Silly/Odd News Stories from around the World

[EXEs]

@aohige: Yeah, I read about that at Danny's site. It's bad enough that the majority of the Japanese populace don't like gaijins, now this gives them even more reason to dislike them.

[User65554]

And the world continues to get stranger and stranger

Dog shoots Iowa man during hunt

A man out hunting in Iowa was shot in the leg after a hunting dog stepped on his gun, authorities said.
The accident happened after James Harris, 37, put his gun on the ground to retrieve a fallen pheasant.

One of a pack of hunting dogs following behind stepped on the trigger, and up to 120 birdshot pellets hit Mr Harris in the left calf at short range.

A local official told a news agency the injury was "not life-threatening, but will give him trouble for a long time".

Alan Foster, a spokesman for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, told the AFP news agency it was not uncommon for hunters to be shot by their dogs.

"I hear about it a couple times a year," somewhere in the country, he said.

"They'll step on the trigger assembly and, if the gun for whatever reason wasn't on safety, it doesn't take a whole lot to trip a trigger."

Mr Harris was treated at Grinnell Regional Medical Center and later transported by helicopter to University of Iowa Hospitals in Iowa City, following the accident in Poweshiek County on Saturday afternoon.

An investigation into the accident is under way.

[Kensuke]

Singapore Airlines: No sex in A380.

Singapore Airlines has taken the unusual step of publicly asking passengers on its new Airbus A380 plane not to engage in any sexual activities.

The potential problem has arisen because the first class area of its giant superjumbo contains 12 private suites complete with double beds.

Singapore, which is the first airline to start flying the A380, said the suites were not sound-proofed.

It said it did not want anyone to offend other travellers or crew.

Memo to other airlines and Airbus: Add sound-proofed cabins to A380.

[anti-random]

^ Wow, you would of thought about installing sound proof suites when you installed double beds on an aeroplane yeah. I hope they eventually do ...

[User65554]

You'd think putting in double beds in the first place would be asking for trouble. Why not just single beds? Or just getting sound proofing...

[Slice of Life]

Sex is a very dirty activity and should be made illegal under all circumstances.

[TinyRedLeaf]

^ Yes indeed. Think of the kids!


Teenager escapes prison in suitcase

BERLIN (Reuters) - A 19-year-old German woman has escaped from prison by hiding in a friend's suitcase.

The fugitive hid inside the large case when her 17-year-old fellow inmate was released from the youth prison in northwest Germany on Friday, Lower Saxony ministry spokesman Dennis Weilmann said on Monday.

The girl simply walked out of the building with her friend concealed in her luggage, Weilmann said.

"Our staff are going to make sure they inspect big suitcases more carefully in the future," Weilmann said.

Neither of the teenagers has since been caught. Both had been jailed for theft. The escaped prisoner had less than two weeks left to serve.

[anti-random]

^if you have less then 2 weeks to serve you would probably better off serving them out. Its not like a hundred years people.

[User65554]

Yeah, you'll almost certainly be rearrested and end up spending more time in prison. 100 years, then maybe (what have you to lose), but 2 weeks or so, its just not worth it.

And on the subject of prisons;

Police in northern Australia kept a 2.4m (7ft 9in) saltwater crocodile in a cell overnight after it menaced local fishermen.

Officials in Nhulunbuy were left with "no other option" after capturing the crocodile late in the evening, Senior Constable Wade Marshall said.

He told the BBC News website that police had placed the reptile an unused cell in the town's police station.

In the morning, the male crocodile was taken to a nearby crocodile farm.

Mr Marshall said police had reacted after receiving reports that the crocodile "had a go at some fishermen retrieving their boat at the local boat ramp".

When officials arrived at the scene the crocodile was about 30m from the ramp.

They waited until nightfall, when the reptiles are apparently easier to spot, before capturing it.

"After a couple of attempts and after three hours we managed to catch it and retrieve it," Mr Marshall said.

"We kept it in one of the cells which is unserviceable at the moment.

"We looked after it. It was kept on a wet blanket and hosed regularly with water."

The crocodile's eyes were also covered to prevent it from becoming agitated.

Mr Marshall said police in the Northern Territory town had so far been unable to speak to the fishermen threatened by the crocodile, so they had posted notices appealing for more information about the incident.

And on the subject of Australian prison cells;

A former prisoner in Australia has decided to buy his own jail cell.

Graeme Alford spent several years in Pentridge Prison, Melbourne, for embezzlement and robbery.

But he is not planning to actually live in the cell again. It is being turned into a wine storage facility as part of the prison's commercial redevelopment.

Mr Alford, a former barrister, said the purchase was "purely an investment" as he swore to stop drinking after his release in 1980.

Before its closure in 1997, Pentridge prison was Australia's most notorious jail.

It housed hardened criminals and murderers and was the site of the country's last hanging in 1967.

Mr Alford ended up in jail when addictions to gambling and alcohol led him to become heavily in debt.

He started stealing from trust funds and used a sawn-off shotgun in a failed bank robbery.

But after leaving prison, Mr Alford turned his life around.

He stopped drinking and gambling and became a motivational speaker, writing the top-selling book Never Give Up about his experiences.

When he saw the heritage-listed building was being redeveloped, he thought the opportunity was too good to miss.

"I thought that not too many people have bought their own jail cell back," he told local media.

Although the space is to be converted to hold rare wines worth A$50m (US$46.1m, £22.2m), this is of little interest to Mr Alford.

"The irony is that I don't drink now," he said. "This is purely an investment."

Mr Alford, who would not say how much he has paid for the cell, was due to take the keys at a ceremony on Wednesday.

[JustInn14]

Some dumb-head kid started the California fires.

[User65554]

^Found the story, but should this really be going in the 'Silly/Odd News Stories' thread?

[TinyRedLeaf]

Doing my bit to keep this thread alive.

UK chooses 'most ludicrous laws'

BBC (7 Nov) -- Legislation said to prohibit people dying while in the Houses of Parliament has been voted one of the most ludicrous laws in the UK.

Mr Cawthorne told the Daily Telegraph newspaper that anyone who dies in Parliament is technically entitled to a state funeral and the law is in place to ensure this does not happen.

However, a spokesman for the House of Commons said: "The people who know about these things here say there is no basis for such a law, not to say it does not exist somewhere in writing."

Other lesser-known laws making the list included one banning eating mince pies on Christmas Day and another from 1313 stating it is illegal to enter the Houses of Parliament wearing a suit of armour.

Almost half of those asked confessed to breaking the mince pie law, which was brought in by Oliver Cromwell in the 17th Century.

Last year, the Law Society highlighted a number of bizarre laws still in existence on the statute book in England and Wales.

These included a ban on firing a cannon close to a dwelling house (Met Police Act 1839); a ban on the use of any slide upon ice or snow (Town Police Clauses Act 1847); and the prohibition of driving cattle through the streets of London (Metropolitan Streets Act 1867).

Among the most ridiculous laws listed by UKTV Gold were:

• It is illegal to die in the Houses of Parliament. (27%)
  
• It could be regarded an act of treason to place a postage stamp bearing the British king or queen's image upside-down. (7%)
  
• The head of any dead whale found on the British coast automatically becomes the property of the King, and the tail of the Queen. (3.5%)
  
• It is illegal not to tell the tax man anything you do not want him to know, but legal not to tell him information you do not mind him knowing. (3%)

[Aoie_Emesai]

Originally Posted by TinyRedLeaf

Doing my bit to keep this thread alive.

UK chooses 'most ludicrous laws'

Hahaha ^_^. That is quite a silly law. I remember reading some dumb laws in the US too.

[anti-random]

This is from a free newspaper called the Mx. It has this what in the weird section that I thought I'll put up just for kicks.

Trust me, I'm a terrorist Polish police are investigating aster a man claiming to be a reformed terrorist with "great international contacts"posted an ad on a job networking website. The ad posted on website Goldenline by Abdel Karim Husseim Mohamed Salim Swedan Fazul read: "I've gathered valuable experiences in building connections in Europe and the USA for many years. During training in Afghanistan I gained experience of other cultures working inside major international organizations. I have a lot of experience in co-ordinating projects."

[TinyRedLeaf]

My wife's a bitch.

BBC News (13 Nov 07) - An Indian man has married a female dog, believing the union will help him atone for stoning two other dogs to death.

P Selvakumar, 33, said he had been cursed since the killings, suffering paralysis and a loss of hearing.

Superstitious people in rural India sometimes organise weddings to animals in the hope of warding off curses.

The "bride", who is called Selvi, was led to the temple in Manamudurai wearing a sari before vows were exchanged in a traditional Hindu ceremony. A relative of the groom who attended the wedding said he hoped Mr Selvakumar would now be cured.

[NoSanninWa]

So many jokes come to mind that it is hard to know where to start.

I've decided to choose good taste and not repeat any of them, but I'm sure that everyone's mind can fill the empty space where this post choses not to go.

[Green²]

Originally Posted by NoSanninWa

So many jokes come to mind that it is hard to know where to start.

I've decided to choose good taste and not repeat any of them, but I'm sure that everyone's mind can fill the empty space where this post choses not to go.

Empty space, dark void,.. and pretty much telling us where we should stick this discussion. Damn you're good. But at minimal, I usually throw in a easier to catch joke, say, an mention of Rick Santorum, and everybody goes "haha!", and then we all move on.

[Slice of Life]

Maybe Comcast capped the British government's bandwidth too, that would be an explanation why they burn sensitive information on CD and send it via snail mail:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7103566.stm

But beware of packet loss:

"Two password protected discs containing a full copy of HMRC's entire data in relation to the payment of child benefit was sent to the NAO, by HMRC's internal post system operated by the courier TNT.

The package was not recorded or registered. It appears the data has failed to reach the addressee in the NAO."

The password is probably "PASSWORD".

[User65554]

Still up to our usual standard. Very good.

In other news,
Tokyo is the best city for good eating
And Radiohead released their latest album over the internet, and allowed fans to choose how much they would pay for it. 3 out of 5 people payed nothing. Including the band's lead singer

[anti-random]

^Why they hell would you pay for your own album.
Hey, this is a silly story in my belief, but the other day my friend was caught for plagiarism. But get this, for his own essay (at school) he did a year ago. I mean is that really plagiarism????????