Strange Stuff: Weird Crimes, Crazy Laws, and Other Interesting News Stories - Page 225

Dead Blackbirds Again Rain Down on Arkansas Town

Jan 1, 2012 11:54 AM CST

Ark. Town Again Hit by Dead Blackbirds

Cops ban fireworks after repeat of last New Year's Eve carnage begins

(Newser) - Thousands of dead blackbirds rained down on a town in central Arkansas last New Year's Eve after revelers set off fireworks that spooked them from their roost, and officials were reporting a similar occurrence yesterday as 2012 approached. Police in Beebe said dozens of blackbirds had fallen dead, prompting...

The Weirdest News of 2011

Jan 1, 2012 11:35 AM CST

The Weirdest News of 2011

From caffeinated meat to the Frozen Dead Guys festival

(Newser) - As the weirdness of 2012 begins, it's time to take a look back at the bizarre year behind us. Some of the year's oddest stories:

In Florida, an 8-foot-tall Lego man washed up on a beach —apparently the work of a Dutch artist, not the Lego company.

...

Man, 99, Divorces Wife
Over 70-Year-Old Affair

Man, 99, Divorces Wife Over 70-Year-Old Affair

He found letters she wrote to her 1940s lover

(Newser) - If you think divorce is a tragic way to end an 18-day marriage , how about divorce as an end to a 77-year marriage? An Italian couple—he 99, she 96—are calling it quits after the husband discovered that his wife had an affair ... in the 1940s. The Telegraph reports...

Why America
Should Eat
Horse

Why America Should Eat Horse

It's a cheap, relatively healthy meat option for the poor: Josh Ozersky

(Newser) - When Congress lifted the ban on funding horse meat inspections , no one exactly cheered, because Americans find the idea of eating horse meat “gross.” But maybe it’s time to get over “our national revulsion” against the stuff, writes Josh Ozersky in Time . For one thing, since...

Indiana State Senator Vaneta Becker Proposes Fines for Editing National Anthem

Law Would Fine Singers for Altering National Anthem

Dec 30, 2011 10:45 AM CST

Law Would Fine Singers for Altering National Anthem

Indiana bill would cover all public school performances

(Newser) - An Indiana lawmaker is sick of hearing the national anthem parodied, and she's proposing a law to ban such alterations. The bill would set a $25 fine payable by any singer who doesn't meet "performance standards" when belting out the tune at an event at a public...

Igloo Church Opens in Bavaria

Dec 30, 2011 8:59 AM CST

Igloo Church Opens in Bavaria

Holy house of snow boasts 60-foot tower

(Newser) - Bavarian villagers have built a church of snow and ice, a century after their forebears did the same to protest the town's lack of a place of worship. The 65-foot long church in the mountain village of Mitterfirmiansreut was built using 49,000 cubic feet of snow, as well...

Dead Accident Victim to Be Sued Over Flying Body Parts

Dead Accident Victim to Be Sued For Flying Body Parts

Dec 30, 2011 1:44 AM CST

Dead Accident Victim to Be Sued For Flying Body Parts

Court allows woman to sue estate of Chicago teen killed by train

(Newser) - An appeals court in Illinois has decided that a dead Chicago teen can be sued for injuries caused by his own flying body parts. The 18-year-old almost-passenger ran in front of a train in an attempt to catch another train and was hit by an Amtrak going 70mph. A big...

Slime Mold Is
Smarter Than
You Think

study says

Dec 29, 2011 5:48 PM CST

Slime Mold Is Smarter Than You Think

It can solve mazes, might be used in future biocomputers

(Newser) - It may not look like much, but slime mold is capable of human-like "thought" beyond the reach of the most sophisticated computers. The organism can arrange its cells in order to find the quickest route through a maze, a Japanese scientist has found. "Humans are not the only...

New Source of WiFi:
Japanese Vending Machines

Dec 29, 2011 2:30 PM CST

New Source of WiFi: Japanese Vending Machines

And it's totally free

(Newser) - Want some WiFi with that soda? A Japanese soft drink company has unveiled new vending machines that offer a free wireless Internet signal, TechCrunch reports. Users needn't register or even shell out for a drink: They can simply connect to the public signal for 30 minutes, landing on a...

Wendy's Return to Japan Marked by ... a $16 Burger

Dec 29, 2011 8:49 AM CST

Wendy's Return to Japan Marked by ... a $16 Burger

It comes topped with foie gras

(Newser) - For two years, Japan's fast-food lovers were forced to go without Wendy's. Now the chain is back—with a bang. Its first new store to open in the country will serve up the Foie Gras Rossini Burger, which, yes, is topped with foie gras and costs 1,280...

Chavez Suggest US Gave World Leaders Cancer

Dec 29, 2011 5:51 AM CST

Chavez Suggest US Gave World Leaders Cancer

Secret cancer-causing technology could be at work, he speculates

(Newser) - Argentina's Cristina Fernandez has become the latest Latin American leader to be diagnosed with cancer , prompting Hugo Chavez to wonder if the US is to blame. "Would it be strange if they had developed a technology to induce cancer, and for no one to know it?" pondered the...

Hitchcock's Birds
Mystery Solved

Dec 29, 2011 5:40 AM CST

Hitchcock's Birds Mystery Solved

Kamikaze California seabirds were poisoned, researchers say

(Newser) - The real-life mystery that inspired Alfred Hitchcock's 1963 thriller The Birds has been solved, researchers say. Hitchcock is said to have largely based the film on a bizarre incident in 1961, when flocks of crazed seabirds slammed into homes in California's Monterey Bay. Researchers now believe that, rather...

Samoa Skipping Dec. 30

Dec 29, 2011 5:33 AM CST

Samoa Skipping Dec. 30

Pacific nation cancels day to cross date line

(Newser) - If you've got an appointment this Friday in Samoa, better reschedule. The Pacific island nation has decided it wants to be on the other side of the international date line and is canceling this year's Dec. 30 to get there, AP reports. For the country's 186,000...

Rival Monks
in Broom Brawl
at Christ's
Birthplace

Dec 28, 2011 12:22 PM CST

Rival Monks in Broom Brawl at Christ's Birthplace

Annual cleaning ignites tensions

(Newser) - Not a very nice birthday present for Jesus: Dozens of rival monks brawled at his birthplace today, as the feuding clergy members were performing an annual cleaning of the holy spot. The Church of the Nativity, built over the site where Jesus is believed to have been born in Bethlehem,...

Clerk KOs
Armed Burglar

Dec 27, 2011 2:41 PM CST

Clerk KOs Armed Burglar

Instead of money, he gets a knockout punch

(Newser) - It looked like the thief's lucky day: A shop clerk in North Carolina who was usually armed didn't have his gun on him. But when an armed robber threatened him, the clerk dealt the intruder a knockout punch—and the whole thing was caught on security cameras, WYFF4...

10 Busted in
Mall of America
Brouhaha

Dec 27, 2011 9:57 AM CST

10 Busted in Mall of America Brouhaha

10 teens arrested as melee breaks out

(Newser) - Retailers were hoping for a big day yesterday, but Minnesota's Mall of America might have preferred something smaller than a mob of hundreds of kids who wreaked havoc. At least 200 teens were involved in an hour-long melee that had shoppers scrambling and stores closing, some for the remainder...

Man Busted After Mom Pleads for Help on Facebook

Dec 27, 2011 8:37 AM CST

Man Busted After Mom Pleads for Help on Facebook

We 'will be dead by morning,' she posts

(Newser) - On Christmas Eve, a sort of Facebook miracle: A Utah woman posted a plea for help, saying that she and her 17-month-old son had been held against their will for five days, which eventually led to their rescue. Police have arrested the woman's live-in boyfriend, Troy Reed Critchfield, 33,...

Walmart Shopper Slugs
70-Year-Old Greeter: Cops

Dec 27, 2011 12:55 AM CST

Walmart Shopper Slugs 70-Year-Old Greeter: Cops

Greeter asked to see her receipts

(Newser) - A Walmart shopper in upstate New York slugged a 70-year-old store greeter who asked to look at the woman's receipts as she left, according to authorities. Jacquetta Simmons, 26, has been arrested and charged with two counts of assault for the attack that fractured the greeter's face and...

Lady Gaga's Ex-Assistant Sues

Dec 26, 2011 2:40 PM CST

Lady Gaga's Ex-Assistant Sues

Singer is kind of a little monster, claims Jennifer O’Neill

(Newser) - Lady Gaga just can't get good help these days: At least not the kind who will seamlessly handle all aspects of her life, manage her crazy wardrobe, wait at her beck and call at all hours, and not sue for their trouble. Seems one Jennifer O'Neill is suing...

Man Robs Store on
'Shop With a Cop' Night

brainiac dept.

Dec 26, 2011 8:44 AM CST

Man Robs Store on 'Shop With a Cop' Night

It didn't go well for David Sherman, 49

(Newser) - We don’t want to imply that there’s a right time to shoplift, but there’s definitely a wrong one, and that wrong one is on "Shop With a Cop" night. David Sherman, 49, tried to make off with a $79 DVD player from a Nebraska Walmart on...

strange stuff

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