Weird News Thread ....

[Jolie Rouge]

Too Funny! Sea Monster Mystery Solved

In 1734, a "most dreadful" serpent-like sea monster was spotted off the coast of Greenland. Four eyewitnesses wrote down their first-person accounts of what they saw that day in the North Atlantic. Fast forward nearly 275 years. Researchers from Scotland's St. Andrews University think they know what that sea monster really was.




Their academic opinion? The serpent was no monster.

It was--um...how shall we say this delicately?--an excited male whale, probably one of the last remaining Atlantic gray whales. The Edinburgh Evening News calls it the "unlikely tail of the rather excited whale."

"We think they saw a whale which was for some reason feeling very happy," research chief Charles Paxton told the Evening News. "It reared out of the water, fell on to its back, and they saw this thing that they assumed was a tail. You wouldn't expect to see a whale in this state on his own."


Sea monsters have long captured the imaginations of gullible human beings. And if it weren't for the fact that it's in Sea Life Park in Oahu, Hawaii as a tourist attraction, the brand new "wolphin" might be considered a sea serpent, too. The four-month old wolphin is part dolphin and part killer whale and shares genetic characteristics of both species. The wolphin's mother is also a wolphin and its father is an Atlantic bottlenose dolphin. It was born on Dec. 23 and is already the size of a one-year-old bottlenose dolphin.





[i]Now THIS is spooky.
Sea monster or monster hoax?
Amateur captures video of alleged lake beast
June 12, 1997


VAN, Eastern Turkey (WTN) -- Sightings of the Lake Van monster were first reported about two years ago, but further evidence was offered on Tuesday: bad quality amateur pictures of something long and dark moving in the middle of the lake.

After each sighting, professional camera crews have rented boats to try to capture the alleged beast clearly on film, but were unsuccessful each time.

The subject became an obsession for 26-year-old Unal Kozak, a Van University teaching assistant who has been talking to eyewitnesses since the first sightings.

Stationing himself at spots where most of the sightings were reported, Kozak says he saw and filmed the so-called monster on three occasions. Kozak also wrote a book on the creature, including drawings of the monster based on the descriptions of some 1,000 witnesses.

He says the creature is about 15 meters (49.5 feet) long. Public opinion is divided over whether the Lake Van monster is a clever hoax to attract visitors to a region that could use some tourist revenue.

The city of Van is in an underdeveloped area of eastern Turkey that for years has lost out to holiday resorts in the west of the country.

The pictures have been sent to Cambridge University for examination, and Jacques Cousteau, the world-famous marine biologist, is expected to visit and examine the lake.


Click to see amateur video of a sea monster spotted in eastern Turkey. http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9706/12/fringe/turkey.monster/index.html

[Jolie Rouge]

Originally Posted by Jolie Rouge

Another Capitol Hill Sex Scandal Exposed

Her name is Jessica Cutler. She's 24 years old, slim, and 5 feet-2 inches tall. She majored in international relations at Syracuse University. Until Friday, she worked in a low-level position on Capitol Hill, sorting mail for a senator. She's one of hundreds just like her--with one exception. Cutler has admitted to augmenting her $25,000 annual salary with lunch hour trysts with high-level federal employees that netted her as much as $400, reports The Washington Post. The only reason she got caught is she blabbed all about it in a Web blog that was the hit of the nation's capital since its inception on May 10. Soon it was revealed she worked in the office of Sen. Mike DeWine (R-Ohio). What choice did DeWine have? He fired his young staffer on Friday for "unacceptable use of Senate computers."

In the Internet sex diaries, Cutler called herself "Washingtonienne." She told Washington Post "Reliable Source" columnist Richard Leiby that she's not ashamed of her behavior. "Everything is true. It's so cliched. It's like, 'There's a slutty girl on the Hill?' There's millions of 'em," she said. "A lot of my friends are way worse than me."

Cutler admits it all. "If you don't like or care about your job, what's the big deal?" she told the Post in an exclusive interview. She said her explicit blog was a time-saver since it was faster to write the blog than to e-mail friends about her exploits. "It's amazing to me that people have any interest in such a low-level sex scandal. If I were sleeping with a congressman, maybe, but I'm a nobody and the people I'm writing about are nobodies."

What's next for Cutler? She wants to move to New York City. "They'll totally hire me if I say I got fired from my job on the Hill because of a sex scandal," she told Leiby.


Some tidbits from that blog:

--"Most of my living expenses are thankfully subsidized by a few generous older gentlemen. I'm sure I am not the only one who makes money on the side this way: How can anybody live on $25K/year??"

--About having six regular partners, she said, "You know, there's seven days a week."

--One of her partners was a married man who was "chief of staff at one of the gov agencies, appointed by Bush."

--She won't name names, but the blog identified each man with his initials.

--About the $400 lunch tryst: "I just took a long lunch with X and made a quick $400. When I returned to the office, I heard that my boss was asking about my whereabouts. Loser."

Humiliating D.C. Sex Scandal Goes Public

About a year ago, word surfaced that a low-level Senate aide named Jessica Cutler was supplementing her meager Capitol Hill paycheck by um...shall we say, entertaining some men in Washington who returned the favor with cash and gifts. To amuse her friends, Cutler posted detailed descriptions of her exploits on her personal blog. But as we all know, blogs are not personal. They are public. And this one became public, too. Now one of the men, identified in the blog only as "R.S." and once as "Rob" has outed himself by filing a graphically detailed invasion-of-privacy lawsuit in federal court. Ah, it's spring in Washington.

Now Washington Post "Reliable Source" gossip columnist Richard Leiby reports that "R.S." is Robert Steinbuch, a staff attorney for Sen. Mike DeWine (R-Ohio), the same senator for whom Cutler once worked sorting the mail. (Not surprisingly, when word of the blog became public last May, DeWine fired her.) Steinbuch, who is 37 and single, is suing Cutler for posting an intimate account of their brief sexual relationship on her "Washingtonienne" blog, notes the Post. (Cutler calls herself "The Washingtonienne.") He was one of six men about whom she wrote, although she has never identified any of them by name--only initials or first names.

Now this lawsuit confirms all the sizzling details of the blog, including spanking and hair pulling. So why is he suing? "It is one thing to be manipulated and used by a lover, it is another thing to be cruelly exposed to the world," Steinbuch's suit says. His claim: Cutler's blog created for him "humiliation and anguish beyond that which any reasonable person should be expected to bear in a decent and civilized society." Steinbuch is seeking unspecified monetary damages. Cutler now lives in New York City, and her kiss-and-tell book, "The Washingtonienne: A Novel," for which she reportedly earned $300,000, will be published in June.

When The Post's Leiby contacted Cutler for a comment, she only said, "Wow. It's been, like, my personal policy not to confirm or deny any of the people in the blog, and I'm sticking to that."

[Jolie Rouge]

Museum 'Iceman' Might Be Contaminated
By AIDAN LEWIS

ROME (AP) - Researchers suspect the corpse of a 5,000-year-old mummy frozen in the Italian Alps might have been contaminated by bacteria since its discovery in 1991, a doctor who cares for the body said Monday.

X-rays have shown bubbles in the bones that could be caused by bacteria, said Eduard Egarter Vigl, in charge of preserving the mummy at the South Tyrol Archaeological Museum in Bolzano, Italy.

The museum is trying to find local companies that can analyze the air in the sealed-off chamber where the mummy is kept to test for the presence of bacteria, Egarter Vigl said in a telephone interview.

He denied media reports that the bacteria could cause the disintegration of the Iceman, also known as Oetzi. But if bacteria are present, disinfection will be necessary to prevent possible damage to the man's remains, he said.


Egarter Vigl said the bubbles, which caused light patches to appear on Oetzi's skeleton, could also be caused by air entering through cracks in the mummy's skin and bones, which would present no risk to the mummy's survival.


German hiker Helmut Simon discovered Oetzi's well-preserved body during a 1991 hiking trip.


Oetzi is kept in an ``igloo'' made out of ice tiles to keep him in cold and humid conditions. Museum visitors can view Iceman through a small window.


Oetzi has provided researchers with a wealth of information about the late Neolithic Age, or 3,300 to 3,100 B.C.


He was carrying a bow, a quiver of arrows and a copper ax, prompting speculation that he was a hunter or warrior.


X-rays have revealed that Oetzi was wounded by an arrow, with the flint arrowhead remaining in his left shoulder.


Previous tests have shown that his last meals included venison, unleavened bread and some greens.


Egarter Vigl said the museum was also considering requests to carry out more research, including DNA tests, to discover further details of Oetzi's life.


http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/ns/news/...23.htm&sc=1501


On the Net:


South Tyrol Archaeological Museum: www.iceman.it



06/13/05 21:48

[Jolie Rouge]

Earth's big, hot cousin found around nearby star
By Deborah Zabarenko

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Earth's bigger, hotter planetary cousin may have been detected orbiting a star in our cosmic neighborhood, astronomers said on Monday.

The most Earth-like of all 155 so-called extrasolar planets found orbiting stars besides our sun, the newly unveiled planet is probably rocky like Earth, rather than big and gassy like Jupiter and most other extrasolar planets discovered in the past decade, the scientists said at a briefing.

"It took 150 observations of this star to glean the existence of this Earth-like planet," said planet hunter Geoffrey Marcy of the University of California, Berkeley. "This will definitely be one of our favorite stars from now on."

"It's a very unearthly world," said Jack Lissauer of NASA's Ames Research Center. "It's likely to be the first rocky planet orbiting a star like our sun."


"It's like Earth's bigger cousin," Paul Butler of the Carnegie Institution of Washington said in a statement accompanying the announcement. Butler is a member of the team that found the planet.


The new planet is the smallest extrasolar planet ever detected, with about 7.5 times the Earth's mass. Before this, the smallest planets found orbiting stars besides the sun were at least 15 times Earth's mass, making them more like distant, icy Neptune.


TOO HOT FOR LIFE


By contrast, this planet's surface is far too hot -- ranging from 400 to 700 degrees F (204 to 371 C) -- to support life as it is known on Earth.


While Earth orbits the sun at a distance of about 93 million miles, this extrasolar planet almost hugs its star, orbiting about 2 million miles from the star Gliese 876 in the constellation Aquarius, just 15 light-years from Earth.


A light-year is about 6 trillion miles, the distance light travels in a year. In astronomical terms, 15 light-years is right around the corner.


The new planet races around its star once every two Earth days or so, and has a radius about twice the size of Earth, the astronomers said. The star it orbits is about one-third Earth's mass.


Like dozens of other extrasolar planets detected over the past 10 years, this one was first discovered by the distinctive wobble its gravity exerts on the star it orbits. As it happened, this is the third planet circling that particular little star.


The two others are gas giants like Jupiter and orbit much farther out.


Astronomers have no direct proof the new planet is a space rock like Earth, but its low mass means it probably is not a giant gas planet like Jupiter, the scientists said.


Planet hunters have detected three other rocky planets outside our solar system, but all three orbit a pulsar -- the remnant of an exploded star -- so this is the only planet orbiting a normal star.


A team of scientists has known about the new planet for three years but wanted to confirm its theory it was a terrestrial planet before going public, Marcy said.


http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/ns/news/...8.htm&sc=romta


On the Net :

Images and more information are available online at http:/www.nsf.gov/news/.



06/13/05 15:38

[Jolie Rouge]

Archaeologists Find Hoard of Celtic Coins



AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) - Archaeologists have uncovered 17 ancient Celtic coins in a field in the south of the Netherlands, the first hoard of such coins found in the country.

Amsterdam's Free University excavated the site in April and will display the coins, which are made of silver and mixed with copper and gold, in the Limburgs Museum in the city of Venlo on Saturday.

They are estimated to date from 20-50 B.C., shortly after Julius Caesar began the Roman conquest of the region.

Leaders of local Germanic tribes ``probably used these coins to reward their followers for loyalty,'' researchers said.


Similar finds have been made in neighboring Belgium and Germany.



06/03/05 10:43

http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/ns/news/...02.htm&sc=1501

[Jolie Rouge]

Rare Nickel Sells for More Than $4 Million

By DAVID TIRRELL-WYSOCKI

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) - Not many people can retire on a nickel - unless it's a rare 1913 Liberty Head like the one that sold Thursday for $4.15 million.

It is the second-highest price ever reported paid for a rare coin.

Legend Numismatics, a coin dealership in Lincroft, N.J., bought it from collector Ed Lee of Merrimack, N.H. It is one of only five such nickels known to exist.

``Owning a 1913 Liberty Head nickel is unlike owning any other coin in the world,'' said Laura Sperber, co-president of Legend Numismatics. She called the 1913 Liberty Head the most famous of American rare coins.


The nickel will be on display through Saturday at a coin show in Long Beach, Calif. ``We are going to display it and enjoy the hell out of it,'' Sperber said.


Lee bought the coin from California sports agent Dwight Manley two years ago for nearly $3 million. At the time, he joked that he would be able to retire on the nickel.


Liberty Head nickels were minted from 1883 to 1912. ``Miss Liberty'' was replaced the following year by the Indian, or Buffalo, nickel.


But five 1913 nickels depicting ``Miss Liberty'' were minted illegally, possibly by a mint official. They were never put into circulation and were considered illegal to own for many years because they were not regular issue. The coins surfaced in the 1920s.


The old record for a 1913 Liberty Head nickel was $3 million, paid last year. The record for any rare coin is $7.59 million, paid in 2002 for a 1933 U.S. $20 gold piece.



06/02/05 17:35

http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/ns/news/...1735767528.htm

[Jolie Rouge]

Afraid of Dying?
A Startling Outcome

The people who are most afraid of dying don't make proper arrangements for their death, which ends up costing their families a lot more money than it would have if they had been a little more prepared.

Bottom line: Fear the reaper and it will hurt your wallet.

So say researchers from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, who have found that death and dying is not unlike any other consumer purchase. Those who are less anxious about the inevitable are more likely to make prearrangements for their death, including investigating the cost of burials, caskets and cemetery plots, and actually shop around for the best bargains, reports Reuters.

But those who wait until they are quite sick or old force their families to make all the arrangements after they have died. That leaves limited options and the very real possibility of having to spend a lot more money than they should. No one is denying that the fear of death is a pretty basic human characteristic. We're all anxious about death to some degree. But some of us are more anxious than others. And those who feel so much anxiety about death that they are unable to ever think about it, are the ones whose families pay a big price for it later.

Led by Steven Kopp from the University of Arkansas and Dr. Swinder Janda at Kansas State University, the team found that only a minority of the 305 people with an average age of 55 had made plans for their death. These folks were more likely to have done so if they were not too anxious about dying, especially if they were in good health.


You won't believe the most popular funeral songs!
http://channels.netscape.com/ns/musi...sic&floc=wn-np

So much for "Amazing Grace" or an age-old hymn sung to a melody composed by Chopin or Bach and played on a majestic pipe organ. Loved ones who are planning funerals today are opting for rock music and electric guitar riffs, according to a new poll of more than 45,000 people across Europe that was conducted by the digital TV station Music Choice.

Why? Music is part of our popular culture, and families like to play something they associate with the deceased. London's Times Online reports that the trend to choose popular tunes over classical music at funerals has been growing since the 1960s. So instead of "Abide With Me," the congregation will stand and join in a rousing version of Queen's "The Show Must Go On." Alan Slater of the National Association of Funeral Directors told the Times Online, "We live in a much more secular society, and as a result we have seen a change to music content at funerals."


The top 10 favorite funeral songs in Europe:

Queen's "The Show Must Go On"
Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven"
AC/DC's "Highway to Hell"
Frank Sinatra's "My Way"
Mozart's "Requiem"
Robbie Williams' "Angels"
Queen's "Who Wants to Live Forever"
The Beatles's "Let It Be"
Metallica's "Nothing Else Matters"
U2's "With or Without You"
Source: Music Choice

Choosing the music that will be played at your funeral is a way to express your personality one last time. "Wanting to share your most treasured musical gem with those you're leaving behind is the perfect way to sign off and leave a lasting impression," Music Choice music and marketing manager Simon George told the BBC News.

Call it the last song you'll never hear.

[Jolie Rouge]

Troops Battle 10-Foot Marijuana Plants

OTTAWA (Oct. 13) - Canadian troops fighting Taliban militants in Afghanistan have stumbled across an unexpected and potent enemy -- almost impenetrable forests of 10-feet-high marijuana plants.

General Rick Hillier, chief of the Canadian defense staff, said on Thursday that Taliban fighters were using the forests as cover. In response, the crew of at least one armored car had camouflaged their vehicle with marijuana. "The challenge is that marijuana plants absorb energy, heat very readily. It's very difficult to penetrate with thermal devices ... and as a result you really have to be careful that the Taliban don't dodge in and out of those marijuana forests," he said in a speech in Ottawa.

"We tried burning them with white phosphorous -- it didn't work. We tried burning them with diesel -- it didn't work. The plants are so full of water right now ... that we simply couldn't burn them," he said.

Even successful incineration had its drawbacks. "A couple of brown plants on the edges of some of those (forests) did catch on fire. But a section of soldiers that was downwind from that had some ill effects and decided that was probably not the right course of action," Hillier said dryly.

One soldier told him later: "Sir, three years ago before I joined the army, I never thought I'd say 'That damn marijuana'."


10/13/06 08:51 ET

http://articles.news.aol.com/news/_a...10%2e3&cid=936

[Jolie Rouge]

Fan restores 'Christmas Story' house
By JOE MILICIA, Associated Press Writer
Wed Nov 22, 4:54 PM ET

CLEVELAND - Ralphie Parker and Brian Jones know what it's like to want something.

For Ralphie, the object of desire was an official Red Ryder, carbine-action, 200-shot, range model air rifle. (Go ahead, say it, "You'll shoot your eye out, kid.") For Jones, the gotta-have-it item was Ralphie's house — the one in "A Christmas Story," the quirky film that's found a niche alongside holiday classics like "It's a Wonderful Life" and "Miracle on 34th Street."

Jones has restored the three-story, wood-frame house to its appearance in the movie and will open it for tours beginning Saturday. His hope is that it will become a tourist stop alongside the city's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and other destinations.

He's unsure whether he'll make enough money to cover his $500,000 investment, but as sure as a kid's tongue will stick to a frozen flag pole, he's committed to the project.

"I just want people to come and enjoy it as I have," said Jones, a 30-year-old former Navy lieutenant.

"A Christmas Story" wasn't a big hit when released in 1983 but repeat TV airings and, in recent years, a 24-hour run on TBS starting Christmas Eve have made its story of boy's quest to get a BB gun for Christmas as infectious as the bespectacled Ralphie's eager grin.

"It just kind of sets the mood. In the Jones household, it's on all day once the marathon comes on," said Jones, who's married with an 8-month-old daughter.

Jones first saw the movie in the late 1980s and he and his parents became fans.

When the San Diego resident's dream of a becoming a Navy pilot like his father was denied because of his eyesight, his parents sent him a package to lift his spirits. Marked "FRAGILE" on the outside, it contained a leg lamp his parents built to look just like the one received by Ralphie's father, who proudly displayed it in the living room window, boasting, "It's a major award!"

Jones' mom noted that he could probably make a business out of selling them. In 2003, he started doing just that.

"I tooled together 500 lamps in my 1,000-square-foot condo in San Diego and sold them all in the first year," Jones said.

And he's still making and selling them — $129.99 for the 45-inch model, $159.99 for the 53-inch "deluxe full size" leg lamp.

When the house from the film was put up for sale on eBay in December 2004, it seemed like destiny to Jones.

"I said, `Ooh, I gotta have that.'"

The auction price got up to $115,000. Jones, who shares Ralphie's unflinching enthusiasm, less than 20/20 eyesight and ability to speak at a breakneck pace, said he'd pay $150,000 if the owner stopped the bidding.

"It was mine. I sent him a deposit and flew out two days after Christmas just to make sure it wasn't a falling-down shack," Jones said.

He put in new windows and replaced the 111-year-old house's gray aluminum siding with mustard yellow painted wood and green trim that perfectly matches Ralphie's house.

Although only a couple interior shots were filmed there, Jones has recreated the '40s feel of Ralphie's home with a brown-and-white tile kitchen floor, a wide cast-iron sink in the kitchen, a claw-foot bathtub and, of course, a leg lamp in the window.

He also bought the house across the street — Ralphie runs past it in the film's opening scene — to serve as a museum and gift shop. Several original items from the film are on display, including the infamous snowsuit ("I can't put my arms down!") worn by Ralphie's brother, Randy.

The house is located in Cleveland's Tremont neighborhood, just a few minutes from downtown where the exterior department store shots were filmed at the former Higbee's.

The cooperation of the department store is what brought the filmmakers to Cleveland for the film based on author Jean Shepherd's stories of his upbringing in Hammond, Ind.

The house is well known in the neighborhood and neighbors like Marlene Childers have watched the house change owners and go through ups and downs over the years. She's excited about Jones' tribute — even if it means more cars and traffic.

"I love that story," she said.

Jones knows the feeling. And he says stepping onto Ralphie's old street makes him feel like he's in the movie.

Standing in front of the house holding a replica Red Ryder rifle, he discusses his future plans — which could include a nearby bed and breakfast — when, seemingly on a director's cue, a motorist passes, stops his car, rolls down the window and shouts, "You'll shoot your eye out, kid!"

___


On the Net:

http://www.redriderleglamps.com/

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061122/...as_story_house

[Jolie Rouge]

Thief goes fishing for bank deposits
43 minutes ago

Thief goes fishing for bank deposits - Yahoo! News

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - A thief used a hook and line not to snag fish, but to remove bags of cash from a bank's night deposit box, police stated.

Police would not say how much money they believe was taken, but think the thief made off with 11 deposit bags, Bloomington police Sgt. David Drake said.

An employee of the Fifth Third Bank branch called police Monday morning after noticing that there were far fewer deposit bags than usual, Drake said.

Authorities found the deposit box had been damaged, with one of the metal security pieces sheared off.

"It would've taken a lot of force to take that off," Drake said.

Next to the piece of broken metal, police found a dowel rod with fishing line and a hook.

Drake said authorities believe whoever broke into the deposit box dangled the hook and line into the box and fished out the deposit bags, one by one.

The bank did not have security cameras aimed toward the deposit box, police said.

___

Information from: The Herald-Times, HeraldTimesOnline.com

[galeane29]

Bus stop cookie scents scrapped
POSTED: 11:32 a.m. EST, December 6, 2006

Bus stop cookie scents scrapped - CNN.com

SAN FRANCISCO, California (AP) -- A marketing campaign to promote milk by outfitting city bus shelters with cookie-scented cardboard strips has crumbled.

City officials ordered CBS Outdoor, the company that holds the advertising contract for its bus shelters, to remove the adhesive strips Tuesday, just one day after they were put up as part of a "Got Milk?" campaign.

The Municipal Transportation Agency canceled the plan after some residents raised objections. "We got complaints," said MTA spokeswoman Maggie Lynch. "It is controversial." (Watch how ads cause a stir in San Francisco )

Some critics expressed concern over potential allergic reactions. Others complained the ads could be offensive to the poor and homeless who can't afford to buy sweet treats.

Scented oils were sandwiched between cardboard cards emblazoned with "Got Milk?" and affixed to shelter walls, in hopes that the smell of just-out-of-the-oven chocolate chip cookies would spark cravings for milk. The promotion was launched at five San Francisco bus shelters at a cost of about $30 per shelter


The smell of cookies would not make me crave milk, it would make me crave cookies.