strange stuff

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

Stories 3041 - 3060 | << Prev   Next >>

Mystery Woman Picks Up Whole Restaurant's Tab

The $590M question: Was it Powerball winner Gloria MacKenzie?

(Newser) - Plant City, Florida, is abuzz over a random act of kindness—possibly at the hands of the biggest solo lottery winner in US history. A woman who apparently looked like 84-year-old Gloria MacKenzie had an early-bird dinner at BuddyFreddy's on Sunday, leaving the restaurant with her two companions around...

One of Ocean's Most Elusive Creatures Filmed

Clip offers close-up of 8-foot-long oarfish

(Newser) - Now the world can finally get a good look at one of the ocean's more mysterious creatures, the oarfish, believed to be the longest bony fish in existence—basically, the longest fish that's not a ray or shark, LiveScience reports. While researchers were investigating the Deepwater Horizon oil...

Town Delivers Dog Poop Back to Owners Who Didn't Pick It Up

Brunete has seen drastic reduction in offenses, official says

(Newser) - A Spanish town has come up with an innovative way to deal with the problem of dog owners who don't clean up after their pets: mail the poop back to the owners. Officials in Brunete recruited 20 volunteers to keep an eye out for offenders, the Local reports. When...

Male Train Drivers Protest Shorts Ban—With Skirts

It's what passes for anarchy in Sweden

(Newser) - There's a skin-baring revolt under way in Sweden, where the Roslagsbanan train line has banned drivers and conductors from wearing shorts—and a dozen of the aforementioned employees responded by donning skirts this week. As the AP reports, about a dozen men showed up for work in skirts to...

Penguins&#39; Unlikely Savior: Dogs
 Penguins' Unlikely 
 Savior: Dogs 
in case you missed it
Jun 8, 2013 7:00 PM CDT

Penguins' Unlikely Savior: Dogs

Maremma sheepdogs help restore population to Australia island

(Newser) - Things got so bad for the penguins on Australia's Middle Island that one researcher counted all of four just seven years ago, down from a peak of 1,500. The problem, as the New Zealand Herald explains, is that red foxes acquired a taste for the Little Penguins and...

Man Drinks Quart of Soy Sauce, Goes Into Coma

19-year-old nearly dies thanks to dare

(Newser) - Sign that your friends don't care about you: They dare you to drink an entire quart of soy sauce. Sign that you don't care about yourself: You actually do it. (You, in this case, was a 19-year-old living in Virginia, whose case was recounted in the Journal of ...

Kim to Military: Hurry Up on That 'World-Class' Ski Resort

He wants it finished by year's end

(Newser) - North Korea: repressive regime, would-be nuclear power, and ... swanky tourist destination? Maybe so. Kim Jong Un yesterday issued a national appeal for a planned "world-class skiing ground" to be completed by the end of the year, AFP reports. The Masik Pass resort, located in the country's northeast, will...

'Chili-Finger Lady' Heads to Prison for Another Lie

Anna Ayala lied about son's shooting

(Newser) - A Northern California woman sentenced to four years in prison for planting a severed finger in a bowl of Wendy's chili is going back behind bars for creating another tall tale, this one about a shooting involving her son. The so-called Chili-Finger Lady, Anna Ayala, was arrested in October...

It's a Rough Time to Be a Taco Bell Employee

...or former employee, in one case

(Newser) - These are not the best of times to be a Taco Bell employee. Evidence:
  • The employees tasked with manning the drive-thru at a Buffalo Grove, Ill., location got an unpleasant surprise at 1:23am on May 27, when the three adults they served promptly "threw the drinks at the
...

Cell Network Wiped Out by ... Beer Fridge

Engineers say motor's electric sparks caused blackout

(Newser) - Beer truly is the cause of (and solution to) all of life's problems. Or at least this problem: An Aussie telecom company investigating the cause of network blackouts near Melbourne tracked the disturbance to ... a bloke's beer fridge. Technicians believe electric sparks emitted from the fridge's motor...

China City to Fine Unwed Moms
 China City to Fine Unwed Moms 
Jun 4, 2013 2:37 PM CDT

China City to Fine Unwed Moms

Wuhan plans to add 'social compensation fee'

(Newser) - It's no scarlet letter, but the central China city of Wuhan's plan to fine mothers who have a child out of wedlock has sparked charges of discrimination and could lead to an increase in abandoned babies. It would be the first time that out-of-wedlock children have been expressly...

Survey Finds Proof of Orgasms During ... Childbirth

Midwives report 'orgasmic births' 0.3% of the time

(Newser) - Good news for those of you dreading childbirth: It doesn't have to be all pain and agony. There have long been stories of so-called "orgasmic births," and now a new study by a psychologist looks at the actual numbers. The study author surveyed French midwives, some of...

Women Tormented Ex With Pig's Head: Cops

Sisters, mother face harassment charges

(Newser) - Three Swedish women—two sisters and their mother—managed to scare the daylights out of 11 people with a disturbing roadside display: They put "parts of slaughtered animals" on dolls, a police spokesman says. "We had a slaughtered pig's head that was sitting on a doll in...

Overly Long 'Test Drive' Gets Man Arrested

Lloyd Kraft took Ford F-250 for a spin ... didn't come back: police

(Newser) - It's kind of like that episode of Seinfeld, just with a less glorious ending. Police say a Florida man visited Belleview's Prestige Auto on Friday with a fairly typical request: He wanted to test drive a 1997 Ford F-250. Lloyd Kraft reportedly ponied up a phone number and...

Why Pakistan Made Workers Stop Wearing Socks
Why Pakistan Made Workers Stop Wearing Socks
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Jun 2, 2013 7:00 PM CDT

Why Pakistan Made Workers Stop Wearing Socks

Because it's hot, and the electricity grid is a hopeless mess

(Newser) - Just how bad are Pakistan's power grid problems? This bad: The government has ordered civil servants to stop wearing socks, reports Reuters . The weird order goes hand in hand with another edict that forbids government offices from turning on their air-conditioners. That makes things so unbearably hot that the...

For Sale: &#39;Used&#39; Morgue Fridge
 For Sale: 'Used' Morgue Fridge
Jun 2, 2013 10:20 AM CDT

For Sale: 'Used' Morgue Fridge

New York state has a chilling eBay listing

(Newser) - That special someone who has everything most definitely does not have this: New York's Office of Mental Health is hawking a "used" but "fully operational" morgue refrigerator, and the New York Post highlights the rather grisly listing it has posted on eBay . It's a Norlake Scientific...

Cops: Man Painted Crosswalk on City Street

Californian jailed on vandalism charges

(Newser) - Anthony Cardenas really, really thought an intersection in his neighborhood of Vellajo, California, needed a crosswalk. So the 52-year-old painted one himself. Now he's in jail on felony vandalism charges. Police made sure nobody used the makeshift crosswalk until a state transportation crew came along and painted over it....

Woman Runs Over Herself, Dies

No one's sure why Isabel Huerta got out of the car

(Newser) - A 67-year-old Texas woman was killed yesterday morning when her own car ran her over. Isabel Huerta pulled over her PT Cruiser front of a San Antonio high school and got out of the car, but left it in gear, the Express-News reports. Huerta then fell over—just as the...

Word for French Kiss Finally Enters French Lexicon

But 'galocher' isn't in the official dictionary yet

(Newser) - The most popular word of the day seems to be "galocher." As multiple stories are happily pointing out—like these at Global Post and the Huffington Post —it is a new French word that means "to kiss with tongues." Yes, it seems that France has...

Missing Man Walks Into News Report About Himself

Maine TV crew was preparing an update about senior with dementia

(Newser) - A TV crew from WMTW News 8 in Maine was setting up to do an update about missing 73-year-old Bob McDonough when McDonough himself walked into the shot. McDonough, who has dementia, had gone missing the previous day, and police were out with canine units looking for him. He appears...

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