Chinese officials in the central city of Xianyang thought that they had a simple means of solving the problem of cigarette butts on the streets: offer residents money for each butt collected and turned in as part of its effort to win the “National Clean City” award. After all, they were offering only 5 fen (less than a penny) for each cigarette butt. That was before residents sent in over 7 million butts and demanded payment.
Continue reading “New Policy Questioned After Chinese Officials Face Huge Butt Costs”
Category: Bizarre
Yes, this will be our mugshot of the week. Not since the mugshot of Sirius Black from Azkaban has a prisoner made such an impression. Mark Siebenmorgen, 46, was arrested in Milwaukie, Oregon for terrorizing town residents. Who would have guessed?
Continue reading “Meet Mark Siebenmorgen: Our Mugshot of the Week”
The decision to use explosives to take down the 275 foot smokestack of Edison’s Mad River Power Plant in Ohio seemed like the perfect event for children until . . .
Researchers in Vietnam recently sat down for a simple meal and ended up with a scientific feast. They were staring at a plate of cooked lizard but they had never seen this species before. It turns out to be a unique species of female lizards who are able to reproduce themselves by cloning. The perfect radical feminist species.
Continue reading “Blue Plate Special: Scientist Finds New Lizard Species on Dinner Plate”
The Chinese have jailed another activist. This time the victim is Zhao Lianhai, the father of a child sickened by one of the country’s food safety scandals. At least six children died from melamine-tainted milk in 2008 and Zhao’s son was injured. More than 300,000 children were left with kidney problems. Zhao has been demanding answers. He just received one in the form of a 2½ years in prison sentence for “disturbing social order.”
Continue reading “China Sentences Food Safety Advocate to Over Two Years in Prison”
President Barack Obama continued his effort to preserve the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy in a filing before the United States Supreme Court. A trial court had imposed an injunction to halt the discriminatory policy. The Administration could have allowed the injunction to stand pending an appeal but succeeded in getting the order reversed. Now, it is defending its intention to continue to discriminate against gays and lesbians in an appeal to the Supreme Court.
Continue reading “Obama Fights To Preserve Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Before Supreme Court”
Indonesian Information Minister Tifatul Sembiring is in the midst of a political crisis over a handshake. Sembiring is a conservative Muslim who often blames natural disasters on a lack of morality and avoids any contact with females outside his family. Then it happened on camera. A smiling Sembiring shaking the hand of first lady Michele Obama. It is enough to send a religious nut into a fetal position. The result has been an insistence that Michele Obama was the hand aggressor — effectively grabbing his hand to his disgust and alarm. The pictures seems to belie the defense — showing a smiling Sembiring who appears to grab the First Lady’s hand.
The Iranian police has found another threat to the Islamic faith: rap music. The morals police has raided parties across Iran to nab kids who just want to play rap music. These teenagers have been meeting in abandoned buildings to listen to the music and dance.
Continue reading “Taking the Rap: Iranians Arrest Teenagers Across Country For Playing Rap Music and Using “Western Musical Instruments””
You may want to be a bit more careful in borrowing a friend’s cellphone in the future. Mobile phones will soon be equipped with small devices to allow you to urinate or spit on their phones to diagnose sexually transmitted diseases. The devices are being developed in England for both cellphones and computers. Given my recent difficulties with Apple over my alleged submersion of my IPhone, I am a bit leery in picking up the new P-App.
Continue reading ““You Got Chamydia”: English Scientists Develop Device to Allow Cell Phone to Alert You of Sexually Transmitted Infections”
Thank God, a diet I can live with. Mark Haub, a professor of human nutrition at Kansas State University, has reported astonishing results in a novel diet that he created to show that losing weight is all about counting calories –not what you eat. To prove his point, he went on a “Twinkie Diet” where he only consumed junk food every three hours consisting of Twinkies, Hostess HoHos, Little Debbies, Oreos, Dorito chips and the like. He lost 27 pounds in two months. Around the world, rotund fans are raising their Twinkies and Debbies in salute to you, Professor Haub.
Continue reading “The Twinkie Diet: Professor Loses 27 Pounds on Junk Food Regimen”
In Massachusetts, prosecutors are dealing with a bizarre case of a man who allegedly store $83,147 to pay for his pornography habit. What makes the case even more bizarre is that the victim was the St. John the Baptist Church and the alleged felon was its pastor, Rev. Keith LeBlanc.
Continue reading “Collared: Massachusetts Priest Accused of Stealing $83,000 To Support Porn Habit”
While we have been criticizing public officials for their criminalization of baggy pants, it appears that we can now add the objection that they are assisting crime by requiring tailored outfits. Columbus police have a video showing a man who failed in a bank robbery effort when he tripped over his baggy pants.
Continue reading “Holy, Inseam, Batman! Bank Robber Foiled By Baggy Pants”
In Salem, Massachusetts, lawyer Ilya Ablavsky, 32, has been charged in a bizarre alleged crime of stealing the file for his cousin’s murder trial and destroying it. Ablavsky, a recent graduate of Western New England College School of Law, reportedly stated that it was his understanding that, absent the original indictment, a person could not be charged.
Continue reading “Massachusetts Lawyer Accused of Shredding Court File To Block Murder Trial”
Boulder police are investigating the strange case of 63-year-old Sanford Rothman. Rothman reportedly was shot in the knee with a 9 mm handgun. He was taken to Boulder Community Hospital, where he was treated and released, police said. What makes the case interesting is that the victim is also the perpetrator — although he doesn’t remember the incident. Rothman is a sleep walker who reportedly told police he woke up to a “bang” and discovered he was shot in the left knee. In my neck of the woods, we just use a wake-up service.
Source: Boulder Daily Camera
— Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
Brazil’s got nothing on San Francisco. Come December 1st, the City by the Bay will be without those nasty Hamburglars and the Avatar avatars. A new city ordinance requires that restaurants meet certain nutritional standards before including toys in the packaging. Ronald is not amused. “We are extremely disappointed with today’s decision. It’s not what our customers want, nor is it something they asked for,” lamented McDonald’s spokeswoman Danya Proud. The ordinance requires that toy-filled treats have “less than 600 calories, contain fruits and vegetables, and include beverages without excessive fat or sugar.” Not exactly something Grandma would frown on, by the way.
The ordinance was prompted because “fifteen percent of American children are overweight or obese — which puts them at risk of developing heart disease, diabetes and cancer, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”
Source: Yahoo News
–Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger