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Politics' Silliest Moments of '09
 Politics' Silliest Moments of '09 
Year in Review
Dec 31, 2009 1:22 PM CST

Politics' Silliest Moments of '09

From Dancin' DeLay to Roberts' inaugural flub, 'twas a weird year

(Newser) - Politics isn’t always a deadly serious game of statesmanship. Sometimes it’s goofy. Politico recalls the most bizarre moments of 2009:
  • Barack Obama sworn in—twice: Obama joked that they’d done it because “we decided it was so much fun.”
  • Sarah Palin resigns: Even her aides
...

Gadget Translates 'Woof' into Words

Japanese toymaker debuts dog translator next month

(Newser) - Ever wonder what your dog is thinking? The “Bowlingual Voice” from Japanese toymaker Takara Tomy claims to be able to tell you just that, the Telegraph reports. The device is made up of a microphone and transmitter on the collar that categorizes the dog’s utterances into one of...

Ripley's Runs Low on Oddities
 Ripley's Runs Low on Oddities 
Jun 16, 2009 1:37 PM CDT

Ripley's Runs Low on Oddities

(Newser) - They just don’t make shrunken heads the way they used to. In fact, no one makes them at all, which is a big problem for Ripley’s Believe It or Not! The chain of “odditoriums” has expanded so far and so fast that its collection is stretched to...

Amsterdam's 'Beer Bikes' Drive Into Trouble

(Newser) - “Beer bikes”—party vehicles that combine two of Amsterdam's favorite things—are under scrutiny after two recent accidents involving the gizmos, Reuters reports. Each large conveyance seats 10 peddlers at a central bar while a non-drinker steers. “This beer bike is completely legal,” said a transport...

For Rent: 'Cheery, Clean' Fake Friends

Japanese firm pads guest lists; wedding toast costs extra

(Newser) - Why bother making friends when you can rent them? A Tokyo-based company allows you to do just that, hiring out fake friends for any occasion, even the happiest day of your life. Need to pad your wedding guest list? The rent-a-friend will attend for just $200; for an extra $100,...

UK Man 'Gives Birth' to Fetus of Dead Twin

Thirty-year-old's stomach ruptures; brother pops out

(Newser) - Gavin Hyatt had been in pain for a month, plagued by a mysterious lump on his stomach. The plumber almost had it operated on but canceled at the last minute. Then one day, in a scene straight out of Alien, Hyatt felt a stabbing pain and saw the lump pushing...

Global Warming Will Bring 'Global Weirding'
 Global Warming Will Bring 'Global Weirding'
ANALYSIS
Mar 21, 2009 2:41 AM CDT

Global Warming Will Bring 'Global Weirding'

(Newser) - While the physical changes brought on by global warming—droughts, floods, and the like—are fairly easy to model, the effect on ecosystems is disconcertingly unpredictable, John Waldman writes in Yale Environment 360. Species will shift migration patterns and seek new homes, affecting other species in ways we can't imagine....

Documentarian Films Through Prosthetic Eye

(Newser) - A one-eyed documentarian is planning a film on privacy shot using a camera implanted in his prosthetic organ, the AP reports. Rob Spence, who plans to become a "human surveillance machine," got the idea when he realized how small his cellphone camera was. His eye muscles will move...

Why Your Belly Button Has Lint
 Why Your Belly Button Has Lint 
Feb 28, 2009 4:33 PM CST

Why Your Belly Button Has Lint

(Newser) - Just so you know: Navel lint is caused by a unique arrangement of abdominal hairs that are positioned in concentric circles around the belly button and “act like a kind of barbed hooks,” the Telegraph reports. The discovery comes from an Austrian doctor who conducted 3 years of...

6 Books Top Odd Title List
 6 Books Top Odd Title List 



Feb 21, 2009 6:01 PM CST

6 Books Top Odd Title List

(Newser) - Every year since 1978, Britain's Bookseller magazine has awarded the Diagram Prize for Oddest Book Title of the Year, the Telegraph reports. The mag's six-title shortlist just came out:
  • Baboon Metaphysics
  • Curbside Consultation of the Colon

Beer-Loving Mare Banned From UK Bar
Beer-Loving
Mare Banned
From UK Bar
Sep 30, 2008 2:00 PM CDT

Beer-Loving Mare Banned From UK Bar

Pub owner gets new carpet, puts end to horsin' around

(Newser) - A beer-swigging mare has been kicked to the curb following renovations at her favorite British watering hole, reports the Evening Chronicle. Peggy, a regular at the establishment since following her owner into the pub years ago, has been told to keep her hooves off the new carpeting. “Although she...

Overgrown LA Tract Turns to 'Scape Goats

Animals offer a green solution to clearing thick weeds

(Newser) - The sight of 100 goats feasting through a weedy tract in downtown Los Angeles yesterday had commuters guessing whether the caprine contingent was part of a movie, performance art—or perhaps lunch. In fact, the city hired the (land)scape goats in lieu of gas-powered weed whackers as a greener, cheaper...

Jumping Fish Breaks Teen's Jaw

Arkansas boy knocked unconscious by Silver Asian carp

(Newser) - An Arkansas teenager's jaw was broken when a fish flew from the lake where he was riding in an inner tube and smacked him in the face last week. Seth Russell, 15, was cruising Lake Chicot on a large inner tube towed by a boat when a Silver Asian carp...

Monster Bans, Other Crazy Illinois Laws

Bowling bans, anti-monster ordinances still on books in land of Lincoln

(Newser) - Sure, every state has some bizarre laws on the books, but Illinois might take the cake for the oddest. Some highlights from WBBM-TV's compilation of the most perplexing:
  • In Chicago, it is illegal to eat in a burning building.
  • In Eureka, a man with a mustache is prohibited from kissing
...

Book on Greek Postmen Wins Weird Title Prize

Beats out People Who Don't Know They're Dead

(Newser) - Greek Rural Postmen and their Cancellations is the weirdest book title of the past 30 years, according to The Bookseller magazine, which awarded the 72-page tome—a record of Greece’s postal routes—its coveted prize for weirdest title. The postmen narrowly beat out People Who Don’t Know They’...

Calif. Brewer Wins Fight to Sell 'Legal Weed'

Feds reverse course on double-entendre bottle cap after 6 months of bad publicity

(Newser) - Vaune Dillmann can market his beer from the small California town of Weed with the slogan "Try Legal Weed" after regulators backed off what could have been a drawn-out court battle, the Los Angeles Times reports. The feds tried to block Dillmann, citing a law prohibiting drug references on...

Newborn Is Mile-High Miracle
 Newborn Is Mile-High Miracle
Aug 28, 2008 2:13 PM CDT

Newborn Is Mile-High Miracle

Baby born on flight from Hong Kong to Australia named for ocean and air

(Newser) - An Indian newborn can claim his birthplace is miles in the sky after his mother gave birth during a flight from Hong Kong to Australia yesterday, the AP reports. Four doctors helped deliver the premature 6-pound boy. Mom—who was flying for the first time ever to reunite with her...

Dog Adopts Zoo's Tiger Cubs
 Dog Adopts Zoo's Tiger Cubs
Jul 31, 2008 12:21 PM CDT

Dog Adopts Zoo's Tiger Cubs

Golden retriever cleans and feeds rare white cubs abandoned by mom

(Newser) - A golden retriever has adopted three white tiger cubs abandoned by their mother at a southeast Kansas zoo, the AP reports. The Safari Zoological Park's owner says the dog, who recently weaned her own puppies, licks, cleans, and feeds the days-old cubs as if they were her own.

The Weirdest Sporting Events
 The Weirdest Sporting Events 
Jul 29, 2008 2:00 PM CDT

The Weirdest Sporting Events

How oddballs compete, from pole-sitting to goat polo

(Newser) - If curling strikes you as a strange sport, you've obviously never heard of wife carrying or bottle kicking. The London Times explores the weirdest pastimes from across the globe:
  1. Wife-carrying, Maine, USA: Wives hang on for dear life as husbands tote them through an obstacle course, upside-down. Winners receive the
...

Flesh-Nibbling Fish Latest Pedicure Fad

Carp smooth feet by eating dead skin

(Newser) - Fish pedicures where dozens of tiny carp smooth out your tootsies by eating away the dead skin is the latest in spa pampering. Since March, a DC area salon has offered the pools of garra rufa, aka doctor fish—popular in Turkey and Asia—as an alternative to scraping razors....

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