Silly/Odd News Stories from around the World

[xKeen]

Originally Posted by Harufox

Not so much news as it is funny, but this was on the news. A response to a Current Affairs show in Aus with a story regarding vicious dogs terrorising local streets. Just love how this guy does an imitation of one.

This is gold. Laughed for 10 mins straight and it stings now.

[Autumn Demon]

Egging in the Ukraine parliament.

[MrTerrorist]

Hollywood sign is saved at last minute by Hugh Hefner
Of all the people to saved it, it was him. Thanks Mr Hefner but I'm not gonna buy your magazines in return, that's for sure.lol

[MrTerrorist]

Dating by blood type in Japan
Okay that's just absurd. People judge you based on your blood type?
That kind of thinking was the reason many wounded German soldiers in WW2 die because some Nazi scientist thought one blood type was the true blood of the master race.

[TinyRedLeaf]

Solution to Greece's woes? Sell it to Disney

By Alice Schroeder

The following is this columnist’s look into the future of Europe’s debt crisis. A news story on Jan 5, 2011, may look something like this:

New York (Jan 5, 2011): Morgan Stanley topped 2010 global debt-and-equity league tables and broke banking records by representing Walt Disney in its US$120 billion acquisition of Greece.

Explaining why Morgan Stanley heavily discounted its fee to win the prestigious assignment, chief executive James Gorman said underwriting the deal that brought Greece’s 179 years of independence to an end showed the world that his firm had recovered from the financial crisis.

"When you come that close to a near-death experience, our only focus is to make sure our own company survives," Mr Gorman said. "How 3,000 years of somebody else's history is managed is not my problem as long as our clients are well served."

A good steal
As one of the terms, Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou will take on a new role greeting visitors at the new EuroGreece Park located at the Acropolis.

To acquire such cultural treasures for Disney, Morgan Stanley arranged the sale, which included US$60 billion of common stock and US$60 billion of assumed debt.

Goldman Sachs’ private-equity group took a 15 per cent stake in Greece alongside Disney. One wing of the European Monetary Union, led by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, argued that Disney and Goldman underpaid compared with Greece's $333 billion gross domestic product.

Others point out that the formerly sovereign country is worthless, because its obligations are growing faster than its citizens' ability to ever repay them.

Theme parks
Disney's decision to buy Greece has been credited to Mr Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple and Disney's largest shareholder. In 2009, Mr Jobs told Disney to "dream bigger", setting into motion a deal that is generating a new series of Disney hit movies and product spin-offs, and transforming the theme-park industry.

Already under construction are Space Mountain Olympus, the Pirates of the Aegean water theme park covering hundreds of nautical miles, the Little Mermaid Harpoon thrill ride, and Trojan, a multimedia adventure that the company reassured shareholders yesterday will not be adult-themed.

Disney CEO Bob Iger has said his favorite idea to improve Greece’s margins is golf-themed cruises aboard three ships — Aphrodite, Artemis and Athena — which are scheduled for delivery in 2013 and will stop at many of the 1,400 private islands that Disney acquired in the deal.

Lucrative history
Disney also is proceeding with its more controversial plans. In the past, Disney rarely attempted entertainment based on Greece’s mythology and early history, the exception being the animated film Hercules.

The incest- and rape-filled origins of the Greek pantheon of gods and the prevalence of homosexuality in early Hellenic culture had been deterrents for the family-oriented company.

According to the Morgan Stanley filing, Greece offered Disney the opportunity to extend its brand by creating the new Disney Odyssey Division.

According to Disney spokeswoman Zenia Mucha, the company had already tested the waters successfully for a racier version of Disney with its ABC Family television network.

ABC Family's hit campus satire about sororities and fraternities, Greek, has now been renewed for a fifth season. Disney also sees potential for cross-sponsorship arrangements from advertisers such as Nike and Apollo Investment Corp.

Disney is nonetheless anticipating protests from religious groups and possibly museums. People familiar with the company say it has bought statuary appendage insurance from Lloyd's of London.

Ms Mucha wouldn't confirm this, but said: "There are people who think we put subliminal messages of a sexual nature in our movies. At least with the statues there no long will be Internet debates over whether you can see the male parts."

BLOOMBERG

[justsomeguy]

Originally Posted by MrTerrorist

Dating by blood type in Japan
Okay that's just absurd. People judge you based on your blood type?
That kind of thinking was the reason many wounded German soldiers in WW2 die because some Nazi scientist thought one blood type was the true blood of the master race.

Considering that anime and eroge characters have their blood types prominently listed in their profiles, it should not be surprising that the Japanese are obsessed with this crap, which was born from eugenics thinking back in the early 1900s.

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by MrTerrorist

Dating by blood type in Japan
Okay that's just absurd. People judge you based on your blood type?
That kind of thinking was the reason many wounded German soldiers in WW2 die because some Nazi scientist thought one blood type was the true blood of the master race.

Eh. At least it's not astrology.

[Vexx]

Actually, it pretty much *is* astrology... it isn't "eugenics" or "master race" anything... its just arm-waving phrenology/astrology/tarotcard/bullshit pulled out of the thin air. It has no more credibility than the "Year of the Aardvark" in determining personality.

[Anh_Minh]

At least your blood is connected to you. Sure, it has no scientific basis, but going from blood type to physiology to personality isn't totally absurd. But how the hell do you connect the movement of stars and space rocks to us down here?

[SeijiSensei]

Originally Posted by justsomeguy

Considering that anime and eroge characters have their blood types prominently listed in their profiles, it should not be surprising that the Japanese are obsessed with this crap, which was born from eugenics thinking back in the early 1900s.

Not to mention the seiyuu themselves. All the bio pages at places like ANN and their agencies list the blood types, like this and this.

[Daniel E.]

Originally Posted by justsomeguy

Considering that anime and eroge characters have their blood types prominently listed in their profiles, it should not be surprising that the Japanese are obsessed with this crap, which was born from eugenics thinking back in the early 1900s.

In the Nana anime, there are actually a few scenes where Nana herself comments on the blood type of the dude she likes.

[Vexx]

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

At least your blood is connected to you. Sure, it has no scientific basis, but going from blood type to physiology to personality isn't totally absurd. But how the hell do you connect the movement of stars and space rocks to us down here?

Maybe if they used blood *sugar* levels rather than blood *type*, I might make less fun of it (blood sugar levels have a defined measurable affect on mood/personality). There's not a lot of difference between the connectivity of blood type and space rocks in terms of measured causal connectivity. Making it even more suspect, blood type personality descriptions are just as vague and amorphous as "I'm a Leo so I ..." descriptions so that components of the description will apply to you no matter what your personality.

I'll stick with faeries, kami, daemons, and blue smoke for my imaginary motivators

Apparently, there is a "national racism" root component to the system I was unaware of:

Originally Posted by wiki

The Japanese blood type theory of personality is a popular belief that a person's ABO blood type is predictive of their personality, character, and compatibility with others. This belief is also widespread in South Korea.[70] Deriving from ideas of historical scientific racism, the theory reached Japan in a 1927 psychologist's report, and the militarist government of the time commissioned a study aimed at breeding better soldiers.[70] The fad faded in the 1930s due to its unscientific basis. The theory has long since been rejected by the scientists, but it was revived in the 1970s by Masahiko Nomi, a broadcaster who had no medical background.

Fun facts that poke holes and that the belief system fails to account for:

A total of 30 human blood group systems are now recognized by the International Society of Blood Transfusion (ISBT).[2] A complete blood type would describe a full set of 30 substances on the surface of RBCs, and an individual's blood type is one of the many possible combinations of blood-group antigens. Across the 30 blood groups, over 600 different blood-group antigens have been found,[4] but many of these are very rare or are mainly found in certain ethnic groups.

Almost always, an individual has the same blood group for life, but very rarely an individual's blood type changes through addition or suppression of an antigen in infection, malignancy, or autoimmune disease.

A blood type (also called a blood group) is a classification of blood based on the presence or absence of inherited antigenic substances on the surface of red blood cells (RBCs). These antigens may be proteins, carbohydrates, glycoproteins, or glycolipids, depending on the blood group system. Some of these antigens are also present on the surface of other types of cells of various tissues. Several of these red blood cell surface antigens that stem from one allele (or very closely linked genes), collectively form a blood group system.

[Mystique]

Originally Posted by MrTerrorist

Dating by blood type in Japan
Okay that's just absurd. People judge you based on your blood type?
That kind of thinking was the reason many wounded German soldiers in WW2 die because some Nazi scientist thought one blood type was the true blood of the master race.

Yeah this is kinda old
Japanese are obsessed with blood types and personality traits and horoscopes off of it, I guess they find western astrology alone just boring
It doesn't just go for japanese celebs, it's the basic subheading of anyone's profile here.
'hair colour, eyes, likes, dislikes, blood type' etc.
Even the junior high kids who've just started and are introducing themselves by designing profiles based on a template have their blood types listed and they're only 12/13 years old

I get asked often, i tell them I'm not sure, maybe 'xxx' and they look at me in surprise.
Aside from donating blood, I guess most of us have no real reason to know or find out so I just tell them that.

Vexx has added more info about it on a serious note, this should fall into 'japanese culture' thread, since it is a quicky aspect of the culture here

[Jinto]

Originally Posted by Mystique

...
Aside from donating blood, I guess most of us have no real reason to know or find out so I just tell them that.
...

I'ld suppose that all the guys/gals who are drafted in the army (depends on place of origin) would know their blood types as well (in my case: A RH+ CcD.ee K-)

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by TinyRedLeaf

Solution to Greece's woes? Sell it to Disney

That is the silliest idea that has ever been conceived. But if Steve is really behind it, it might happen.

Originally Posted by MrTerrorist

Dating by blood type in Japan
Okay that's just absurd. People judge you based on your blood type?
That kind of thinking was the reason many wounded German soldiers in WW2 die because some Nazi scientist thought one blood type was the true blood of the master race.

That is an unique Japanese-original pseudoscience. Blood type = character. The idea came before the WWII in the 1920s if I am not wrong,

@ Vexx : Not exactly. There are also stuff like hormones involved - sugar levels mostly measures the amount of energy circulating through your body. Hypoglycemia in popular culture is different from the real medical diagnosis of it.

[TinyRedLeaf]

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

That is the silliest idea that has ever been conceived.

Oh, I don't know if it's such a silly idea. It makes perfect business sense. Singapore is run like a mega corporation and look where we are today.

Besides, how much more badly can Disney screw up Greece? At worst, it'll just take another mega bailout of, say, US$1 trillion to save the venture. You know, all that "too big to fail" she-bang.

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by TinyRedLeaf

Oh, I don't know if it's such a silly idea. It makes perfect business sense. Singapore is run like a mega corporation and look where we are today.

To me, Singapore is like a megacorp where the privatised and outsourced subdivisions are trying to rip off the lower level employees to make it look as though they are helping to generating profits to the higher level management and keep/increase their level of pay, which the latter is trying to avoid.

It is silly considering Greece's largest industry after port call is tourism (or vice versa, never really looked at the figures). Don't you think it is silly to train soldiers to protect a humongous-sized Disneyland?

However, Steve Jobs is known for his eye for product design and market invention. Then again, Steve's line of "think bigger" has been used a little too much, albeit it backfired on him once when he was sacked from Apple back in 1985 by his own recruitment. And being one of the directors of Disney, I think he might have a good idea of what to do with that place.

Besides, how much more badly can Disney screw up Greece? At worst, it'll just take another mega bailout of, say, US$1 trillion to save the venture. You know, all that "too big to fail" she-bang.

You know....the world's finance and currency exchange are highly interlinked in due to globalisation. Since :

- The Germans and French are holding a large part of their debt
- The valuation of the Euro is highly dependent on Germany's economy well-being
- The Euro holds up to 57.6% of the valuation of the USD according to its Index, the so-called "international common credit"
- Any damage to the worth of the Euro can be very detrimental to the USD, and thus the world economy

1 trillion is alot of banknotes. Even if it is credit, it means we are going to revalue the entire currency market.

But it would be good if Disney encourages Greece to reforms its biotech sector and GM mousegirls. A surefire BOOMZ

[TinyRedLeaf]

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

To me, Singapore is like a megacorp where the privatised and outsourced subdivisions are trying to rip off the lower level employees to make it look as though they are helping to generating profits to the higher level management and keep/increase their level of pay, which the latter is trying to avoid.

Join the establishment. I already work for the corporation's propaganda department public-relations division. Surefire boomz indeed!

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by TinyRedLeaf

Join the establishment. I already work for the corporation's propaganda department public-relations division. Surefire boomz indeed!

If you can't beat them, join them? Oh great idea! Let me practice my acting skills...

[monir]

Originally Posted by Harufox

Not so much news as it is funny, but this was on the news. A response to a Current Affairs show in Aus with a story regarding vicious dogs terrorising local streets. Just love how this guy does an imitation of one.

I lol'ed for few minutes. He is blaming the dogs when the culprit is surely him..... I just can't stop laughing everytime his wife just tries to move away from him as he does his emulation over her shoulder.