News of the Weird

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This Group is only for the posting/delivery of the weekly column, News of the Weird, by Chuck Shepherd.
Updated: 1 hour 20 min ago

News of the Weird, February 5, 2012

1 hour 20 min ago
WEIRDNUZ.M252 (News of the Weird, February 5, 2012)
by Chuck Shepherd
Copyright 2012 by Chuck Shepherd. All rights reserved.
Lead Story
* Your Government Knows Best: A 2007 federal energy-
independence law required companies that supply motor fuel in the
U.S. to blend in a certain cellulose-based ingredient starting in

News of the Weird, January 29, 2012

1 hour 20 min ago
WEIRDNUZ.M251 (News of the Weird, January 29, 2012)
by Chuck Shepherd
Copyright 2012 by Chuck Shepherd. All rights reserved.
Lead Story
* Traditional bridge replacement on as prominent a highway as
Interstate 15 in Mesquite, Nev., has generally required rerouting
traffic for as long as a year, but the new "Accelerated" technology in

News of the Weird, January 22, 2012

1 hour 20 min ago
WEIRDNUZ.M250 (News of the Weird, January 22, 2012)
by Chuck Shepherd
Copyright 2012 by Chuck Shepherd. All rights reserved.
Lead Story
* Anti-Theft ID Breakthrough: For people who become stressed
when asked to prove their identities by biometric scans of
fingerprints, hand prints, or eyeballs, Japan's Advanced Institute of

News of the Weird, January 15, 2012

1 hour 20 min ago
WEIRDNUZ.M249 (News of the Weird, January 15, 2012)
by Chuck Shepherd
Copyright 2012 by Chuck Shepherd. All rights reserved.
Lead Story
* Obsessions: (1) Don Aslett, 76, recently opened the Museum of
Clean in Pocatello, Id., as the culmination of a lifelong devotion to
tidying up. Highlights are several hundred pre-electric vacuum

News of the Weird, January 8, 2012

1 hour 20 min ago
WEIRDNUZ.M248 (News of the Weird, January 8, 2012)
by Chuck Shepherd
Copyright 2012 by Chuck Shepherd. All rights reserved.
Lead Story
* Intelligent Design: If the male nursery web spider were a human,
he would be sternly denounced as a vulgar cad. Researcher Maria
Jose Albo of Denmark's Aarhus University told Live Science in

News of the Weird, January 1, 2012

1 hour 20 min ago
WEIRDNUZ.M247 (News of the Weird, January 1, 2012)
by Chuck Shepherd
Copyright 2012 by Chuck Shepherd. All rights reserved.
Lead Story
* A regional development commission in Michigan, purchasing
equipment for 13 counties in May using homeland security grants,
bought 13 machines that make snow cones, at a total cost of

News of the Weird, December 25, 2011

1 hour 20 min ago
WEIRDNUZ.M246 (News of the Weird, December 25, 2011)
by Chuck Shepherd
Copyright 2011 by Chuck Shepherd. All rights reserved.
Lead Story
* When Tattoos Aren't Nearly Enough: In some primitive cultures,
beauty and status are displayed via large holes in the ear lobe from
which to hang heavy ornaments or to insert jewels or tokens, and

News of the Weird, December 18, 2011

1 hour 20 min ago
WEIRDNUZ.M245 (News of the Weird, December 18, 2011)
by Chuck Shepherd
Copyright 2011 by Chuck Shepherd. All rights reserved.
Lead Story
* Only the Government: Stung by criticism in 2007 that they were
neglecting severely wounded service members, the Pentagon and
the Department of Veterans Affairs have now gone extreme the

News of the Weird, December 11, 2011

1 hour 20 min ago
WEIRDNUZ.M244 (News of the Weird, December 11, 2011)
by Chuck Shepherd
Copyright 2011 by Chuck Shepherd. All rights reserved.
Lead Story
* Chinese Education Values: To get to their school, 80 children
(aged 6 to 17) in the mountaintop village of Pili, China, near the
borders with Tajikistan and Afghanistan, make a 120-mile journey

News of the Weird, December 4, 2011

1 hour 20 min ago
WEIRDNUZ.M243 (News of the Weird, December 4, 2011)
by Chuck Shepherd
Copyright 2011 by Chuck Shepherd. All rights reserved.
Lead Story
* Was Moammar Gaddafi the last of the "buffoon dictators," asked
BBC News in October. His legend was earned not merely with his
now-famous, dirty-old-man scrapbook of Condoleezza Rice photos.

News of the Weird, November 27, 2011

1 hour 20 min ago
WEIRDNUZ.M242 (News of the Weird, November 27, 2011)
by Chuck Shepherd
Copyright 2011 by Chuck Shepherd. All rights reserved.
Lead Story
* Enterprising reporters get stories by earning the trust of their
sources, which Simon Eroro of the Post-Courier (Port Moresby,
Papua New Guinea) obviously did. At a banquet in November, the

News of the Weird, November 20, 2011

1 hour 20 min ago
WEIRDNUZ.M241 (News of the Weird, November 20, 2011)
by Chuck Shepherd
Copyright 2011 by Chuck Shepherd. All rights reserved.
Lead Story
* At press time, Melinda Arnold, 34, was waiting to hear whether
her mother would be accepted as an organ donor for her daughter--
with the organ being the mom's womb. Melinda (a nurse from

News of the Weird, November 13, 2011

1 hour 20 min ago
WEIRDNUZ.M240 (News of the Weird, November 13, 2011)
by Chuck Shepherd
Copyright 2011 by Chuck Shepherd. All rights reserved.
Lead Story
* "You eat meat, so why not blood?" asked The Globe and Mail,
which sampled several Toronto restaurants' sanguinary haute
cuisines, including the Italian eatery Buca's spaghetti with blood-

News of the Weird, November 6, 2011

1 hour 20 min ago
WEIRDNUZ.M239 (News of the Weird, November 6, 2011)
by Chuck Shepherd
Copyright 2011 by Chuck Shepherd. All rights reserved.
Lead Story
* Saddam Hussein Back in the News: (1) Mohamed Bishr, an
Egyptian man bearing a remarkable resemblance to the late Iraqi
dictator, claimed in October that he had been briefly kidnaped after

News of the Weird, October 30, 2011

1 hour 20 min ago
WEIRDNUZ.M238 (News of the Weird, October 30, 2011)
by Chuck Shepherd
Copyright 2011 by Chuck Shepherd. All rights reserved.
Lead Story
* "My ultimate dream is to be buried in a deep ocean close to where
penguins live," explained the former Alfred David, 79, otherwise
known in his native Belgium as "Monsieur Pingouin" (Mr.

News of the Weird, October 23, 2011

1 hour 20 min ago
WEIRDNUZ.M237 (News of the Weird, October 23, 2011)
by Chuck Shepherd
Copyright 2011 by Chuck Shepherd. All rights reserved.
(Naughty-Language Alert: 9th item)
Lead Story
* London Fashion Week usually brings forth a shock or two from
cutting-edge designers, but a September creation by Rachel Freire

News of the Weird, October 16, 2011

1 hour 20 min ago
WEIRDNUZ.M236 (News of the Weird, October 16, 2011)
by Chuck Shepherd
Copyright 2011 by Chuck Shepherd. All rights reserved.
Lead Story
* Bureaucrat's Delight: An update of the official index for
classifying medical conditions (for research and quality control, and
for insurance claims) was released recently, to take effect in October

News of the Weird, October 9, 2011

1 hour 20 min ago
WEIRDNUZ.M235 (News of the Weird, October 9, 2011)
by Chuck Shepherd
Copyright 2011 by Chuck Shepherd. All rights reserved.
Lead Story
* An option for suicide "with elegance and euphoria" is how
Lithuanian-born PhD candidate Julijonas Urbonas (London's Royal
College of Art) described his "Euthanasia [Roller] Coaster,"

News of the Weird, October 2, 2011

1 hour 20 min ago
WEIRDNUZ.M234 (News of the Weird, October 2, 2011)
by Chuck Shepherd
Copyright 2011 by Chuck Shepherd. All rights reserved.
Lead Story
* Risky Business Models: (1) Orlando-area cosmetic surgeon
Jeffrey Hartog inaugurated Liquid Gold, a storehouse for patients'
frozen liposuctioned fat, charging $900 to safekeep a coffee-cup-

News of the Weird, September 25, 2011

1 hour 20 min ago
WEIRDNUZ.M232 (News of the Weird, September 25, 2011)
by Chuck Shepherd
Copyright 2011 by Chuck Shepherd. All rights reserved.
Lead Story
* The medical establishment generally regards placentas (afterbirth)
as biohazardous waste, but to New York City placenta chef Jennifer
Mayer, they are a nutrient-laden meat that can alleviate postpartum