What do you do when your normally green and lush grazing pastures become over-run with mysterious worms? For the fifty herdsmen in northwest China, there is no answer but to move. The worms are one inch long, green, with thorns and black stripes, and are packed up to 3,000 per square meter. Samples of the worms have been sent to Xinjiang Agricultural University for identification, but so far the usual methods of dealing with such an invasion (chickens, ducks and other birds) has not been successful. The Story.
Every day the news brings me reports of some horrible locale outside my safe and beloved New England, where people are subject to floods, volcanoes, earthquakes--and "worm lizards"...?!?
Yes, it's not bad enough that the poor citizens of a certain region in Brazil have to battle flooding, they also have to contend with the evil Worm Lizard!
Like 218,000 others across a swath of northern Brazil three times the size of Alaska, the neighbors have fled the worst rainfall and flooding in decades, braving newly formed rivers teeming with anacondas, alligators and legless reptiles known as "worm lizards" whose bite is excruciating.
But apparently he's just as scary. A woman from Abbeville, Louisiana has filed a lawsuit against Wal-Mart because the local store allowed their pet Nutria to run loose without alerting the shoppers. Rebecca White was so freaked out when she spotted Norman that she jumped back and her cart rolled over her foot, breaking two bones. This begs a number of questions... What's a Nutria? It's a large furry rodent (pictured, right). Why was one running around the store? Why did the employees name him Norman? And what the heck did she have in her cart that was so heavy? You can read more about it here.
I'm sure there's a reason for this service and people who know about breeding cows can probably tell us. In the meantime, we're left to wonder why the internet needs a cow embryo directory. If the advertisement on the left side of the directory page is accurate, you can buy one for a mere $175.00. But I assume you would need something to keep it in...
At Ada Barak's spa in northern Israel, slithering snakes don't give people the creeps. They give deep-tissue massages. For several years, Barak has been entertaining visitors to her carnivorous plant farm by passing around samples of the small reptiles her plants will consume. When her visitors claimed that holding the serpents was soothing, she got an idea, and thus, the Slithering Spa was born. Barak claims that the heavier king and corn snakes produce a kneading sensation as they move across your body. Want to get your own Snake Massage? Time magazine has more information.
It's definitely a recurring theme in weird news since an example of it was included in my "name that list, #15" (things people smuggle by stuffing down their pants). However, I've never seen a picture of it before. But the Smoking Gun has obtained a photo of a California man, Sony Dong, who was caught trying to illegally smuggle 14 live Asian songbirds into the country by hiding them beneath his pants.
Ever wondered what human flesh would taste like but you've never been trapped in the Andes due to a horrific plane crash? Then this cute little robot has the answer. Designed by researchers in Japan, the Winebot is supposed to be for sorting different types of wine, cheese and hors d'oeuvres. But when a reporter placed his hand against the sensor, he was declared to be "bacon". Anyone care to confirm?
Paul Di Filippo
Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over thirty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. He has recently begun blogging on many curious topics with three fellow writers at The Inferior 4+1.