Can’t get enough of those true crime podcasts? Then you’re going to love Portable Press’s Strange Crime. But until it arrives, delve into these stories about the most notorious, mysterious — and unsolved — criminal acts in American history.
Oddee has a collection of links to some particularly oddee things that you could actually buy once upon a time.
A few favorites include the scalp massager:
We told you the story about the English woman who thought it was “funny” to dump a neighbor’s cat in a garbage can – where it was stuck for fifteen hours.
Waiter: We’ll have the just desserts, please. Thanks.
Extra: Some cat dumped a woman in a garbage bin in revenge! Watch!
The Aussies just say no to Puke My Fish Up:
Circus-goers in Australia hoping to see a woman swallow and then regurgitate a live fish will be disappointed, as authorities decided it was cruel to the fish.
Now just what the heck is going on in the world when a person can’t get the kids together, put ’em in the station wagon, and take them down to the circus to watch a lady swallow a live fish and then throw it back up again, still alive? What kind of a world? Next we’ll hear you can’t throw kittens in trash bins! “It was fun,” for goodness sake!
If there’s one thing we’re suckers for here at the BRI, it’s stories that have anything to do with ninjas. Or robots. Or zombies. Or Elvis sightings. Or stories involving sightings of ninja-robot-zombie-Elvises. Which is more common than you might think.
Where were we? Oh yeah: Ninjas!
A group of would-be muggers in a Sydney, Australia, met their match Tuesday night in the form of black-clad ninjas.
The three stalked and attacked a German exchange student, 27, in a dimly lit alley that fortunately for the victim ran behind the Ninja Senshi Ryu warrior school…
The British Mail Online news service has a story this morning on a peculiar piece of clothing created by a Japanese designer. We just happened to have written a bit about that odd bit of attire in our just-released Uncle John’s World’s Gone Crazy Bathroom Reader:
THE VENDING MACHINE SKIRT
Let’s say you’re walking down the sidewalk dressed in an ordinary skirt and—Here come the bad guys! And they’re chasing you! Run! Hide! Too bad you weren’t wearing this special piece of clothing: The Vending Machine Skirt, by Tokyo designer Aya Tsukiokais. It looks like a normal skirt, but, when you need to become invisible, it quickly unfolds to become a large, rectangular piece of cloth that looks just like a soda vending machine. Just hold it in front of you and hide behind it, so the idea goes, and you’ll blend into the scenery. “Vending machines are on every corner of Japanese streets, and we take it for granted,” says Aya. “That’s how I came up with the idea for this dress.”
And now, because you deserve it, a video demonstration of the Vending Machine Skirt by Ms. Tsukiokais, with a bonus demonstration of her Manhole Cover Purse:
News, we meant news. Anyhoo:
• “What is a kangaroo doing in the middle of the road in Bemidji, Minnesota in November?” Luke Havumaki said. (Uncle John said, “In November?”)
• Solving the mysteries of the elusive tree kangaroo. (With video.)
• A motorcycle rider was injured when he ran into a kanagroo. In Texas. (Texas, Asutralia.)
• Hankering for a new flavor potato chip? How about BBQ Kangaroo?
• The hunt for a phantom kangaroo…in Japan.
• Shark attacks kangaroo. (Whu-huh?)
• And, finally, more ocean-going kangaroos, with less shark.
Or should that be, “Take the Grasshopper From My Pizza, Hand”?
As locusts swarm across Australia, folks are finding a way to get back at the insects that devour crops – eat ‘em!
One café in Mildura, northern Victoria state, is offering locusts as a crunchy topping for pizza, CNN affiliate ABC news reports.
And, thank goodness, there’s an honest-to-goodness photo of one of the locust-topped pizzas:
We can’t tell if this story is funny…or hilarious:
“Scores of Carlsberg workers walked off their jobs in protest Thursday after the Danish brewer tightened laid-back rules on workplace drinking and removed beer coolers from work sites, a company spokesman said.
The warehouse and production workers in Denmark are rebelling against the company’s new alcohol policy, which allows them to drink beer only during lunch hours in the canteen. Previously, they could help themselves to beer throughout the day, from coolers placed around the work sites.
The only restriction was ‘that you could not be drunk at work’.”
It was hard to believe that this story wasn’t a hoax, but it apparently is the real (weird) deal:
“Road safety chiefs have put up traffic signs warning motorists of drunks in the road in a bid to reduce accidents. Mayor Petru Antal ordered the signs – saying ‘Attention – Drunks’, complete with an image of a reveller on his knees with a bottle – after despairing of accident figures in Pecica, Romania.”
From the “How Very, Very Strange” drawer:
Police in Cyprus say they may have found the body of former President Tassos Papadopoulos, three months after it was snatched from its grave. Remains thought to be those of the ex-president were found at a Nicosia cemetery after a tip-off, police said. DNA tests will determine whether it was Mr Papadopoulos’ body, police on the Mediterranean island said. He was president from 2003 to February 2008 and died in December 2008. It is unclear why his body was stolen.
The original report can be found here.
