Strange Stuff: Weird Crimes, Crazy Laws, and Other Interesting News Stories - Page 143

Jan 19, 2014 9:45 AM CST

Cow-Pee Soda: Miracle Cure?

Hindu sect says so

(Newser) - An Indian Hindu group says it has a cure for some "70 to 80 incurable diseases ," but it might not appeal to everyone. The miracle medicine is cow urine—specifically, pee from a virgin female taken before sunrise, LiveScience reports. The head of a cow shelter in northern...

Your Pee Could Be
Fertilizer of the Future

Jan 18, 2014 2:10 PM CST

Your Pee Could Be Fertilizer of the Future

Team collects 3K gallons of nutrient-rich stuff

(Newser) - Nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium are among plants' key needs—and your urine contains all of them. That's why Vermont's Rich Earth Institute is studying the use of human urine as fertilizer, Modern Farmer reports. There's already plenty of evidence that it works. Yahoo cites one study, earlier...

Surprised Nun Gives Birth

Jan 18, 2014 10:36 AM CST

Surprised Nun Gives Birth

Insists she had no idea she was pregnant, names kid after pope

(Newser) - In a not-so surprising development, a woman in Italy has named her newborn son after the pope. In a more surprising development, she happens to be a nun. The 31-year-old in Reiti went to the hospital complaining of stomach pains and reportedly rejected the doctors' crazy suggestion that she was...

Target Thief's Getaway Vehicle: Skateboard

Jan 18, 2014 8:28 AM CST

Target Thief's Getaway Vehicle: Skateboard

Video shows him making off with a TV in Florida

(Newser) - It's another headline-grabbing theft at Target , but this one is decidedly more low-tech. Someone in Clearwater, Florida, used a skateboard to make his great escape after stealing a TV, reports the Tampa Bay Tribune . In fact, surveillance video shows him skateboarding inside the store with the 32-inch flat-screen. One...

Trespasser Gets Stuck in
Pipe at NJ Water Plant

Jan 17, 2014 1:30 PM CST

Trespasser Gets Stuck in Pipe at NJ Water Plant

Spokesperson says guy broke in and somehow got stuck

(Newser) - We're guessing this guy learned his lesson: Rescuers today freed a trespasser stuck in a pipe at a New Jersey water-treatment plant. United Water spokesman Rich Henning says the man broke into the plant that treats and pumps water for the township of Manalapan. Workers heard cries for help...

Hollande Critic
Unloads Tons
of Manure at
Parliament

Jan 16, 2014 5:01 PM CST

Hollande Critic Unloads Tons of Manure at Parliament

Police catch the protester in the act

(Newser) - Francois Hollande probably didn't think his week could get much worse. The French president had to acknowledge his affair with an actress, a growing mess that sent his other girlfriend to the hospital . And now? Manure, and lots of it, dumped in his name outside the French parliament in...

Would-Be Crooks
Stymied by Door,
Stick Shift

Jan 16, 2014 12:19 PM CST

Would-Be Crooks Stymied by Door, Stick Shift

Manual transmission and push-not-pull doors are difficult concepts

(Newser) - Two stories this week of would-be criminals thwarted by ... themselves:

In Massachusetts, a delivery driver was delivering a food order when three men, one with a knife, approached him. They took the food and his keys, but when they got into his car ... "not one of them knew how

...

Parrot Saves
Sleeping Couple
From Fire

Jan 15, 2014 5:29 PM CST

Parrot Saves Sleeping Couple From Fire

Pearly woke up his human pals in the middle of the night

(Newser) - NBC Miami has a tale of a hero parrot credited with saving the lives of a Fort Lauderdale couple who were sound asleep during a house fire. "What we heard was a screeching like we've never heard before," Laurajean Niesel tells the Sun-Sentinel . "We thought...

Thieves Try to Steal
Sigmund Freud's Ashes

Jan 15, 2014 1:29 PM CST

Thieves Try to Steal Sigmund Freud's Ashes

Police still looking for crematorium burglars

(Newser) - Daddy issues? Police are hunting burglars who tried and failed to steal the ashes of Sigmund Freud from a London crematorium. Police say a 2,300-year-old Greek urn containing the remains of Freud and wife Martha was severely damaged in a break-in at Golders Green Crematorium around the first of...

London Romans
Piled Skulls in Pits

STUDY SAYS

Jan 15, 2014 6:34 AM CST

London Romans Piled Skulls in Pits

Some may have been gladiators' remains

(Newser) - Slob Romans living in ancient London, it seems, just left decapitated heads lying around in open pits for years, a study suggests. "It is not a pretty picture," a researcher tells the Guardian . "At least one of the skulls shows evidence of being chewed at by dogs,...

Nepal's Retired
Goddesses to
Get Pensions

Jan 14, 2014 1:45 PM CST

Nepal's Retired Goddesses to Get Pensions

Girls lose their exalted status at puberty

(Newser) - It can be tough making the transition from living goddess to mere mortal, so the Nepalese government is here to help. The nation's retired Kumaris will soon get the equivalent of about $160 a month, reports the Economic Times . Kumaris, for the uninitiated, are young girls chosen to be...

China to Build Titanic
Replica—That 'Hits' Iceberg

Jan 14, 2014 11:07 AM CST

China to Build Titanic Replica—That 'Hits' Iceberg

Because experiencing a shipwreck simulation sounds ... fun?

(Newser) - If, for some reason, you've ever wished you could have experienced what it was like to go down on the sinking Titanic ... well, soon that strange dream can come true. A theme park being built in China will feature a life-sized replica of the doomed ship, and it will...

Guy Fatally Stabbed
Over Chess: Cops

Jan 13, 2014 1:40 PM CST

Guy Fatally Stabbed Over Chess: Cops

Boarder admits to killing landlord over game

(Newser) - Chess is, apparently, serious business for some people—deadly serious. Police in Ireland believe a man who was found stabbed to death at his home early yesterday was murdered after a disagreement regarding a chess move during a late-night game, Sky News reports. Thomas O'Gorman, a 39-year-old researcher and...

Seahawks Fans Literally Cause Earthquake—Again

Jan 13, 2014 10:05 AM CST

Seahawks Fans Literally Cause Earthquake—Again

Deja vu indeed: Happens as same player makes touchdown against same team

(Newser) - Seahawks fans jumped to their feet Saturday night during Marshawn Lynch's electrifying touchdown run against the New Orleans Saints—and their screaming and stomping caused a small earthquake. That sentence was true on Jan. 8, 2011 ... and on Jan. 11, 2014. In the weirdest kind of deja vu, seismologists...

Pimp Stomps Client, Sues Nike for $100M

Jan 13, 2014 1:53 AM CST

Pimp Stomps Client, Sues Nike for $100M

He says 'dangerous' Air Jordans should carry a warning label

(Newser) - It's only January but the most bizarre lawsuit of the year may already have been filed: A pimp in Portland, Ore., is suing Nike for $100 million for failing to warn the public that its Air Jordan shoes could be used as a dangerous weapon, reports the Oregonian . Sirgiorgio...

Woman Finds Wrong Body
in Mother's Casket

Jan 12, 2014 5:43 PM CST

Woman Finds Wrong Body in Mother's Casket

Daughter believes she was cremated in Ottawa by mistake

(Newser) - A Rhode Island woman wants answers after discovering the wrong body in a casket that should have contained her mother, who died unexpectedly while on vacation in St. Maarten. Lisa Kondvar, of Warwick, and her family discovered another woman's body in the casket at a New Jersey funeral home...

New Pill Could
Give Adults
Perfect Pitch

New Pill Could Give Adults Perfect Pitch

And make adult brains more receptive to knowledge in general

(Newser) - Annoyed that your shower singing hasn't quite wowed the neighbors? One day you may be able to improve your pitch—and even acquire perfect pitch—with little more than a trip to the drugstore, NPR reports. That's because researchers are studying a "mood-stabilizing" drug that enables an...

Dog Tests
Positive
for Pot,
Cocaine

Jan 10, 2014 4:49 PM CST

Dog Tests Positive for Pot, Cocaine

New Mexico owner fighting to get her Lab back

(Newser) - A New Mexico woman whose dog tested positive for cocaine and marijuana is fighting to get the canine back after surrendering the Labrador retriever because of a $2,000 vet bill. The Albuquerque Journal reports that 1-year-old Maddie showed "strong positive cocaine" and active marijuana traces in urine tests...

Dead Man Wakes Up,
Startles Morgue Workers

Jan 10, 2014 1:42 PM CST

Dead Man Wakes Up, Startles Morgue Workers

Hospital jumped the gun a bit

(Newser) - Kenya adds to the fine tradition of dead-person-wakes-up stories—like this , this , this , and this , to name just a few—with this gem: Guy ingests insecticide, goes to the hospital, is declared dead by doctors, and gets sent to the morgue. Guy then wakes up and scares the bejeezus out...

New Year's Fun Knocks Alaska Town Off the Internet

Jan 10, 2014 12:27 PM CST