Silly/Odd News Stories from around the World

[Seitsuki]

Ahhh so we're finally back to more light-hearted stuff. thank goodness.
and before you go and rant about the cruelty to the dog, take a moments silence for the uncounted rabbits/porcupines/whatever that have meet a similar and unmourned demise. Lest we forget.

[Haruka_Kitten]

*sigh* I blame myself for bringing up the article in the first place.

EDIT: I know it's a tad old, but I just gotta:

Hanging car woman's miracle

Annoyingly, it epitomises what I've believed for a long time. The people who can't drive are not those without full licences, or those with only learner permits. The real culprits are those who drive for years and pick up short-cuts. Unlucky for her, the wall probably wasn't the best short-cut out of parking.

Handily, I have something more recent:

Short of cash...then try this ATM for size.

Quite literally, if you want (your) money, you gotta get on your hands and knees for it.

[Jill Valentine]

Originally Posted by Harufox

*sigh* I blame myself for bringing up the article in the first place.

EDIT: I know it's a tad old, but I just gotta:

Hanging car woman's miracle

Annoyingly, it epitomises what I've believed for a long time. The people who can't drive are not those without full licences, or those with only learner permits. The real culprits are those who drive for years and pick up short-cuts. Unlucky for her, the wall probably wasn't the best short-cut out of parking.

Handily, I have something more recent:

Short of cash...then try this ATM for size.

Quite literally, if you want (your) money, you gotta get on your hands and knees for it.

It's not your fault!

I saw that in the news few days ago, i wonder how she went through the wall.
The atm ain't that bad for that little man, i'm happy for him.

[Knight Hawk]

Back to silly news! Let's all facepalm in 3-2-1
Laura Timoney fumes after son Patrick, 9, is busted for bringing 2-inch-long toy gun to PS 52

An irate Staten Island mom blasted a grade school principal Wednesday for treating her son like a pint-sized Plaxico Burress after he brought a 2-inch-long toy gun to school.

"This principal is a bully and a coward, and needs to be held accountable," said Laura Timoney, 44, after her teary fourth-grader was nearly suspended for playing with the tiny toy at lunch.

"The school should be embarrassed. This is a common-sense issue."

Patrick Timoney, 9, was terrified when he was yanked into the principal's office to discuss the teeny-weeny plastic "weapon."

"The gun was so little," the boy said. "I don't understand why the principal got so upset. I was a little nervous. They made me sign a statement."

Patrick and a friend were playing with Lego figures in the school cafeteria on Tuesday when he pulled out the faux machine gun and stuck it in the hands of his plastic police officer.

Boom! Trouble ensued, with Patrick's mom getting a phone call from Public School 52 Principal Evelyn Mastroianni saying her son had somehow gone from straight A's to the NRA.

"I was in disbelief," the still-fuming mother said. "Why didn't anyone step up with an ounce of common sense and put an end to the harassment of my child?"

Timoney said her boy loved the toy figure because her husband is a retired police officer.

The elder Patrick Timoney, a former 72nd Precinct cop, couldn't believe his son was nearly busted over something so obviously inauthentic.

"It's a 2-inch gun," he said. "She went overboard. She should have said, 'Put the toys away,' and that would have been the end of it."

After a meeting between the principal and the parents, the boy was spared any disciplinary action. City school officials said Patrick agreed to leave the "gun" at home.

"I'm never bringing a toy to school again," said Patrick, whose favorite subject is math.

Laura Timoney remained upset. Her son, a typically eager student, asked to stay home yesterday because he thought the principal was mad at him.

The mother said she expects an apology and may sue.

"The toy gun is not the issue," she said. "A lack of common sense is the issue."

Several parents at the school felt the principal overreacted, including Kim O'Rieley - whose son was playing with Patrick in the cafeteria.

Her boy's Lego man was toting a tiny ax, which the principal deemed less threatening.

"It's ridiculous," said O'Rieley, 36. "He felt so bad for his friend. They're taking things way too far ... No one is saying guns are okay.

"Come on, it's a Lego."

[Seitsuki]

American schools really take the cake ^^; there've been so many things coming up that are seriously just ridiculous..

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by Seitsuki

American schools really take the cake ^^; there've been so many things coming up that are seriously just ridiculous..

The principal is an idiot for causing a moral panic. The child isn't at fault, and that one hell of a mother.

What is wrong with a Lego figure wielding an MP5? I had like tons of those kind of lego toys at home with all sorts of war themes, and I don't see any harm being done to my head.

[Neat Hedgehog]

Originally Posted by Harufox

Hanging car woman's miracle

Annoyingly, it epitomises what I've believed for a long time. The people who can't drive are not those without full licences, or those with only learner permits. The real culprits are those who drive for years and pick up short-cuts. Unlucky for her, the wall probably wasn't the best short-cut out of parking.

Wow. How hard do people hit the gas when they start to back up? You'd really have to floor it to manage something like that.

[Haruka_Kitten]

Originally Posted by Neat Hedgehog

Wow. How hard do people hit the gas when they start to back up? You'd really have to floor it to manage something like that.

Originally Posted by Jill Valentine

I saw that in the news few days ago, i wonder how she went through the wall.

Admittedly, something like that shouldn't have happened unless the building had termites in it, or the woman's foot slipped. If she was reversing, she should've gone slower.

Originally Posted by Jill Valentine

The atm ain't that bad for that little man, i'm happy for him.

Oh yeah, the only resident who can use it without resorting to being undignified, although I think everyone around understands. I like how parents have now been forced to trust their children with PIN numbers and cards to go fetch the cash for them.

[Woopzilla]

Originally Posted by Neat Hedgehog

Wow. How hard do people hit the gas when they start to back up? You'd really have to floor it to manage something like that.

Yea, really terrible driving.

I think most automatic cars move fast enough on tickover (my dads automatic diesel does anyway), so anyone trying to reverse simply eases off the brakes. Hitting the gas pedal to such an extent that it slams straight through a wall is just wow.

This'll be even crazier if it's a manual though... slipping on the clutch usually just stalls the car. Slipping on the gas doesn't do much if you got the clutch depressed. Doing both at the same time and not stalling the car while plowing through a wall is just world class.

[Haruka_Kitten]

Originally Posted by Woopzilla

Yea, really terrible driving.

This'll be even crazier if it's a manual though... slipping on the clutch usually just stalls the car. Slipping on the gas doesn't do much if you got the clutch depressed. Doing both at the same time and not stalling the car while plowing through a wall is just world class.

I'm assuming she put it in first, not reverse. Some cars are like that, where they put reverse behind a lift gate or you have to push the lever in. My step dad was telling me about a Volkswagen where you only push it a few millimetres, and you can't tell whether or not it's in Reverse or First. Imagine the lights!

I think that when you put it in Reverse you expect it to go backwards. If you think it's in reverse, and it goes forwards, it takes some time to register, and you've probably given it enough of a bootful to do just that.

[Knight Hawk]

Here's another funny one.
Pedobear is an Olympic mascot!

This guy photoshops pedobear into the lineup of the Vancouver Olympics and it gets published in Polish and Spanish news!

Link to the Spanish site

Pedobear keeping a close eye on the gymnasts.

[Tsuyoshi]

Originally Posted by Knight Hawk

Here's another funny one.
Pedobear is an Olympic mascot!

Pedobear keeping a close eye on the gymnasts.

I couldn't believe it when you said it. And I couldn't believe it even more when I saw it. I gotta show this to all my Polish friends (there are quite a few actually) O_O

[Woopzilla]

Originally Posted by Harufox

I'm assuming she put it in first, not reverse. Some cars are like that, where they put reverse behind a lift gate or you have to push the lever in. My step dad was telling me about a Volkswagen where you only push it a few millimetres, and you can't tell whether or not it's in Reverse or First. Imagine the lights!

I think that when you put it in Reverse you expect it to go backwards. If you think it's in reverse, and it goes forwards, it takes some time to register, and you've probably given it enough of a bootful to do just that.

Well, it was obviously in forwards. :P

But yea, I've got a car where you have to lift the gearstick to put it in reverse.

Though what I'm meant is that it should be impossible to not be able to react in time unless she has some seriously strange driving off habits... like a race driver zooming off from complete standstill.

Or admittedly, it had to be an automatic with her just freaking out and slamming down on the gas pedal instead of the brakes.

She would've surely stalled the car if she slipped on the gas or clutch due to being startled by moving forwards. If it were a manual car then this would be amazing.

[hinakatbklyn]

Originally Posted by Seitsuki

American schools really take the cake ^^; there've been so many things coming up that are seriously just ridiculous..

2 school stories only days apart. First a 2-inch toy gun, the second, handcuffing a 12 year old for doodling on a school desk. Some sort of punishment was in order, but handcuffs were going overboard.

[Woopzilla]

Originally Posted by Knight Hawk

Here's another funny one.
Pedobear is an Olympic mascot!

Pedobear keeping a close eye on the gymnasts.

What the crap... I missed this when browsing the thread the first time.

This is hilarious.

Funny how people who work and make money with information have never come across pedobear.

Internets: 1 Newspaper: 0

[Haruka_Kitten]

Originally Posted by Woopzilla

Well, it was obviously in forwards. :P

But yea, I've got a car where you have to lift the gearstick to put it in reverse.

Though what I'm meant is that it should be impossible to not be able to react in time unless she has some seriously strange driving off habits... like a race driver zooming off from complete standstill.

Or admittedly, it had to be an automatic with her just freaking out and slamming down on the gas pedal instead of the brakes.

She would've surely stalled the car if she slipped on the gas or clutch due to being startled by moving forwards. If it were a manual car then this would be amazing.

The only other way this could've happened with a Manual is if the car wasn't fitted with an ignition interlock. Assuming she parked the car and left it in first (which we all do in case the handbrake gives way), she may have failed to go into Neutral, or failed to disengage the clutch when she turned the key. In that case, she definitely would've had no time to react.

I've been in a car where that mistake happened. Lucklily, there wasn't anyone in front of us. This car I was in was also a diesel, which means the starter is much more robust and violent.

Cambridge University college girls told to 'be discreet at night'

Student: "*bangs on wall* Will you two knock it off? I got a mid-year tomorrow."

[Woopzilla]

I suppose a lurch from a diesel could have quite a bit of power... I guess I imagine brick walls to be sturdier than they really are.

[Seitsuki]

Bricks are in the end just hardened clay with maybe bits of rock thrown in. If some dude can chop through em with his bare hands, whats ramming a FRIGGIN CAR into it supposed to do?

[Woopzilla]

Well I doubt a martial artist could chop his way through a well built wall into a building. I think it's a little different (plus it's not really about individual bricks but a wall as a whole).

We were talking about if a little lurch caused by stalling can plow its way through a wall like it did in the picture. Everyone's stalled their car at one point and the most you'd expect is a bent bumper if you're near a wall, railing or another car. I assume she just floored the gas pedal to get that kind of momentum to break a wall and have half the car sticking out. :|

[Jinto]

Originally Posted by Woopzilla

Well I doubt a martial artist could chop his way through a well built wall into a building. I think it's a little different (plus it's not really about individual bricks but a wall as a whole).

We were talking about if a little lurch caused by stalling can plow its way through a wall like it did in the picture. Everyone's stalled their car at one point and the most you'd expect is a bent bumper if you're near a wall, railing or another car. I assume she just floored the gas pedal to get that kind of momentum to break a wall and have half the car sticking out. :|

Maybe you overestimate the stability of a brick wall a little bit. A stable base provided - it can bear much downward force, but it is very vulnerable to sidewards forces. In contrast walls build of reinforced concrete are quite sturdy no matter of the direction of force. Prestressed concrete (used for bridges and stuff) will be even stronger against forces that are directed in the opposit direction of the prestressing.