News of the Weird, August 26, 2012
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Chuck Shepherd
Aug 26, 2012, 10:51:43 AM8/26/12
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WEIRDNUZ.M281 (News of the Weird, August 26, 2012)
by Chuck Shepherd
Copyright 2012 by Chuck Shepherd. All rights reserved.
Lead Story
* Unclear on the Concept (and the Image): The Associated Press,
reporting in August from Jerusalem, noted that the ultra-Orthodox
community's "modesty patrols" were selling eyeglasses with
"special blur-inducing stickers" that fuzz up distant images so that
offended men will not inadvertently spot immodestly dressed
women. (The stickers apparently simulate near-sightedness, in that
vision is clear in the near-field.) The "modesty patrols" have long
tried to shame women dressed in other than closed-neck, long-
sleeved blouses, and long skirts, but may be losing that fight. A
columnist for the Tel Aviv daily Haaretz praised the eyeglasses for
shifting the responsibility to men for their priggishness.
[Associated Press via Salon.com, 8-8-2012; Haaretz, 8-11-2012]
NOTE: Once again, have a look at some recent weird news that
sounds a lot like old weird news (our "Recurring Themes"), plus
Updates on some all-time-favorite weirdos.
* Periodically, News of the Weird reports on foreigners' cuisines
that most Americans find undelectable. A June Wall Street Journal
story featured a hardy, fun-loving group of New Yorkers (the
"Innard Circle") who dine monthly at out-of-the-way ethnic
restaurants in order to sample such dishes as camel's eyeball ("way
different from a goat's eyeball," said one member) and "crispy
colorectal," and had recently learned, from a non-English-speaking
waitress, that they had just consumed bull's diaphragm. Another
member admitted "an element of showing off" to the exercise, and
acknowledged that not all rookie members return for a second meal.
The one body part that no one seems to recall having tried yet:
uterus. [Wall Street Journal, 6-24-2012]
* The way it usually happens is Mom and Dad start a road trip with
their children but after a rest stop, they fail to notice that one of the
kids is not on board, and they may be well down the road before
they turn around. However, in June, the family member left behind
at a Memphis, Tenn., rest stop was Dad, and for 100 miles, no one
grasped that he was missing. The family was traveling in a van, and
everyone presumed Dad was in the back. He was still at the gas
station, calling his own phone (which was in the back of the van).
Dad finally reached Mom in the van by posting to Facebook.
[WBIR-TV (Knoxville, Tenn.), 6-25-2012]
* In June, inmate Michelle Richards, 33, was about to begin her
sentence at the Albany County (N.Y.) jail when guards discovered a
hypodermic needle and seven packets of heroin inside her vagina.
(She had been arrested for possessing a needle and heroin in her
bra.) Richards's arrest came about a week after inmate Andrea
Armanatides was caught at the very same jailhouse using the same
hiding place to sneak in heroin and 256 prescription pills (reported
in News of the Weird eight weeks ago). (Armanatides's stash was
discovered when the baggie holding it became dislodged and broke
open on the floor.) [Times Union (Albany), 6-13-2012]
* Stores and transportation carriers are, after all these years, still
unsure about which "assistance animals" they must allow without
violating the federal Americans With Disabilities Act. Under the
U.S. Department of Transportation's latest draft guidelines for
airlines, released in February, miniature horses and pot-bellied pigs
are allowed on board under certain conditions, but not ferrets,
rodents, spiders, snakes, or other reptiles. Apparently there is a
"North American Potbellied Pig Association," whose vice-president
pointed out to CNSNews.com that swine can be trained to open and
close doors and to use a litter box. [CNS News, 7-6-2012]
* Another Fortuitous Injury: Fortunately, 9-year-old Jacob
Holdaway got hit in the head so hard during a game of kickball in
Fairland, Ind., in July that he started vomiting and having severe
headaches. Because his parents took him to a hospital for that head-
smack, doctors found a golfball-sized tumor that might not have
been discovered until after it had become dangerously large.
Doctors were able to remove most of it and suspect it was benign.
[WRTV (Indianapolis), 7-17-2012]
* Another Absent-Minded Musician: The most recent musician to
carry a rare, expensive instrument on public transportation but then
forget to take it with him was the person who in July left a
borrowed Stradivarius violin on a train when he got off in Bern,
Switzerland. Initially, the musician panicked, but the violin was
eventually turned in by a good Samaritan. (The last News of the
Weird report of such a Stradivarius was the one accidentally left in a
New York City taxicab in 2008. That instrument, reported as worth
$4 million, was also returned.) [Huffington Post, 7-31-2012]
* Several inventors have attempted over the years to transport
bodily sensations over the Internet so that couples separated by
distance can simulate personal affections to each other. Now comes
Hooman Samani of the Singapore company Lovotics, introducing
his "Kissenger" at a design conference in Newcastle, England, in
June. Kissenger is a large, soft ball with human-like lips and many
pressure points, connected in tandem by the Internet, so that the
unique lip movements by one lover are received precisely by the
other as if their mouths were actually working the kiss. (In May
2011, Kajimoto Lab in Tokyo introduced a machine with a straw-
like device that, when rotated by one lover's tongue, theoretically
rotated one in the partner's device, thus simulating a "French kiss."
That simulator, though, lacked the pillow-like facial feel of the
Kissenger.) [New Scientist, 7-19-2012]
* Attendance is still strong in tiny Shingo, Japan, where villagers
are certain that Jesus Christ is buried. About 500 tourists joined the
celebration on June 3rd (an event first held in 1964), in honor of
Jesus's relocation there (presumably a voluntary journey from
Calvary after the crucifixion). According to legend, he lived out his
life in Shingo uneventfully, and a festival with dancing girls marks
the anniversary. [Kyodo News via Japan Times, 6-5-2012]
* News of the Weird has reported several times on farmers who are
certain that treating their cows to better lifestyles improves the
quality of their milk and their meat. In July, London's Daily
Telegraph, in a dispatch from Paris, touted Jean-Charles Tastavy's
experiment feeding three cows with a fine wine for four months (in
a mixture, along with their usual barley and hay). (They "loved" it
and consumed it "with relish," said the farm's owner.) The
resulting meat, labeled "Vinbovin," is now a delicacy in Paris
restaurants (despite steeper prices to reflect the increased feeding
costs for the cows). [Daily Telegraph, 7-10-2012]
Updates
* Michael Wyatt first made News of the Weird in 1991 when foot
fetishism was viewed as unfit to report in most newspapers. Several
arrests (owing to his aggressiveness and threats of amputating feet)
have followed, resulting in jail sentences, but Wyatt is apparently
still unable to resist his urges. In July in Faulkner County, Ark.,
Wyatt, 51, was sentenced to a year in prison for violating the terms
of a deferred sentence he had received for harassing a woman about
her feet in 2011. [Reuters via KWCH-TV (Wichita, Kan.), 7-11-
2012]
* William "The Hackney Mole Man" Lyttle (first mentioned in
News of the Weird in 2001) died in 2010 after spending most of his
last 40 years compulsively digging elaborate tunnels underneath his
home in east London. By the time authorities could stop him, the
hollow shafts were endangering the street and adjacent homes. He
was ordered to pay the equivalent of $560,000 so that the holes
could be filled, and in July 2012 the refurbished, supposedly-
structurally-sound home was placed at auction and drew a winning
bid of the equivalent of about $1.5 million. [The Guardian, 7-19-
2012]
* In July a 29-year-old man was taken into custody in Brunswick,
Maine, after police found him in the bottom of a portable toilet on a
golf course. Police did not release his name, but he is not the same
man who was charged in Portland, Maine, in 2009 after being found
inside a pit toilet. That man was much older (49 at the time) and
admitted to having an "outhouse problem." Coincidentally, in
August, Luke Chrisco, 31, who was arrested last year in a portable
toilet pit at a yoga festival in Boulder, Colo., pleaded not guilty and
demanded a trial on burglary and invasion of privacy charges in the
incident (and, in a potentially delightful development, promised to
act as his own attorney). [Bangor Daily News, 7-9-2012] [Daily
Camera (Boulder) via Times Call (Longmont, Colo.), 8-10-2012]
Thanks This Week to Josh Levin, Sandy Pearlman, and
H.Thompson, and to the News of the Weird Senior Advisors (Jenny
T. Beatty, Paul Di Filippo, Ginger Katz, Joe Littrell, Matt Mirapaul,
Paul Music, Karl Olson, and Jim Sweeney) and Board of Editorial
Advisors (Tom Barker, Paul Blumstein, Harry Farkas, Sam Gaines,
Herb Jue, Emory Kimbrough, Scott Langill, Steve Miller,
Christopher Nalty, Mark Neunder, Bob Pert, Larry Ellis Reed, Rob
Snyder, Stephen Taylor, Bruce Townley, and Jerry Whittle).
* * * * *
WeirdNews at earthlink dot net, http://www.NewsoftheWeird.net
(almost daily), and P.O. Box 18737, Tampa FL 33679.
by Chuck Shepherd
Copyright 2012 by Chuck Shepherd. All rights reserved.
Lead Story
* Unclear on the Concept (and the Image): The Associated Press,
reporting in August from Jerusalem, noted that the ultra-Orthodox
community's "modesty patrols" were selling eyeglasses with
"special blur-inducing stickers" that fuzz up distant images so that
offended men will not inadvertently spot immodestly dressed
women. (The stickers apparently simulate near-sightedness, in that
vision is clear in the near-field.) The "modesty patrols" have long
tried to shame women dressed in other than closed-neck, long-
sleeved blouses, and long skirts, but may be losing that fight. A
columnist for the Tel Aviv daily Haaretz praised the eyeglasses for
shifting the responsibility to men for their priggishness.
[Associated Press via Salon.com, 8-8-2012; Haaretz, 8-11-2012]
NOTE: Once again, have a look at some recent weird news that
sounds a lot like old weird news (our "Recurring Themes"), plus
Updates on some all-time-favorite weirdos.
* Periodically, News of the Weird reports on foreigners' cuisines
that most Americans find undelectable. A June Wall Street Journal
story featured a hardy, fun-loving group of New Yorkers (the
"Innard Circle") who dine monthly at out-of-the-way ethnic
restaurants in order to sample such dishes as camel's eyeball ("way
different from a goat's eyeball," said one member) and "crispy
colorectal," and had recently learned, from a non-English-speaking
waitress, that they had just consumed bull's diaphragm. Another
member admitted "an element of showing off" to the exercise, and
acknowledged that not all rookie members return for a second meal.
The one body part that no one seems to recall having tried yet:
uterus. [Wall Street Journal, 6-24-2012]
* The way it usually happens is Mom and Dad start a road trip with
their children but after a rest stop, they fail to notice that one of the
kids is not on board, and they may be well down the road before
they turn around. However, in June, the family member left behind
at a Memphis, Tenn., rest stop was Dad, and for 100 miles, no one
grasped that he was missing. The family was traveling in a van, and
everyone presumed Dad was in the back. He was still at the gas
station, calling his own phone (which was in the back of the van).
Dad finally reached Mom in the van by posting to Facebook.
[WBIR-TV (Knoxville, Tenn.), 6-25-2012]
* In June, inmate Michelle Richards, 33, was about to begin her
sentence at the Albany County (N.Y.) jail when guards discovered a
hypodermic needle and seven packets of heroin inside her vagina.
(She had been arrested for possessing a needle and heroin in her
bra.) Richards's arrest came about a week after inmate Andrea
Armanatides was caught at the very same jailhouse using the same
hiding place to sneak in heroin and 256 prescription pills (reported
in News of the Weird eight weeks ago). (Armanatides's stash was
discovered when the baggie holding it became dislodged and broke
open on the floor.) [Times Union (Albany), 6-13-2012]
* Stores and transportation carriers are, after all these years, still
unsure about which "assistance animals" they must allow without
violating the federal Americans With Disabilities Act. Under the
U.S. Department of Transportation's latest draft guidelines for
airlines, released in February, miniature horses and pot-bellied pigs
are allowed on board under certain conditions, but not ferrets,
rodents, spiders, snakes, or other reptiles. Apparently there is a
"North American Potbellied Pig Association," whose vice-president
pointed out to CNSNews.com that swine can be trained to open and
close doors and to use a litter box. [CNS News, 7-6-2012]
* Another Fortuitous Injury: Fortunately, 9-year-old Jacob
Holdaway got hit in the head so hard during a game of kickball in
Fairland, Ind., in July that he started vomiting and having severe
headaches. Because his parents took him to a hospital for that head-
smack, doctors found a golfball-sized tumor that might not have
been discovered until after it had become dangerously large.
Doctors were able to remove most of it and suspect it was benign.
[WRTV (Indianapolis), 7-17-2012]
* Another Absent-Minded Musician: The most recent musician to
carry a rare, expensive instrument on public transportation but then
forget to take it with him was the person who in July left a
borrowed Stradivarius violin on a train when he got off in Bern,
Switzerland. Initially, the musician panicked, but the violin was
eventually turned in by a good Samaritan. (The last News of the
Weird report of such a Stradivarius was the one accidentally left in a
New York City taxicab in 2008. That instrument, reported as worth
$4 million, was also returned.) [Huffington Post, 7-31-2012]
* Several inventors have attempted over the years to transport
bodily sensations over the Internet so that couples separated by
distance can simulate personal affections to each other. Now comes
Hooman Samani of the Singapore company Lovotics, introducing
his "Kissenger" at a design conference in Newcastle, England, in
June. Kissenger is a large, soft ball with human-like lips and many
pressure points, connected in tandem by the Internet, so that the
unique lip movements by one lover are received precisely by the
other as if their mouths were actually working the kiss. (In May
2011, Kajimoto Lab in Tokyo introduced a machine with a straw-
like device that, when rotated by one lover's tongue, theoretically
rotated one in the partner's device, thus simulating a "French kiss."
That simulator, though, lacked the pillow-like facial feel of the
Kissenger.) [New Scientist, 7-19-2012]
* Attendance is still strong in tiny Shingo, Japan, where villagers
are certain that Jesus Christ is buried. About 500 tourists joined the
celebration on June 3rd (an event first held in 1964), in honor of
Jesus's relocation there (presumably a voluntary journey from
Calvary after the crucifixion). According to legend, he lived out his
life in Shingo uneventfully, and a festival with dancing girls marks
the anniversary. [Kyodo News via Japan Times, 6-5-2012]
* News of the Weird has reported several times on farmers who are
certain that treating their cows to better lifestyles improves the
quality of their milk and their meat. In July, London's Daily
Telegraph, in a dispatch from Paris, touted Jean-Charles Tastavy's
experiment feeding three cows with a fine wine for four months (in
a mixture, along with their usual barley and hay). (They "loved" it
and consumed it "with relish," said the farm's owner.) The
resulting meat, labeled "Vinbovin," is now a delicacy in Paris
restaurants (despite steeper prices to reflect the increased feeding
costs for the cows). [Daily Telegraph, 7-10-2012]
Updates
* Michael Wyatt first made News of the Weird in 1991 when foot
fetishism was viewed as unfit to report in most newspapers. Several
arrests (owing to his aggressiveness and threats of amputating feet)
have followed, resulting in jail sentences, but Wyatt is apparently
still unable to resist his urges. In July in Faulkner County, Ark.,
Wyatt, 51, was sentenced to a year in prison for violating the terms
of a deferred sentence he had received for harassing a woman about
her feet in 2011. [Reuters via KWCH-TV (Wichita, Kan.), 7-11-
2012]
* William "The Hackney Mole Man" Lyttle (first mentioned in
News of the Weird in 2001) died in 2010 after spending most of his
last 40 years compulsively digging elaborate tunnels underneath his
home in east London. By the time authorities could stop him, the
hollow shafts were endangering the street and adjacent homes. He
was ordered to pay the equivalent of $560,000 so that the holes
could be filled, and in July 2012 the refurbished, supposedly-
structurally-sound home was placed at auction and drew a winning
bid of the equivalent of about $1.5 million. [The Guardian, 7-19-
2012]
* In July a 29-year-old man was taken into custody in Brunswick,
Maine, after police found him in the bottom of a portable toilet on a
golf course. Police did not release his name, but he is not the same
man who was charged in Portland, Maine, in 2009 after being found
inside a pit toilet. That man was much older (49 at the time) and
admitted to having an "outhouse problem." Coincidentally, in
August, Luke Chrisco, 31, who was arrested last year in a portable
toilet pit at a yoga festival in Boulder, Colo., pleaded not guilty and
demanded a trial on burglary and invasion of privacy charges in the
incident (and, in a potentially delightful development, promised to
act as his own attorney). [Bangor Daily News, 7-9-2012] [Daily
Camera (Boulder) via Times Call (Longmont, Colo.), 8-10-2012]
Thanks This Week to Josh Levin, Sandy Pearlman, and
H.Thompson, and to the News of the Weird Senior Advisors (Jenny
T. Beatty, Paul Di Filippo, Ginger Katz, Joe Littrell, Matt Mirapaul,
Paul Music, Karl Olson, and Jim Sweeney) and Board of Editorial
Advisors (Tom Barker, Paul Blumstein, Harry Farkas, Sam Gaines,
Herb Jue, Emory Kimbrough, Scott Langill, Steve Miller,
Christopher Nalty, Mark Neunder, Bob Pert, Larry Ellis Reed, Rob
Snyder, Stephen Taylor, Bruce Townley, and Jerry Whittle).
* * * * *
WeirdNews at earthlink dot net, http://www.NewsoftheWeird.net
(almost daily), and P.O. Box 18737, Tampa FL 33679.
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