Silly/Odd News Stories from around the World

[ArchmageXin]

Originally Posted by willx

Without getting into the nitty gritty .. capital flight is already happening~!

IIRC. Capital flight would occur because by mass printing bonds, interest rate would fall to zero, thus, in order to obtain greater growth, they seek to purchase assets from overseas rather than invest @ home?

But what safe assets are still behind in this wretched world?

[ganbaru]

Originally Posted by ArchmageXin

But what safe assets are still behind in this wretched world?

I wouldn't be surprised if at least one member would claim than potatos would be one

[Anh_Minh]

Beware of Potato Blight.

[Xellos-_^]

Originally Posted by ganbaru

I wouldn't be surprised if at least one member would claim than potatos would be one

have you seen the price of food lately

Nothing wrong with investing potatoes (or other food crops).

[ganbaru]

Originally Posted by Xellos-_^

have you seen the price of food lately

Nothing wrong with investing potatoes (or other food crops).

Yes, food's prise is high and likely to get even higher. But to consider a product than can so easiely lose of it quality if not even to end up good enough only to be throw away as long term investment material seem atthe very least foolich to me.

[AnimeFan188]

New app helps Icelanders avoid accidental incest:

"A new smartphone app is on hand to help Icelanders avoid accidental incest. The
app lets users "bump" phones and emits a warning alarm if they are closely
related. "Bump the app before you bump in bed," says the catchy slogan."

See:

http://news.msn.com/world/new-app-he...idental-incest


Something like that might be useful in certain anime.

[Kyero Fox]

Or a abomination of a app to wincesters. XD

[ganbaru]

Cops: Men toss dead groundhog, grouse into Pa. bar
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...04-17-11-13-10

Oregon juror jailed for texting during trial
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...04-19-10-16-08

[MrTerrorist]

Japanese Fans Picks the Anime Song Performer They Would Like to Hear Sing US National Anthem

[erneiz_hyde]

Originally Posted by Kyero Fox

Or a abomination of a app to wincesters. XD

......So that's where the name Winchester came from

[Terrestrial Dream]

Man sent to jail for watching 'pixie sex'

A man has been jailed for watching cartoon videos of elves, pixies and other fantasy creatures having sex.

Ronald Clark downloaded the Japanese anime cartoons three years ago, setting in train events that would see him in court in Auckland and jailed for three months for possessing objectionable material, and sparking debate as to what harm is caused by digitally created pornography.

Clark has previous convictions for indecently assaulting a teenage boy and has been through rehabilitation programmes, but the video nasties he was watching in this case were all cartoons and drawings.

He says the videos came from an established tradition of Japanese manga and hentai (cartoon pornography), a massive, mainstream industry in that country.

They weren't even depictions of people - Clark's lawyer Roger Bowden described them as "pixies and trolls" that "you knew at a glance weren't human".

Bowden said the conviction for possessing objectionable material was "the law gone mad".

However, while the cartoon characters were elves and pixies, they were also clearly young elves and pixies, which led to concerns the images were linked to child sexual abuse.

Anti-child pornography group ECPAT Child Alert director Alan Bell said the images were illegal because they encouraged people "to migrate from there to the real thing".

"The distribution of it is damaging. You have to ask what impact does it have even if it's not harming [an individual child]."

Bell said it had to be conceded that no child was harmed in the images' production but "it's all part of that spectrum". Cartoon images of child abuse were a "huge" problem in Japan and the practice had started finding its way into computer games, he said

Lincoln University philosophy lecturer Grant Tavinor, who writes on the aesthetics of video games, said the case raised two key questions: Did producing the pictures harm anyone, and could their viewing and distribution be injurious to the public good?

"The worry is that viewing or distributing such images could support the sexual exploitation of children even if the production of the images did not actually involve the exploitation of any children," Tavinor said. It's not enough that no one was harmed in the making of the videos, the law takes a protective role and says there are some things we just don't want circulating in society, he said.

Auckland University associate philosophy professor Tim Dare said "the justifications for punishment are likely to be worries about the tendency of the images to promote harm to real people in the future, or a concern for what the interest in the images tells you about their ‘character' ".

Clark himself argued that the law led to the absurdity that he could, in theory, be convicted of possessing objectionable images of stick figures.

Clark admitted he was interested in the images but he said it was for their artistic merit and as "a bit of a laugh". He did not find them sexually arousing, he said.

Tavinor said there were ethical issues that complicated the case.

"The ways a person entertains themself is not morally negligible. This is probably an additional factor in the current case because as well as worrying about the effects these activities might have on children, we also naturally make moral judgments about the character of the person in question.

"But for the purposes of law it is probably important to distinguish between these because convicting someone for their moral views is very dangerous."

[Ithekro]

That reminds me, is Shin still free?

[SaintessHeart]

Well whoever passed this law should be dragged onto the street and whipped like a dog.

[ganbaru]

Affidavit: Maine hermit carried bacon, syrup, $395
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...04-21-12-35-55

[RRW]

(NaturalNews) It is a nasty little habit that most parents try to dissuade their children from engaging in as early on in their childhood years as possible. But one particular piece of scientific research actually suggests that kids who eat their own boogers may end up building stronger immunity compared to their peers, and go on to live healthier, happier lives.

This is the somewhat unusual assessment made by Dr. Friedrich Bischinger, a professor and lung specialist out of Austria, whose research involving boogers and immunity led him to make this somewhat shocking claim. According to Dr. Bischinger, snot, as it is often called, tends to harbor bacteria that, when eaten, helps to strengthen the body's own natural immune system.

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/038273_ch...#ixzz2R9dSb9nG

[ChainLegacy]

Originally Posted by RRW

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/038273_ch...#ixzz2R9dSb9nG

Maybe that's why they do it, on some instinctual level? I was always baffled by the genesis of such a habit. Used to make me feel nauseous when I saw other kids do it.

[Terrestrial Dream]

Originally Posted by RRW

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/038273_ch...#ixzz2R9dSb9nG

As disgusting it sounds I ate boogers until 6th grades, and I don't get sick easily. As a baby I was hospitalized, so that might be another reason as that might have strengthen my immune system.

[GDB]

Originally Posted by ChainLegacy

Used to make me feel nauseous when I saw other kids do it.

Agreed, but then again I bite my fingers so the same premise I'm sure applies. Introduce minute levels of foreign germs into the body, immune system builds properties against it, then when stronger versions come in, it has a pre-existing defense.

[Mr Hat and Clogs]

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

Well whoever passed this law should be dragged onto the street and whipped like a dog.

Thing is they could apply the same logic to so many different things, ie. violent video games, movies or music, or furries and so on. He *may* go on to do something to kiddies, but they don't know that (although he apparently does have some prior conviction, but still). As for migrating to the real thing, well, if he can find real elves and pixies I guess we could worry then, but I'd be more concerned with the evil loli sex demons at that point.

Whole thing is 'cart before the horse' level of fail.

[aohige]

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news...rio-Styled-Box

Little did Arizona state police know they're supposed to punch the [?] box, not open it.