News of the Weird (July 2, 2017)

News of the Weird
Weirdnuz.M534, July 2, 2017
Copyright 2017 by Chuck Shepherd. All rights reserved.

Weird News is forever, but this is my last "News of the Weird" column, as I am now exhausted after almost 30 years in the racket. In this final edition, I remember a few of my favorites. My deep thanks to Universal UClick and to readers, who started me up and kept me going. Y'all take care of yourselves. // Chuck Shepherd

(1995) Chesapeake, Va., inmate Robert Lee Brock filed a $5 million lawsuit against Robert Lee Brock--accusing himself of violating his religious beliefs and his civil rights by getting himself drunk enough that he could not avoid various criminal behaviors. He wrote, "I want to pay myself five million dollars [for this breach of rights] but ask the state to pay it in my behalf since I can't work and am a ward of the state." In April, the lawsuit was dismissed. [Austin American-Statesman-AP, 4-8-1995]

(2002) The Lane brothers of New York, Mr. Winner Lane, 44, and Mr. Loser Lane, 41 (their actual birth names), were profiled in a July Newsday report--made more interesting by the fact that Loser is successful (a police detective in the South Bronx) and Winner is not (a history of petty crimes). A sister said she believes her parents selected “Winner” because their late father was a big baseball fan and “Loser” just to complete the pairing. [Newsday, 7-22-2002]

(1996) A pre-trial hearing was scheduled in Lamar, Mo., on Joyce Lehr's lawsuit against the county for injuries suffered in a 1993 fall in the icy, unplowed parking lot of the local high school. The Carthage Press reported that Lehr claimed damage to nearly everything in her body. According to her petition: "All the bones, organs, muscles, tendons, tissues, nerves, veins, arteries, ligaments . . . discs, cartilages, and the joints of her body were fractured, broken, ruptured, punctured, compressed, dislocated, separated, bruised, contused, narrowed, abrased, lacerated, burned, cut, torn, wrenched, swollen, strained, sprained, inflamed, and infected." [Carthage Press, 1-9-1996]

(2002) From time to time News of the Weird reported on the fluctuating value of the late Italian artist Piero Manzoni’s personal feces, which he canned in 1961, 30 grams at a time in 90 tins, as art objects (though, over the years, 45 have reportedly exploded). Their price to collectors has varied (low of about $28,000 for a tin in 1998 to a high of $75,000 in 1993). In June 2002, the Tate Gallery in London excitedly announced it had purchased tin number 004 for about $38,000. (The price of 30 grams of gold in 2002 was a little over $300.) [Sydney Morning Herald, 7-1-2002]

(1994) The New York Daily News reported in April on a cellblock fight between murderers Colin Ferguson and Joel Rifkin at the Nassau County jail. Reportedly, Ferguson (convicted of six race-related murders on the Long Island Rail Road in 1993) was using a telephone and told Rifkin (a serial killer serving 203 years for nine murders) to be quiet. According to the Daily News source, Ferguson told Rifkin, "I wiped out six devils [white people], and you only killed women." Rifkin allegedly responded, "Yeah, but I had more victims." Ferguson then allegedly ended the brief incident by punching Rifkin in the mouth. [Syracuse Herald-Journal-New York Daily News-AP, 4-11-1994]

(1999) At Last! A Job That Actually Requires Geometry! Commissioners in Florida's Seminole County and Manatee County passed ordinances regulating public nudity by requiring women to cover at least 25 percent of the area of their breasts and at least 33 percent of the buttocks, with detailed instructions as to the points from which each coverage must be measured. (Refresher for law enforcement: The lateral area of a cone is pi (times) r (times) s where r=radius and s=slant height; for the surface area of a sphere, it's pi (times) r (squared), and, alas, for a flat surface, it's length times width.) [Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 4-4-1999]

(1998) On the day before Good Friday, reported the Los Angeles Times, Dr. Ernesto A. Moshe Montgomery consecrated the Shrine of the Weeping Shirley MacLaine in a room in the Beta Israel Temple in Los Angeles. Inspired by an image he said he had while riding in the actress's private jet, Montgomery said a subsequent, large photograph of him with MacLaine was "observed shedding tears," which had inspired prayers and testimony of miraculous healings. [Los Angeles Times, 4-10-1998]

(2001) A child pornography investigation in Minneapolis turned up 1,000 suspect images on the office computer of a 58-year-old University of Minnesota classics professor--named Richard Pervo. [Minneapolis Star Tribune, 2-13-2001]

(1993) In May Elk River, Minn., landlord Todd Plaisted reported that his tenant Kenneth Lane had fled the area, abandoning his rented farmhouse and leaving behind at least 400 tons of used carpeting, at least 10,000 plastic windows from Northwest Airlines planes, and rooms full of sofas, mattresses, and washing machines, among other things. Lane told townspeople he ran a "recycling" company, but there was no evidence of sales. A deputy sheriff driving by the farmhouse the year before saw Lane burying carpeting with a tractor and said Lane merely muttered, "I don't know what to say. You got me. I can't even make up an excuse." [Minneapolis Star Tribune, 5-17-1993]

(1990) An FBI investigation into interstate trafficking by diaper fetishists resulted in the arrests of five men belonging to an organization called the Diaper Pail Foundation, which has a letterhead and publishes a newsletter and information exchange for members. A Madison, Wis., man, arrested in April for possession of child pornography, was found inside a van taking pictures of a child relieving himself. The man had offered service to the child's parents as a toilet trainer. [source unavailable, but "Diaper Pail Foundation" is searchable]

(1992) The Philadelphia Inquirer reported in June on the local "Silent Meeting Club," consisting of several people who gather at various spots around town and make it a point not to speak to each other. Founder John Hudak said his inspiration was his observation that people often feel obligated to talk when they really have nothing to say, such as at parties, and wondered how nice it would be "to have a group of people where you wouldn't have to talk." [Philadelphia Inquirer, 6-2-1992]

(1991) In May, Maxcy Dean Filer, 60, of Compton, Calif., finally passed the California Bar exam. He graduated from law school in 1966 but had failed the exam in each of his previous 47 tries. [International Herald Tribune, 6-1-1991]

(2004) The New York Times reported in February on a Washington, D.C., man whose love of music led him, in the 1960s, to meticulously hand-make and hand-paint facsimile record album covers of his fantasized music, complete with imagined lyric sheets and liner notes (with some of the “albums” even shrink-wrapped), and, even more incredibly, to hand-make cardboard fascimilies of actual grooved discs to put inside them. “Mingering Mike,” whom a reporter and two hobbyists tracked down (but who declined to be identified in print) also made real music, on tapes, using his and friends’ voices to simulate instruments. His 38 imagined “albums” were discovered at a flea market after Mike defaulted on storage-locker fees, and the hobbyists who found them said they were so exactingly done that a major museum would soon feature them. [New York Times, 2-2-2004]

(1999) From a May police report in The Messenger (Madisonville, Ky.), concerning two trucks being driven strangely on a rural road: A man would drive one truck 100 yards, stop, walk back to a second truck, drive it 100 yards beyond the first truck, stop, walk back to the first truck, drive it 100 yards beyond the second truck, and so on. According to police, the man's brother was passed out drunk in one of the trucks so the man was driving both trucks home (though the success of such a scheme is better imagined if the driving brother has a high blood-alcohol reading, too--which was the case). [The Messenger, 5-7-1999]

(1988) And, from the very first "News of the Weird" column came good ol' Hal Warden, the Tennessee 16-year-old who was married at 15 and granted a divorce from his wife, 13. Hal had previously been married at age 12 to a 14-year-old (and fathered children with both), but the first wife divorced Hal because, as she told the judge, "He was acting like a 10-year-old." [The precise citation is inaccessible, but various marital reports on the Wardens are available, e.g., Associated Press, 2-21-1987]

weirdnews at earthlink dot net, and P. O. Box 18737, Tampa FL 33629

Posted By: Chuck - Sun Jul 02, 2017 - Comments (3)
Category:

Peace Pilgrim II

The Peace Pilgrim (aka Mildred Lisette Norman) is fairly famous. In 1953 she began walking across America, wearing a shirt that said "Peace Pilgrim," and vowed to keep walking "until mankind has learned the way of peace." She was already an experienced walker when she started this, having been the first woman to hike the entire Appalachian trail in one season. She walked for 28 years until her death in 1981, logging over 25,000 miles.

Peace Pilgrim II (aka Ronald Podrow) isn't quite as famous or inspirational. In 1989, inspired by the first Peace Pilgrim, he adopted her name and also began walking to promote peace. But unlike her, he wasn't an experienced walker. From wikipedia:


Peace Pilgrim II wrote a book about his experiences, Enjoying the Journey: The Adventures, Travels, and Teachings of Peace Pilgrim II. It was published in 1995.

More info.

Posted By: Alex - Sun Jul 02, 2017 - Comments (5)
Category: Exercise and Fitness, War

Follies of the Madmen #319

We've all heard of talking with your hands...

From Radio Mirror magazine, December 1937.

Posted By: Paul - Sun Jul 02, 2017 - Comments (3)
Category: Anthropomorphism, Body, Business, Advertising, Products, Surrealism, 1930s

My Italian Fun

Despite my posts appearing daily for two weeks, I have really been away from the internet and in Italy. I am now catching up on all the glorious comments from WU-vies and the posts of Alex and Chuck (*sniffle*). If you would like, for some bizarre reason, to learn what I did in Rome and Pisa and elsewhere, I have written up a trip report.

Here is a picture of some elderly Italian ruins, one organic.

Posted By: Paul - Sat Jul 01, 2017 - Comments (2)
Category: Paul, Europe

Nalcrest, Florida

Nalcrest is a retirement community in Florida, due east of Tampa. To live there you have to have been a letter carrier. The name itself is an acronym for "National Association of Letter Carriers Retirement, Education, Security and Training." The community opened in 1963. Its founder was William Doherty, former president of the letter carriers' union.

The rules of Nalcrest includes a ban on dogs. Too many bad memories for the former letter carriers, I suppose. Mailboxes are also banned. In fact, there's no home mail delivery at all. Residents have to pick up their mail at the local post office.

More info: wikipedia

Because dogs aren't allowed, some residents have dog replicas instead.
Honolulu Star Bulletin - Aug 5, 2004

Some of the founders of Nalcrest. William Doherty is front, center.
Orlando Sentinel - June 18, 1961

Posted By: Alex - Sat Jul 01, 2017 - Comments (4)
Category:

Chinese Crosstalk Comedy

[Turn on CC in second video.]

Crosstalk, also known by its Chinese name xiangsheng... is a traditional Chinese comedic performing arts, and one of China's most popular cultural elements. It is typically in the form of a duo dialogue between two performers... The crosstalk language, rich in puns and allusions, is delivered in a rapid, bantering style... Canadian crosstalk comedian Dashan (Mark Rowswell) says the closest equivalent in English would be Abbott and Costello's "Who's on First?" sketch.

Posted By: Paul - Sat Jul 01, 2017 - Comments (0)
Category: Humor, Comedians, Asia