News of the Weird / Pro Edition (January 18)
Weapon of Self-Destruction, Plus Window Captures Felon, Witnesses Vomit, and the Urban Caveman
News of the Weird/Pro Edition
Exceptionally Inexplicable Dispatches from Last Week
January 18, 2010
(datelines January 9-January 16; links correct as of January 17)
He Just Can't Stop: Scott Ritter was a leading voice against the invasion of Iraq after first being so tough as a UN weapons inspector that Saddam kicked him out of the country. In 2002 he began warning us that the "evidence" of WMDs that was so impressive to Vice President Cheney was actually trifling. In early 2003, though, Ritter was picked up for talking sex with an underage girl, his second (maybe third) such bust. He stayed off the radar until last week, when they got him again, for vividly ejaculating for a webcam during an online chat (again with an underage girl, i.e., police officer). (No conviction on any of these arrests has been reported, though.) New York Times /// TheSmokingGun.com
Transportation Security Administration says it's one of those unfounded myths going around (An 8-year-old on the "no fly" list! Ha!). That's technically true, but Michael Hicks, 8, has been on the "selectee" screening list since he was 2 and regularly gets patted down at airports. His last-used boarding pass showed 4 random screenings. There are at least 1,600 Michael Hickses in America, presumably with the same problem. (Official response: We're working on it; after all, it's only been 8½ years since 9-11.) New York Times
So many radio waves dance through the air these days that they overwhelm the aluminum foil. Arthur Firstenberg is one of the electromagnetically-sensitive who live in New Mexico for its relative isolation, but the menace is growing, and Firstenberg filed a $530,000 lawsuit against a neighbor (and former friend) because he gets nausea, vertigo, diarrhea, aches, pains, insomnia, and impaired vision from her wi-fi and cell phone. (Earlier, she had compassionately started to phase out her fluorescent lights.) He's been sleeping in his car all winter. Santa Fe Reporter /// Wikipedia.org
America's War Against Soldiers: Illinois National Guard Spec. Billy Miller is awaiting court martial for "child pornography"—actually family snapshots his mom in Galesburg sent him of a young female relative in a swim suit. The same pictures appear on the family's website and Facebook page. Associated Press via ChicagoBreakingNews.com
One of America's more prominent delusional patriots, Ed Brown of New Hampshire, got a 37-year sentence for his combination tax-evasion and 2007 stockpiled-weapons standoff with U.S. marshals (he had 60,000 rounds on hand). He and Mrs. Brown (who got 35 years) had vowed to die before paying taxes on any of her income from the previous decade. Root of all evil, says Brown: the Freemasons! Associated Press via Comcast.net
Meanwhile, on the Left Tail of the Bell Curve . . .
Travis Copeland, 19, bolting from a courtroom in Waukegan, Ill., tried lowering his shoulder and crashing through a window to freedom, but the window is bulletproof, and he staggered away and fell to the floor. Here's a frame from the surveillance video showing Travis about to hurt himself. Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, Ill.)
Four men who allegedly pulled off a home invasion in Oakland, Calif., were caught in the getaway when they accidentally wedged themselves into a narrow space between two buildings. KTVU (Oakland)
Bible-Belt Honesty: Clarence Burnett, 25, sitting for a polygraph test for a sheriff's deputy's job in Pensacola, Fla., admitted that he has possessed child pornography. His interview turned out badly, but at least he passed the polygraph. (Bonus: Last August, Max Hinton, 21, was sentenced to 30 years in prison for having child pornography after he admitted the fact during an interview to be a police officer in Montgomery, Ala.) Press-Register (Mobile) [with mug shot of an honest man] /// Birmingham News
Recurring Themes: (1) People still commit robbery just for attention, going through the crime pro forma but then immediately giving up and waiting for the police. (2) People still try to sell their young kids in the underground economy (or trade, say, for a gun). KPTV (Portland, Ore.) /// KSAZ-TV (Phoenix)
Angst, Confusion, Crisis
Stephen Gough, the UK's "naked rambler," was released from prison on December 17th after his latest public frolic, but, according to a news report last week, he then immediately ripped his clothes off and was back behind bars "within seconds." He vows never to wear clothes in public again. The prosecutor responded, Well, then, maybe you'll never be in public again. STV News (Glasgow)
Marian Chadwick, 57, owner of a Dallas-area boutique, fended off a gunpoint robbery by wagging her finger at the thug and commanding him, "in the name of Jesus, you get out of my store. I bind you by the power of the Holy Spirit." Following more wagging, he walked away, cursing. Dallas Morning News
Can't Possibly Be True: Here's a genuine shack, five by seven, no door, no electricity, no plumbing, nothing. Asking price: £40,000 ($65,000). It sits on a small plot of land on a British beach overlooking the North Sea. Daily Telegraph
"I Look Like a Man, I Talk Like a Man, I Am a Man": That's alleged South African drug lord Fadwaan "Fat" Murphy, who was widely feared around Cape Town until his recent arrest. During booking, Murphy's strap-on penis fell off, causing him to admit he was born a hermaphrodite. The Times (Johannesburg)
From a Details.com interview with "Markus," the first licensed male prostitute in America (in Nevada): "t's more of a civil rights thing." "[T]his is the first time in the economy of the United States that a male has actually stood up and said, 'I want to do this for a living.' And be protected under law to do it. It's just the same as when Rosa Parks decided to sit at the front instead of the back." Details.com
A new ordinance from the city council in Glasgow, Scotland, requires that kids visiting restaurants be within sight of their parents at all times. So far (until they think it through), "kids" means age 15 and under. Awkward for restroom breaks. The Times (London)
Below The Fold
Vomiting Witnesses Disrupt Murder Trial Edmonton Sun (Edmonton, Alberta)
Sequoyah Hills Neighbors Oppose Man's Plan for Music Studio, Sperm Bank at Home [LINK FIXED] Knoxville News-Sentinel
Floor Collapses at Swedish Weight Watchers Clinic The.Local.com (Stockholm)
Eyewitness News
Pat Robertson might have had a different world history teacher than the rest of us. Even before the earthquake and the Duvaliers wrecked Haiti, there was . . . Satan. Christian Broadcasting Network via YouTube
In Izmir, Turkey, a sheep gave birth to a stillborn calf, which somehow produced a mutant head that eerily resembles a human's. Agence France-Presse via News.com.au /// Technabob.com [Not Safe For Stomachs]
Someone With a Worse Sex Life Than You
Kyle Knupple, who owns KUSA Aviation of Beaumont, Tex. [by the way, there's also a Kyle Knupple of Galveston, Tex.; he's not the one], is the object of a lawsuit by his former long-time office manager, who said she's finally had enough of Kyle's prolific and often theatrical masturbation around the office. Houston Press
Bonus: Scott Ritter and Kyle Knupple were not the only self-servers dominating the news last week. Basim Salim Abdul-Rahim, 41, of Seattle, is in trouble with police for several well-lubed displays of himself at his local bar. Arrestee Larry Booker, 55, of Kansas City is well-known by the local police for flashing body parts liberally adorned with baby oil. And here's a success story from Shanxi province, China, where one reformed onanist was singled out for helping in the government's campaign to locate and shut down Internet porn. Said he: "[W]hen I was in middle school, I used to get grades that were good enough to enter a really good university. It is because of the influence of pornography on the Internet that I was only able to go to junior college." SeattlePI.com /// Kansas City Star /// BBC News
Your Weekly Jury Duty
[In America, you're presumed innocent . . . until the mug shot is released]
Gary Mortensen, 26, pulled over in a traffic stop near Eugene, Ore., might just be an innocent victim of deputies' profiling. The Oregonian
Bonus: Aron Johnson, 46, of Scott Bar, Calif., might have side issues, but the question is whether he's guilty of threatening to kill a local good Samaritan. Siskiyou Daily News (Yreka, Calif.)
More Things To Worry About
An elaborate marijuana farm was busted in Lenoir County, N.C. The plants were grown inside a school bus, but the bus happened to have been buried completely underground (with backhoes), with a garage built on the land over it. WITN-TV (Greenville, N.C.)
Urban Cavemen: A few fitness buffs avoid foods that were unavailable before the invention of agriculture (just meat, a few vegetables and fruits); they fast for long periods and work out just before meals, to mimic hunter-gatherers who didn't eat unless they found food. They do specific exercises to build sprinting and bounding abilities so they can escape ferocious, now-extinct animals. (Remaining issue: Real Paleolithics' lives maxed out at about age 30.) New York Times
And For Further Review . . .
Your Editor has notified you of the "Breatharian" movement before [NOTW 610, 10-15-1999; NOTW 999, 3-25-2007], which is the philosophy that humans don't really need "food" because they can train themselves to survive on only sunlight and oxygen. That there aren't many Breatharians around is either self-explanatory (they've all starved to death) or an indication that Breatharianism is easily abandoned. Now comes Mr. Wiley Brooks, assuming the mantle and vaulting to a higher plane. Wiley promises to teach you the secret to eternal life through Breatharianism, but as you'd expect, immortality is expensive: $100,000 cash ($10,000 down, immediately). (It's still cheaper than ridding yourself of thetans, via Scientology.) (Bonus: Brooks even reveals his bank account and routing numbers.) Breatharian.com
Newsrangers: John Ellwood, Sarah Del Collo, Steve Dunn, Stephen Taylor, Tom Burnett, Sam Gaines, Ken Wilder, Tom Barker, Pete Randall, Jim Rehmann, and H.Thompson, and the News of the Weird Board of Editorial Advisors
News of the Weird/Pro Edition
Exceptionally Inexplicable Dispatches from Last Week
January 18, 2010
(datelines January 9-January 16; links correct as of January 17)
He Just Can't Stop: Scott Ritter was a leading voice against the invasion of Iraq after first being so tough as a UN weapons inspector that Saddam kicked him out of the country. In 2002 he began warning us that the "evidence" of WMDs that was so impressive to Vice President Cheney was actually trifling. In early 2003, though, Ritter was picked up for talking sex with an underage girl, his second (maybe third) such bust. He stayed off the radar until last week, when they got him again, for vividly ejaculating for a webcam during an online chat (again with an underage girl, i.e., police officer). (No conviction on any of these arrests has been reported, though.) New York Times /// TheSmokingGun.com
Transportation Security Administration says it's one of those unfounded myths going around (An 8-year-old on the "no fly" list! Ha!). That's technically true, but Michael Hicks, 8, has been on the "selectee" screening list since he was 2 and regularly gets patted down at airports. His last-used boarding pass showed 4 random screenings. There are at least 1,600 Michael Hickses in America, presumably with the same problem. (Official response: We're working on it; after all, it's only been 8½ years since 9-11.) New York Times
So many radio waves dance through the air these days that they overwhelm the aluminum foil. Arthur Firstenberg is one of the electromagnetically-sensitive who live in New Mexico for its relative isolation, but the menace is growing, and Firstenberg filed a $530,000 lawsuit against a neighbor (and former friend) because he gets nausea, vertigo, diarrhea, aches, pains, insomnia, and impaired vision from her wi-fi and cell phone. (Earlier, she had compassionately started to phase out her fluorescent lights.) He's been sleeping in his car all winter. Santa Fe Reporter /// Wikipedia.org
America's War Against Soldiers: Illinois National Guard Spec. Billy Miller is awaiting court martial for "child pornography"—actually family snapshots his mom in Galesburg sent him of a young female relative in a swim suit. The same pictures appear on the family's website and Facebook page. Associated Press via ChicagoBreakingNews.com
One of America's more prominent delusional patriots, Ed Brown of New Hampshire, got a 37-year sentence for his combination tax-evasion and 2007 stockpiled-weapons standoff with U.S. marshals (he had 60,000 rounds on hand). He and Mrs. Brown (who got 35 years) had vowed to die before paying taxes on any of her income from the previous decade. Root of all evil, says Brown: the Freemasons! Associated Press via Comcast.net
Meanwhile, on the Left Tail of the Bell Curve . . .
Travis Copeland, 19, bolting from a courtroom in Waukegan, Ill., tried lowering his shoulder and crashing through a window to freedom, but the window is bulletproof, and he staggered away and fell to the floor. Here's a frame from the surveillance video showing Travis about to hurt himself. Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, Ill.)
Four men who allegedly pulled off a home invasion in Oakland, Calif., were caught in the getaway when they accidentally wedged themselves into a narrow space between two buildings. KTVU (Oakland)
Bible-Belt Honesty: Clarence Burnett, 25, sitting for a polygraph test for a sheriff's deputy's job in Pensacola, Fla., admitted that he has possessed child pornography. His interview turned out badly, but at least he passed the polygraph. (Bonus: Last August, Max Hinton, 21, was sentenced to 30 years in prison for having child pornography after he admitted the fact during an interview to be a police officer in Montgomery, Ala.) Press-Register (Mobile) [with mug shot of an honest man] /// Birmingham News
Recurring Themes: (1) People still commit robbery just for attention, going through the crime pro forma but then immediately giving up and waiting for the police. (2) People still try to sell their young kids in the underground economy (or trade, say, for a gun). KPTV (Portland, Ore.) /// KSAZ-TV (Phoenix)
Angst, Confusion, Crisis
Stephen Gough, the UK's "naked rambler," was released from prison on December 17th after his latest public frolic, but, according to a news report last week, he then immediately ripped his clothes off and was back behind bars "within seconds." He vows never to wear clothes in public again. The prosecutor responded, Well, then, maybe you'll never be in public again. STV News (Glasgow)
Marian Chadwick, 57, owner of a Dallas-area boutique, fended off a gunpoint robbery by wagging her finger at the thug and commanding him, "in the name of Jesus, you get out of my store. I bind you by the power of the Holy Spirit." Following more wagging, he walked away, cursing. Dallas Morning News
Can't Possibly Be True: Here's a genuine shack, five by seven, no door, no electricity, no plumbing, nothing. Asking price: £40,000 ($65,000). It sits on a small plot of land on a British beach overlooking the North Sea. Daily Telegraph
"I Look Like a Man, I Talk Like a Man, I Am a Man": That's alleged South African drug lord Fadwaan "Fat" Murphy, who was widely feared around Cape Town until his recent arrest. During booking, Murphy's strap-on penis fell off, causing him to admit he was born a hermaphrodite. The Times (Johannesburg)
From a Details.com interview with "Markus," the first licensed male prostitute in America (in Nevada): "t's more of a civil rights thing." "[T]his is the first time in the economy of the United States that a male has actually stood up and said, 'I want to do this for a living.' And be protected under law to do it. It's just the same as when Rosa Parks decided to sit at the front instead of the back." Details.com
A new ordinance from the city council in Glasgow, Scotland, requires that kids visiting restaurants be within sight of their parents at all times. So far (until they think it through), "kids" means age 15 and under. Awkward for restroom breaks. The Times (London)
Below The Fold
Vomiting Witnesses Disrupt Murder Trial Edmonton Sun (Edmonton, Alberta)
Sequoyah Hills Neighbors Oppose Man's Plan for Music Studio, Sperm Bank at Home [LINK FIXED] Knoxville News-Sentinel
Floor Collapses at Swedish Weight Watchers Clinic The.Local.com (Stockholm)
Eyewitness News
Pat Robertson might have had a different world history teacher than the rest of us. Even before the earthquake and the Duvaliers wrecked Haiti, there was . . . Satan. Christian Broadcasting Network via YouTube
In Izmir, Turkey, a sheep gave birth to a stillborn calf, which somehow produced a mutant head that eerily resembles a human's. Agence France-Presse via News.com.au /// Technabob.com [Not Safe For Stomachs]
Someone With a Worse Sex Life Than You
Kyle Knupple, who owns KUSA Aviation of Beaumont, Tex. [by the way, there's also a Kyle Knupple of Galveston, Tex.; he's not the one], is the object of a lawsuit by his former long-time office manager, who said she's finally had enough of Kyle's prolific and often theatrical masturbation around the office. Houston Press
Bonus: Scott Ritter and Kyle Knupple were not the only self-servers dominating the news last week. Basim Salim Abdul-Rahim, 41, of Seattle, is in trouble with police for several well-lubed displays of himself at his local bar. Arrestee Larry Booker, 55, of Kansas City is well-known by the local police for flashing body parts liberally adorned with baby oil. And here's a success story from Shanxi province, China, where one reformed onanist was singled out for helping in the government's campaign to locate and shut down Internet porn. Said he: "[W]hen I was in middle school, I used to get grades that were good enough to enter a really good university. It is because of the influence of pornography on the Internet that I was only able to go to junior college." SeattlePI.com /// Kansas City Star /// BBC News
Your Weekly Jury Duty
[In America, you're presumed innocent . . . until the mug shot is released]
Gary Mortensen, 26, pulled over in a traffic stop near Eugene, Ore., might just be an innocent victim of deputies' profiling. The Oregonian
Bonus: Aron Johnson, 46, of Scott Bar, Calif., might have side issues, but the question is whether he's guilty of threatening to kill a local good Samaritan. Siskiyou Daily News (Yreka, Calif.)
More Things To Worry About
An elaborate marijuana farm was busted in Lenoir County, N.C. The plants were grown inside a school bus, but the bus happened to have been buried completely underground (with backhoes), with a garage built on the land over it. WITN-TV (Greenville, N.C.)
Urban Cavemen: A few fitness buffs avoid foods that were unavailable before the invention of agriculture (just meat, a few vegetables and fruits); they fast for long periods and work out just before meals, to mimic hunter-gatherers who didn't eat unless they found food. They do specific exercises to build sprinting and bounding abilities so they can escape ferocious, now-extinct animals. (Remaining issue: Real Paleolithics' lives maxed out at about age 30.) New York Times
And For Further Review . . .
Your Editor has notified you of the "Breatharian" movement before [NOTW 610, 10-15-1999; NOTW 999, 3-25-2007], which is the philosophy that humans don't really need "food" because they can train themselves to survive on only sunlight and oxygen. That there aren't many Breatharians around is either self-explanatory (they've all starved to death) or an indication that Breatharianism is easily abandoned. Now comes Mr. Wiley Brooks, assuming the mantle and vaulting to a higher plane. Wiley promises to teach you the secret to eternal life through Breatharianism, but as you'd expect, immortality is expensive: $100,000 cash ($10,000 down, immediately). (It's still cheaper than ridding yourself of thetans, via Scientology.) (Bonus: Brooks even reveals his bank account and routing numbers.) Breatharian.com
Newsrangers: John Ellwood, Sarah Del Collo, Steve Dunn, Stephen Taylor, Tom Burnett, Sam Gaines, Ken Wilder, Tom Barker, Pete Randall, Jim Rehmann, and H.Thompson, and the News of the Weird Board of Editorial Advisors
Comments
"Mr. Wiley Brooks [...] promises to teach you the secret to eternal life through Breatharianism, but as you'd expect, immortality is expensive: $100,000 cash ($10,000 down, immediately). [...] Brooks even reveals his bank account and routing numbers."
Well I guess he'll be subsisting on fresh-air and sunlight real soon now!
Well I guess he'll be subsisting on fresh-air and sunlight real soon now!
Posted by Dumbfounded on 01/18/10 at 08:07 AM
Wiley Brooks. "Brooks" wouldn't happen to be pronounced "Coyote," would it?
Posted by TheCannyScot in Atlanta, GA on 01/18/10 at 08:57 AM
War Against Soldiers Any wonder why recruitment is so low?
Sheep Boy As it's common knowledge around WU that I live in this section of the world I'll just not say anything about this particular story as I may be, unwittingly, talking about some acquaintance or other. 😜
Jury Duty
Mortensen: Why was he pulled over? No mention here of any reason to search his car.
Johnson: Not Guilty! This guy is so far past sane I'd rather hold the idiot that stopped to pick-up anyone who looked like this!
Sheep Boy As it's common knowledge around WU that I live in this section of the world I'll just not say anything about this particular story as I may be, unwittingly, talking about some acquaintance or other. 😜
Jury Duty
Mortensen: Why was he pulled over? No mention here of any reason to search his car.
Johnson: Not Guilty! This guy is so far past sane I'd rather hold the idiot that stopped to pick-up anyone who looked like this!
Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 01/18/10 at 09:06 AM
ritter- i guess his wmd isn't hidden.
tsa-of course they aren't going to admit just how incompitant they are.
emf- it seems to be a mental problem rather than a physical one.
u.s. soldier- what the hell is wrong with the this guy's commanding officers? it would maqke more sense to charge the tsa guys with child molestation for patting down the 8 yr old in the above story. pretty soon anyone who is in trouble for anything will get charged with kiddy porn for their childrens bathtime pictures in albums in the house. just an extra charge to throw in there.
tax evasion- these guys with the militias all claim taxes are illegal. they're all a bunch of nuts, and usually (although it's not clear either way in this case) they are racists as well.
bullet proof glass 1 idiot criminal 0
stuck between buildings- they're guys, they're used to overestimating the size of things.
lie detector test- even if they weren't pedophiles they clearly are not smart enough to be cops.
burgulars- in search of 3 hots and a cot same with the guy who won't remain clothed in public.
hermorphodite- most of the time these people are unable to reproduce as either sex. clearly this guy is a guy if his testes produce viable sperm. his vagina was a short dead end tunnel according to his description(paraphrasing) so any female parts wereen't fully formed. it sounds like his mom decided she wanted a daughter rather than him being assesed for what he really was.
pat robertson- a right wing nut and we have plenty of proof already, just another nail.
sheeple- disturbing.
masturbation- just a shout out-GUYS STOP JACKING OFF IN PUBLIC! NOBODY WANTS TO SEE THAT!!!
jury duty1- guilty look at his eyes.
jury duty2- guilty of something somewhere i'm sure, look at his face.(scary)
urban cavemen- just a way to make low carb and exercise sound new and exciting.
breatharians- haven't all these nuts starved yet?
tsa-of course they aren't going to admit just how incompitant they are.
emf- it seems to be a mental problem rather than a physical one.
u.s. soldier- what the hell is wrong with the this guy's commanding officers? it would maqke more sense to charge the tsa guys with child molestation for patting down the 8 yr old in the above story. pretty soon anyone who is in trouble for anything will get charged with kiddy porn for their childrens bathtime pictures in albums in the house. just an extra charge to throw in there.
tax evasion- these guys with the militias all claim taxes are illegal. they're all a bunch of nuts, and usually (although it's not clear either way in this case) they are racists as well.
bullet proof glass 1 idiot criminal 0
stuck between buildings- they're guys, they're used to overestimating the size of things.
lie detector test- even if they weren't pedophiles they clearly are not smart enough to be cops.
burgulars- in search of 3 hots and a cot same with the guy who won't remain clothed in public.
hermorphodite- most of the time these people are unable to reproduce as either sex. clearly this guy is a guy if his testes produce viable sperm. his vagina was a short dead end tunnel according to his description(paraphrasing) so any female parts wereen't fully formed. it sounds like his mom decided she wanted a daughter rather than him being assesed for what he really was.
pat robertson- a right wing nut and we have plenty of proof already, just another nail.
sheeple- disturbing.
masturbation- just a shout out-GUYS STOP JACKING OFF IN PUBLIC! NOBODY WANTS TO SEE THAT!!!
jury duty1- guilty look at his eyes.
jury duty2- guilty of something somewhere i'm sure, look at his face.(scary)
urban cavemen- just a way to make low carb and exercise sound new and exciting.
breatharians- haven't all these nuts starved yet?
Posted by Patty in Ohio, USA on 01/18/10 at 06:16 PM
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