Unusual News
No Solar Panels on the White House
To demonstrate President Barack Obama’s commitment to “green” power solutions, the administration’s top energy official promised 10 months ago that solar technology would be installed on top of the White House by the start of summer.
With su... read more
Gaddafi Collected Photos of Condoleezza Rice
Apparently former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made quite an impression on former dictator Muammar Gaddafi when she visited Libya three years ago.
As rebels ransacked Gaddafi’s compound this week, they found a photo album brimming with ... read more
Was Jesus a Socialist?
American Christianity has distorted the original teachings of Jesus, says Gregory Paul, an independent researcher in sociology and evolution, who insists that if the savior were alive today, he’d probably be a socialist.
Paul argues that man... read more
Army Declares War on Acronyms and Complicated Language
Language specialists with the U.S. Army have decided the service needs to wean itself of some acronyms and jargon. A team of “terminologists” is working on redoing the Army’s Field Manual (FM 1-02), which currently is bloated with nearly 1,100 a... read more
Did Merck Fire Employee for Sleepwalking or for Refusing to Market Illegally?
David Turkheimer is suing his former employer, pharmaceutical manufacturer Merck & Co., because he was fired—either because he crashed his car while sleepwalking or he refused to do his boss’ biding and illegally market a drug.
According to ... read more
Virginia Prison Refuses to Allow Inmate to Buy Dylan Thomas Poetry CD
Virginia’s correctional department has been ordered by a federal judge to explain why it allows prisoners to have only religious CDs, after an inmate sued for being denied a collection of Dylan Thomas’ poetry.
Plaintiff Owen North filed his ... read more
Growing Industry in China…Mistresses
With prosperity comes indulgence, and many in China are taking advantage of their wealth by buying cars, homes … and mistresses.
While no statistical information reflects the growing trend, plenty of anecdotes have surfaced in China revealin... read more
Sex Strike Earns Town Promise of a Paved Road
After two decades of waiting and not getting a vital road resurfaced, hundreds of women in the town of Barbacoas, Colombia, began a sex strike to make their point.
About 300 women decided in June to withhold all sexual favors until the road le... read more
Rabbi Goes to Court Because Airline Kicked Him out of Frequent Flyer Program for Complaining Too Much
In the Yiddish language, a kvetch is a person who is a chronic complainer. Sometimes an accomplished kvetch can end up helping others. Fed up with what it says was incessant complaints, Northwest Airlines gave a rabbi the boot fr... read more
Bank of America Battles for Title of Meanest Bank in the Nation
There’s a new challenger for the title “America’s Meanest Bank” after Bank of America chose to robo-call a widow in Hawaii to demand its mortgage payment, calling early, often and even every 15 minutes during the wake for the husband.
Debora... read more
Toy Truck Saves Lives of 6 U.S. Soldiers in Afghanistan
For only $500, soldiers in Afghanistan came up with an ingenious way to help detect roadside bombs and reduce the threat of casualties.
The money was spent on a remote-controlled toy truck (Traxxis Stampede) that a soldier’s brother, Ernie F... read more
“Declassified” Cryptology Report was Already Available on Google Books
Well, so much for that “impressive” bit of news.
Last month the National Security Agency (NSA) made a big to-do about declassifying a 200-year-old book on cryptology, to demonstrate that the Obama administration was committed to making gover... read more
Belarus Bans Standing in One Place with Others
The authoritarian regime of Belarus, Europe’s last remaining dictatorship, is determined to eradicate all forms of public protest, even those involving people doing nothing but standing around together.
A new law proposed this week would ban... read more
U.S. Finds New Export to Zimbabwe…Coins
Making change for simple transactions has become so difficult for merchants in Zimbabwe that the government has reached out to the United States for help. With insufficient currency available, Zimbabwe has agreed to import coins from the Federal... read more
Climate Change Brings New Threat to Arctic: Wildfires
Call it the reversal of hell freezing over: the burning of frozen wasteland.
Only it’s already happened.
With global warming causing ice to melt at record rates in the Arctic, Alaska’s tundra has become exposed to the threat of wildfires. ... read more
11 Musicians Who Died at the Age of 27 (Besides Amy Winehouse)
It may seem shocking that Amy Winehouse died at the early age of 27, but in the world of music such deaths are not that unusual. Here are eleven other musicians who died when they were 27 years old.
1. Kurt Cobain—The lead singer of Nirvana,... read more