News of the Weird Daily for Saturday

[Chuck Shepherd]

News of the Weird Daily

© 2009 by Chuck Shepherd. All rights reserved.

Chuck's Links for Saturday, April 18, 2009

Politicians in India are demanding netting to protect them when voters throw shoes. (Bonus: A helpful Reuters reporter writes, "Throwing a shoe at someone is considered an insult in India" [Ed.: which is good to know, but one really longs to know in which countries, exactly, throwing a shoe at someone is not insulting].) Reuters via Yahoo

A British inquest determined, it says here, that comedy-club manager Mark Cassidy, 42, died of an overdose of nitrous oxide. The Sun

Sad: Christopher Childers, 40, thought he'd hide out in the car of two Hooters waitresses and jump them, but (a) they whipped his ass and (b) he said he got the idea because his own girlfriend was conservative while the Hooters chicks "looked easy." WSB-TV (Atlanta)

Another British Anti-Social Behavior Order against a couple for screaming during sex (Bonus: Environmental Health officials in Concord actually went to a neighbor's home and installed a recorder to measure the sound next door, and captured 23 "excessive" sex sessions) Daily Mail

Teenagers stole Lindsey Ryan's SUV, with her cellphone inside, so she called the number repeatedly, over several hours. Finally, an answer: "You're a crazy [expletive deleted, probably "bitch," but maybe worse] for calling us 38 times [and] keeping us up all night. You can have your car back." And they told her where they'd leave it. Joliet Herald News (Joliet, Ill.)

Today's Newsrangers: James Patrick, Joe Schlegel

[Chuck Shepherd]

News of the Weird Daily

© 2009 by Chuck Shepherd. All rights reserved.

Chuck's Links for Saturday, April 25, 2009

Notes on the Recession: (1) Rebecca Taylor, needing big bucks for a new apartment, at first offered to sell her 5-month-old son for $10k, but was forced to mark him down to $5k. (2) New York City's Bronx Zoo, facing dwindling revenues, laid off "hundreds" of animals in four exhibits, including deer, bats, porcupines, foxes, lemurs, caimans, and antelopes. Associated Press via Akron Beacon Journal /// New York Post

Shooting Fish in a Barrel (aka "reporting British concerns about 'safety'"): (1) Local gov't councils have been performing "topple tests" on gravestones to make sure none would fall over on anyone (cost: nearly £1m). (2) Clowns in Liverpool have to give up their oversized shoes because they might trip and crash into somebody. Daily Telegraph (gravestones) /// Daily Telegraph (clown shoes)

Spare the propane torch, spoil the child: A really bad parent confronts a toilet-untrained 6-yr-old. Saginaw News

[Jury Duty] Four performers from the Shreveport (La.) Opera chased Timothy Grim, 39, for six blocks after he allegedly stole a diva's dress from the rehearsal room. But it couldn't be true that, after they caught him, he offered to sell the dress back to them (and had lowered his asking price to $1), could it? KTBS-TV (Shreveport)

[Jury Duty Bonus] Generally speaking, "Melissa" and "Lori" are pretty names, but not always. Clarion-Ledger (Jackson, Miss.)

Editor's Notes:
(1) I mentioned a few days ago that Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols had complained formally about the lack of fiber in his diet at Colorado's Supermax prison, and it turns out that his Supermax colleague, Atlanta anti-abortion bomber Eric Rudolph, agrees with him that their "sacred" colons deserve some bran, at least. The Smoking Gun is there. TheSmokingGun.com
(2) OK, that editor I referred to yesterday at Yahoo UK-Ireland (his photo is at the link) is now on my snot list. Newsranger Kevin Dean wrote that he's sure he saw that very story a while back in The (Incomplete) Book of Failures. Even if the story is true, the "Chuck" part of Weird Universe only does "news." Blaaah. I'll check it out.

Today's Newsrangers: Harry Farkas, Rich Pevey