strange stuff

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

Stories 4701 - 4720 | << Prev   Next >>

Hallmark Launches Unemployment Sympathy Cards

Cartoon creatures tell jobless to cheer up

(Newser) - If unemployment figures don’t depress you enough, try this news: Hallmark now has a line of sympathy cards specifically directed at those who’ve lost their jobs, Mediaite reports. One features a dog suggesting that the recipient not “think of it as losing your job.” Instead, “...

Doc Sends Woman to Morgue—Alive

Seems like there really should be checks for this type of thing....

(Newser) - Some of us have bad days at work, and then some of us mistakenly send perfectly alive people to the morgue: Such is the case of 62-year-old Brazilian Rosa Celestrino de Assis, who made the grave mistake of showing no vital signs while being treated for pneumonia, reports the AFP...

Dead Man Spontaneously Combusted: Coroner
 Dead Man 
 Spontaneously 
 Combusted: 
 Coroner 
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Sep 25, 2011 7:43 AM CDT

Dead Man Spontaneously Combusted: Coroner

No cause found for highly localized blaze

(Newser) - On Dec. 22, 76-year-old Michael Faherty burned to death in his home in a blaze that, firefighters say, had no cause and was restricted to his body and the area immediately surrounding it. This week, a coroner ruled that Faherty died of spontaneous human combustion, the Irish Times reports. The...

Family Fined Over Home Bible Studies

Nonprofit willing to fight case if fine not reversed

(Newser) - A California family has been fined $300 for violating city zoning codes … by holding Bible studies in their house. Charles and Stephanie Fromm have appealed the fine, but were told that more fines would be levied if the regular study groups continue without the Fromms obtaining a permit. A...

Kids Who Won Somali Radio Contest Awarded ... AK-47s

Third-place had to settle for grenades

(Newser) - A Somali radio station run by al-Shabab held an, er, interesting trivia contest for kids this weekend. Kids aged 10-17 were quizzed on Islam and al-Shabab minutiae (example: “Which war was al-Shabab warrior Sheik Timajilic killed in?”), with the lucky winner and runner-up both walking away with a...

Vegemite Nearly Causes Diplomatic Incident

Customs officials try to confiscate Aussie Kevin Rudd's jar

(Newser) - Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd had to put his diplomatic powers to use this weekend … when US Customs officials tried to confiscate his Vegemite. What’s Vegemite, you ask? The Telegraph calls the popular Australian breakfast spread, made from yeast extract, a “mystery brown paste” and a cousin...

11 Weird Things Banned by Governments

You might be annoyed by emo clothes, but Russia actually banned them

(Newser) - It's not just San Francisco that likes banning weird things : Oddee rounds up 11 notable examples from around the world:
  • Porn with small boobs: No A-cup porn films are allowed in Australia. Why? Because, lobbying groups argued, men who prefer such films are secretly into child porn.
  • The two-dimensional
...

Revealed: The True Story of Willow the Cat

Stray was picked up on ski trip, flown to NYC

(Newser) - The mystery cat who took the media by storm this week isn’t such a mystery anymore: An alert reader of Gothamist wrote in to reveal the secret biography of Willow, who turned up in New York years after going missing in Colorado. Turns out the New York Times ’...

Guys Take Dead Buddy for Night Out

Denver men paint the town red with corpse in back seat

(Newser) - A Denver man wasn’t going to let a dead roommate ruin his night. When Robert Young, 43, arrived home to find his roommate unresponsive last month, he called on a still-living friend—and the two of them hauled Jeffrey Jarrett’s body into the backseat of a car, police...

Soda Fountain Gas Blamed for McDonald's Death

Carbon dioxide left woman, 80, unable to breathe

(Newser) - A soda fountain is to blame in the death of an 80-year-old woman who was found unconscious last week in a McDonald’s restroom in Georgia, police say. Carbon dioxide, used to carbonate the beverages and normally harmless, was accidentally piped through leaky gas lines in the walls between the...

'Return Trip Effect' Study Explains Why the Way Back Seems Shorter

 Why Return Trips 
 Seem Shorter 
study explains
Sep 15, 2011 5:02 PM CDT

Why Return Trips Seem Shorter

It's not about familiarity with the route, study suggests

(Newser) - Ever noticed how the trip home from your destination always seems shorter than the trip there? The standard explanation is that on the way back, you’re familiar with the route. But scientists in the Netherlands are contesting that view, offering a different explanation centered on expectations, MSNBC reports. On...

Tennessee Has Issue With 'ILVTOFU' License Plate

Whitney Calk loves bean curd, not f-ing people

(Newser) - Whitney Calk loves her bean curd, so much so that the Tennessee woman wanted to proclaim her vegetarian ways by way of a personalized license plate: ILVTOFU. That's I-LV-TOFU. The state, and its less-pure mind, read her message as I-LV-TO-F-U, and denied it because of its "vulgarity."...

Cage: Naked Guy Broke Into My House, Ate Fudgesicle

And no, it was not funny

(Newser) - Add this to your file of weird Nicolas Cage stories : While promoting his new movie Trespass, a home invasion thriller, Cage told the Toronto Film Festival quite a story about a home invasion he actually went through. "It was two in the morning. I was living in Orange County...

Bumbling 'Gumby' Bandit Surrenders

And police keep Jacob Kiss' suit

(Newser) - Jacob Kiss, otherwise known as the guy in the Gumby costume who epically failed in his quest to rob a San Diego 7-Eleven last week, is still not winning. Kiss, 19, turned himself in to police yesterday, accompanied by alleged accomplice Jason Giramma, also 19, who was pictured in the...

Photo Scandal Lands Krystal Ball a Gig as Pundit

Former Congressional candidate now a political pundit

(Newser) - Remember Krystal Ball? She was last year's wackily-named congressional candidate who became well-known only after finding herself in the center of a sexy photo scandal . She lost the election by 29 percentage points, but also found a new career—as a professional pundit, the Washington Post reports. Ball, who...

Man Trying to Bury Cat Finds Something Else in Yard

Five sticks of TNT buried in Ohio backyard

(Newser) - Adrian Ayers was just trying to bury his cat yesterday when he found something that triggered a neighborhood evacuation. The 37-year-old Ohio man hit on a metal box full of bullets and what he thought was C-4, WKRC 12 reports. Police evacuated two city blocks, going door to door to...

Woman Dies Hours After Injecting Beef Fat Into Face
Woman Dies Hours After Injecting Beef Fat Into Face
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Sep 11, 2011 6:00 PM CDT

Woman Dies Hours After Injecting Beef Fat Into Face

Heated beef fat, no less

(Newser) - Add this to the list of really awful ways to go: An Illinois woman injected heated beef fat into her face Thursday, and died shortly thereafter. Janet Hardt, 63, had done it several times before, says a source, but after injecting the substance around her mouth and chin this time,...

Ben &amp; Jerry&#39;s Actually Making Schweddy Balls
 Ben & Jerry's 
 Actually Making 
 Schweddy Balls 
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Sep 11, 2011 1:39 PM CDT

Ben & Jerry's Actually Making Schweddy Balls

'We thought it would never happen,' notes NPR

(Newser) - It seemed like it had to be a joke , but it turns out it's just based on one: Ben & Jerry's is indeed making a flavor in tribute to Alec Baldwin's raunchy "Schweddy Balls" skit on SNL, reports NPR, which was itself skewered for its famously...

Woman Calls Ex 65K Times
 Woman Calls Ex 65K Times 
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Sep 11, 2011 7:15 AM CDT

Woman Calls Ex 65K Times

...in a single year

(Newser) - Fatal Attraction, much? A 42-year-old Dutch woman apparently had a very, very hard time letting go of her former boyfriend ... or his phone number. Prosecutors claim she called him 65,000 times in the last year, and are charging her with stalking. Spaced over 365 days, that's 178 calls...

Cops: Walmart Workers Steal $45K for Sex Change

Pair also hoped for a car

(Newser) - One wanted a Supra; the other, a sex change. So two Walmart workers allegedly teamed up to steal $45,000 from the Arizona store that employed them—money that would purchase surgery for one and a car for the other, they told police. One of the employees distracted the cashiers...

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