The thread for Strange News Stories

[lungs]

Don't pocket dial 911 after you've stolen stuff from Target:
Link

Police: Thieves Arrested After Accidentally Calling 911
911 Dispatcher Provides Play-By-Play To Police
Posted: 3:07 pm CST December 14, 2011

MADISON, Wis. -- Two retail theft suspects were arrested after one of them pocket dialed 911 from the getaway car, allowing police to locate the suspects as they were attempting to sell the stolen merchandise, Madison police said.
Police said the suspects, Jason S. Hamielec, 29, and Brian A. Johnson, 28, both of Madison, stole DVDs and computer games from the Target store on Junction Road on Madison's far West Side about 5:30 p.m. Tuesday.
While inside their getaway sport utility vehicle, the suspects talked about where they might get the best prices for stolen merchandise, and they decided on the Video X-Change at 3002 Atwood Ave., police said.
The suspects pulled into a parking lot near the Video X-Change and noticed a couple of Madison Police Department squad cars. They were then quickly surrounded by several Madison police officers, a couple with their guns drawn, according to a Madison Police Department news release.
Police said that as one suspect got out of the SUV, he asked an officer, "You guys tap my phone?"
Both men were dumbfounded by how police knew exactly where they would be, according to the news release.
Madison police said that as the two men got into the SUV following the retail theft, one of them pocket dialed 911, so as they chatted about all they had done, a dispatcher was listening in -- via an open cellphone line -- and providing officers with a play-by-play.
"They bragged about what they stole, described the vehicle they were in, and where they were going," said one of the arresting officers, according to the news release.
Police said the suspects even talked about how police would be looking for a blue Dodge Durango without license plates, so they decided to put the plates back on.
As officers inventoried the stolen items and the suspects' property, one looked at the cellphone, which was still on with the dispatcher still listening in. The officer ended the call, which had a duration of 54 minutes, police said.
Police said both men were cited on a charge of retail theft and released.

[JediKooter]

Train-hopping couple buried alive under coal | The Sideshow - Yahoo! News

Mom of the deceased quote: "If he had to die so young, at least he died at a moment where he was on top of the world," Susan Artes said.

- No. Had his 'moment' been on top of the world, he wouldn't have died from being crushed by a pile of coal.

[Matthean]

Parental pep rally kissing game creates uproar in Minnesota - Prep Rally - High School*Blog - Yahoo! Sports

Blindfolded students make out with their parents. Hilarity ensues. People get offended.

[gstelmack]

Those kind of antics can get you arrested...

[DanGarion]

NY students suspended for organizing 'Tebowing' - NFL - Yahoo! Sports

Basically it was a tebowing flashmob at school.

[Autumn]

I think I would douse my head in a bucket of bleach if that happened to me.

[Autumn]

dola, meaning The pep rally one

[Pumpy Tudors]

About the pep rally thing, I'm surprised that so many parents were willing to kiss their children that way. I mean, maybe they were playing it up for the crowd and faking it, but on the video, it sure looked like some of those parents were truly making out with their kids. I don't get it. I'm not sure I could face my mom anytime soon if she had ever done that to me. Hell, I had a hard time recovering after those three times the hobo outside the convenience store made out with me.

[Ksyrup]

Yeah, the part about that I didn't believe was this:

"...despite the fact that none of the students or parents involved in the kissing antics complained about the routine at all."

Now, maybe "complained" is the wrong word, but those kids have to be embarrassed and/or grossed out beyond belief. Especially considering the video can be seen anywhere in the world. But having your friends/classmates see it live had to be mortifying.

[JediKooter]

Originally Posted by Pumpy Tudors

About the pep rally thing, I'm surprised that so many parents were willing to kiss their children that way. I mean, maybe they were playing it up for the crowd and faking it, but on the video, it sure looked like some of those parents were truly making out with their kids. I don't get it. I'm not sure I could face my mom anytime soon if she had ever done that to me. Hell, I had a hard time recovering after those three times the hobo outside the convenience store made out with me.

At least this didn't happen to you:

[Autumn]

Yeah, I mean if none of those kids feel like killing themselves I'm kind of wondering about that community.

[Pumpy Tudors]

Originally Posted by JediKooter

At least this didn't happen to you:

I assume there's a YouTube video embedded there. Unfortunately, YouTube is blocked at my work, so I can't see it. I hope I remember to watch it when I get home so I can have a reason to stab myself in the face. I gather that the video will make me want to stab myself in the face.

[JediKooter]

Originally Posted by Pumpy Tudors

I assume there's a YouTube video embedded there. Unfortunately, YouTube is blocked at my work, so I can't see it. I hope I remember to watch it when I get home so I can have a reason to stab myself in the face. I gather that the video will make me want to stab myself in the face.

Well, I hope you don't stab yourself in the face or at the very least, don't harm the mustache.

Here's a link (maybe you can play it on your smartphone): http://youtu.be/t_lydNbE_aA

[Pumpy Tudors]

Originally Posted by JediKooter

Well, I hope you don't stab yourself in the face or at the very least, don't harm the mustache.

Here's a link (maybe you can play it on your smartphone): http://youtu.be/t_lydNbE_aA

I just watched the video, and all I can say is that that didn't happen to me today.

[JediKooter]

Originally Posted by Pumpy Tudors

I just watched the video, and all I can say is that that didn't happen to me today.

That is good to hear. Was it something that was scheduled via Outlook?

[Pumpy Tudors]

Originally Posted by JediKooter

That is good to hear. Was it something that was scheduled via Outlook?

Yeah, you don't want that to be a surprise.

[JediKooter]

Originally Posted by Pumpy Tudors

Yeah, you don't want that to be a surprise.

Oh heck no! It's better if you see it coming.

[Young Drachma]

Brooklyn Woman Dies After Being Set On Fire In Elevator: Gothamist

I don't even have words.

[Suburban Rhythm]

Aussie dad says dingo with be blamed for lost baby - Yahoo! News

Maybe not so much 'strange', but everyone is repeating "The dingo took your baby!" in a really terrible Australian accent in their head.

[cartman]

N.J. cop arrested for DWI after DWI class - UPI.com

[cartman]

Take the pizza. Leave the cannoli.

Boy disciplined after waving gun-shaped pizza slice - WKRN, Nashville, Tennessee News, Weather and Sports |

[cartman]

Triple dola:

Karma at work

Shoplifters robbed while stealing from grocery store | The Sideshow - Yahoo! News

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by cartman

Triple dola:

Karma at work

Shoplifters robbed while stealing from grocery store | The Sideshow - Yahoo! News

[Rizon]

Ahhh ... Happy Methmas to those two

[Ksyrup]

I was wondering whatever happened to that runaway bride chick.

[cartman]

You'd think they'd at least turn off the taser while taking the mug shot.

[gstelmack]

I like how the person who broke into their car was smart enough to do it while the cop was occupied with questioning them...

[cartman]

Man Eats Cocaine From Brother's Butt, Dies - Honolulu News Story - KITV Honolulu

[Julio Riddols]

Crack kills?

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by cartman

Man Eats Cocaine From Brother's Butt, Dies - Honolulu News Story - KITV Honolulu

And not from Florida, either. Color me surprised.

[JediKooter]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Must kill the Queen...must kill the queen...

[cartman]

Man shoots at mouse, hits roommate; another roommate arrested for rape | ksl.com

[mckerney]

BBC News - Man sued for keeping company Twitter followers

[Rizon]

In the stomachs of tiger sharks in the Gulf of Mexico, researchers are finding something unusual: land-faring migratory birds.

[Rizon]

Microsoft probes mass suicide threat at China plant

Microsoft is investigating a report that workers at a Chinese plant that makes its Xbox game systems threatened mass suicide in a pay dispute, according to a statement issued Wednesday by the company's Hong Kong office

wut

[Ksyrup]

That'll teach 'em.

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by Rizon

In the stomachs of tiger sharks in the Gulf of Mexico, researchers are finding something unusual: land-faring migratory birds.

So...Sharks benefitting from oil rigs. What's the news here again?

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Rizon

Microsoft probes mass suicide threat at China plant

wut

My two "favorite" lines:

"Foxconn's raised workers pay twice at its factory in Shenzhen, China in 2010 after a spate of suicides, Chinese state media reported at the time."
It took a "spate" of suicides to increase pay.

"After the 2010 suicides at Foxconn, the company said it was taking measures to improve workers' lives, including organizing recreational activities, calling in Buddhist monks to offer spiritual consolation and setting up a 24-hour help line."
I just have this feeling that there was this management meeting: "well, we can only increase their pay a few bucks so how about some recreational activities. Anything to spend money while not actually handing it to the workers!"

It reminds me of a scene from the Simpsons (from SNPP):


Monty Burns pays a surprise visit to his favorite new employee, lavishing gifts upon her. Marge wonders why morale is so low, indicating several very disturbed employees.

I am the Angel of Death. The Time of Purification is at hand. -- ``Marge Gets a Job''

Marge suggests theme days, like ``Funny Hat Day'', and piping in Tom Jones music. The same employees are just as disturbed as ever. The only difference is that they're wearing funny hats and listening to Tom Jones.

SI

[Rizon]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

So...Sharks benefitting from oil rigs. What's the news here again?

...

[Galaxy]

Originally Posted by Galaxy

Dwarf tossing in Florida?

Lawmaker Files Bill to Repeal State Ban on Dwarf Tossing in Bars | NBC Miami

A Florida lawmaker has filed a bill that would repeal a state law prohibiting dwarf tossing in bars.

Rep. Ritch Workman of Melbourne filed House Bill 4063 on Monday.

"To me it's an archaic kind of Big Brother law that says, 'We don't like that activity,'" Workman told the Florida Current. "Well, there is nothing immoral or illegal about that activity. All we really did by passing that law was take away some employment from some little people."

The cringe-inducing activity was outlawed in 1989, when national controversy over dwarf tossing prompted the Legislature to ban it in bars for safety reasons, the Current reports.
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House Bill 4063 would repeal Florida Statute 561.665, which bans establishments who sell alcohol from activities "involving exploitation endangering the health, safety, and welfare of any person with dwarfism."

While at least one previous lawsuit filed by a little person sought to repeal the law for employment reasons, others including the president of Little People of America are opposed to the new bill.

"In general, if HB 4063 does threaten to undo the protection afforded people of short stature against dwarf tossing, we are concerned, and we would be against legislation," said Gary Arnold to the Current. "The ban on dwarf tossing protects the entire dwarf community."

Under the current statute, the state can fine or suspend the liquor license of bars that host dwarf tossing.


BTW, the rules for dwarf tossing. Dwarf Throwing

Florida might want to think this over.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...at-attack.html

[mckerney]

Treasure from sunken galleon must be returned to Spain, judge says | World news | guardian.co.uk

It is one of the greatest underwater treasure troves of all time, a glittering haul of gold and silver recovered from a mysterious sunken Spanish galleon and secretly flown across the Atlantic to the US.

But now an epic battle over ownership of 594,000 gold and silver coins scattered on the ocean floor has ended with victory for the Spanish government, with the American treasure-hunter Odyssey Marine Exploration ordered to send the valuable haul back home.

A jubilant Spanish government announced on Wednesday that the $500m-worth (£308m) of gold and silver coins found at a site that Odyssey called "Black Swan" would be back on Spanish soil within 10 days.

"This sentence gives Spaniards back what was already theirs," said the culture minister, José Ignacio Wert. "There is a space of 10 days in which the coins must be returned."

The court decision puts an end to nearly five years of intrigue on the high seas since Odyssey scooped the precious haul from the Atlantic seabed in May 2007. To the fury of Spanish authorities it secretly landed the trove in Gibraltar and flew it out in chartered aircraft to its base in Florida.

A American circuit court judge has upheld a decision by Atlanta judge Mark Pizzo, who had declared the trove came from the Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes, a Spanish frigate sunk by a British squadron off Cape St Mary, Portugal, in October 1804.

The judge rejected Odyssey's argument that there was no clear wreck site, with the coins scattered so widely it was impossible to say exactly which vessel they came from.

The treasure-hunting company, he said, had set out to find the Mercedes and had clearly done so.

Pizzo argued that the coins, all dated prior to 1804, matched the Mercedes' cargo of coins minted in Lima, Peru – part of a haul being brought back to finance Spain's European wars. He also said cannon found there matched those on the Mercedes.

I'm really hoping that Peru manages to successfully demand the golds return from the Spanish.

[gstelmack]

Originally Posted by mckerney

I'm really hoping that Peru manages to successfully demand the golds return from the Spanish.

Agreed, that would be fun.

[Ksyrup]

That Treaasure Hunt reality TV show that followed these guys was one of my favorite reality shows ever. They only did one season, and I'm guessing it had a lot to do with giving away too much information about how they elude territorial boundaries and what locations they dive at. I really miss that show.

[gstelmack]

Baltic Sea mystery: What is that object? | abc11.com

I dunno about the Russian disc-shaped ironclad theory, that looks an awful lot like the Millenium Falcon to me...

[Ksyrup]

?

[Ksyrup]

[JediKooter]

Hmmmm I'm thinking after the first (and I'll give him the benefit of the doubt here)....dozen times and she wasn't pregnant, I'd think something was amiss.

[Galaxy]

Cops Bust Naked Burglar Covered In Chocolate, Peanut Butter | The Smoking Gun

[cartman]

Gotta love the title of the article:

Blue balls mystery solved by scientists | Science | The Guardian

[cartman]

Man trapped in elevator, so is his rescuer - chicagotribune.com