News of the Weird - this just in!

[STEVE G]

(Reuters) - Thomas Wray Kidd is being reunited in North Carolina with a piece of jewellery and a part of his past he thought was gone forever.

It is his Class of 1962 ring, gold with a red gemstone, from Jackson High School in Jackson, North Carolina.

Kidd, now 67 and retired, has not seen the ring since he gave it to his girlfriend in nearby Roanoke Rapids half a century ago, and she accidentally dropped it into her toilet mid-flush.

The girlfriend, Dianne Shearin, was aghast. Her father had a plumber pull the toilet and snake the pipes. "The plumber finally told them, 'Hey, that ring is gone,'" Kidd recalled in an interview.

It was not gone for good. When a storm pipe collapsed in Roanoke Rapids recently and a repair crew responded, a foreman named Dwayne Johnson found the long lost ring. It was just a few blocks from where it had gone into the sewer in 1960.

Johnson took the ring to a local jewellery store, where jeweller Steve Brantley spent three hours cleaning it back to a bright gold.

The ring bore the initials TWK. With Johnson's consent, a hunt began to find the owner. There weren't many possibilities. Only 25 students graduated from Jackson High in 1962, a few years before the school closed.

In the city of High Point, Kidd got a call from a former classmate who told him about the ring. Then Brantley called, offering to mail it or deliver it personally when he visited family in High Point.

"He said, 'Just wait and bring it to me,' which I'm glad he did because I want to see the look on his face when he's reunited with his ring after 51 years," Brantley told Reuters.

Kidd is impressed with Johnson's honesty in getting the ring back to its owner. He is also happy he will once more be able to give it to the woman he calls his "soul mate and best friend."

Despite the toilet mishap, Kidd married Dianne Shearin in 1964. They're still married today.

[Nereus]

Man ordered to remove offensive number plates

http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/ne ... er-plates/

A man from Chesterfield in the UK was ordered to remove a naughty number plate by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) even though he bought it from its website.

Alan Clarke, 49, paid £399 ($A600) for the plate BO11 LUX and fitted it to his new Range Rover.

His friends and family found the cheeky plate hilarious but the laughter was short-lived when, six weeks later, Clarke received a letter from the DVLA ordering him to remove it.

The organisation said the plate was "causing offence" and threatened Clarke with a fine.

"It's absolutely ludicrous. I saw it on the DVLA website last November and thought it would be a bit of fun to put it on my new car," the Daily Mail reports.

"[The DVLA] are threatening to criminalise me. But they are a government agency and they put the plate on their own website for anyone to buy so it's 100 per cent legal. I can't imagine why anyone would be offended by it."

Clarke said he thought it was the police who may have reported the plate to the DVLA.

A spokesman for the DVLA said: "DVLA tries to identify combinations that may cause offence, and on the rare occasion where potentially offensive numbers slip through the net, steps are taken to withdraw the registration number.

"This particular registration plate has been withdrawn, therefore it is an offence for the driver to still be displaying it. He would receive a refund for the plate."

If you still haven't figured out why it's offensive, think bollocks.

[Nereus]

Dead body lay in busy US pool for days

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=8268179

A preliminary investigation shows "murky and cloudy" water in a public swimming pool helped conceal the body of a drowned Haitian woman for two days while people swam there, authorities said.

The Bristol County district attorney's office said on Friday the body of Marie Joseph was submerged at the bottom of the 3.6-metre-deep end of the pool from Sunday afternoon until Tuesday evening.

Joseph, 36, was a hotel housekeeper in Newport, Rhode Island. She was from Haiti and had five children. Her body was discovered after it floated to the surface shortly before some youngsters sneaked into the pool for a clandestine swim on Tuesday night.

The medical examiner's office has determined the manner of her death to be accidental and the cause to be asphyxiation by drowning.

The probe shows the water in the pool south of Boston was murky from the time the pool opened for the season last Saturday. Visibility tests conducted on Wednesday revealed a diver couldn't be seen at a depth of up to 1.2 metres (four feet) below the surface of the water.

"Although this office is releasing this preliminary information regarding the case today, the investigation into the death, the circumstances surrounding it and the delay in discovering the body is ongoing," the district attorney's office said in a statement.

The death at Veterans Memorial Pool surprised and troubled swimmers, residents and public officials.

The Department of Conservation and Recreation, which runs the pool, immediately closed all 30 deep-water swimming pools and began reviewing safety and operational procedures.

Department of Conservation and Recreation Commissioner Edward Lambert said that 11 pools were set to reopen on Friday after safety inspectors found they met all safety guidelines and their staff were well-trained. Additional pools will reopen once their reviews are complete.

But Bristol County pool will not reopen anytime soon because its entire staff has been suspended. City officials also have said that they will not issue a permit to reopen until state officials assure them that swimmers will be safe there.
....................................................................................................................
Puts a new meaning on "pool cleaning"

But what sort of idiots would actually swim in a pool in that condition?

[STEVE G]

(Reuters) - Thai election officials manning voting booths were ordered on Friday not to laugh at "ladyboys" who this week said they were being marginalised in Sunday's poll because of confusion over their ID card pictures.

It was the latest in a series of complaints by members of the Trans-Female Association of Thailand, which groups transgenders and transsexuals, known collectively as "katoeys" or "ladyboys."

Their ID cards, renewable every seven years, may show a woman's face marked "mister," or a boy's face when the ID card holder looks like a woman.

"In case of any problem in ascertaining the identity of voters, officials have a clear instruction to be polite in making inquiries and they must try their best to refrain from laughing," Election Commission secretary Suthipol Thaweechaikarn said.

He said card holders who had undergone cosmetic surgery or a major facelift should carry a number of identity cards bearing pictures of their various stages of appearance.

Everyone in Thailand has to carry a national ID card at all times from the age of 15.

Transgenders and transsexuals are accepted in Thailand more readily than in most other countries, with one new airline hiring only ladyboys as cabin crew. They are especially common in cosmetics shops and health stores and in bars in some of Bangkok's racier entertainment districts.

But Yollada Suanyoc, president of the 2,500-strong Trans-Female Association, said the government had been slow to accept them and accused society of grouping transgenders, transsexuals and homosexuals as one and the same when each group had its own issues.

Bangkok is a world centre for people seeking sex changes, or sex "reassignments," but the Tourism Authority of Thailand said it did not have exact figures on how many people visited the city for such operations.

[hhfarang]

This is both weird and scary as hell! Sounds like a horror movie I saw recently...

Couple eaten alive by tiny worms

A Victorian couple discovered they were being eaten alive by tiny worms with teeth, after weeks of chronic sickness.

The couple became ill after cooking fish they had caught while on a camping holiday in Western Australia, and ingesting the gnathostomiasis larvae.

It is the first time humans have been infected by the parasite in Australia, The Australian Medical Journal reports.

Patients with the same condition contract the illness overseas, including south east Asia and Japan.

The worms are 1-3mm long, have got sharp teeth and can work their way around the body until it dies or is killed by the human immune system.

"They move under the skin and cause itchy lumps that can make you feel sick - and it can be very hard to diagnose," Alfred Hospital's Dr Andrew Fuller told the Herald Sun.

"They eat your tissues."

The couple suffered vomiting, swellings on the skin, abdominal cramps, fevers, muscle pains and lethargy.

The 52-year-old man told doctors he could even feel movement under his skin.

The symptoms began about 10 days after the couple ate the fish, believed to be black bream.

A course of antibiotics killed the parasite and the couple have recovered.
The worms can live in the human body for up to 15 years, and can travel to the brain, vital organs and spinal cord.

[Nereus]

Outrage over Top Gear host's racist gaffe Jeremy does it again!

http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/wo ... ist-gaffe/

Racism claims have erupted once again after Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson attempted to be funny in his Saturday newspaper column.

Clarkson said the energy-saving mode on his new television makes the screen so dim that every program looks "like it is being presented by Lenny Henry in a cave".

War hero Johnson Beharry, who received a Victoria Cross for fighting for Britain in Iraq, said "remarks like this just aren't funny".

"They legitimise racism," Beharry told The People newspaper.

"People think it's acceptable to poke fun at people without thinking about the consequences.

"Clarkson needs to be stopped from saying things like this."

Henry, a black comedian and the former husband of TV star Dawn French, was a charity telethon co-presenter with Clarkson in 2007.

"A year later in a speech, Lenny launched a scathing attack on the 'Alf Garnett'-generation of program makers and claimed racism still existed in TV," People said.

"Clarkson . . . has had a series of run-ins sparked by his controversial 'jokes'.

"Korean car firm Hyundai complained about Clarkson's 'bigoted and racist' claim that their staff had 'eaten a dog'. He also caused offence with mock Nazi salutes talking about German design of a new Mini.

"Clarkson has apologised to the Mexican ambassador for calling his countrymen 'lazy'."

According to reports, Clarkson has a track record of saying people he offends lack a sense of humour.

Race campaigner Lee Jasper told People: "It starts off with Clarkson making stupid racist comments and it ends up as playground taunts and racist slurs on the street.

"It's totally gratuitous because it's not necessary. The whole point is Clarkson is naturally funny. There is no need to resort to racism."

[Nereus]

Hairdresser turned thief into sex slave

http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/of ... sex-slave/

A woman who was to be the victim of an armed robbery has turned the tables on her attacker, subjecting him to a three-day sex ordeal that left him with torn genitals.

The incident happened in the Russian town of Meshchovsk when Viktor Jasinkski tried to rob 28-year-old hairdresser, Olga Zajac

As she gave him the money she used her karate skills to knock him to the ground and tie him up with a hairdryer cord.

The woman stripped him and cuffed him to a heater with a pair of fluffy pink handcuffs. She fed him Viagra and raped him several times over the next four days.

When she let him go, Viktor went to hospital for treatment for his torn genitals and then reported Olga to the police.

When she was arrested, Olga reported him for robbery.

"What a bastard. Yes, we had sex a couple of times. But I've bought him new jeans, gave him food and even gave him 1,000 roubles when he left," Olga said.

[Nereus]

Running of the Lambs causes outrage

http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/of ... s-outrage/

While certainly tamer than Spain's Running of the Bulls, New Zealand's planned Running of the Lambs has outraged animal lovers in central Hawke's Bay.

The event, part of the Lamb Country Festival, will see over 1000 lambs running down Main Street in Waipukerau in a bid to promote the region to tourists during the Rugby World Cup, Hawke's Bay Today reported.

SPCA regional chief inspector Lloyd Warren said the main issue was that the lambs might be put at risk.

"Our concern is that there will be over 1000 animals and there's a huge risk of smothering," he said.

"We appreciate that they are herded down the road from paddock to paddock but this is different, there will be dogs and people and yelling and they will be running on concrete."

[Nereus]

Woman shoots puppy, kills husband

http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/ne ... s-husband/

Police in Mississippi say a woman opened fire on a puppy that had threatened children, but wound up shooting and killing her husband.

Witnesses told police the pit bull named "Cocaine" lunged at some children and tried to attack them on Friday.

The dead man's son says the children were taken inside and his father picked the dog up.

It was then that police say Betty Walker fired twice, hitting the dog once and her husband once in the chest.

Jackson police spokeswoman Colendula Green says the death of 53-year-old Robert Walker appears to have been accidental.

She says a Hinds County grand jury will decide whether to charge Betty Walker.

Animal control officers have taken the dog, and its owner could face charges.

[hhfarang]

She didn't fire until after her husband picked up the dog... methinks she saw it as an opportunity to get rid of the old man, "accidentally".

[dtaai-maai]

An Australian mother who listed her children for sale on the Internet had her joke backfire when authorities were called in to investigate, police said Sunday.
Officials in the southern city of Geelong were notified last week that a woman was attempting to sell her children, a boy and girl both aged under 10, on the auction site eBay.
Photos of the children were included in the sales pitch.
"Police tracked down the woman, who said it was a joke," police said in a statement.
Child welfare officers and police conducted a joint investigation and police said no charges would be laid.
"However, police discourage this type of behaviour," the statement said.


(And while on the topic of Australian childcare...)

[Nereus]

And this is what they grow up into:

[Nereus]

Foot Fetish:

Third nipple found on woman's foot

http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/of ... mans-foot/

A 22-year-old woman has sought medical care for a protrusion on her left foot that has now been described as a fully-formed third nipple.

Appearing in a report published in scientific journal Dermatology Online, researchers believe the case may be the first of its kind.

Photographs accompanying the report show the 4cm nipple in the plantar region of the patient’s left foot.

The report also says the nipple is surrounded by areola and hair.

"She had no complaints of pain, pruritus, or alterations in volume or colour," the report said.

"During her pregnancy or post-partum period, there had been no change in the lesion.

"Family history for similar conditions was negative.

"To our knowledge, this is the first report of supernumerary breast tissue on the foot".

Up to 5 per cent of people are thought to suffer from the condition although most extra nipples tend to be located above the waist.

[Nereus]

Kiwis, Fiji clash in nude rugby match

http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/br ... gby-match/

Ball skills and a lot of tackle were the order of the day as New Zealand clashed with Fiji in a game of nude rugby in Dunedin.

The Nude Blacks and a Fiji invitational side went head to head at Logan Park today for the eighth annual nude rugby tournament.

The Kiwi side - which included one woman - stripped off while the more modest Fijians wore blue sarongs for the seven-a-side event, which had a blind referee guided by spectators.

Of course, a sporting event involving New Zealand would not be complete without the traditional haka, which was performed before kick-off.

Last year, the Nude Blacks took on the Welsh Leeks at the same South Island ground, emerging victorious with a final score of 20-15 in the closely contested match.

An official result was not available but it is understood the Nude Blacks won today, scoring three tries to two.

The match preceded tonight's All Blacks versus Fiji match.

Several more nude games are planned for September and October to coincide with Dunedin's Rugby World Cup matches.

[STEVE G]

An Australian winemaker said Friday he was "numb" after a malfunctioning forklift destroyed more than Aus$1 million ($1.1 million) of his prized shiraz.

Some 462 cases of the 2010 Mollydooker Velvet Glove Shiraz, which sells for Aus$185 a bottle, smashed to the ground as it was being loaded for export to the United States.

It cost winemaker Sparky Marquis one third of his annual production.

"So how do I feel? Gut-wrenched, shocked, numb," he told reporters.

"When they opened up the container they said it was like a murder scene," he added. "There was red everywhere.

"But it smelled phenomenal."

Brett McCarthur, of Kerry Logistics, said the company moves more than 20,000 containers a year and had never had such a malfunction before.

"It was very hard to make that call to Sparky," he said.

The saving grace was that the wine was fully insured, with assessors already on the scene.
(AFP)