Wacky News Stories

Lazarus · May 13, 2009

Toilet snake attack: urban legend comes true?

Mon May 11, 2009 4:56pm EDT

TAIPEI (Reuters) - A Taiwanese man became a sitting target for a snake, which bit his penis as sat on the toilet at his rural home, local media reported on Monday.

"As soon as he sat down, he suddenly felt a knife-like pain and reacted instinctively by standing up," the China Times said. "When he looked down, he saw the big snake."

The 51-year-old man, from Nantou County, was under medical care with minor injuries, a director at Puli Christian Hospital said.

"As soon as he has passed the risk of infection, he can go," the director, who declined to be named, said. "A snake's mouth isn't always clean."

Local television images showed the black and yellow reptile, reportedly a species of rat snake, being uncoiled and plucked slowly from the toilet bowl.

Snakes regularly enter rural homes in Taiwan and other sub-tropical regions of Asia.

Old Salt · May 13, 2009

Minor injuries? <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/blink.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":blink:" border="0" alt="blink.gif" />

rupertlittlebear · May 13, 2009

Wait a minute here..

"Rural Toilet" + "Taiwan" = hoax

They use a different style of plumbing

especially for a 51 year old man.

Lazarus · May 16, 2009

Nail gun victim shot 34 times  

Metal head ... victim's skull full of nails

Published: 25 Apr 2009

A SHOCKING X-ray snap has been released showing a murdered man with a staggering 34 nails shot into his skull.

<img src="http://images.mirror.co.uk/upl/dailyrecord3/apr2009/2/9/nail-gun-victim-anthony-liu-s-x-ray-image-2-431879556.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />

The body of Chinese immigrant Chen Liu, 27, was found by two kids last year in marshland in south Sydney, Australia.

He had been blasted repeatedly in the head and neck with a high-powered nail gun before being wrapped in a carpet and bound with electrical wire.

Detectives said the weapon used was a standard gas tool - widely available and used in construction. It fires nails up to 3.3in long.

Murder squad Superintendent Geoff Beresford said: â€œIn 36 years, Iâ€™ve never seen a murder of this nature."

Liu arrived in Australia in 2000 and was reported missing last year.

Old Salt · May 16, 2009

Nailed to death. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/ko.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=" :ko

" border="0" alt="ko.gif" />

Meigger · May 16, 2009

<img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/icon_eek.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=" :shock

:" border="0" alt="icon_eek.gif" />

Stallion · May 18, 2009

I love the smell of napalm on my Xbox: How computer games of the future will simulate the real stench of battle

Last updated at 11:22 PM on 16th May 2009

It is one of the most memorable lines in movie history. As the air around him is rent by explosions and the whiz of bullets, Colonel Kilgore stands nonchalantly with hands on hips, sniffs the acrid breeze and declares: 'I love the smell of napalm in the morning.'

Now actor Robert Duvall's famous scene from the Vietnam epic Apocalypse Now could be re-enacted in millions of teenagers' bedrooms â€“ thanks to technology that will allow computer games consoles to release the stench of war.

The Ministry of Defence is part-funding a project in which foul smells are released into the air during training videos so that recruits literally learn to sniff out trouble.

If the technology proves a success, it is expected to be taken up by manufacturers of top-selling consoles â€“ such as the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
The team of psychologists and computer engineers developing the technology, on behalf of the British Army, plan to bombard troops with odours ranging from body sweat to diesel exhaust.

The aim is to teach recruits that the presence of some smells and absence of others could indicate danger.

At the moment, the technology is still in its infancy. But the scientists say it will soon be possible to design games in which the screech of tyres during a high-speed chase will automatically trigger the release of the smell of burning rubber.

Professor Bob Stone, research director of the Human Factors Integration Defence Technology Centre (HFIDTC) at Birmingham University, believes the technique could save soldiers' lives.

'Let's say a unit is passing through a village somewhere in the Arab world where there is always the smell of cooking meat,' explained Professor Stone.

'On the day in question that smell is not there. That could mean the village has been evacuated because the enemy are using it as a base from which to attack British troops. Smell is the most underrated and underused of our senses.

'If we rely only on sights and sounds, we are in danger of closing our minds to what is going on around us. And for a soldier, that can mean the difference between life and death.'

His 'scent delivery system' consists of a compressed air chamber with four fans and eight compartments, each of which holds a pot of wax, chemically impregnated with a particular odour.

Those in Professor Stone's armoury so far include cordite, burning electrical wire, weapon fire and harbour and hospital smells, though other unpleasant stinks, such as mildew and cat urine, will be added to the list.

During a demonstration in Professor Stone's office, PhD research student Mark Blyth presses the 'raw sewage' smell button as 3-D images flash across the screen of a Toshiba laptop. Visitors look longingly at a gas mask hanging on a coat stand, wondering whether it will fit. A colleague from another department pops his head round the door, sniffs disgustedly and leaves with a muttered excuse.

Computer games are playing an ever-larger role in military training, partly because the devices used to operate battlefield technology systems increasingly resemble games console controls.

Professor Stone believes the smells will prove attractive to the commercial sector.

'An American company called Trisenx is already working on something similar and I am sure there will be a successful crossover from military use to the home computer industry.

'Within three to five years there could be games on the market with smells designed to confuse or excite the player.

'When an alien appears on the screen, for example, he would have his own odour which would be instantly recognisable.'

Lieutenant Colonel Richard Eaton, spokesman for UK Land Forces, said: 'Anything that can add realism to a synthetic environment â€“ whether it's noise, heat or smells â€“ will enhance the training experience.'

Lazarus · May 18, 2009

That really stinks <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/me.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=" :onya

" border="0" alt="me.gif" />

morgan terror · May 18, 2009

for the first half of the article i was wondering if they were referring to gamers as their soldiers.

Peter Willemoes · May 18, 2009

Hehe Morgan.
Teenage room + socks, farts, old pizza trays and cheap deo = enough smell of napalm in the morning for me <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="

" border="0" alt="smile.gif" />

Meigger · May 18, 2009

<img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="

:" border="0" alt="laugh.gif" />

Stallion · May 18, 2009

<img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/yes.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=" :yes

" border="0" alt="yes.gif" />

Old Salt · May 19, 2009

<img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="

:" border="0" alt="laugh.gif" />

morgan terror · May 19, 2009

i'm pretty sure i wouldn't want that stinky console. some game locations really make you happy that you can't smell, and i'm not stupid enough to change that.

Meigger · May 19, 2009

<img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/me.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=" :onya

" border="0" alt="me.gif" />

Stallion · May 20, 2009

They can fly, they can swim, they can spit out 550 high-explosive shells a minute. And most terrifyingly of all, they'll soon be able to think for themselves.

<a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1182910/March-terminators-Robot-warriors-longer-sci-fi-reality-So-happens-turn-guns-us.html?ITO=1490" target="_blank">http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/art...s.html?ITO=1490</a>

Old Salt · May 21, 2009

<img src="http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x172/oldsalt_bucket/article-1182910-04F36CB8000005DC-25.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />

Sky-Net anyone?

Meigger · May 21, 2009

<img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/piratesing.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=" :shock

" border="0" alt="piratesing.gif" />

Stallion · May 22, 2009

<img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="

:" border="0" alt="laugh.gif" /> That's what I was thinking. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/yes.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=" :yes

" border="0" alt="yes.gif" /> Did you know the company that's in the Terminator movies actually exists, and makes military hardware? <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/piratesing.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=" :shock

" border="0" alt="piratesing.gif" />

Old Salt · May 22, 2009

A News of the Weird Classic (February 1999)
According to a January 1999 Boston Globe feature, Mr. Wai Y. Tye, 82, a chemist who retired a while back after 32 years' service with Raytheon Corp., has lived continuously, without complaint, in the same 200-square-foot room in the downtown Boston YMCA for the last 50 years. "When you're busy working and playing tennis," he told a reporter, "when you come home, you don't have much time to take care of an apartment." The bathroom, as in 1949, is still down the hall to the left, and Tye said he does not mind the exposed pipes, the linoleum floor or having food preparation limited to a hotplate. [Boston Globe, 1-8-99]

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