If you're out in public, and you see anyone dressed in hospital scrubs, be very afraid
C.diff and other superbugs linger, and most laugh off soap and boiling water. (Bleach works, though.) Even worse, if you're in the hospital, and the doctor drops by your bedside, you better be able to smell the starch on his lab coat before you let him touch you. In one survey, 65 percent of personnel admitted they wore the same lab coat for days at a time. Wall Street Journal Comments 'hospital_scrubs'
Mind-controller toy to hit the shelves this year
Mattel announced it'll have a brain-wave biofeedback thingie for sale (about $80), in which kids don headsets and grunt-think hard enough for tiny fans to blow icons in sort of a race. Evidently, the technology for this has been unastonishing for a while, and the only breakthrough here is getting the price down. Ottawa Citizen Comments 'mattel_mindcontroller'
Update on the Alabama sheriffs' inmate-feeding law
A federal judge in Alabama sent one sheriff to jail for a day to encourage him to stop exploiting that state law requiring sheriffs to spend only up to $1.75 a day per prisoner on food (and if the sheriff spent less than that, he can keep the difference). The New York Times has a big breakout on it this morning, but if you've been keeping up with your News of the Weird reading, you knew about it July [NOTW M066, 7-13-2008]. New York Times Comments 'alabama_sheriffs'
Recurring Themes (1) A British garbage hoarder died amidst the enormous rubble in her house, with the cause of death dehydration after she got trapped inside the pathway system she had created around the piles of junk and unopened merchandise. (No, this is a different dead hoarder from yesterday's.) (2) An Ontario court once again ruled (as do most American courts) that if you start being a father to a kid, and you later find out via DNA that the kid was a product of your wife's punkin' you out with another guy, you're still on the hook for child-support if you break up. Daily Mail///National Post Comments 'hoarder_childsupport'
More Things to Worry About
The "psychic detective" Gale St. John wants credit for finding the body last month of that F State toddler Caylee Anthony, even though it was actually a water-meter reader who stumbled on it; St. John said she was just about to discover the body there, too. WOFL-TV (Orlando)
New York City hypnotist Selena Valentine says she makes good money with her seminar entrancing and convincing rich New Yorkers that, notwithstanding the economy, they're still rich. New York Post
How difficult could it be for Vancouver, B.C., firefighters investigating the cause of a major blaze in the building whose street-level tenant was named Incendio Pizza? Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
The day before yesterday in Springfield, Ill., 200 state officials gathered for the Least Promising Gov't Program of 2009, "Ethics in the Workplace" (Bonus: reps from the governor's office were on the panels). The Southern Illinoisan
Comments on Things to Worry About? Comments 'worry_090109'
Your Daily Loser
We don't know the robber's name, and he got away, but not before he pointed that pepper spray can at the victim, pressed his finger down . . and spritzed himself right in the eyes. Associated Press via Des Moines Register Comments 'pepperspray_self'
Your Daily Jury Duty ["In America, a person is presumed innocent until the mug shot is released"]
Police in St. Petersburg need to get a 21-yr-old cold case off their books so they went and arrested this guy Tony Fantauzzi for the rape-murder. (He was the last person to have seen the woman alive, but that's hardly relevant here.) Tampa Tribune Comments 'tony_fantauzzi'
Professor Music's Weird Links
The fine line that separates diligent industriousness and pharm-level obsession has once again been breached: indexed photographs of hundreds and hundreds of major snow events across the globe. Digital Snow Museum Comments 'snow_museum'
Today's Newsrangers:Ian Pert, Sam Gaines, Perry Levin
Handy Bracelet Serves As Magazine Holder
What might be a convenience to readers is a unique wrist attachment recently designed for holding magazines and small periodicals open before the eye at arm's length. This novel book holder is a bracelet fitting snugly about the forepart of the wrist, to which is fixed a small bracket firmly supporting the periodical just as the "lyre" of a cornet supports sheet music.
The device is adjustable to any wrist and may be obtained in sterling silver or nickel, silver, or gold plated.
Posted By: Alex | Date: Fri Jan 09, 2009 |
Comments (3)
Category: Inventions
21 lottery wins in 13 months
Taduesz Krupa has grossed $186,000 on the Colorado Lottery Cash Five game in 13 months, but Lottery officials say he's clean (and lucky). "I have a system," said Krupa. "It is up here," he added, tapping his forehead. Actually, he did give the rest of us some insight on the system: He searches for "winning numbers" on the Internet! KUSA-TV (Denver) Comments '21lottery_wins'
Authorities say deathbed confessor was just BS'ing 'em
He said he was a child-killer. There was newly-poured cement in his basement. There was fresh, elevated dirt in his yard. There were bondage devices in his home. There was child porn on his bed. There were newspaper clippings about missing children. Clarice Starling says, Whoa! But Milwaukee Police say nothing to see here. Associated Press via Fox News Comments 'deathbed_confessor'
Indonesia set to make primitive Papuan men wear underpants
The men now wear the koteka (a phallic sheath made of dried gourd), but that's embarrassing back in Jakarta, whose Muslims are trying to pass anti-pornography laws. [First Link possibly not safe for work.]. Bild (Berlin) [Ed.: If you're not down with Bild as a source, here's more on the koteka from Australian Broadcasting Corporation] Comments 'papuan_koteka'
Recurring Themes (1) A new twist on the garbage hoarder: He died amidst the enormous, putrid rubble in his house, but the cause of death was dehydration after he got trapped inside the tunnel system he had created amid the piles of junk. (2) Some of the abstract art at the Brunswick Street Gallery in Melbourne, Australia, is priced from A$350 to $2,000 (US$250 to $1,420), but, Shhhh! It was by a 22-month-old girl. (Said the gallery owner: "[A] free-form approach [one form of abstract art] comes off a more intuitive base. And if you're thinking about [the free-form approach], perhaps a two-year-old can do it as well as a 30-year old") Daily Mail (London) ///The Age Comments 'hoarder_kiddieart'
More Things to Worry About
A Utah state senator thinks the state's strictest-in-the-nation alcohol laws are too lenient and now wants to spare children in restaurants the traumatic sight of drinks being poured by bartenders. Associated Press via Daily Herald (Provo)
A truck driver in Fort Worth, Tex., has just been murdered by a gunshot . . in another state . . 35 yrs ago (Seriously). Associated Press via Fox News
"Ya Can't Fight City Hall" is how the old saying goes, but if municipal officials in Polk City, Iowa, give ya trouble, ya can put up signs calling 'em "turds" and "assholes."Des Moines Register
He gave up a kidney to save the love of his life, and she rewarded him by having an affair, and now hubby wants his kidney back. WCBS-TV (New York City)
Probably-bogus story[Ed.: but it's got an x-ray with it (but on the other hand, the x-ray looks bogus, too)]: Romanian woman [Ed.: Never trust a news story emanating from Romania] said she fell, naked, butt-first, on a hairspray can and . . .. Metro (London)
Comments on Things to Worry About? Comments 'worry_090108'
Your Daily Loser
How to tell AWI (whether Alcohol Was Involved) in a story: The perp (Scott Russell, 47) was charged with gnawing the hood of a police car. WPTZ-TV (Burlington, Vt.) Comments 'gnawed_copcar'
Your Daily Jury Duty ["In America, a person is presumed innocent until the mug shot is released"]
Alton Smith might be a man just trying to raise a family and engaging in the hobby of photography, or he could be a really bad man. CFNews13 (Orlando) Comments 'alton_smith'
Correction
In yesterday's top story, Raed Jarrar did not miss his flight on JetBlue; he was, however, forced to cover his t-shirt and was exiled to the back of the plane. If he had refused, he would have been barred from the flight.
Today's Newsrangers: Paul Music, Mark Neunder, Cindy Hildebrand, Steve Miller, Sandy Pearlman
Recent comments here at WU have speculated on why males like to blow things up. Here's a toy, designed to be destroyed, that helps teach such behavior--or maybe just caters to pre-existing tendencies.
Not sure about any subtext to a VW named "Bugg-em."
The theory, argued by Prof. Ferenc Szasz of the University of New Mexico, is that modern rap music derives from the ancient Caledonian art of "flyting", in which rival poets hurled obscene rhyming insults at each other. From the Telegraph:
Scottish slave owners took the tradition with them to the United States, where it was adopted and developed by slaves, emerging many years later as rap. Professor Szasz is convinced there is a clear link between this tradition for settling scores in Scotland and rap battles, which were famously portrayed in Eminem's 2002 movie 8 Mile.
The more conventional theory is that the roots of rap music trace back to ancient West African poets called "griots". From Wikipedia:
the griots of West Africa were delivering stories rhythmically, over drums and sparse instrumentation. Because of the time that has passed since the griots of old, the connections between rap and the African griots are widely established, but not clear-cut. However, such connections have been acknowledged by rappers, modern day "griots", spoken word artists, mainstream news sources, and academics.
Actually, given the big gap in time between these two possible origins and the emergence of rap in the 1970s, both theories sound a little iffy to me.
A time-lapse movie of a decomposing pig, taken by Dr. Jerry Payne in the 1960s as part of his graduate studies. It's four days compressed into six minutes. Not much happens at first, but around the 3 minute mark things get pretty interesting. There's a nasty little surprise at the end as well. (Note: the pig died of natural causes.)
The purple dots that appear around 2:40 are beads to show the movement of soil by insects.
You may not want to watch this while you're eating a meal.
Paul Di Filippo
Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over thirty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. He has recently begun blogging on many curious topics with three fellow writers at The Inferior 4+1.
Chuck Shepherd
Chuck is the purveyor of News of the Weird, the syndicated column which for decades has set the gold-standard for reporting on oddities and the bizarre.
Our banner was drawn by the legendary underground cartoonist Rick Altergott.
I can see the utility of a book holder. Often use them myself. But a book holder on your wrist? Maybe if you wanted to read while driving... 
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