From: Travis
From: Chuck Shepherd
Date: Sun, Nov 2, 2008
Subject: News of the Weird, November 2, 2008
WEIRDNUZ.M082 (News of the Weird, November 2, 2008)
by Chuck Shepherd
Copyright 2008 by Chuck Shepherd. All rights reserved.
Lead Story
* Donna and Joel Brinkle of Deltona, Fla., raised a family and held
respectable jobs until, in the 1990s, they declared themselves a
sovereign nation and stopped paying taxes. Subsequently, the
county took their home, and they now appear to be living on the
handouts of their son and their church, but they have become
irritations by filing property liens against government officials
(including, once, President Clinton) who fail to recognize their
independent authority. Once, they tried to buy a $700,000 house
with a "money order" drawn on their home-made currency. Even
though the Brinkles' game plan has failed on every single point
(and Joel even did some jail time), the couple remains chipper,
according to an October Orlando Sentinel report, certain that some
higher official will soon vindicate them. [Orlando Sentinel, 10-14-
08]
The Entrepreneurial Spirit!
* Street-begging has become so sophisticated that some websites
and blogs offer :"market research" for panhandlers, with tips from
wizened "pros," according to the Summer 2008 issue of City
Journal. Current begging techniques (which apparently spread
nationally, at least for those non-homeless, non-mentally-ill
beggars) suggest humor (e.g., "I won't lie to you, I need a drink")
and specificity of amount (e.g., "I need 43 more cents for a cup of
coffee"), which often produces a larger donation. Local TV
reporters in Memphis, Tenn., and Salt Lake City, among other
cities, have found panhandlers to routinely earn $10 an hour, and
sometimes substantially more. [City Journal, Summer 2008]
Science on the Cutting Edge
* Studs of the Animal World: (1) An August conference
presentation by a University of Central Florida researcher touted
the frolicking, profligate mating of male South African squirrels,
enhanced, the researcher hypothesized, by the fact that "they're
hung." The typical proportional equivalency for human male
genitals, she said, would be 13 inches. (2) Indiana University
researchers reported in September that male Australian dung
beetles differ from U.S. dung beetles in that evolutionary diversion
of nutrients has given the Australians small horns but large penises
and the Americans the opposite. Thus, noted the researchers, big-
horned American males tend to fight each other for females, while
Australians rely more on sneakiness. [New Scientist, 8-15-08]
[New Scientist, 9-6-08]
* British engineer Ken Walters became disabled from an auto
accident and was living on government assistance to persevere
through pain and long-time depression when, in 2003, he suffered a
stroke. After a lengthy recovery, Walters discovered, while
doodling, that he seemed to have a newfound gift for art. After
drawing up some demonstration software, he was hired by the giant
Electronic Arts company and is flourishing, according to an August
Daily Mail story. His doctors said the brain typically rewires itself
for protection after injury and that previously untapped
consciousness can emerge. [Daily Mail, 8-20-08]
* In September, scientists at Emory University's primate research
center reported that chimps seem to remember other chimps
through "whole body" integration, that is, seeing part of another
chimp causes them to envision the entire body. The researchers
came to this conclusion because chimps shown photos of an
acquaintance-chimp's butt could, more often than random chance
would predict, identify the face that went with it. [New Scientist, 9-
22-08]
Leading Economic Indicators
* Unlike their American counterparts, debt collectors in Spain are
legally allowed to humiliate deadbeats in front of relatives and
neighbors, and are thus quite successful, according to an October
Wall Street Journal dispatch from Madrid. One collector's
employees make flamboyant house calls in "top hat and tails" and
another's are dressed as Franciscan friars, and yet another collector
sends bagpipe players to announce the debt to the entire
neighborhood. One debtor hurriedly paid off his daughter's
wedding tab when the collector found the ceremony's guest list and
began billing each attendee for his or her "share" of the debt. [Wall
Street Journal, 10-11-08]
* Though laid-off workers in the U.S. do much grumbling about
their high-flying CEO's, some dispatched employees in India are
apparently more hardcore. Two CEO's of international firms'
Indian subsidiaries in the city of Noida were beaten up (one fatally)
in separate incidents shortly after announcing mass layoffs in
September. Sixty-three people were charged with the murder, but
no suspects have been arrested in the other incident. [The Hindu, 9-
24-08] [The Telegraph (Calcutta), 9-27-08]
* Leading Middle East Economic Indicators: (1) At Ada Barak's
spa in northern Israel, patrons (for a fee of around $80) can relax
for a session in which snakes, large and small, crawl over their
bodies, massaging and even nibbling. It's "something deep and
peaceful," wrote a Time magazine reporter in October. (2) U.S.-
educated Palestinian Nadim Khoury is introducing Taybeh (Arabic
for "delicious") lager from a microbrewery in the West Bank,
according to an October Agence France-Presse dispatch, and so far
has encountered little resistance from the 98-percent Muslim
population. "[E]veryone drinks beer," he said. [Time, 10-6-08]
[Agence France-Presse, 10-12-08]
Oops!
* Skydives Ending Badly: A parachutist who was part of an Army
ceremony at Fort Riley, Kan., in July was blown 50 yards off
course and crashed into the band, injuring three musicians and
destroying two tubas. And in August, as Duke University's
football team was preparing for the kickoff against James Madison
University in Durham, N.C., two men parachuted into the stadium
with the game ball. That was impressive, but they were actually
supposed to have delivered the game ball to the stadium in Chapel
Hill, ten miles away, where North Carolina was hosting McNeese
State. [WIBW-TV (Topeka), 7-17-08] [Atlanta Journal-
Constitution, 8-30-08]
People Who Need to Control Themselves
* (1) Ronald Miller, 56, was arrested in Fort Wayne, Ind., in
August and charged with lewdness visible to neighbors through his
front window (he was nude, and accessorized, police reported, with
a "claw hammer" and "motor oil"). (2) A few days earlier, in
Northern Territory, Australia, motorist Brendon Erhardt, 39, was
arrested for abusing both the speed limit and himself (by
committing, and recording, with a front-seat camera, a lewd act
while driving). (3) In September, Chiu Yu-kit, a reporter for Hong
Kong's Asia Television, resigned after admitting to a judge that, in
July, he was indeed masturbating while standing atop a downtown
double-decker bus. [WANE-TV (Fort Wayne), 8-5-08] [Northern
Territory News, 7-31-08] [Agence France-Presse, 9-5-08]
Least Competent Criminals
* Not Ready for Prime Time: (1) What started as a "strong-arm"
street robbery in Warren, Mich., in October, ended when the victim
turned out to be stronger than the perp. When it was over, the
victim had gotten his money back, plus $30 of the mugger's as the
man fled, according to a police report in the Macomb Daily. (2) In
Bristow, Va., as a woman stood nearby with her car running, early
one October morning, a stranger jumped in and started to drive off,
though the woman's 6-year-old daughter was still in the car. The
incident ended quickly, though, as the child kicked the man,
pinched him, and screamed until he bailed out and fled, according
to a report on WRC-TV (Washington, D.C.). [Macomb Daily, 10-
9-08] [WRC-TV, 10-8-08]
Recurring Themes
* Recent Heroic Dogs: (1) Buddy, the German shepherd trained to
punch 911 on a special phone and bark, came through in the clutch
in September when owner Joe Stalnaker of Scottsdale, Ariz., had a
seizure. (Stalnaker said it was the third time Buddy had saved
him.) (2) Cash, a German shepherd, remained at the side of his 25-
year-old master, in the Colorado prairie, for six weeks this summer
after the man's suicide, until the body was found in August. Cash
apparently strayed only to catch mice and rabbits for food but then
returned. [New York Post-AP, 9-14-08] [Rocky Mountain News,
8-12-08]
News That Sounds Like a Joke
* A plumbing error in October at the annual Grape Festival in
Marino, Italy, stymied the traditional hook-up in which white wine
cascades through the famous fountains in the center of town.
Instead, water continued to run in the fountains, but "10 to 12"
nearby homeowners must have thought it glorious divine
intervention, briefly, when they opened their taps and found white
wine flowing freely. [BBC News, 10-8-08]
Thanks This Week to Kathryn Wood, Alan Magid, Brian
Rund, Jessica McRorie, and Phil Daley, and to the News of the
Weird Board of Editorial Advisors.
* * * * *
Visit Chuck Shepherd daily at
http://www.WeirdUniverse.net <http://www.weirduniverse.net/> (or
www.NewsoftheWeird.com <http://www.newsoftheweird.com/>) or
mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] / P.O. Box 18737, Tampa FL
33629.
--
*~@):~{>
--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups.
For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum
* Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/
* It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls.
* Read the latest breaking news, and more.
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
