“I’m hungry. I’m gonna eat it”

This story is just ridiculous…

From The Daily Telegraph – A man has reportedly ripped the head off a tame duck that lived in the ornamental lobby of a Minnesota hotel.

The Associated Press reported that Scott D. Clark allegedly cornered the duck before grabbing it and decapitating it with his hands in front of a security guard and other onlookers.

Mr Clark then said: “I’m hungry. I’m gonna eat it.”

He was allegedly drunk, AP said.

A spokesman for the Minnesota Federated Humane Societies called on the hotel to examine their duck protection policies, or possibly think about having fish like other hotels, AP reported.

The World Without Us

Alan Weisman asks and answers the question, “without human life on Earth, what traces of us would linger and what would disappear?”

He’s comprised a pretty interesting picture chart that explains, over varying amounts of time, how the Earth would progress and fall.

Click here to check it out. Mouse over the blocks to see what would happen for that particular time frame.

There’s a 20% we’re living in the Matrix?

The New York Times’ John Tierny has written an interesting article on the idea that we are all just some computer geek in the sky’s creation…

Until I talked to Nick Bostrom, a philosopher at Oxford University, it never occurred to me that our universe might be somebody else’s hobby. I hadn’t imagined that the omniscient, omnipotent creator of the heavens and earth could be an advanced version of a guy who spends his weekends building model railroads or overseeing video-game worlds like the Sims.

But now it seems quite possible. In fact, if you accept a pretty reasonable assumption of Dr. Bostrom’s, it is almost a mathematical certainty that we are living in someone else’s computer simulation.

This simulation would be similar to the one in “The Matrix,” in which most humans don’t realize that their lives and their world are just illusions created in their brains while their bodies are suspended in vats of liquid. But in Dr. Bostrom’s notion of reality, you wouldn’t even have a body made of flesh. Your brain would exist only as a network of computer circuits.

It’s a pretty ridiculous idea, and one that is so hard to even understand, let alone even remotely be able to comprehend as a possibility. Still, it’s an interesting idea to debate.

You can click here to read the rest of the article.

The Idiot of the Day

This better have been one very amazing sandal…

A teenager was rescued after she tried to retrieve a sandal and wound up dangling from a 200-foot ocean cliff, authorities said.

Kimberly Kiesz, 18, of Lomita and a girlfriend were strolling the cliffs Tuesday when “one of her flip-flops fell into a very precarious area, about 20 feet below the ledge with just a straight drop-off into the abyss below it,” Palos Verdes Estates police Chief Dan Dreiling said.

“She went to retrieve it and lost her footing and ended up grabbing hold onto the base of some shrubbery with her feet dangling over the edge,” he said.

Her friend called 911.

Arriving police officers formed a human chain to reach the girl, Dreiling said.

“These guys all acted heroically and pulled her to safety,” he said. “We didn’t rescue the flip-flop.”

“We didn’t rescue the flip-flop” sounds more me like, “What kind of idiot risks their life for a sandal?”.

> Read more odd news stories

Happy 75th Birthday Lego!

The famous “Lego” toy company turns 75 years old today.

From EarthTimes.org – Parties were due to take place around the world Friday for Danish toy firm Lego as its 5,000 global employees prepared to celebrate the company’s 75th birthday. Master carpenter Ole Kirk Christiansen started the company on August 10, 1932 in his studio in the town of Billund in Jutland.

The headquarters of the global toy giant are still located in Billund. Christiansen created the word “Lego” in 1934 from the Danish words “leg godt” (play well).

Following the company’s initial production of wooden toys, he started manufacturing the now legendary plastic building bricks in 1949.

Lego then enjoyed half a century of unparalleled sales success, but at the end of the 1990s, the family firm found itself in trouble as more and more children played with computers than with plastic bricks.

Finally in 2006, company chairman Jorgen Vig Knudstorp described after-tax profits of 1.4 billion kroner (258 million dollars) on sales of 7.8 billion kroner as “extremely satisfying.”

The turnaround came from the off-loading of production from Denmark and Switzerland to Eastern Europe and concentrating on the core business of building bricks.

Germany is Lego’s most important market, with an 11.9-per-cent share of the toy market. In 2006, Lego sold some 300 million dollars worth of toys to Germany.

This Lamb is Bananas

A lamb was born in New Zealand with seven legs…

Is it just me, or is that insanely creepy and in no way cute?

Click here for the rest of the story on the seven-legged lamb

Mooning = 15 years in jail?!?

This is ridiculous…

From OrlandoSentinel.com – A family driving west on Interstate 4 in a silver Mercedes-Benz on Sunday evening made the men in the black Chevrolet Tahoe mad.

The Mercedes had cut them off, the Tahoe’s driver later told a Seminole County deputy, so front-seat passenger John Thomas Taylor dropped his pants and mooned the family, including their 14-year-old son, according to a Sheriff’s Office report.

Taylor, 21, was arrested and hauled to jail, accused of committing a lewd and lascivious act in the presence of a child younger than 16.

He was being held Monday evening without bail in the Seminole County Jail.

If convicted of the charge alleged by the Sheriff’s Office, Taylor could face up to 15 years in prison and forever be identified as a sex offender.

How many of you have mooned someone while goofing around when you were a kid? Or when out drunk with buddies one night? Apparently that would make you a sex offender. I hope the judge who gets assigned to this case will realize how absolutely ridiculous this charge is.

Either way, you might want to think twice about mooning that car driving behind you.

> Read more weird news stories

Bacon Ice Cream? WTFBBQ!?!

I’m all for those 101 flavors of ice cream shops, but this is getting a little ridiculous.

From WashingtonPost.com – Forget that “I scream, you scream” nonsense. A block from Rehoboth Beach’s grainy sands and churning waves, where beachgoers are baking on a Tuesday afternoon in a 95-degree swelter, Udder Delight Ice Cream House is busy scooping ice cream flavors so outlandish it makes some of its chill-seekers scream, all right.

“Uh, it tastes a little too much like barbecue,” says bikini-topped Franny Linus, 25, staring at a creamy beige concoction on a plastic spoon. She grimaces the way people do when sizing up something really weird.

The cooler at Udder Delight in Rehoboth Beach contains some of owner Chip Hearn’s unusual ice cream flavors, including bacon and barbecue.

On a day trip from Bear, Del., Linus and her friend Leigh Ann McDonough, 24, flip-flopped into the otherwise old-fashioned ice cream parlor thinking icy-cold mango smoothies. But Udder Delight owner Chip Hearn steered them to an impromptu taste test of his newest creations — one of which may be the world’s first barbecue-flavored ice cream. The other test flavors: a chunky bacon ice cream and a pale-red Cackalacky Spice Sauce ice cream.

Linus licks the bacon ice cream. “Not bad,” she says. But she’s not big on the frozen bits of bacon. McDonough thinks it tastes a little like butter pecan and kind of likes it.

Like most people, I love Ice Cream. I also love Bacon. Yet, these two wonderful foods should be kept apart as far as I’m concerned.

What’s next? The French Fry ‘n Ketchup Ice Cream? The Pickle and Apple Smoothie?

> Read more weird news stories

Transformers Toys sell for $1 Million

A Transformers toy collection just sold on eBay for $1 Million dollars. I guess I should have kept a lot more of my TF toys and stuff from back in the day. Then again, this collection includes 275 different Transformers all in their original boxes, as well as some other memorabilia.

The story has a bit of a sad ending, as the collection was originally owned by a young man who died of AIDS in 1988. His collection started as a hobby, and a way to help keep him distracted from the horrible disease he was fighting. His wife was the one who put the collection up for sale (I’m shocked she held on to it for as long as she did).

Check out some pictures and more to the story by clicking here.

The Richest Companies in the World

Fortune 500 recently released the list of the top 100 most profitable companies in the world.

Wal-Mart came in at number one on the list, which doesn’t surprise me. Six of the top 10 are oil companies, which of course makes the whole gas price situation ridiculous.

Motor vehicle companies, General Motors, Toyota and Chrysler also came in the top 10.

Hyundai and Fiat come in ahead of BMW, which seems ridiculous.

Other familiar names are Home Depot (44th), Samsung (46th), Hitachi (48th), Nestle (56th), Sony (69th), Boeing (87th), Costco (94th) and Target (96th).

Interesting to note is that Samsung seems to be the top ranked electronics manufacturer. I would have assumed that spot would have been held by Sony.

Click here to read the entire top 100.

Father of the Year?

Wow, imagine the future you’d have if this guy was your Dad…

From WHDH-TV – Police helped a Boston man find his lost 3-year-old son at South Shore Plaza, then charged the father with stealing.

Officers arrested Jonathan Williams because of what they said he was doing when his boy wandered away, Deputy Police Chief Russell Jenkins said.

The boy was quickly located in Macy’s, but when Williams arrived to pick him up, members of the store security staff said they suspected him of stealing merchandise earlier.

Stolen clothing was found in a bag that Williams had left at a customer service desk while looking for his son, Deputy Jenkins said.

He was arrested and charged with larceny.

His mother picked up the boy after the incident.

> Read more weird news stories

The best jury-duty excuses ever

I always thought that if I was called for jury-duty, and didn’t want to go, I’d just say I’m a liar, don’t like old people or something like that to get out of it. Apparently, that won’t work…

From CNN.com – A Cape Cod man who claimed he was homophobic, racist and a habitual liar to avoid jury duty earned an angry rebuke from a judge on Monday, who referred the case to prosecutors for possible charges. Daniel Ellis’ excuses to try to get out of jury duty didn’t sit well with the judge.

“In 32 years of service in courtrooms, as a prosecutor, as a defense attorney and now as a judge, I have quite frankly never confronted such a brazen situation of an individual attempting to avoid juror service,” Barnstable Superior Court Judge Gary Nickerson told Daniel Ellis, according to a preliminary court transcript of the exchange.

Ellis, of Falmouth, had been called to court with about 60 other potential jurors for possible service on a 23-member grand jury.

On a questionnaire that all potential jurors fill out, Ellis wrote that he didn’t like homosexuals and blacks. He then echoed those sentiments in an interview with Nickerson.

“You say on your form that you’re not a fan of homosexuals,” Nickerson said.

“That I’m a racist,” Ellis interrupted.

“I’m frequently found to be a liar, too. I can’t really help it,” Ellis added.

“I’m sorry?” Nickerson said.

“I said I’m frequently found to be a liar,” Ellis replied.

“So, are you lying to me now?” Nickerson asked.

“Well, I don’t know. I might be,” was the response.

Ellis then admitted he really didn’t want to serve on a jury.

“I have the distinct impression that you’re intentionally trying to avoid jury service,” Nickerson said.

“That’s true,” Ellis answered.

Nickerson ordered Ellis taken into custody. He was released later Monday morning.

Ellis could face perjury and other charges.

Haha, this guy cracks me up. The least he could do was actually pretend he was serious. Maybe throw out a few racial slurs or gay jokes. Now he’s taken into custody? Haha, just hilarious. Maybe it’s better just to suck it up, and “do the duty”.

Somehow, this news doesn’t surprise me

From YahooNews:

A U.N. report showing Canadians use more marijuana than people in any other industrialized country is more evidence that the drug should be legalized, activists said on Tuesday.

The 2007 World Drug Report found that 16.8 percent of Canadians between 15 and 64 used marijuana, otherwise known as cannabis or pot, at least once in the past year, four times more than the global average of 3.8 percent.

That compared to an average 10.7 percent in North America and 5.6 percent in Europe, said the report, issued by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in late June.

Cannabis is the most commonly used illegal drug in the world with 160 million people using it at least once in 2005, the U.N. report said.

Papua New Guinea topped the marijuana list with 29.5 percent of the population using it, followed by Micronesia, Ghana, Zambia and Canada, according to the annual finding.

Canadian media report that the number of people arrested for smoking marijuana rose dramatically in several Canadian cities last year after the Conservatives took office and killed a bill to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana.

Laws on possession of marijuana in Canada are generally more relaxed than those in the United States.

I don’t think this information should surprise anyone, although I’m not sure how much the percentages were influenced by the fact that the laws here in Canada are a lot less severe, and people may be more willing to be honest.

> Read more odd news stories

He’s 72, but he’ll still kick your ass

Here’s a really neat story I read today, over at Yahoo News today…

Bill Barnes says he was scratching off a losing $2 lottery ticket inside a gas station when he felt a hand slip into his front-left pants pocket, where he had $300 in cash.

He immediately grabbed the person’s wrist with his left hand and started throwing punches with his right, landing six or seven blows before a store manager intervened.

“I guess he thought I was an easy mark,” Barnes, 72, told The Grand Rapids Press for a story Tuesday.

He’s anything but an easy mark: Barnes served in the Marines, was an accomplished Golden Gloves boxer and retired after 20 years as an iron worker.

Jesse Daniel Rae, the 27-year-old Newaygo County man accused of trying to pick Barnes’ pocket, was arraigned Monday in Rockford District Court on one count of unarmed robbery, a 15-year felony.

Barnes said he had just withdrawn the money from a bank machine and put it in the pocket of his shorts before driving to the Marathon service station and Next Door Food Store in Comstock park, a Grand Rapids suburb.

He remembers noticing a patron acting suspiciously, asking the price of different brands of cigarettes and other items. While turned away, Barnes felt the hand in his pocket, so he took action.

“I guess I acted on instinct,” he said.

Kent County sheriff’s deputies said the store manager quickly came around the counter. The three of them struggled through the front door, where two witnesses said the manager slammed Rae to the ground and held him there.

“There was blood everywhere,” said another manager on duty, Abby Ostrom, 25.

Barnes was a regional runner-up in Golden Gloves competition in the novice and open divisions before enlisting in the Marines in 1956.

He lived most of his adult life in Comstock Park with his wife, Patricia, before recently moving to Ottawa County. The couple have three children.

After retiring as an iron worker, he now works part-time as a starter at a golf course.

Barnes said he’d probably do the same thing again under the same circumstances, if for no other reason than what he would face back home.

“I wouldn’t want my wife to give me hell for lettin’ that guy get my money,” he said with a smile.

Crazy Person Of The Day

This guy is a full blown nut job…

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review – Don’t do it out of anger. Don’t swing too hard and always hug your child when you’re done — when you’re done spanking him or her using a wooden paddle signed, “Love Joey.”

New Kensington resident Joey Salvati, 39, a father of two, was in the shower about a month ago when he first heard God speak to him about the matter. Whether it was an external or internal voice, he wasn’t sure. He tried to ignore it, but it kept coming back, day after day, until he realized he had to do something about it. The message was for Salvati to make wooden paddles for corporal punishment and give them to parents who need help disciplining their children.

If there is a God, I highly doubt he’s spending his time telling you to make punishment paddles to smack children with.

Stick this guy in jail, before he does something really crazy.

> Read more weird news stories

Sometimes being stupid works out in the end

I thought “being the hero” only worked in the movies…

2theadvocate.com – A man with a gun was trying to force a woman out of her car at a fast-food drive-through when the woman’s 17-year-old son wrestled the gun away from him and shot him.

Carl Chestnut, 44, of Kenner, is expected to survive wounds to his head and body, and will face armed robbery charges once he is released from East Jefferson General Hospital, Col. John Fortunato, a Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office spokesman, said Monday.

It would have been safer to hand over the keys and let the gunman drive off, Sheriff Harry Lee said Monday.

Fortunato said the 53-year-old woman was in line at an Arby’s Roast Beef Restaurant about 1:30 a.m. Monday when Chestnut walked up and pointed a gun at her, demanding their money and the car.

When he leaned inside, aiming the gun with one hand and trying to yank her out with the other, the 17-year-old grabbed the gun, Fortunato said. He said it went off once as they strugged, but did not hit anyone. Once the youth got the gun, he shot Chestnut several times, Fortunato said.

I’m sure people will say “oh, what a brave young man, what a hero!”… but I disagree. This kid is an idiot. Let the carjacker take the car, and your insurance will cover it. Someone could have easily been shot, and for what? The car was probably something like a Lebaron or Sunfire, too.

Unless you’re Bruce Willis or Will Smith, and there’s a film crew standing by, just give the guy the damn car.

Scantily-clad models are dangerous

This article made me laugh, which is bad, because it’s actually about car accidents…

SkyNews – Eye-catching billboards showing scantily-clad models are said to be so distracting for motorists that a campaign is under way in Greece to have them banned.

A lawyer has launched a compensation claim for £8m after losing a son in a road accident he believes was caused by provocative advertising.

Athanasios Tsokos says too many drivers are taking their eyes off the road to ogle models advertising cigarettes, perfume and mobile phone services.

Some are a series of “rolling ads” with motorists encouraged to see what will be on show next.

According to The Guardian, an Athens traffic official estimates that roadside adverts are responsible for 10% of all accidents in the capital.

> Read more weird news stories

Crazy person of the day

From JSOnline.com:

A 44-year-old Milwaukee woman missed her daughter’s high school graduation Friday after allegedly threatening to blow up the school if the girl couldn’t wear blue jeans to the ceremony, Milwaukee Police said today.

Milwaukee Police Capt. Darlene Jenkins said the woman was arrested on a pending charge of disorderly conduct after allegedly making the threat during a phone call to Madison High School around noon Friday.

The woman told police she’d made the bomb reference to her daughter, not to school officials.

She remained in custody this morning, according to Jenkins.

Wow. That is ridiculous.

> More weird news stories

New species of frog discovered

From Yahoo!:

In this photograph released by Conservation International on Monday, June 4, 2007, an Atelopus frog is shown in this March 2006 file photo taken at the Nassau Mountains, eastern Suriname. Scientists said Monday that they have discovered 24 new species of wildlife in the remote plateaus of eastern Suriname, including this frog with fluorescent purple markings discovered by Surinamese scientists Paul Ouboter and Jan Mol.

(AP Photo/Conservation International/Paul Ouboter)

Pretty cool lookin’ little guy, isn’t he?

It’s interesting that we’re still discovering new species’ on a regular basis. Hopefully it continues to happen, and that there is never a point where we’ve discovered everything about our planet.

This guy really doesn’t like his job

From Sky News:

An overworked policeman stabbed himself in the stomach so he could get time off, investigators in Japan have said.

The truth came out after detectives launched an attempted murder investigation but could not find any suspects matching the alleged victim’s description.

The 44-year-old took a knife to himself because he was worn out by overtime and weekend working, they discovered.

He knifed himself at his home in north west Japan but told fellow officers he had been attacked.

They began to doubt his story when they couldn’t get anywhere with the inquiry.

Suspicions were also raised because the officer had waited an hour before reporting the alleged attack, the spokesman said. His wounds were not life-threatening.

Everyone has come up with some excuse to miss work before, but to actually stab yourself to get out of going? I think once you start resorting to that type of extreme measure just to miss work, it’s probably time to get a new job.