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Stories from the stranger side of the news, from daft criminals to kamikaze squirrels.
Brilliant scam!
Fins on 06/14/2007 at 5:29pm (UTC) | | | Australian Police have been unable to recommend a prosecution for the following scam. A company takes out a newspaper advertisement claiming to be able to supply imported hard core pornographic videos. As their prices seem reasonable, people place orders and make payments via check. After several weeks, the company writes back explaining that under the present law they are unable to supply the materials and do not wish to be prosecuted. So they return their customers money in the form of a company check. However, due to the name of the company, few people ever bother to present these to their banks. The name of the company is ‘The Anal Sex and Fetish Perversion Company’. | | | |
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Cat with 26 toes!
Metro UK on 06/13/2007 at 8:57am (UTC) | | | The owner of a cat with too many toes is trying to find out whether her pet is a record breaker, she said today. Most cats have just 18 toes - five on each front paw and four on each hind paw - but Des has a grand total of 26 digits.
His owner Alison Thomas, of Felindre, near Swansea, south Wales, said the feline has seven toes on each front paw and six on each of those behind. "We've had him for about 10 years, he just turned up on the doorstep and my husband made the fatal error of giving him a bowl of milk so he stayed," she said. "He was only about six months old at the time and was quite small, so his paws looked enormous. "I originally wondered if he needed them chopped off, but the vet said he was fine.
"If he paws at anything we've got to unlatch him, but he's just a bit silly really."
Mrs Thomas added that it was wise to stay away from those extra claws: "He hasn't got the best temperament, but as long as you know him you're OK."
A cat with too many toes is known as a Polydactyl and Mrs Thomas said she had done some research into whether there were any other felines out there with more digits than Des.
"Apparently you do see cats with 24 toes, but 26 is quite rare," she said. "The world record holder is a cat in Canada which has 28 toes and we were interested in finding out whether Des might be a Welsh or UK record holder."
A spokeswoman for Guinness World Records said: "The current world record for the cat with most toes belongs to Jake who has 28 toes, with seven on each paw, as counted by a veterinarian on September 24 2002. "Jake lives in Bonfield, Ontario, Canada with his owners, Michelle and Paul Contant." | | | |
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'Dettol man' killed by cleanliness
Metro UK on 06/11/2007 at 11:54am (UTC) | | | An obsessive nicknamed The Dettol Man died after continually cleaning himself and his home with the disinfectant, an inquest heard.
Recluse Jacques Niemand may have been overcome by fumes from the dozens of bottles of the cleaning fluid he kept in his flat. The 42-year-old had so much of the chemical in his system his body was starved of oxygen, the inquest was told.
More than 100 bottles of Dettol were found crammed in a suitcase at Mr Niemand's home. Several buckets containing the fluid were also found. His sister, Ruth Bain, said the man had suffered from an obsessive cleaning disorder for years and she would not go into his home because it was 'stifling'.
Several police officers who went into the flat in Didsbury, Manchester, following Mr Niemand's death later went off sick with aches after apparently being overpowered by the smell of cleaning products. Pathologist Lorna McWilliam said it was difficult to say if the chemical got into Mr Niemand's system because he had breathed it in or drunk it.
'I cannot be sure his death arose through using an excessive amount at one time – but I suspect there must be an element of that,' she told the hearing in Manchester. But deputy coroner Leonard Gorodkin rejected any suggestion that Mr Niemand killed himself and recorded a verdict of misadventure.
Mrs Bain said care in the community had failed her brother. She added: 'We were struggling to get help for my brother and trying to get his life back in order when he died.' | | | |
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Wheelchair man goes on wild ride
Metro UK on 06/10/2007 at 12:15am (UTC) | | | A truck driver has pushed a wheelchair-bound man for four miles without realising it.
Police stopped the truck - wheelchair still attached - at a trucking company. The driver did not believe officers until he stepped from his cab and saw for himself. Kathy Morton of the Michigan State Police in the US said: "When he saw us, he was like, 'What's going on?'"
An investigation revealed the man in the wheelchair had pulled in front of the truck at a gas station and it somehow became lodged by its handles to the front grille. As the truck sped away the man was taken for a ride down a highway for four miles at speeds of about 50 mph.
The 21-year-old man, whose name was not released, was unharmed but was taken to hospital as a precaution. Luckily, he had been secured to his wheelchair by a seat belt. Ms Morton said: "The man spilled his soda pop, but he wasn't upset."
Police were first alerted by a caller who told police dispatchers: "You are not going to believe this: There is a semi truck pushing a guy in a wheelchair on Red Arrow Highway." Authorities initially wondered whether the report was a prank call until others called with similar reports. | | | |
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