Really Weird Type of Race

These guys sure move quick, I wonder if they are firemen

Add comment August 2nd, 2008

Flint is looking for a hand-out

Michael Moore would have a field-day with this one. In the city of Flint, Michigan, they are looking for sponsors to cover the $400,000+ cost of adding surveillance cameras to monitor high-crime areas. At the present time there is only just one camera.

The city and a private security firm, Asset Protection Specialist, are looking for businesses and individuals willing to pay $30,000 to have their names or corporate logos placed on one of the pole-mounted boxes, which also feature a police shield and a flashing blue light.

I am guessing the first sponsor will be some sort of home security alarm firm or maybe the local fast-food joint?

Add comment July 29th, 2008

Mow your Lawn or Go to Jail

In Ohio they take grass-cutting very seriously. So seriously infact that homeowners who don’t mow their lawns face a stiff fine, even jail time in some cases.

The city council has decided to get tougher by increasing the maximum fine for failing to cut the grass from $150 to $250. And they’ve also added up to 30 days behind bars if a violator is particularly bad. Mayor William Healy says it’s the type of action needed “in order to clean up our neighbourhoods and our city.”

In the US it seems you don’t even get enough jail time for serious offences like assualt and robbery so this was a bit suprising.

Add comment June 3rd, 2008

Weird News Roundup

Here are some weird news shorts:

-Police in Arkansas say they found DNA evidence on a half-eaten candy bar helped them zero in on a robbery suspect. Should have eaten the whole thing, eh?

-A group of up hundreds of enraged young men killed 11 people who were accused of being witches and wizards in western Kenya, in some cases slitting their throats or clubbing them to death before burning their bodies. I guess they have never seen an of the Harry Potter movies.

-In yummy news, a trailer loaded with 14 tons of double-stuffed Oreos has overturned, spilling the cookies still in their plastic sleeves into the median and roadway.

-Only in the Big Apple, a Manhattan restaurant is offering a hamburger that costs $175 and is topped with gold flakes.

Add comment May 25th, 2008

Anyone want to live in a metal box?

A Detroit-based construction consortium hopes to use empty shipping containers to build a $1.8 million, 17-unit condominium project. The Detroit Free Press reports today that the project would stack empty containers four high, cut in windows and doors, install plumbing, stairways and heating, and add amenities such as balconies and landscaped patios.

Groundbreaking could take place this fall on the project if it wins city approval, and it could open in 2009. It’s designed by Detroit-based architect Steven Flum. Developers plan to offer condominium units measuring 90 to 180 square metres.

Prices will range from about $100,000 to about $190,000. I guess it is an interesting idea for afforable housing but those prices seem more than a little extreme. I would think $30k-$40k per dwelling is more reasonable.

Add comment May 13th, 2008

Mounties Taser 82 Year Old Man in Hospital Bed

Here is a little story about those brave Canadian Mounted Police Officers up in Canada, Frank Lasser, 82, was subdued in his hospital bed because he was not willing to relinquish a small pocket knife he was holding.  This guy just came out of heart bypass surgery recently and when unable to breathe properly becomes delusional.  He said he couldn’t explain why he refused to let go of the knife even after the Mounties arrived.  There were three Mounties present so I can’t imagine why they had to resort to using a taser gun, talk about excessvive force.

Here is a couple of amusing quotes from the officers, “Whether the person is 80 or 20, we are dealing with a person who had a deadly weapon in their hand,” Cpl. Scott Wilson told CBC News.  “We could not deploy our … pepper spray, because we could potentially contaminate the entire hospital.”  Gimmie a break!

Add comment May 11th, 2008

Lucky Break for Trapped Woman

The newspaper boy unlocked a side door and saw the couple about two feet inside, 84-year-old Blanche Roberts helpless looking right back at Pitts. Her right leg was pinned beneath the body of her 77-year-old husband Fred, who apparently had died last Wednesday evening of a heart attack after mowing the lawn.

Her only request was for water. She knew her name and her relatives, but described her husband as “sleeping,” said Pitts, who delivers the Southern Illinoisan, published in nearby Carbondale, Illinois. The coronoer said Fred Roberts likely died of a heart attack, based on accounts from the Roberts’ visitors that day.

Blanche Roberts was taken to a hospital in nearby Herrin. The hospital on Tuesday wouldn’t confirm whether she still was being treated there; Pitts said the couple’s relatives told his wife Monday that she was doing fine.

Pitts has delivered on that route for three years but said he never met the Robertses before Sunday. But he thinks fondly of Blanche Roberts, who often tipped him in letters. Lucky for the curious newspaper delivery boy, eh?

Add comment May 2nd, 2008

Kinky Underwater Fun

Marine biologists studying wild octopuses have found a kinky and violent society of jealous murders, gender subtrefuge and once-in-a-lifetime sex. The new study by researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, who journeyed off the coast of Indonesia found that wild octopuses are far from the shy, unromantic loners their captive brethren appear to be.

The scientists watched the Abdopus aculeatus octopus, which are the size of an orange, for several weeks and published their findings recently in the journal Marine Biology. They witnessed picky, macho males carefully select a mate, then guard their newly domesticated digs so jealously that they would occasionally use their 20-to-25-centimetre tentacles to strangle a romantic rival to death.

The researchers also observed smaller “sneaker” male octopuses put on feminine airs, such as swimming girlishly near the bottom and keeping their male brown stripes hidden in order to win unsuspecting conquests.

Shortly after the female gives birth, about a month after conception, both the mother and father die, researchers said.

“It’s not the sex that leads to death,” said Christine Huffard, the study’s lead author. “It’s just that octopuses produce offspring once during a very short lifespan of a year.” I guess the conclusion is that underwater sea life is very similar to us.

1 comment April 3rd, 2008