strange stuff

From strange crimes to strange celebrity deaths, read all of the latest weird and strange stuff news stories on Newser.com

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Mayan Tablet Doesn't Predict 2012 Apocalypse: Expert

Dec. 21, 2012 is a big day ... but not for the reason you think

(Newser) - Cool your jets: The Mayans did not predict the world will end in 2012, or so says a German expert. Sven Gronemeyer yesterday shared his reading of a 1,300-year-old Mayan stone tablet that makes reference to 2012: He says the hieroglyphs describe the return of Bolon Yokte, the mysterious...

Bird Dog Shoots Hunter
 Bird Dog 
 Shoots Hunter 
Dec 1, 2011 3:30 AM CST

Bird Dog Shoots Hunter

Owner gets a butt full of birdshot

(Newser) - Good thing Fido's not a better shot. A Utah dog unloaded 27 pellets into his owner's butt as the "excited" hound discharged a 12-gauge shotgun in a boat during a duck-hunting trip. The man was hit as he bent down standing in a marshy area of the...

Farmers Protest Bribery—With Bags of Snakes

Two men in India unleash 40 snakes on a tax office

(Newser) - Two farmers in northern India just wanted to obtain property tax records from a local tax office, but officials allegedly demanded bribes for the info. The miffed farmers came back with three bags, filled not with bribe cash, but with around 40 live snakes—including at least four deadly cobras—...

Ex-Sheriff Thrown in Jail Named After Him

Colorado man charged with offering meth for sex

(Newser) - Former Colorado Sheriff Patrick Sullivan may not be the only person who has a jail named after him, but he may be the only person to get thrown into a jail named after him. The 68-year-old is suspected of offering meth to a male in exchange for sex, reports AP...

Drug Lords Sneak Strippers Into Federal Jail

Lawyers simply list them as 'legal assistants' according to report

(Newser) - It may sound like the plot of a porn movie, but lawyers say drug lords in Miami’s maximum security Federal Detention Center are getting regular visits from pole dancers, right under officials’ noses. How? Their lawyers simply list the girls as “legal assistants,” and the FDC lets...

Western Union Resurrects Singing Telegram

But will anyone pay for them, 'Time' wonders?

(Newser) - Why send an email when you can send a singing telegram? Western Union is bringing the old-timey method of communication back, but with—of course—a modern twist. Sadly, Western Union operators will not actually deliver the telegrams or sing in person. But starting tomorrow, when wu-singingtelegram.com goes live,...

iPhone's Siri 'Can't Find' Abortion Clinics

But it will point users toward escorts, marijuana, and body dumps

(Newser) - Siri, the iPhone 4S' virtual assistant, can tell you how much wood a woodchuck could chuck or where to hide a dead body, but it draws a blank when asked for the location of abortion clinics or emergency contraception services. In Washington, DC, users are directed to anti-abortion pregnancy centers...

Van Der Sloot Sues Victim's Father

Dutchman claims extradition from Chile violated his human rights

(Newser) - Joran Van der Sloot isn't happy about the way he was hauled out of Chile last year to face murder charges in Peru. The 24-year-old Dutchman, claiming the extradition violated his human rights, has filed a $10 million lawsuit against Peru's former president, Chile's former interior minister,...

Teacher Praised for Book Tied to Affair With Student, 17

Blur of fact, fiction raises troubling issues

(Newser) - A teacher bounced from an international American high school after having an affair with a 17-year-old student is winning critical acclaim—for his novel about a teacher who has an affair with his student, reports Jezebel . Reviewers from the New York Times to novelists are gushing about Alexander Maksik's...

Arizona Gun Club Lets Kids Pose With Santa, Weapon

Scottsdale Gun Club offers unusual St. Nick pics

(Newser) - Colt peacemaker on Earth, good ammo to men. That's apparently the holiday wish for all at Arizona's Scottsdale Gun Club, which is giving members and their kids a chance to pose with a "nervous-looking Santa" and the weapon of their choice, reports the Telegraph . "Get your...

Kidnapper Sues His Former Hostages
Kidnapper Sues His
Former Hostages
Nov 29, 2011 7:10 PM CST

Kidnapper Sues His Former Hostages

He says they broke deal to hide him from police

(Newser) - Some lucky judge in Kansas gets this one: A convicted kidnapper is suing the couple he held hostage because he says they broke an "oral contract" to hide him from police in exchange for money, reports the Topeka Capital-Journal . Instead, they snuck out of the house when he fell...

Tech Firm Outlaws Email
 Tech Firm Outlaws Email 
Nov 29, 2011 6:40 PM CST

Tech Firm Outlaws Email

CEO of Atos thinks it wastes too much time on the job

(Newser) - Soon, employees of the biggest IT company in Europe won't be able to do the most common of tech tasks: send or receive email. Atos CEO Thierry Breton thinks email is a tremendous waste of time, and he's in the process of having it eliminated in the workplace,...

Chargers Kicker Caught Taking Sideline Leak

Nick Novak confesses to peeing mid-game

(Newser) - A missed kick wasn’t the only embarrassment for the San Diego Chargers’ Nick Novak in a game this weekend. CBS cameras provided a shot of the man peeing on the sidelines, the New York Daily News notes. When reporters asked Novak about the incident, he wasn’t bashful. “...

Ohio Boy, 8, Taken From Mom Because He's Obese

Third-grader weighs more than 200 pounds

(Newser) - Last month, an 8-year-old Ohio boy was removed from his family home and placed in foster care—not because of physical abuse, but because the third-grader weighed more than 200 pounds. County case workers argued that the boy’s mother was engaging in medical neglect by not getting his weight...

Coming Soon: Real Dunder Mifflin Paper

The Office firm to put 'quabity first' in Staples deal

(Newser) - Fans of the Office will soon be able to buy paper made by their favorite company—though instead of purchasing it from Dwight Schrute, they’ll have to get their reams through Staples. The office-supply giant’s Quill.com has reached a licensing deal with NBCUniversal to sell Dunder Mifflin...

'12 Days of Christmas' Gifts Now Top $100K

The swans, in particular, will cost you: $6,300

(Newser) - For the first time ever, the price of obtaining all the presents mentioned in "The Twelve Days of Christmas" has risen above $100,000. Taking home everything from the 12 drummers drumming right on down to the partridge in a pear tree—364 items in total—will cost you...

Oscar Wilde Lovers Can't Kiss His Tomb Anymore

Lipstick-covered monument now scrubbed, protected by glass

(Newser) - The days of puckering up to leave a lipstick kiss on Oscar Wilde's tomb are over for all but the most intrepid devotees. Hordes of adoring visitors have made their pilgrimage to the writer's final resting spot in the Pêre Lachaise cemetery in Paris and left their...

Utah Professor Watched Child Porn on Flight: Police

Fellow passenger took photo of laptop to alert cops

(Newser) - An engineering professor from the University of Utah was busted on a Delta flight from Salt Lake City on Saturday after a fellow passenger sent a message to alert police that he was viewing child pornography on his laptop, according to investigators. A passenger behind Grant Smith in the first-class...

Passenger Has to Stand for 7-Hour Flight
Passenger Has to Stand
for 7-Hour Flight
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Nov 27, 2011 2:30 PM CST

Passenger Has to Stand for 7-Hour Flight

... because of obese person next to him

(Newser) - Another dismal travel tale from the world of packed airplanes: A US Airways passenger flying from Anchorage to Philadelphia had to stand for nearly all of the seven-hour flight, reports the consumer advocacy blog Elliott.org . The problem? The airline booked a late-boarding passenger who weighed in the neighborhood of...

Waffle House Serves Up Crime, Wackiness

From robberies to terror plots, fast-food chain has it all

(Newser) - Unlike Vegas, what happens at Waffle House doesn't stay at Waffle House, and what happens at Waffle House seems to be an inordinate amount of crime and strange stuff. The New York Times examines an unlikely rash of crime tied to the cheery yellow-roofed all-day-breakfast joints—ranging from a...

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