Silly/Odd News Stories from around the World

[Vexx]

Originally Posted by SeijiSensei

Another recent story from American suburbia:

Orange County objects to homeowners' replacing lawn grass to save water



You'd think they'd get good-citizen awards, not a lawsuit.

Suburban "civic organizations" are notoriously insane and anti-green/anti-sustainability. People get sued for *HAVING CLOTHESLINES* or putting solar panels on their roof -- or anything else that disturbs the Stepford fascist conformity of the neighborhood.

There was a huge lawsuit a couple of decades ago in Houston over a guy putting a 12" wicker around his plants in the front yard to help manage his plants -- the civic group said it was a "fence" and against the code. Of course, a bit of digging by reporters discovered that the leadership was homophobic and guess what... the homeowner was "known to be gay".

I myself once got served because we'd repainted our house in a neighborhood -- I hated the original color but selected a color of brown that coordinated with all the other shades of brown on the street. But because I didn't realize it wasn't "maintenance" but an "architectural change" and therefore hadn't gotten prior approval from the Neighbor Nazi Patrol, it was disapproved and I had to repaint it with a pre-approved color. Yes, I tried submitting the color I had chosen since it was an exact match for about 8 houses down (the typical color replication sequence).

Most older neighborhoods and some newer ones aren't like this... but many neighborhoods have that artificial "all slightly different but alike" look that is a telltale sign that civic organizations lurk in the bushes measuring your lawngrass height.

[Xellos-_^]

Originally Posted by Vexx

Suburban "civic organizations" are notoriously insane and anti-green/anti-sustainability. People get sued for *HAVING CLOTHESLINES* or putting solar panels on their roof -- or anything else that disturbs the Stepford fascist conformity of the neighborhood.

There was a huge lawsuit a couple of decades ago in Houston over a guy putting a 12" wicker around his plants in the front yard to help manage his plants -- the civic group said it was a "fence" and against the code. Of course, a bit of digging by reporters discovered that the leadership was homophobic and guess what... the homeowner was "known to be gay".

I myself once got served because we'd repainted our house in a neighborhood -- I hated the original color but selected a color of brown that coordinated with all the other shades of brown on the street. But because I didn't realize it wasn't "maintenance" but an "architectural change" and therefore hadn't gotten prior approval from the Neighbor Nazi Patrol, it was disapproved and I had to repaint it with a pre-approved color. Yes, I tried submitting the color I had chosen since it was an exact match for about 8 houses down (the typical color replication sequence).

Most older neighborhoods and some newer ones aren't like this... but many neighborhoods have that artificial "all slightly different but alike" look that is a telltale sign that civic organizations lurk in the bushes measuring your lawngrass height.

i have never really figure out where these home association groups get their authorities form. And who is even running them.

[JMvS]

Originally Posted by Vexx

I'll just scamper away with the comment that my sons went over to a field near our house in the last snowfall in the moonlit night. They constructed a tremendous throne in the shape of a giant phallus accompanied by 6 human-sized trojan warrior snowmen.... took them most of the night.

We live between the city and a small "bedroom community" ... traffic was appreciably slower the next day. I had advocated for building a hundred or so small snowmen lining the road with spears and angry faces but they went off and came up with what I discovered the next day....

I should find some of the pics...

Nice... reminds me of Calvin and Hobbes

Originally Posted by Vexx

Suburban "civic organizations" are notoriously insane and anti-green/anti-sustainability. People get sued for *HAVING CLOTHESLINES* or putting solar panels on their roof -- or anything else that disturbs the Stepford fascist conformity of the neighborhood.

There was a huge lawsuit a couple of decades ago in Houston over a guy putting a 12" wicker around his plants in the front yard to help manage his plants -- the civic group said it was a "fence" and against the code. Of course, a bit of digging by reporters discovered that the leadership was homophobic and guess what... the homeowner was "known to be gay".

I myself once got served because we'd repainted our house in a neighborhood -- I hated the original color but selected a color of brown that coordinated with all the other shades of brown on the street. But because I didn't realize it wasn't "maintenance" but an "architectural change" and therefore hadn't gotten prior approval from the Neighbor Nazi Patrol, it was disapproved and I had to repaint it with a pre-approved color. Yes, I tried submitting the color I had chosen since it was an exact match for about 8 houses down (the typical color replication sequence).

Most older neighborhoods and some newer ones aren't like this... but many neighborhoods have that artificial "all slightly different but alike" look that is a telltale sign that civic organizations lurk in the bushes measuring your lawngrass height.

0o even if building codes can be pretty strict around here, they are mostly related to limiting roofs height, and only sometimes in old areas are architectural style, shutters design and colors restricted. And anyway the largest neighborhood we have around here are generally less than 10 houses, and even the old ones see quite a lot of customization.
I suppose it has to do with our smaller communities, as well as our suburbs still being fairly close to the City and not a World of its Own.

Anyway here the judges are the municipalities, and don't recall ever seeing a case when someone was rebuked for going green... especially since saving is much grounded in our culture.

[MrTerrorist]

Can rats help clear Africa's landmines?

[Zu Ra]

Korean Otaku Marries Fate Dakimakura





A Korean Otaku has married his Fate Testarossa Dakimakura, with Korean media dutifully covering both his dating activities with the anime-inspired pillow, and the ceremony where the couple became man and pillowcase . Fate Testarossa is of course already well known as the character perpetually vying with Nanoha for the position of most popular magical girl in Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha .

This of course comes not so long after a man married his DS/Nene, and some time after an Otaku petition for the right to wed 2D characters . Although not an issue ever likely to be taken seriously when dealing with printed cotton sheets, once simulated virtual partners and companion robots become commonplace the matter might become rather more pressing .

Credits : Sankaku C

[LynnieS]

^ Well, at least the man will have something - if not someone! - to keep him warm at night. Unlike the one who married a video game.

[Woopzilla]

What happened to the DS guy anyway? Is this guy just following suit to get attention? Embarrassment must be an unknown concept to these guys.

4th pic's kid: "Mum, why is that boy talking to his pillow?"
Mum: "Don't look, dear! Just concentrate on eating..."

That plate infront of the pillow is just too funny looking.

[Xellos-_^]

on the bright side he is out of the gene pool.

[Vexx]

Ah yes.... let society/media parade the freaks out so the entire subculture can be mocked and tarnished. :P

"Oh, you watch anime... you must be one of "them" (shudder, run away)"

More seriously... it is kind of sad there isn't someone who's able to shake this guy and say "fine and all... but you're simply being made the village idiot by going public with an inanimate object fetish"

It also makes me wonder how strong the connection is with the poor attitudes towards mental illness and mental healthcare in Korea and Japan. This really isn't any different than the guys on the street who act out some version of Hamlet with the imaginary demons they see.

[Zu Ra]

Originally Posted by Woopzilla

What happened to the DS guy anyway? Is this guy just following suit to get attention? Embarrassment must be an unknown concept to these guys.

Is that pillow even hygienic or its a Virgin Bride o.o

The scariest picture for me, was when they decided to celebrate there honeymoon on an amusement park ride .

Originally Posted by Vexx

More seriously... it is kind of sad there isn't someone who's able to shake this guy and say "fine and all... but you're simply being made the village idiot by going public with an inanimate object fetish"

The person unfortunately doesnt suffer from inanimate object fetish . Inanimate object Fetish or Objectum-Sexual (Objectophillia) which is a mental disease and can be treated at an early stage .

Here are some Sad yet funny videos on Objectophillia 1 / 2 / 3 (NSFW LNG)

[Woopzilla]

Originally Posted by Zu Ra

Is that pillow even hygienic or its a Virgin Bride o.o

It's probably cleaned a lot... I'm sure he loves sharing a bath with it.

But what do the creators of the characters think of this? Imagine brainstorming and sketching ideas for a new character for it to only end up as someone's 'bride'.

[Seitsuki]

Well I was just browsing through the net, as you do, and one thing leads to another and well the point is I wasn't searching for these kinda things or even trying or >_> man wth I'll just continue
Tokyo faces loli ban (it's Sankaku so about as safe as having a naked gay pride parade in Iraq. or maybe less safe.)
I can understand Australia. Or prehaps America. Or basically any other country. But TOKYO? That's like Canada banning maple syrup. or Brazil banning brazil nuts D: (wait, those analogies don't sound quite right..)

[LynnieS]

Originally Posted by Vexx

More seriously... it is kind of sad there isn't someone who's able to shake this guy and say "fine and all... but you're simply being made the village idiot by going public with an inanimate object fetish"

It also makes me wonder how strong the connection is with the poor attitudes towards mental illness and mental healthcare in Korea and Japan. This really isn't any different than the guys on the street who act out some version of Hamlet with the imaginary demons they see.

I do question, though, if this is a real story - i.e., the man is really serious - or just a PR stunt. I don't know much about the S. Korean media, but there had been cases in both the U.S. and Japan about stunts placed as "real stories" to drive ratings in the past.

[Haruka_Kitten]

Before someone complains, I got this from a section of the news site called "The other side":

Korean baby dies as parents Kim Yoo-chul and Choi Mi-sun raise virtual bub

A COUPLE addicted to computer games let their real baby starve to death while raising a virtual daughter online.

Police said the couple spent up to12 hours a day at internet cafes, leaving their three-month-old daughter home alone at their apartment in Suwon, South Korea.

Police said the couple became obsessed with living online and neglected their real lives, The Sun reports.

They raised an avatar baby through their profiles on a Second Life-style game called PRIUS, while their real daughter was given just one bottle of milk a day.

Father Kim Yoo-chul, 41, and mom Choi Mi-sun, 25, called the emergency services when they returned from one online session in September last year and found their daughter dead.

"We found she had passed away when we woke up in the morning," they said.

But cops became suspicious about how severely dehydrated the baby was.

A spokesman for the National Scientific Criminal and Investigation Laboratory, which carried out an autopsy on the girl, said, "she appears to have starved to death because she was not fed for such a long period of time."

The girl was initially well cared for by her grandmother but her health deteriorated after she moved back in with her parents.

Police tried to arrest the parents but they disappeared after the baby's funeral.

Authorities caught up with them Tuesday and charged them with child abuse and neglect.

The couple told police of their guilt after their arrests.

"Due to our sense of guilt, we have not been to a PC gaming room over these five months," they said.

Online games are massively popular in South Korea.

A 28-year-old man dropped dead recently after playing his favorite game Starcraft for 50 hours non-stop without eating or drinking.

Dammit, when will they learn?

[Vexx]

There seems to be something unique in Korea in regard to online life in terms of obsession. I won't pretend I can analyze it in the space of a forum post.

I do know that Korean schools are now teaching self-management of "internet time" at a very young age.

[Haruka_Kitten]

Originally Posted by Vexx

There seems to be something unique in Korea in regard to online life in terms of obsession. I won't pretend I can analyze it in the space of a forum post.

I do know that Korean schools are now teaching self-management of "internet time" at a very young age.

If only they could teach me that...

[Jazzrat]

Originally Posted by Vexx

There seems to be something unique in Korea in regard to online life in terms of obsession. I won't pretend I can analyze it in the space of a forum post.

I do know that Korean schools are now teaching self-management of "internet time" at a very young age.

Oriental stock tends to be more OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder) prone afaik. Being one myself i can somewhat see how this might have happened coupled with the rise of online gaming fad in the east.

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by Vexx

Ah yes.... let society/media parade the freaks out so the entire subculture can be mocked and tarnished. :P

"Oh, you watch anime... you must be one of "them" (shudder, run away)"

More seriously... it is kind of sad there isn't someone who's able to shake this guy and say "fine and all... but you're simply being made the village idiot by going public with an inanimate object fetish"

It also makes me wonder how strong the connection is with the poor attitudes towards mental illness and mental healthcare in Korea and Japan. This really isn't any different than the guys on the street who act out some version of Hamlet with the imaginary demons they see.

There is actually nothing wrong with that. It is how you accept people for who they are.....everyone has their own eccentricities.

Originally Posted by Jazzrat

Oriental stock tends to be more OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder) prone afaik. Being one myself i can somewhat see how this might have happened coupled with the rise of online gaming fad in the east.

That is because of our education systems : I have yet to see an Eastern system that does not promote rote learning and civil obedience.

We are drilled to train ourselves to drill in knowledge....and probably we subconsciously applied it to our life as well.

[aohige]

Originally Posted by Vexx

"Oh, you watch anime... you must be one of "them" (shudder, run away)"

What, you claim you're not?

Oh well, you're not one of us then!
Everyone, grab a torch. BURN THIS WITCH

[ClockWorkAngel]

Witch!!!!!