strange stuff

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

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Sweden Bows to Google, Ditches 'Ungoogleable'

Company objected to newly coined word

(Newser) - How to describe something that can't be found in a search engine? Don't say "ungoogleable" or you'll risk the wrath of the company. The Swedish Language Council has officially removed the term from a list of newly coined words after the company objected on trademark grounds,...

Buying a Python While Drunk Never a Good Idea

Brit gets 8 weeks in prison after ill-advised purchase

(Newser) - A UK man's party purchase almost killed his sleeping buddy. While Dwayne Matthews was drinking with friends, a van arrived whose driver was selling a stolen 10-foot-long python, his lawyer tells the Coventry Telegraph . "In his wisdom, and no doubt egged on by his inebriated friends," Matthews...

Dodgeball Teams Play for Record 43 Hours

Set Guinness world record, according to organizer

(Newser) - A group of dodgeball players chucked balls for almost two straight days this past weekend in New York and say they set a new Guinness world record in the process. A high school gym teacher organized the 18 men and women, who started playing at 7pm Friday and put down...

Church Posts 'Strip for Me' Sign Near Strip Club

Birmingham pastor gets his message across

(Newser) - A billboard near a "gentlemen's club" in Birmingham screams out "strip for me" to passersby, which is notable mainly because it was put up not by the club but by a local church, reports WBRC . The pastor of Rock Church is paraphrasing a line from the Bible'...

Jared Leto Fan Mail: Severed Human Ear

Someone either loves or hates 30 Seconds to Mars...

(Newser) - Jared Leto's fans show their passion in slightly horrific ways. The 30 Seconds to Mars frontman told XFM last week that in one case, "Someone cut their ear off ... and sent it to me, that was very strange. A whole ear. The Van Gogh move. The note just...

Just in Time for Passover: Kosher Cigarettes

Israeli body gives 3 brands seal of approval

(Newser) - It's Passover and for the first time, Israeli smokers can puff away on rabbi-approved cigarettes, the AP reports. The group that certifies foods and other items as kosher for the week-long holiday approved three brands of cigarettes after determining that their ingredients had not come into contact with grains...

Rich Russians Take Ambulances to Dodge Traffic

Moscow police say they're looking for fakers

(Newser) - Running late for a meeting in Moscow? You can go online and hire an "ambulance taxi" for $200 an hour or more—a savvy way to cut through the city's notorious traffic jams, the National Post reports. According to a Russian paper, police discovered the ruse when they...

Guy's Car Ends Up on Neighbor's Roof

In the second such incident recently

(Newser) - Seems like it would be fairly difficult to get your car to fly through the air and land on the roof of a house , but now two people have done it within one month. This time around, a Southern California man's car ended up on his neighbor's roof...

Capote's Remains Invited to NYC Party

But 'risk of theft was too high' at after-party for Broadway premiere

(Newser) - Breakfast at Tiffany's almost had a very high-profile guest mark its opening on Broadway last week: author Truman Capote himself. Producers wanted to fly in Capote's ashes for the after-party, the New York Post reports. They were even willing to pay for first-class airfare for the remains, which...

Now 1K Dead Ducks Pulled From China River

As number of dead pigs passes 16K

(Newser) - First Shanghai pulled thousands of dead pigs from one of its rivers; now another river in China is experiencing a similarly disturbing problem. One thousand dead ducks have been pulled from Nanhe river in Sichuan province, the BBC reports. Residents found the duck carcasses inside more than 50 woven bags...

Swedish 'Hotel' Lets You Pay to Be Homeless

Sleep in the cold for $15 a night

(Newser) - A Swedish organization is offering visitors a unique hotel experience: They can spend a night as a homeless person for $15. The "hotel," run by Faktum magazine in the city of Gothenburg, has 10 "rooms," including a sleeping bag in a park, a dirty mattress under...

Real-Life Bart Simpson on Trial Before &#39;Mr. Burns&#39;
 Real-Life 
 Bart Simpson 
 on Trial Before 
 'Mr. Burns' 
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Mar 24, 2013 5:59 PM CDT

Real-Life Bart Simpson on Trial Before 'Mr. Burns'

Court coincidence has UK news agency snickering

(Newser) - Normally, a routine court appearance by a guy in the UK accused of possessing an illegal gun at an airport wouldn't become a buzzy little Internet story, but the guy's name happens to be Barton Simpson and the judge is identified as "Mr. Recorder Burns." Get...

Sergio Garcia Takes Crazy Shot —From a Tree

Because just taking a drop is entirely unexciting

(Newser) - Faced with a ball that landed in a tree, Sergio Garcia today did what pretty much no golfer would do, ever: As Business Insider reports, he climbed about eight feet up, found his balance, then hit the ball behind him with a one-handed shot that earned him a roar from...

What It&#39;s Like to Survive the Bubonic Plague

 Stunned Couple Gets 
 the Bubonic Plague 
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Mar 24, 2013 11:54 AM CDT

Stunned Couple Gets the Bubonic Plague

Husband slips into coma for nearly 90 days

(Newser) - Cases of bubonic plague aren't exactly common these days. But when Lucinda Marker and her husband John Tull fell ill on a trip to Manhattan—and realized it might not be the flu—they were smart to go see a doctor. It turned out that plague-infected fleas had bitten...

Angry Mom Goes After 'Whale Bone Porn'

But museum refuses to take down naughty 'scrimshaw'

(Newser) - A school teacher has launched a personal campaign against what she calls "whale bone porn"—etchings of naughty acts on whale teeth and bone on display at a Vancouver museum, the National Post reports. The Vancouver Maritime Museum has "a new exhibit called Scrimshaw which features numerous...

Prisoner: I'm Still Out to Kill Justin Bieber

Dana Martin: 'It's still on ... this isn't going away'

(Newser) - Remember the bizarre murder plot against Justin Bieber that was masterminded from a prison cell? Well, the convict behind it now tells his side of the story, Huffington Post reports. Dana Martin—who has a Bieber tattoo—tells Details that he still has assassins on the case: "It's...

Florida Manatees Dying in Scary Numbers

Deaths near Cape Canaveral remain a mystery

(Newser) - Already an endangered species, manatees are dying by the dozen off both coasts of Florida, Wired reports. Biologists say a red tide—an algal bloom that can be fatal to manatees, fish, and people—has killed 200 manatees in the Gulf of Mexico this year. But manatee deaths on the...

Woman Sets Snake on Fire, Burns Down Her House

Texas fire official: It's not all that uncommon

(Newser) - Put this on your "don't-do" list: A Texas woman set a snake on fire in her backyard—and then watched as her house burned to the ground, Yahoo! News reports. "While cleaning up, she saw a snake, threw gasoline on the snake, lit the snake on fire,...

Man Banned From Yelling &#39;Bingo&#39;

 Man Banned From 
 Yelling 'Bingo' 
in case you missed it
Mar 23, 2013 1:30 PM CDT

Man Banned From Yelling 'Bingo'

Austin Whaley can't utter word for 6 months, says judge

(Newser) - Bingo is serious stuff. Or so Austin Whaley likely now knows. The 18-year-old Kentuckian has been barred by a judge from uttering the word "bingo" for six months after he falsely did just that last month. As the Kentucky Enquirer explains, Whaley was working security at a Covington bingo...

Cops: Mansion Caretaker Drank 52 Bottles of Rare Whiskey

Pittsburgh police charge him over century-old booze

(Newser) - Fifty-two bottles of well-aged whiskey disappeared between his lips, police said, and now it's time for a western Pennsylvania man to settle up. John Saunders, the former live-in caretaker of a Pittsburgh-area mansion, faces criminal charges for allegedly drinking more than $100,000 worth of the owner's whiskey....

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