World-Class Checkers, World-Class Toilets
and the Morning Edition of Chuck's News of the Weird Daily for Monday, December 1, 2008
He played checkers for hours a day and wrote books on strategy
(Note: This is not a story from The Onion.) Richard Fortman passed away earlier this month, leaving a legacy as one of the world's great authorities on checkers (7-volume handbook; six-time Illinois state champ). He was even a two-time world postal checkers champion, which is exactly what it suggests, which is players mailing each successive move to each other by U.S. Mail, so that one game lasts for months. Yes, there are grandmasters and "historical" openings and endgames. New York Times
Comments 'checkers_champion'
A new U.S. record for reverse-lying
The six people convicted in connection with a 1989 murder in Beatrice, Neb., were recently exonerated by DNA evidence, even though five of them had confessed. The hapless suspects had given it up partly out of aggressive police questioning, partly out of peer pressure from their co-"conspirators," partly out of the fact that they were just slow. But it goes to show ya. Anyway, the story's been out for a coupla weeks, but this link goes to a story Saturday on how one shrink helped gain the suspects' trust and eased them into remembering how they committed such a horrible crime. Omaha World-Herald
Comments 'false_confessions'
Warm up a cell right now for this 5-year-old because it's just a matter of time
The kid was being so bad on the school bus that they kicked him off for five days, and his dad gave him some tough love by refusing to drive him to school but, rather, making him walk the whole 2½ hours back and forth every day of the suspension. Come the following Monday, suspension lifted, back on the bus, lesson learned! Um, no. Exactly three stops after picking the kid up, the driver had to kick him off again. Northern Territory News (Darwin, Australia)
Comments 'incorrigible_kid'
Your Daily Losers
Just during the last few days, four people accidentally shot themselves: a home invader wielding a shotgun, a fella using his waistband as a holster (yep, got himself in the "groin"), another fooling around with friends with an "unloaded" gun, and, er, a police chief giving his daughter a gun safety lesson. Austin American-Statesman /// Bakersfield Californian /// WBBM Radio (Chicago) /// Kentucky Post
Comments 'shot_themselves'
Your Daily Jury Duty
[no fair examining the evidence; verdict must be based on mugshot only]
From Friday's weekly collection at The Smoking Gun (meaning, you must pass judgment without knowing the, y'know, technical detail of exactly which crime or crimes he's charged with, but that shouldn't be a problem). TheSmokingGun.com
Comments 'dailyjury_081201'
More Things to Worry About on Monday
Women (all the women) in two neighboring villages in Papua New Guinea made a pact 10 yrs ago to end the constant fighting between the villages' warriors, in the only way they knew how: post-natal abortion of all boys (no warriors, no war). Daily Mail (London)
Latest on super-advanced Japanese toilet technology: scanner to detect the gender of the person approaching the throne (and thus to automatically raise, or lower, the seat); measure your body-fat ratio while you're on the pot (Bonus: Story has narrative on how cleaning commodes is respectful work in Japan). BBC News
Sounds Like a Joke: An appeals court in France refused to block the sale of a voodoo doll (with pins) in the likeness of President Sarkozy, but it did order the seller to attach a notice to the product warning the apparently intellectually-overrated French that the doll "constitutes an attack on the personal dignity of Mr. Sarkozy." Associated Press via Yahoo
Comments 'worry_081201'
Comments on More Things to Worry About on Monday?
He played checkers for hours a day and wrote books on strategy
(Note: This is not a story from The Onion.) Richard Fortman passed away earlier this month, leaving a legacy as one of the world's great authorities on checkers (7-volume handbook; six-time Illinois state champ). He was even a two-time world postal checkers champion, which is exactly what it suggests, which is players mailing each successive move to each other by U.S. Mail, so that one game lasts for months. Yes, there are grandmasters and "historical" openings and endgames. New York Times
Comments 'checkers_champion'
A new U.S. record for reverse-lying
The six people convicted in connection with a 1989 murder in Beatrice, Neb., were recently exonerated by DNA evidence, even though five of them had confessed. The hapless suspects had given it up partly out of aggressive police questioning, partly out of peer pressure from their co-"conspirators," partly out of the fact that they were just slow. But it goes to show ya. Anyway, the story's been out for a coupla weeks, but this link goes to a story Saturday on how one shrink helped gain the suspects' trust and eased them into remembering how they committed such a horrible crime. Omaha World-Herald
Comments 'false_confessions'
Warm up a cell right now for this 5-year-old because it's just a matter of time
The kid was being so bad on the school bus that they kicked him off for five days, and his dad gave him some tough love by refusing to drive him to school but, rather, making him walk the whole 2½ hours back and forth every day of the suspension. Come the following Monday, suspension lifted, back on the bus, lesson learned! Um, no. Exactly three stops after picking the kid up, the driver had to kick him off again. Northern Territory News (Darwin, Australia)
Comments 'incorrigible_kid'
Your Daily Losers
Just during the last few days, four people accidentally shot themselves: a home invader wielding a shotgun, a fella using his waistband as a holster (yep, got himself in the "groin"), another fooling around with friends with an "unloaded" gun, and, er, a police chief giving his daughter a gun safety lesson. Austin American-Statesman /// Bakersfield Californian /// WBBM Radio (Chicago) /// Kentucky Post
Comments 'shot_themselves'
Your Daily Jury Duty
[no fair examining the evidence; verdict must be based on mugshot only]
From Friday's weekly collection at The Smoking Gun (meaning, you must pass judgment without knowing the, y'know, technical detail of exactly which crime or crimes he's charged with, but that shouldn't be a problem). TheSmokingGun.com
Comments 'dailyjury_081201'
More Things to Worry About on Monday
Women (all the women) in two neighboring villages in Papua New Guinea made a pact 10 yrs ago to end the constant fighting between the villages' warriors, in the only way they knew how: post-natal abortion of all boys (no warriors, no war). Daily Mail (London)
Latest on super-advanced Japanese toilet technology: scanner to detect the gender of the person approaching the throne (and thus to automatically raise, or lower, the seat); measure your body-fat ratio while you're on the pot (Bonus: Story has narrative on how cleaning commodes is respectful work in Japan). BBC News
Sounds Like a Joke: An appeals court in France refused to block the sale of a voodoo doll (with pins) in the likeness of President Sarkozy, but it did order the seller to attach a notice to the product warning the apparently intellectually-overrated French that the doll "constitutes an attack on the personal dignity of Mr. Sarkozy." Associated Press via Yahoo
Comments 'worry_081201'
Comments on More Things to Worry About on Monday?
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