Strange Stuff: Weird Crimes, Crazy Laws, and Other Interesting News Stories - Page 228

Dec 13, 2011 8:36 AM CST

Female Splits Up 'Gay' Penguins

It's definitely over for Toronto Zoo's Buddy and Pedro

(Newser) - The penguin love affair dubbed "Brokeback Iceberg" by Jimmy Kimmel is now definitely over. Pedro and Buddy, the "gay" African penguins the Toronto Zoo decided to split up last month , are now both more interested in females, the BBC reports. Buddy, who shared a nest with Pedro for...

Another Hunter Shot by Dog

Dec 13, 2011 1:37 AM CST

Another Hunter Shot by Dog

Bulldog bumps Fla. hunter's rifle

(Newser) - The combination of a bumpy road, a loaded gun, and an over-excited bulldog has left a Florida hunter in critical condition. Billy Brown, 78, and a friend were on their way to a deer hunting post when the dog apparently bumped Brown's loaded Browning .208, shooting him in the...

Grandma Shoots Son-in-Law in Custory Battle, Police Say

Grandma Shoots Son-in-Law in Custody Battle, Police Say

Dec 12, 2011 5:20 PM CST

Grandma Shoots Son-in-Law in Custody Battle, Police Say

Victim takes video of assault on iPhone

(Newser) - A Florida woman allegedly shot her son-in-law twice at point-blank range last week, enraged over his ongoing divorce with her daughter. Mother-in-law Cheryl Hepner claims he pulled the weapon, but whoops: He recorded the shooting on his iPhone, ABC News reports. "I can't believe you did that!"...

Man Dressed as Santa
Drugs 9th Victim at Market

Dec 12, 2011 11:10 AM CST

Man Dressed as Santa Drugs 9th Victim at Market

Girl, 15, may have been given date rape drug

(Newser) - A ho-ho-horrible story out of Berlin, where police say a man dressed as Santa drugged a teenager Saturday night at a Christmas market. The suspect offered the 15-year-old girl and her friend a shot of alcohol; the friend refused, but the victim drank both and soon began vomiting. Police say...

Cops: Man
Robs Expert
in Ultimate Fighting ...

Cops: Man Robs Expert in Ultimate Fighting ...

... or tries to, and earns epic mugshot

(Newser) - Reason not to mug someone trained in mixed martial arts and Ultimate Fighting: Anthony Miranda's police mugshot. Chicago police say Miranda, 24, pulled a gun on a man sitting in a car, then demanded that the man get out. That's when the "victim," identified only as...

Meet World's Richest Cat

Dec 10, 2011 7:16 AM CST

Meet World's Richest Cat

Italy's Tomasso inherits owner's $13.4 million estate, sort of

(Newser) - Now that's some serious scratch—Tommaso, a 4-year-old former stray, is now the world's richest cat, the inheritor of $13.4 million worth of properties around Italy, reports the Guardian . Tommaso's rich owner, a 94-year-old childless widow, died last month, leaving her entire estate to her cat....

Cat With 26 Toes
Helps Save Shelter

Dec 9, 2011 2:38 PM CST

Cat With 26 Toes Helps Save Shelter

Daniel's odd feet has brought in $50,000 and counting

(Newser) - Daniel, an orange-and-white tabby cat, is doing everything he can to save the Milwaukee Animal Rescue Center, and he's doing it by showing off his bizarre feet. He has 26 toes. Donations of $26—one for each digit—are flooding into the nonprofit animal shelter , which was recently hit...

White House
Metal Detector
Set Off by ...
Obama

Dec 9, 2011 12:03 PM CST

White House Metal Detector Set Off by ... Obama

The culprit? The president's cell phone

(Newser) - A metal detector leading into the White House was activated today by the president himself. President Obama was returning home from a holiday gathering across Pennsylvania Avenue when he decided to chat with the security guards at the Northwest Gate, reports USA Today . They showed him how a typical White...

Big Crisis in Norway:
Butter Shortage

Dec 9, 2011 11:32 AM CST

Big Crisis in Norway: Butter Shortage

Country's people are gobbling it up as part of low-carb diet

(Newser) - It only sounds like an Onion article: Norway is dealing with a serious butter shortage because its people have been swept up by the latest diet craze, which involves eating lots of it. Reuters reports that a low-carb, high-fat diet has taken the country by storm. According to a rep...

Death Row Inmate Gets
New Trial Because of Twitter

Dec 9, 2011 9:14 AM CST

Death Row Inmate Gets New Trial Because of Twitter

Juror tweeted throughout trial, raising risk of prejudice: Arkansas Supreme Court

(Newser) - A mere 140 characters has led to quite the mess in Arkansas. The state's Supreme Court ruled yesterday that a 26-year-old death row inmate receive a new trial because a juror tweeted throughout his first one. Though a lower court found Erickson Dimas-Martinez "suffered no prejudice," an...

Dog Poop
Lottery
Cleans Up
City

Dec 8, 2011 4:55 PM CST

Dog Poop Lottery Cleans Up City

Taiwan residents collect 14,500 bags' worth for chance at prize

(Newser) - Faced with an excess of dog mess, a Taiwanese city developed a novel solution: Scoop the poop and win a prize. Sounds like it worked. Some 4,000 people presented authorities in New Taipei City with 14,500 bags of feces, cutting local dog poop by half, the BBC reports....

Now Found in Some
Australian Wines:
Laxative Agent

Dec 8, 2011 1:43 PM CST

Now Found in Some Australian Wines: Laxative Agent

No, it's not part of some weird plot to mess with your bowels

(Newser) - Those with delicate bowels may want to steer clear of wine from the Land Down Under. Winemakers there are now allowed to add sodium carboxymethyl cellulose to wine—a chemical lauded for its laxative powers. But in small quantities it can thicken liquids, and when it comes to wine, adding...

Ruckus Erupts After Raunchy Medvedev Tweet

Dec 8, 2011 11:43 AM CST

Ruckus Erupts After Raunchy Medvedev Tweet

Prez allegedly called jailed activist a 'sheep' with an affinity for...

(Newser) - Well, this isn't very presidential: Dmitry Medvedev appeared to retweet a disparaging remark against jailed opposition activist Alexei Navalny shortly after riot police stopped a second post-election protest Tuesday night. "Today it became clear that a person who writes in their blog the words 'party of crooks...

Declaw Your Cat in Israel, Spend a Year in Prison

Dec 8, 2011 9:13 AM CST

Declaw Your Cat in Israel, Spend a Year in Prison

...and pay a $20K fine, too

(Newser) - Israel, land of shredded couch corners? Maybe. At the end of November, the country passed a bill that bans the declawing of cats—with some seriously stiff penalties. Those convicted of the crime will face up to a year in prison and a $20,000 fine, reports Discover . If the...

Teen Commits
'Suicide by
Piranha'

Dec 8, 2011 12:40 AM CST

Teen Commits 'Suicide by Piranha'

Bolivian leaps into river swarming with flesh-eating fish

(Newser) - An 18-year-old Bolivian picked a bizarre and gruesome way to commit suicide, police say. The intoxicated teen jumped out of his canoe into a stretch of river infested with piranhas and bled to death after suffering dozens of bites, the Sun reports. Police believe the death was suicide because the...

Smell Like a Million Bucks:
DKNY Sells $1M Perfume

Dec 7, 2011 5:00 PM CST

Smell Like a Million Bucks: DKNY Sells $1M Perfume

DKNY teams with jewelry designer for luxe bottle

(Newser) - How much do you normally smell like? Would you rather smell like a million bucks? Now it's possible. DKNY has unveiled a $1 million bottle of Golden Delicious perfume. It helps that the container is molded from 14-karat yellow and white gold and adorned with 2,700 white diamonds,...

MythBusters Cannonball
Rips Through Home

OOPS

Dec 7, 2011 12:22 PM CST

MythBusters Cannonball Rips Through Home

It goes on a wild ride through neighborhood

(Newser) - Um, whoops: MythBusters was attempting to fire a cannonball through barrels of water and a cinder block wall in order to slow its inertia. Instead, the cannon misfired, sending the reality TV show's cannonball on a tear through a residential California neighborhood yesterday. The cannonball first blasted through the...

Tenn. Home Burns...
as Firefighters Watch

THIS AGAIN

Dec 7, 2011 9:11 AM CST

Tenn. Home Burns... as Firefighters Watch

'Pay to spray' fee strikes again

(Newser) - Stop us if you've heard this one before: A home caught fire in Obion County, Tenn., recently, and firefighters showed up ... to watch it burn. The boys in red didn’t lift a hose to stop the fire because the homeowners hadn't paid their $75 yearly fee for...

Smokers May
Lose Their
Nipples

surgeon says

Dec 6, 2011 5:42 PM CST

Smokers May Lose Their Nipples

At least for those who get breast lifts or reductions

(Newser) - A plastic surgeon wants smokers to know: If you light up within a month of a breast lift, your nipples could literally drop off. That's because smoking can reduce blood flow to some parts of the anatomy. If those body parts don't get blood, they die, writes Anthony...

Woman Confesses
to Killing Roommate

Dec 6, 2011 2:27 PM CST

Woman Confesses to Killing Roommate

...then hiding her body under pile of presents

(Newser) - Today in the Terrible Crimes Department: 67-year-old Florida woman Michele O'Dowd was murdered last week and then "hidden" under a pile of Christmas presents in her bed. Family friend and former roommate Patty White, 40, who stayed with O'Dowd when times got rough, confessed to killing her,...

strange stuff

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