strange stuff

From strange crimes to strange celebrity deaths, read all of the latest weird and strange stuff news stories on Newser.com

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90-Year-Old Drug Mule Handed Prison on Birthday

Leo Sharp is also a World War II veteran

(Newser) - Leo Sharp turned 90 yesterday ... while sitting in federal court in Detroit, where he was sentenced to three years in federal prison for his role in a drug smuggling operation. The Indiana man, a World War II veteran, was convicted of hauling cocaine between Mexico and Detroit for a Mexican...

Yawning? Your Brain May Be Overheated
 Yawning? Your 
 Brain May Be 
 Overheated 
study says
May 7, 2014 4:13 PM CDT

Yawning? Your Brain May Be Overheated

Tiredness can affect body temperature

(Newser) - If you're yawning a lot, check the temperature: Researchers say we may yawn when it's warm out because that cools down the brain. In the study , which agrees with earlier research , experts at the University of Vienna showed pictures of yawns to pedestrians in Austria and Arizona, ScienceDaily...

17% of Us Would Have Sex With a Robot

Well, 'us' being the Brits who took a poll

(Newser) - Roughly 17% of us would have sex with a robot—"us," in this case, being Brits. A survey conducted by the University of Middlesex asked 2,000 people their thoughts on a range of robot-related questions, and the copulation question in particular is getting a lot of attention....

Woman Busted for Loud Sex on Plane
Woman Busted for Loud Sex
on Plane
May 7, 2014 10:30 AM CDT

Woman Busted for Loud Sex on Plane

Oh, and her parents were also on the Vegas-bound flight

(Newser) - A drunk British woman decided it would be a good idea to join the mile-high club with a man she'd just met on a Virgin Atlantic flight from London to Las Vegas last week ... and the monumentally bad idea ended up getting her in serious trouble. Possibly the weirdest...

China Military's 'Secret Weapon': Trained Monkeys

But they go after birds, not humans

(Newser) - We've got military dogs and even military dolphins . But military monkeys? The Chinese army is on it, though the special unit is trained to go after birds rather than enemy soldiers, reports the People's Daily Online . The army has trained a small group of macaque monkeys to rid...

It&#39;s Normal to See Jesus in Your Toast
 It's Normal 
 to See Jesus 
 in Your Toast 
study says
May 7, 2014 8:23 AM CDT

It's Normal to See Jesus in Your Toast

The brain is hardwired to do it, study finds

(Newser) - Do you see Jesus in your morning toast or the Virgin Mary on a potato chip? Turns out that's perfectly normal, according to a new study by Canadian and Chinese researchers. “Our findings suggest that it's common for people to see non-existent features because human brains are...

Town Can't Use Fire Alarm Because of ... Osprey Nest

Raptor is a threatened species in New Jersey

(Newser) - A pair of ospreys has quieted a fire alarm in one New Jersey shore town, and that has ruffled some feathers in the fire department. The raptors built a nest inside the siren used by Spring Lake's fire department and first-aid squad. By law, the nest can't be...

US Army Base Broken Into, Covered in Pot Seeds

Protesters in Italy sowing the seeds of peace and love, apparently

(Newser) - Peace and love, man: A group of anti-war Italians opposed to a US Army base in their midst broke into said Army base last week, where they planted about 200,000 marijuana seeds, reports Stars and Stripes . The NoDalMolin protest group posted video of members cutting through the fence at...

Man Tries to Marry Porn-Filled Laptop

Judge rejects bizarre motion in same-sex marriage case

(Newser) - A Florida judge has tossed out a bizarre motion from a man who claimed he wanted to marry his "porn filled Apple computer." Chris Sevier attempted to intervene in a same-sex marriage case "on behalf of other minority sexual orientation groups," reports the Broward-Palm Beach New ...

Discovery of Dead Body Halts Bachelor Party

It was in a compartment of a rented RV

(Newser) - As far as crazy bachelor party tales go, this one will be tough to top. The plan was for 11 guys in their 20s to travel from Minnesota to the Kentucky Derby in a rented RV, but the group didn't even make it out of the state ... thanks to...

Hurricane Sandy Dog Home After Bizarre Reunion

Family found him at shelter when they went to adopt

(Newser) - Reckless the dog is back home with his New Jersey family more than a year after getting lost in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. But the weird part is the reunion itself. Chuck and Elicia James tell the Daily Intelligencer that they held out hope Reckless would return but finally...

Cops: Driver on Drugs Hit by Driver on Booze

Both charged after hit and run on highway

(Newser) - These charges might explain why one driver sideswiped another and why the driver who got hit didn't have the reflexes to avoid the collision. After a man in upstate New York called police to say that his car had been hit by a driver who didn't stop, cops...

STD Makes Crickets Mate Like Crazy

Highly contagious iridovirus also causes infertility, death

(Newser) - A newly discovered virus boosts the libido, encouraging those infected—that would be crickets, not humans—to have sex more often and with more partners. The highly contagious iridovirus transmits itself via close contact while mating, but not via insemination; it apparently passes from one's antennae to another's...

Man Sues 40 People Over 5K Horn Honks

ABC tries to defuse the tension on tonight's 20/20

(Newser) - Here's a phrase you never thought you'd read: Per ABC News , there's "a vast conspiracy of horn honking" going on in Hubbard, Ohio, and one man says he's had quite enough. "In the beginning, it was 100 times a day," says Rick Krlich,...

5 Craziest Crimes of the Week
 5 Craziest Crimes of the Week 
May 2, 2014 8:15 AM CDT

5 Craziest Crimes of the Week

Including Vaseline put to an unfortunate use

(Newser) - This week saw one very misguided senior prank, and some twerking that may have been more obscene than Miley Cyrus' version:
  • Senior Prank Ends With 62 Students Arrested : Senior year may not be ending so pleasantly for 62 students at New Jersey's Teaneck High School. They were arrested in
...

Rapist's Sentence: Volunteer at Rape Crisis Center

Dallas center says 'no thanks'

(Newser) - Dallas County District Judge Jeanine Howard is known for handing out unusual sentences, but her latest "shocked and disturbed," reports WFAA . Sir Young, 20, pleaded guilty to raping a 14-year-old girl at Booker T. Washington High School; he was an 18-year-old student there at the time. He faced...

Food Safety Conference Hit by ... Food Poisoning

Maryland officials investigating outbreak at summit

(Newser) - Irony alert: Maryland health officials suspect that food poisoning sickened more than 100 attendees of a national conference about, yes, food safety, reports Reuters . Representatives of the FDA, the CDC, and food giants such as McDonald's and ConAgra attended the April 8-10 summit at the Baltimore Convention Center, and...

Virgin Mary Statue Wins Policing Prize, Then Outrage

She doesn't exactly meet the requirements, secularists say

(Newser) - Spain's top policing award this year went not to a heroic police officer but to ... a statue of the Virgin Mary. The country's interior minister, Jorge Fernández Díaz, awarded the gold medal of police merit to an icon of the virgin in Málaga because, as...

Guy Banned From Blasting Celine Dion

Neighbors complain, and Gareth Davies' speakers won't go on and on anymore

(Newser) - Worst neighbor ever? A UK man allegedly blasted Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On" constantly, as well as similarly irksome songs including James Brown's "Sex Machine," Steppenwolf's "Born to Be Wild," Apache Indian's "Boom Shack-A-Lak," and the Toy ...

Pilots Warned of Runaway Beer Blimp

Giant hockey light loose over eastern Canada

(Newser) - Pilots in eastern Canada have been warned to look out for one of the strangest hazards they're ever likely to encounter—a 70-foot brewery blimp shaped like a hockey goal light. The Budweiser balloon broke from its tether at a ball hockey tournament in New Brunswick over the weekend...

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