Fun_People Archive
3 Jan
Weirdness #358

Date: Tue,  3 Jan 95 18:58:19 PST
From: Peter Langston <psl>
To: Fun_People
Subject: Weirdness #358

From: WEIRDNUZ.358 (News of the Weird, December 16, 1994)
by Chuck Shepherd

* Among the Republicans swept into office in November was Steve Mansfield,
elected to Texas's highest court that handles criminal appeals.  Among
Mansfield's pre-election lies or exaggerations (freely admitted in a
post-election interview in the publication Texas Lawyer) were his claim of
vast criminal-court experience (he is an insurance and tax lawyer), that he
was born in Texas (actually, Massachusetts), that he dated a woman "who
died" (she is still alive), and that he had "appeared" in courts in Illinois
(never) and Florida (advised a friend of his, but not as a lawyer).  During
the interview, Mansfield said that he lived in Houston as a kid, but when
the reporter asked him if that was a lie, Mansfield reluctantly admitted it
was.  Mansfield called those and other instances "puffery" and
"exaggerations" and said he would stop doing that now that he is one of the
highest- ranking judges in Texas. [Texas Lawyer, 11-21-94; Houston Press,
11-17-94]

* The Times (London) reported in August that a woman was taken to Wexham
Park Hospital in Berkshire after falling from a tree in a park just a few
hundred meters from Windsor Castle.  According to rangers at the Windsor
Great Park, she fell out of the tree, naked, during a lovemaking session
with her boyfriend. [The Times, 8-2-94]

* In September, the makers of Michelin tires said they would reformulate a
substance used to make new-model tires grip the road better on wet pavement
because the old formula permitted a buildup of static electricity.  For
months, attendants on the Illinois Tollway had reported taking measures to
insulate themselves every time new Honda Accords (which feature the new
Michelin tires) stopped to pay tolls.  Some attendants even refused to
accept money from some drivers for fear of shocks. [Kansas City Star-Chicago
Tribune, 9-21- 94]

* According to a September issue of American Medical News, physicians at
the Medical College of Georgia and engineers at Georgia Tech are working to
develop a synthetic finger to enable a person in one site to be touched and
a doctor at another site to feel exactly what would be felt if the doctor
were touching him in person.  [American Medical News, 9-5-94]

* In November, the Netherlands Liver and Intestine Foundation, which
supports research on digestive problems, announced a publicity campaign to
encourage people to pass gas as much as 15 times a day to ease intestinal
discomfort. [Montreal Gazette-Reuters, 11-10-94]

Copyright 1994, Universal Press Syndicate.  All rights reserved.
Released for the personal entertainment of readers.  No commercial
use may be made of the material, or of the name News of the Weird.

© 1995 Peter Langston