News of the Weird

The last couple of days have been a bit surreal, haven't they? After all, how often does this box of blinking lights get into a blog altercation with a Libertarian comic over global warming? Actually, it was a commentary on bad reasoning, but global warming happened to be the topic. In the aftermath of my referring you, my readers, to comic Tim Slagle's blog piece "rebutting" me and to another piece by him in which he used some--shall we say?--creative chemistry and thermodynamics to support a political argument, I'm not sure if I should feel guilty or not. This guilt exists mainly because I…
As I mentioned yesterday, I recently perused all the e-mails that Gmail had flagged as spam and to my dismay found a lot of legitimate e-mail, including mailing list e-mails and Movable Type e-mails notifying me of comments being caught up in the filter. However, I found something scarier than that. In fact, I found perhaps the scariest spam that I've ever encountered. Did you know that spammers are claiming to be selling chemotherapeutic agents from India? Check it out: From: euroasias@ricmail.com Subject: Anti-Cancer Drugs Date: July 6, 2007 10:32:56 PM EDT To: [ORAC] EUROASIA's TRANS…
Some people just have too much money and too much time on their hands. I mean, why on earth would you do this after purchasing an iPhone, the cheapest of which is $499? This is just sheer stupidity; it doesn't even show very well how the thing is put together because they basically just destroy it. These guys must be either really loaded to the point that throwing away $500 means nothing to them or they're just plain dumb. (Via Gizmodo.)
Finally, there's a word for a feeling that many people have no doubt experienced many times: Some call it "phantom vibration syndrome." Others prefer "vibranxiety" -- the feeling when you answer your vibrating cellphone, only to find it never vibrated at all. "It started happening about three years ago, when I first got a cellphone," says Canadian Steven Garrity, 28, of Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. "I'd be sitting on the couch and feel my phone start to vibrate, so I'd reach down and pull it out of my pocket. But the only thing ringing was my thigh." Though no known studies have…
This story's being sent about as an example of stupid criminals, à la News of the Weird, but I just view it as a sign of the times: Bellacino's Pizzeria closes at 9 p.m. That's when one of the employees left work out a back door, where his car was parked. He was approached by two teens armed with a gun, who demanded his wallet and his car keys. The employee wisely gave both up. The suspect jumped into the victim's car, but he couldn't get it started, because it didn't have an automatic transmission. It was a standard shift with a clutch pedal. The victim ran back into the pizzeria and called…
Ever think you have the worst job? Take a gander at these worst jobs in science. A couple of examples: Job #10: Whale feces researcher. Job #5: Coursework carcass preparer. Maybe it's just me, but several of these jobs don't sound that bad. Except the whale feces researcher.
There are lots of medical discoveries today that are breathlessly hyped far beyond what their actual benefits are likely to be. This, apparently, is not a new phenomenon, as this story shows. (Click on the pictures above for larger images of all four pages of the article, which appeared in 1939.) On the other hand, given the advances in medical care that have come about because of X-rays, such as radiographs, CT scans, nuclear medicine scans, and the use of radiation to treat cancer, this story is actually not exaggerating all that much. Unfortunately, there didn't appear to be a clue…
If Irn-Bru can do this, maybe I should try some the next time I manage to make it to the U.K.: (Via Attuworld.)
Via Modern Mechanix, an ad from 1938: Does this make you think of something other than a medical ad? Maybe it's the whole thing about the "human hand" being placed on the groin as a truss. Actually, the best "support" for a "rupture" (a.k.a. an inguinal hernia) these days is some polypropylene mesh sewn into place properly as either a sheet and/or plug to hold the "rupture" in. Back in 1938, the best "support" was some conjoined tendon sewn to the appropriate ligament, the most common of which when I was a resident, back in the days right before mesh became popular, was the Bassini repair…
Car alarms probably annoy you. Certainly, they annoy me. I understand the reason for their existence, but some of them seem to be so finicky that just a truck driving by will set them off. Fortunately (or, unfortunately, depending on your point of view), there's the Orgasmalarm If you're at work, you're definitely going to want to turn the sound down low for this one: I don't know if this would work any better than a standard car alarm or get people's attention any more, but it'd sure be funny. Well, maybe the first couple of times. After that, I'm sure it would be just as annoying as any…
Here's a tragic story: NEW YORK - A medical examiner blamed a 17-year-old track star's death on the use of too much muscle cream, the kind used to soothe aching legs after exercise. Arielle Newman, a cross-country runner at Notre Dame Academy on Staten Island, died after her body absorbed high levels of methyl salicylate, an anti-inflammatory found in sports creams such as Bengay and Icy Hot, the New York City medical examiner said Friday. The medical examiner's spokeswoman, Ellen Borakove, said the teen used "topical medication to excess." She said it was the first time that her office had…
This is about as bad a way to go as I can think of. No cell phone is worth it.
One of the common refrains you'll hear from alties about "conventional" medicine is that it's a business, that it's all about money. Never mind that, for instance, it's not uncommon for primary care doctors like family practice and pediatricians to net well under $100,000 a year and that many physicians are struggling to maintain their practices, squeezed between lower reimbursements and higher office expenses. Don't get me wrong; I'm not claiming that most doctors aren't making a comfortable living. Most are. Some even do quite well, particularly procedure-intensive specialties, although the…
This is not free speech; it's vandalism: ORCAS ISLAND, Wash. -- Vandals burned dozens of small American flags that decorated veterans' graves for Memorial Day and replaced many of them with hand-drawn swastikas, authorities said Monday. Forty-six flag standards were found empty and another 33 flags were in charred tatters Sunday in the cemetery, authorities said. Swastikas drawn on paper appeared where 14 of the flags had been. Members of the American Legion on this island off Washington's northwest coast replaced the burned flags with new ones Sunday afternoon. The vandals struck again on…
You know our tort system is messed up when stuff like this can happen: (AP) The Chungs, immigrants from South Korea, realized their American dream when they opened their dry-cleaning business seven years ago in the nation's capital. For the past two years, however, they've been dealing with the nightmare of litigation: a $65 million lawsuit over a pair of missing pants. Jin Nam Chung, Ki Chung and their son, Soo Chung, are so disheartened that they're considering moving back to Seoul, said their attorney, Chris Manning, who spoke on their behalf. "They're out a lot of money, but more…
Students cheat on exams. There's just no getting around it. No matter how secure teachers think they've made their examination processes, there will always be a subset of students who try to find a way around any security procedures and give themselves an advantage, either by hook or by crook. These days, technology is making it even harder to prevent such cheating: Devices including iPods and Zunes can be hidden under clothing, with just an earbud and a wire snaking behind an ear and into a shirt collar to give them away, school officials say. "It doesn't take long to get out of the loop…
I hadn't planned on writing again about the horrific massacre at Virginia Tech. After all, what more could I say that hasn't been said before in the blogospheric chatter that's erupted in the five days since the killings? Despicably, everyone's blaming their favorite cause. Fundamentalists are blaming atheism, secularism, and even Charles Darwin for the rampage. We have people making the ridiculous claim that more liberal concealed carry gun laws would have stopped the rampage before so many people died. Never mind that the price over the years for maybe--just maybe--stopping a rare homicidal…
Remember Jim McGreevey, the former Governor of New Jersey, who resigned nearly three years ago in disgrace because of an adulterous homosexual affair, as well as his having tried to give his boy toy, Golan Cipel, a high-ranking state job for which he was utterly unqualified, namely Homeland Security Advisor? What do you think would be the perfect job for him now? In New Jersey, it would be teaching a course at Kean University on ethics, of course: James E. McGreevey, who resigned the governorship under a cloud of scandal, has a new job teaching law, ethics and leadership at one of New Jersey'…
Via Modern Mechanix, from the pages of Popular Mechanics, April 1924: BEARD IS REMOVED WITH MUD AND USE OF X-RAYS Shaving beards from men's faces, has been accomplished by a special mudlike paste that is undergoing experiments at the hands of a New York doctor. After the mass has been applied, it hardens and is torn off. To finish the operation, X-rays are then directed against the skin. The originator of the method claims that it is beneficial and if used regularly will remove scars and similar marks of long standing. It is also said that the sticky treatment does not leave any ill effects…
...of this: Horror film fans dressed up to look like an army of the undead have been stomping the streets of Brisbane, Australia, in an annual Zombie Walk. Spattered with fake blood and their faces painted a deathly white, the "Zombies" staggered across the city to the botanical gardens. The event originated in North America and is in its second year in Brisbane. Its website explains that it is not an April Fool's joke "but serious, in a flippant sort of manner". The Hitler Zombie is, however, disappointed that there was no brain-eating and no ridiculously overblown Holocaust analogies.