Archive By Section - News of the Weird
Classic parenting skills displayed
After her fourth-grade son was allegedly slapped by his teacher at a Kansas City, Mo., elementary school - son, black; teacher, white - Lisa Henry Bowen submitted a 40-page list of reparations she expects from President Obama and two dozen other officials.
Don't tell us we can't poison ourselves
The city government in Seoul, South Korea, warned in October that the local delicacy "octopus head" contains toxic amounts of cadmium and recommended a two-head-per-week maximum.
Talk about having a double standard
Last June, the Mexican government filed a brief in Arizona challenging the constitutionality of that state's proposed law that required police to check the immigration status of detainees, which, according to its Foreign Ministry, "violates inalienable human rights."
She's a he at least for now
In Afghanistan, as in many less-developed countries, boy babies are much preferred to girls for economic reasons and social status.
Smoke your way out of the recession
Russia's finance minister publicly urged citizens to step up their smoking and drinking, in that the government's new "sin" taxes mean more revenue.
Bet Obama didn't get one of these
Two University of Sydney researchers reported recently that the food-acquisition "strategy" of the brainless, single-cell slime mold appeared to resemble one of the strategies familiar to us so-called brain-containing humans, specifically, making a selection only after comparing it to readily available alternatives.
Modern miracles boggle the mind
Janis Ollson, 31, of Balmoral, Manitoba, is recovering nicely after being almost completely sawed in half in 2007 by Mayo Clinic surgeons, who concluded that they could remove her bone cancer no other way.
That is why they go in our yard
In a journal article, University of East Anglia professor Brett Mills denounced the 2009 British TV documentary series "Nature's Great Events" on the ground that the program's omnipresent and intrusive video cameras violated animals' privacy.
Just forget he did a lousy job
An Iowa administrative law judge ruled that former police officer William Bowker of Fort Madison deserved worker's compensation even though he had not been "laid off" but rather fired - for having an affair with the wife of the chief of police.
Playing golf is his symptom
Firefighter Richard Gawlik Jr. was terminated by Allentown, Pa., for abusing sick leave after he posted his daily golf scores on a public website during three days in which he had called off from work.
Burgers even flunk the maggot test
New York City artist Sally Davies recently offered the latest evidence of how unattractive today's fast foods are to bacteria and maggots.
Santa must have gotten the trick by now
A 49-year-old Bakersfield, Calif., doctor, whose relationship with her boyfriend was described as "on-again, off-again," was killed when, after he had locked her out of his house, she tried to enter by sliding down the chimney, where she got stuck and asphyxiated.
Isn't it oil that is in the ground?
When Ms. Nomatter Tagarira was sentenced to 39 months in jail for fraud, Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe and several officials were hoping to close the book on an embarrassing episode.
So much for trusting doctors
Among the Medicare billings only recently discovered as fraudulent after being paid: • Brooklyn, N.Y., proctologist, Boris Sachakov, was paid for performing 6,593 hemorrhoidectomies and other procedures over a 13-month period - an average of 18 every day, 365 days a year (and 6,212 more than the doctor who billed the second-highest number). • Two Hialeah, Fla., companies, "Charlie RX" and "Happy Trips," between them billed Medicare $63,000 for penis pumps - including a total ...
He should let them know he's coming
The ski-mask-wearing armed robber who knocked off a Wendy's in Atlanta this past summer has not been apprehended, but police said he later called the store to ridicule the staff for having so little cash.
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