Silly/Odd News Stories from around the World

[Xellos-_^]

What started out as a romantic night on the town in downtown Chicago ended in a tragedy when a man fell to his death after climbing a smokestack of a landmark hotel on the Magnificent Mile to take pictures.
The victim, 23-year-old Nicholas Wieme, was killed Thursday morning after falling 22 feet down a scorching chimney at the top of the InterContinental Hotel.
According to firefighters, Wieme, who worked as an improv comedian, climbed onto the dome-shaped roof of the building in the 500 block of Michigan Avenue to take pictures at around 1am,CBS Chicago reported.
He apparently climbed a ladder along a smokestack to the top when he fell into the extremely hot shaft, resulting in severe burns throughout his body.
Wieme then became wedged in an angle of the chimney and was able to send a text message or a voice mail to his girlfriend, asking for help.
However, it was too late. It took a total of about 125 firefighters four hours to reach the 23-year-old, which required cutting a hole in the duct work and sliding him down, according to Fire Chief Michael Fox.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz2EyWiQY2j

a late entry into the 2012 Darwin Award Race.

[Soverence]

A Danish historian says he has discovered what he believes is a previously unknown fairy tale written by Hans Christian Andersen.

Retired historian Esben Brage said Thursday he found the six-page text in early October while searching in the National Archives through boxes that had belonged to wealthy families from Andersen's home-town of Odense in central Denmark.

"I was ecstatic. I immediately contacted the curator to tell him about my discovery. I had never imagined this," Brage said.

The handwritten tale, entitled "Tallow Candle," and dedicated to a vicar's widow named Bunkeflod who had lived across from Andersen's home, had been left seemingly untouched at the bottom of one of the boxes.

The short story tells the tale of how a tallow candle seeks help from a tinder box to be able to ignite itself

http://abcnews.go.com/International/...2#.UMqW44PmfBY
.

Thought about putting this in the other news thread, but that thread seems to be very serious so, here it is instead .

[ganbaru]

Calif. judge says victims' body can prevent rape
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...12-13-22-36-19
Another than should try to get elected as Republican.

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by ganbaru

Calif. judge says victims' body can prevent rape
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...12-13-22-36-19
Another than should try to get elected as Republican.

How about we let this guy be shipped to Amsterdam and let him get raped in a bisexual open-air BDSM club.

[Ithekro]

Eh. I don't think that will help. Besides, it is easlier to send them to San Francisco or Los Angeles to get the same thing.

[NoemiChan]

Great Balls of China to Defend against Apocalypse

"The pod won't have any problems even if there are 1,000-metre-high waves... it's like a ping pong ball, its skin may be thin, but it can withstand a lot of pressure," he told AFP at his workshop in Qiantun, an hour from Beijing.

He'll be like a boiled egg once it falls inside a lava pit...

[AnimeFan188]

25K sign petition to build Death Star:

"More than 25,000 individuals who live in the United States of America took the
time to sign a petition requesting the White House dedicate resources toward
building a Death Star of Star Wars fame by 2016.

No, really."

See:

http://defensetech.org/2012/12/13/25...ld-death-star/


Hoax, or real?

[GDB]

It's a petition signed by people with no authority on anything. How could it be a hoax, and who cares if it's real? It obviously won't happen.

[AnimeFan188]

Originally Posted by GDB

It's a petition signed by people with no authority on anything. How could it be a hoax, and who cares if it's real? It obviously won't happen.

The story itself sounds like something that came out of "The Onion" though.

[ganbaru]

Originally Posted by AnimeFan188

25K sign petition to build Death Star:

"More than 25,000 individuals who live in the United States of America took the
time to sign a petition requesting the White House dedicate resources toward
building a Death Star of Star Wars fame by 2016.

No, really."

See:

http://defensetech.org/2012/12/13/25...ld-death-star/


Hoax, or real?

Think about how many petitions asking about the secession of a state from the USA were launched after the relection of Obama. Both ''projects'' are as serious so I would say it's probably real.

[Ithekro]

Technically we have a framework for such a weapon in orbit already. We call it "The Moon". It just needs the hardware and support systems for a giant superlaser (or even a large railgun really) and you get a doomsday weapon that could threaten any country on the planet, if not the entire planet (the power needed to crack the Earth into pieces is reportedly greater than the output of our sun, if you can believe the Star Wars tech peoples).

[Destined_Fate]

Originally Posted by ganbaru

Calif. judge says victims' body can prevent rape
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...12-13-22-36-19
Another than should try to get elected as Republican.

[Johnson said he believed the prosecutor's request of a 16-year sentence was not authorized by law. Johnson sentenced the rapist to six years instead, saying that's what the case was "worth."]

Bet the Tea Party would love him. Can't believe there are such hateful people out there that they would abuse their power and than blame the victim for the rape while letting the rapist off easy.

[Vexx]

Originally Posted by Destined_Fate

[Johnson said he believed the prosecutor's request of a 16-year sentence was not authorized by law. Johnson sentenced the rapist to six years instead, saying that's what the case was "worth."]

Bet the Tea Party would love him. Can't believe there are such hateful people out there that they would abuse their power and than blame the victim for the rape while letting the rapist off easy.

There is, for lack of a better word, a "rape culture mythology" that infests part of the US. It is intrinsic to a "Taliban" extremist pathological patriarchal faction that is frantic to keep females "in their place".

[ganbaru]

Originally Posted by Vexx

There is, for lack of a better word, a "rape culture mythology" that infests part of the US. It is intrinsic to a "Taliban" extremist pathological patriarchal faction that is frantic to keep females "in their place".

And I guess than thins place is at home betweem the kitchen and the kids ?

[NoemiChan]

Victoria’s Secret: The most expensive assets of all time

On the Top list.

1. Mirinda Kher
Year: 2011
Name: ‘Secret Fantasy Treasure Bra’
Cost: $2.5 million
Description: The undergarment Kher wore last November in Victoria’s secret fashion show was worth 2.5 million dollars. Every year this bra is a jewel-covered show stopper and the 2011 version featured 3,400 gems, including 142 carats of diamonds in addition to pearls, citrines and aquamarines.

Guys, honestly... I know you want the girls to be included together with the bra.

[Cosmic Eagle]

Originally Posted by Skane

What? In most cases, foreign workers are more expensive than hiring locals due to the government imposed levies in Singapore. Their wages might be lower, but the add-on taxes and benefits makes them more expensive to hire.

We want to hire more locals, but tell me how many local Singaporeans are willing to be construction workers and garbagemen? F&Bs hire crew from China, Phillipines, Malaysia, etc... because the locals don't want it, that or they suck at it more. Our service culture is one of the worst in the region.

Natch.

The avaerage bulldozer operator and environment worker in say...the West or Japan earns a shit load more than what those jobs pay in SG...tell me who wants to work those then?

[MrTerrorist]

Pink strip
The football team sponsored by the local brothel

So, will these players receive "special treatment" if they win a championship?

[NoemiChan]

China cracks down on doomsday rumours

Authorities in five different areas have detained 52 people for spreading predictions of a December 21 "doomsday" linked to the ancient Mayan calendar, the state news agency Xinhua reported.

Seriously...

[RRW]

YouTube

https://youtu.be/CE0Q904gtMI

Sorry; dynamic content not loaded. Reload?

[willx]

Originally Posted by GenjiChan

China cracks down on doomsday rumours

Seriously...

Is there something wrong with detaining people that are causing civil unrest?

Reply hazy, ask again later