Weird But True

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November 16, 2004 -- Crafty beavers discovered a bag containing tens of thousands of dollars in stolen cash, ripped it open and used the bills to reinforce their dam. Cops who spotted the green dam had to wade through a creek in Greensburg, La., to pluck the waterlogged cash out of the sticks and brush. The money, ripped off from a video-poker casino, has been returned — a bit soggy, but still legal tender.

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November 20, 2004 -- Frustrated library officials in Bay City, Mich., want to throw the book at readers who keep borrowing and not returning. They want big offenders — the worst of whom owes $1,190 for 73 overdue books — to face criminal charges and up to 90 days behind bars.

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November 21, 2004 -- A Kentucky man recently sailed the Ohio River — in a school bus. Mark Roehrig, a 42-year-old mechanic, converted a 1985 school bus into an amphibious vehicle by making it waterproof and installing six 200-gallon water tanks on its bottom. His amphibious bus, called the Wheelsea, passed muster swimmingly last week by floating in the river for 20 minutes. Roehrig told The Courier-Journal of Louisville he plans to become the first person to sail a bus around the world.

[emtbff927]

and people complain about our postal service...

Nov 18, 2004 (OSLO, Norway) — The mail must get through, but sometimes it takes a little time in this case, 54 years.
A letter mailed on Sept. 22, 1950, in Oslo, made it to Halden, less than 55 miles away, this week, the local newspaper Halden Arbeiderbladet reported Thursday.
"This is really fun, getting a letter after so many years," recipient Brita Loevaas told the newspaper. She said the letter was from her mother-in-law and was about the usual family matters that seemed important at the time.
"My son was 2 years old then, and is now closing in on retirement age," she said. "That puts the time that has passed in perspective."
Loevaas said her mother-in-law died many years ago, but "it was really nice to get a letter now."
The postal service said it was not clear what happened to the letter in the five decades since it was mailed, but said it was possible that it fell behind sorting shelves somewhere along its route.
The service sought to make partial amends by delivering a bouquet of flowers along with the letter.
And, of course, there was no postage due, even though the letter had only a 0.25 kroner (US$0.04) stamp, while the same first-class letter would cost 24 times as much to send today.

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November 22, 2004 -- The three wives of a 67-year-old Iranian man all took drug overdoses after the youngest sparked a furor by buying an expensive pair of boots. "My two other wives were very jealous after my 27-year-old wife bought a pair of boots for $450," the husband said. "After they had an argument about the price, they all attempted suicide."

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SYDNEY, Australia (AP) - Three hooded bandits in eastern
Australia bungled a robbery when they apparently mistook a
restaurant's sliding door for a swinging one, police said Monday.
About 20 diners at Gabby's seafood restaurant in the coastal
town of Gerringong watched as the trio repeatedly tried to kick the
glass door open Saturday night, but they failed to enter and later
fled in a stolen car.
Restaurant owner Greg Moore said the door was unlocked - and
clearly marked "slide."
These might not have been your average criminals, police
investigator Jamie Williams warned.
"They're probably more dangerous because they're dumb,"
Williams said.

(Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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The hammer in Spain is plainly to ease the strain
LUBIA, Spain, Nov 21 (Reuters) - Bashing the boss, crushing
computers and mashing mobile phones are some of the fun new
stress-relief techniques offered at a Spanish junkyard.
For 40 euros ($52) frazzled Spaniards can take out their
frustrations on modern life's most pernicious irritants like
cars, computers, phones and photos of the boss.
A scrapyard in the village of Lubia, 160 kms (100 miles)
northeast of Madrid, provides sledgehammers, helmets, overalls,
goggles and head-banging heavy metal music for "damage therapy"
sessions organised by a group called StopStress.
"Some people even bring photos of their bosses and put them
on top of the cars before they start hitting them with their
hammers," StopStress co-founder Jorge Arribas said.
Customers can spend up to two hours attacking appliances
with sledgehammers but organisers say nobody has succeeded in
sustaining their ire for more than 30 minutes.
REUTERS

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November 23, 2004 -- Residents of Louisville, Ky., got a shock when a new restaurant opened — featuring 2-foot-long papier-maché marijuana joints above the entrance. Josh Lee's new eatery, Cheba Hut, is dope-themed, with delicacies like "toasted sandwiches" and "Thai stick salads" — none of which contain the evil weed, of course.

The restaurant's slogan: "Proud sponsors of . . . um . . . we forget!"

[drparasite]

'Virgin Mary' Cheese Sandwich On eBay Fetches $28,000

'Virgin Mary' Cheese Sandwich On eBay Fetches $28,000

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. -- Half of a 10-year-old grilled cheese sandwich said to bear the image of the Virgin Mary has sold on eBay for $28,000.

The winning bidder wasn't disclosed on the Web site, but was identified by The Miami Herald as GoldenPalace.com, an online casino. The company's CEO said he plans on using the sandwich to raise money for charity.

Photos posted on eBay show what can be viewed as a woman's face emblazoned on the triangular half-sandwich, a bite taken out of one end. The former owner says she took a bite after making it 10 years ago and saw a face staring back at her.

EBay actually pulled the sandwich from its Web site on Nov. 14, saying it didn't post joke items. But an eBay spokesman said it was restored a day later after the company was convinced the owner would deliver on the bid.

http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/3941648/detail.html

[drparasite]

also about the grilled cheese sale...

The final bids are in and the winner is GoldenPalace.com, an on-line casino. They agreed to pay $28,000 for a 10 year-old partially eaten grilled cheese sandwich that a Hollywood, Florida women claims bears the image of the Virgin Mary. Bids had been higher, but 'sincere' bidders had to be separated from those who were viewing the bidding as a joke.

The on-line casino said it would use the now famous sandwich to raise money for charity and obviously for publicity purposes.

The maker of the sandwich, Diana Duyser, said, 'I think she protects me. I guess I'm lucky because of her -- I've had a lot of wins at the casino.'

She said she decided to sell the icon because, 'I want to share her with the world,' she said. 'I think she was meant to be seen. It's time to pass her along.'

A number of imitators put similar items on e-bay such as: Virgin Mary in Spam, Burnt George W. Bush on Grilled Cheese, Make Your Own Virgin Mary Grilled Cheese ('solution to a life needing a miracle'), Virgin Mary's Used Gum in Grilled Cheese, Virgin Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen in Grilled Cheese. Others sold tee-shirts and other items relating to the now famous lunch.

Representatives for the casino flew to South Florida to pay for the sandwich and to take possession of an item that would be difficult to place in the mail.

http://www.elitestv.com/pub/2004/Nov...504faae8a.html

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November 24, 2004 -- A flying shrimp cost a Long Island man his life, court papers charge.
Jacqueline Colaitis, the widow of fur magnate Jerry Colaitis, says in a $10 million lawsuit that her husband died in November 2001 as a result of injuries he suffered nearly 10 months earlier — while ducking a piece of shrimp flung by a "playful" chef at a Benihana restaurant.

"This was a man who was in good health until this incident," said Colaitis' lawyer, Andre Ferenzo. Ducking the shrimp, however, caused a neck injury that required surgery — and the operation caused an infection that took Colaitis' life, Ferenzo said.

"He would not have died if not for his injury," the lawyer said.

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November 25, 2004 -- Bundle up — it's going to be colder than normal this winter around here. Temperatures will range about 2 degrees below average, meteorologists say.
"This is not a brutally cold winter coming up, but it is going to be colder than normal in the eastern part of the United States," said AccuWeather forecaster Joe Bastardi. The reason: a weak El Niño, a climatic phenomenon tied to water temperatures in the Pacific. Bastardi says the worst month could be December, with the big chill beginning in the Midwest and moving east.

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HERE'S A REAL MANS STORY

November 26, 2004 -- A jobless man who couldn't afford to pay for kidney-stone surgery performed the operation on himself.
Emir Javoras, 29, used a razor blade and needle. "The stones had got stuck in my urinary tract," he said. "I cut the skin and, with the help of a sterilized needle, I managed to dig out three stones." Doctors shocked, they cleaned and restitched the wound for free.

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Oh tis the season....

November 27, 2004 -- Last Christmas season, the $150,000 holiday display outside Alan and Bonnie Aerts' mansion in Monte Serena, Calif., attracted 100,000 visitors.
Everyone was impressed — except neighbors across the street, who got the city to pass a permit law that discouraged the Aerts from again mounting a Disneyesque outdoor holiday extravaganza this year.

Instead, they've erected a 10-foot-tall motorized Grinch, complete with green fuzz, rotting teeth, beet-red eyeballs — and a spindly finger that points directly across the street at their neighbors' house.

[Resq14]

LOL

I just read that on CNN's site... I love it.