Strange Stuff

Sex Talk Sinks Microsoft Santa Software

Associated Press  |  Dec 6, 07 3:26 AM CST

(Newser) - 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 »

Vegas Tree Chopper Sought Better View of Strip

Los Angeles Times  |  Dec 5, 07 10:44 PM CST

(Newser) - 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 Charge 'Dead' Canoeist With Fraud

Daily Mail (UK)  |  Dec 5, 07 9:43 AM CST

(Newser) - 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 »

Boater Appears, 5 Years Later, Sans Memory

Daily Mail (UK)  |  Dec 3, 07 7:03 PM CST

(Newser) - 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 »

Death Threats Drive Heiress Dog Into Hiding

Times (UK)  |  Dec 3, 07 3:56 PM CST

(Newser) - 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 »

Absinthe's Back but Thrill's Gone

Time  |  Dec 2, 07 5:49 AM CST

(Newser) - 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 »

Alaska Town Is Home to Hail of Fame

Los Angeles Times  |  Dec 1, 07 8:43 PM CST

(Newser) - 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 »

A Fight Club at U Chicago?!

Chicago Maroon  |  Dec 1, 07 11:23 AM CST

(Newser) - While the movie Fight Club spawned many imitators after its 1999 release, it took eight years for a fight club to emerge at the notoriously intellectual University of Chicago. Called Thunderdome, after the 1985 Mad Max movie, the fight club meets outdoors, on the quads on campus, late at night. There are up to eight fights a night, some lasting only seconds. More »

Polly Wanna $10K Reward? Find Franklin

New York Post  |  Nov 30, 07 3:29 PM CST

(Newser) - He answers to Franklin, talks with a Brooklyn accent, and does a mean impersonation of a truck backing up. Find the missing parrot and it's worth $10,000 to his distraught Manhattan owners. They put up the bounty when their beloved African grey was stolen from a pet boarding shop last week, the New York Post reports. More »

Rob Bank, Violate Parole, Lose $1M

Boston Globe  |  Nov 29, 07 2:10 PM CST

(Newser) - A Massachusetts man who scored a $1 million jackpot this week wasn’t allowed to buy his ticket to begin with: He’s a twice-convicted bank robber whose five-year probation bars him from gambling. Now, the Globe reports, Timothy Elliot will find himself betting on whether the state will revoke his winnings at an upcoming court date. More »

Exploding Cell Phone Blamed in Man's Death

BBC  |  Nov 28, 07 6:13 PM CST

(Newser) - In what could be the second instance of an exploding cell phone killing its owner, a South Korean man was found dead with a melted battery in his pocket today. His heart and lungs were punctured, a doctor said, due to “high pressure from an explosion.” Phone maker LG insisted the device in question, sold only in Korea, had been thoroughly tested, BBC reports. More »

Rare Disorder May Have Afflicted Lincoln

Washington Post  |  Nov 26, 07 2:20 PM CST

(Newser) - Abraham Lincoln may have been the first known victim of an exceedingly rare genetic disorder, and the 16th President was probably dying of cancer when he was assassinated, an expert says. The cancer-causing syndrome would account for his height, bumpy lips, and other conditions—but corroborating the theory with DNA testing is another story, the Washington Post reports. More »

Beauty Pageant Turns Ugly

Associated Press  |  Nov 26, 07 11:35 AM CST

(Newser) - Ingrid Marie Rivera looked hot at the Miss Puerto Rico Universe pageant—but not in the good way. Pageant officials are investigating who doused the eventual winner's gowns and makeup with pepper spray, the AP reports. Rivera kept her composure before the judges, but once backstage she ripped off her clothes and applied ice packs to her face and body because her skin was swelling and breaking out in hives. More »

36 Years Later, Hijacker's Fate Still Intrigues

Seattle Post-Intelligencer  |  Nov 24, 07 10:09 AM CST

(Newser) - The legend was born in 1971. A hijacker who said he had a bomb traded 36 plane passengers for $200,000 and passage to Mexico. The Boeing 727 took off from Sea-Tac Airport, and the man known as DB Cooper parachuted out the back and into history. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer looks at 36 years of theories and false leads. More »

Boorish Boars Overrun Texas

Los Angeles Times  |  Nov 19, 07 2:45 PM CST

(Newser) - Everything's bigger in Texas, and the pig population is no exception. They aren't cute porkers, either—wild boars wreck crops and cause some $52 million in annual damages in the state. For some, that means an opportunity for heavy-duty huntin', but the solo efforts aren't enough to slow a wave of some 2 million hogs. More »

Dwarf Matadors Stand Tall

USA Today  |  Nov 19, 07 1:11 PM CST

(Newser) - The image of a pint-sized bullfighter waving red at a calf might induce laughter among the more callous, but for Mexican little people, the bullfighting arena is serious stuff. The mini matadors acknowledge an element of humor in their act, but "if a little person can fight a bull, he can do anything," one fighter tells USA Today . More »

Volcanoes Helped Doom Dinos

LiveScience  |  Nov 13, 07 2:42 PM CST

(Newser) - Not one but two catastrophic events may have spelled destruction for the Age of Dinosaurs, previously thought to have ended when an asteroid or comet struck the earth. New research suggests the prehistoric giants died off in “an unfortunate coincidence of a one-two punch—of Deccan volcanism and then a hit from space," said a Princeton paleontologist. More »

Stripper Spanks Schoolboy While Class Watches