Weird News

Zaaphod · Postby **Zaaphod** » Fri Dec 30, 2005 2:27 am

Next time try somewhere safer, like the South Bronx.  <table border='0' align='center' width='95%' ><tr><td class='quotetop'>Quote: </td></tr><tr><td class='quotebody'> AP: U.S. Teen Runs Off to Iraq by Himself Dec 29, 8:22 PM (ET) By JASON STRAZIUSO BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Maybe it was the time the taxi dumped him at the Iraq-Kuwait border, leaving him alone in the middle of the desert. Or when he drew a crowd at a Baghdad food stand after using an Arabic phrase book to order. Or the moment a Kuwaiti cab driver almost punched him in the face when he balked at the $100 fare. But at some point, Farris Hassan, a 16-year-old from Florida, realized that traveling to Iraq by himself was not the safest thing he could have done with his Christmas vacation. And he didn't even tell his parents. Hassan's dangerous adventure winds down with the 101st Airborne delivering the Fort Lauderdale teen to the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, which had been on the lookout for him and promises to see him back to the United States this weekend. It begins with a high school class on "immersion journalism" and one overly eager - or naively idealistic - student who's lucky to be alive after going way beyond what any teacher would ask. As a junior this year at a Pine Crest School, a prep academy of about 700 students in Fort Lauderdale, Hassan studied writers like John McPhee in the book "The New Journalism," an introduction to immersion journalism - a writer who lives the life of his subject in order to better understand it. Diving headfirst into an assignment, Hassan, whose parents were born in Iraq but have lived in the United States for about 35 years, hung out at a local mosque. The teen, who says he has no religious affiliation, added that he even spent an entire night until 6 a.m. talking politics with a group of Muslim men, a level of "immersion" his teacher characterized as dangerous and irresponsible. The next trimester his class was assigned to choose an international topic and write editorials about it, Hassan said. He chose the Iraq war and decided to practice immersion journalism there, too, though he knows his school in no way endorses his travels. "I thought I'd go the extra mile for that, or rather, a few thousand miles," he told The Associated Press. Using money his parents had given him at one point, he bought a $900 plane ticket and took off from school a week before Christmas vacation started, skipping classes and leaving the country on Dec. 11. His goal: Baghdad. Those privy to his plans: two high school buddies. Given his heritage, Hassan could almost pass as Iraqi. His father's background helped him secure an entry visa, and native Arabs would see in his face Iraqi features and a familiar skin tone. His wispy beard was meant to help him blend in. But underneath that Mideast veneer was full-blooded American teen, a born-and-bred Floridian sporting white Nike tennis shoes and trendy jeans. And as soon as the lanky, 6-foot teenager opened his mouth - he speaks no Arabic - his true nationality would have betrayed him. Traveling on his own in a land where insurgents and jihadists have kidnapped more than 400 foreigners, killing at least 39 of them, Hassan walked straight into a death zone. On Monday, his first full day in Iraq, six vehicle bombs exploded in Baghdad, killing five people and wounding more than 40. The State Department strongly advises U.S. citizens against traveling to Iraq, saying it "remains very dangerous." Forty American citizens have been kidnapped since the war started in March 2003, of which 10 have been killed, a U.S. official said. About 15 remain missing. "Travel warnings are issued for countries that are considered especially dangerous for Americans, and one of the strongest warnings covers travel to Iraq," said Elizabeth Colton, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. Colton said the embassy's consular section can provide only limited help to Americans in Iraq, though once officials learn of a potentially dangerous situation every effort is made to assist. Inside the safety of Baghdad's Green Zone, an Embassy official from the Hostage Working Group talked to Hassan about how risky travel is in Iraq. "This place is incredibly dangerous to individual private American citizens, especially minors, and all of us, especially the military, went to extraordinary lengths to ensure this youth's safety, even if he doesn't acknowledge it or even understand it," a U.S. official who wasn't authorized to speak to the media said on condition of anonymity. Hassan's extra-mile attitude took him east through eight time zones, from Fort Lauderdale to Kuwait City. His plan was to take a taxi across the border and ultimately to Baghdad - an unconventional, expensive and utterly dangerous route. It was in Kuwait City that he first called his parents to tell them of his plans - and that he was now in the Middle East. His mother, Shatha Atiya, a psychologist, said she was "shocked and terrified." She had told him she would take him to Iraq, but only after the country stabilizes. "He thinks he can be an ambassador for democracy around the world. It's admirable but also agony for a parent," Atiya said. Attempting to get into Iraq, Hassan took a taxi from Kuwait City to the border 55 miles away. He spoke English at the border and was soon surrounded by about 15 men, a scene he wanted no part of. On the drive back to Kuwait City, a taxi driver almost punched him when he balked at the fee. "In one day I probably spent like $250 on taxis," he said. "And they're so evil too, because they ripped me off, and when I wouldn't pay the ripped-off price they started threatening me. It was bad." It could have been worse - the border could have been open. As luck would have it, the teenager found himself at the Iraq-Kuwait line sometime on Dec. 13, and the border security was extra tight because of Iraq's Dec. 15 parliamentary elections. The timing saved him from a dangerous trip. "If they'd let me in from Kuwait, I probably would have died," he acknowledged. "That would have been a bad idea." He again called his father, who told him to come home. But the teen insisted on going to Baghdad. His father advised him to stay with family friends in Beirut, Lebanon, so he flew there, spending 10 days before flying to Baghdad on Christmas. His ride at Baghdad International Airport, arranged by the family friends in Lebanon, dropped him off at an international hotel where Americans were staying. He says he only strayed far from that hotel once, in search of food. He walked into a nearby shop and asked for a menu. When no menu appeared, he pulled out his Arabic phrase book, and after fumbling around found the word "menu." The stand didn't have one. Then a worker tried to read some of the English phrases. "And I'm like, 'Well, I should probably be going.' It was not a safe place. The way they were looking at me kind of freaked me out," he said. It was mid-afternoon Tuesday, after his second night in Baghdad, that he sought out editors at The Associated Press and announced he was in Iraq to do research and humanitarian work. AP staffers had never seen an unaccompanied teenage American walk into their war zone office. ("I would have been less surprised if little green men had walked in," said editor Patrick Quinn.) Wearing a blue long-sleeve shirt in addition to his jeans and sneakers, Hassan appeared eager and outgoing but slightly sheepish about his situation. The AP quickly called the U.S. embassy. Embassy officials had been on the lookout for Hassan, at the request of his parents, who still weren't sure exactly where he was. One U.S. military officer said he was shocked the teen was still alive. The 101st Airborne lieutenant who picked him up from the hotel said it was the wildest story he'd ever heard. Hassan accepted being turned over to authorities as the safest thing to do, but seemed to accept the idea more readily over time. Most of Hassan's wild tale could not be corroborated, but his larger story arc was in line with details provided by friends and family members back home. Dangerous and dramatic, Hassan's trip has also been educational. He had tea with Kuwaitis under a tent in the middle of a desert. He says he interviewed Christians in south Lebanon. And he said he spoke with U.S. soldiers guarding his Baghdad hotel who told him they are treated better by Sunni Arabs - the minority population that enjoyed a high standing under Saddam Hussein and are now thought to fuel the insurgency - than by the majority Shiites. His father, Redha Hassan, a doctor, said his son is an idealist, principled and moral. Aside from the research he wanted to accomplish, he also wrote in an essay saying he wanted to volunteer in Iraq. He said he wrote half the essay while in the United States, half in Kuwait, and e-mailed it to his teachers Dec. 15 while in the Kuwait City airport. "There is a struggle in Iraq between good and evil, between those striving for freedom and liberty and those striving for death and destruction," he wrote. "Those terrorists are not human but pure evil. For their goals to be thwarted, decent individuals must answer justice's call for help. Unfortunately altruism is always in short supply. Not enough are willing to set aside the material ambitions of this transient world, put morality first, and risk their lives for the cause of humanity. So I will." "I want to experience during my Christmas the same hardships ordinary Iraqis experience everyday, so that I may better empathize with their distress," he wrote. Farris Hassan says he thinks a trip to the Middle East is a healthy vacation compared with a trip to Colorado for holiday skiing. "You go to, like, the worst place in the world and things are terrible," he said. "When you go back home you have such a new appreciation for all the blessing you have there, and I'm just going to be, like, ecstatic for life." His mother, however, sees things differently. "I don't think I will ever leave him in the house alone again," she said. "He showed a lack of judgment." Hassan may not mind, at least for a while. He now understands how dangerous his trip was, that he was only a whisker away from death. His plans on his return to Florida: "Kiss the ground and hug everyone." </td></tr></table>

GhostWay · Postby **GhostWay** » Fri Dec 30, 2005 4:07 pm

Some people really will buy anything. And drink anything too, for that matter. <img src='http://definecynical.mancubus.net/forum ... /blink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='blink.gif' />  <table border='0' align='center' width='95%' ><tr><td class='quotetop'>Quote: </td></tr><tr><td class='quotebody'> Pricey coffee good to the last dropping Fri Dec 30, 2005 9:09 AM ET173 NEW YORK (Reuters) - Would you pay $175 for a pound of coffee beans which had passed through the backside of a furry mammal in Indonesia? Apparently, some coffee lovers wanting to treat themselves to something special are lapping it up. Kopi Luwak beans from Indonesia are rare and expensive, thanks to a unique taste and aroma enhanced by the digestive system of palm civets, nocturnal tree-climbing creatures about the size of a large house cat. "People like coffee. And when they want to treat themselves, they order the Kopi Luwak," said Isaac Jones, director of sales for Tastes of The World, an online supplier of gourmet coffee, tea and cocoa. Despite being carnivorous, civets eat ripe coffee cherries for treats. The coffee beans, which are found inside of the cherries, remain intact after passing through the animal. Civet droppings are found on the forest floor near coffee plantations. Once carefully cleaned and roasted, the beans are sold to specialty buyers. Jones said sales for Kopi Luwak rose three-fold just before the Christmas holiday compared with the first half of the year. The company started selling the rare coffee in February 2005. He expects to sell around 200 pounds of the coffee this year, with orders coming from North America and Europe. So far, most of the orders have been from California. Indonesia produces only about 500 kilograms, or roughly 1,100 pounds, of the coffee each year, making it extremely expensive and difficult to find. "It's the most expensive coffee that we know about in the world," said Jones. By comparison Jamaica's Blue Mountain coffee, considered to be an expensive type, sells for $35 to $40 per pound, while a pound of Colombia's Supremo arabicas can be bought for about $14.</td></tr></table>

Tom Flapwell · Postby **Tom Flapwell** » Fri Dec 30, 2005 10:13 pm

Dave Barry wrote a column about it long ago, when it was $300 a pound. After trying some, he decided that people would buy it only because it's expensive.

Zaaphod · Postby **Zaaphod** » Sat Dec 31, 2005 2:12 am

I remember Dave Barry writing about it, yeah. He summed it up by saying something like "people are paying 300 dollars a pound to drink processed weasel doodoo."

Glenn565 · Postby **Glenn565** » Sat Dec 31, 2005 6:21 am

Wow, what a way to go.  <table border='0' align='center' width='95%' ><tr><td class='quotetop'>Quote: </td></tr><tr><td class='quotebody'> PORTAGE, Mich. - A bowler collapsed and died at a bowling alley shortly after rolling the third perfect game of his life. Ed Lorenz, 69, bowled a 300 on Wednesday in his first league game of the night at Airway Lanes. When the retiree got up to bowl in the fifth frame of his second game, he clutched his chest and fell over, and efforts to revive him failed. The cause of death wasn't immediately known. "If he could have written a way to go out, this would be it," said Johnny D. Masters, who was bowling with Lorenz. Friends said Lorenz started bowling in 1957 and ended last season with a 223 average. He rolled his first two 300 games over a one-week period in 2004. In May, Lorenz was inducted into the Kalamazoo Metro Bowling Association Hall of Fame.</td></tr></table>  <a href='http://msn.foxsports.com/other/story/5206738' target='_blank'>http://msn.foxsports.com/other/story/5206738</a>

norsenerd · Postby **norsenerd** » Sun Jan 01, 2006 3:16 am

Another atleate dies in his prime. WHEN WILL THE STEROIDS STOP????

VisibilityMissing · Postby **VisibilityMissing** » Sun Jan 01, 2006 2:38 pm

How to annoy people . . .  <table border='0' align='center' width='95%' ><tr><td class='quotetop'>Quote: </td></tr><tr><td class='quotebody'> Jan 1, 12:58 AM EST Survey Tracks 2005's Most Annoying Phrases By SARAH KARUSH Associated Press Writer DETROIT (AP) -- No up-or-down vote necessary: Everyone from persons of interest to first-time callers will agree that 2005 offered more than its share of irritating words and phrases. Lake Superior State University on Saturday released its 2006 "List of Words and Phrases Banished from the Queen's English for Mis-Use, Over-Use and General Uselessness." But please, don't call it "breaking news." That and 16 other linguistic nuisances were selected by a university committee from among almost 2,000 nominations. The small academic outpost in the Upper Peninsula community of Sault Ste. Marie has been compiling the banned-words list since 1976 to attract publicity - and certainly not to offer anyone "talking points." The committee also targeted such gems as "hunker down," which it noted is used by media "in reports about everything from politics to hurricanes." Also frequently heard on the news is "person of interest," a favorite of law enforcement agencies. Such a person is "seldom encountered at cocktail parties," the list's authors lamented. From the field of education comes "community of learners." "Not to be confused with 'school,'" one critic wrote. Politics offered plenty of fodder. The committee cited "up-or-down vote," a phrase uttered often in 2005 by Republicans eager to see President Bush's judicial nominees move through the Senate without the threat of a Democratic filibuster. The committee also banished "FEMA," the acronym for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, whose operations in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina were widely criticized as ineffective. "If they don't do anything, we don't need their acronym," wrote Josh Hamilton, of Tucson, Ariz. Many of the phrases banned this year are not new, but simply got under enough people's skin to finally deserve the dubious honor. Miguel McCormick, of Orlando, Fla., was fed up with "first-time caller," a designation heard on talk radio. "I am serious in asking: Who in any universe gives a care?" he asked. The school has banned nearly 800 words over the years, including "metrosexual" (2004), "chad" (2001), "babby boomers" (1989) and "detente" (1976). --- On the Net: Banished words: <a href='http://www.lssu.edu/banished' target='_blank'>http://www.lssu.edu/banished</a> </td></tr></table>

norsenerd · Postby **norsenerd** » Sun Jan 01, 2006 3:27 pm

That's one of the stupidist things I've ever heard of. Sure meny phrases are over used but "banning" FEMA? That ad others is just rediciulous.

Muninn · Postby **Muninn** » Mon Jan 02, 2006 7:49 am

What if they have to discuss FEMA in class? Are they not allowed to do that?

DesertFoxCat · Postby **DesertFoxCat** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 12:11 am

Only a little weird, but that's a really long time.  <table border='0' align='center' width='95%' ><tr><td class='quotetop'>Quote: (People's Daily Online)</td></tr><tr><td class='quotebody'> China's legislature abolishes 2,600-year-old agricultural tax China's 2,600-year-old agricultural tax will be rescinded as of Jan. 1, 2006, after China's top legislature voted on Thursday to adopt a motion on the regulations revoking the agricultural tax. The motion with only 94 Chinese characters was voted favorably by 162 lawmakers and abstained by one. Wan Baorui, former vice minister of agriculture and vice chairman of the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee of National People's Congress told Xinhua that the abolition of the agricultural tax demonstrates that industry has outgrown agriculture to some extent along with the country's economic development. And the country ushers into a new era of "industry subsidizing agriculture". Official figures show that agriculture contributed to 13.1 percent of the nation's gross domestic product (GDP) in 2004, and industry and tertiary trade contributed to 46.2 percent and 40.7 percent respectively. Agricultural tax, China's most ancient tax category, started to be collected in 594 BC. From that time, agricultural tax has existed for 2,600 years in China with dominant rural economy. During the more than 2,000 years, agricultural tax was always the main source of the country's coffer. Since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, agriculture has made great contribution to the country's economic development. In 1953-1985 period, Chinese government purchased grains, cotton and other agricultural products with unified prices which were much lower than the prices in free market, so as to save money for developing industry. In this way, Chinese farmers contributed 600 billion to 800 billion yuan (about 75 billion US dollars - 100 billion US dollars) to the country's industrializationh. Over recent years, the gaps between city and countryside, urban citizens and rural residents were widened. Therefore, solving issues concerning agriculture, countryside and farmers have turned to be the urgent task for the Chinese government. In 2005, the Chinese government and the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China vowed to construct a "new countryside" so as to narrow the gap between city and countryside. Wan said, the abolition of agricultural tax was only one of the important steps to fulfill the construction of the "new countryside". Statistics, released by the National Bureau of Statistics in December, showed that currently the proportion of primary, secondary and tertiary sectors in the GDP has changed to be 13:46:41. "It demonstrated that the country's industry system has been in shape and the time for industry subsidizing agriculture has been ripe," said Wan. Several signs have illustrated that the construction of "new countryside" was by no means a slogan, but a top issue in government's work agenda. Last week, Premier Wen Jiabao announced at an executive meeting of the State Council that tuitions for nine-year compulsory education in rural areas will be exempted within two years. And the central government and local governments at various levels will allocate a total of 218.9 billion yuan (27.36 billion US dollars) to subsidize compulsory education in rural areas in five consecutive years from 2006. In public finance sector, the government has remarkably intensified investment in rural areas over recent years. The public spending on issues concerning agriculture, countryside and farmers increased by more than 50 percent from the figure for 2002. In 2004, the State Council exempted and reduced agricultural tax in trial in certain provinces. In 2004 alone, 50 billion yuan worth of agricultural taxes were exempted for 800 million farmers. Or say, the annual per capita income for Chinese farmers increased by 63 yuan, or 2.1 percent from the previous year. Wan said the abolition of agricultural tax also sharpened the country's agricultural competitive edge in the international market. Giving that China has 86.7 million hectares of farmland, the abolition of agricultural tax means the per hectare grain production cost dropped by 570 yuan, or 10 percent - 20 percent from the figure of previous year. Source: Xinhua</td></tr></table>

VisibilityMissing · Postby **VisibilityMissing** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 12:27 am

The year that was . . . Harper's summary of 2005.  <table border='0' align='center' width='95%' ><tr><td class='quotetop'>Quote: </td></tr><tr><td class='quotebody'> Yearly Review Posted on Saturday, December 31, 2005. By Paul Ford. Sources The number of people killed by the Indian Ocean tsunami rose to 230,000. A study showed that 310,000 Europeans die from air pollution each year, and the U.N. predicted that 90 million Africans will have HIV by 2025. An international task force of scientists, politicians, and business leaders warned that the world has about 10 years before global warming becomes irreversible. The U.S. Congress officially ratified President George W. Bush's election victory after a two-hour debate over voting irregularities in Ohio. Terri Schiavo, Johnnie Cochran, Frank Perdue, Mitch Hedberg, Arthur Miller, Saul Bellow, and the pope died, as did the man who wrote the theme song to "Gidget." An Australian tortoise named Harriet turned 175. General Motors was spending more for health care than for steel, and an increasing number of Americans were heating their homes with corn. El Salvadoran police arrested 21 people for operating a smuggling operation and seized 24 tons of contraband cheese. NASA announced that it wanted to return to the moon. A study found that the worldwide percentage of land stricken by drought has doubled within the last 30 years. The Jordan River was filled with sewage, and the last of Gaza's Jewish settlers left their homes on armored buses. Terrorists in London set off bombs on three trains and a bus, killing 52 people; President Bush condemned attacks on innocent folks by those with evil in their hearts. A 13-year-old boy in Kalamazoo accidentally burned down the family meth lab. New Orleans flooded after levees broke in the wake of Hurricane Katrina; many evacuees were not allowed to take their pets with them. "Snowball!" cried a little boy after police took away his dog. "Snowball!" At least 42,000 people died in an earthquake in Pakistan. It was announced that Cookie Monster would cut back on cookies. Authorities in Malaysia arrested 58 people who worship a giant teapot. Poor people rioted in France. In North Carolina Kenneth Boyd became the 1,000th prisoner executed since the United States reintroduced the death penalty in 1976. A 1,600-inmate faith-based prison opened in Crawfordville, Florida. Police began random bag checks of subway passengers in New York City. It was revealed that the CIA had set up a secret system of prisons, called "black sites," around the world; it was also revealed that the National Security Agency was spying on Americans without first obtaining warrants. Journalist Judith Miller was released from jail and said she wanted to hug her dog. U.S. Congressman Tom DeLay was arrested; U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney's Chief of Staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby was indicted. The Pentagon admitted to using white phosphorus during the 2004 attack on Fallujah, Iraq, and allocated $127 billion to build a robot army. The total number of American soldiers killed in the Iraq war rose to 2,174, while the total number of Iraqi civilians killed rose to 27,636. "We are all waiting for death," said an Iraqi soldier, "like the moon waiting for sunset." The U.S. Defense Department, in violation of the federal Privacy Act, was building a database of 30 million 16- to 25-year-olds. The Department of Homeland Security announced that it had wasted a great deal of money and needed much more. Starbucks came to Guantanamo Bay. Scientists began work on a complete, molecule-level computer simulation of the human brain. The project will take at least ten years. This is Yearly Review by Paul Ford, published Saturday, December 31, 2005. It is part of Weekly Review for 2005, which is part of Weekly Review, which is part of Harpers.org.</td></tr></table>

Rooster · Postby **Rooster** » Wed Jan 04, 2006 2:19 pm

Yeah, 2005 sucked.

Muninn · Postby **Muninn** » Thu Jan 05, 2006 5:30 pm

Robot army? <img src='http://definecynical.mancubus.net/forum ... /blink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='blink.gif' />

Bocaj Claw · Postby **Bocaj Claw** » Thu Jan 05, 2006 6:05 pm

Yeah. Little remote controlled robots. With guns. To cut down on casualties or some such.

Rooster · Postby **Rooster** » Sat Jan 07, 2006 12:21 am

That means it'll be peace! Because if you give a man a gun and train him to shoot, he will. You leave a computer in charge and it'll break down faster than a car with electronics made in the UK.

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