strange stuff

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

Stories 3561 - 3580 | << Prev   Next >>

Gee Whiz: Mom Gets Big Fine After Toddler Pees in Yard

'He's 3 years old,' she protests

(Newser) - An Oklahoma woman got a $2,500 ticket for public urination Sunday, on behalf of her not-yet-potty-trained son. A police officer happened to be sitting in his cruiser near Ashley Warden's home when her toddler son Dillan pulled down his pants and peed in the front yard, the Oklahoman...

Guy's City Council Race in Tie After Wife Doesn't Vote

'I didn't think one vote would matter,' candidate says

(Newser) - They say every vote counts, but how often does that actually turn out to be true? In Walton, Kentucky, it most definitely held true on Tuesday—and probably in the weirdest way possible. When Robert McDonald's wife—who works nights and is also going to school and raising three...

Man Admits Burglarizing Pelosi's Home—Twice

Kevin Michael Hagan, 21, returned to the scene of the crime

(Newser) - A 21-year-old man has admitted to burglarizing Nancy Pelosi's California home on Monday ... and then again on Tuesday, reports NBC Bay Area . Police were tipped off to the first break-in by the House minority leader's alarm system, which was triggered on Monday after the glass doors to her...

Woman Who Drove on Sidewalk Ordered to Wear 'Idiot' Sign

Shena Hardin was trying to pass a school bus

(Newser) - A woman caught on camera driving on a sidewalk to avoid a Cleveland school bus that was unloading children has been handed a very embarrassing punishment. Yesterday, a judge ordered 32-year-old Shena Hardin to stand at an intersection for two days next week wearing a sign reading: "Only an...

Guy to Jury: Hurry Up and Convict Me

Murder defendant really wanted to watch Monday Night Football

(Newser) - A suspect in a double homicide took callousness to a new level yesterday: While on the witness stand, Nathan Burris snapped his fingers at the jury and told them to hurry up and convict him so he could get back to his cell in time for Monday Night Football, reports...

Pilot Busted for Airport Carjacking

Police say drunk pilot stole car hours before Seattle-to-Tokyo flight

(Newser) - A commercial pilot has been arrested for a bizarre carjacking just hours before he was supposed to fly a plane from Seattle to Tokyo. Police say the Omni Air pilot climbed into a stranger's rental car at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and refused to leave even after the driver pulled...

Canada's Yukon Has a Dare: Drink Garnished With ... Toe

The 'Sourtoe Cocktail' has been served for nearly 40 years

(Newser) - Olives, limes, maraschino cherries, and pickled toes? That's right: In the Yukon Territory, one Dawson City saloon serves a drink garnished with a human toe. The tradition began in 1973, after a riverboat captain found a toe preserved in a pickle jar and decided it would be a good...

Kentucky, SC: No Booze Sales Tomorrow

Prohibition-era relic lives on

(Newser) - Residents of South Carolina and Kentucky who want to toast the winning candidate—or drown their sorrows—tomorrow had better buy that booze today. Yahoo reports on a quirky holdover from Prohibition days: Laws in both states bar the sale of alcohol on Election Day. The bans herald back to...

Cop Tasers 10-Year-Old on Playground
Cop Tasers 10-Year-Old
on Playground
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Nov 4, 2012 12:23 PM CST

Cop Tasers 10-Year-Old on Playground

Boy refused to help clean his car, says lawsuit

(Newser) - A police officer in New Mexico faces a lawsuit after using his Taser on a 10-year-old boy in a school playground, reports Courthouse News Service . The officer was at school for a career day, and he reportedly asked a group of boys to clean his police car. According to the...

Christianity's 'Holiest Site' May Close Over Unpaid Bills

Water company says Jerusalem church owes it $2.1M

(Newser) - Can we call this an unholy water dispute? The Greek Orthodox Church is threatening to shut down the Church of the Holy Sepulchre—the most revered site in Christendom—over unpaid water bills, the AFP reports. An Israeli water company says the church owes $2.1 million in back bills,...

Best Defense Against Asteroids? Try Paintballs
 Best Defense Against 
 Asteroids? Try Paintballs 
in case you missed it
Nov 3, 2012 12:33 PM CDT

Best Defense Against Asteroids? Try Paintballs

MIT grad student wins award with novel idea

(Newser) - If an asteroid were speeding toward a calamitous collision with Earth, we might be able to knock it off track by ... painting it white. The PopSci blog picks up on the novel idea by MIT grad student Sung Wook Paek: Let's say scientists determined that an asteroid were going...

Grandma Claims Lotto Just in Time

$23M ticket sat in her car for months

(Newser) - For more than five months—while Julie Cervera struggled to pay a $600 electrical bill, feed her family and keep the cable company from shutting off her service because she couldn't pay—she was a millionaire without knowing it. Meanwhile, her $23 million lottery ticket languished forgotten in the...

Reporter Sues Over 'Mock Kidnapping' at Gunpoint

She allegedly stripped, uttered 'last words'

(Newser) - Some practical joke: A pair of reporters kidnapped a prominent Kyrgyzstan journalist and put a gun to her head before revealing it was all just for laughs, the BBC reports. Now Nazira Aytbekova is filing charges against the reporters, saying they held her at gunpoint and made her strip to...

30 Cadets Injured in All-Out 'Brawl'

Sergeant-tossing ritual leaves 6 hospitalized

(Newser) - An Air Force ritual devolved into an all-out melee last week that left 30 cadets injured and six hospitalized—with concussions, cuts, and an arm bite, NBC News reports. It was all part of the unauthorized "First Shirt/First Snow" ritual, in which cadets toss a sergeant into a snow...

NY Art Museum to Open Exhibit of ... Smells

Chandler Burr explains the world of 'olfactory art'

(Newser) - You won't be able to go and see the special exhibit the New York Museum of Art and Design is opening on November 13—but you will be able to go and smell it. The show, The Art of Scent: 1889-2012 is a first-of-its-kind exhibition of what Chandler Burr...

Elephant Can 'Speak' Korean

Koshik apparently learned to make human sounds to bond with zookeepers

(Newser) - Who needs Doctor Doolittle when animals are learning to speak human languages? First a Beluga whale learns how to say "out" to a diver, and now an elephant in a South Korean zoo has learned to say five words, reports the BBC . Koshik, a male Asian elephant, can "...

For Sale: Naming Rights to Broke Japan City

It's called Izumisano, for now

(Newser) - It's come to this in Izumisano, Japan: The city is so broke it hopes to sell its naming rights to the highest bidder, reports AFP . Izumisano owes more than $1 billion to creditors, mainly because it sank so much money into "building roads and other infrastructure" to its...

Sweden's Jobs Plan: Pay Youth to Go to Norway

Town offers travel, accommodation in Oslo

(Newser) - Sweden has a new strategy to shrink widespread youth unemployment: Send the kids to Norway. The Swedish government is working with the small town of Soderhamn to fund journeys to Oslo for people between the ages of 18 and 28, the Telegraph reports. "We had an unemployment rate of...

Bank President Greets Robber —With Colt .380

Peoples Bank in Missouri supports concealed gun rights

(Newser) - A bank robber in a Chucky mask got more than he bargained for when he stole $4,779 from the family-owned Peoples Bank & Trust in Missouri this week—the business end of a Colt .380 handgun. The robbery was witnessed by bank president David W. Thompson, who followed the...

Guy Breaks Into House, Builds Fire, Eats Chinese

Police still searching for suspect

(Newser) - Eating Chinese takeout in front of a glowing fireplace is a pleasant enough way to spend an evening. But state police in northwestern Pennsylvania say there was just one problem with those plans: The person or persons who made the fire and ate the food didn't live there. Troopers...

Stories 3561 - 3580 | << Prev   Next >>