News of the Weird, May 2, 2010
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Chuck Shepherd
May 2, 2010, 10:40:51 AM5/2/10
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WEIRDNUZ.M160 (News of the Weird, May 2, 2010)
by Chuck Shepherd
Copyright 2010 by Chuck Shepherd. All rights reserved.
Lead Story
* Blair Fowler, 16, delights her frenzied fans as a "haul queen,"
inspirationally "shopping for glory" by smartly tearing through
stores and then displaying and expertly describing her purchases on
Internet videos. A March Times of London dispatch from Los
Angeles noted Fowler's acclaim "for her ability to deliver a high-
pitched 10-minute lecture on the merits of skinny versus low-riding
jeans, apparently without drawing breath." According to The
Times, at least 100,000 "haul" videos are available on YouTube,
mostly from "amateurs." Fowler's videos, though, have been
viewed 75 million times by "haul" wannabes (mostly teenage girls).
[The Times, 3-28-10]
Leading Economic Indicators
* American companies continue trying to outsource work overseas,
no matter how increasingly improbable the project. The Chronicle
of Higher Education in April reported on the University of Houston
business school's contract to have student papers uploaded to
"teaching assistants" (mostly residing in India, Singapore, and
Malaysia), who read them, mark them up, and offer constructive
advice. UH professor Lori Whisenant, who initiated the university's
contract with the firm EduMetry, said she is generally pleased with
the results.. [Chronicle of Higher Education, 4-4-10]
* Recycled Components: (1) Swiss clockmaker Artya announced in
March the creation of a wristwatch set in fossilized dinosaur feces
(with a strap made with skin from an American cane toad).
Designer Yvan Arpa told the Associated Press the watch would sell
for about $12,000. (2) The spa Ten Thousand Waves near Santa Fe,
N.M., is only the latest U.S. facility to offer as a "signature"
treatment the "Japanese Nightingale Facial," supposedly used for
centuries by Japanese geisha for skin rejuvenation. Nightingale
droppings are dried and sanitized, then spiced with oils and used as
a face scrubber. [MSNBC-AP, 3-15-10] [ScienceBlogs.com, 3-5-
10]
* Recession-Proof Markets: (1) Jimmy Choo stores in New York
City quickly sold out recently of their new, blinking, women's shoes
with five-inch heels, which light up with every step taken, at
$2,495 a pair (although the unrechargeable battery dies after about
100 uses). (2) A Georgia Tech advertising researcher, writing in the
current Hastings Center Report, found that college women seeking
to donate their eggs for in vitro fertilization could expect to make on
average $2,350 more than someone just like them except who had
SAT scores 100 points lower. [New York Post, 3-25-10] [Boston
Globe, 3-26-10]
* Stimuli: (1) A North Carolina research organization in March,
picking the state's 10 worst destinations for federal stimulus grants,
included two ongoing projects at Wake Forest University: long-
term cocaine-addiction in monkeys and the potential benefits of
yoga on menopausal hot flashes. (2) The Florida legislature,
sensing a need to jump-start business in the faltering yacht industry,
reduced the sales tax. Rather than tax the entire selling price, tax
would be levied only on the first $300,000 (for example, giving a
beleaguered yacht buyer a $42,000 cut on the overall price of a $1
million boat). [News & Observer (Raleigh), 3-8-10] [St. Petersburg
Times, 3-26-10]
* Bailing Out AIG (update): In 2006, the about-to-fail AIG wrote a
$15 million life insurance policy on the nearly impecunious Suzy
Tomlinson (then 72), wildly inflating her net worth, with her 32-
year-old "social companion" as beneficiary. Two years later, Ms.
Tomlinson drowned, fully dressed, in her bathtub following a night
of partying, and the last person to see her alive was that $15 million
man, himself. Authorities in Indianapolis called the death an
"accident," but AIG thinks it was gamed by the companion, an
investment consultant. According to an April Wall Street Journal
report, this is but one of 100 or so challenges to "stranger
originated" life insurance policies sold in the go-go years in which
investors sought creative ways to bet on "derivatives" like "stranger"
life insurance. [Wall Street Journal, 4-12-10, 4-14-10]
Abnormal Science
* Child-Bearing, Explained: Virginia state legislator Bob Marshall,
speaking in February in opposition to state funding for Planned
Parenthood, said the organization is partly responsible for the
number of disabled children in America. According to the Old
Testament, he said, being forced to bear a disabled child is
punishment for the mother's having earlier aborted her first-born.
"[W]hen you abort the first born . . . nature takes its vengeance on
the subsequent children." Said Marshall, the organization ought to
call itself "Planned Barrenhood." [Richmond News Leader, 2-22-
10]
* When stroke victims recover, they have sometimes acquired
bizarre obsessions, like one by David Stopher of North Tynesdale,
England, who found himself unable to say no to salespeople.
According to a March Daily Mail report, the biggest beneficiary of
Stopher's condition has been the wireless telephone network (known
as 3), whose marketers had signed Stopher up for six different
phones and plans, at the same time (and paid all on time until his
brothers stepped in to persuade 3 to restructure the account). [Daily
Mail, 3-15-10]
* Heather Has Two Mommies And a Daddy: Scientists at Britain's
Newcastle University announced in April that they had grown
human embryos free of certain serious genetic diseases by first
merging DNA from two fertilized eggs to eliminate the potential
deadly marker(s). The resulting child would have over 99 percent
the DNA of the mother and father (i.e., all except the unhealthy
markers). One scientist compared the procedure to "changing the
battery on a laptop" (which leaves the data files intact). [The Times
(London), 4-15-10]
* Intelligent Evolution: Researchers from Royal Roads University
in Canada reported last year that the large, carnivorous pitcher
plants of Borneo prefer to eat insects and spiders, but where those
are in short supply, as in Philippines highlands, the pitchers have
grown to a size accommodating an alternative source of the nitrogen
they need. The pitchers have "learned" that if they produce copious
amounts of nectar, it will attract the tiny-mouse-sized tree shrew to
harvest it, and the shrews, trapped inside the plant, will leave
droppings directly on the spot most advantageous for the pitcher to
consume them. Said Professor Charles Clarke, discovery of the
arrangement "totally blew us away." [BBC News, 3-10-10]
Least Competent Criminals
* (1) Police in Berwick, Maine, made an easy collar in April,
solving four residential burglaries. As it turns out, their two
suspects (ages 33 and 32) committed the crimes while wearing their
GPS monitoring bracelets following an earlier arrest in New
Hampshire, and their movements perfectly coincided with the
burglars' route. (2) The Drug Warehouse burglar in Tulsa, Okla., in
April escaped, but the crime was captured on surveillance video and
features the perp, apparently hearing sirens, grabbing his ladder and
scrambling up through the ceiling to find the passage he used to get
in. However, as he scrambled, he kept falling through the ceiling to
the floor, only to have to try again. He fell to the floor six times,
but apparently escaped on the seventh try. [Foster's Daily Democrat
(Dover, N.H.), 4-13-10] [KOTV (Tulsa), 4-14-10]
The Aristocrats!
* (1) Steven Plank, 52, was arrested in Port St. Lucie, Fla., in March
after a spat with his disabled father, who had apparently used the
stove out of turn to boil some potatoes. According to police, Plank
dumped the pot of water on his dad, then grabbed the urine cup
hanging on dad's walker and dumped that on him, too. (2) Jacoby
Laquan Smith, 33, was charged with beating up his quadruple-
amputee girlfriend in St. Paul, Minn., in March because, he said, she
had blocked his view of the television. The girlfriend, 28, who lost
both hands and part of both legs from a childhood illness, fought
back, punching Smith and dumping her bedpan on him. Said Smith,
of his frequent fights with her, "She'll swing, push me down, and
choke me with her nubs." [WPTV (West Palm Beah), 4-1-10] [St.
Paul Pioneer Press, 3-29-10]
A News of the Weird Classic (April 1997)
* Iraqi president Saddam Hussein filed a libel lawsuit in February
(1997) in Paris against the magazine e Nouvel Observateur for a
September 1996 story in which Saddam was described by various
Arab leaders as stupid and incompetent and specifically, among
other things, as an "executioner," a "monster," a "murderer," "a
perfect cretin," and a "noodle." [Kansas City Star-Agence France-
Presse, 3-4-97]
Thanks This Week to John Holsinger, Nigel Parry, Rebecca
Malmstrom, Russ Swenson, Richard Poore, and Vincent Kelly, 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, Mark Neunder, Bob
Pert, Larry Ellis Reed, Stephen Taylor, Bruce Townley, and Jerry
Whittle).
* * * * *
Are you ready for Chuck Shepherd's Weekly Intelligence
Briefing? Every Tuesday at http://NewsoftheWeird.blogspot.com
Other handy addresses: WeirdNews at earthlink dot net,
http://www.NewsoftheWeird.com, and P.O. Box 18737, Tampa FL
33679.
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "NewsoftheWeird" group.
To post to this group, send email to newsoft...@googlegroups.com.
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to newsoftheweir...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/newsoftheweird?hl=en.
by Chuck Shepherd
Copyright 2010 by Chuck Shepherd. All rights reserved.
Lead Story
* Blair Fowler, 16, delights her frenzied fans as a "haul queen,"
inspirationally "shopping for glory" by smartly tearing through
stores and then displaying and expertly describing her purchases on
Internet videos. A March Times of London dispatch from Los
Angeles noted Fowler's acclaim "for her ability to deliver a high-
pitched 10-minute lecture on the merits of skinny versus low-riding
jeans, apparently without drawing breath." According to The
Times, at least 100,000 "haul" videos are available on YouTube,
mostly from "amateurs." Fowler's videos, though, have been
viewed 75 million times by "haul" wannabes (mostly teenage girls).
[The Times, 3-28-10]
Leading Economic Indicators
* American companies continue trying to outsource work overseas,
no matter how increasingly improbable the project. The Chronicle
of Higher Education in April reported on the University of Houston
business school's contract to have student papers uploaded to
"teaching assistants" (mostly residing in India, Singapore, and
Malaysia), who read them, mark them up, and offer constructive
advice. UH professor Lori Whisenant, who initiated the university's
contract with the firm EduMetry, said she is generally pleased with
the results.. [Chronicle of Higher Education, 4-4-10]
* Recycled Components: (1) Swiss clockmaker Artya announced in
March the creation of a wristwatch set in fossilized dinosaur feces
(with a strap made with skin from an American cane toad).
Designer Yvan Arpa told the Associated Press the watch would sell
for about $12,000. (2) The spa Ten Thousand Waves near Santa Fe,
N.M., is only the latest U.S. facility to offer as a "signature"
treatment the "Japanese Nightingale Facial," supposedly used for
centuries by Japanese geisha for skin rejuvenation. Nightingale
droppings are dried and sanitized, then spiced with oils and used as
a face scrubber. [MSNBC-AP, 3-15-10] [ScienceBlogs.com, 3-5-
10]
* Recession-Proof Markets: (1) Jimmy Choo stores in New York
City quickly sold out recently of their new, blinking, women's shoes
with five-inch heels, which light up with every step taken, at
$2,495 a pair (although the unrechargeable battery dies after about
100 uses). (2) A Georgia Tech advertising researcher, writing in the
current Hastings Center Report, found that college women seeking
to donate their eggs for in vitro fertilization could expect to make on
average $2,350 more than someone just like them except who had
SAT scores 100 points lower. [New York Post, 3-25-10] [Boston
Globe, 3-26-10]
* Stimuli: (1) A North Carolina research organization in March,
picking the state's 10 worst destinations for federal stimulus grants,
included two ongoing projects at Wake Forest University: long-
term cocaine-addiction in monkeys and the potential benefits of
yoga on menopausal hot flashes. (2) The Florida legislature,
sensing a need to jump-start business in the faltering yacht industry,
reduced the sales tax. Rather than tax the entire selling price, tax
would be levied only on the first $300,000 (for example, giving a
beleaguered yacht buyer a $42,000 cut on the overall price of a $1
million boat). [News & Observer (Raleigh), 3-8-10] [St. Petersburg
Times, 3-26-10]
* Bailing Out AIG (update): In 2006, the about-to-fail AIG wrote a
$15 million life insurance policy on the nearly impecunious Suzy
Tomlinson (then 72), wildly inflating her net worth, with her 32-
year-old "social companion" as beneficiary. Two years later, Ms.
Tomlinson drowned, fully dressed, in her bathtub following a night
of partying, and the last person to see her alive was that $15 million
man, himself. Authorities in Indianapolis called the death an
"accident," but AIG thinks it was gamed by the companion, an
investment consultant. According to an April Wall Street Journal
report, this is but one of 100 or so challenges to "stranger
originated" life insurance policies sold in the go-go years in which
investors sought creative ways to bet on "derivatives" like "stranger"
life insurance. [Wall Street Journal, 4-12-10, 4-14-10]
Abnormal Science
* Child-Bearing, Explained: Virginia state legislator Bob Marshall,
speaking in February in opposition to state funding for Planned
Parenthood, said the organization is partly responsible for the
number of disabled children in America. According to the Old
Testament, he said, being forced to bear a disabled child is
punishment for the mother's having earlier aborted her first-born.
"[W]hen you abort the first born . . . nature takes its vengeance on
the subsequent children." Said Marshall, the organization ought to
call itself "Planned Barrenhood." [Richmond News Leader, 2-22-
10]
* When stroke victims recover, they have sometimes acquired
bizarre obsessions, like one by David Stopher of North Tynesdale,
England, who found himself unable to say no to salespeople.
According to a March Daily Mail report, the biggest beneficiary of
Stopher's condition has been the wireless telephone network (known
as 3), whose marketers had signed Stopher up for six different
phones and plans, at the same time (and paid all on time until his
brothers stepped in to persuade 3 to restructure the account). [Daily
Mail, 3-15-10]
* Heather Has Two Mommies And a Daddy: Scientists at Britain's
Newcastle University announced in April that they had grown
human embryos free of certain serious genetic diseases by first
merging DNA from two fertilized eggs to eliminate the potential
deadly marker(s). The resulting child would have over 99 percent
the DNA of the mother and father (i.e., all except the unhealthy
markers). One scientist compared the procedure to "changing the
battery on a laptop" (which leaves the data files intact). [The Times
(London), 4-15-10]
* Intelligent Evolution: Researchers from Royal Roads University
in Canada reported last year that the large, carnivorous pitcher
plants of Borneo prefer to eat insects and spiders, but where those
are in short supply, as in Philippines highlands, the pitchers have
grown to a size accommodating an alternative source of the nitrogen
they need. The pitchers have "learned" that if they produce copious
amounts of nectar, it will attract the tiny-mouse-sized tree shrew to
harvest it, and the shrews, trapped inside the plant, will leave
droppings directly on the spot most advantageous for the pitcher to
consume them. Said Professor Charles Clarke, discovery of the
arrangement "totally blew us away." [BBC News, 3-10-10]
Least Competent Criminals
* (1) Police in Berwick, Maine, made an easy collar in April,
solving four residential burglaries. As it turns out, their two
suspects (ages 33 and 32) committed the crimes while wearing their
GPS monitoring bracelets following an earlier arrest in New
Hampshire, and their movements perfectly coincided with the
burglars' route. (2) The Drug Warehouse burglar in Tulsa, Okla., in
April escaped, but the crime was captured on surveillance video and
features the perp, apparently hearing sirens, grabbing his ladder and
scrambling up through the ceiling to find the passage he used to get
in. However, as he scrambled, he kept falling through the ceiling to
the floor, only to have to try again. He fell to the floor six times,
but apparently escaped on the seventh try. [Foster's Daily Democrat
(Dover, N.H.), 4-13-10] [KOTV (Tulsa), 4-14-10]
The Aristocrats!
* (1) Steven Plank, 52, was arrested in Port St. Lucie, Fla., in March
after a spat with his disabled father, who had apparently used the
stove out of turn to boil some potatoes. According to police, Plank
dumped the pot of water on his dad, then grabbed the urine cup
hanging on dad's walker and dumped that on him, too. (2) Jacoby
Laquan Smith, 33, was charged with beating up his quadruple-
amputee girlfriend in St. Paul, Minn., in March because, he said, she
had blocked his view of the television. The girlfriend, 28, who lost
both hands and part of both legs from a childhood illness, fought
back, punching Smith and dumping her bedpan on him. Said Smith,
of his frequent fights with her, "She'll swing, push me down, and
choke me with her nubs." [WPTV (West Palm Beah), 4-1-10] [St.
Paul Pioneer Press, 3-29-10]
A News of the Weird Classic (April 1997)
* Iraqi president Saddam Hussein filed a libel lawsuit in February
(1997) in Paris against the magazine e Nouvel Observateur for a
September 1996 story in which Saddam was described by various
Arab leaders as stupid and incompetent and specifically, among
other things, as an "executioner," a "monster," a "murderer," "a
perfect cretin," and a "noodle." [Kansas City Star-Agence France-
Presse, 3-4-97]
Thanks This Week to John Holsinger, Nigel Parry, Rebecca
Malmstrom, Russ Swenson, Richard Poore, and Vincent Kelly, 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, Mark Neunder, Bob
Pert, Larry Ellis Reed, Stephen Taylor, Bruce Townley, and Jerry
Whittle).
* * * * *
Are you ready for Chuck Shepherd's Weekly Intelligence
Briefing? Every Tuesday at http://NewsoftheWeird.blogspot.com
Other handy addresses: WeirdNews at earthlink dot net,
http://www.NewsoftheWeird.com, and P.O. Box 18737, Tampa FL
33679.
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "NewsoftheWeird" group.
To post to this group, send email to newsoft...@googlegroups.com.
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to newsoftheweir...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/newsoftheweird?hl=en.
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