News of the Weird / Pro Edition (Novembeer 28, 2011)
News of the Weird/Pro Edition
You're Still Not Cynical Enough
Prime Cuts of Underreported News from Last Week, Hand-Picked and Lightly Seasoned by Chuck Shepherd
November 28, 2011
(datelines November 19-November 26) (links correct as of November 28)
Refining the Boredom Art Form, Plus More Things to Worry About
★ ★ ★ ★!
James Ward's Boring conference in London sold out this year. 2010's inaugural ennui-a-palooza [NOTW M198, 1-23-2011] had such intellectual dynamite as a PowerPoint presentation of the color and materials of a man's neckwear collection from one year to the next and another sponsoring a milk-sampling, using wine glasses, measuring taste and smoothness. This year's highlight: a seminar on the square root of two. The Independent
Need to be fashionable? Fine. Identify with sub-mainstream cultures? Groovy. Tell the world's squares you're not like them? Check. How about if all that involved building a three-inch-wide hole in your ear lobe to stick tokens in or hang stuff from? In that case, perhaps it's time for you to give Saphris® a try. In the UK, "ear-stretching" is on the rise, and while most open up just slightly more than with ordinary ear-piercing, there are "gauge-queens/kings." who keep widening the hole over time until . . well . . peek-a-boo! Soon, of course, the Now-Why-Did-I-Do-That? industry will be coming to the rescue (the most complex ear surgeries of which can run up to £8,000 [$12,350]). BBC News
That woman who climbed inside the dead horse [Pro Edition, 11-7-2011] has been outdone--sort of. What if you did that sort of thing for a living? An otherwise-upbeat Washington Post dispatch from Kabul, on how U.S. contractors are helping Afghans to upgrade their businesses, mentioned the poor state of the country's slaughterhouses. "Butchers wore sandals as they hacked away at animals . . just [cutting] off pieces with no rhyme or reason." "One slaughterhouse employee, a dwarf, was responsible for climbing inside the water buffalo carcasses to cut out their colons." Washington Post
The Area of His Expertise: District of Columbia Councilman Marion Barry complained that it's not enough that job recruiters in the notoriously inefficient D.C. bureaucracy are forbidden to ask applicants about any criminal record they may have. He has proposed extending the restriction to private employers, too, i.e., if you've done your time for those bank robberies, hey, that part of your life is none of the recruiter's damn business. (Once a boss has made the bank robber an offer, then he can ask about a rap sheet.) Washington Post
Absurdities
Sources told ABC News that a big CIA operation to keep up with Hezbollah in Lebanon was exposed because the Hezzes cracked the CIA's super-secret computer password for the project (a project whose "clandestine" meetings were held in a Pizza Hut in Beirut). (The project-site password: "PIZZA") ABC News [link from Wired.com Danger Room]
Brooklyn (N.Y.) pimp Andrew McCord, 29, acting as his own lawyer, thought he needed an "expert witness" to help the jury understand the rough business he's in, and, Your Honor, who better than me, Andrew McCord, to be that expert witness? (Denied.) New York Daily News
"My only dream now is to compete with [Mehmet] Yilmaz and beat him [for his Guinness Book record]." That was Badr Al-Alyani of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, who told a local reporter that he was up to 90½ inches squirting milk out of his eye, short of Yilmaz's 106. Emirates 24.7 (Dubai) [link from Nothing to Do with Arbroath]
The George H.W. Bush, the Navy's most technologically advanced aircraft carrier--a testament to America's leading-edge military superiority--is on its maiden combat voyage. Aircraft, armaments, and complex computer systems are performing splendidly. It's just that there is a lot of down time as sailors hunt and hunt for one of the few unclogged toilets. Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk)
Losers
The teenager dropped off a resume, and on his way out of the store, snatched an airsoft gun ($129). Tracked down by KTLA-TV even before cops arrived, he told the reporter, "Honestly, I wasn't planning on stealing anything. I was actually trying to get a job. And, what can I say? I'm a teenager, [I'm] stupid." KTLA-TV (Los Angeles)
"It's going to sound kind of ridiculous, but we believed there was some kind of paranormal presence in the basement." Thus, former Mount Gilead, Ohio, police officer Joseph Hughes explained the 20-something items (like air conditioners) apparently stolen from local government buildings, stored in the basement, unused, because he was afraid to go down there. WBNS-TV (Columbus)
Too Soon! On the heels of a "clothes horse" death inquest [Pro Edition, 9-12-2011] comes another, almost: British college student Danielle Morgan was rescued after falling onto hers and having her every struggle actually tighten the device's grip on her. BBC News
Too Soon! Just as in Pro Edition, 10-31-2011, two more people brawled on the edge of a busy highway at night, with predictable results. Associated Press via Palm Beach Post
David Foley had his heart set on vengeance against his landlord and thus sent WITI-TV a DVD of child porn with the landlord's name and address on it. If he hadn't done that, police probably would never have discovered Foley's alleged sideline as a child molester with a big stash of child porn (from which to compile the "landlord" DVD). WITI-TV (Milwaukee)
The Pervo-American Community
Lashawn Johnson, 25, was arrested in Albany, N.Y., after two women reported he was manually displaying himself and asking if they'd "help him out" with his arduous task. Times Union [mugshot]
Oh! Dear!
[I'll take "Slang" for $100, Alex] Answer: "Waxing the crocodile" (Incorrect Jeopardy Question: What was Lashawn Johnson doing?) (Correct Question: What were skilled Brazilian-wax technicians doing to a live croc in a promotion video at a salon in Darwin, Australia?) Daily Mail (London)
The mayor of Huarmey, Peru, warned his people that the water supply, which is piped in from Tabalosos (reputedly, a gay mecca) will convert them, too. (He had a hormone-based explanation, but experts say he's just nuts.) Daily Mail (London) [based on Perfil.com (Buenos Aires), 11-24-2011]
A 13-lb. boy was born naturally (no c-section!) in Berlin to a woman who is obviously a sturdy gal. (Bonus: She named him "Jihad.") The Local (Berlin)
Officials in Calcutta, India, are scrambling to save the historic Howrah Bridge from fatal corrosion due to out-of-control spitting by pedestrians who routinely hock their betel leaf, areca nut, and slaked lime onto the steel beams. Cops ticket some of the miscreants, but there are a half-million walkers a day. (Alternate strategy: Display drawings of the gods on the bridge so spitters will hold it in 'til they get to the other side.) BBC News
Your Weekly Jury Duty
[In America, you're presumed innocent . . . until the mug shot is released]
Is Michelle Watson, 24, giddy because she has achieved the exalted state of being "super-DUI extreme"? The Smoking Gun
Editor's Notes
By now nearly everyone on the planet has had a glimpse of Oneal Morris's humongous butt [Pro Edition, 11-21-2011]. Here is a sane plastic surgeon's best guess as to how Ms. Morris achieved that state. MSNBC
No matter the occasion, there's always room for an Iron Crotch video (such as from Yang You-sin, who credits the power for righting his life after years of hard-labor pain). WantChinaTimes.com
Newsrangers: Mark Heather, Kathleen Kelly, and Randy Mason, and the News of the Weird Board of Editorial Advisors
You're Still Not Cynical Enough
Prime Cuts of Underreported News from Last Week, Hand-Picked and Lightly Seasoned by Chuck Shepherd
November 28, 2011
(datelines November 19-November 26) (links correct as of November 28)
Refining the Boredom Art Form, Plus More Things to Worry About
★ ★ ★ ★!
James Ward's Boring conference in London sold out this year. 2010's inaugural ennui-a-palooza [NOTW M198, 1-23-2011] had such intellectual dynamite as a PowerPoint presentation of the color and materials of a man's neckwear collection from one year to the next and another sponsoring a milk-sampling, using wine glasses, measuring taste and smoothness. This year's highlight: a seminar on the square root of two. The Independent
Need to be fashionable? Fine. Identify with sub-mainstream cultures? Groovy. Tell the world's squares you're not like them? Check. How about if all that involved building a three-inch-wide hole in your ear lobe to stick tokens in or hang stuff from? In that case, perhaps it's time for you to give Saphris® a try. In the UK, "ear-stretching" is on the rise, and while most open up just slightly more than with ordinary ear-piercing, there are "gauge-queens/kings." who keep widening the hole over time until . . well . . peek-a-boo! Soon, of course, the Now-Why-Did-I-Do-That? industry will be coming to the rescue (the most complex ear surgeries of which can run up to £8,000 [$12,350]). BBC News
That woman who climbed inside the dead horse [Pro Edition, 11-7-2011] has been outdone--sort of. What if you did that sort of thing for a living? An otherwise-upbeat Washington Post dispatch from Kabul, on how U.S. contractors are helping Afghans to upgrade their businesses, mentioned the poor state of the country's slaughterhouses. "Butchers wore sandals as they hacked away at animals . . just [cutting] off pieces with no rhyme or reason." "One slaughterhouse employee, a dwarf, was responsible for climbing inside the water buffalo carcasses to cut out their colons." Washington Post
The Area of His Expertise: District of Columbia Councilman Marion Barry complained that it's not enough that job recruiters in the notoriously inefficient D.C. bureaucracy are forbidden to ask applicants about any criminal record they may have. He has proposed extending the restriction to private employers, too, i.e., if you've done your time for those bank robberies, hey, that part of your life is none of the recruiter's damn business. (Once a boss has made the bank robber an offer, then he can ask about a rap sheet.) Washington Post
Absurdities
Sources told ABC News that a big CIA operation to keep up with Hezbollah in Lebanon was exposed because the Hezzes cracked the CIA's super-secret computer password for the project (a project whose "clandestine" meetings were held in a Pizza Hut in Beirut). (The project-site password: "PIZZA") ABC News [link from Wired.com Danger Room]
Brooklyn (N.Y.) pimp Andrew McCord, 29, acting as his own lawyer, thought he needed an "expert witness" to help the jury understand the rough business he's in, and, Your Honor, who better than me, Andrew McCord, to be that expert witness? (Denied.) New York Daily News
"My only dream now is to compete with [Mehmet] Yilmaz and beat him [for his Guinness Book record]." That was Badr Al-Alyani of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, who told a local reporter that he was up to 90½ inches squirting milk out of his eye, short of Yilmaz's 106. Emirates 24.7 (Dubai) [link from Nothing to Do with Arbroath]
The George H.W. Bush, the Navy's most technologically advanced aircraft carrier--a testament to America's leading-edge military superiority--is on its maiden combat voyage. Aircraft, armaments, and complex computer systems are performing splendidly. It's just that there is a lot of down time as sailors hunt and hunt for one of the few unclogged toilets. Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk)
Losers
The teenager dropped off a resume, and on his way out of the store, snatched an airsoft gun ($129). Tracked down by KTLA-TV even before cops arrived, he told the reporter, "Honestly, I wasn't planning on stealing anything. I was actually trying to get a job. And, what can I say? I'm a teenager, [I'm] stupid." KTLA-TV (Los Angeles)
"It's going to sound kind of ridiculous, but we believed there was some kind of paranormal presence in the basement." Thus, former Mount Gilead, Ohio, police officer Joseph Hughes explained the 20-something items (like air conditioners) apparently stolen from local government buildings, stored in the basement, unused, because he was afraid to go down there. WBNS-TV (Columbus)
Too Soon! On the heels of a "clothes horse" death inquest [Pro Edition, 9-12-2011] comes another, almost: British college student Danielle Morgan was rescued after falling onto hers and having her every struggle actually tighten the device's grip on her. BBC News
Too Soon! Just as in Pro Edition, 10-31-2011, two more people brawled on the edge of a busy highway at night, with predictable results. Associated Press via Palm Beach Post
David Foley had his heart set on vengeance against his landlord and thus sent WITI-TV a DVD of child porn with the landlord's name and address on it. If he hadn't done that, police probably would never have discovered Foley's alleged sideline as a child molester with a big stash of child porn (from which to compile the "landlord" DVD). WITI-TV (Milwaukee)
The Pervo-American Community
Lashawn Johnson, 25, was arrested in Albany, N.Y., after two women reported he was manually displaying himself and asking if they'd "help him out" with his arduous task. Times Union [mugshot]
Oh! Dear!
[I'll take "Slang" for $100, Alex] Answer: "Waxing the crocodile" (Incorrect Jeopardy Question: What was Lashawn Johnson doing?) (Correct Question: What were skilled Brazilian-wax technicians doing to a live croc in a promotion video at a salon in Darwin, Australia?) Daily Mail (London)
The mayor of Huarmey, Peru, warned his people that the water supply, which is piped in from Tabalosos (reputedly, a gay mecca) will convert them, too. (He had a hormone-based explanation, but experts say he's just nuts.) Daily Mail (London) [based on Perfil.com (Buenos Aires), 11-24-2011]
A 13-lb. boy was born naturally (no c-section!) in Berlin to a woman who is obviously a sturdy gal. (Bonus: She named him "Jihad.") The Local (Berlin)
Officials in Calcutta, India, are scrambling to save the historic Howrah Bridge from fatal corrosion due to out-of-control spitting by pedestrians who routinely hock their betel leaf, areca nut, and slaked lime onto the steel beams. Cops ticket some of the miscreants, but there are a half-million walkers a day. (Alternate strategy: Display drawings of the gods on the bridge so spitters will hold it in 'til they get to the other side.) BBC News
Your Weekly Jury Duty
[In America, you're presumed innocent . . . until the mug shot is released]
Is Michelle Watson, 24, giddy because she has achieved the exalted state of being "super-DUI extreme"? The Smoking Gun
Editor's Notes
By now nearly everyone on the planet has had a glimpse of Oneal Morris's humongous butt [Pro Edition, 11-21-2011]. Here is a sane plastic surgeon's best guess as to how Ms. Morris achieved that state. MSNBC
No matter the occasion, there's always room for an Iron Crotch video (such as from Yang You-sin, who credits the power for righting his life after years of hard-labor pain). WantChinaTimes.com
Newsrangers: Mark Heather, Kathleen Kelly, and Randy Mason, and the News of the Weird Board of Editorial Advisors
Comments
Boring Conference What ever gave them the idea that they need to practice at it?
Ear-Stretching Damn! I'm too old now to get started.
Afghan Butchers Again, please, what the @$@#$@ are we supposed to be doing over there?
CIA The "I" is an oxymoron, right?
USS Bush With clogged heads you can use a bucket; try finding that last roll of a$$wipe because your ship missed a replenishment rendez-vous!
Lashawn Johnson It's ok, girls, you can look it's only a head shot. (not that one either!!!!)
Waxing the Croc Beer was a major factor in the idea's creation.
Jury Duty Innocent! Too cute to hang.
Ear-Stretching Damn! I'm too old now to get started.
Afghan Butchers Again, please, what the @$@#$@ are we supposed to be doing over there?
CIA The "I" is an oxymoron, right?
USS Bush With clogged heads you can use a bucket; try finding that last roll of a$$wipe because your ship missed a replenishment rendez-vous!
Lashawn Johnson It's ok, girls, you can look it's only a head shot. (not that one either!!!!)
Waxing the Croc Beer was a major factor in the idea's creation.
Jury Duty Innocent! Too cute to hang.
Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 11/28/11 at 09:24 AM
My comments got wiped out when I hit submit. Gonna wait till later to try again. Great week Chuck.
Posted by Patty in Ohio, USA on 11/28/11 at 11:04 AM
Clogged toilets Did someone say "bush sailor"? Where do I sign up? :cheese:
Posted by Leshka on 11/28/11 at 09:11 PM
On the second to last make that 'future' health problems.
Posted by Patty in Ohio, USA on 11/29/11 at 11:24 AM
Boring conference - The only place I can imagine a fight to be last in line for tickets. I love it!
Jess - Not ships - you used to have to be dead for ten years to be featured on a U.S. postage stamp, unless you were a dead president, then it was one year. Now you can print your own postage stamps featuring your family photos, or anything else acceptable to the USPS, as long as you use their software, and pay a premium for it. Just check out the free CD arriving in your mail this week. Btw - this is sacrilege to philatelists.
Jess - Not ships - you used to have to be dead for ten years to be featured on a U.S. postage stamp, unless you were a dead president, then it was one year. Now you can print your own postage stamps featuring your family photos, or anything else acceptable to the USPS, as long as you use their software, and pay a premium for it. Just check out the free CD arriving in your mail this week. Btw - this is sacrilege to philatelists.
Posted by done on 11/29/11 at 10:18 PM
I did not know that Dan. It might be a nice feature during the holidays, but yeah, I doubt collectors are thrilled.
Posted by Patty in Ohio, USA on 11/29/11 at 10:56 PM
Sorry I digressed from the point, tho - no, U.S. Navy ships - they're named for pretty much whatever comes up on the radar. For example, my grandfather was captain on the USS Cyclops - a troop ship in WWI. But aircraft carriers were formerly named after historical battles,(Yorktown, etc.), and in the newer classes, were named after several prominent presidents (they skipped Richard Nixon, for some reason). Battleships were always named after states, though the USS New Jersey, the last in service, is mothballed, now. Submarines are generally named after cities, but the rest is a mishmash. Who knows? With the latest military budget cuts being proposed, they might just resort to corporate sponsorship, like most of our sports stadiums. I'm sure no one would care whether they were being attacked by the USS AT&T, as opposed to the USS Constellation, now would they? (see definition for the above, 'sacrilege').
Posted by done on 11/30/11 at 12:43 AM
(they skipped Richard Nixon, for some reason) :lol:
Posted by Patty in Ohio, USA on 11/30/11 at 06:13 AM
Lots of great info sweetie, thanks.
Posted by Patty in Ohio, USA on 11/30/11 at 06:15 AM
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