News of the Weird

[davepeck]

Boy, 11, crashes car -- while being guided by his dad on a bicycle

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Boy, 11, at Wheel During Crash

By Rozanna M. Martinez
Copyright © 2008 Albuquerque Journal; Journal Staff Writer

Usually, it\'s the parent who drives the motor vehicle and the child who rides the bike.

But on Saturday, an 11-year-old Rio Rancho boy and his two younger siblings escaped injury after the boy drove their dad\'s pickup into a busy intersection and collided with a tractor-trailer— as their dad rode a bike on the shoulder in front of them.

The father, Mark T. Marshall, 44, of Rio Rancho, now faces three counts of child abuse, according to Rio Rancho police spokesman John Francis.

Police have no idea why the child was driving— or why Dad was riding the bike in front of him.

A motorist who witnessed the crash told police she was heading west on U.S. 550 and came to a traffic light at N.M. 528. She said a truck was on her right.

When the light changed to green, she and the truck began moving forward when she noticed a Dodge truck turning west onto U.S. 550 from southbound Tamaya Road, the report said. The Dodge failed to yield and the truck collided with it.

The driver of the truck told police the Dodge\'s driver never came to a stop. He said he tried to turn to the left, but he was not clear to do so and instead blew the horn.

The Dodge continued on and struck the truck\'s trailer.

The female motorist said a child wearing a yellow cap was in the driver\'s seat of the Dodge. She said that at first she thought it was going to crash into a bicyclist on the shoulder of the road. But then she saw the bicyclist place the bike in the back of the Dodge after the collision.

The bicyclist, later identified as Marshall, then got into the driver\'s seat of the Dodge and pushed the small boy with the yellow cap into the back of the cab, according to the police report.

After the crash, police asked Marshall who was driving the Dodge and he hesitated, the report says. He was then told a witness saw a small child wearing a yellow cap in the driver\'s seat.

According to the report, Marshall said, "Yeah, that\'s right; that\'s what I was getting ready to tell them." He did not explain why the boy was driving his truck, according to Francis.

Police noticed a small boy wearing a yellow hat in the rear of the Dodge\'s cab. His 9-year-old brother and 6-year-old sister also were in the cab.

After further questioning, police discovered that Marshall had been riding his bicycle along the shoulder of the road and that his son was following him in the truck.

The children were not injured, Francis said. It was not known whether they were wearing seat belts at the time of the crash.

According to the report, the 11-year-old is 4 feet, 2 inches tall.

The Dodge sustained heavy front-end damage and the front left tire was inoperable, the report says. The truck received no major damage and sustained some scratches.

Marshall made several phone calls to his ex-wife, the children\'s mother, but was unable to reach her so she could pick up the children. He then called a family friend.

The Children, Youth and Families Department did a case history on the friend before releasing the children to her.

Marshall was arrested and taken to the Sandoval County Detention Center. He was no longer there Monday.

[jocelyn]

facists have laid down the environmental law for their Denver presidential convention this August.

The convention organizing committee is going green to such an extent that any liquid served in an individual plastic container will be banned at all 22 events hosted by the convention. Also banned will be fried foods. Any plates must be reusable or compostable. Catered meals will be expected to follow a strict color code. Such meals must not only be locally or organically grown, but consist of at least three of the following five colors -- red, green, yellow, blue/purple and white. (Oranges and carrots would appear to be have lost out.)

"Blue could be a challenge," Ed Janos, owner of the local Cook\'s Fresh Market, told the Denver Post. "All I can think of are blueberries." Nick Agro, owner of Whirled Peas Catering, is worried. "I question the feasibility," he says, noting that the growing season in Colorado is short and that using "organic stuff pretty much doubles your price."

Then there are ethical dilemmas. Compostable products, such as forks and knives made from cornstarch, usually are imported from Asia on massive, fuel-consuming freighters. Are they a better environmental choice than recyclable plates?

Back in 2003, facists snickered at the intolerance of a facist House chairman who expressed his disdain for France\'s refusal to back the Iraq War by insisting that "Freedom Fries" be served in the House cafeteria. Now, facists are going much further with their political correctness. French fries -- and all other fried foods -- will be banned from their convention\'s parties. Food critics are already wondering what else liberals may have in store for us if they have control of both the White House and Congress next January.

Hooray fanaticism!

[tyzack]

facists have laid down the environmental law for their Denver presidential convention this August.

The convention organizing committee is going green to such an extent that any liquid served in an individual plastic container will be banned at all 22 events hosted by the convention. Also banned will be fried foods. Any plates must be reusable or compostable. Catered meals will be expected to follow a strict color code. Such meals must not only be locally or organically grown, but consist of at least three of the following five colors -- red, green, yellow, blue/purple and white. (Oranges and carrots would appear to be have lost out.)

"Blue could be a challenge," Ed Janos, owner of the local Cook\'s Fresh Market, told the Denver Post. "All I can think of are blueberries." Nick Agro, owner of Whirled Peas Catering, is worried. "I question the feasibility," he says, noting that the growing season in Colorado is short and that using "organic stuff pretty much doubles your price."

Then there are ethical dilemmas. Compostable products, such as forks and knives made from cornstarch, usually are imported from Asia on massive, fuel-consuming freighters. Are they a better environmental choice than recyclable plates?

Back in 2003, facists snickered at the intolerance of a facist House chairman who expressed his disdain for France\'s refusal to back the Iraq War by insisting that "Freedom Fries" be served in the House cafeteria. Now, facists are going much further with their political correctness. French fries -- and all other fried foods -- will be banned from their convention\'s parties. Food critics are already wondering what else liberals may have in store for us if they have control of both the White House and Congress next January.

Hooray  fascism!

[davepeck]

FOXNEWS.COM HOME > U.S.
Police: Man in DUI Crash Said He Was Driving Around to Sober Up

Wednesday, June 11, 2008


LAKEHURST, N.J. — Police have heard many excuses from suspected drunk drivers over the years.

But police say what they heard from a Toms River man is one for the books: He told them he was driving around until he was sober enough to go home, fearing his mother would know he was drunk.

But before he could make it home Monday, police say 36-year-old Edward Defreitas crashed into an ambulance, causing it to overturn in the Route 70 circle in Lakehurst.

Defreitas is being held in the Ocean County Jail on numerous charges, including aggravated assault, drunk driving and drug offenses.

Authorities said the injuries to two paramedics in the ambulance were not life-threatening.

[jocelyn]

Shopper sues Home Depot, claims he was cemented to store toilet

JUNE 13--A St. Louis man claims that he was injured last year after being glued to a toilet seat in a Home Depot and is suing the retail giant for negligence. Haywood Rosales, 31, charges that during an August 2007 visit to a Home Depot in Florissant, Missouri he used a store bathroom and came into contact with a toilet seat "covered with adhesive," according to his Circuit Court lawsuit. Rosales\'s lawyers told TSG that their client did not notice the adhesive before sitting down and that he used his cell phone to alert his wife, with whom he was shopping, after realizing "he was glued to the toilet seat." A copy of Rosales\'s June 11 lawsuit, first reported by Courthouse News, can be found below. When Rosales stood up, the complaint asserts, he "received cuts, bruises, and tearing on his buttocks and thighs," and subsequently "endured the embarrassment, pain, and suffering of the initial injury and its concomitant treatment." Rosales, who claims he was "rendered unable to work" by his injuries, is seeking in excess of $25,000 in damages. Rosales\'s lawyers said their client sued Home Depot after the retailer\'s insurer "summarily rejected" a claim. In November 2005, a Colorado man filed a similar lawsuit against Home Depot, alleging that he was so fused to a toilet seat that paramedics had to remove the seat from the toilet to get him out of the store bathroom. After almost two years of litigation, the Colorado case was dismissed after a federal judge ruled that Home Depot did not have prior "actual or constructive knowledge" of the dangerous toilet, nor was the glue prank foreseeable. Rosales\'s lawsuit refers to the earlier incident, charging that Home Depot should have recognized that "there would be a strong possibility that instances of copycat behavior would occur."

[Todd]

Shopper sues Home Depot, claims he was cemented to store toilet

JUNE 13--A St. Louis man claims that he was injured last year after being glued to a toilet seat in a Home Depot and is suing the retail giant for negligence. Haywood Rosales, 31, charges that during an August 2007 visit to a Home Depot in Florissant, Missouri he used a store bathroom and came into contact with a toilet seat "covered with adhesive," according to his Circuit Court lawsuit. Rosales\'s lawyers told TSG that their client did not notice the adhesive before sitting down and that he used his cell phone to alert his wife, with whom he was shopping, after realizing "he was glued to the toilet seat." A copy of Rosales\'s June 11 lawsuit, first reported by Courthouse News, can be found below. When Rosales stood up, the complaint asserts, he "received cuts, bruises, and tearing on his buttocks and thighs," and subsequently "endured the embarrassment, pain, and suffering of the initial injury and its concomitant treatment." Rosales, who claims he was "rendered unable to work" by his injuries, is seeking in excess of $25,000 in damages. Rosales\'s lawyers said their client sued Home Depot after the retailer\'s insurer "summarily rejected" a claim. In November 2005, a Colorado man filed a similar lawsuit against Home Depot, alleging that he was so fused to a toilet seat that paramedics had to remove the seat from the toilet to get him out of the store bathroom. After almost two years of litigation, the Colorado case was dismissed after a federal judge ruled that Home Depot did not have prior "actual or constructive knowledge" of the dangerous toilet, nor was the glue prank foreseeable. Rosales\'s lawsuit refers to the earlier incident, charging that Home Depot should have recognized that "there would be a strong possibility that instances of copycat behavior would occur."

I don\'t know about the rest of you, but I def. inspect the seat for any "liquid" or impurities and/ or put tp on the seat before parking my ass for the endeavor! This guy should just get a bitch slap for wasting the court\'s time!!

[FrankZappa]

GREENACRES, Fla. - A South Florida woman has been charged with theft and extortion, accused by police of kidnapping a family\'s cat and holding it for ransom in hopes of getting her dog returned. · More: Video | Photos


Police said it all began in May when Linda Urioste\'s black Labrador Scooby disappeared from her Greenacres home.

The dog was picked up by Animal Care and Control and held for five days before being adopted by Jutta Hollar and her husband.

Hollar told WPBF News 25 that they had the pup -- now named "Buddy" -- about two weeks when they received word that Urioste had stopped by Animal Care and Control looking for him.

Hollar said that she and her husband were considering returning the dog until they met with Urioste to discuss the situation.

"But she was very rude and yelled at us and treated us really not very nice," Hollar told WPBF.

She said that they decided that Buddy was staying put when Urioste threatened to sue them.

A few days after the confrontation, Hollar realized that the family\'s cat, Mitz, was gone from her usual outside spot. Hollar began to wonder where the cat could have gone when she received a phone call from Urioste.

"I was the used-to-be-owner, but I was wondering if you were missing a gray hoo haa cat. Because a hoo haa cat ran out in front of my car not far from your house and I saved its life. I almost ran him over. So, I was just wondering how you are enjoying Scooby, because I am enjoying your hoo haa cat while he is in his crate. You call it crate, I call it a cage. Have a nice day," Urioste is heard saying on a answering machine tape.

Greenacres police said that Urioste admitted to them that she had the cat and refused to give it back unless the Hollars gave her dog back.

Urioste was arrested and charged with theft and extortion.

Mitz was returned to the Hollars\' home safely.

"When I realized what she had done, it was just unbelievable. Just unbelievable," Hollar told WPBF.

Urioste did not return a phone call for comment. According to a police report, she told police that she waited so long to look for her dog because she thought he had been stolen.

[jocelyn]

Moon mistaken for UFO
By Urmee Khan
Last Updated: 11:17AM BST 05/07/2008

Police in Wales were called to investigate a mysterious flying saucer, only to discover it was the moon.

The confused caller asked: \'If you\'ve got a couple of minutes perhaps you could find out what it is?\'
The moon was mistaken for a "bright, stationary" UFO which had been loitering for at least half an hour, by a confused local in South Wales who made a 999 call to the police.

Today officers released a transcript in order to highlight the time wasted by unnecessary 999 calls.

The bizzare conversation ran as follows:

Control: "South Wales Police, what\'s your emergency?"

Caller: "It\'s not really. I just need to inform you that across the mountain there\'s a bright stationary object."

Control: "Right."

Caller: "If you\'ve got a couple of minutes perhaps you could find out what it is? It\'s been there at least half an hour and it\'s still there."

Control: "It\'s been there for half an hour. Right. Is it actually on the mountain or in the sky?"

Caller: "It\'s in the air."

Control: "I will send someone up there now to check it out."

Caller: "OK."

After the police patrol car arrives, the script reveals the exchange between the control room and the police officer sent to the scene.

Control: "Alpha Zulu 20, this object in the sky, did anyone have a look at it?"

Officer: "Yes, it\'s the moon. Over."

A police spokeswoman said: "This was a recent example of an inappropriate 999 call to South Wales Police.

"Yes, we can all see the comical side but calling 999 with an unnecessary non-emergency call could block a genuine call for vital seconds and put lives at risk."

Other bizarre calls cited by the police force included someone asking for help voting for Rhydian on The X-Factor and another requesting a pound coin for their supermarket trolley.

[FrankZappa]

ST PETERSBURG - A Russian woman in St. Petersburg killed her drunk husband with a folding couch, Russian media reported on Wednesday.

St. Petersburg\'s Channel Five said the man\'s wife, upset with her husband for being drunk and refusing to get up, kicked a handle after an argument, activating a mechanism that folds the couch up against a wall.

The couch, which doubles as a bed, folds up automatically in order to save space. The man fell between the mattress and the back of the couch, Channel Five quoted emergency workers as saying.


The woman then walked out of the room and returned three hours later to check on what she thought was an unusually quiet sleeping husband.

Police refused to comment.

The St. Petersburg Emergency Services Ministry said a private rescue service removed the man\'s body.

Video on the television channel\'s Web site showed emergency workers sawing away the side panels of a couch to remove a man in his underwear lying headfirst between the cushions.

Emergency workers said the man died instantly.

[tyzack]

For the first time that sumo wrestling\'s governing body can recall, one of its revered athletes has been nabbed for drug possession.


Fans in Japan expect humility and dignity from sumo wrestlers.

 On Thursday, the Japanese Sumo Association fired 335-pound Soslan Aleksandrovich Gagloev, better known in Japan as Wakanoho.

Police arrested the Russian wrestler this week after saying they found a third of a gram of marijuana in his wallet -- enough to land him in prison on a diet of forced labor for five years if he\'s convicted.

It\'s the latest black eye for a sport closely intwined with Japanese culture and history. Fans have long expected humility and dignity from their sumo wrestlers, so the arrest stunned people in Japan, where the national sport has taken a beating in the last year or so.

First, police charged three sumo wrestlers and their stable master -- a kind of manager --with beating a teenage sumo to death last year. They deny it.

Then Japan\'s top sumo -- Asashoryu -- apologized on national TV after being caught in an apparent lie. He pulled out of an exhibition tournament, saying he was hurt. But television cameras caught him playing soccer in his native Mongolia days later, apparently without injury.

The Japan Sumo Association suspended Asashoryu -- the first time the country\'s yokozuna, or top sumo, has received that punishment.

Now comes the drug arrest.

Police say they found marijuana in Wakanoho\'s wallet on June 24 and arrested him this week after an investigation. The 20-year-old Russian wrester, who stands six feet four inches, has not entered a plea, authorities said. Yet the arrest prompted the Japan Sumo Association to apologize to fans, pledge to investigate and to fire him.

The sumo association said Thursday that Wakanoho\'s stable master has resigned as an association board member.

Sumo wrestling, which traces it roots back 1,500 years, is struggling not just within its ranks, but in popularity, as well.

Fewer Japanese boys are entering the tough life of sumo, so the Sumo Association is recruiting foreigners like Wakanoho and Asashoryu. Attendance is down at the stadiums, as more Japanese embrace soccer and baseball.

All these struggles may have a silver lining.

"These allegations, be they true or false, this one included, they\'re all turning points to a more open sumo," says Mark Buckton, a sumo analyst for the Japan Times. "It\'s good for the sport in the end. It can open up the sport, make them follow modern society."

Okay, when I first read the title I thought steriods, whatever, at least it\'s global.

but nooooooooooooooooo ONE THIRD OF ONE GRAM OF POT.

that\'s what, enough to pack a one-hitter?

and the guy could get FIVE YEARS?

Note to self: NEVER SMOKE IN JAPAN

[Me!]

Mayhem & Music?
August 25, 2008
Posted by The Agency
Just when you thought you had seen it all, you find out that one of the best movies ever made might become (gasp!)...a musical. That\'s right; Fight Club is slated to become a Broadway musical. In a recent interview with MTV.com, David Fincher expressed interest in a truly theatrical interpretation of the film, which would hit in 2009, 10 years after the film\'s original release.

There isn\'t much else going on with the project, aside from the fact that Fight Club author Chuck Palahniuk has agreed to it and Trent Reznor has expressed interest in developing the music. Chuck Palahniuk\'s dark novel was previously turned into a feature film in 1999 by David Fincher, with Brad Pitt and Edward Norton in the lead roles. Palahniuk, who will see a film adaptation of his bestseller Choke hit cinemas on November 21, admitted that Fincher is still eager to push the musical into production.

Palahniuk said: "Once a year, for the last two years, [he] has called me and said, \'Are we still doing this?\' And every time I think that it\'s dead, someone tells me that Fincher is still working on it. I thought it was dead this winter until I was talking to a reporter who had just interviewed Fincher and said that he was still talking about it. So, all I know is that Fincher is still talking about it.

http://www.doubleagent.com/article/mayhem-music

btw: that 11/21 date for Choke is wrong

[SlimPickens]

Mayhem & Music?
August 25, 2008
Posted by The Agency
Just when you thought you had seen it all, you find out that one of the best movies ever made might become (gasp!)...a musical. That\'s right; Fight Club is slated to become a Broadway musical. In a recent interview with MTV.com, David Fincher expressed interest in a truly theatrical interpretation of the film, which would hit in 2009, 10 years after the film\'s original release.

There isn\'t much else going on with the project, aside from the fact that Fight Club author Chuck Palahniuk has agreed to it and Trent Reznor has expressed interest in developing the music. Chuck Palahniuk\'s dark novel was previously turned into a feature film in 1999 by David Fincher, with Brad Pitt and Edward Norton in the lead roles. Palahniuk, who will see a film adaptation of his bestseller Choke hit cinemas on November 21, admitted that Fincher is still eager to push the musical into production.

Palahniuk said: "Once a year, for the last two years, [he] has called me and said, \'Are we still doing this?\' And every time I think that it\'s dead, someone tells me that Fincher is still working on it. I thought it was dead this winter until I was talking to a reporter who had just interviewed Fincher and said that he was still talking about it. So, all I know is that Fincher is still talking about it.

http://www.doubleagent.com/article/mayhem-music

btw: that 11/21 date for Choke is wrong

This ... um... blurb, makes me wish that there was a "News of the disturbing" thread.  As a director David Fincher has done some impressive work.  If this "idea" became a reality, it would flush all of his achievements right down the twalet.

[sallyalli]

what if it used the music from west side story...

[FreeSpirit]

Amy Winehouse Suffers From Marijuana Poisoning?
September 1 2008



Amy Winehouse\'s hospital dash in July (08) was the result of marijuana poisoning and not a reaction to medication, a British tabloid report has claimed.

The Rehab singer was admitted to a London hospital on 28 July (08) after falling ill at her home.

Her representative subsequently released a statement blaming her condition on an adverse reaction to medication she is taking to help kick her drug addiction - which the star\'s father Mitch has also backed.

But now The Sun newspaper is claiming Winehouse had in fact become sick after allegedly smoking pot for more than a day.

And pals fear Winehouse\'s reported addictions will leave her needing medical help for years to come.

A source tells the publication, "Mitch does everything he can to protect his daughter - but his \'explanation\' for Amy\'s hospital dash in July was simply untrue.

"She had smoked an inhuman amount of hash which resulted in acute cannabis poisoning. You have to take a s**tload of pot to suffer that severe a reaction.

"It\'s thought she had been smoking it for 36 hours... She is in need of years of psychiatry and medical treatment if she has a hope (of fully recovering)."

rotfl

[FrankZappa]

AP-CA--Severed Penis Jump

      (News Directors: Note contents)
     
Man cuts off own penis and jumps off bridge; hospitalized

      (Geyserville-AP) -- Geyserville fire department workers say a
man stripped down naked, ran around in public a bit, cut off his
own penis and dove off a bridge on state Highway 128 over the
Russian River today.
      A fire department worker says the man and his severed part have
been transported to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital. His condition
there is unknown.
      The 20-foot-high bridge spans the Russian River but the injured
man didn\'t hit the water. He hit a cement block below instead.
      Emergency workers tried talking to the man as they readied to
transport him, to find out why he had done what he had done.
      A worker with the fire department says the mutilated man --
quote -- "wasn\'t really in a talking mood."

     
      (Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)
     
AP-NY-03-12-04 2241EST