Weird News

[Lamplighter]

Only by sherendipity, did the police catch one of the thieves on a flight stranded at O'Hare Airport

[Lamplighter]

Not so weird or surprising for Oregonians but still news...

WRAL.com
Jeff Barnard, Associated Press
11/28/11

Wandering wolf inspires hope and dread

GRANTS PASS, Ore. — A young wolf from Oregon has become a media celebrity while looking for love,
tracing a zigzag path that has carried him hundreds of miles nearly to California,
while his alpha male sire and a sibling that stayed home near the Idaho border
are under a death warrant for killing cattle.

Backcountry lodge owner Liz Parrish thinks she locked eyes with the wolf called OR-7
on the edge of the meadow in front of her Crystalwood Lodge,
on the western shore of Upper Klamath Lake,
and hopes someday she will hear his howls coming out of the tall timber.
<snip>
Federal protection for wolves was lifted in Eastern Oregon, but they remain under state protection.
West of Interstate 97 they are back under federal protection.

When wolves reach about 2 years old, they typically strike out on their own,
looking for a mate and an empty territory they can call their own.
And that's what OR-7 has done.

So far there have been no reports of cattle killing along his path.

FWIW, the path this wolf has taken is through some very inhospitable high desert country,
until he got closer to Crater Lake in southwestern Oregon.
.

[Lamplighter]

Tofu Explosion
OregonLive.com
11/20/11
Paul Corah, a spokesman for the Portland Fire Bureau, said investigators
were baffled at first when a woman cooking tofu in her Northwest Portland apartment
Sunday night caused an explosion that blew out a 4-by-6 foot picture window
and caused an estimated $15,000 in damage.
The woman suffered a small burn to her hand but was otherwise unhurt.



After consultation with other investigators up and down the West Coast, Corah said,
it appears grease in a pan used to cook the tofu overheated and caught fire.
When the woman put the fiery pan in the sink to douse it, the water caused
“a sudden and extreme flare-up of flaming oil” and a “massive steam production.”
.

[GunMaster357]

Now, Homeland Security can ban tofu as a terrorist weapon.

[Trilby]

Originally Posted by GunMaster357

Now, Homeland Security can ban tofu as a terrorist weapon.

Finally!

[classicman]

Santa elf quits after Groupon blunder ends in angry melee
And in Merry Ole England too ...

LONDON — It is supposed to be the season of goodwill, but Santa’s elves were verbally abused by parents at a Christmas display after a holiday offer on discount website Groupon ended in disappointment.

Almost 2,000 families turned up to the event in York, England, after receiving an email voucher that promised train rides around a winter wonderland, according to a report in the city’s daily newspaper, The Press.

When they discovered no train, and long lines to get into the area, some parents began shouting and swearing at a female worker who was dressed as a Christmas tree.

The situation, last Saturday, became so hostile that one of the elves resigned, the report said.

Organizer Penny Ward told the newspaper: “It was a complete nightmare. Children were crying and upset. One man even verbally threatened the lady who is dressed as a Christmas tree. One of the elves was so upset that she has resigned.”
Story: 102,000 cupcakes! Small bakery burned by Groupon

She said the event was only able to handle 40 children an hour, but staff had worked beyond their normal hours and without breaks to try to ensure children did not miss out.

Groupon apologized for the error about the train but said the offer voucher was sent out with Ward’s agreement.

Last week it was reported that a bakery owner was forced to make 102,000 cupcakes after being swamped by customers taking up her cut-price Groupon offer.

[Pete Zicato]

Since 2007 in Australia, Santas are forbidden to say, “Ho, Ho, Ho,” as it is considered derogatory to women.

According to this blog.

[zippyt]

Mythbusters' cannonball hits Dublin home, minivan

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...BA1D1M99V5.DTL

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/video?id=8457377

Zip , Zang , Bang , Pow !!!!!!

[glatt]

Woa! That article is worth the read.

The cannonball left the firing range, went through a wall, into a neighborhood, completely went through one house, damaged the roof in another, and smashed a van in the driveway of a third.

The quote at the end from Adam Savage is perfect. "I can't talk right now. *click*"

[footfootfoot]

I want to know WTF those stairs were made of. The cannonball went up the stairs and still had enough energy to go through a door, a stucco wall, travel god knows how far before plowing into a van.

Why didn't the ball travel straight through the stair riser? They must have put some English on it.

There, the 6-inch projectile bounced in front of a home on quiet Cassata Place, ripped through the front door, raced up the stairs and blasted through a bedroom, where a man, woman and child slept through it all - only awakening because of plaster dust.

The ball wasn't done bouncing.

It exited the house, leaving a perfectly round hole in the stucco, crossed six-lane Tassajara Road, took out several tiles from the roof of a home on Bellevue Circle and finally slammed into the Gill family's beige Toyota Sienna minivan in a driveway on Springvale Drive.


somebody map the path on google.

[glatt]

Originally Posted by footfootfoot

Why didn't the ball travel straight through the stair riser? They must have put some English on it.

I can picture it hitting the stringer and being deflected upwards. If it came in at an angle through a little drywall on a side wall at the bottom of the staircase and encountered the top of a stringer, it could ricochet right up the stairway without even touching the steps.

edit: It would have to be a notched stringer with a diagonal top side.

[HungLikeJesus]

Perfectly round?

[Spexxvet]

Maybe it was rising as it went through the door, and never touched a step as it "raced up".

[Sundae]

I want to know WTF the man, woman and child in the first house were on - it was 4.45 in the afternoon and they were asleep. Not just asleep, but so heavily asleep they missed a cannonball comig in the front door, up the stairs and exiting through a wall.

Anyone fancy robbing a house, I can recommend one on Cassata Place.

[infinite monkey]

Watch this: through the front door, up the stairs, through the bedroom, up the street, through the van...nothing but net.