Weird News Thread ....

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Rival Granny Beauty Contests Up in Court


Aug 6, 10:53 am ET

ROME (Reuters) - Italy's TV viewers have been captivated this summer by wisecracking, dancing grannies in a hit show that aims to find the country's coolest woman over 65 -- but they could be deprived of a nail-biting grand finale.
The founder of the "Miss Over" beauty pageant for older women says the TV program stole his idea and on Tuesday asked a Milan court to stop the show's decider going on air.

"The format is almost exactly the same as the 'grannies' category in our event. We came up with this concept 11 years ago," Elio Pari told Reuters, saying potential candidates had been seduced away from his annual pageant by the lure of TV lights.

TV station Canale 5 created a sensation when it launched the "Velone" show, which replaces the sexy girls in skimpy bikinis Italians are used to with fully-dressed grandmothers.

The station, owned by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's Mediaset company, said the program was an original idea and had nothing to do with Miss Over.

Velone is a twist on Italy's standard TV filler of semi-clad girls shimmying about the set between celebrity interviews. But the senior showgirls have a fuller repertoire -- dancing, telling jokes and answering questions about their lives.

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Locusts Plunge Town Into Darkness


Aug 6, 10:48 am ET

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - A swarm of locusts has forced residents of an Inner Mongolia town into taking drastic measures to stop the insects from settling on surrounding pastures and grasslands, officials said.
Residents of the Chinese border town of Erenhot are maintaining a blackout at night as electric lighting tends to attract the insects.

The Yangcheng Evening News reported Tuesday that the locusts -- which arrived in the region in June -- were "like snow falling from the sky."

Crushed insects blanketed the roads of the remote town, the newspaper said, and the swarm had already engulfed more than 11 million hectares of Inner Mongolia's grasslands.

"Locusts like well-lit places and people turned off their lights so the bugs won't fly into their homes," Zhang Zhuoran, section chief of Inner Mongolia Grassland Plant Protection Station, told Reuters Wednesday.

"The affected area is almost all grassland. The locusts have hit about 10 percent of Inner Mongolia's grassland but the situation is under control," he added.

[Jolie Rouge]

Down the drain

Mike Tyson: Millions of dollars gone on diamonds, limos, rugs
Posted: Tuesday August 05, 2003 6:06 PM


NEW YORK (AP) -- A diamond necklace worth as much as some houses. More than $300,000 in limousine rides. Sixty thousand dollars worth of rugs.

Mike Tyson's Manhattan bankruptcy filing lays out the surprising ease with which the former heavyweight champion burned through hundreds of millions of dollars during his career.

Tyson, 37, now has pegged much of his hope for financial resurrection on a lawsuit against Don King, according to the filings. "There's no question that the lawsuit could potentially be the largest asset of his estate," Tyson attorney Debra Grassgreen said.

Tyson became the youngest heavyweight champ at 20, grossing an estimated $300 million in the ring over the years. He is suing his former promoter for $100 million. The boxer describes the litigation as part of his "substantial intangible assets" in a filing that traces the arc of his career beginning with the words, "I am a professional boxer and a former heavyweight champion of the world."

It goes on to recount his rape conviction, the 1997 bout when he bit Evander Holyfield's ears, and alleged financial mismanagement by King, whose spokesman did not return a telephone call seeking comment.

The filing catalogues numerous claims against Tyson, including millions of dollars in back taxes, lawsuits, child-support payments and more spending on luxury goods than many people make in a lifetime.

Tyson, for example, owes $308,749.60 to CLS Transportation, a limousine company that charges about $100 an hour for the eight-person stretch limos that Tyson favors, the company's chief operating officer, Leon Reitzenstein, said Tuesday.

The debt has been incurred since Tyson's loss to Lennox Lewis in Memphis, Tennessee, last year, Reitzenstein said. "He has been with us for quite some time. He is a good client. We have no reason to believe that he'll leave us hanging," Reitzenstein said.

Tyson filed for Chapter 11 protection Friday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York.

Grassgreen said there are so many lawsuits filed by and against Tyson that it's nearly impossible to accurately describe his current financial status. "It's very difficult to tell what the actual assets and liabilities are," Grassgreen said, although both categories almost certainly are in the tens of millions of dollars.

Tyson's debts are largely the doing of former managers and associates who mishandled his money, said his spokeswoman, Raymone Bain. "Mike Tyson's personal expenditure has been far exaggerated," Bain said. "What has been expended on his behalf is triple, quadruple what Mike Tyson has personally spent."

Tyson is optimistic that he will be able to reorganize and pay his debts, Bain said. "It's going to require some real work on his part," said Sandy Ain, attorney for Tyson's ex-wife Monica Turner. "It's clear that he has eroded an astounding amount of money over recent years."

Included in the "astounding" category is Tyson's purchase last year of a 40-inch white gold necklace with 80 carats worth of diamonds from a Las Vegas jewelry emporium. The tab: $173,706.05.

"We've developed very good relations so I don't believe he'll stiff me with it," said Mordechai Yerushalmi, owner of The Jewelers. "Compared to all the purchases he's made with me over the years, it's very little."

[Jolie Rouge]

Police Hunt Naked Hiker


LONDON (Reuters) - Worried police are searching for a naked rambler who has been enjoying the sights along a famous British walking trail wearing only a floppy hat and a pair of hiking boots, the Times newspaper reported Tuesday.

The man has startled other ramblers on several occasions in the past fortnight during his walks in the Yorkshire Dales in northern England, where he has been seen at several points on the 270-mile Pennine Way.

During one sighting, the rambler -- described as in his late 30s, of athletic build and sporting an all-over tan -- was reported to have said a cheerful "good afternoon" to a woman.

On another occasion he obligingly covered up, temporarily, after a male passer-by told him to put some clothes on.


Acting Chief Inspector Tadeusz Nowakowski, who is leading the hunt, said the mystery rambler could face charges of outraging public decency.


"These incidents might be quite tame, but the police are taking them seriously due to the distress they have clearly caused to the public," the Times quoted Nowakowski as saying.


"Imagine if your wife was stuck up on her own in the Dales, having her sandwiches and a bit of a nap when suddenly this man comes bumbling around the corner," Nowakowski said.



08/05/03 14:11

[Jolie Rouge]

Stolen Monster Deer May Be Back Home
By DAN NEPHIN

KNOX, Pa. (AP) - The owners of a monster buck named Goliath with some 50 to 60 tips on its antlers believe they have the male deer back nearly four years after it was stolen.

While a representative of a deer farm where a large buck was found a week ago isn't conceding that the animal is the same one, Goliath's owner, Rodney Miller, says he's sure it's his buck.

Deer experts said some massive bucks have sold for more than $500,000.

Four members of the Pennsylvania Deer Farmers Association who were familiar with Goliath came across a massive deer while on a scouting trip last week. They took a photo and contacted Miller, he said.


``I knew from the face of the animal in the picture that it was my deer without even looking at the antlers,'' Miller said Tuesday at his Wild Bunch Ranch deer farm about 60 miles north of Pittsburgh.


The deer was found at the White Oak Whitetail Deer Farm, about 30 miles west of Miller's ranch. Miller sued Jeffrey Spence, owner of the farm, and obtained a temporary injunction that gave him possession of the deer last Wednesday until it can be determined whether the animal is Goliath.


``It hasn't been established that that is the Millers' deer, first and foremost, and second, if it is the Millers' deer, then it came into (White Oak's) possession in the proper manner,'' said Troy Harper, Spence's attorney.


Goliath has a tattoo on his ear and a microchip in his tail. Arrangements were being made to have the microchip read.



08/06/03 23:08

[Jolie Rouge]

Glad to see ya Widget; thought I might be on my own for a while ...

[Jolie Rouge]

Trained NYC Hawks Attack Chihuahua
By LARRY McSHANE

NEW YORK (AP) - Trained hawks employed to keep pigeons from making a mess on visitors in a midtown park have been grounded because one of the birds mistook a Chihuahua as its lunch.

An 18-inch hawk swooped down and gouged the diminutive pooch with one of its talons while the dog was nosing around in the bushes of Bryant Park, located behind the landmark New York Public Library.

The hawk was quickly separated from the pooch Tuesday afternoon. A park employee flagged down a cab so the dog's owner could take it to a veterinarian, said Richard Dillon, vice president of security for Bryant Park.

The dog owner asked that her identity not be released.


The program, which aims to scare pigeons out of the park, could be finished. A final decision is expected by the end of the week.


``I sincerely believe the bird mistook it for a rat because it was in the shrubbery,'' said Thomas Cullen, the falconer hired to run the anti-pigeon program.


The hawk, named Galan, was taken to Cullen's headquarters in Goshen, N.Y.


The Bryant Park Restoration Corp. picked up the vet's bill, Cullen said at a news conference with another of the sharp-taloned birds, Starbuck, perched on his left hand.


Daniel Biederman, executive director of the Bryant Park group, said the hawk program has been a success since it was started in April, with pigeon infestation down 50 percent and fewer complaints from visitors.


However, city Parks Department officials called for its end.


``We place the safety of park users, including their pets, over any minor inconvenience that may be caused by pigeons,'' said spokeswoman Megan Sheekey.


Some park visitors disagree.


``I don't think this should be done away with because of one misstep,'' Ward Miller, a lawyer from Glen Ridge, N.J., said of the hawks while taking his daily walk in Bryant Park. ``This is a great idea. It's better than the alternatives, like poison.''


On the Net:


Bryant Park: http://www.bryantpark.org/



08/06/03 22:55

[Jolie Rouge]

Public Aghast as Kittens Fed Alive to Snakes


OSLO (Reuters) - Norwegian kittens are in mortal danger from pet snakes for whom a rat just doesn't seem filling enough.

A reptile expert said on Wednesday that cat owners, who hoped kittens they had to give away would go to a good home, were outraged to find that some were ending up as dinner for pythons and other snakes kept illegally as pets.

"Some people get a kick out of seeing a kitten being eaten alive by a snake," biologist Kees Ekeli, director of the Bergen Aquarium in western Norway, told Reuters. "It's cheap and it's a good size for a medium-sized snake."

"It's heart-breaking for the people who have feelings for their kittens."


Sometimes, advertisements offering kittens in local papers stipulate: "Not for snake food."


It is illegal in Norway to keep snakes as pets and to use live animals as feed. A nine-foot-long snake usually eats a big rat about every three days.


Ekeli said owners of snakes, mostly pythons, frequently call a reptile center he runs for advice on how to look after pets who seem only to want fresh kitten for dinner.


"We advise snake owners to train their pets to eat dead mice or rats," he said -- typically by heating up the rat or the mouse in a microwave and shaking it to make it look alive.



08/06/03 11:01

[Jolie Rouge]

$50,000 to Learn Who's 'So Vain'


NEW YORK (Reuters) - Carly Simon finally will reveal who the mysterious subject of her 1972 mega-hit "You're so Vain" is to raise money for a Martha's Vineyard charity, but to only one person for a winning bid of $50,000,

Actor Warren Beatty has long led the speculation over who was the subject of the song that hit No. 1 in December 1972, though Stones lead singer Mick Jagger and her husband at the time, James Taylor, have been mentioned as contenders.

On the NBC "Today Show" on Tuesday, NBC Sports President Dick Ebersol said he had won the bidding at Monday's Possible Dreams Auction to benefit the Community Services of Martha's Vineyard, where Simon makes her home.

Ebersol said he would ante up $50,000 to learn Simon's secret but the songstress is requiring him to sign a confidentiality agreement.


Simon, 58, once dated movie star Beatty, and Jagger sang back-up on the song.


Ebersol said Simon told him he could offer a clue as to the identity of the mystery man. "The letter 'E' is in the person's name."



08/06/03 10:55

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lol.....nope not at all Jolie....Just hadn't seen anything that caught my eye....and then when I did, you beat me to it....I am here and watching out for oddball stories....

[Jolie Rouge]

Lindbergh's Letters Said to Reveal German Affair
By Erik Kirschbaum

BERLIN (Reuters) - A German woman says she and her brothers are the illegitimate children of Charles Lindbergh, saying they only found out after stumbling on more than 100 love letters from the legendary aviator, and confronting their mother.

Astrid Bouteuil, 41, told Tuesday's Bild newspaper she and her brothers Dyrk and David Hesshaimer, 44 and 36, had promised not to reveal the secret about their famous father while her mother, Brigitte, was still alive.

"She never told us who our father was," said Bouteuil, who lives in France. "But when I was 21, I found love letters and old pictures at home. I asked my mother about them. When I guessed it was Lindbergh, she started crying."

Brigitte Bouteuil died two years ago.


Lindbergh, who died in 1974, was the first man to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean from New York to Paris in 1927.


The three Germans first revealed their secret in an interview with the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper on Saturday.


Marlene White, executive director of the Lindbergh Foundation in Anoka, Minnesota, said on Tuesday that Lindbergh's family in the United States had nothing to say about the matter.


Lindbergh biographer A. Scott Berg told Reuters: "I think it is chronologically and geographically possible for Charles Lindbergh to have had a relationship with Brigitte and her children and based on what has been read to me from the letters I would say the letters sound genuine."


"But for Charles Lindbergh to have started a secret second family, keeping it from his known wife and children, seems highly unlikely ...."


Bouteuil told Bild that she and her brothers were not seeking anything from Lindbergh's estate. "We don't have any financial demands," she said. "We only want to be recognized as his children. We are all part of the same family."


Their birth certificates list their father as "unknown."


She said Lindbergh had met their mother, a hat maker, in 1957 when he was 55 and she was 32, and that she and her brothers had known him as an occasional visitor to their home in Munich.

The children knew him as "Mr. Careu Kent." He spoke only English and performed magic tricks for them such as making coins disappear, David Hesshaimer said. He also told them of his travels to Africa and the exotic animals he had seen.


The relationship lasted until Lindbergh died 17 years later.


Bild published pictures of the children, now middle-aged. Dyrk's dimpled chin and features bear a striking likeness to Lindbergh.
Bouteuil went to the Sueddeutsche Zeitung with her story eight months ago. She presented 112 letters from Lindbergh.


Wary of a hoax, the newspaper first gave one of the letters to Bavaria's state crime office for a handwriting analysis. The agency said it was likely Lindbergh had written it.


One, dated 1958, appears to be a response to pictures that Brigitte had sent him of the recently born Dyrk. "Isn't he a wonderful baby!" it reads. "And naturally you deserve great credit for it, although I deserve a little bit too. You couldn't have done it on your own!"


In the United States, Lindbergh had six children with his wife, Anne Morrow Lindbergh. The kidnapping and murder of his infant son in 1932 sparked a media frenzy.


Lindbergh's renown as an aviator was eclipsed for a time by controversial statements in support of Nazi Germany and against U.S. involvement in World War II, but he remained one of the most famous personalities of the first half of the 20th century.


(Additional reporting by Larry Fine, New York newsdesk)
{Reuters did not see the letters and could not independently verify their authenticity. **


08/05/03 18:56