Weird News Compilation

[Ivan Seeking]

In his defence I think it does say that.

Actually, you are not allowed to demand proof.

Deuteronomy 6:16

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Many elderly women (especially) in Japan are committing crimes so they can go to jail. They find this preferable to being alone.
https://pulitzercenter.org/stories/many-japans-elderly-women-prison-haven

This story has been around for awhile but was in the news again.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

TikTok has gone dark

 

[Ivan Seeking]

It's baaaaaaaack.

 

[berkeman]

A Connecticut man was arrested after he used a stolen fire department pickup truck to pull over drivers on Interstate 91 in Western Massachusetts early Saturday, according to the Massachusetts State Police.

The suspect, Kristian Avery, 46, of Windsor, Connecticut, was taken into custody at 5 a.m., according to a statement from Tim McGuirk of the State Police.

State Police in the Northampton barracks received reports that the driver of a Windsor (Connecticut) Fire Department pickup was “conducting suspicious motor vehicle stops” on I-91 north in Northampton and Whatley, the statement reads.

The driver activated emergency lights on the truck, pulled over drivers and spoke with them during each stop, according to the State Police.

A short time after a bulletin about the truck was issued to area law enforcement, a trooper saw the pickup on I-91 in Deerfield (mile marker 36) and pulled it over. The driver stopped briefly before attempting to flee with police in pursuit, according to the statement.

https://www.firehouse.com/apparatus...r-ct-fire-pickup-truck-conducts-traffic-stops

 

[Borg]

I guess that when he pulled them over he asked, Where's the fire?

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I guess that when he pulled them over he asked, Where's the fire?

Right? I want to know what he said to them.

 

[berkeman]

Right? I want to know what he said to them.

"What are you supposed to do when you see red and blue lights behind you?!"

"Er, I mean red lights!"

 

[Swamp Thing]

 

[berkeman]

SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) -- Employees at Pho 21 restaurant in South San Jose had an unexpected showdown last weekend with what could be considered an attempted "robot kidnapper."

Surveillance footage from the restaurant captured the bizarre incident at around 7:40 a.m. last Saturday. A man entered the restaurant, asked to use the restroom and then emerged with a much stranger plan. He can be seen on surveillance talking with an employee and then, instead of leaving the shop, grabbing one of the restaurant's three robot servers and trying to haul it out the front door toward his car, which was parked right outside. The man appears to struggle slightly, at the weight of the device.

The scene turned chaotic as employees scrambled to intervene, yelling and struggling to wrestle the robot back. Eventually, they get the man to release the robot before calling the police.

According to the restaurant's owner, the robot is valued at approximately $18,000 but would have been worthless to the would-be thief. Owner of Pho 21, Tony Ngo says the device requires specialized programming to function, making it unusable outside of the restaurant.

No injuries were reported, and the robot server was not injured and is back on the clock - delivering bowls of pho to hungry customers.

https://abc7news.com/post/pho-real-...le-attempted-robot-server-kidnapper/15837443/

 

[Hornbein]

View attachment 356427

View attachment 356426



https://abc7news.com/post/pho-real-...le-attempted-robot-server-kidnapper/15837443/

I first experienced the robot server two years ago in a Malacca shopping mall.

 

[Swamp Thing]

View attachment 356427

View attachment 356426



https://abc7news.com/post/pho-real-...le-attempted-robot-server-kidnapper/15837443/

"Robot Server Kidnapper"

For a split second, before common sense kicked in, I thought it was a robot that kidnaps servers, or tries to.

 

[Borg]

Reese Witherspoon says people thought she was a real lawyer while serving jury duty after 'Legally Blonde'

 

[pinball1970]

In no time at all they will be addicts and next you'll see them living on the streets.

Unkempt and going through the garbage looking for food. A tragedy.

 

[pinball1970]

https://phys.org/news/2025-02-spanish-bulls-festival-reveals-crowd.html

I remember this kind of phenomena being discussed after the Hillsborough tragedy in 1989, crowds behaving like a fluid.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillsborough_disaster

https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/...wds-flow-water-in-amazing-and-terrifying-ways

 

[fresh_42]

In the Czech Republic, a beaver family has restored the Klabava River to its natural state with their dam. The surrounding communities had long considered how the river could be returned to its natural course. The beavers were not involved in this process and simply got started. Now their dam has saved around 1.2 million euros in project costs and the river is flowing naturally again. According to biologists, the animals also take care of the maintenance of the dam.

Source: Austrian News Channel (ORF - ZiB).

 

[jack action]

Tesla Cybertruck Crashes Itself, Driver Praises Safety Tech​

Despite the car’s self-driving technology apparently being the cause of the incident, Challinger praised the Cybertruck’s safety technology for him being left without injury.

 

[Borg]

Camera captures moment kayaker says he was briefly swallowed by humpback whale in Chilean Patagonia

 

[Hornbein]

 

[collinsmark]

'Sounds like it could be part of a thermodynamics homework problem here on PF.

Aerodynamics and extra weight aside, perhaps it could work, so long as she's always able to find a shady parking space. Things might backfire if she has to park for a while in a sunny spot.

 

[nsaspook]

https://www.masslive.com/news/2025/...tate-trooper-with-fiji-water-to-get-cdls.html
Boston man pleads guilty to bribing state trooper with Fiji water to get CDLs

The free items included bottled Fiji, bottled Arizona Iced Tea and coffee and tea products.

What? You took Fiji water bribes!

 

[berkeman]

An underwater camera from 1970 that had been submerged to capture evidence of the Loch Ness Monster has been discovered by accident.

The U.K.'s National Oceanography Centre was conducting a routine test of one of their autonomous underwater vehicles, named Boaty McBoatface, when it happened upon the camera system at a depth of around 590 feet.

The camera is thought to have been submerged 55 years ago as part of the Loch Ness Investigation Bureau's first attempt to use underwater photography in their search for Nessie.

The center's underwater robot came across the contraption when part of its mooring snagged on Boaty McBoatface's propeller. When it was brought back to the surface, author and lifelong Nessie investigator Adrian Shine said he knew exactly what it was.

"It was a fascinating moment," Shine told CBS News.

He described the camera trap as "quite ingenious." "[It was] triggered by a bait line, which was above the camera on a float, and if that was pulled, an external magnetic switch was operated," he said.

Shine, who set up The Loch Ness Project in the mid-1970s to investigate Loch Ness, said around 24 film exposures had been taken but there was no evidence of Nessie in those pictures.

 

[Astronuc]

YONKERS, N.Y. (PIX11) – A boulder crashed into a building in Yonkers, causing it to collapse early Monday morning, according to a spokesperson for Mayor Mike Spano.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/boulder-crashes-york-building-causing-125108315.html

There is a low ridge behind the buildings along the road, which is in a river valley. The Saw Mill River runs through the middle of the valley, which can flood if there is enough rain. The area is a suburb of NY City.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/boulder-crashes-yonkers-building-causing-214127629.html

 

[nsaspook]

https://news.sky.com/video/boris-jo...ile-at-a-safari-park-with-his-family-13343984

Boris Johnson attacked by ostrich while at a safari park with his family​

The former prime minister was bitten by an ostrich as he drove through a safari park with his son.

 

[fresh_42]

https://news.sky.com/video/boris-jo...ile-at-a-safari-park-with-his-family-13343984

Boris Johnson attacked by ostrich while at a safari park with his family​

The former prime minister was bitten by an ostrich as he drove through a safari park with his son.

And I always thought that ostriches were comparably dumb.

 

[fresh_42]

 

[nsaspook]

He completely fell for her.

 

[nsaspook]

https://www.nola.com/gambit/news/th...cle_56f9087f-96b6-4e9f-b656-442b04bedff6.html

New Orleans officials can sexually harass workers so long as productivity doesn't decline​

The stunningly retrograde decision comes as part of an order reinstating former Clerk of Council Lora Johnson, who was fired last year after she was found by the New Orleans City Council to have engaged in a decade-long campaign of harassment of employees.

The commission, which is essentially the Human Resources department for city government, also ordered Johnson be given nearly a year in back pay.


The commission did not question those findings against. In fact, they explicitly acknowledge the city council proved Johnson had assaulted employees over an 11-year period.

 

[nsaspook]

The LA chainsaw bandit.

 

[Hornbein]

The LA chainsaw bandit.

The Illinois Enema Bandit.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_H._Kenyon