Fun_People Archive
13 Dec
Weirdness #407 - 24Nov95

Date: Wed, 13 Dec 95 03:44:25 -0800
From: Peter Langston <psl>
To: Fun_People
Subject: Weirdness #407 - 24Nov95

Excerpted-from: WEIRDNUZ.407 (News of the Weird, November 24, 1995)
by Chuck Shepherd


* A researcher writing in the July issue of the European Journal of Physics
concluded that the torque of an average piece of buttered toast, falling
off of a table of average height, causes "an inevitable butter-down final
state [hitting the floor]." [Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 7-5-95]

* Recent contests in the news:  In June, contestants hurled 45-lb.  toilets
through the air at the Blue Tip Festival in Wadsworth, Ohio, with the
winning toss receiving a complimentary toilet from the Kohler Company.  And
the 16th annual World Worm- Charming Championship was held in England in
June, with a variety of methods being used, including one contestant's
drawing worms out of the ground by playing "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My
Head." [Duluth News-Tribune-AP, 6-22-95] [Sports Illustrated, 7-17-95]

* In June, the Iowa State Historical Society finally opened long- embargoed
boxes of self-published, highly-detailed, autobiographical journals donated
by a not-particularly-prominent architect named Charles Remey, who died in
1979 and who was apparently obsessed with making sure the public was not
denied his life story.  In describing the collection, a Des Moines Register
writer wrote that one of the volumes, "The Wardrobe of Gertrude Heim Remey,"
Charles's wife, was "quite likely the best book ever written about his
wife's clothes." [Des Moines Register, 6-7-95]

* A September Associated Press dispatch from Sri Lanka reported that a
30-year-old man had been sentenced to prison on two charges:  for having
sex with a cow, three months, and for raping a female human two weeks
earlier, another three months.  However, the judge apparently thought the
two sentences were excessive and thus suspended the first one. [The Japan
Times- AP, 9-23-95]

* According to a May Wall Street Journal article, Palestinians intent on
improving their personal religious standing now suffer from "martyr
inflation"--terming any relative who passes away to be a martyr.  Muslims
believe that a martyr goes straight to paradise, sits with God, is absolved
of all sins, and enjoys 70 virgin brides.  According to a Palestinian
journalist, "It's not easy to come to a family and say, 'Your relative is
not a martyr.  He's just dead.'" [Wall Street Journal, 5-15-95]

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