Weird News Thread ....

[jaybird]

Marines, Navy recruit Joey, 7, by mistake
Associated Press
Jun. 12, 2003 07:31 AM


NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. - First the Marines came calling. Now the Navy wants Joey Crossman.

But is Joey ready? After all, he's only 7.

The name of the elementary school student mistakenly landed on military recruitment lists, most likely through a magazine subscription, and the military has been wooing him ever since.

In April, the Marines sent Joey a recruitment letter. Then came the Navy's invitation last week.

"We're just waiting for the Army and the Air Force," said Joey's mother, Kathy Crossman. "He's probably the most wanted 7-year-old in the country."

The Navy challenged Joey to "accelerate" his life.

"For every time someone said you couldn't do it. Or you don't have what it takes ... Prove them wrong," the letter said.

"I can assure you the United States Navy is not in the business of recruiting 7-year-olds," said Lt. Bill Davis, a spokesman for Navy Recruiting Command in Millington, Tenn. "Our minimal age is 17 with parental consent.

"But if he's got interest in the Navy and he wants to find out more, we'll help him. It has to start somewhere," Davis added.

If the Navy wants Joey, it may have to make some changes to accommodate his standard of living.

Joey toured the USS Yorktown during a family trip to South Carolina in April and wasn't impressed with the hard, impersonal bunks.

"The bathrooms they had weren't working," Joey said. "I just don't want to live on a ship."

[miccit]

Originally posted by Jolie Rouge
exactly.

Why don't ya get a job delivering the pizzas ?

That guy looks like the typical panhandler you see around downtown Seattle. I have never seen so many panhandlers in my entire life, and a lot of them are young. Young enough that they should definitely be able to find a job.

[jaybird]

Clay Aiken: I'm no catch, and cats are evil
Associated Press
Jun. 17, 2003 12:50 PM


NEW YORK - He might be on the verge of being a pop star, but Clay Aiken says he's no catch. Aiken tells "Rolling Stone" that he bites his toenails, has never been in love and hasn't broken anyone's heart.

Aiken also reveals his biological father was a violent alcoholic - and he thinks cats are Satan.

[jaybird]

Metallica wants military to stop using its songs to terrify Iraqis

Associated Press
Jun. 13, 2003 07:31 AM

Metallica's Lars Ulrich isn't happy that the U.S. military has reportedly used the group's music to terrify captured Iraqis.

Speaking in Europe, the drummer said he feels horrible about it.

According to VH1, he says if the Army just has to play loud music during interrogations, it should find something really grating like songs by the group Venom or by Norwegian death metal bands.

Ulrich is quoted as saying there's nothing he can do about Metallica's music being used.

"What am I supposed to do about it "get George Bush on the phone and tell him to get his generals to play some Venom?" he asked.

[jaybird]

Zellweger eating 20 donuts a day
Knight Ridder Newspapers
Jun. 11, 2003 06:49 PM


Eat as much as you can every day and avoid exercise? Sounds like a dream job to us.

Renee Zellweger says she's eating 20 donuts a day in a bid to pile on almost 30 pounds for the sequel to "Bridget Jones's Diary," reports Ananova.com.

The svelte actress has six weeks to go from a size 6 to a size 14 before playing the neurotic character in "Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason." She also shuns any form of exercise during her 4,700 calorie-a-day diet.

Zellweger, who will earn $22.5 million for the film, added: "One doughnut doesn't do a thing - you've got to eat 20 a day for five weeks to get results."

She put on 20 pounds in three months for the original movie. It took months of running and yoga to lose the weight.

Her diet also includes a Big Mac with large fries, scones with gravy and a high-fat milkshake for breakfast. Lunch is pizza, peanut butter and chips, followed by doughnuts, and dinner is a giant plate of spaghetti and meat sauce with potatoes and butter.

[Jolie Rouge]

Clay Aiken says he's no catch. Aiken tells "Rolling Stone" that he bites his toenails

Many types of feces featured in exhibit
Canadian Press
Jun. 18, 2003 01:10 PM

..... "We were curious to see if we could build this exhibition that would draw in a larger public through this controversy, have them come in and discover this work for themselves and, finally, see how this really controversial exhibition is really about the human condition," said St-Laurent.

"I think that will knock people over."

Might just be the stench !

[Widgetsx3]

NEW DELHI, India (AP) - A 9-year-old girl was married to a stray dog in a ceremony attended by more than 100 guests in a village in India's eastern state of Bengal as part of a ritual intended to ward off a bad omen, newspapers reported Thursday.

The girl, Karnamoni Handsa, had to be married quickly to break an evil spell, according to the beliefs of her Santhal tribe in the remote village of Khanyan, the Hindustan Times said.

Karnamoni's tooth had grown on her upper gum, which Santhals consider a bad omen.

The girl's father, Baburam Handsa, a poor sharecropper, could not afford the expenses of marrying his daughter to a boy, so he saved money by making a street dog the groom on June 11, the paper reported.

Other news media also reported on the ritual, which does not interfere with the girl's life. She suffers no stigma and is free to marry later. She doesn't even need to divorce the dog.

[Jolie Rouge]

Ya' "scooped" me Widget ! I was just going to post that one !

On to my second choice ....


Sex Shop Chain Wins Fight Over Job Ads

LONDON (Reuters) - Sex shop chain Ann Summers, which brought sex toys and saucy lingerie to the masses, won a legal battle on Wednesday when a judge ruled that government job centers must post its help-wanted ads. They had refused to publicize the company's vacancies because of a government policy barring businesses associated with the sex industry from advertising with state employment centers.

"I think this is a fantastic victory both for Ann Summers and for common sense," the chain's chief executive Jacqueline Gold said afterwards.

A High Court judge ruled that the ban was unlawful, saying that the employment exchanges of Jobcenter Plus had lost sight of their primary purpose of helping people find work. "It (Jobcenter Plus) paid insufficient regard to its legal obligation to assist employers to find vacancies," Justice Newman ruled.

Ann Summers has become well known in Britain with 82 stores around the country selling raunchy clothes and sex toys with provocative names like "Rampant Rabbit," "Nipple Ripples" and "Jiggle Balls."

In defending its ban, Jobcenter Plus said that advertising Ann Summers vacancies could cause embarrassment to job seekers. But the chain countered that many other clothing and department stores in Britain also sold lingerie, vibrators and novelty sex items and were not considered to be part of the sex industry.



06/19/03 09:54

[Widgetsx3]

lol...Jolie...you scoop me all the time....

[Widgetsx3]

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bawling babies have ruined films for countless moviegoers but now one New York cinema is filling an entire theater with them in an effort to win the business of stir crazy parents who haven't gone out in years.

About 100 urban mothers, and a few stay-at-home dads, checked their designer strollers at the door earlier this week to enjoy a rare baby-friendly flick.

Scores of infants cooed and screeched as the lights dimmed, and one hallway in the Loews Cineplex quickly morphed into a diaper-changing room. But the parents, some of whom had not been to a movie theater in months, gazed intently at the screen, oblivious to the din around them.

"Here, if he makes noise, he's just one of many," stay-at-home dad Michael Zorek said of his son, Jeremy. "As a parent, this is something you never get to do."

"It's even more for us than it is for the babies," said Myong Caiafa, mother of a 6-month-old boy.

Moms and dads aren't the only ones who benefit from the introduction of weekly play dates at the movies. Loews has begun courting New York's stroller set to boost ticket sales on weekdays, when theaters are empty.

"Three months out of the womb, we're already creating a new generation of moviegoers," said John McCauley, vice president of marketing for Loews.

Parents pay full-price for their tickets, but babies are free. The theater, on 34th Street in Manhattan, shows popular first-run movies geared toward parents' tastes.

The "Reel Moms" program will be rolled out into 15 other U.S. markets by this fall, with help from child-rearing Web site urbanbaby.com.

****Not really weird...but kinda....

[Jolie Rouge]

good marketing !