rss BAD HABITS: NEWS OF THE WEIRD

• NEWS OF THE WEIRD

  Earth-friendly sex toys, frogs with fangs and more

  LEAD STORY: For some consumers, good environmental citizenship is important even when choosing sex accessories. No longer will they tolerate plastic personal vibrators made with softeners called phthalates; or body lubricants that contain toxic chemicals typically found in, say, antifreeze ...

  Vol. 38 No. 29 Published 11.18.09 by Chuck Shepherd
• NEWS OF THE WEIRD

  Bathroom bloggers, prostitutes sent from God and more

  LEAD STORY: Procter & Gamble announced in October that it will once again create and host a public restroom for the holiday season in New York City's Times Square as a promotion for Charmin tissue.

  Vol. 38 No. 28 Published 11.11.09 by Chuck Shepherd
• NEWS OF THE WEIRD

  Artificial memories, the worst jobs in science and more

  LEAD STORY: Scientists at England's University of Oxford know how to make fruit flies scared of things they weren't scared of previously — by implanting artificial memories in their brains. ...

  Vol. 38 No. 27 Published 11.04.09 by Chuck Shepherd
• NEWS OF THE WEIRD

  Famous frozen heads, high-maintenance goddesses and more

  LEAD STORY: The human brain's 100 billion neurons may have such specific functions that a few electrically charge only upon recognition of a single celebrity, such as Oprah Winfrey or Bill Clinton.

  Vol. 38 No. 26 Published 10.28.09 by Chuck Shepherd
• NEWS OF THE WEIRD

  Alien evolution, rectal bombs and more

  LEAD STORY: Love Can Mess You Up: Before Arthur David Horn met his future bride Lynette (a "metaphysical healer") in 1988, he was a tenured professor at Colorado State, with a Ph.D. in anthropology from Yale, teaching a mainstream course in human evolution.

  Vol. 38 No. 25 Published 10.21.09 by Chuck Shepherd
• NEWS OF THE WEIRD

  Body modification taken too far, piggyback fetishes and more

  LEAD STORY: Beneath the luxury hotels on the Las Vegas Strip is a series of flood tunnels that are home to dozens of people who work odd jobs such as hustling leftover change in casino slot machines.

  Vol. 38 No. 23 Published 10.07.09 by Chuck Shepherd
• NEWS OF THE WEIRD

  Painful fetishes, brothel business strategies and more

  LEAD STORY: What is believed to be the world's only commercial lounge openly serving cocaine operates in La Paz, Bolivia, though the owners of "Route 36" have to change locations from time to time, depending on the moods of the bribed authorities.

  Vol. 38 No. 22 Published 09.30.09 by Chuck Shepherd
• NEWS OF THE WEIRD

  Zombie attacks, deadly dominoes and more

  LEAD STORY: If society were ever attacked by zombies, we would probably be doomed, and quickly. That was the conclusion of two university researchers in Ottawa who set up mathematical models hypothesizing zombie attacks as infectious diseases.

  Vol. 38 No. 21 Published 09.23.09 by Chuck Shepherd
• NEWS OF THE WEIRD

  Lactating men, rotten cheese delacacies and more

  LEAD STORY: A male Swedish college student, Ragnar Bengtsson, 26, has begun pumping his breasts at three-hour intervals in a 90-day experiment to see if he can produce milk.

  Vol. 38 No. 21 Published 09.23.09 by Chuck Shepherd
• NEWS OF THE WEIRD

  Diaper fetishes, gas station sushi and more

  LEAD STORY: A woman offering child-care services in Melbourne, Fla., was dismayed to learn in August that a scam pulled on her by a diaper-wearing man in his 40s was not illegal.

  Vol. 38 No. 19 Published 09.09.09 by Chuck Shepherd
• NEWS OF THE WEIRD

  Eyelash transplants, cowardly lions and more

  LEAD STORY: Breakthroughs in Eye Hair: The pharmaceutical company Allergan has introduced eyelash-thickener Latisse, a $120 per month prescription “medication” to help a woman overcome feelings of inadequacy if she suffers from scrawny lashes.

  Vol. 38 No. 19 Published 09.09.09 by Chuck Shepherd
• NEWS OF THE WEIRD

  Hardcore doll collections, mud wrestling and more

  LEAD STORY: Lonely Japanese men (and a few women) with rich imaginations have created a thriving subculture (otaku) in which they have all-consuming relationships with figurines that are based on popular anime characters.

  Vol. 38 No. 18 Published 09.02.09 by Chuck Shepherd
• NEWS OF THE WEIRD

  Donald Duck's words of wisdom, fleeing circus tortoises and more

  LEAD STORY: Donald Duck may be a lovable icon of comic mishap to American youngsters, but in Germany, he is wise and complicated and retains followers well past their childhoods.

  Vol. 38 No. 17 Published 08.26.09 by Chuck Shepherd
• NEWS OF THE WEIRD

  Record-holding paper airplanes, ethics classes for gang members and more

  LEAD STORY: World-Class Adolescent Endeavors: Japanese engineer Takuo Toda's paper airplane was certified in May as the Guinness Book record-holder for the longest flight from a single folded sheet of paper: 27.9 seconds.

  Vol. 38 No. 16 Published 08.19.09 by Chuck Shepherd
• NEWS OF THE WEIRD

  Underwear art, memory machines and more

  LEAD STORY: A Whiff of Injustice: William Dillon was released in November after 26 years in prison when a DNA test ruled him out as the murderer. He was the second Florida man recently freed by DNA after being positively identified at trial by a star police dog, Harass II

  Vol. 38 No. 15 Published 08.12.09 by Chuck Shepherd
• NEWS OF THE WEIRD

  Worshipping frogs, fending off pirates and more

  LEAD STORY: Apparently believing that religious competition in the Middle East is not exciting enough already, the television station Kanal T in Istanbul, Turkey, is preparing a reality game show for September release in which 10 certified atheists try to resist conversion by a priest, a rabbi, a Muslim imam and a Buddhist monk.

  Vol. 38 No. 14 Published 08.05.09 by Chuck Shepherd
• NEWS OF THE WEIRD

  Tooth implants, 40-foot tapeworms and more

  LEAD STORY: Unconventional Medicine: British construction worker Martin Jones, 42, who lost one eye and was blinded in the other in a 1997 explosion, regained his sight this year as a result of surgery in which part of his tooth was implanted in the eye.

  Vol. 38 No. 13 Published 07.29.09 by Chuck Shepherd
• NEWS OF THE WEIRD

  Scientologists walk the plank, snake charmers and more

  LEAD STORY: Scientology trains its leaders a good deal more aggressively than other religions do, judging by the revelations by four former church officials to the St. Petersburg Times in June. In an exercise concocted by founder L. Ron Hubbard, leaders who screw up are taken out to sea and forced off a gangplank.

  Vol. 38 No. 11 Published 07.15.09 by Chuck Shepherd
• NEWS OF THE WEIRD

  Wannabe doormats, barroom brawls and more

  LEAD STORY: A 48-year-old immigrant from Malta regularly hangs out in various New York City bars, but always on the floor, so that he can enjoy his particular passion of being stepped on. "Georgio T." told the New York Times in June that he has delighted in being stepped on since he was a kid.

  Vol. 38 No. 10 Published 07.08.09 by Chuck Shepherd
• NEWS OF THE WEIRD

  Kidnapped investments, stoned Labradors and more

  LEAD STORY: Americans Fantasize, Germans Act: Two formerly well-off retired couples in Speyer, Germany, whose nest egg was largely wiped out by investments in subprime Florida mortgages, vented their anger by kidnapping their investment adviser, James Amburn, in June.

  Vol. 38 No. 10 Published 07.08.09 by Chuck Shepherd

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