any money from it," Fath said when I asked about any sort of licensing deal. "But I've heard form people in his organization that he's aware of it and likes the whole idea." (Of course, he does.)

[Lemur]

It's almost father's day ...

Man tried to hire prostitute for his son, 14

LONDON - A man who tried to hire a prostitute to take his 14-year-old son's virginity as a present was spared jail by a court on Friday.

The Polish national took the boy out in his car and allowed him to pick out the prostitute, who was standing at the side of the road in the red-light district of Nottingham.

But the 42-year-old father was arrested because the teenager had chosen an undercover police officer, Nottingham Crown Court heard.

[Gregoshi]

Disgraced Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich returns ... in shampoo form!

Here's what I'd do...

[Aemilius Paulus]

It's almost father's day ...

Man tried to hire prostitute for his son, 14

LONDON - A man who tried to hire a prostitute to take his 14-year-old son's virginity as a present was spared jail by a court on Friday.

The Polish national took the boy out in his car and allowed him to pick out the prostitute, who was standing at the side of the road in the red-light district of Nottingham.

But the 42-year-old father was arrested because the teenager had chosen an undercover police officer, Nottingham Crown Court heard.

GAH!!!!!!! I just came over to this thread to post this story when you apparently got here faster.... Fail. Oh well, this story was a very likely candidate for such thread, as it is both sensational and on Google News, which I am apparently not the only user of...

[Husar]

I don't find that weird, I'd probably choose the undercover cop as well.

[Fragony]

If you didn't know it, Belgium has invaded our harbour-city Den Helder, a very big military excercise. They must have seen these americans on tv that are handing out candy at the kids. But what do you give kids if you don't have candy with you?

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

bullets! what else?

beyond hope

[Gregoshi]

Fragony, you simply MUST be the Missing Link. All scientific evidence points to it.

[Lemur]

Proof that ninjas are vulnerable to … marketing.

'Nicotine Ninja' Prefers Brand-name Cigs

Colorado's Jefferson County authorities are looking a man they've dubbed the "Nicotine Ninja" believed to be responsible for stealing $120,000 worth of cigarettes. Authorities said the suspect is completely clad in dark clothing and covers half his face with a black cloth when he breaks into liquor stores in the middle of the night. The man is believed to be responsible for 118 burglaries across the metro area during the last two years.

Authorities said he usually only takes brand-name cigarettes and ignores the generic brands.

[Lemur]

Giant Lizards Pose Threat in Florida

Nile monitor lizards, which can grow up to 6 feet long, are plaguing the west coast of the Sunshine State. The non-indigenous animals, which were introduced to the area as pets, are causing potentially deadly roadblocks at an airport and threatening the survival of native species.

[Aemilius Paulus]

Heh, as a Florida resident, I suppose I will have to watch out for those from now on... Just as long as my parents/grandparents do not know about this... They will freak out.

[Gregoshi]

Giant Lizards Pose Threat in Florida

...Nile monitor lizards, which can grow up to 6 feet long, are plaguing the west coast of the Sunshine State. The non-indigenous animals, which were introduced to the area as pets, are causing potentially deadly roadblocks at an airport and threatening the survival of native species.

The Florida Game Commission is reportedly attempting to counter the Monitor lizard invasion by genetically manipulating their own native lizard they've dubbed the "Merrimack" lizard. The Merrimack lizard with be iron plated and feature 8 cannons on each flank of the creature and an iron ram on the snout.

[Vladimir]

The Florida Game Commission is reportedly attempting to counter the Monitor lizard invasion by genetically manipulating their own native lizard they've dubbed the "Merrimack" lizard. The Merrimack lizard with be iron plated and feature 8 cannons on each flank of the creature and an iron ram on the snout.

[Lemur]

Porcupines + Sex = Bad

The law in the US state of Florida specifically forbids having sex with a porcupine, and for a good reason, as two tourists from Russia discovered while trying to break it. [...]

Two tourists from St Petersburg, Russia, decided to defy the wise instruction of Florida’s legal system and engage in lewd activity with the spiked beast, reports Tvoy Den tabloid.

The idea came to Anton, 32, and Evgeny, 30, after a long party with a lot of booze. A guideline into weird and outwardly dumb laws of different American states was its centrepiece, and the one about porcupines apparently caught the friends’ imagination.

“We’re here to have as much fun as we can,” decided Anton after a brief discussion, and the whole company went out into the Floridian woods in search of illegal pleasures. Unfortunately for them they found one.

The newspaper didn’t go into technical details about what happened next, but the next day both men, who spent the night taking a flight to Los Angeles, had to go to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. The diagnosis was hardly unexpected: porcupine needles in the genitals.

The damage caused by the porcupine fighting for its honor was horrific. Both Anton and Evgeny had severe inflammation and nearly lost their private parts. At least they didn’t have to answer to the law, having left Florida before seeking medical help.

[Hosakawa Tito]

Man, that has to be the leading candidate for this year's Darwin Award. Ohh baby that hurt so good.

[Fragony]

Oh crap the mother of all damage-claims

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencete...-ate-them.html

[Samurai Waki]

I'm suddenly hungry for Chimpanzee.

[CountArach]

This Trumps all previous lawsuits

$5bn: the cost of saying Donald Trump is a mere millionaire
Donald Trump's response, when an investigative journalist published a book alleging he wasn't the billionaire he claimed, was to fire off a $5bn lawsuit, a typically thunderous gesture from the orange-haired skyscraper mogul and star of the US version of The Apprentice. But when hauled before lawyers to give a testimony in the case and explain how he valued his empire, he gave answers that would have made an accountant blush.

In the 2007 deposition, made public before a court hearing yesterday, Mr Trump said he uses "mental projections" to estimate the worth of his properties, admitted exaggerating the success of his businesses ("who wouldn't?"), and says that his perception of his own personal "brand value" goes up and down with his mood. The upshot is that Mr Trump's actual worth is more mysterious than ever, at a time when he is fighting to salvage numerous property deals from the recession and has seen his Atlantic City casinos business go bankrupt.

Mr Trump says that anyone claiming he is not a billionaire is undermining his business, and that the allegations in TrumpNation, a book by New York Times reporter Timothy O'Brien, had cost him lucrative deals across the world. Mr O'Brien and his publishers were in a New Jersey court yesterday arguing that his lawsuit is ridiculous, and asking a judge to throw out the mogul's claims for $5bn in compensation and damages.

[Louis VI the Fat]

This Trumps all previous lawsuits

The NOTW thread is not for debate, but I can't help noting that Trump has got a point. His succes is build on projecting succes.

[InsaneApache]

As an aside, a trump is English slang for a fart. Just thought I'd share that with you.

[Vladimir]

Saudi 'Killer Chip' Implant Would Track, Eliminate Undesirables

It could be the ultimate in political control — but it won't be patented in Germany.

German media outlets reported last week that a Saudi inventor's application to patent a "killer chip," as the Swiss tabloids put it, had been denied.

The basic model would consist of a tiny GPS transceiver placed in a capsule and inserted under a person's skin, so that authorities could track him easily.

Model B would have an extra function — a dose of cyanide to remotely kill the wearer without muss or fuss if authorities deemed he'd become a public threat.

The inventor said the chip could be used to track terrorists, criminals, fugitives, illegal immigrants, political dissidents, domestic servants and foreigners overstaying their visas.

"The invention will probably be found to violate paragraph two of the German Patent Law — which does not allow inventions that transgress public order or good morals," German Patent and Trademark Office spokeswoman Stephanie Krüger told the English-language German-news Web site The Local.

Anyone want to try and chip all the illegals in the US? If you're contracted from overseas to do the job make sure you pay attention to your visa expiration date.

[InsaneApache]

Police have told of their relief after discovering a 999 call they feared could be a murder in progress was actually made by a 14-month-old dog.

Bailey, a Golden Retriever from Herefordshire, had run off with a cordless phone in his mouth and dialled 999 while chewing it, police said.

The operator raised the alarm when she heard heavy breathing and shouting.

"Come out or else, I'm warning you", were the last words she heard before the call ended and she alerted police.

Hide and seek

When the operator finally managed to call the number back, Jodie Halfpenny explained that her dog Bailey was to blame.

He had stolen the handset and run off into the garden to chew it, she said.

Ms Halfpenny, from Withington, Herefordshire, and her partner Jamie gave chase, but Bailey thought it was a game and hid behind the shed and refused to come out.

The call was made at about 1630 BST on 20 April just as the couple were ordering Bailey to come out.

'Potential murder'

Ms Halfpenny said: "Bailey chews everything he can just now, but we didn't think he could dial 999."

A spokesman for West Mercia Police said: "Staff thought they had a violent domestic or even a potential murder on their hands.

"For a few moments, they wondered what sort of incident they were dealing with.

"An operator phoned the number back hesitantly, only to be greeted by a very apologetic woman who confirmed that all was well and that the culprit was not her husband- but the dog. You just couldn't think this stuff up, could you."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/h...cs/8059349.stm

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

Saudi 'Killer Chip' Implant Would Track, Eliminate Undesirables



Anyone want to try and chip all the illegals in the US? If you're contracted from overseas to do the job make sure you pay attention to your visa expiration date.

I read the title first as "Killer Chimp"

[InsaneApache]

Paulo Serodio says he is.

Born and raised in Mozambique and now a naturalized U.S. citizen, Serodio, 45, has filed a lawsuit against a New Jersey medical school, claiming he was harassed and ultimately suspended for identifying himself during a class cultural exercise as a "white African-American."

"I wouldn't wish this to my worst enemy," he said. "I'm not exaggerating. This has destroyed my life, my career."

The lawsuit, which asks for Serodio's reinstatement at the school and monetary damages, named the Newark-based University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and several doctors and university employees as defendants.

Filed Monday in U.S. District Court in New Jersey, the lawsuit traces a series of events that Serodio maintains led to his 2007 suspension, starting with a March 2006 cultural exercise in a clinical skills course taught by Dr. Kathy Ann Duncan, where each student was asked to define themselves for a discussion on culture and medicine.


After Serodio labeled himself as a white African-American, another student said she was offended by his comments and that, because of his white skin, was not an African-American.

According to the lawsuit, Serodio was summoned to Duncan's office where he was instructed "never to define himself as an African-American … because it was offensive to others and to people of color for him to do so."


"It's crazy," Serodio's attorney Gregg Zeff told ABCNews.com. "Because that's what he is."

Serodio, who lives in Newark, said he never meant to offend anyone and calling himself African-American doesn't detract from another person's heritage.

Neither the American Civil Liberties Union nor the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People responded to messages seeking comment on the meaning of African-American.

The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary defines African-American as "an American of African and especially of black African descent."

"There are people of all races who are African," Serodio said, adding that he's never had a problem identifying himself as an African-American until that day in Duncan's class.

Zeff pointed out that Serodio only labeled himself after his instructors asked him to do so and was then penalized for it.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=7567291

[Lemur]

Take the money and run

WELLINGTON, New Zealand – Police are looking for a New Zealand couple who disappeared after a bank mistakenly put 10 million New Zealand dollars ($6.1 million) into their account.

The couple, who ran a gas station in the northern city of Rotorua, applied to Westpac Bank for a NZ$10,000 ($6,000) overdraft and had 1000 times that amount paid into their account. The two then withdrew some of the money and disappeared, Detective Senior Sgt. David Harvey said.

Harvey said Interpol has been contacted for help, suggesting authorities believe they may have fled abroad with the cash.