-
Associated Press
|
Jun 21, 09 5:49 AM CDT
(Newser) -
The summer solstice is upon us, but for certain enthusiasts, today bears a different name: Naked Hiking Day. “No way to explain it until you experience it,” one fan told the AP. “Traditional” hikers might feel the same upon encountering backpackers in the buff. “It’s just rude,” one Appalachian Trail official said. “People are out there hiking with their kids and families.”
More »
-
-
Walrus Magazine
|
Jun 18, 09 7:41 PM CDT
(Newser) -
As the movement toward greener, more natural burials gains steam, a Swedish biologist who specializes in soil production thinks she's got the best method, reports the Walrus magazine. It's called promession, and it's a doozy: Corpses are frozen with liquid nitrogen, then shattered into tiny pieces on a vibrating table. A vacuum removes moisture, and the tiny bits are buried in shallow topsoil in a bag made of corn starch. In a few months, nothing is left.
More »
-
Arizona Republic (Phoenix)
|
Jun 16, 09 7:44 PM CDT
(Newser) -
This could have saved a lot of legal fees for Al Franken and Norm Coleman: A small town in Arizona settled an election that finished in a dead heat by asking the candidates to cut a deck of cards, reports the Arizona Republic . When the two council candidates each got 660 votes, town elders pulled out an obscure statute from 1925 that allowed them to decide the race "by lot." For the record, the king of hearts beat the 6 of hearts.
More »
-
Wall Street Journal
|
Jun 16, 09 1:37 PM CDT
(Newser) -
They just don’t make shrunken heads the way they used to. In fact, no one makes them at all, which is a big problem for Ripley’s Believe It or Not! The chain of “odditoriums” has expanded so far and so fast that its collection is stretched to the breaking point, the Wall Street Journal reports. Curators are searching desperately for top-notch curiosities to anchor its far-flung establishments.
More »
-
-
Associated Press
|
Jun 16, 09 1:12 PM CDT
(AP) -
A South Korean man allegedly shot and killed a 10-year-old boy after hitting him with his car, apparently to hide the fact that he was driving drunk, police said today. The man, whose family name is Lee, struck the boy June 4 in Gwangju and took him to a hospital, said the officer who handled the case. The hospital told him to take the boy to a larger medical facility, but instead he drove the boy to a reservoir and allegedly shot him with an air rifle.
More »
-
Burlington Hawk Eye
|
Jun 13, 09 5:32 PM CDT
(Newser) -
A rowdy bunch of Iowa baseball fans weren't just taken out to the ball game, they were ejected from it, the Burlington Hawk Eye says. After a controversial play at a high school game in West Burlington, coaches from both teams argued with umpire Don Briggs, who gave the crowd a warning. When a fan yelled from the stands, Briggs ejected the entire crowd—and called the cops.
More »
-
Daily Telegraph (UK)
|
Jun 13, 09 3:11 AM CDT
(Newser) -
A 14-year-old German schoolboy survived with just a scar on his hand after being hit by a meteorite traveling 30,000 miles an hour, the Daily Telegraph reports. The red-hot pebble buried itself in the road after bouncing off Gerrit Blank, who doused it with a drink, dug it out of its crater, and took it to school. Tests confirmed that the pea-sized rock came from space.
More »
-
Reuters
|
Jun 12, 09 3:11 PM CDT
(Newser) -
“Beer bikes”—party vehicles that combine two of Amsterdam's favorite things—are under scrutiny after two recent accidents involving the gizmos, Reuters reports. Each large conveyance seats 10 peddlers at a central bar while a non-drinker steers. “This beer bike is completely legal,” said a transport official who is nonetheless “not very enthusiastic about this idea of people drinking while being amongst traffic.”
More »
-
Portland Press Herald
|
Jun 12, 09 2:15 PM CDT
(AP) -
George H.W. Bush celebrated his 85th birthday by skydiving over the coast of Maine today. The 41st president made a tandem jump with a member of the Army's Golden Knights parachute team onto a landing zone near a church in Kennebunkport, where the family has a summer home. "I don't feel a day over 84," he told the Portland Press Herald.
More »
-
State (Columbia, SC)
|
Jun 12, 09 1:55 PM CDT
(Newser) -
An escaped gorilla injured a South Carolina zoo employee before voluntarily returning to his enclosure after 5 minutes on the loose, the State reports. Riverbanks Zoo in COlumbia was on lockdown for about 45 minutes after Mike escaped, with visitors escorted into buildings or outside the park. The zoo did not release details of the food service employee’s injuries, and officials are still investigating the incident.
More »
-
Green Bay Press-Gazette
|
Jun 12, 09 12:04 PM CDT
(Newser) -
A 10-year-old in Wisconsin missed her last day of school to watch President Obama speak—so he wrote her an excuse note. Kennedy Corpus’ father noted that she was missing school before asking a question, the Green Bay Press-Gazette reports. “Do you need me to write a note?” the president asked, sparking laughter from the audience.
More »
-
Times (UK)
|
Jun 11, 09 5:33 PM CDT
(Newser) -
An Italian woman who cheated fate when she missed her flight on the doomed Air France jet has been killed in a car crash, the London Times reports. Johanna Ganthaler and her husband were late to the Rio airport on May 31 and caught another flight the next day. The two then traveled to Austria, where their car collided with an oncoming truck. Her husband was seriously injured.
More »
-
New York Post
|
Jun 11, 09 5:15 PM CDT
(Newser) -
Sully's revenge: Authorities are going to round up and kill up to 2,000 Canada geese near JFK and LaGuardia airports, reports the New York Post . A bird strike led to pilot Chesley Sullenberger's unexpected detour on the Hudson in January, and the city and Port Authority want to lower the risk for other planes. The hunt will start next week while the geese are molting and can't fly.
More »
-
Boston Globe
|
Jun 11, 09 5:05 PM CDT
(Newser) -
The one-in-30-million special at one Boston eatery isn’t on the menu. Caught off the Canadian coast, “Fiona” is believed to be a rare yellow lobster. The spotted 7-year-old (the coloring is actually closer to orange) is fed sushi-quality tuna and will eventually be sent to live at a museum, the owner tells the Boston Globe. Meantime, nobody’s eating her. “That would be like steaming a Rembrandt.”
More »
-
CNN
|
Jun 10, 09 1:59 PM CDT
(Newser) -
In hindsight, maybe the bank might've been a better idea: An Israeli woman dumped her mom's life savings when she decided to surprise her with a new mattress—and tossed the old one padded with nearly $1 million, CNN reports. City workers are helping the daughter search, and have beefed up security around dumps to keep away treasure seekers. The elderly mother has told her daughter to forget about it.
More »
-
Daily Telegraph (UK)
|
Jun 10, 09 11:22 AM CDT
(Newser) -
Why bother making friends when you can rent them? A Tokyo-based company allows you to do just that, hiring out fake friends for any occasion, even the happiest day of your life. Need to pad your wedding guest list? The rent-a-friend will attend for just $200; for an extra $100, he’ll even make a nice speech.
More »
-
Time
|
Jun 9, 09 8:23 PM CDT
(Newser) -
Time counts down the top 10 weirdest non-emergency 911 calls. Among the craziest: A cop who stole pot from a drug bust and made brownies. After getting stoned, he called 911 in a panic. "I think we're dead," he told the operator. "Time is going by really really really really slowly." He resigned but wasn't charged.
More »
-
ABC News
|
Jun 9, 09 7:42 PM CDT
(Newser) -
Pregnant Man is no one-baby wonder. Thomas Beatie gave birth to his second child this morning, reports ABC News. Beatie, who was born a woman but is now legally a man, catapulted to fame last year when images of his pregnant belly surfaced. Though he's had some surgery toward his gender shift, Beatie has been able to give birth because he kept his female sex organs. Both Beatie and the new baby boy are healthy, and Beatie's wife expects to begin breastfeeding soon.
More »
-
Reuters
|
Jun 8, 09 4:33 PM CDT
(Newser) -
Fashion mainstay Hermes is now maintaining its own crocodile farms in Australia to provide skins for its handbags, Reuters reports. “The world is not full of crocodiles, except the stock exchange!” the French company’s CEO joked, feebly. Hermes’ leather-accessory line, which accounts for 40% of company business, has been the most successful in the economic downturn and has had to add employees.
More »
-
People
|
Jun 7, 09 5:30 AM CDT
(Newser) -
Brooke Shields has settled with the National Enquirer after two tabloid journalists reportedly signed her mother out of her New Jersey nursing home last month, reports People . The tabloid has agreed not to publish the story, will publicly apologize, and will donate money to research on dementia, a condition from which Teri Shields suffers. "The idea that the National Enquirer took advantage of her state is reprehensible and disgusting," said Brooke.
More »