Karl's Weird News

Graffiti tagger who urinated on transformer gets shock of his life

A GRAFFITI vandal who cheated death while tagging a railway power substation caused thousands of dollars damage and shut down the Gold Coast train line for a day.

 But a potentially lethal shock of up to 22,000 volts has left the man, 22, with injuries so severe that police are in no rush to press charges.

He remains at Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital with third-degree burns to 40 per cent of his body after a midnight mission to “bomb” Coomera station last month went catastrophically wrong.

 Panicked companions, allegedly in an effort to disguise their October 15 expedition, told ambulance officers the man had urinated on a high-voltage transformer.

 But investigators concluded he was scaling the transformer to spray his tag “Wino” when he touched a highly-charged “bush head” and was thrown on to the concrete below. The fact it was raining may have saved him.

Cowardly matador arrested for fleeing ring

A Mexican matador was arrested for breaching his contract after losing his nerve and running from the bullring.

The 22-year-old vaulted over the protective wall at the side of the ring as the crowd hooted and whistled in derision.

He was briefly persuaded back into the bullring by organisers but gave up before coming face to face with half-ton beast and skulked from the ring a second time.

He was arrested after the bullfight following complaints by organisers that he had breached his contract.

He was later released after paying a fine.

PD: Man arrested after discharging gun inside Walmart 

A west Valley Wal-Mart customer was arrested Thursday after accidentally firing a round while playing with his pistol inside the store.

El Mirage Police Department spokesman Robert Peoples said officers were dispatched to the store near Thunderbird and Dysart roads after a call came in that shots had been fired.

While officers were en route, they discovered no one had been injured and that the store manager was standing with the suspect.

Peoples said the suspect was identified as 30-year-old David Walters, of Surprise.

During the officer’s investigation, witnesses said Walters entered the store carrying a semi automatic pistol in a holster.

According to witnesses, Walters continually “messed” with the gun while it was in the holster.

He would reportedly holster and un-holster the gun, which made the other customers and employees nervous.

Child-puncher fined, put on probation

A Columbus man who admitted to punching children in the head at local Walmart stores for excitement has been sentenced to five years of probation and fined $150.

Ralph Conone, 68, pleaded guilty to three counts of assault last week in Franklin County Municipal Court, according to court records.

His attorney earlier told a judge that Conone suffered from mental-health issues and was not a threat to the community.

At the time, Judge Mark Hummer prohibited the news media from photographing Conone so police could circulate his photo in an attempt to find other victims.

No other victims came forward. Judge Scott VanDerKarr sentenced Conone on March 30 to 180 days in jail and fined himon each count, but suspended all but the 20 days Conone spent in jail in exchange for probation.

Conone was ordered to stay away from the stores and commit no further acts of violence. Conone must continue to attend counseling.

Elma man electrocuted by urinating on power line:

An Elma man was killed by accidentally urinating on a downed power line after a one-car crash near Montesano.

Grays Harbor County sheriff’s Deputy Dave Pimentel said Monday that 50-year-old Roy Messenger was not seriously hurt after he collided with a power pole Friday night and called a relative to pull his car out of the ditch.

When family members arrived they found Messenger electrocuted.

Pimentel says Messenger apparently urinated into a roadside ditch but didn’t see the live wire.

Man swallows metal dope pipe, X-ray confirms

A 44-year-old man made quite an accomplishment — he swallowed a metal marijuana pipe.

And Talmadge Edward Mchenry’s feat was confirmed by an X-ray after an Indian River County Sheriff’s deputy took him to the emergency room, according to a recently-released arrest affidavit.

Mchenry, of the 3100 block of Sussex Way, disclosed his cannabis pipe consumption at the jail Wednesday after a breath test showed his blood alcohol content was above the legal limit.

…

 After the breath test, Mchenry said he swallowed the metal pot pipe. He was taken to the emergency room, and an X-ray “showed he had a metal pipe inside of his body.”

DIY jetpack sled experiment ends in burns ward

A MICHIGAN man who rigged an explosive backpack for a backyard sledding stunt suffered burns to 18 per cent of his body when it blew up.

The Detroit Free Press reported the 62-year-old man from Independence Township had been hosting an outdoor winter party in his backyard and was reportedly drinking before the Sunday night mishap.

“Apparently, he has this sledding party every year, and he always does outrageous things at it, but he’s never blown himself up before,” Oakland County Undersheriff Mike McCabe told the paper.

The man, whose name was not released, was believed to have constructed the backpack from an old car muffler, which he filled with gasoline and gunpowder, “trying to get a rocket-launch effect”, Mr McCabe said.

“He asked another person to light a wick and then began to sled down a hill.

“At some point during the ride, the device exploded.”

Obama has suspicious number of letter-writing fans named ‘Ellie Light’

Ellie Light sure gets around. In recent weeks, Light has published virtually identical “Letters to the Editor” in support of President Barack Obama in more than a dozen newspapers.

Every letter claimed a different residence for Light that happened to be in the newspaper’s circulation area.

“It’s time for Americans to realize that governing is hard work, and that a president can’t just wave a magic wand and fix everything,” said a letter from alleged Philadelphian Ellie Light, that was published in the Jan. 19 edition of The Philadelphia Daily News.

A letter from Light in the Jan. 20 edition of the San Francisco Examiner concluded with an identical sentence, but with an address for Light all the way across the country in Daly City, California.

Variations of Light’s letter ran in Ohio’s Mansfield News Journal on Jan. 13, with Light claiming an address in Mansfield; in New Mexico’s Ruidoso News on Jan. 12, claiming an address in Three Rivers; in South Carolina’s The Sun News on Jan. 18, claiming an address in Myrtle Beach; and in the Daily News Leader of Staunton, Virginia on Jan. 15, claiming an address in Waynesboro.

Her publications list includes other papers in Ohio, West Virginia, Maine, Michigan, Iowa, Pennsylvania and California, all claiming separate addresses.

Women to row Atlantic naked

Two British women attempting a world record by rowing across the Atlantic say they hope to shave a few days off the trip by completing the feat naked.

Mel King, 37 and Annie Januszewski, 40, of Bristol, England, said they are hoping to row 3,000 miles from Gomera in the Canary Islands to Antigua in the West Indies in only 70 days, to beat the previous 75-day record for a two-woman team, The Sun reported Wednesday.

The women, who planned to start the voyage Wednesday if the weather is favorable, said they originally planned to row for 15 hours a day in their bras and underwear, but decided to strip down completely to reduce chaffing from friction with clothing.

Boy Gets Tongue Stuck to Frozen Streetlight Pole

A 10-year-old boy in Hammond, Ind. got his tongue stuck to a streetlight pole Wednesday evening during a cold snap he’ll likely never forget.

And yes, his friends dared him, according to a local newspaper report.

The uncomfortable stunt is typically preceded by a triple-dog dare, as in the modern movie “A Christmas Story,” in which Flick tries it as his friend Ralphie watches on with horror.

But many people (presumably including the Hammond boy) aren’t sure it can really happen.

Here’s how it works: The tongue is covered with moisture, so when exposed to temperatures below 32 degrees Fahrenheit, that moisture can freeze. The temperature in Hammond was about 10 degrees Wednesday evening.

Of course, the heart constantly pumps warm blood to the tongue, trying to keep it from freezing. But a frigid metal pole has no heart.

“The metal is a much better conductor than your tongue (up to 400 times more powerful),” explains Frank J. DiSalvo, director of the Cornell Center for a Sustainable Future and co-director of the Cornell Fuel Cell Institute. “The metal takes heat faster than your body can replenish it.”

Christmas story: Boy licks pole, gets stuck

It’s become an annual winter tale: A young boy gets his tongue stuck to a metal pole, perhaps as the result of a dare.

This year, the scene straight out of the movie “A Christmas Story” unfolded Tuesday morning in Boise with a boy of about 10.

Boise firefighters used a glass of warm water to free the unidentified boy from the metal fence pole.

Fire Capt. Bill Tinsley says the boy’s tongue was bleeding a little, but he was OK and allowed to continue walking to school. Firefighters estimate the boy was 10 years old.

It’s no miracle, I could see but now I am blind

FIVE people who stared at the sun in the hope they might be witnessing religious apparitions are being treated for serious eye damage, a top eye surgeon has revealed.

And a number of people who attended the recent religious gathering at the Catholic shrine are reporting symptoms of damaged retinas, said Dr Eamonn O’Donoghue, of University College Hospital in Galway.

Dr O’Donoghue revealed he is treating five patients for serious eye injuries caused by staring at the sun at recent gatherings at Knock organised by Dublin “spiritual healers” Joe Coleman and Keith Henderson.

And he has warned those planning to attend a similar gathering this Saturday that they risk damaging their eyes if they stare at the sun for any length of time.

Hat tip to Una!

Children thought Hitler was German football coach, survey reveals

One in 20 UK schoolchildren thought Adolf Hitler was a coach of the German football team, according to a survey.

And one in six youngsters said they thought Auschwitz was a Second World War theme park while one in 20 said the Holocaust was a celebration at the end of the war.

The survey for a veterans’ charity also found one in 10 thought the SS stood for Enid Blyton’s Secret Seven, and one in 12 believed the Blitz was a European clean-up operation following the Second World War.

Scottish-based charity Erskine, which provides nursing and medical care for veterans, said it would now take part in a nationwide scheme to educate schoolchildren about the two world conflicts.

The charity questioned 2,000 children between the ages of nine and 11 about their knowledge of the key people and events of the two wa

U.N. alarmed over chicken promotion:

The embarrassing infiltration into the headquarters of the United Nations – to the very podium where President Obama spoke – by an actor portraying KFC founder “Colonel” Harland Sanders has sparked an “investigation.”

The situation developed when Robert Thompson, an actor hired by KFC parent Yum Brands Inc., was spearheading a new campaign to promote KFC grilled chicken.

According to Thompson, a retired mayor of Lawrenceburg, Ky., who has portrayed Sanders on many occasions, he had no plans to “invade” U.N. headquarters.  The publicity stunt was set up to offer “UN-fried” chicken to U.N. staff members – as a way of promoting the “Grilled Nation” of chicken.

Said Thompson, “A man wearing a U.N. badge approached me and asked to take a photo.”

Shortly thereafter, the “Colonel” found himself with an armed escort traveling unchallenged into U.N. headquarters.  To his surprise, the “Colonel” was given a “personal VIP tour of the United Nations” by his new-found escort. Not only did Thompson mount the General Assembly podium, but he was also given a brief audience with the GA president and an official photo op with him.

Only when the “Colonel” approached the Security Council area and attempted to address some reporters did the U.N.’s security control room react to the apparent security breach.

Since then, the international organization has been trying to assemble an explanation.

Insane: Woman Flashes Around Insurance Claim Money, Gets Robbed:

Why anyone in their right mind would cash an insurance claim check and then go to a bar to flaunt said money is beyond me. But one Springfield, Massachusetts woman is probably wishing she had gone to the bank on the way to the bar

Massachusetts police say they are searching for two men suspected of robbing a woman of $27,000 after she flashed the cash in a Springfield bar.

Sgt. John Delaney said on Friday that the 22-year-old woman was robbed Monday night by two men wearing dark clothing and bandanas, one armed with what appeared to be a semiautomatic handgun.

According to police, the woman bragged in the bar of receiving the $27,000 from an insurance claim. Police say she was later robbed after she left the bar with a male friend.

North Dakota Woman Accused of Broadcasting Porn Out Window Near Grade School:

File this one in the “just a bad idea” file, but a North Dakota woman is accused of showing a pornographic video out the window of her home, which is near an elementary school.

Grand Forks police do not yet have a motive, but they say that 37-year-old Nicole Altendorf also bit an officer’s arm and kicked him several times in the groin as he tried arrest her Friday.

In the squad car, she allegedly spit in the officer’s face. Yikes!

Train drags half-naked mooner along tracks

A German man mooning railway staff in a departing train got his trousers caught in a carriage door and ended up being dragged half naked along the platform, out of the station and onto the tracks.

The 22-year-old journalism student shoved his backside against the window of a low-slung double-decker train when staff forced him off in Lauenbrueck for traveling without a ticket, a spokesman for police in the northern city of Bremen said.

“It’s a miracle he wasn’t badly hurt,” the spokesman said on Monday. “This sort of thing can end up killing you.”

Instead, dangling by his trousers, the man got pulled along for about 200 meters, all the while managing to keep his legs away from the wheels of the train.

The ordeal ended when a passenger pulled the emergency brake. Rescue services were called in, causing rail service between Bremen and Hamburg to be suspended for over an hour, delaying 23 trains.

India pilots in mid-air ’scuffle’:

Pilots and cabin crew have come to blows on an international flight bound for India, media reports say.

The scuffle is said to have begun as an argument in the plane’s cockpit over claims of sexual harassment but spilled into the galley, startling passengers.

One pilot and one air hostess suffered bruises, as punches were thrown.

The incident took place over Pakistan on an Air India flight from the United Arab Emirates to Delhi, with 106 passengers and seven crew on board.

Flight diverted after passenger undresses in seat

A cross-country US Airways flight was diverted to Albuquerque after a male passenger removed his clothing mid-flight.

Dan Jiron, a spokesman for the Albuquerque airport, said 50-year-old Keith Wright of New York disrobed Tuesday while sitting in his seat in the back of the aircraft.

He said Wright was unresponsive when a flight attendant asked him repeatedly to get dressed and refused to be covered with a blanket.

Jiron said law enforcement employees who were passengers on the plane helped subdue and handcuff Wright before the flight landed. The FBI said Wright is in federal custody on a charge of interfering with flight crew members and attendants.

Drunk man killed trying to saw through live power line

New York authorities say a man was fatally electrocuted early Saturday when he tried to cut through a downed power line with an industrial saw.

Authorities say the 64-year-old Pond Eddy man was drunk and ignored repeated orders to stay away from the cable.

The accident happened in the presence of firefighters who had been guarding the fallen line.

The Sullivan County public safety commissioner says officials chased the man away from the line several times before he fetched the saw from his house.

Man Pretending to Fall Off Bridge Actually Falls

Police said a 23-year-old man is in stable condition after he pretended that he was falling off a bridge over the Minnesota River, then actually fell off the bridge.

Police got a call just before 5 a.m. Sunday from a 21-year-old man who said his friend fell off the Highway 77 bridge and into a marshy area about 30 feet below.

The caller said he was driving north when his friend, who he said had been drinking, told him to pull into the bridge’s emergency lane so he could urinate.

The 23-year-old stood eventually climbed to the ledge of the bridge, then looked at his friend and pretended to fall. “He then in fact fell,” reads a press release from the Bloomingtin Police Department.

Dead mayor re-elected by US town:

Voters in a small town in the US state of Missouri have re-elected their popular mayor to a fourth term, several weeks after he died of a heart attack.

Harry Stonebraker died at the age of 69 in March – after ballot papers had been printed and absentee voting in the town of Winfield had begun.

 He won by a landslide, securing 90% of the vote in the 723-population town.

 Winfield will appoint a temporary mayor to serve until a special election is held in April 2010.

Obama Thanks Himself, Irish PM Repeats Speech in Teleprompter Meltdown

Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen was just a few paragraphs into an address at a St. Patrick’s Day celebration at the White House when he realized something sounded way too familiar.

Turns out, he was repeating the speech President Barack Obama had just given. Cowen was set to speak twice at the White House on Tuesday night because there were two different parties going on at the executive mansion. No matter — he would give the same speech to the two different audiences.

But Cowen was 20 seconds into his second address when it dawned on him that he was giving word for word the speech that Obama had just read from the same teleprompter. Cowen stopped and looked back at the president to say, “That’s your speech.”

‘Frozen’ truck driver trapped in industrial oven

An attempt by a truck driver with a chill to warm himself in an industrial oven has prompted a reaction from Sweden’s work safety agency.

An alert shrink oven operator was able to drag the truck driver out of the 180 degree Celsius heat before he sustained any serious injuries, according to Sveriges Radio (SR). The incident took place in February at a facility in Hässleholm in southern Sweden operated by Ballingslöv, a maker of kitchen and bathroom cabinets and fixtures.

The heating system in the facility’s loading area had ceased to function, leaving the truck driver defenseless against Sweden’s chilly February temperatures.

Looking to escape the cold, the man wandered to another part of the building and asked the shrink oven operator if he could take a spin on the oven’s conveyor belt to get warm.

Former soldier John Radoll tried to impress women with gun in pants,

A FORMER soldier suffering trauma from his time in the army took a loaded gun into a Brisbane nightclub because he wanted to impress women, a court has been told.

Samuel John Radoll, 21, approached two women in The Met nightclub on October 25 last year and asked them to feel the “awesome” thing he had down his pants, the Brisbane Magistrates Court was told today.

The first woman happily chatted to Radoll, sat on his lap and had her photo taken with him after she discovered he had a gun secreted down the front of his jeans.

But the second woman reported him to security personnel, the court was told.

Indiana teen burned trying to kill head lice with gasoline

Police say a teenager who soaked her hair in gasoline to try to kill head lice was severely burned when the gas fumes ignited and set her head ablaze.

Eighteen-year-old Jessica Brooks was in serious condition today at the burn unit at University Hospital in Louisville, Ky. She was burned Sunday night at her apartment in Evansville, Ind.

Police said Brooks was in her bathroom letting her hair soak in gasoline just before a pilot light from a water heater ignited the gas fumes and her hair.

Man Shoots TV Over Converter Confusion 

OK, so the DTV transition hasn’t been perfect.

While the early analog-cutoff of 421 TV stations on Feb. 17 has gone relative smoothly according to most reports, that was not the case of at least one Missouri man, according to KARE-TV Minneapolis-ST. Paul.

The station reports that a 70-year-old Joplin man was arrested and charged with unlawful discharge of a firearm after shooting his TV set. Responding to a report of shots being fired, the station reported, the police found the man angry that he had both lost his cable and had been unable to get his new DTV converter box to work.

Boy’s tongue freezes to pole during dare in Hammond, Ind. 

In a scene right out of the movie “A Christmas Story,” a 10-year-old Hammond boy accepted a dare to lick a metal streetlight pole and ended up with his tongue frozen to the pole.

The fourth-grader from Field Elementary School told police a friend dared him to do it around 8:30 Wednesday night in the 3900 block of Hohman Avenue, as the temperature hovered around 10 above.

By the time an ambulance got there, the boy was able to yank his tongue off the frozen pole — most of it, anyway. It was bleeding. The emergency workers showed his “pretty upset” mom how to care for that.

Panda bites student seeking a hug

A college student in southern China was bitten by a panda after he broke into the bear’s enclosure hoping to get a hug, state media and a park employee said Saturday.

Don’t be deceived. Pandas might look cute but they’re not to be trifled with. Don’t be deceived. Pandas might look cute but they’re not to be trifled with. The student was visiting Qixing Park with classmates on Friday when he jumped the 6.5-foot (2-meter) high fence around the panda’s habitat, said the park employee, who refused to give his name.

The park in Guilin, a popular tourist town in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, houses a small zoo and a panda exhibit. It was virtually deserted when the student scaled the fence surrounding the panda, named Yang Yang, the employee said.

Cleaning cobwebs with blow torch blamed for house fire in Sargent

A single-story home in Sargent was damaged by fire Wednesday morning after the homeowner accidentally set the fire while cleaning cobwebs from the eaves around the exterior of the residence with a blow torch. The 1,400-square-foot, single-story home belonging to Galen and Tammy Winchell is at 59 Smith Road in Sargent. Shortly before 11 a.m. — according to Coweta Fire Investigator James Gantt — Galen Winchell was admittedly torching cobwebs when he noticed smoke coming from his home. Emergency officials were notified immediately and three engines responded to the scene along with rescue squads, according to Gantt.

Legal case against God dismissed:

A US judge has thrown out a case against God, ruling that because the defendant has no address, legal papers cannot be served. The suit was launched by Nebraska state senator Ernie Chambers, who said he might appeal against the ruling. He sought a permanent injunction to prevent the “death, destruction and terrorisation” caused by God.

Britons Get Jail Time in Sex on Beach Case:

A British couple was sentenced to three months in jail Thursday in a case that has caused controversy in this Gulf boom town because the two were charged with having sex on the beach. The judge did not provide any details about his verdict as is customary in Dubai, so it is unclear whether Michelle Palmer and Vince Acors were found guilty of engaging in intercourse, or some lesser offense. The two Britons, who are both in their 30s and met at an all-you-can-drink champagne brunch before the alleged incident occurred, were arrested in July and later charged with sex outside of marriage, public indecency and drunkenness.

Police: Man Burned While Using Lighter To Siphon Gas

Mukwonago police said a man was burned while using a lighter to steal gas from a van.

Police said the man lives in Wauzeka and was visiting friends. But when he went to drive home early Saturday morning he didn’t have enough gas and attempted to siphon some from the van into his SUV, with help from a Mukwonago woman.

Police said when he couldn’t see how much was in the container, he used a lighter to check. A blast of fire burned his hands. Neighbors called police.

Soldier posted to Siberia for online whinge

If Russian soldiers have anything to sing about they usually do it in foot-stomping Cossack choirs belting out the words to Kalinka.

 Lieutenant Vitaly Efremov decided to take a more modern approach: he made a rap video, released online, complaining about the rotten state of his barracks.

The clip hit a nerve with the top brass, which decided to post him to Siberia, where he can exercise his musical talents in the windswept tundra. He can probably consider himself lucky that he did not sing Elvis Presley?s Jail House Rock or the Pretenders? Back on the Chain Gang.

 The lieutenant modelled his video on Stan by Eminem, in which the rapper sends a letter to a frustrated fan. The Russian letter is to Anatoly Serdyakov, the Defence Minister, and is set against a backdrop of military decay: a crowded barrack room with peeling wallpaper, a scabrous bathroom, erratic shower water and broken equipment.

Hot Dogs Force Evacuation At Citizens Bank Park:

The discovery of several hot dogs in packages outside Citizens Bank Park brought the bomb squad out and forced the temporary evacuation of the stadium Wednesday evening.

According to police, Pattison Street between Darien and 11th Streets was shutdown as officials investigated the discovery of several suspicious packages near a ticket office.

 Fans inside the stadium were evacuated, but players remained on the field during the incident.

Bomb squad members further investigated the packages and determined they were simply several hot dogs in foil wrappers. Sadly, the wieners were detonated as a precaution.

Motorcyclist Dies in 239 MPH Crash on Bonneville Salt Flats

A 47-year-old record-setting motorcycle racer has died after losing control and crashing while traveling at 239 mph on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah.

 Investigators were not sure what caused Cliff Gullett, of Bozeman, Mont., to lose control of the motorcycle Wednesday during a time trial.

 The American Motorcyclist Association said on its Web site that Gullett was competing in the 500cc Streamliner class at the Salt Flats, where drivers go for speed records every summer on the open space just east of the Nevada state line.