Unusual News
ATF Training Exercise Gone Wrong Burns 150 Acres in Texas
The last thing the state of Texas needed was another wildfire, having had so many recently, and on top of that, getting the snub from Washington on its request for assistance. But another fire did break out, and the culprit was none other than t... read more
8 Good Things That Happened on Friday the 13th
May 13 is the only Friday the Thirteenth of the year 2011. Despite the deep-rooted superstition that this is a day for bad happenings, Friday the Thirteenths in history have seen some positive events. Here are eight of them.
1. Alfred Dreyfus ... read more
Chinese Communists Halt Sales of Jasmine as Threat to Regime
“Jasmine” has become the political equivalent of “fire” in a crowded movie theater for leaders in China, who consider the word dangerous to the point of being unmentionable because it has come to mean one thing: revolution.
After Tunisians ros... read more
Bob Dylan Most Popular Songwriter…in Legal Opinions
From the highest to lowest courts in the land, Bob Dylan’s lyrics appear more frequently in legal opinions than any other singer or musical group, according to a University of Texas professor.
After searching legal databases to identify lyri... read more
U.S. Prisoner has Spent 28 Years in Solitary Confinement
Thomas Silverstein has spent nearly three decades in solitary confinement, and because of that he’s suing the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
America’s “most isolated man” has been held in an extreme form of solitary confinement under a “no human... read more
Iranian Dictators Arrest Ahmadinejad Allies for Using Sorcery
President Mahmud Ahmadinejad of Iran has lost a couple of his top aides to charges of sorcery by the country’s leading religious figures.
One, Abbas Ghaffari, was arrested for being involved with spirits and exorcism. One Iranian news websit... read more
Houston Earns Title of Worst City for Postal Employee Dog Bites
Houston, Texas, was not the place to work in 2010 if you were an employee of the U.S. Postal Service. According to the USPS, which issues an annual list to coincide with National Dog Bite Prevention Week, there were nearly 5,700 dog attacks agains... read more
Journalist Claims Broadcast of National Geographic Show on Japanese Gangsters Endangers His Life
Journalist Jake Adelstein is suing National Geographic Television to stop it from airing a semi-documentary on the Japanese mafia that he says might get him killed. Adelstein, the author of Tokyo Vice: An American Reporter on the Police Beat in ... read more
Justice Dept. Challenges NCAA over Football Playoff
Echoing the sentiments of most college football fans, including both President Barack Obama and Vice-President Joe Biden, the U.S. Department of Justice has posed the question to the National Collegiate Athletic Association: Why no playoffs?
... read more
Cal Thomas and Lindsey Graham Win Worst Pundit Predictor Titles
Just how accurate are the political pundits who appear on television and write regular columns in newspapers? Students in a public policy class at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York, studied the predictions of 26 public figures made between Sep... read more
Pennsylvania Gov. Corbett Suggests Covering Education Budget Cuts by Drilling for Natural Gas on Campuses
To help cover the deep budget cuts in education funding, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett has proposed that some universities open their campuses to natural gas drilling.
Corbett pointed out that six universities sit atop the Marcellus shal... read more
Hair-Braider Sues over Utah Law Requiring Cosmetology License
Jestina Clayton is suing the state of Utah for requiring her to get a cosmetology license so she can weave hair—something she claims is unconstitutional.
A refugee from Sierra Leone, Clayton says she was told by a state regulator two years a... read more
Hungarian Park to be Named after Elvis Presley
In belated appreciation for his “sincere sympathy,” Elvis Presley will be named a citizen of Hungary and have a small park named after him by the Budapest city council.
In January 1957, three months after Hungarians rose up and sought indepe... read more
Search for Alien Life Falls Victim to Budget Cuts
The search for extraterrestrial intelligent life in outer space has shut down in the mountains of Northern California. There, a field of radio dishes operated by the SETI Institute has ceased operating because of state and federal government fun... read more
Nixon Use of Nuclear Bombs Comes Back to Haunt Natural Gas Industry
Calling it “nuclear stimulation technology,” the Nixon administration exploded nearly half a dozen atomic weapons in the American West in the hopes of solving what was then feared a coming natural-gas shortage.
Until now little has been writte... read more
Why Did D.C. Give Charlie Sheen a Police Escort at Taxpayers’ Expense?
Late for his show in the nation’s capital on April 19, Charlie Sheen received a police escort from the airport to the event venue, traveling up to 80 miles per hour along the way.
On the way, Sheen tweeted: “in car with Police escort in fron... read more