Weird Facts

2010-06-15T06:12:00.001-07:00

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2010-06-15T02:01:00.001-07:00

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2010-06-15T01:17:00.001-07:00

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2010-06-14T00:53:00.001-07:00

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2010-06-12T05:28:00.001-07:00

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2010-06-09T23:46:00.001-07:00

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2010-06-09T04:37:00.001-07:00

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Is it difficult to find a needed speech topics?

2010-03-24T03:59:00.000-07:00

I mean seriously, have you ever had that feeling, when you have a homework to do and you just can't think of any speech topics you might want to use? It's not that difficult though.

You might want to go on and the check the great weblog on how to prepare and give a speech. Here is a link: http://www.bragar.net/

Shocking Fact: Did You Know That Breakdance Was Invented By Soviet Army ? [Video Proof]

2009-04-25T14:47:00.000-07:00

Here is an amazing video, showing some cool moves :-) The video is more than 50 years old actually!
Still have some doubts ? There is even a battle in the middle

Just enjoy the video, this really is something )

Weird Facts - Man Charged With Killing Hawk To Help Squirrel

2009-02-20T00:04:00.000-08:00

VIENNA, Va. -- For a Virginia doctor, squirrels are a man's best friend, too. Thomas Shepler, a hand surgeon, shot a hawk to death in his backyard when he said the bird was eyeing a young squirrel that he and his wife had helped raise.

Shepler, 65, said the hawk had previously killed an adult squirrel near his suburban Washington home in Vienna. When the doctor tried to chase away the bird over the weekend by yelling and throwing a crowbar at it, the hawk didn't leave the area. So Shepler got a shotgun and killed it.

A police officer heard the shot Saturday and Shepler was arrested. He was charged with discharging a firearm in public and cruelty to animals. Shepler says he cares about animals and is feeling a lot of anxiety and embarrassment over the shooting.

[Via - KiroTV]

Ark. man left the phone at a McDonald's; he's now suing for $3 million. Guess why?

Ark. man left the phone at a McDonald's; he's now suing for $3 million. Guess why?

2008-11-24T08:48:00.000-08:00

Here's some food for thought: If you have nude photos of your wife on your cell phone, hang onto it.

Phillip Sherman of Arkansas learned that lesson after he left his phone behind at a McDonald's restaurant and the photos ended up online. Now he and his wife, Tina, are suing the McDonald's Corp., the franchise owner and the store manager.

The suit was filed Friday and seeks a jury trial and $3 million in damages for suffering, embarrassment and the cost of having to move to a new home.

The suit says that Phillip Sherman left the phone the Fayetteville store in July and that employees promised to secure it until he returned.

Manager Aaron Brummley declined to comment, and other company officials didn't return messages.

Stick added to the National Toy Hall of Fame - Weird Facts

2008-11-11T12:55:00.000-08:00

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The lowly stick, a universal plaything powered by a child's imagination, landed in the National Toy Hall of Fame on Thursday along with the Baby Doll and the skateboard.

The three were chosen to join the Strong National Museum of Play's lineup of 38 classics ranging from the bicycle, the kite and Mr. Potato Head to Crayola crayons, marbles and the Atari 2600 video game system.

Curators said the stick was a special addition in the spirit of a 2005 inductee, the cardboard box. They praised its all-purpose, no-cost, recreational qualities, noting its ability to serve either as raw material or an appendage transformed in myriad ways by a child's creativity.

"It's very open-ended, all-natural, the perfect price — there aren't any rules or instructions for its use," said Christopher Bensch, the museum's curator of collections. "It can be a Wild West horse, a medieval knight's sword, a boat on a stream or a slingshot with a rubber band. ... No snowman is complete without a couple of stick arms, and every campfire needs a stick for toasting marshmallows.

"This toy is so fantastic that it's not just for humans anymore. You can find otters, chimps and dogs — especially dogs — playing with it."

Longevity is a key criterion for getting into the hall, which the museum acquired in 2002 from A.C. Gilbert's Discovery Village in Salem, Ore. Each toy must not only be widely recognized and foster learning, creativity or discovery through play, but also endure in popularity over generations.

While dolls have been around since ancient times, the Baby Doll with its realistic newborn features emerged in the late 18th century and has been through hundreds of incarnations. Today's models can crawl, drink and even talk via voice-activated commands.

"It is generally thought of as lovable and cuddly, even if it can doze off or cry during play," said Susan Asbury, an associate curator. "Toy designers have spent decades making it ever more lifelike and true to form. ... It promotes imaginative play and brings out the nurturing side in all of us."

The first skateboarders in the 1950s cruised walkways on California beaches trying to match the speed, turns and tricks performed by surfers they watched offshore.

Apart from being fun, practicing ollies, grinds and primos "promotes individualism ... artistic expression and it's also very athletic," skateboard icon Tony Hawk said in a video message played at the induction ceremony.

[Via madconomist.com]

Weird Facts: In the 1990s, your family came for dinner. Now they're moving in.

2008-09-27T08:30:00.000-07:00

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The number of parents, siblings and other relatives who live with adult heads of households grew 42% from 2000 to 2007, according to data released Tuesday by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Leading the way: parents, up 67%, to 3.6 million.

The figures suggest it isn't only elderly parents moving in. The number of parents under 65 in these households increased by 75%, and those 65 and older were up 62%. Both groups outpaced the increase in the number of people in family households overall, which is up 6% since 2000.

"This is just a major trend," says Stephanie Coontz, a family history professor at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Wash., who directs research at the Council on Contemporary Families.

Coontz suspects that a host of factors — among them higher housing costs and the nation's struggling economy — are prompting families to combine expenses. Also, intergenerational households are more common among the country's growing number of immigrants, she says.

But Coontz also notes that parent-child relationships are closer now than in the past. The downside, she says, is the emergence of the so-called helicopter parent who may hover too closely, but the upside is a tighter bond between generations and, in many cases, closer friendships between grown children and their parents. "I don't know how many of my students have told me, 'This may sound weird, but I talk to my parents more than I talk to my friends.' "

The average size of both families and households grew from 2000 to 2007, the data show, after shrinking slightly in the 1990s. The average family in 2007 had 3.2 people, up from 3.14 in 2000. The average household, which includes those in which someone lives alone, had 2.61 people in 2007, up from 2.59 in 2000.

Among other factors changing households:

• A 40% increase in the number of other live-in relatives, including the head of household's mother-in-law or father-in-law, to 6.8 million.

• A 24% increase in the number of live-in brothers and sisters, to 3.5 million in 2007.

• An 8% increase in non-relatives, including unmarried partners and roommates, to 6.2 million.

• Alaska had the highest percentage change in parents living with householders, up 167%. South Dakota had the lowest, still up 7%.

The Census Bureau's annual American Community Survey collects data from about 3 million U.S. households each year.

[Via - USAToday.Com]

Scientists to use satellites to count kangaroo rats | Weird facts

2008-09-19T06:02:00.000-07:00

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FRESNO, Calif. — Scientists plan to use satellite photos to count Giant Kangaroo Rats, the first-ever monitoring of an endangered species from outer space.

Scientists will examine images taken from the same satellite used by Israeli defense forces to find the circular patches of earth denuded by the rats as they gather food around their burrows. From that they plan to get the first-ever accurate population count of the rodents, a bellwether for the health of a parched plains environment.

By comparing the photos to 30 years of satellite images being released this month by the U.S. Geological Survey, researchers hope to better understand how the population has fluctuated in response to climate change and as the arrival of state and federal canal water turned the arid San Joaquin Valley into a patchwork of intensely cultivated farms and forced Giant Kangaroo Rats to concentrate on higher ground.

The information will help scientists determine when cattle might be used to reduce nonnative grasses, allowing the rats to more easily find food.

This study using satellite technology is taking place on the vast Carrizo Plain, a 390-square-mile desert grassland 150 miles southwest of here that is home to the most concentrated remaining populations of kangaroo rats.

The technology replaces trapping and tedious airplane fly-overs as a means of taking census.

"It allows us to more quickly recognize whether populations are declining where we want them to exist," said Scott Butterfield, a biologist with of The Nature Conservancy. "If they go below a threshold, that is when we would consider intervening."

Giant Kangaroo Rats, nocturnal rodents so named because they hop on back legs, adapted to their desert environment by extracting moisture from seeds and in their nasal passages from the humid air they exhale. For food, they pile seeds from native grasses in circles outside their burrows, which provide shelter for the endangered San Joaquin antelope squirrel and blunt-nosed lizards. Their fat five-inch bodies are a favored source of food for the endangered kit fox.

High rainfall encourages the growth of taller nonnative grasses, which overrun the shorter grasses that kangaroo rats depend on for food. Less food means fewer offspring. When kangaroo rats decline, so do the endangered native plant and animal species that depend on them for survival, the researchers say.

Determining at what point rainfall affects foraging will help the U.S. Bureau of Land Management establish grazing policy to control nonnative grasses and encourage a healthy kangaroo rat population.

"Without them the entire ecosystem would go out of whack," said Tim Bean, a doctoral student with the department of environmental policy and management at the University of California, Berkeley. "It's fairly rare for something so small to be a keystone species. It's easier to track, say, bison."

Farming has taken 90 percent of the kangaroo rat habitat since the middle of the last century.

The Carrizo Plain National Monument is California's largest remaining undisturbed tract of grasslands similar in biology and geography to the San Joaquin Valley, and it supports many plant and animal species that once thrived on the valley floor.

"Carrizo is like a Yosemite for grasslands, and there are decisions people are learning to make to manage it in a way that preserves its natural state," Bean said. "Since the kangaroo rat is so important to its function, we've got to get a handle on it."

[Via - WRAL]

Weird Facts: Slovakia's women's ice hockey pummels Bulgaria 82-0

2008-09-10T02:45:00.000-07:00

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BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (AP) -- With more goals than minutes in the game, Slovakia's women's ice hockey team claimed an amazing 82-0 victory over Bulgaria in Olympic qualifying.

Slovakia outshot the Bulgarians 139-0 during the 60-minute game, played in Latvia. The margin of victory is a record for a women's International Ice Hockey Federation-sanctioned event.

"We took it as training," Slovakia coach Miroslav Karafiat said after Saturday's game.

Janka Culikova led Slovakia with 10 goals, while Martina Velickova scored nine. Fourteen different players scored at least one goal.

Slovakia, which also beat Croatia, Latvia and Italy, advanced to another qualifying group with Germany, Kazakhstan and France. The winner will secure a spot at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.

Bulgaria was eliminated after scoring one goal and conceding 192 in the tournament.

The Slovakian men's team clinched its biggest ever victory against the Bulgarians 14 years ago when they won 20-0.

Copyright 2008 Associated Press.

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Weird Facts: Help-wanted ad for nanny: `My kids are a pain'

2008-09-05T07:17:00.000-07:00

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NEW YORK (AP) - It was an unusually honest ad for a live-in nanny, a 1,000-word tome beginning, "My kids are a pain." But it worked, attracting a brave soul who's never been a nanny before.

"If you cannot multitask, or communicate without being passive aggressive, don't even bother replying," Rebecca Land Soodak, a mother of four on Manhattan's Upper East Side, wrote Aug. 19 in her advertisement on Craigslist.

"I can be a tad difficult to work for. I'm loud, pushy and while I used to think we paid well, I am no longer sure."

This being the age of instant communications, the ad took on a life of its own, making the rounds of parenting blogs and e-mail inboxes and inspiring an article in Thursday's New York Times.

Soodak, a 40-year-old painter whose husband owns a wine store, eventually hired Christina Wynn, a 25-year-old University of Virginia graduate, to take care of Rubin, 12; Ellis, 9; and Shay and Cassie, both 6.

"I made a commitment to stay in the job for at least a year," Wynn told the Times. "I met the oldest child, but not the others, which my mother said was crazy - to accept the job without meeting all the kids. So we'll see." She noted that one of the pluses is that the children are all in school for several hours each day.

Some other excerpts from the listing: "If you are fundamentally unhappy with your life, you will be more unhappy if you take this job, so do us all a favor and get some treatment or move to the Rockies, but do not apply for employment with us."

And this: "Also, if you suspect all wealthy women are frivolous, we are not for you."

And this: "I have all sorts of theories on how to stack my dishwasher, and if you are judgmental about Ritalin for ADHD, or think such things are caused by too much sugar, again, deal-break city."

No word yet on whether a sequel to "The Nanny Diaries" is in the works. Meanwhile, Soodak tells the Times: "I hope she likes it here. I sent the ad to one of my old sitters and she said she felt it was pretty accurate, which sort of stung a little bit."

[Via - MyWay.Com]

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How to Start an IT Consulting Business

2008-09-05T07:11:00.000-07:00

IT, or informational technology, refers to the development and use of computer-based technology. This can mean many different things, starting with the design of computer software and ending with the transmission of information over the Internet or via specialized networks. A consulting business can cover several aspects of the industry or focus on just one, depending on your areas of expertise.

granted by: New York IT Consulting

Step1
Decide what type of services you will offer. This depends mainly on your knowledge, although it's possible to start an IT consulting business by joining forces with experts in other fields and offering a more comprehensive service. In any case, you still need to make up a list of services offered and a list of services you won't be able to provide (so you can turn down or refer work as soon as you are asked).

Step2
Decide what type of IT company you want to start. If you work on your own and freelance for companies, you will have to file your own taxes. If you form a corporation, you will be entitled to tax breaks and government help that you would not have as an independent worker.

Step3
Set up a website that looks professional. Have a professional do it for you if you don't have the knowledge, and make sure the site is optimized for search engines. Your website should offer a good view into what your company does, what type of problems you can solve and what the credentials of the people in the team include.

Step4
Look for steady work from a single company (or two) rather than small jobs from many different ones. While the small side jobs are great as extras, they may not provide enough income to keep up with payroll and business expenses. Working as an IT consultant for a single company means steady revenue and more peace of mind.

Step5
Visit the website of the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) for information on setting up a consulting practice that takes advantage of the latest developments in the industry (see Resources below). The ITAA website also offers data on policy issues and membership opportunities for more direct support.

Gunshot victim sues to get prosthetic leg back | Weird Facts

2008-09-04T01:10:00.000-07:00

ALLIANCE, Neb. - After being shot five times last weekend, a western Nebraska man had to go to court to get his prosthetic leg back from prosecutors. The Box Butte County Attorney's office gave Val McCabe's leg back Wednesday after a judge ordered it returned.

McCabe, 58, shot during a roadside incident on Friday, was listed in good condition at a hospital in Scottsbluff. Prosecutors wanted to run tests on the leg and the bullet lodged inside.

McCabe, who lost his leg below the knee in a railroad accident roughly 30 years ago, filed his lawsuit Tuesday.

McCabe lawyer argued it wasn't practical for him to replace the specially built, $28,000 prosthesis.

Alliance Police removed the bullet from the leg before returning it. No arrests had been made by Wednesday.

Via - Yahoo.news

Weird facts: Nigerian man to divorce 82 wives

2008-09-01T03:46:00.000-07:00

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A Nigerian religious leader with 86 wives has accepted an Islamic decree ordering him to divorce all but four of them, local authorities say.

A spokesman for the emir of Bida told the BBC that Mohammadu Bello Abubakar, 84, agreed on Saturday to comply with the decree.

Last week one of Nigeria's top Islamic bodies, the Jamatu Nasril Islam, sentenced him to death.

The sentence was lifted but he was threatened with eviction from his home.

Earlier, Mr Abubakar had challenged Islamic scholars, saying there was no punishment stated in the Koran for having more than four wives.

"I have not contravened any established law that would warrant my being banished from the land... There is no law that says one must not marry more than four wives," the AFP news agency reported him as saying.
Inside "Baba's" house
Many of the wives live three to a room, some have seven children

"All my wives are with children and some of these are people I have married and stayed with for over 30 years. How can they expect me to leave them within two days?" he reportedly told local newspapers.

The former teacher and Islamic preacher lives in Niger State with his wives and at least 170 children.

Niger is one of the Muslim majority states to have reintroduced Sharia punishments since 2000.

Several people have been sentenced to death for adultery by Sharia courts but none of these sentences have been carried out.

[Via - BBC]

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Kentucky politician jailed after joke | Weird Facts

2008-08-30T02:34:00.000-07:00

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weird facts - Politicians are known for lame jokes. But when Otis "Bullman" Hensley tried a generations-old Appalachian jest on a woman and two girls at the grocery store, the family thought it was downright criminal.

Hensley, who earned notoriety for oddball antics as a longshot gubernatorial candidate, spent three days in jail in this eastern Kentucky coal town last week after being arrested over the wisecrack.

"Jay Leno makes jokes every night and makes millions," Hensley said in his thick Appalachian accent. "I make one joke and go to jail."

He could have faced as many as 10 years in prison, but a charge of attempted unlawful transaction with a minor was dismissed on Monday.

The ordeal began last week when Hensley's wife sent him to a local grocery store to buy ground beef. While there, Hensley encountered a woman with her two nieces, ages 11 and 13. "I offered to trade her a fattening hog for those girls," Hensley said. "I meant it as a joke. I've said it a million times. Most people get a kick out of it."

The woman didn't laugh. Instead, the family obtained a warrant for Hensley's arrest from the local prosecutor, claiming the comment was intended to entice the children into illegal sexual activity.

On Tuesday, the girls' father accepted an apology from Hensley and shook hands with him in a Harlan County courtroom. The man declined to discuss the case with reporters afterward.

Prosecutor J.D. Smith asked the judge to dismiss the charge, saying both sides want to put the matter behind them.

"He absolutely meant no harm," Smith said of Hensley. "It was a joke to him."

Appalachian scholar Loyal Jones said the jest Hensley made has been around for generations and actually is intended as a compliment.

"I've heard many variations of that," said Jones, retired director of Berea College's Appalachian Center. "You might hear 'That's a good looking boy; I'd trade you a pocket knife for him' ... Political correctness has ruined country humour."

In Kentucky, citizens can obtain arrest warrants simply by filing a complaint with local prosecutors. Defence lawyer Karen Davenport said no investigation is necessary for police to make an arrest when the charge involves an alleged sexual offense.

In the Hensley case, Davenport said, the arrest was unwarranted because he had done nothing criminal.

In the last two gubernatorial campaigns, Hensley travelled the state with a giant Fiberglas bull on which he attached a sign proclaiming that, if elected, he would "chase the bull out of Frankfort." He received 3.3 per cent of the vote in 2003, his best showing.

[Via - CBC.ca]

Amtrak train runs out of fuel, 80 passengers stranded for 2 hours

2008-08-26T03:21:00.000-07:00

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SAN DIEGO - It was the little engine that couldn't - because it was thirsty for fuel.

Officials say a planned quick train trip down the U.S. west coast turned into a long haul for more than 80 Amtrak passengers Sunday night when their Los Angeles to San Diego train ran out of fuel.

Amtrak spokesman Cliff Cole said the train sat for about two hours on the northern edge of San Diego before another engine came along to push it the last several kilometres into the train station.

The train, which had left Los Angeles at 8:30 p.m., didn't get to San Diego until 1:15 a.m. Monday, two hours late.

Cole described having a train run out of fuel as "an unusual occurrence" and said Amtrak officials will be looking into how it happened.

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Baby whale seems to think yacht is its mother | weird facts

2008-08-22T06:45:00.000-07:00

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SYDNEY, Australia (AP) -- A lost humpback whale calf that bonded with a yacht it seems to think is its mother will likely die within days if it doesn't find another mother to adopt it, a wildlife official said Tuesday.

The 1- to 2-month-old calf was first sighted Sunday in waters off north Sydney, and on Monday tried to suckle from a yacht, which it would not leave. Rescuers towed the yacht out to sea, and the calf finally detached from the boat, but the creature returned to an inlet near Sydney Tuesday morning, New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service spokesman John Dengate said.

The calf can't survive without mother's milk for long, Dengate told Australia's Fairfax Radio Network.

"It's probably a question of days rather than weeks," he said. "It's a very grim prognosis."

Artificial feeding would be impossible, so the calf's only chance is to find another female whale to accept it, he said.

"If a lactating female with a calf goes past and this calf approaches that animal it may accept it, but ... it's a very slim chance," Dengate said.

[Via - AP]

Illinois sheriff does jail time - voluntarily | Weird Facts

2008-08-21T06:09:00.001-07:00

weird facts
WAUKEGAN, Ill. - The Lake County sheriff is behind bars — voluntarily.

Sheriff Mark Curran said his goal is to talk to inmates so he can see the jail from their perspective. That way he can try to solve potential problems, such as safety issues, and better understand the inmate experience, he said.

Real inmates bunk together in a cell, but Curran will sleep in his own cell for safety reasons. He was locked up Wednesday.

"I want some introspection but let's be realistic. I'm never going to be able to completely create that scenario," Curran told The Associated Press by telephone from jail.

Curran said he's also trying to draw attention to the fact that jails are overpopulated with the mentally ill, the uneducated and repeat offenders. Rehabilitation needs to be a focus, he said.

So far Curran said he has met several inmates, not all of whom appeared to realize he was sheriff. For those who do recognize him, he said he'll have to work to gain their trust.

"There might be some skepticism amongst them," he said. "You break down the walls as much as you possibly can."

Unlike the other inmates, Curran gets to leave on a date he chooses: Aug. 27.

[Via Yahoo.news]

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How to Compare Different Credit Cards

2008-08-21T04:55:00.000-07:00

Before you apply for your next credit card, take the time to compare different cards. By making an informed decision you may save yourself money and frustration in the long run.

Step 1
Compare the current and ongoing interest rates of different Credit Cards before you apply. Though many banks may offer a low introductory interest rate, it is important to know how high the interest rate will increase once that period has ended.

Step 2
Look for additional fees, such as application charges or annual fees. Many times lower interest rate credit cards may be offset by a high annual fees or charges.

Step 3
Check to see if the interest rate differs for services such as cash advances or balance transfers. Many times, the rate may be as much as twice the normal APR.

Step 4
Keep in mind that many credit cards charge you additional fees for purchases made in a foreign country. This is a detail not to be overlooked, especially if you plan to travel or make purchases from overseas vendors.

Step 5
Know what the penalty will be if you charge purchases over your credit limit or make a late payment. These fees may be large and they do earn interest.

Compare the Fringe Benefits

Step 1
Find a card that gives you something in return, such as cash back rewards or airline mileage.

Step 2
Contribute to a cause you care about by selecting a credit card that donates to your university or a favorite charity each time you make a purchase. In many cases, your alumni credit card may serve as alumni dues for your alma mater.

Step 3
Find a credit card to suit your personal style. Many companies are now offering different designs for their credit cards.

Puerto Rico corpse kept upright for 3-day wake | Weird Facts

2008-08-19T01:54:00.000-07:00

weird facts
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - A Puerto Rican man has been granted his wish to remain standing — even in death.

A funeral home used a special embalming treatment to keep the corpse of 24-year-old Angel Pantoja Medina standing upright for his three-day wake.

Dressed in a Yankees baseball cap and sunglasses, Pantoja was mourned by relatives while propped upright in his mother's living room.

His brother Carlos told the El Nuevo Dia newspaper the victim had long said he wanted to be upright for his own wake: "He wanted to be happy, standing."

The owner of the Marin Funeral Home, Damaris Marin, told The Associated Press the mother asked him to fulfill her dead son's last wish.

Pantoja was found dead Friday underneath a bridge in San Juan and buried Monday. Police are investigating.

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