tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24659904467004451892024-12-18T19:28:26.291-08:00quirky newsbites from around the worldMio Debnamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319494862579922579noreply@blogger.comBlogger23125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2465990446700445189.post-31276993277797986932008-09-29T02:05:00.000-07:002008-09-29T07:24:12.196-07:00

The economy may be in trouble, but one business in San Diego, California, is continuing to grow steadily. Customers wanting to vent their frustrations, about anything, are flocking to Sarah's Smash Shack - where for a modest fee, you can smash a pile of crockery to smithereens. US$45 will buy you a pile of 15 plates to destroy, but if you prefer, you can smash glasses, jugs or even a glass photo

Mio Debnamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319494862579922579noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2465990446700445189.post-22882040904281132332008-09-26T02:11:00.000-07:002008-09-26T05:26:30.183-07:00

There were some red faces at Xinhua, the Chinese news agency, yesterday. Hours before China's eagerly anticipated 3rd manned space mission had left Earth, Xinhua had published on its website an account of the blast off. The agency also quoted a 'conversation' between crew members, reported to have taken place during the spacewalk - which is not expected to take place until Saturday or Sunday.The

Mio Debnamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319494862579922579noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2465990446700445189.post-53459470926543187722008-09-26T01:49:00.001-07:002008-09-26T02:09:04.797-07:00

Having served out suspensions of 60 and 45 days respectively, a captain and co-pilot working for Go! airlines have reported back to work.The pair earned their suspensions when they "unintentionally fell asleep" during a 45 minute flight from Oahu Island to Hawaii Island. Air traffic controllers monitoring the flight became concerned when the pair failed to respond to repeated calls for a period

Mio Debnamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319494862579922579noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2465990446700445189.post-21894544292462806152008-09-25T19:31:00.000-07:002008-09-26T01:44:25.033-07:00

Google are on the lookout for ideas that will change the world. The internet giant has pledged to spend US$10 million on developing 5 ideas which will benefit mankind. The ideas, which will initially be narrowed down from a longlist of 100 by online voters, need not be hi-tech - the only requirement is that it has the potential to help a large number of people (such as some of the inventions at:

Mio Debnamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319494862579922579noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2465990446700445189.post-45508100991648426762008-09-21T07:31:00.000-07:002008-09-21T07:51:53.563-07:00

A city in Israel, which has been plagued with poopy pavements has started trialling a programme to build a doggy DNA database.Under the scheme, owners will be encouraged to take their pets to the vet, to get their dog DNA profiled. Owners who regularly use the designated bins to dispose of their dog's droppings will be rewarded with coupons for dog food and toys.In addition, the poop patrol will

Mio Debnamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319494862579922579noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2465990446700445189.post-76972322927670363882008-09-04T04:38:00.000-07:002008-09-04T04:49:39.804-07:00

A man from Iowa, USA accused of stealing a credit card, led police officers straight to his door when he signed his real name on the credit card slips.Whilst on a shopping expedition - during which he bought coffee, cigarettes and groceries at three different shops - he even as far as to present his own ID, when the card was declined.The man claims that he found the card in his apartment after a

Mio Debnamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319494862579922579noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2465990446700445189.post-7035236300281965382008-09-03T17:08:00.000-07:002008-09-03T17:32:50.038-07:00

A researcher in Japan has discovered that elephants can count. Naoko Irie, who is working on her PhD thesis, worked with elephants in Japanese zoos to test their mathematical ability.Irie dropped a differing number of apples into two buckets, placed side by side, then allowed the watching elephant to choose which bucket it wanted. Although it was not allowed to look into the bucket itself, or

Mio Debnamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319494862579922579noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2465990446700445189.post-48558874506053717602008-08-25T19:06:00.000-07:002008-08-25T19:16:30.880-07:00

Next time you're lost, and clouds are obscuring the position of the sun, perhaps you should look a little closer to ground to work out which way to go.Scientists studying high resolution images on Google Earth of cattle and deer grazing believe that they have spotted an interesting phenomenon. It appears that a large number of grazing animals naturally align themselves, so that they are standing

Mio Debnamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319494862579922579noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2465990446700445189.post-60757495807731703862008-08-25T18:36:00.001-07:002008-09-04T05:18:03.203-07:00

"You really think all nuns are old, stunted and sad?" and, "Being ugly is not a requirement for becoming a nun," said the Rev. Antonio Rungi in recent interviews with the BBC and CNN.Rungi was speaking about an internet beauty contest - 'Miss Sister 2008' - for nuns, which he hopes to run in September. He draws the line at naughty bikinis, but the contestants will be able to choose whether to

Mio Debnamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319494862579922579noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2465990446700445189.post-72999254706144687082008-08-20T18:31:00.000-07:002008-08-20T20:17:48.531-07:00

Recently, a skateboarding dog in Guangzhou, China, became famous when a photograph of him taking a spin on his wheels hit the news.His owner told reporters that the dog become hooked on the sport whilst watching his son (the owner's son!) skateboarding with his friends.Now another animal on wheels has made the headlines. This time, it's a tortoise in a zoo in Jerusalem, Israel. The African

Mio Debnamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319494862579922579noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2465990446700445189.post-49295492888416813882008-06-26T21:22:00.000-07:002008-06-26T21:54:41.189-07:00

Next month, over 35 couples will tie the knot at a motor rally in Sweden. Ten priests will be present to officiate at the event - each wedding will take approximately seven minutes.The Drive-In Weddings are the brainchild of a priest, who wants to make weddings, "simpler and more down to earth," as well as to show that the Church of Sweden, "can take part in celebration and happiness and not just

Mio Debnamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319494862579922579noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2465990446700445189.post-48242754137296728512008-06-21T01:02:00.000-07:002008-06-21T01:08:49.079-07:00

The resident of a 10th floor apartment in Darwin, Australia, was shocked when he went to the toilet... and found a 1.8m python curled up in the toilet bowl.It is thought that the snake, probably a runaway pet, had travelled up the sewage pipes, to emerge at its highrise resting place.

Mio Debnamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319494862579922579noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2465990446700445189.post-5845760398405482032008-06-21T00:38:00.000-07:002008-06-21T01:09:25.577-07:00

Forensic scientists have revealed that the latest 'foot' found washed up in British Columbia earlier this week, was in fact made up of animal bones and flesh stuffed into a shoe. Police say that the shoe was filled in such a way to fool the finder into thinking that it was human.

Mio Debnamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319494862579922579noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2465990446700445189.post-31293213152676793802008-06-18T09:58:00.000-07:002008-06-19T02:32:45.723-07:00

The mystery of the floating feet deepened yesterday when a sixth foot was washed up on the shores of British Columbia, Canada. Like the other five feet that have been found in the area over the previous 11 months, the latest was clad in a running shoe, and appeared to have been in the water for some time.Only one foot (the fifth) - which was found on Monday this week - was a left

Mio Debnamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319494862579922579noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2465990446700445189.post-81804914498161053312008-06-15T06:04:00.000-07:002008-06-15T06:30:28.705-07:00

Fans of Charlotte's Web will get a kick out of a video from the BBC:http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/north_yorkshire/7448006.stmIt features 'Cinders', a six-week old piglet that suffers from a rather unfortunate condition - she's afraid of mud!Luckily, the farmer's daughter had the perfect solution to the problem - a pair of toy Wellington boots. Now Cinders can wander happily around in

Mio Debnamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319494862579922579noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2465990446700445189.post-51527500039353491192008-06-15T05:18:00.000-07:002008-06-15T06:02:35.241-07:00

This month's Scientific America has an article about a woman called Stacey Gayle who had seizures when she listened to certain types of music.Gayle was only 22, when she started to exhibit symptoms of this extremely rare (only 150 cases on record) form of epilepsy. Over the next three years, the seizures came and went. Tests proved inconclusive. No one had any idea what caused them. Then, one day

Mio Debnamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319494862579922579noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2465990446700445189.post-58786219738007941092008-06-10T19:24:00.000-07:002008-06-10T19:43:55.659-07:00

A 'Which?' consumer survey conducted in a typical London office last month, revealed that many computer keyboards are covered with germs. Researchers even found one particular keyboard with a bacteria count five times higher than that of a toilet in the same office!Dropping crumbs into the keyboard, and poor personal habits such as not washing hands after going to the toilet, are thought to be

Mio Debnamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319494862579922579noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2465990446700445189.post-66470885715254458752008-06-10T16:52:00.000-07:002008-06-10T17:07:11.124-07:00

An ongoing trial in Sydney, Australia, was dismissed without a verdict after the judge noticed that jury members were concentrating a bit too hard... on their sudoku puzzles.The trial, which Reuters reports has cost taxpayers A$1 million to date, had to be disbanded when it was revealed that up to five of the jurors had been busy playing, rather listening to the evidence.Reports in the Australian

Mio Debnamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319494862579922579noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2465990446700445189.post-52134833193806205002008-06-10T07:49:00.000-07:002008-06-10T08:15:21.041-07:00

In this age of stay up stockings, and fake tans, is pantyhose becoming more difficult to find in the shops...?A pair of thieves became infamous in Colorado, USA, recently, when they robbed a shop wearing women's g-strings (or thongs) over their faces, rather than a mask - or the more common disguise - a pair of 'natural tan' coloured pantyhose.Unfortunately, the racy undies, which were designed

Mio Debnamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319494862579922579noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2465990446700445189.post-50459022106897855262008-06-07T20:45:00.000-07:002008-06-08T05:29:03.666-07:00

Did you know that you can now buy software from a company called Gadget Trak (http://www.gadgettrak.com/) which can help you track down lost or stolen electronic gizmos such as mobile phones, laptops, Blackberrys, USB memory sticks, iPods etc?The software, once loaded, lies silent and hidden (no continuous monitoring leading to possible invasion of privacy), springing into action only when

Mio Debnamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319494862579922579noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2465990446700445189.post-20727305069131198032008-06-06T02:42:00.000-07:002008-06-07T20:45:09.946-07:00

CNN reports that a Japanese businessman who wants 'to support local agriculture', has set the record for the most expensive watermelon ever bought. He paid an eyepopping US$ 6,125 or HK$47,775 for the 8kg, black-skinned Densuke watermelon.The Densuke, which is only grown on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, is prized because of its scarcity - only a few thousand are harvested every year.

Mio Debnamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319494862579922579noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2465990446700445189.post-63233190205407828232008-06-06T00:24:00.000-07:002008-06-06T00:36:07.913-07:00

Although it's been common knowledge for a while that fruit juices and smoothies are not all that good for your teeth (because they typically contain lots of sugar and acid), some dentists are now telling patients NOT to brush their teeth after indulging in a fruity treat.The reason, they say, is because brushing hastens the erosion of the enamel that has has been weakened by the acidic juice.

Mio Debnamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319494862579922579noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2465990446700445189.post-77964575961233440802008-06-05T06:11:00.000-07:002008-06-05T07:16:18.138-07:00

The UK's Telegraph reports that a nursing home in Dusseldorf, Germany, has come up with an innovative idea to keep wandering Alzheimer patients from getting lost. They have put a fake bus stop outside their front door.Although Alzheimer sufferers have very poor short term memories, many can still retain some long term memories - such as what a bus stop looks like, and what its function (ie to

Mio Debnamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319494862579922579noreply@blogger.com2