Weird News

[VisibilityMissing]

School children foil robbery . . .

Oct 11, 5:47 PM EDT

Schoolyard Chant Foils Armored Heist

LONDON (AP) -- A group of school children helped foil an attempted armored van robbery by memorizing the getaway car's registration plate in a school yard chant, police said Wednesday.

A passer-by who spotted the car, but feared she would forget the plate number so she asked a group of children to memorize it, police in the northern city of Liverpool said.

The group of nine and 10-year-olds remembered the registration details by turning the numbers into a chant, before a classmate arrived with a pen. The three thieves were traced and arrested within 40 minutes, police said.

"The lady did not have a pen or paper on her so went over to the children and repeated the registration number to them," said a spokeswoman for Merseyside Police, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with force policy. "The children sang the song in a chant to help remember it, while one of them ran into the school for a pen."

[Tom Flapwell]

Vehicles: Now, Everyone Lets Me Get Over to Merge!
Stephen Ellison of Winston, England, bought a 7.5-ton tank that he uses for trips to town, the Daily Mail reported. Ellison paide $25,000 for the 1974 Sabre light-recoinnaissance tank, which he can drive up to 40 mph when he runs errands. "Young and old alike are fascinated with it," Ellison said. "It really unites people." The gun on the tank has been deactivated, and the tracks have been switched with rubber ones to make it suitable to drive on the road. But, Ellison said, it's insured and he pays taxes on it, making it OK for everyone to use.

This guy just got a step closer to living nearly every urban man's dream.

[VisibilityMissing]

Behold, the power of cows!

Chilean taxi driver combats crime with cows

2 hours, 32 minutes ago

A Chilean taxi driver has come up with a new way to fight assaults: make your vehicle so conspicuous that nobody would dare try to rob you.

After being robbed several times, Juan Geraldo upholstered and covered every square inch of his car's interior with black and white spotted cowhides, including the steering wheel and ceiling. He then decorated the interior with stuffed toy cows, and added a horn that moos.

The visual effect is even more impressive at night, when the black and white taxi interior is set off from floor to ceiling by a flood of neon light.

"The effect was immediate. They haven't robbed me since," said Geraldo, who said the special effects also brought in more clientele and allowed him to expand his cab fleet from one car to nine.

The 46-year-old taxi driver with 27 years of experience completes the cow theme by dressing in a cowhide jacket and hat.

"The numbers don't lie, the cow cabs attract more clients," Geraldo said. "Today almost all of our business is with repeat customers."

Geraldo said about 80 percent of his clients are women and that he gets calls from television personalities, former government officials and for children's birthday parties.

Although he has rejected an idea suggested by some to rent out the cow cabs for amorous encounters, he is trying to patent his idea and is keen on coming up with other variants.

"Some would love the idea of a zebra cab or a lion cab," said Geraldo. "It's a question of using your imagination."

[Tom Flapwell]

Yay for standing out!

[Llewthepoet]

Being robbed by Bush happens to a lot of people!

Conn. police seek robber disguised as Bush
Man says he was held up by mask-wearing thief with a bad Southern accent

TORRINGTON, Connecticut - Police in Connecticut are searching for a robber disguised as President Bush.

Charles Gardner told police he was on the front steps of his home Wednesday when the robber, sporting a rubber Bush Halloween mask and a bad southern accent, put a gun to his temple and demanded cash, the Republican American newspaper reported in Thursday editions.

Gardner said he had just been to the bank to cash his $1,000 Social Security pension check when he was robbed.

The robber made off with the cash and fled in an older model white car, police said.

[Bocaj Claw]

So, a Bush look-a-like steals a man's Social Security money?

Yup. That's not symbolic in any way.

[VisibilityMissing]

Yes . . . wearing underwear to school, how terrible . . .

Oct 27, 6:52 AM EDT

School Boots 3 Girls in 'Underpants'

LONG BEACH, N.Y. (AP) -- Captain Underpants has battled talking toilets and Professor Poopypants, but he was no match for a high school principal who banned students from dressing up as the children's book character.

Long Beach High School Principal Nicholas Restivo took the action Wednesday after three 17-year-old girls wore beige leotards and nude stockings under white briefs and red capes on the school's Superhero Day.

"Yes, I know they weren't naked," Restivo said. "But the appearance was that they were naked."

Chelsea Horowitz, one of the dressed-up girls, had a problem with that logic.

"They're not see-through or anything," said Horowitz, an honor student and softball player. "All the teachers thought it was cute."

But Restivo decreed that no underpants would be visible in his hallways.

Horowitz and fellow seniors Ashley Imhof and Eliana Levin went home to change back into their mortal attire.

---

On the Net:

Captain Underpants: http://www.pilkey.com

[Llewthepoet]

That guy is not going to get his license for a long time!

How not to get a license: Ram the license office
Indiana 20-year-old rejected when car ends up half in, half out of building

PORTAGE, Ind. - A young woman's goal of getting her driver's license crashed this week — right into the license branch. The 20-year-old woman was pulling into a parking spot outside the license branch when she hit the accelerator instead of the brake, Assistant Fire Chief Mike Bucy said.

The car jumped a small curb and went into the building about 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, tearing out a large glass window and damaging a door and low brick wall.

Neither the driver nor the examiner, neither of whom was identified, was injured. Bucy said a person in the building sustained a hip injury and was examined by emergency medical personnel but declined to be taken to the hospital.

The driver's car had damage to its hood and fenders.

Amazing Travel manager Susan Williams said she thought something had exploded next door.

"We jumped up and we went to the door and saw the car half in and half out of the license bureau," Williams said.

The building was closed for the remainder of the day but reopened Wednesday.

The young driver, meanwhile, failed the test.

"I think it's fair to say the customer did not meet the required criteria," said Greg Cook, a Bureau of Motor Vehicles spokesman.

[VisibilityMissing]

Pennsylvania Police have a little rattlesnake problem . . .

Oct 27, 10:13 PM EDT

Pa. Police Station Buzzing With Snakes

SHAMOKIN, Pa. (AP) -- The city police station was buzzing Thursday - with the sound of rattlesnakes. Receptionist Mallary Shingara said when she walked into the chief's office and saw them, "I dropped my cell phone and almost my coffee."

Police Chief John Brown said officers answered a call Wednesday night about a woman threatening to harm herself and found the woman in her basement holding a knife to her throat.

She put down the knife but began waving the snakes at the officers, and was herself bitten on the arms and face. She put down the snakes and again grabbed the knife, but Mount Carmel police arrived with a stun weapon and used it to immobilize her, Brown said.

The woman was taken to Geisinger Medical Center in Danville for treatment of the snake bites, and officers brought aquariums back to the station containing two western diamondback rattlesnakes, a pygmy rattlesnake and two copperheads, each about 30 inches long, Brown said.

"I can't get my evidence guy to put them in the evidence locker," he said. Zoo America at Hershey offered to take the snakes, but Brown said he hadn't found out if he could legally allow that.

[Richard K Niner]

What's that supposed to be, a prequel to SOAP?

[VisibilityMissing]

Bus rider shoots himself in the leg

October 30, 2006

CHICAGO -- A Chicago man riding a CTA bus Saturday accidentally shot himself in the leg, prosecutors said Sunday.

Police were called after a bus driver heard a gunshot in the rear of her bus in the 0-100 block of West 95th Street, Cook County Assistant State's Atty. Karin Swanson said in Bond Court. The driver saw Charles Whittenburg, 22, of the 11800 block of South Perry Avenue, trying to get off the bus.

When police arrived, they discovered Whittenburg had shot himself in the upper leg. They found a 9-mm handgun in his waistband and ammunition, Swanson said.

According to court records, Whittenburg was taken to Little Company of Mary Hospital, where he was treated and released.

Police arrested him, and charges include unauthorized use of a weapon by a felon and not having a firearm owner's identification card.

Cook County Circuit Judge Thomas Hennelly set bail Sunday at $80,000.

Copyright © 2006, Chicago Tribune

[Tom Flapwell]

Your Learner's Permit Doesn't Apply
A 15-year-old boy stole an Orlando bus Saturday, drove it along a public transit route, picked up passengers and collected fares, authorities said. Ritchie Calvin Davis took the bus from the Central Florida Fairgrounds in Orlando, where it was parked awaiting sale at an auction, officials said. The bus belongs to the Central Florida Transportation Agency, which runs public transit services. "There isn't a scratch on it. I know how to start it, drive it, lower it, raise it," said the teen, who is too young to drive legally, after he was stopped and arrested. Passengers and deputies noted Davis drove the bus at normal speeds and made all the appropriate stops on the route.

Hm. On one wing, the boy was dumb if he thought he could get away with it, or if he thought the resulting attention would outweigh the risk and cost. On the other wing, that's an impressive job.

I'm more concerned about the passengers. Did they not look at him? Does he look old enough to be authorized to drive a bus (and probably without a uniform)? Or were they so eager for a ride that they didn't care?

[Richard K Niner]

Don't look at me. I use the back door

[Llewthepoet]

Sometimes, it pains me to finish one hamburger!

Japanese champ eats 97 burgers in 8 minutes
Kobayashi, also hot-dog eating title holder, speed-gulps way to 3rd title

CHATTANOOGA, Tennessee - Japanese eating champion Takeru Kobayashi won his third straight Krystal hamburger-eating contest, setting a new world record in the process. Kobayashi ate 97 of the small, square hamburgers in eight minutes on Saturday.

That beat the previous record of 69 burgers, which he set at the first Krystal contest in 2004.

Joey Chestnut of San Jose, California, came in second place Saturday by eating 91 hamburgers, and Pat Bertoletti of Chicago ate 76.

Kobayashi, who is from Nagano, also holds the title of hot dog-eating champion, after eating 49 hot dogs in 12 minutes at the Nathan's Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog-Eating Contest at Coney Island, New York. Despite his capacity to eat, he weighs 172 pounds.

Krystal, the oldest fast-food chain in the South, holds two-minute qualifying rounds in eight Southern cities in the months leading up to the championship.

The Krystal finals are governed by the International Federation of Competitive Eating. Founded by brothers Richard and George Shea in 1997, it regulates events for safety and keeps records on everything from meatballs to green chiles.

[Tom Flapwell]

And 96 starving children stare in his general direction. (Define "cynical.")