Silly/Odd News Stories from around the World

[User65554]

Is it wrong that the funniest thing I found in that article was

I found myself a passenger, which was strange enough

I mean, how bad a taxi driver do you have to be when it starts being strange that you found a passender?

[NoSanninWa]

Originally Posted by VK-Pitt

I mean, how bad a taxi driver do you have to be when it starts being strange that you found a passender?

You misunderstood.

"I found myself a passenger, which was strange enough, but having 'Schumi' behind the wheel was incredible," said taxi driver Tuncer Yilmaz.

He's saying that it was strange he became a passenger. In other words, you need to shift the emphasis from "I found myself a passenger" to "I found myself a passenger."

[User65554]

Ahh, my bad.

[TinyRedLeaf]

Author of nasty letters from Santa sought

OTTAWA (Reuters, 14 Dec 07) - Canada's post office and police are trying to track down a "rogue elf" who wrote obscene letters to children on behalf of Santa Claus, a newspaper reported on Friday.

The Ottawa Citizen said at least 10 nasty letters had been delivered to little girls and boys in Ottawa who wrote to Santa this year care of the North Pole, which has a special H0H 0H0 Canadian postal code. Return letters from Santa are in fact written by an 11,000-strong army of Canada Post employees and volunteers.

"We firmly believe there is just one rogue elf out there," a Canada Post spokeswoman told the paper.

Canada Post's popular "Write to Santa" program -- which last year delivered more than a million letters to children in Canada and around the world -- has been shut down in Ottawa until the offender is caught.

[anti-random]

Gees people in this world need to get a life. What kind of stupid 'elf' are they.

[NoSanninWa]

Originally Posted by anti-random

What kind of stupid 'elf' are they.

A "half-elf" obviously. Half elf and half troll.

This is what happens when someone confuses real life with the internet. On the internet trolling like this might get you banned, but in real life it could get you convicted.

[Jinto]

Originally Posted by NoSanninWa

A "half-elf" obviously. Half elf and half troll.

This is what happens when someone confuses real life with the internet. On the internet trolling like this might get you banned, but in real life it could get you convicted.

With a good chance to be banned from real life activities for a while

[Dxon]

There was once a man who had a constant erection and he did burglary lots of times. When he had to go prison he said he couldnt cuz of his sickness. They tried everything but it didnt work so he didnt have to go to the prison!

[User65554]

An update to the Schumacher taxi story -
Police in Coburg are to investigate whether seven-times world champion Michael Schumacher broke the law after he got behind the wheel of a taxi last week

[Xellos-_^]

Originally Posted by VK-Pitt

An update to the Schumacher taxi story -
Police in Coburg are to investigate whether seven-times world champion Michael Schumacher broke the law after he got behind the wheel of a taxi last week

That will teach taxi drivers to be kind and understanding.

Long live loud and foul mouth taxi drivers

[anti-random]

^ That guy got owned.

[User65554]

I imagine it must be hard for F1 drivers to drive real cars. They'd get all 'ARRGH MUST GO FASTER'.

Edit: And just after I posted that, Lewis Hamilton (F1 driver) has had his liscenced suspended for speeding.

[anti-random]

All right this thread is a favorite of mine so I have to 'revive' it.

This is from the Deccan Chronicle (19/12/07)
UK DOCUMENTS REVEAL FUNNY SECRETS
Dream Led to scoop on N-test
The British government was forced to admit it had sanctioned nuclear weapon test in 1974 after a journalist dreamed one had taken place and wrote an article, newly released documents showed on Friday.
Then Prime Minister Harold Wilson strived to keep secret the test in the Nevada desert in the US, but his efforts were foiled by the Daily Express journalist Chapman Pincher. Editor John Ellison recounted Mr Pinchers's dream to senior foreign office official Crispin Tickell, who relayed it to Mr Wilson's Downing Street office

If only I could know government secrets as easily as this.

[Dxon]

I wish I had such dreams! I be an awesome know-it-all.

[Kinny Riddle]

Feel free to merge this in the amusing news stories thread.

http://www.people.co.uk/news/tm_head...name_page.html

6 January 2008
MAKE WAY FOR THE Q Wii N
Elizabeth hogs Wills' Xmas gift from Kate ROYAL EXCLUSIVE
By Dean Rousewell

The gadget-loving Queen has become HOOKED on Prince William's new Nintendo Wii games console.

William's girlfriend Kate Middleton bought him the £200 gift for Christmas - but he now has to share it with his grandma.

A Palace source told The People: "When she saw William playing a game after lunch at Sandringham she thought the Nintendo looked tremendous fun and begged to join in.

"She played a simple ten-pin bowling game and by all accounts was a natural.

"It was hilarious. William was in fits of laughter. He was enormously impressed at having such a cool gran.

"And although she is 81 the Queen's hand-eye co-ordination was as good as somebody half her age."

The Wii was this Christmas's musthave gift. Players can create their own customised on-screen lookalike - just like our jokey Elizabeth pictured above.

Kate, 26 on Wednesday, watched as William, 25, unwrapped the gift at the Royal Family's festive gathering. Our source said: "He loves his gadgets and boys' toys. So it was the perfect present for him.

"His only difficulty nowis prising it away from the Queen's clutches. She showed all the signs of becoming a Nintendo addict."

It's not the first time the Queen has joined the hi-tech revolution.

In 2001 she got her first mobile phone and has regularly upgraded to one with the latest features.

Her Majesty set up her own email account years ago.

In 2005 she took delivery of an iPod that stores more than 100,000 tunes.

And last June she added a trendy BlackBerry to her technological armoury - and made sure her senior staff were equipped with them too.

Gives new meaning to the Royal "We".

If Nintendo can keep the Queen amused for up to 5 years, they ought to consider applying for a Royal Warrant.

Despite this disadvantage in the console market, Sony and Microsoft can probably boast they supplied the Queen's other electronics and software needs for years.

[TinyRedLeaf]

Wii are very amused.

[User65554]

I find it funny because my Gran's her age, and thought I was making it up when I tried to tell her how a games console worked last year. I can imagine her reading that article convinced that I'd managed to fool the Queen.

[SeijiSensei]

Telecom carriers stop wiretapping Americans when the FBI fails to pay the bill

Ah, bureaucratic ineptitude. It might be the only thing that protects our privacy in the so-called "post-9/11" age.

From http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080110/D8U35C500.html

"WASHINGTON (AP) - Telephone companies have cut off FBI wiretaps used to eavesdrop on suspected criminals because of the bureau's repeated failures to pay phone bills on time.

"A Justice Department audit released Thursday blamed the lost connections on the FBI's lax oversight of money used in undercover investigations. Poor supervision of the program also allowed one agent to steal $25,000, the audit said.

"In at least one case, a wiretap used in a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act investigation 'was halted due to untimely payment,' the audit found. FISA wiretaps are used in the government's most sensitive and secretive criminal investigations, and allow eavesdropping on suspected terrorists or spies.

"'We also found that late payments have resulted in telecommunications carriers actually disconnecting phone lines established to deliver surveillance results to the FBI, resulting in lost evidence,' according to the audit by Inspector General Glenn A. Fine.

"More than half of 990 bills to pay for telecommunication surveillance in five unidentified FBI field offices were not paid on time, the report shows. In one office alone, unpaid costs for wiretaps from one phone company totaled $66,000."

[aka Providence]

not quite certain if this would be classified as 'silly' news, but it's certainly quite awkward: http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe...ef=mpstoryview

in a nutsehll: "twincest"

[anti-random]

It certainly is odd. But I guess for the twins involved in most be like an emotional bomb. I mean the humiliation, the embarrassment, moral values, everything. I feel really sorry for them.