strange stuff

From strange crimes to strange celebrity deaths, read all of the latest weird and strange stuff news stories on Newser.com

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Oops: Kuwait Plays Borat's Spoof Anthem for Athlete

It runs during medal ceremony for Kazakhstan woman

(Newser) - After Kazakhstan's Maria Dmitrienko won gold at the Arab Shooting Championships, she mounted the podium to hear her national anthem played. Problem was, Kuwaiti officials used the obscene spoof version from the Borat movie, reports the Telegraph . (Sample lyric: "Kazakhstan's prostitutes cleanest in the region.")...

45-Foot Paper Airplane Soars in Arizona

12-year-old helps build contraption

(Newser) - Two days ago it was the Bird Man (er, make that the Fake Bird Man ); now the Web's flying sensation is a humongous paper airplane, built in part by a 12-year-old boy. Some 45 feet long with a 24-foot wingspan, it may be the biggest paper plane in...

Wisconsin Town Figures Out Source of Mystery Booms

'Swarm of microquakes' apparently hit Clintonville

(Newser) - The mysterious booms heard in Clintonville, Wisconsin, had experts stumped—but there may be a simple explanation. "The mystery is solved. We have experienced an earthquake here in Clintonville," a city administrator explains. Geophysicists call it "swarm of microquakes," reports the Appleton Post-Crescent , and the administrator...

Customs Finds Record 180 Heroin Pellets in Woman

TSA noticed tight stomach during pat-down

(Newser) - A woman arrested at Washington's Dulles International Airport has set a record that nobody who values their life would attempt to beat, customs officials say. The 52-year-old woman had swallowed 180 pellets of heroin, containing nearly five pounds of the drug, reports the Los Angeles Times . The woman was...

Christians Raise Money for Ailing Atheist Critic

He might need surgery for eye disease

(Newser) - It began as one of those typical fights over a public nativity scene, but this spat took a nice twist: Atheist Patrick Greene threatened to sue over such a scene in front of the courthouse in Henderson County, Texas, but he backed off when he learned he had a debilitating...

Woman Dodges Jury Duty, Gets Busted for Bragging

Denver woman in trouble after telling radio station of scheme

(Newser) - Adventures in jury duty, from Denver's 9News.com :
  • Understandable: Susan Cole, 57, really wanted to get out of jury duty.
  • Going a little too far: She showed up in curlers and mismatched shoes and generally acted like a crazy person.
  • Lucky: It worked! She got out of jury duty.
...

Man Tries to Get Wife Drunk So He Can Use Facebook

When his plan doesn't work, he calls 911

(Newser) - Facebook, that destroyer of marriages , has come between yet another couple—who will find themselves apart for 60 days as Doyle Hardwick completes a little stint in jail. The Florida man's trouble began after he decided he just wanted to cruise Facebook in peace. But what to do with...

Wisconsin Town Pays to Find Cause of Weird Booms

Hopes an engineering firm can detect mysterious noises' epicenter

(Newser) - About 400 concerned and somewhat sleep-deprived residents of Clintonville, Wisconsin, showed up at a town meeting last night to discuss the mystery booms that have rattled the town three times this week. If they wanted answers, they both did and didn't get them. In the didn't category: Officials...

You Can Talk to Michael Lohan for $18 Per Minute
You Can Talk to Michael Lohan for $18 Per Minute
'dial-a-star'
Mar 22, 2012 8:43 AM CDT

You Can Talk to Michael Lohan for $18 Per Minute

Dial-a-star.com connects normal folk with D-list celebrities

(Newser) - If you've been just dying to actually speak to one of the Lohans, today is your lucky day: For $25 per minute, you can have a chat with Lindsay's mom Dina, or for the relative bargain of $18 per minute, her dad Michael. It's all thanks to...

Ex-Wife Fights Order to Pay Alimony to Her Attacker

Crystal Harris must also pay ex-hubby's $47K legal costs in sex assault conviction

(Newser) - A California woman is turning to the state legislature for help after she was ordered to pay alimony to the ex-husband convicted of sexually assaulting her. Crystal Harris, 39, told the judicial committee of the State Assembly yesterday that the 2010 court judgment "amounted to making a rape victim...

10 Places Blurred on Google Maps


 10 Places 
 Blurred on 
 Google Maps 
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Mar 21, 2012 6:42 PM CDT

10 Places Blurred on Google Maps

What is that weird blob in Siberia?

(Newser) - Google Maps provides a vast photographic atlas of the planet, but many locales are blurred out and hidden from the public because of security concerns by the country in question. Mashable rounds up 10 such spots you are forbidden to see with clarity:

Mystery Booms Rattle Wisconsin Town

Clintonville residents shaken awake 3 times this week

(Newser) - Authorities are flummoxed as to the source of mysterious booms that reverberated again through the eastern Wisconsin city of Clintonville early today. No one has come up with a feasible explanation for the loud disturbances that shook people awake on Sunday and Monday nights, and rattled sleepers again as the...

Literary Squabble Lands Guy in Hospital

Yep, alcohol was involved

(Newser) - An Ann Arbor man ended up in the hospital over the weekend after a heated argument about … books. The 34-year-old was at a party discussing books and authors on the porch with a group of people around 9pm on Saturday, AnnArbor.com reports. Another guest joined the conversation and...

Thanks to Twitter, Teen Gets Porn Star as Prom Date

Michael Stone, 18, tweeted nearly 600 adult film stars

(Newser) - Michael Stone is nothing if not perseverant: The Minnesota high-schooler had no prom date, so he started tweeting to every porn star he could think of, asking if anyone would accompany him. Almost 600 tweets later, the 18-year-old had two takers: Megan Piper, 19, and Emy Reyes. "I thought...

With Marmite Dwindling, New Zealand Freaks Out

It's Marmageddon! Earthquake shut down production of gooey black spread

(Newser) - It's a time of unprecedented national crisis in New Zealand, where supplies of Marmite—the black, nationally cherished goo—are running dangerously short. Dubbed "Marmageddon," the shortage is hitting even the highest reaches of government, with PM John Key noting that he has but a "very...

Woman Sets Paragliding Record ... at Age 101

She decided to do it because her 75-year-old son did

(Newser) - A 101-year-old Utah woman who ushered in her birthday with a tandem paraglide ride last year will soar into the record books today. Great-great-grandmother Mary Hardison has been officially recognized as the "Oldest Female to Paraglide Tandem" by Guinness World Records. She has supplanted a 100-year-old woman from Cyprus...

Earliest Spring Since 1896 Is Here

Vernal equinox brings early first day of spring

(Newser) - Spring has sprung at its earliest in more than a century. At 1:14am EDT today, the sun's path across the sky intersected with the celestial equator, marking the spring equinox and the start of springtime—in an astronomical sense—in the northern hemisphere, and the beginning of fall...

Iron Man Made of Urine Wins $13.5K Prize

Wong Tin Cheung takes home $13,500 for rancid masterpiece

(Newser) - When Wong Tin Cheung started peeing blood, he was inspired, and not in the time-to-go-to-the-hospital kind of way: A big Marvel comics fan, Wong realized that by combining the red urine with the normal yellow-hued sort, he could create a portrait of Iron Man, the unfortunately nicknamed Golden Avenger. The...

Celeb Bunny Meets Untimely Demise


 Celeb Bunny 
 Meets Untimely 
 Demise 
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Mar 18, 2012 11:33 AM CDT

Celeb Bunny Meets Untimely Demise

Earless German rabbit stepped on by cameraman

(Newser) - An earless baby bunny that was a rising star on Germany's celebrity animal scene had his 15 minutes of fame brought to an abrupt end when he was accidentally stepped on by a television cameraman. The fate of 17-day-old Til, a bunny with a genetic defect, was plastered across...

Hottest Item to Steal: Tide?
 Hottest Item to Steal: Tide? 
in case you missed it
Mar 17, 2012 12:15 PM CDT

Hottest Item to Steal: Tide?

Or, maybe not...

(Newser) - The latest crime wave sweeping the nation: Tide thefts. Yes, that's Tide, as in the laundry detergent. The Daily reports it's stolen so often that some cities and stores are actually forming "special task forces" and coming up with Tide-specific security procedures to fight back. Why? Apparently...

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