Wicked Thoughts

The road to the moon

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THE NEWS

Odd news from around the world

Enjoy a steak? You’re a Tory: Right eat more meat than their left-wing friends because of their belief in upholding traditions: “Your choice of a steak or a salad could give away your political views. People on the right eat more meat than their left-wing friends and colleagues, a study found. And it’s not just that they like meat more. According to the researchers it because of their belief in the importance of upholding traditions. The Belgian and Canadian researchers asked more than 500 adults a battery of questions designed to assess their political beliefs and their views about animals. They were also asked how much meat they ate and how much they liked it. The results linked meat-eating with right-wing views, as well as the beliefs that vegetarianism poses a threat to their culture and that people are superior to animals. Researcher Gordon Hodson, of Brock University in Ontario, said that while those with conservative views do like meat more, their ideology is also important.

Police descend on Maine man whose ‘gun’ turns out to be a tattoo: “Norridgewock, Maine: US police armed with assault rifles descended on a man’s home after members of a tree removal crew he’d told to leave his property in Maine reported that he had a gun. But it turns out the “gun” the tree crew had seen on Michael Smith was just a life-sized tattoo of a hand gun on his stomach. Smith, who works nights, was asleep when the tree crew contracted by a utility to trim branches near power lines, woke him up at about 10am on Tuesday. He went outside shirtless and yelled at the workers to leave. When he’s not wearing a shirt, the tattoo looks like a gun tucked into his waistband. Smith told a local newspaper the tattoo has never been a problem before. Police didn’t charge him.

Is this the first wearable computer? 300-year-old Chinese abacus ring was used during the Qing Dynasty to help traders: “Wearable technology is thought to be the latest trend sweeping the digital world. But the concept isn’t as new as you might think. Back in the 17th century, one pioneering designer in China created a functioning ‘smart ring’. Developed in the Qing Dynasty era (1644-1911), the ring features a 1.2cm long, 0.7cm wide abacus that sits on the finger. The Zhusuan, or China’s abacus, has seven rods with seven beads on each rod. Despite its small size, the rings still works as a counting tool, allowing traders to make quick calculations. The origins of the ring are unknown. However, the beads are far too small to be moved using fingers, according to ChinaCulture.org. ‘It seems that the beads can only be moved by small tools such as pins,’ the site writes. ‘However, this is no problem for this abacus’s primary user — the ancient Chinese lady, for she only needs to pick one from her many hairpins.’

‘For $400,000, why WOULDN’T I auction my virginity?’: 27-year-old medical student defends her transition from ‘virgin to whore’: “When it comes to losing their virginity, most women wait for the right man, while others prefer to wait for the right price. Elizabeth Raine, 27, has decided to auction off her virginity online and hopes to get at least $400,000 for the exchange. ‘The reason mainly was the money,’ Miss Raine tells MailOnline. ‘I have no emotional attachment whatsoever to my virginity and never have, which is why it’s so easy for me to do this. ‘More to the point, why would I NOT want to do it? ‘It’s a compelling and easy way to make money.’ Miss Raine says she understand that, for some women, losing their virginity is a significant moment in their lives. But, according to her, it’s merely a physical act and this is nothing more than a business transaction. ‘Sex is just sex,’ she says. Miss Raine has never had any form of sex, including letting a man see her naked. Nor has she seen a naked man in the flesh.”

Drug addict who dialled 999 begging police to send him to prison because he was BORED (but was told he must commit a crime first, so he did): “This is the drug addict who was so bored of living in the ‘middle of nowhere’ that he dialled 999 and begged to be sent to jail. But officers told 30-year-old Lee Price he had to commit a crime first – so he went out and did just that. Price left the picturesque market town of Church Stretton in Shropshire, known for its natural beauty, scenic walks and historic rock formations, to go on a shoplifting spree at Waitrose. Price had told officers he was bored and the quaint town was an ‘alien environment’ to him. All his friends lived in this bustling market town of Shrewsbury 13 miles away, where he grew up, and he could no longer cope with rural life. Price followed a security guard around the store in his home town – before ‘blatantly’ bagging £128 worth of goods in a bid to be arrested. He was jailed for 12 weeks after pleading guilty to one charge of shoplifting at Telford Magistrates’ Court.”

And don’t forget to catch up with all the Strange Justice before you go.

Rescued from thirst

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THE NEWS

Odd news from around the world

Bank robber jailed after he gave himself up to police when his raid became a laughing stock on Facebook because he failed to bother with a disguise: “A bank robber has been jailed after his poorly planned caper turned him into an online laughing stock and forced him to turn himself in. Nathan Baxendale, 21, surrendered to police less than 48 hours after pulling off the bank job because his failure to wear a disguise while committing the crime made evading capture impossible. Baxendale strode into a branch of the Co-op bank in Bury, Greater Manchester, last month and handed staff a note saying: ‘Give me your money, I have a gun.’ Hailing a taxi to make his getaway with £2,000 in cash, Baxendale thought he had escaped cleanly. However, by not concealing his identity, the hapless criminal made it easy for police to obtain clear pictures of him from the bank’s high quality CCTV system.”

£5,000 electric bike hides its motor to add a ‘car boot’: “Carrying shopping, work kit or even an order of pizzas on a motorbike can be tricky, unless you have access to a massive Harley Davidson. But an eco-friendly electric bike that has a large cubby hole instead of a fuel tank could mean the end of cumbersome backpacks or bags precariously balanced on handlebars. German engineers built a nifty electric motor into the hub of the ‘Feddz’ bike’s wheel to free up the space for a rider’s personal possessions. The bike can be charged using a standard household power outlet and take around seven hours for a full charge. The premium bike can reach 28mph (45kph) and the eco model has a capped speed of 16mph (25kph).”

British cops leave hilarious note for pot grower after confiscating crop: “THE Greater Manchester police force has a sense of humour and they don’t care who knows it. Officers from the Salford West station have proudly taken to Twitter to show off some of their recent handiwork. When nobody was home at a suspected drug den, they kicked in the door, confiscated a crop of 72 cannabis plants and left this hilarious note for the pot grower to find upon return.”

The Halfbike — Bizarre one-wheel invention claims to make city cycling more practical: “It claims to be able to combine running and cycling – and be the ultimate urban transport. The bizarre halfbike has one large wheel, and is steered by a pole while the rider stands. It’s inventors claim it is small enough to carry around when not in use, and could replace the gym for many – as well as giving commuters a better view of traffic. Riders stand upright and turn simply by leaning their body. The ride is smooth and sometimes feels like gliding, according to the makers. The pedals drive the main front wheel directly, while the rider uses a motion somewhere between running and cycling to propel themselves – rather like using a cross trainer at the gym. ‘Halfbike brings you a completely new experience,’ says the Arizona firm behind the bike. Martin Angelov, the inventor, say he was inspired by wanting to simplify the bike.

The £20m Fabergé egg found in the Midwest: “A scrap metal dealer who bought an ornament from a bric-a-brac market to be melted down for its gold discovered it is a £20 million Fabergé egg after finding a Telegraph article online. The Imperial Easter Egg was designed by Carl Fabergé for Tsar Alexander III in 1887 and seized by the Bolsheviks during the Russian Revolution. It eventually turned up on an antiques stall in the US a decade ago, its provenance unknown to the vendor. It was spotted by a dealer who bought and sold gold for scrap value. Knowing nothing of the egg’s history, he purchased it for £8,000 based on its weight and estimated value of the diamonds and sapphires featured in the decoration. The egg languished in his kitchen for years until one night in 2012, when he Googled “egg” and “Vacheron Constantin”, a name etched on the timepiece inside. The result was a Telegraph article published a year earlier, featuring a picture of his egg and the title: “Is this £20 million nest-egg on your mantelpiece?”

And don’t forget to catch up with all the Strange Justice before you go.

Helpful advice for dummies

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THE NEWS

Odd news from around the world

The inventive English: “Some of England’s claims to fame are set to rob our nearest neighbours of their most iconic products, from Scottish haggis to Italian lasagne. Robbing the Scots of their national dish, the tourist board has discovered that the first haggis recipe was created in Lancashire. The first written recipe for the dish – a mix of sheep or calf offal, suet, oatmeal and seasoning – actually originated from Lancashire and was called ‘hagese’. It was later included in the verse cookbook Liber Cure Cocorum, in 1430. But it’s not just the Scots who will be upset with England. It appears the father of Parisian haute couture was an Englishman too. Charles Frederick Worth moved to Paris in 1846 and became the ‘first couturier’ to the Emperor Bonaparte III’s wife”. And if the French are upset to learn that they have been out-styled by the English, they certainly won’t want to hear that Champagne was also first created in Gloucestershire. Christopher Merret, a scientist and physician, first recorded the recipe for France’s favourite fizz in 1662.”

The £9,000 painting that’s on sale for £180,000… all thanks to a shoe: “A family turned a run-of-the mill Victorian painting into a valuable masterpiece from the Crimean war – after the detail of a woman’s shoe caught their eye. For although Christie’s in London once assessed the work as being by an unknown artist, closer examination of the shoe of a maid in the picture suggested the hand of an acclaimed painter who had depicted very similar footwear before. Buoyed by the shoe clue, Gary and Helen Sutcliffe and their son Jonathan then scoured galleries across the world, before poring over the wooden frame of the picture. They were delighted to confirm their hunch was right by discovering their chief suspect’s signature tucked away out of sight. Now the painting – by Jerry Barrett, who famously depicted Florence Nightingale at work during the Crimean war – is on sale for £180,000.”

Ancient moss brought back to life after 1,500 years by scientists who just sprinkled it with WATER: “Scientists have successfully revived moss that has lay frozen under Antarctic ice for more than 1,500 years. The discovery shows, for the first time, that plant life has the ability to survive millennium spanning ice ages. Moss has previously been known to weather extreme conditions for up to 20 years and is an important player in the eco-systems of both the North and South Poles. The research was jointly carried out by the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and the University of Reading and involved sliced moss cores being taken from Antarctic permafrost and sprayed with distilled water by being kept in carefully monitored temperature and light conditions. After only a few weeks, the moss started to grow and carbon dating revealed that the plants were at least 1,530 years old. This moss would already have been at least decades old when it was first frozen.”

Man, 23, fined £90 for criminal damage after attacking a cardboard POLICEMAN: “A man who dragged a cardboard cut-out of a policeman onto a petrol station forecourt and kicked it to pieces in full view of CCTV has been fined £90. Police tracked down the 23-year-old after the bizarre attack at a Tesco petrol station in Pitsea, Essex, where the two-dimensional officer was supposedly being used to deter shoplifters. They used his car numberplate to trace him to his home in nearby Basildon and issued him with the fine for criminal damage. Police viewed footage of the incident, which happened in broad daylight on March 1, and attended the man’s home on Tuesday last week where he admitted the attack. Sgt Simon Gray, from the Basildon Retail Crime Unit, said: ‘This man obviously thought it would be funny to take this cut-out to the forecourt and kick it to pieces. The destroyed cardboard policeman has not yet been replaced at the Tesco petrol station.”

Woman finds 100 MILLION lire in her safe – only to be told it’s worth NOTHING because Italy has had the euro for more than a decade: “A woman who found 100 million lire in cash which would be worth £43million has been told the money is worthless because the currency is no longer in use. Claudia Moretti discovered the cash a few months ago stashed in a safe at her uncle’s home which she had inherited following his death. Ms Moretti, who lives in Pesaro on the Adriatic coast, was delighted to be given the house and said she was stunned when she found the fortune in the safe. However, her hopes of being set up for life were dashed when she went to Italy’s central bank (Banca d’Italia) to have the cash exchanged into euros where she was told the money was now worthless. She hired lawyers to challenge the decision but they were unsuccessful because before adopting the euro currency on January 1 2002, Italy’s central bank had set a time limit for the exchange of the lira. Any coins or banknotes not presented to the bank before December 6, 2011, were then declared worthless.”

And don’t forget to catch up with all the Strange Justice before you go.

A handy perch

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THE NEWS

Odd news from around the world

Unsafe fishing in Australia’s wild North: “A FISHO was lucky not to be electrocuted as his rod was struck by lightning — but even luckier when it exploded and the shards missed vital arteries in his neck. The lightning hit the rod, which was in the boat’s rod holder and not held by anyone, but struck the reel, sending shards flying. “The rod has exploded, sending shards into his neck,” he said. “It almost, but did not, sever his carotid artery. “It caused damage around artery in his neck.” But his friends were unable to drive straight away for fear of further lightning strikes while underway into the storm. It took them six hours to get back upstream to the boatramp where they could transport him to the CareFlight plane.

Adder loses count: “At first glance this snake appears to be a venomous sidewinder that has slithered across a desert. But the serpent is actually an adder that was caught on camera making its way across a sandy beach in Cornwall. The 3ft long snake was snapped by Tim Hunt who spotted it and its lengthy trail while he watched the sunset at Godrevy beach, near Hayle, Cornwall. He used his camera tripod to scoop it up away from the incoming tide and moved it to safety behind some sand dunes. Tim, 25, from Worcestershire, said: ‘I was photographing the sunset when I saw a trail in the sand and assumed a child had dragged a stick down the beach. ‘It was only whilst walking further down the beach that I noticed there was something at the end of the trail, it turned out to be an adder. ‘I was sure that with it being so far out in the middle of the beach and with the incoming tide, its chances of survival were slim. ‘So using my tripod I carried the adder to the safety and shelter of the sand dunes behind the beach.'”

Pigs are quite smart: “The pigs were provided with specially made joysticks that they could control with their mouths or snouts and then tasked with the job of moving a cursor around on the screen to make contact with different target walls that would shrink and move away. Croney did not think the pigs would be able to do it. But they could. “They learn novel things quite quickly and quite well.” She soon set her pigs to other tasks. They were asked to perform duties in which they had to respond to visual cues. They were given odor quizzes, correctly picking out, say, spearmint, from an array of other smells that included mint and peppermint. Croney’s pigs were pampered and stimulated. They lived in large indoor runs and had lots of toys to play with to break up the monotony of the day. Croney says the pigs were extremely clean, that they housebroke themselves and that at the end of a play session they put their own toys away in a big tub.

“Dude” is a Scottish word: “THE world ‘dude’ is so ingrained in the global consciousness that it transcends cultural boundaries with the same ease that it slopes off the tongue. What comes as a surprise, however, is that its roots can be traced to the Scottish word ‘duddies’. ‘Duddies’ refer to ragged or tattered clothes and originated from Ayrshire. How the word evolved from a negative word to a positive is unclear but immigration and cultural changes will have played their part. It should be noted that ‘duds’, which also originated from the word ‘duddies’, is a popular term for clothes and no longer carries any negative connotations. From the 1880s onwards it was used by rural dwellers in the US to refer to their visiting smartly dressed city counterparts.”

Is that a cutlet in your pants?: “A MAN who was caught shoving lamb steaks down his pants in the meat aisle at a Palmerston supermarket on Saturday has been charged by police. NT Police duty superintendent Louise Jorgensen said the meat was removed from the man’s trousers and “declared unfit for sale”. “The meat has been destroyed,” Spt Jorgensen said. Spt Jorgensen said the man, 41, had been “causing a disturbance by begging for money” before attempting to steal the steaks. She said the meat-lover had abused passers-by who ignored him or refused to hand over cash. It was alleged that he later assaulted a security guard. The offender — who may have been channelling spirit from Lady Gaga — was arrested and has been charged with assault, stealing, begging and disorderly behaviour.”

And don’t forget to catch up with all the Strange Justice before you go.

Some Irish jokes for Pat’s day

An Irishman was flustered not being able to find a parking space in a large mall’s parking lot. “Lord,”he prayed,”I can’t stand this.If you open a space up for me,I swear I’ll give up drinking me whiskey, and I promise to go to church every Sunday.” Suddenly, the clouds parted and the sun shone on an empty parking spot. Without hesitation, the man said,”Never mind,I found one.”
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Billy stops Paddy in Dublin and asks for the quickest way to Cork.
Paddy says, “Are you on foot or in the car?”
Billy says, “In the car.”
Paddy says, “That’s the quickest way.”
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Paddy and Mick are walking down the road and Paddy’s got a bag of doughnuts in his hand. Paddy says to Mick, “If you can guess how many doughnuts are in my bag, you can have them both”
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A Texan walks into a pub in Ireland and clears his voice to the crowd of drinkers. He says, “I hear you Irish are a bunch of hard drinkers. I’ll give $500 American dollars to anybody in here who can drink 10 pints of Guinness back-to-back.”

The room is quiet and no one takes up the Texan’s offer. One man even leaves. Thirty minutes later the same gentleman who left shows back up and taps the Texan on the shoulder. “Is your bet still good?”, asks the Irishman.

The Texan says yes and asks the bartender to line up 10 pints of Guinness. Immediately the Irishman tears into all 10 of the pint glasses drinking them all back-to-back. The other pub patrons cheer as the Texan sits in amazement.

The Texan gives the Irishman the $500 and says, “If ya don’t mind me askin’, where did you go for that 30 minutes you were gone?”
The Irishman replies, “Oh…I had to go to the pub down the street to see if I could do it first”.
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An Irish priest is driving down to New York and gets stopped for speeding in Connecticut. The state trooper smells alcohol on the priest’s breath and then sees an empty wine bottle on the floor of the car. He says, “Sir, have you been drinking?”
“Just water,” says the priest.
The trooper says, “Then why do I smell wine?”
The priest looks at the bottle and says, “Good Lord! He’s done it again!”
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Gallagher opened the morning newspaper and was dumbfounded to read in the obituary column that he had died. He quickly phoned his best friend Finney. “Did you see the paper?” asked Gallagher. “They say I died!!”

“Yes, I saw it!” replied Finney. “Where are ye callin’ from?”
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Father Murphy walks into a pub in Donegal, and says to the first man he meets, “Do you want to go to heaven?” The man said, “I do Father.”

The priest said, “Then stand over there against the wall.” Then the priest asked the second man, “Do you want to go to heaven?”
“Certainly, Father,” was the man’s reply.

“Then stand over there against the wall,” said the priest. Then Father Murphy walked up to O’Toole and said, “Do you want to go to heaven?”

O’Toole said, “No, I don’t Father.

The priest said, “I don’t believe this. You mean to tell me that when you die you don’t want to go to heaven?” O’Toole said, “Oh, when I die, yes. I thought you were getting a group together to go on a trip right now.”

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THE NEWS

Odd news from around the world

Drugs thrown from high rise hit policeman on head: A POLICEMAN helping on a drugs raid on a Gold Coast high rise apartment was hit in the head with a bag of drugs thrown from the unit by one of the suspects. Police say officers of the Gold Coast Major and Organised Crime Squad were entering the 14th floor apartment when a plastic bag of drugs was thrown from the balcony by one of the unit’s occupants. The falling bag then hit an officer standing below on the head. In addition to the drugs, police seized more than $7000 in cash and a taser disguised as a mobile phone. Three men, aged between 30 and 40 years old, and a woman, 28, were arrested in relation to the incident and face a number of drug and other related charges.

The city of light becomes the city of smog: “Drivers in Paris will only be allowed to use their cars every other day from tomorrow because of dangerous pollution levels. The introduction of the drastic measure follows a grey smog settling over the French capital from the middle of last week. Francois Hollande’s socialist government decided to introduce alternative driving days after air pollution exceeded safe levels for five days running. Now up to 700 traffic policemen will be drafted into the city to make sure the severe restrictions are enforced. They will allow only vehicles with number plates ending in an uneven digit to take to the roads, beginning at 5.30am on Monday. Motorcycles will also be covered by the ban, and anybody caught flouting them will face heavy fines. Last Friday, public transport was made free of charge in Paris for four days in an attempt to encourage people to leave their cars at home.”

Ladybirds are no slouch: “They may be smaller than the size of your fingertip. But when it comes to ladybirds, size is no barrier to might, according to new scientific research. Experts have discovered the insects can reach the same speed as a racehorse and fly at altitudes close to the height of Ben Nevis. For the first time, a detailed study has shown the creatures travelling at heights in excess of 3,600ft and reaching speeds of 37mph. Researchers also examined the stamina of the insects and found that they were able to remain in the air for up to two hours. Up until now, scientists believed that anything over seven foot was a long-distance flight for a ladybird – but the new data shows they can actually travel up to 74 miles in a single flight.”

Dog saves choking owner: “A dog owner revealed today how her pet saved her life by performing the Heimlich manoeuvre. Rachel Hayes, of Carmarthenshire, West Wales, thought she was going to die as she choked on a strawberry sweet while sitting in her kitchen. But as she gasped for air, the 40-year-old woman’s faithful springer spaniel Mollypops sprang into action and hit her so hard on the back with her paws that the sweet popped out. Miss Hayes said: ‘She is an absolute hero – If it had not been for Mollypops I would have died. ‘I was sat down and this sweet just got stuck in the back of my throat, and I was trying to get it up but I couldn’t, and I didn’t know what to do.’ ‘I kept pushing her away because I couldn’t really breathe but then she came up behind me, put her paws on me, and bashed on my back with such a force that the sweet came out.’ It comes three months after trainee guide dog Nell saved 61-year-old IT technician Lesley Hailwood’s life by knocking a chocolate out of her mouth while she was choking on New Year’s Eve in Liverpool.”

Eccentric stove to be modernized: “It is a kitchen essential for any true country dweller. So traditionalists may be unnerved to hear Agas may soon be appearing in city flats and townhouses. Aga Rangemaster this weekend revealed a narrower electric version of its traditional stove aimed at young urban homeowners and rural dwellers wanting to downsize. Critics immediately mocked the idea, saying the old-fashioned cookers were impractical for modern homes. The city Aga will consist of two ovens stacked vertically, with a hotplate under a traditional dome lid. At just 24ins wide, the new design is half the size of the archetypal country stove. It is also half price – with the urban Aga costing about £5,000. The new product has come after it emerged just one in 20 Aga customers now buys the old-fashioned oil-powered models. Instead, Aga’s electrical cookers, which can be controlled with smartphones, now make up almost three quarters of its sales.” [They have at least 2 ovens but only one hotplate!]

And don’t forget to catch up with all the Strange Justice before you go.

Frustrated cat

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THE NEWS

Odd news from around the world

Man, 27, Googles himself, sees his photo on a MOST WANTED criminals site, then turns himself in ‘to clear his conscience’: “When one man decided to google himself out of curiosity he found his face on Northern California’s Most Wanted website and decided to turn himself in. Christopher Viatafa, 27, of Paolo, Alto California handed himself over to the San Leandro police station where he was wanted for allegedly firing a handgun at the San Leandro Senior Center on East 14 street on August 8. According to police he got into an argument, pulled out his gun, and fired a few shots at the ground. Even though no one was harmed, police wanted him on suspicion that he shot a firearm towards an inhabited building. As of Friday, Viatafa was listed on the site as a ‘captured fugitive.'”

Man dead, snake innocent: “A MAN has died after he was hit by two cars in Redland Bay last night. Police believe that the man, 48, had been driving down Cleveland-Redland Bay Rd, near Gordon Rd, when he got out to inspect a snake sitting on the road about 7.40pm. He was then hit by a vehicle driving in the direction of Redland Bay, before being struck a second time by another vehicle driving in the opposite direction. Paramedics and a trauma team attended but the man died at the scene.”

British art experts goof: “When Fiona Bruce’s team of experts on the BBC show Fake or Fortune examined this seascape, they were convinced they had found a lost masterpiece by John Constable. Delighted owner Gillie Dance was told the painting, Yarmouth Jetty, could be worth as much as £250,000, and a smiling Bruce declared: ‘Well I don’t think that could have gone any better really.’ But boat experts are now challenging the verdict – claiming the experts made a ‘glaring mistake’. Yachting experts say the boats that the painting depicts were not seen in British waters until almost a century after Constable’s death in 1837. Dan Houston, the editor of Classic Boat magazine, pointed out that three of the watercraft have a sail and mast arrangement known as a Bermudan rig, first tested in these seas in the 1920s. The boat in the middle of the picture also looks like a J class from the 1930s because of its ‘spoon bow’ hull, he added.”

Ancient ‘xylophone’ played for first time in thousands of years: “The ancient lithophone, a collection of two dozen tuned rocks which are played much like a modern-day xylophone, are to be chimed again thousands of years after they were first used. But after just three shows, two next Saturday and a third the following Monday, the precious stones will be packed away again for good. Prehistorian Odile Romain, alongside paleomusicologist and lithophone specialist Erik Gonthier, are overseeing the project. Lithophones, a word which comes from litho, meaning rock, and phone, meaning sound, were common instruments in ancient times and have been discovered in more than 50 countries. The oldest, which date back around 4,000 years, were found in Vietnam by French ethnologist Georges Condominas in 1949. Lithophones, which are still used as percussion instruments to this day, are usually carved out of large pieces of rock.”

‘But I LIKE cookies’ Little girl struggles to say no as parents teach her about stranger danger: “This little girl still has a long way to go in her stranger danger lessons, as she refuses to say ‘no’ to offers of ice cream and cookies. The South Korean girl, Ye Bin, was being taught the dangers of strange men offering her treats to try to kidnap her, but the youngster struggled to see a problem with it. As Ye Bin’s mother presented her with various scenarios, the adorable girl kept agreeing to the offers of a swimming trip or cookies. In the cute video, Ye Bin’s mom can be heard asking her daughter: ‘If a strange man says “Let’s go eat cookies” you say…’ To which the little girl replies: ‘I like that!’. The mom then says: ‘If he says “Let’s go eat ice cream,” you say …’ ‘Good!’ Le Bin squeals as she wriggles in delight. Le Bin may have a way to go in her stranger danger lessons, but her cute responses have been popular online, with the video being viewed more than 2.3 million on YouTube since Drama Fever put it up on March 12.

And don’t forget to catch up with all the Strange Justice before you go.

Nothing like a warm dog on a cold night

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THE NEWS

Odd news from around the world

Female jogger caught on camera running COMPLETELY NAKED down a busy London high street: “A commuter got the surprise of his life last night when he spotted a female jogger… running completely naked along a busy London high street. Elijah Bailey III was minding his own business on the E3 bus as it travelled down west London’s Uxbridge Road, in Ealing, when he caught sight of the nude woman sprinting on the pavement. He was so shocked at what he saw that he pulled out his mobile phone and filmed her as she dodged pedestrians and ran past bookmakers, banks and a cash converters, apparently unphased either by her nudity or the passing traffic. He posted the grainy video on Facebook alongside the comment: ‘So I’m on the E3 bus minding my own business taking in the West Ealing sights and this happens!!! She had no remorse on her face. Police stopped her outside Deans Park and she was so calm with it, like they wanted the time or some of her lucozade…’

Arnold Schwarzenegger invites you to crush stuff in his tank: “Arnold Schwarzenegger has finally managed to fulfil a lifelong dream of possessing his own tank and now he wants you to enjoy it with him. The former Governor of California invites fans to participate in a competition, which will see one lucky winner ride around with him in his M47 Patton tank. “Come to LA and crush things in my tank! Let’s crush a taxi cab! Let’s crush a piano”, implores the Terminator star. “I’m 66-years-old and I have saved everyone of my birthday cakes. Why? Because I wanted to crush them.” The video has been made to encourage people to donate the After School All Stars, a charity which organises after-school programmes for children in the US.”

Suicidal man inadvertently saves another man from drowning: “A suicidal man threatening to jump off a bridge inadvertently saved the life of another man who was drowning below him. Police and and a lifeboat were called to the scene at London Bridge on Wednesday at around 11 pm. But when the RNLI arrived they found another man in the water weighed down by heavy clothing and struggling to keep his face above the river. Meanwhile police managed to stop the distressed man from jumping off the bridge and helped him to safety. The RNLI rescued the man in the water who was suffering from hypothermia and confused about how he came to be in the situation. “There were no other boats in the area at the time and I don’t think anyone was actually aware he was in the water. Chances are if it hadn’t been for the lifeboat crew launching to the original incident – he would never have been spotted and would have drowned.”

Pig rider: “An elderly man who has raised pigs for 30 years has been seen riding his pig around streets and towns in China, after becoming too sick to walk. The 68-year-old pig farmer from Chongqing in China rides a hog which weighs 250 kg and stands at about 3 feet tall. He started riding it when an attack of bronchitis made him too sick to walk, which made him attempt to ride the pig. The man has herded pigs for 30 years, and is commonly known as a ‘swineherd’, an older term for pig farmer that has disappeared into obscurity with the passing of time. He was originally skeptical that his idea would pay off, but after giving it a go, he found that it was a lot smoother than he thought it would be. After his realisation, he started riding the pig everywhere, from his house to market, to around the town”

Only slightly mad: “Page 3 model Alicia Douvall had a monstrous father who ‘called me stupid, and it was a family joke that I was ugly’. Her solution was drastic. To date she has undergone 350 plastic surgery procedures. Sixteen boob jobs, six nose jobs, 11 operations on the skin around her eyes, a facelift (during which her ears were taken off and her jaw broken in two places), a tummy tuck, a rib shortened, her toes shortened, and implants in her bottom, chin and cheeks. Plus routine fillers, laser treatments and so much Botox she now resembles, as she admits, a stroke victim.

And don’t forget to catch up with all the Strange Justice before you go.

BILL CLINTON’S PRIVATE BATHROOM

A few days after President Obama was re-elected president, he joined Bill and Hillary Clinton for dinner at their spacious home.

After drinking several glasses of iced tea, the President asked his host if he could use his personal bathroom.

When he entered Bill Clinton ‘s private toilet, he was astonished to see that Clinton had a gold urinal! Wow!

The next day, Obama told his wife, Michelle, about the urinal in Clinton’s private lavatory. “Just think,’ he said, ” maybe I should get a gold urinal too. But on the other hand I think that it may be just a bit too self-indulgent… even for a guy like me!”

Later in the week, when Michelle had lunch with Hillary, she told Hillary how impressed her husband had been upon discovering that Bill had a gold urinal in his private bathroom.

Later that day, when Bill got home, Hillary smiled and said to Bill, “I found out who pissed in your saxophone.

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THE NEWS

Odd news from around the world

British teenager ordered to show ID by supermarket staff when he tried to buy TEASPOONS: “A 16-year-old boy was sent home from a Tesco superstore after staff told him he had to provide proof of ID – to buy a pack of teaspoons. College student Liam Whelan was scanning the stainless steel kitchen utensils through a self-service checkout when an automatic prompt on the machine stated he had to be over 18 to buy them. But in a classic case of ‘Computer Say No’, a staff member called to the electronic checkout at the store in Haslingden, Lancs, then agreed with the machine. It is thought a computer programming glitch which flags up age-restrictions on sharp kitchen knives may have mistakenly caused it to include teaspoons. Tesco said: ‘We do include a till prompt for proof of age on our self-service tills for some items. ‘We ask our colleagues to use their judgment as to whether this should be applied. In this instance this was not followed and we apologise to our customer for any inconvenience caused.

Food car: “Tesco has unveiled a bespoke car covered entirely with everyday supermarket items to mark the launch of its Clubcard Fuel Save. The car, adorned with groceries, clothing and homeware products, including baguettes, bunches of bananas and biscuits – with a wheel of Camembert acting as its petrol cap – went on its maiden voyage today, driven by customer Jane Jeffrey. The car is made almost entirely out of Tesco stock including desk lamps as wing mirrors, floor mops as windscreen wipers, pizza tray and cutlery as hub caps, mixing bowls as headlights, spatula as an aerial, and passenger seats from kitchen chairs and duvets, which are sure to make for a comfy ride. Animator, director and writer – and Tim Burton collaborator – Anthony Farquhar-Smith is the man behind the design of what resembles an enormous shopping trolley but is in fact a functioning vehicle.”

Family calls police after angry cat holds them hostage: “A father in Portland, Oregon, was forced to call the police after their out-of-control pet cat, Lux, trapped them in the bedroom. The incident happed when the feline scratched the face of their seven-month-old baby. The father, Lee Palmer, then kicked the cat sending it into a rage. Mr Palmer, his partner Tessa Barker, their baby and the dog, were all forced to seek refuge from the cat’s fury in the bedroom, while he repeatedly charged at the door whenever they made a bid to escape. They were forced to call the police, while the furious Lux hissed angrily in the background. “He’s charging at us,” Mr Palmer told the emergency operator. “He’s at our door, bedroom door. “He’s trying to attack us. “He’s very, very, very, very hostile.” Police arrived and were able to capture the cat with a snare after he attempted to jump on top of the refrigerator to escape custody.”

Escapee walks into police’s arms in black area: “AN escaped prisoner on the run in Sydney has basically handed himself in after stepping into a lift full of police officers. Mark Devries, a 19-year-old minimum security inmate, escaped from a jail at Silverwater last month. About 8pm on Thursday, several police were at a unit complex in Redfern on unrelated business when Devries walked into the same elevator. One of the officers recognised him and he was arrested. He has been charged with two outstanding warrants and refused bail”

Rarities: The club giving luxury a new name: “YOU’D be forgiven for walking right past the locked, gilded door on a landing off the landmarked lobby of the New York Palace Hotel. But beyond this mysterious, unmarked portal sits a dark, sumptuous room with stately furnishings and rich plum fabric walls seemingly made for the decadent exploits of a pre-crash Bernie Madoff. To gain entry, there are two options. You can join the club, which comes with an entry key and an annual fee of $16,600. Membership includes 12 bottles of rare wine or Champagne and up to 12 nights in the hotel’s Tower suites. The other option is to call for reservations and bring your checkbook. Spirits range from a relatively democratic $28 Gordon & MacPhail Linkwood 15-year-old Scotch to $3470 for a glass of Louis XIII de Rémy Martin Rare Cask cognac. Rarities opened in November as part of a major $156 million revamp of the historic Palace Hotel”

And don’t forget to catch up with all the Strange Justice before you go.

Just call me “Whiskers”

Cat thought to have the longest whiskers in Britain

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THE NEWS

Odd news from around the world

Elephant smashes down Indian family’s house… then returns to lift wreckage from trapped baby: “A rampaging elephant demolished a house in a remote Indian village before saving a baby trapped under the rubble. The elephant, which locals say has killed people in the past and has wrecked more than a dozen houses, rampaged through the house at night when the family was inside. It started to move away from the rubble, but hearing a baby girl’s cries it returned, the family said. The jumbo then ‘carefully’ removed with its trunk the wreckage that had fallen on the 10-month-old child and headed back to the forest. The girl’s mother said the incident was a miracle. ‘We worship Lord Ganesh (the elephant god) in our village. Still, I can’t believe that the tusker saved my daughter after breaking down the door and smashing a wall,’ Lalita Mahato said. ‘We watched amazed as it gently removed the debris that had fallen on her. It’s a miracle.'”

Boxer dog climbed into driver’s seat and sounded horn with her paw for 15 minutes when owner took too long to return: “Fern, an 18-month-old boxer, was filmed leaning back in the driver seat with her left paw resting on the steering wheel and repeatedly pressing the horn on Saturday afternoon. The animal had been left inside the car while her owner to finish browsing an art gallery in Broughty Ferry, near Dundee in Scotland. At the time they thought little of the noise, and decided to browse the Eduardo Alessandro Studios art gallery. But after returning to their vehicle 15 minutes later they were shocked to see a large crowd gathered and grew concerned for Fern’s welfare. ‘When I got closer I realised people were pointing and laughing and taking pictures. She gave me a sideways glance and just kept on going,’ Mr Haddow went on. Although Fern regularly climbs into the front seat when left alone in a car, she has never actually used the horn before, Mr Haddow said.”

Why do Flamingos stand on one leg? “Flamingos spend a lot of their time in the water, and whenever they’re there and not actively feeding, you can find them standing on just one leg, something that they even sometimes do when they’re on dry land. Humans, like all mammals and birds (including flamingos), are warm blooded, and tend to be hotter than their surrounding environment. If you place an object like a warm-blooded creature in water, however, they lose their body heat 25 times faster than they do in air, and you lose that heat proportional to the amount of surface area in contact with it. So for a flamingo? That one leg that’s in the water is losing body heat quickly, and given the large surface area of its foot, it could even comprise the majority of a flamingo’s body heat loss. A flamingo that never learned to stand on one leg, that spent most of its time in the water with both legs immersed, would lose somewhere around 40-70% more body heat than a flamingo that did learn this behavior. That means it’s free to spend more time in the water, more time feeding, and enables it to have more chances for success at being a flamingo”

Anglo-Saxon hoard revealed: 4,000 pieces of stunning handcrafted treasure: “An incredible hoard of precious Anglo-Saxon gold items, the likes of which professional archaeologists dream of finding, was discovered buried in a field by a jobless treasure hunter five years ago. And now all 4,000 pieces of the Staffordshire Hoard have been brought back together for the first time. The skills of the ancient jewellers are striking, with threads of gold less than a millimetre thick wound into elegant patterns, and tiny pieces of red and blue garnet stone that have been carved into elaborate curved shapes to fit into sword decorations. Other pieces include snakes, horses and even marching warriors. The treasure dates from 675 and 725AD, the time of Beowulf – the great Anglo-Saxon poem. Historian Chris Fern said that the unique discovery has shed new light on the Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf. The description of a warrior’s adornment in gold was thought to have been exaggerated, but experts are starting to see that it could have been closer to the truth following the study of the Hoard.”

Nobel prize for sale: “If you want to join the likes of Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King Jr and Mother Teresa in having a Nobel Peace Prize it’s easy – you just need £50,000 in your back pocket. A lost prize which surfaced in a South American pawn shop is going under the hammer, becoming only the second ever to be auctioned. The 23-carat solid gold medal was awarded to Argentina’s foreign minister in 1936 for his role ending a brutal South American war which killed 100,000 people. Now it has emerged the medal was traded in at a pawn shop in South America 20 years ago. Whoever brought the prize to the shop may have had no idea of its true value, instead trading the 222.4g piece for the value of its gold. Instead of revealing it, the pawnbroker sold it to a U.S. dealer who he had done business with before. He took it back to his home country and sold it to another dealer, who then sold it to the Charles A Wharton collection – a pseudonym for a wealthy collector who died more than 10 years ago. The man’s descendants have now decided to sell it. The 1936 prize is expect to fetch at least $50,000 to $100,000 (£30,106 to £60,212).”

And don’t forget to catch up with all the Strange Justice before you go.

Brainwashed liberal

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THE NEWS

Odd news from around the world

Rude Peppa pig: “Like most little girls her age, Kiannah Cox loves everything to do with Peppa Pig. So her mother, Natalie, 30, thought there was no harm in indulging her daughter by letting her watch the cartoon each day. But when Kiannah, two, began regularly using the F-word she was horrified to learn the tot had picked it up from her favourite Peppa DVD. Miss Cox had bought her daughter the cartoon for Christmas, but it wasn’t until Kiannah’s older brother sat down to watch the DVD with her last month that she realised the youngster had copied the bad language from the television. In the episode, named End of Term Party, Grandpa Rabbit is telling Daddy Pig about Peppa’s school teacher Madame Gazelle, who used to play in a pop group. He says the name of the rock band, which is supposed to be the ‘Rocking Gazelles,’ but it clearly sounds like he is saying the ‘F-ing Gazelles.’ Last night Miss Cox demanded the DVD be pulled from sale until the mistake could be rectified.”

World’s oldest crown, more than 6,000 years old: “The world’s oldest crown believed to be more than 6000-years-old has gone on display for the first time in America. The ancient relic, which dates back to the Copper Age between 4000–3300 B.C., is shaped like a thick ring and features vultures and doors protruding from the top. It is believed the crown played a part in burial ceremonies for people of importance at the time. The crown was discovered in a remote cave in the Judaean Desert near the Dead Sea in 1961 among hundreds of other objects from the period. Known as the ‘Nahal Mishar Hoard’, more than 400 objects were discovered by Pessah Bar-Adon and his fellow Israeli archaeologists in the cave which became known as the ‘Cave of the Treasure’. The pieces included two clay statues of Gods – The Lady and Ram of Gilat – and a full array of Copper Age figurines made from copper, stone, elephant ivory and clay.”

Beautiful blonde goes for a fat man: “Sunrise host Samantha Armytage has spoken out about the long lunch she shared with Modern Family star Eric Stonestreet, amid rumours of a budding romance between the pair. On Monday morning’s show Sam’s co-hosts grilled her about the five-hour meal she enjoyed with Eric at Sydney’s Chiswick restaurant last month. ‘No I’m not going to tell you, it’s none of your business!’ Sam said. ‘It was lunch, it was fine, it was lovely.’ The 36-year-old’s co-hosts also said they couldn’t imagine Eric, 42, ‘not being gay in real life’, because he is so convincing in his role as Cameron Tucker on Modern Family. ‘He’s definitely not gay in real life,’ Sam said. ‘He’s a lovely man, very funny, very lovely, very different. ‘He’s a likeable bloke.’ Eric was in Australia with the Modern Family cast last month to film a special holiday episode of their hit Network Ten show.”

Falcons now helping with pigeon plague: “These spectacular photos show peregrine falcons hunting pigeons in the skies over British cities. The birds, some of the world’s fastest creatures, were captured snatching the vermin above Bristol and London. They can be seen soaring through the air with speeds of up to 240mph, before swiping the pigeons in their sharp talons. Peregrine falcons are the most widely distributed birds in the world – inhabiting all continents, except Antarctica. However, in Britain, they are usually spotted in the skies above mountain ranges, wild cliffs and other remote spaces. Photographer Sam Hobson, 34, said it was ‘amazing’ to capture the birds hunting above the bustling cities. ‘There is something amazing about seeing one of the world’s fastest animals perched on a building you see every day,’ he said. ‘There are plenty of tall buildings in cities for the birds to perch on.’

Hippos fight off crocodile attacking an antelope and escort the animal to safety: “After being bitten by a crocodile, the large antelope is seen being dragged slowly under the water. But just in time, a nearby hippo is seen making its way across the water to help the animal in its hour of need. After chasing the giant crocodile away, the unlikely hero is then seen guarding the creature and even nudges the gnu to the edge of the river in effort to move it out of harms way. Captured whilst on safari in Masai Mara game reserve in Kenya, the exhausted antelope later managed to escape to safety. Onishchenko said: ‘It was an incredible moment, the hippo actually tried to push it out of the water and then guarded the gnu to prevent the crocs getting close. ‘I have heard of cases where the animals instinct is to protect the other species, I think the hippos parental instincts took over. ‘The hippos are probably the only animal not afraid of the crocs and I would even say the hippo is the only animal the crocodiles are afraid of.”

And don’t forget to catch up with all the Strange Justice before you go.