Bizarre News

[Elvin]

Poor little guy.

This is getting scary. In Korea they have made a camp to fight web addiction.

[Ceres]

So now they consider cyberspace dangerous (if misused?). It's like lining it up with drugs and the likes. Probably because it is the 'addiction' that makes it similar.

[PhoenixReborn]

Anthem gaffe 'lifted Croatia'
By Frank Keogh

Singer Tony Henry
Croatia rose to the occasion in their crucial Euro 2008 defeat of England - after an apparent X-rated gaffe by an English opera singer at Wembley.

Tony Henry belted out a version of the Croat anthem before the 80,000 crowd, but made a blunder at the end.

He should have sung 'Mila kuda si planina' (which roughly means 'You know my dear how we love your mountains').

But he instead sang 'Mila kura si planina' which can be interpreted as 'My dear, my penis is a mountain'..."The Croatians think it's great, and they've invited him to come over and sing at Euro 2008, and asked if he will be their mascot."

Not sure if this fits in this thread.

[asandir]

Migrants spotted paddling windsurf board to Spain

Three migrants who tried to cross the Strait of Gibraltar to Spain by paddling a windsurfing board were rescued by a ferry, Spanish daily El Mundo said.

The migrants were rowing the board with toy oars and pulling belongings behind them in a tyre, said Miguel Marin, a passenger on the ferry bound for Tangiers in Morocco on November 20.

"They had no shoes and they were soaked through", Mr Marin told El Mundo.

"Some of the crew spoke Arabic and they were able to communicate with the three immigrants ... One of them resisted getting into the boat at the start, but they finally managed to convince him."

The Strait of Gibraltar, which connects the Atlantic to the Mediterranean, divides Spain from Morocco and is about 13 kilometres wide at its narrowest point.

[parcaleste]

Err... I've just found and mini scirt under some of my clothes in the living room (it's some sort of a mess here ); the point is, it's too short to be mom's so it has to be to me gf, who last came here one week ago and... did she left with nothing under her coat

[asandir]

now that's a little bizarre, you would think she woulda noticed, but is it news?

Tube announcer sacked after prank messages

An official announcer for London's Tube system has been sacked after making spoof messages mocking American tourists, peeping Toms and sweaty commuters.

Voiceover artist Emma Clarke, 36, recorded the announcements in the same smooth tones that have warned millions of passengers to "Mind The Gap" and posted them on her web site.

The messages include:

"We would like to remind our American tourist friends that you are almost certainly talking too loudly."

"Would the passenger in the red shirt pretending to read the paper but who is actually staring at that woman's chest please stop. You are not fooling anyone, you filthy pervert."

"Would passengers filling in answers on their Sudokus please accept that they are just crosswords for the unimaginative and are not in any way more impressive just because they contain numbers."

"Here we are crammed again into a sweaty Tube carriage ... If you're female smile at the bloke next to you and make his day. He's probably not had sex for months."

Ms Clarke said it was "just a bit of a laugh". But Tube operator Transport for London (TfL) failed to see the funny side and dropped her, after eight years.

"London Underground is sorry to have to announce that further contracts for Miss Clarke are experiencing severe delays," a TfL spokesman told the Evening Standard.

However a London Underground spokesman told the BBC that Ms Clarke had not been sacked because of the messages, but because she had publicly criticised the tube network.

"It's because she has criticised the Underground system," the spokesman said.

"Some of the spoof announcements are very funny. But Emma is a bit silly to go round slagging off her client's services."

Ms Clarke said her alleged comments had been "wildly misquoted."

"What I actually said was that travelling in a tube train would be dreadful for me, listening to my own voice and seeing the haunted faces of commuters being subjected to me telling them to 'mind the gap'," she told the BBC.

[ThunderTitan]

Err... I've just found and mini scirt under some of my clothes in the living room (it's some sort of a mess here ); the point is, it's too short to be mom's so it has to be to me gf, who last came here one week ago and... did she left with nothing under her coat

Yeah... probably didn't want to waste time taking it off when she got to the next guy...


french joke btw

[vulnevia]

Err... I've just found and mini scirt under some of my clothes in the living room (it's some sort of a mess here ); the point is, it's too short to be mom's so it has to be to me gf, who last came here one week ago and... did she left with nothing under her coat

Maybe it's not a mini skirt, maybe it's a tube top (had a discussion about skirts being tube tops on another forum)?

[asandir]

how is that better vulnevia?

[vulnevia]

Maybe it's his moms tube top? But I was thinking the same thing when I wrote it, "is a forgotten tube top better?" and thouhg that maybe the forgetfull girl also had a sweater on over the tube top? Cos I know I've forgotten a tank top somewhere and I had a sweater on when I got home at least...

[asandir]

I hope that sweater wasn't like that knitted bra you showed that time

Truffle-loving tycoons to bid for giant fungus

Hong Kong and Macau's richest tycoons are expected to gather at an exclusive auction this Saturday (local time) for a chance to snaffle one of the largest truffles ever discovered, organisers said.

The giant white truffle, which weighs in at 1.5 kilograms, will be sold via videolink to diners at billionaire Stanley Ho's Grand Lisboa casino in Macau, a spokeswoman for the casino said.

The fungus, which was found in a wood near Pisa, in Italy's Tuscany region on Friday, is expected to fetch more than $US206,000 ($235,000), according to auction organiser Giselle Oberti.

"We hope to get the truffle blessed by the Pope before it flies out, but things need to move fast as white truffles should be eaten within 20 days," she said, according to Britain's Guardian newspaper.

The truffle, which is one of five earmarked for China to be sold at the charity auction, is the latest sign of how the fungus fascinates the richest in China.

Earlier this month the most expensive white truffle per ounce ever bought - which cost $US209,000 ($238,000) - was served up at a banquet in Hong Kong for the three mainland property developers who had paid for it.

Last year, Hong Kong billionaire Sir Gordon Wu paid $US184,000 ($210,000) for a 1.5 kilogram white truffle in the annual Worldwide Alba Truffle Auction, thought to be the second biggest ever found.

The largest truffle ever found was a 2.5 kilogram truffle found in 1954 and presented to former US president Dwight Eisenhower, according to the Guardian report.

[Kareeah Indaga]

Oy. Sudan charges Briton with insulting religion -- Teacher reportedly allowed class to pick ‘Muhammad’ as teddy bear's name.

[asandir]

saw that one as well ....

Judge sacked for locking up 46 over mobile phone ring

A judge in New York state has lost his job after taking 46 people into custody after they all refused to admit whose mobile phone rang while court was in session, court sources said.

Judge Robert Restaino was presiding over family court in Niagara Falls, New York on March 11, 2005 when a mobile phone rang in the public seating area.

The judge demanded that the owner of the phone make himself known, and when no one did he ordered 46 people present taken into custody.

Most got out on bond but 14 people who were unable wound up in county jail.

"In an egregious and unprecedented abuse of judicial power, respondent committed 46 defendants into police custody in a bizarre, unsuccessful effort to discover the owner of a ringing cell phone in the courtroom," the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct said.

Judge Restaino's "conduct, which resulted in the unjustified detention of the defendants for several hours and the incarceration of 14 defendants in the County Jail, caused irreparable damage to public confidence in the fair and proper administration of justice in his court."

Despite a "previously unblemished record on the bench and the testimony as to his character and reputation," the panel concluded that his "behaviour was such a gross deviation from the proper role of a judge that it warrants the sanction of removal."

[Elvin]

What an @ss.

[ThunderTitan]

Was he by any chance a teacher before moving into judging?!

[Elvin]

For some unknown reason it crossed my mind too

[asandir]

Scotland turns on the soft sell
Not since "Where the bloody hell are you?" has there been such a ruckus about a tourism slogan.

Scotland is about to begin a six-month campaign, costing nearly $300,000, to freshen up its image and the slogan they have unveiled with much fanfare is "Welcome to Scotland". Needless to say, the Scots are underwhelmed.

Australia can hardly claim to be a world leader when it comes to tourism slogans. Some of us had only just managed to shrug off the cultural cringe from the very successful "put another shrimp on the barbie" campaign when we were confronted by a bikini-clad Lara Bingle asking the world "Where the bloody hell are you?"

But at least a bit of 'bloody hell' was not boring. And boring is exactly what Scottish authorities are being accused of after unveiling an elaborate campaign with a welcome-mat catchphrase.

In a highly orchestrated process the campaign will take six months to roll out across the country.

Scotland's External Affairs Minister, Linda Fabiani, has defended the new look, saying it is not all about flashy slogans and is more real than that.

Many Scots have criticised the slogan, a common argument being that it is far less interesting than the previous Scottish tourism motto: "Scotland, the best small country in the world".

The reality is, the tourism slogans for other countries are not that inspiring either. There is Germany, the "travel destination", and Canada once had a campaign asking Americans to "Come see our beavers".

Switzerland has "get natural". London is "totally London". Shropshire is "love from Shropshire". And then there is Ireland's Donegal county, which says "up here it's different".

So after all that, is "Welcome to Scotland" really that bad?

Anthony McClellan, who happens to be of Scottish heritage, is also principal of the AMC Media strategy company.

Mr McClellan says governments often lean too far to the conservative side when marketing their countries.

"I think it's fairly typical of much marketing and sloganeering that's done by governments all around the world," he said.

"They all seem to appear to take an unbelievably boring pill before they decide to implement plans like this. I think it's incredibly uninventive."

He says Scotland's Government could have benefited from taking a leaf out of Australia's book.

"I think the difference with the 'where the bloody hell are you?' campaign, it had the cut-through component," he said.

"I think the Scots have really let the side down and to have paid in Australian dollars about $300,000 for somebody to come up with that brilliant slogan, that's about $100,000 per word.

"I think I'm in the wrong job, I'm flying immediately to Glasgow to give them a hand."

[Pol]

Potatoe powered server. It's no hoax any longer it's working . Whoau, where you are gravy?? Potatoe power!

(Although I admit that the news is not entirely new )

[ThunderTitan]

http://kotaku.com/gaming/rumor/alleged- ... 328797.php
http://www.joystiq.com/2007/11/30/games ... nn-firing/
http://www.joystiq.com/2007/11/30/rumor ... lynch-rev/
http://kotaku.com/gaming/advertorials/1 ... 328882.php

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBD0cUeeEQc

[asandir]

I love PA so much!