What A Strange Place The World Is
P@gp.c0m G. P.
of a team that almost got the go-ahead to drop flying-bat bombs on Japan in
World War II. The plan: Tiny incendiary devices would be attached to
millions of bats, which would be put into egg-carton-like trays in a
bombshell. When the bats were released, they would roost in Japan's
wood-and-paper buildings, and fires would start all over the country. That
would "frighten, demoralize, and excite the prejudices" of the Japanese,
according to team member Jack C.. President Roosevelt was said to have
really liked the idea, but he apparently liked the atom bomb even more.
In October, Ecuadoran President Abdala B. (1) released his first rock and
roll CD, "Madman in Love," (2) lunched with one of his most famous
countrywomen, the former Mrs. Lorena Bobbitt (and found it an "extremely
high honor"), and (3) endured a public outburst by his Energy Minister
Alfredo Adum, who said he would like to live naked and prey on women like a
caveman, grabbing them by the hair and "devouring" them.
For the last year, Allen F. has operated the READundant bookstore in a mall
in Minneapolis, set up like a traditional bookstore (sections on sports,
religion, history, etc.) but its 5,000-book inventory consisting of only
one title-- Fahden's own management book, Innovation on Demand. Fahden said
his store is based on one of his management principles: the use of
opposites to generate creative thoughts. The store's in-house best-seller
list shows Innovation on Demand occupying each of the ten slots.
Can't Possibly Be True
The Washington Post reported in September that several self- described
members of the Moorish Science Temple in Washington, D. C., had smuggled
cocaine and prostitutes into the District's Lorton Correctional Complex and
at one point made a 10-minute video of prisoners and women having sex in
the prison chapel. The Temple "members" had taken advantage of Lorton's lax
procedures for religious visitors. And convicted murderer Claude R. freely
operates a pornography vending business inside the Edmonton (Alberta)
maximum- security prison, according to a September dispatch from the
Canadian Press, ordering such magazines as Swank and Gallery from the
outside and selling them for about $6 each.
A Spanish man visiting Stockholm on business stood to inherit about a
million dollars, according to an October newspaper account in Germany's
daily Bild. Eduardo P. had stopped off to pray at a Roman Catholic church
and signed the guest book of a man whose body lay there in a coffin. Mr. P.
was later notified that the deceased, real-estate developer Jens S., had
died without heirs and had specified that "whoever prays for my soul gets
all my belongings."
In July, after arriving at Baltimore-Washington International Airport, the
daughter in a family of four was refused boarding on American Airlines.
Mother, father, and son presented driver's licenses as ID to satisfy new
FAA rules, and the daughter presented a student ID from the University of
Maryland. However, the American Airlines clerk refused to accept the card,
saying that even though it was issued by a state university, it didn't meet
the requirement of being issued by a "government." On the basis of this
denial, the family meekly gave up their already-arranged vacation in Las
Vegas and drove home.
Not My Fault
P. L. Bark, 59, pleaded guilty in September in Kansas City, Mo., to selling
more than 1,300 guns illegally over a two- year period, including many to
juveniles and felons. Said Bark at his sentencing, "I blame half of it on
the [government] for letting me go as long as they did. How was I to know
[the guns] would be used in [crimes]?"
Burglary suspect Wesley S., 57, said in November that he was temporarily
insane the night he allegedly hit a home in West Palm Beach, Fla., because
he had just eaten too much cotton candy. And in a Montgomery County, Md.,
court in October, accused hit- man hirer C. S. Shapiro said that
tranquilizers, plus an entire bottle of extra-strength Tums ingested in the
days before his guilty plea, caused impaired judgment and that he should
thus be allowed to withdraw the plea.
In August, the Hong Kong High Court referred a 50-year-old man to a
psychiatric center for treatment after he was charged with indecent assault
on his son's 20-year-old girlfriend. A medical report said the man suffered
from a post-concussional disorder, which was blamed on a car accident in
1962.
First Things First
In July, the New York Post reported that Vivid Video, which produces
pornographic movies and which had just signed actor S. St. Croix to an
unprecedented 33-picture deal, became so concerned when St. Croix bought a
motorcycle that it purchased a $1 million Lloyd's of London policy insuring
St. Croix's genitals. Said a Vivid spokeswoman, "He's an incredible talent
and we don't want to lose him--or any part of him."
In May, about 40 eighth-grade students from Hartford, Conn., on a class
trip were stranded for a day in Washington, D. C., after their charter-bus
driver suddenly disappeared. The kids said that, just before dropping them
off at the hotel around 11 p.m., the man had picked up a prostitute in the
bus and that the two of them had ridden away into the night.
In August Abilene, Tex., prosecutor Sandy S. abruptly ended the murder
trial of Frank R., who had been charged with bludgeoning a woman with a
baseball bat, and sought a new indictment against him. Self wanted to
protect his case against error and worried that an appeals court would
notice that the bat MR. R. allegedly used was actually an aluminum softball
bat and not a baseball bat.
Update
Ray B. of Tallahassee, Fla., said in October that he holds the patent for a
condom which belts onto a man's leg to prevent what MR B. believes is the
common problem of the condom's unrolling during use. But in 1992, News of
the Weird reported that Merlyn S. of San Francisco said he had the patent
for such a device, which he called "condom suspenders."
Undignified Deaths
On the nights of Sept. 12, in St. Louis, Mo., and Nov. 3, in Minneola,
Fla., women were accidentally run over by friends and killed as they had
gotten out of trucks in order to urinate on the side of the road. Driver R.
G. Phillips in St. Louis was charged with reckless homicide though he said
he was merely moving his pickup truck to try to shield his companion from
passing traffic. Florida driver Chad Eric W. said he was playfully trying
to discourage his companion from squatting in front of his tractor-trailer
instead of at the side.