Fun_People Archive
27 Aug
Weirdness 8/27/00

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From: Peter Langston <psl>
Date: Sun, 27 Aug 100 13:56:33 -0700
To: Fun_People
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Subject: Weirdness 8/27/00
References: <Pine.LNX.3.96.1000809111749.5283A-100000@linux.aupelf-uref.org>

X-Lib-of-Cong-ISSN: 1098-7649  -=[ Fun_People ]=-
X-http://www.langston.com/psl-bin/Fun_People.cgi
[This looks suspiciously like the syndicated News of the Weird that  
Fun_People used to excerpt from time to time.  -psl]

Forwarded-by: Coyote Terrible <owner-blagues-l@gurus.com>
Forwarded-by: instantcrisis

Tony Perner, 55, was critically injured when a small plane hit him on the
runway of an airstrip in East Moriches, New York, while he was mooning the
pilot.  Pilot Frederick Spadaro told police he didn't see Permer while
taking off because it was getting dark.

Kenneth Peart, 77, of Idaho Falls, Idaho, reported that he was cheated out
of $12,700 by two Buffalo telemarketing companies.  A third firm, Capital
Punishers Inc., of the Buffalo suburb of North Tonawanda, called and offered
to come to his rescue.  "They told me that if I sent them $600, they'd get
back all the money I lost," Peart told the Buffalo News. "They said they
knew some bad things happened to me with those other guys, and that they
were going to help me out."  Instead, he said, they helped him out of $600.

In Foggia, Italy, Armando Pinelli, 70, argued with another man over who
should sit in the only chair in the shade of a palm tree.  Pinelli won.
When he sat down, the tree fell over on him and killed him.

Milwaukee attorney debra Koenig, speaking to a class of seventh graders on
the topic of women in the workplace, told the students, "I think it's great
not to get married until after you finish your education... Frankly, sleep
around all you want, but don't get married."

A 45-year-old man in Meriden, Connecticut, was accused of dialing 911 at
least 25 times in one day to report a toothache.  After several calls in
which he cursed and threatened the 911 dispatchers, police came to his
house and he was charged with criminal mischief.  At the police station,
after bail was set at $6,000, police allowed the man to use the telephone
to call a bail bondsman.  Instead he proceeded to dial 911 and again to
curse at the dispatchers.

In Potter County, Texas, the flag of Chile flew over the courthouse for a
whole day before Assistant District Attorney Paul Herman asked why.
Officials explained that the manufacturer had apparently put the similar
Chilean flag in a package marked "Texas."  Whoever opened the box didn't
notice the mistake either.

A group of Russian counterfeiters produced a near-perfect run of bogus
50,000-ruble bank notes.  Once they went into general circualation agreed
that it was an excellent job and appeared to be genuine currency.  Their
only error was misspelling "Russia"

Tennessee state Rep. Frank Buck cited a report on the death penalty that
put the cost of lethal injection at $46,000 per execution and a firing
squad at $7,000.  "With figures like these, should we wonder why people
don't trust the government?"  he comented.  "I believe I can figure out a
way to shoot someone for less than $7,000.

Fifteen Indonesian schoolgirls on a biology field trip drowned when their
teacher forced them into the fast-flowing Opak River near Yogyakarta after
no one would admit to passing gas.

British customs agents arrested Robert Ventham, 22, when he returned from
buying drugs in Gibralter, despite his attempt to fool them as to the real
purpose of his trip by carrying a set of golf clubs.  The ruse only alerted
the agents because Gibralter has no golf courses.

In Frederick, Maryland, Carmen Friedewald-Hill shot her boyfriend to
death during an argument over which one of them loved the other more.

In Flint, Michigan, Michael Allen, 26, appeared at his hearing on charges
stemming from a house robbery wearing a green, double-breasted suit that
he hoped would make a good impression on the judge.  Instead, the victim
announced, "He's wearing my suit."  A check of the custom-made suit's label
verified the claim.

After representing himself in court and twice winning acquittals on charges
of writing worthless checks and assault, Reinero Torres Jr., 53, of Sebring,
Florida, lost a third case.  He was convicted of having stolen law books
from the courthouse library to prepare his defense for the first two cases.

The Sweedish newspaper Expressen gave $1250 each to five stock analysts
and a chimp to see who could make the most money on stock market investments
in 30 days.  At the end of the contests, Ola, the chimpanzee, was declared
the winner with a total of $190 in profits.

In 1990 Facts on File asked librarians to return copies of the Junior Visual
Dictionary by J.C.  Corbeil so that they could correct the misidentified
anatomical drawing of the female body that it contained.  The female's
vagina had been labeled "sex."

The Medical Board of California charged Dr. Fereydoune Shirazi, 55, with
leaving the operating room for 11 minutes during surgery on a man's back
to make a phone call and use the bathroom.  The board said that Shirazi,
who was using a foot pedal-activated cutting tool, placed a sandbag on the
pedal, keeping the blades of the device rotating in the man's spinal column
while he was out of the room

In California, more than 600 people were taking the State Bar exams in
Pasendina Convention Center when a 50-year-old man taking the test suffered
a seizure.  Only two other test takers stopped to help the man, Jahn Leslie
and Eunice Moregan.  They administered CPR until the paramedics arrived,
then resumed taking the exam.  Citing policy, the test supervisor refused
to allow the two additional time to make up for the 40 minutes they had
spent helping the victim.  Jerome Braun, the State Bar's senior executive
for admissions, backed the decision.

A 45-year-old sixth-grade teacher in Chicago presented his 30 students with
a test titled "City of Chicago High School Proficiency Exam."  It featured
eight math problems involving selling cocaine, drive-by shootings, and
prison life.
    One read: "Rufus is pimping three girls.  If the price is $65 per trick,
how many tricks will each girl have to turn so Rufus can pay for his
$800-per-day crack habit?"
    Another asked how many years a paroled hitman would have to serve in
prison for "killing the bitch that spent his money?"
    Yet another read: "Jose has two ounces of cocaine and sells and eight
ball to Jackson for $320, and two grams to Billy Joe for $85 per gram.
What is the street value of the balance if he doesn't cut it?"
    Amid a firestorm of angry parents, the teacher reportedly offered to
quit but said that he thought the test might have been a method of trying
to relate to his students, according to one parent.

The Princeton Dental Resource Center in Albany, New York, agreed to pay a
$25,000 settlement for misleading consumers by claiming that a piece of
chocolate a day might inhibit tooth decay.  The center is funded by candy
maker Mars Incorporated.

A Detroit city bus driver got lost trying to find the bus depot and instead
drove 200 miles north for four hours before state police stopped him and
turned him around.

After a lengthy, often heated discussion, diplomats at a summit of the
53-nation Conferenceon Security and Cooperation in Europe agreed "in
principle" to change the group's name to the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe.

Dr. Stuart M. Berger, an author of best-selling diet and health books who
contended that his weight-loss program would result in increased longevity,
died on February 23, 1994. At the time, he was 40 years old and weighed
365 pounds.

© 2000 Peter Langston