Fun_People Archive
17 Feb
Weirdness #365

Date: Fri, 17 Feb 95 13:03:55 PST
From: Peter Langston <psl>
To: Fun_People
Subject: Weirdness #365

Excerpted-from: WEIRDNUZ.365 (News of the Weird, February 3, 1995)
by: Chuck Shepherd

* Among the recent uses of DNA genetic "fingerprinting":  Scientists at
Oxford University are using it to determine the gender of the world's rarest
bird, the Brazilian blue Spix macaw, whose males ostensibly completely
resemble females.  In Panama City, Fla., prosecutors introduced DNA-matched
sperm samples from Sheriff Al Harrison and his office carpet (even though
Harrison had machine-cleaned it) in his January trial for forcing female
inmates to perform oral sex on him. And authorities in Cocoa, Fla., filed
cattle rustling charges against two men in November after matching the DNA
of a calf that was the offspring of a purebred, slaughtered cow with the
DNA in an uncooked slab of pot roast the men allegedly sold after cutting
it from the cow. [Globe & Mail, 12-17-94; St. Petersburg Times, 1-26-94;
St. Petersburg Times, 11-10-94]

* According to a Thanksgiving press release from the Butterball company,
the highlight of calls to the company's emergency hotline occurred in 1993
when a woman reported that her pet chihuahua had jumped into the cavity of
the family's turkey and was stuck.  [Greensboro News-Record, Nov94]

* In September, four women, using a chemical spray, allegedly attacked
another woman who had beaten them to a parking space at the Galleria mall
in Glendale, Calif., sending the woman to the hospital.  Police went to the
parking lot, looking for the women, and found them having an argument
outside their car because the keys were locked inside.  After finding the
chemical spray, police charged the women with assault, then helped open the
car--and found  shoplifted clothing in the back seat. [L. A. Daily News,
10-1-94]

* The Chicago Tribune, reporting in July on the trial of a marriage
matchmaker in Guangzhou Province, related the testimony of a barber who
agreed to offer his unwilling wife to the matchmaker for a scam in which
they would sell the woman to a farmer, collect the fee, then immediately
retrieve her.  The barber was first cheated out of the promised reward and
now faces life in prison for selling his wife.  Furthermore, the wife
preferred the farmer, anyway, and will not be returning to the barber.
[Chicago Tribune, Jul94]

* Police in Washington, D. C., and its Maryland and Virginia suburbs
conducted a three-week campaign in November to increase motorist awareness
of traffic signals, including the mass distribution of "I Stop for Red
Lights" bumper stickers.  [Washington Post, 11-17-94]
[In California it's less commital:  "I Brake for Red Lights"...  -psl]

* In July, Robert Minahan, a chef who specializes in crocodile cuisine at
a resort in the Kakadu National Park in Australia, was attacked by a 6-foot
crocodile while swimming at Barramundi Gorge.  Said Minahan, "It feels
strange to be on the other end of the food chain." [Athens Messenger-AP,
Jul94]

Copyright 1995, Universal Press Syndicate.  All rights reserved.
Released for the entertainment of readers.  No commercial use may
be made of the material, or of the name News of the Weird.

© 1995 Peter Langston