JUST ABOVE SUNSET offers, in special arrangement with Andrew J. Hewett and his site WEIRD, BIZARRE and UNUSUAL (chewednews.com), the best of the weird, bizarre and unusual. As noted at his site, Andrew publishes, via e-mail, a growing archive of true events compiled from a variety of sources, covering “every conceivable subject.” You can submit your own favorite “strange story” – including a verifiable source, of course. He’s sent over 1,200 of these out to the distribution list, and you too can sign up to be on the list. Here’s the latest. Visit his site for more, and the archives.
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Wednesday, December 16, 2009 –
IS THIS WHY IN ENGLISH WE GET “PIST”?
Before luxury car manufacturer Rolls Royce began production in 1965, its original name of Silver Mist was changed to Silver Cloud. This change was necessary after designers learned the German word “Miststück” (English sounding, “Mist Stick”) was slang, proclaiming a woman to be a bitch or slut. (In some cases, this word could also meaning rubbish, dirt, or even manure.)
PROBABLY JUST NEEDED HIS NIGHTLY 100 STROKES?
August 2, 1992, The Omaha World Herald told of Redmond McGee, 25, who had an unusual fetish, one which caused Baton Rouge, Louisiana, police to arrest him. What Mr. McGee got arrested for was breaking into a woman’s bedroom and … forcibly brushing her hair.
AN UNUSUAL FORM OF SELF ABUSE
The act of self-enucleation, the ripping-out of one’s own eyeball(s) is rare, and even this small number is found almost exclusively in Christian cultures. Virtually no recorded occurrences have been found in China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, aborigines of Australia, or natives of Papua New Guinea. (Perhaps, because, according to King James Bible – Mark 9:47: “And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire”)
Tuesday, December 15, 2009 –
NO GOVERNMENT BEEF PRICING NEEDED, MEDIUM OR RARE
In December of 2009, world news services reported from Buenos Aires, Argentina, government price controls there had finally broken the country’s cattle market, forcing the importation of beef. Once, they had been able to brag ‘more cattle than people’ – before their country’s government price controls left cattle ranchers no choice but to slaughter their female cows, needed to maintain the herds.
TAXIDERMY AFTER DEATH, AND SHE’D MAKE A GREAT SCARECROW
Chuck Shepard’s News of the Weird reported June 1993 that Minneapolis photo-artist Judy Olausen had completed nine photos of her seventy-year-old mother. One pose showed her mother down on all-fours with a plate of glass on her back, its label, “Mother as Coffee Table.” In another, Olausen’s mother is lying next to a highway. This one is labeled, “Mother as Road Kill.”
HOPEFULLY, HE ATE NO GARLIC ON HIS DAY OF DYING
Two U.S. historical greats, Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931) and Henry Ford (1863-1947), were close friends. So close, when Ford learned the inventor genius was dying, he asked Edison’s son, Charles, to catch his father’s last breath in a bottle and cork it. Charles did, later giving the bottle to Ford.
Monday, December 14, 2009 –
SHE APPEARED ON THE OPRAH WINFREY SHOW (NOV. 11, 2009)
On February 16, 2009, Charla Nash was visiting her friend, Sandra Herold, at her home in Stamford, Connecticut, probably fascinated by Sandra’s house pet, a 200-pound chimpanzee named Travis? Their friendship was threatened, however, after Charla tried to lure Travis back inside, causing him to rebel by ripping off her nose, both her lips, her eyelids, and both hands. (Last heard, Nash was suing Herold for $50 million.)
LET’S SET THE RECORDS STRAIGHT
Kids are taught in school that Samuel Finley Breese Morse (1791-1872) invented the telegraph in 1844. According to Bill Bryson’s book, Made in America, all Morse invented was the Morse Code. Princeton University professor Joseph Henry’s (1797-1878) pioneering work on the electromagnetic relay was the basis of the invention of the telegraph in 1831, but he never bothered to patent it. In fact, for years, according to Bryson, Morse called on Joseph Henry for help. But as Morse became more popular, he refused to give Henry any credit.
FIVE FINAL QUOTES FROM FIVE FAMOUS PEOPLE
(1) Lady Nancy Astor, 1964: “Am I dying or is this my birthday?” (2) Actress Tallulah Bankhead, 1968, “Codeine….bourbon.” (3) Entrepreneur P.T. Barnum, 1891, “How were the receipts today at Madison Square Garden?” (4) Evangelist Henry Ward Beecher, 1887, “Now comes the mystery.” (5) Actor Humphrey Bogart, 1957, “I should never have switched from Scotch to Martinis.”
Saturday, December 12, 2009 –
THESE GUYS NEEDED TO BE ‘HORSE-WHIPPED’… UH, MAYBE NOT
News services from Sydney, Australia, reported December 11, 2009, two stars of the reality TV show I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here, had been charged with animal cruelty, after taping one of their programs. Chef Gino D’Acampo, winner of the viewer-feedback contest series, and Actor Stuart Manning, were facing charges of killing, cooking and eating a rat. (Wonder what wine goes with that ‘white’ meat?)
IS THIS JUST ANOTHER FORM OF CHILD ABUSE?
The National Organization of Circumcision Information Recourse Center designated 1987 the “Year of the Intact Child” believing, without medical reason, removal of the male foreskin was barbaric, and linked to antiquated religious ignorance. Adding, if males were not circumcised very young, virtually no male would be, no matter what religion or tradition demanded.
WE THE PEOPLE ARE MOSTLY SHEEP IN OUR BELIEFS
Even as late as the 1880s, unlucky Europeans were being accused of “werewolfery” and, if found guilty, put to death. Looking back further, between 1520 and 1630 in central France, an estimated 30,000 werewolf trials were held, with similar trials occurring all over Europe.
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WEIRD, BIZARRE and UNUSUAL is a copyrighted feature of Andrew J. Hewett, republished here by permission. Visit his site – www.chewednews.com – for much more.
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