Strange Stuff

A San Francisco Chronicle article about the differing political stances of George H. W. Bush and his pool boy led to a flood of donations for James Razsa's personal cause: his teeth. In addition to bagging $6,000, Razsa got a more singular offer from a San Jose dentist: Come stay at my house, and I'll fix your smile for free. More »

Amid the lush paradise of a so-called lost world, researchers ran into a little reminder of the developed world's sewers: A heretofore undiscovered giant rat five times the size of gutter-variety rodents. The group also came across a new pygmy possum and various rare birds in the remote area of Papua New Guinea, the BBC reports. More »

He was born, registered, and baptized Friday Germano, but the Italian government is calling him Gregory. The Germanos happen to like the name Friday, but 5 months after they gave it to their baby, a court in Genoa ruled that it had to be changed. In Italy, it seems, the law forbids giving children “ridiculous or shameful” first names, Reuters reports. More »

About 150 people were knitting for their lives last month in what organizers call the “bloodiest extreme knitting tournament” around. Based on the dorm staple Assassins, Sock Wars challenges contestants to “kill” targets by knitting and sending them socks, the Wall Street Journal explains. “I wanted a wicked edge to it,” says the contest’s creator, irritated by “the whole ‘knitting is the new yoga’ cliché.” More »

The 2-year-old girl whose extra limbs were removed in a marathon surgery left a Bangalore hospital today for home. Doctors say Lakshmi Tata, born with four arms and four legs from a conjoined twin, will recover, but they cautioned she will need more surgery, BBC reports. "Lakshmi is normal, eating well and in good spirits," said one surgeon. More »

Are chickens a city pet? Chicago’s city council is nearing a vote on a proposal to ban chicken ownership, even as green- and organic-minded citizens around the country increasingly keep the birds for eggs, yard work, and companionship. Among worries for Chicago politicians, the AP reports, are that chickens’ waste attracts rodents and that the birds might transmit avian flu. More »

As prank calls go, Vífill Atlason’s call to the White House is in select company. Posing as Iceland’s president, the 16-year-old says he managed to schedule a phone meeting with President Bush, though Icelandic police tracked him down before that could happen. White House spokesmen say Atlason called a public switchboard, but ABC News confirmed it was actually a high-level line. More »

A rare rodent with jumbo ears and a kangaroo hop has been nabbed on video for possibly the first time, the BBC reports. Scientists who braved the Gobi desert recently observed the jerboa as part of a plan to help the endangered and extremely rare mammal. The critter amazed them with its snow-shoe like feet and "one of the biggest ear-to-body ratios out there," as one scientist put it. More »

A court has ordered NASA to release info relating to a UFO sighting 42 years ago in Kecksburg, Pa. Several witnesses say they saw the crash of a large object, which soldiers then carted off. The Chicago Tribune probes the case, in which a freelance journalist sued NASA under the Freedom of Information Act after the agency repeatedly stalled in releasing documents related to the incident. More »

Criminals may want to think twice the next time they feel like snapping photos of their exploits: authorities nationwide are using the indecent exposures as evidence against them, the Wall Street Journal reports. “We pray for those kinds of cases,” said an assistant state attorney, while a small-town prosecutor estimated phone cameras supply evidence 40-50 times a year. More »

Australian scientists worried about global warming have turned to one of Mother Nature's cleanest "natural gas" producers, the kangaroo, for help. It seems that when kangaroos fart, the stuff contains none of the methane produced by cattle and sheep breaking wind. Scientists want to transfer the bacteria from kangaroos' stomachs to those animals to cut down on their noxious emissions, AFP reports. More »

It was a match made not in heaven but on Craigslist, and the Russian bride and American groom are charged with staging a sham marriage to get her a green card. The woman posted not-so-subtle ads: "Green Card Marriage—Will Pay $300/Month. Total $15,000," the LA Times reports. She got a taker, along with the attention of customs officials. More »

Conflicts between elephant and man are common in Indonesia, fueled by the establishment of plantations ever-deeper into the Sumatran jungle. Since 2002, 42 people and 100 elephants have died in clashes, the Wall Street Journal reports. Enter the “Flying Squad,” four trained elephants and their keepers who patrol the jungle borders, forcing dangerous wild herds away from human areas. More »

Microsoft got an early peek at Santa’s naughty list and found that it contained Old Saint Nick himself. The company pulled the plug on its automated Santa instant messaging program after a user claimed the elf brought up oral sex in a chat with his underage nieces when they repeatedly asked if he wanted to eat pizza, AP reports. More »

A retiree convicted of killing 500 trees in a Las Vegas suburb was trying to better his view of the famous Strip, the Los Angeles Times reports. Douglas Hoffman, 60, was found guilty last month of felling $250,000 worth of mesquite and other trees over the course of a year, and he could face 35 years in prison. More »

Police arrested John Darwin, the canoeist who reappeared in London after being presumed dead for 5 years, early this morning on evidence that he and his wife faked his death to defraud their life insurance agency. The mysteriously tanned and fit Darwin had claimed to have no idea where he'd been, but photos of him and his wife in Panama surfaced on the Internet, and his wife recently sold their home and moved to Panama. More »

A man who was presumed dead five years ago, when he failed to return from a canoeing trip, showed up in London today, the Daily Mail reports. John Darwin, 57 and able to remember only his name, walked into a police station saying: "I think I am a missing person." Oddly enough, Darwin’s wife sold the family home and emigrated to Panama only four weeks ago. More »

When the Queen of Mean left her pampered pooch $12 million, it only spelled trouble for Trouble. Leona Helmsley's spoiled Maltese, whose annual upkeep bills run to $300,000, was forced to flee her Connecticut estate after a flood of death and abduction threats by blackmailers hungry for the dog’s moolah, the London Times reports. More »

The "Green Fairy" may have led Van Gogh to cut off his ear, but don't expect newly legal absinthe to cause anyone to do the same, reports Time magazine . New federal regulations allow the anise-flavor liquor only a trace of thujone, the chemical from wormwood that supposedly causes hallucinations. Scientists accusing absinthe retailers of "playing pretend" say the original version contained 25 times that amount. More »

What American municipality has the most cab drivers per capita? No, not New York. It’s Bethel, Alaska, a town of 5,800 that has 93 cabbies, or one for every 62 residents, the Los Angeles Times reports. With only 10 miles of paved road at their disposal, the cabbies visit a circle of familiar destinations: general stores, post office, hospital, airport. More »