strange stuff

From strange crimes to strange celebrity deaths, read all of the latest weird and strange stuff news stories on Newser.com

Stories 3161 - 3180 | << Prev   Next >>

Man Orders Tie, Gets Personnel Records Instead

Banana Republic has a mailing miscue

(Newser) - With a little more than two weeks to go before their wedding, Emily Dreyfuss' fiance ordered a tie and pocket square from Banana Republic's website to go with his Navy blue suit. What the couple got in the mail instead this week would make an identity thief giddy: the...

Need to Get Creative? Dim the Lights


 Need to Get 
 Creative? 
 Dim the Lights 
study says
Jun 20, 2013 4:18 PM CDT

Need to Get Creative? Dim the Lights

Research suggests it helps stimulate clever thinking

(Newser) - If you're working on a project that demands a burst of inspiration, try turning down the lights. So say German researchers who conclude that "darkness increases freedom from constraints, which in turn promotes creativity," reports Pacific Standard , picking up on a study in the Journal of Environmental...

SF Tenants Lived Plot of Horror Movie

Landlords Kip and Nicole Macy plead guilty to burglary, stalking

(Newser) - A group of San Francisco tenants really earned the right to complain about their landlords: The story of one couple's efforts to evict their tenants between 2006 and 2008 so they could sell the units is "so outlandish and brazen that it sounds like the plot line of...

Cops: 2 Men Made Ray Gun to Zap Enemies of Israel

Indictment: New Yorkers planned to go after Muslims, others with X-ray weapon

(Newser) - Sci-fi meets the crime blotter: US authorities accused two men of assembling a portable X-ray weapon that they intended to use to secretly sicken opponents of Israel. The indictment charged 49-year-old Glendon Scott Crawford of Galway, NY, and 54-year-old Eric J. Feight of Hudson, NY, with conspiracy to provide support...

Cops: Mom, Son Stole (Lots of) Gopher Feet

They can add up to big bucks in Minnesota

(Newser) - This isn't just a story about the theft of gopher feet in Minnesota—it's a story about the felony theft of gopher feet in Minnesota. As KAAL-TV reports, a mother and son have been charged with stealing hundreds of pairs from the garage of a trapper in Harmony....

Londoners in Danger From Exploding Sidewalks

Power company looking into the problem

(Newser) - A bizarre but serious danger in London: exploding sidewalks, which have injured at least five people since January 2012 and also have damaged cars and buildings. The problem could have to do with water or gas entering electric cables underneath the sidewalks, and the UK's Health and Safety Executive...

DUI Suspect to Cops: Here, Have a Beer

Goes on to tell police he's killed people for US government

(Newser) - When police asked a suspected drunk driver for his license, he offered an alternative: a can of beer. "When you ask somebody for a driver's license, you're not expecting a can of beer, that's for sure," says a spokesman for police in Kent, Washington, per...

Tipsy Guy Tosses Meat to Wild Bear


 Guy Tosses 
 Meat to Bear, 
 Gets Mauled 
DEPT. OF BAD IDEAS
Jun 17, 2013 12:29 PM CDT

Guy Tosses Meat to Bear, Gets Mauled

Story ends the way you'd expect...

(Newser) - It's not a good week for tipsy guys : An overly generous—and possibly inebriated—man tossed barbecued meat to a black bear near an Alaska campground. His reward: getting mauled, state troopers say, per the Anchorage Daily News. The man had been at a church picnic at Eklutna...

Snoozing Bank Worker Mistakenly Transfers $300M
Snoozing Bank Worker Mistakenly Transfers $300M
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Jun 16, 2013 7:00 PM CDT

Snoozing Bank Worker Mistakenly Transfers $300M

The perils of napping with your finger on the '2' key...

(Newser) - The latest in the annals of office screw-ups: A weary German bank worker was in the process of transferring 62.40 euros when he fell asleep for a (very expensive) "instant," reports the AFP . In his unconscious state he pushed the number 2 key, leading him to instead...

Google Launches Balloons That Beam the Internet

One balloon could provide service to New York-sized area

(Newser) - Wrinkled and skinny at first, the translucent, jellyfish-shaped balloons that Google released this week from a frozen field in the heart of New Zealand's South Island hardened into shiny pumpkins as they rose, passing the first big test of a lofty goal to get the entire planet online. It...

Guy Has Heart Attack While Driving, Gets 3 Tickets

And court will only dismiss 2

(Newser) - It sounds like a joke: a doctor's note reading, "Please forgive Mr. Langley's tickets due to his unfortunate experience of having a heart attack seconds prior to having his car accident." But no, this note really was delivered to a New Jersey municipal court, the Asbury ...

Czechs Test Flying Bike
 Czechs Test Flying Bike 
Jun 12, 2013 5:30 PM CDT

Czechs Test Flying Bike

Three companies show off prototype

(Newser) - Is it a bike? Is it a plane? Three Czech companies have teamed up to make a prototype of an electric bicycle that successfully took off today inside an exhibition hall in Prague and landed safely after a remote-controlled, five-minute flight. Looking like a heavy mountain bike, it weighs 209...

Guy Says Surgery Gave Him 8-Month Erection

Daniel Metzgar suing over penile implant surgery

(Newser) - Daniel Metzgar had penile implant surgery in December 2009 to improve his love life after trying other measures unsuccessfully ... and let's just say the surgery worked a little too well. The Delaware truck driver says he was left with an erection that didn't go away for eight months,...

NYC Teacher Tells Kids to Write Suicide Notes

She's joined by a 2nd entrant to the Teacher Hall of Infamy this week

(Newser) - English teacher Jessica Barrish apparently doesn't follow international news: Just 6 months ago, a French teacher came under fire for asking her class of 13- and 14-year-olds to pen a suicide note; it didn't end well . Barrish apparently did the very same thing in May, asking students of...

Mystery Woman Picks Up Whole Restaurant's Tab

The $590M question: Was it Powerball winner Gloria MacKenzie?

(Newser) - Plant City, Florida, is abuzz over a random act of kindness—possibly at the hands of the biggest solo lottery winner in US history. A woman who apparently looked like 84-year-old Gloria MacKenzie had an early-bird dinner at BuddyFreddy's on Sunday, leaving the restaurant with her two companions around...

One of Ocean's Most Elusive Creatures Filmed

Clip offers close-up of 8-foot-long oarfish

(Newser) - Now the world can finally get a good look at one of the ocean's more mysterious creatures, the oarfish, believed to be the longest bony fish in existence—basically, the longest fish that's not a ray or shark, LiveScience reports. While researchers were investigating the Deepwater Horizon oil...

Town Delivers Dog Poop Back to Owners Who Didn't Pick It Up

Brunete has seen drastic reduction in offenses, official says

(Newser) - A Spanish town has come up with an innovative way to deal with the problem of dog owners who don't clean up after their pets: mail the poop back to the owners. Officials in Brunete recruited 20 volunteers to keep an eye out for offenders, the Local reports. When...

Male Train Drivers Protest Shorts Ban—With Skirts

It's what passes for anarchy in Sweden

(Newser) - There's a skin-baring revolt under way in Sweden, where the Roslagsbanan train line has banned drivers and conductors from wearing shorts—and a dozen of the aforementioned employees responded by donning skirts this week. As the AP reports, about a dozen men showed up for work in skirts to...

Penguins&#39; Unlikely Savior: Dogs
 Penguins' Unlikely 
 Savior: Dogs 
in case you missed it
Jun 8, 2013 7:00 PM CDT

Penguins' Unlikely Savior: Dogs

Maremma sheepdogs help restore population to Australia island

(Newser) - Things got so bad for the penguins on Australia's Middle Island that one researcher counted all of four just seven years ago, down from a peak of 1,500. The problem, as the New Zealand Herald explains, is that red foxes acquired a taste for the Little Penguins and...

Man Drinks Quart of Soy Sauce, Goes Into Coma

19-year-old nearly dies thanks to dare

(Newser) - Sign that your friends don't care about you: They dare you to drink an entire quart of soy sauce. Sign that you don't care about yourself: You actually do it. (You, in this case, was a 19-year-old living in Virginia, whose case was recounted in the Journal of ...

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