Weird News Thread ....

Headless Naked Corpse Found by Castle Frankenstein

http://channels.netscape.com/ns/news...9.htm&sc=reodd

BERLIN (Reuters) - German police were investigating the discovery of a headless body near castle Frankenstein in Germany, a ruin many see as the inspiration for the novel about the mad scientist who made a monster from body parts.

Police said on Tuesday the naked male corpse was found by a couple in a car park in the southwestern town of Darmstadt some two miles from the castle, but added it had probably been moved.

The medieval castle was the birthplace in 1673 of Johann Konrad Dippel von Frankenstein, a controversial alchemist famous for his avid interest in the creation of artificial life. He was also rumored to have experimented with human body parts.

Many say he inspired the character of Victor Frankenstein in Mary Shelley's 1818 novel, itself later the source of countless spin-offs and horror films. Dippel died mysteriously in 1734.


Local police dismissed suggestions of any link between the castle, a popular tourist attraction among gothic thrill-seekers, and the decapitated man as "absurd."



06/18/03 08:21

I was just about to post that one!

Wednesday, June 18, 2003
Prisoners Marry, May Honeymoon in 2036

SAN ANTONIO, Texas (Reuters) - Two Texas prisoners who have never met were married by proxy on Tuesday in a San Antonio courtroom and can now look forward to their honeymoon -- in 2036 at the earliest.

State District Judge Johnny Gabriel married Diane Zamora, 25, and Steven Mora, 27, using her mother and Mora's friend as stand-ins, Bexar County Clerk Gerry Rickhoff said. The husband and wife have not met, but began writing letters to each other after Mora saw Zamora on television, his family said. They are in prisons 130 miles apart.
Zamora is a former U.S. Naval Academy midshipman who, along with then-boyfriend David Graham, an Air Force Academy cadet, was sentenced to life in prison in a 1996 trial for the murder of a 16-year-old girl who was her romantic rival. She must serve at least 40 years in prison and will not be eligible for parole until 2036, Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesman Larry Fitzgerald said.

Mora is scheduled to get out of prison next March after serving a four-year sentence for threatening retaliation against someone who helped put him in prison on an earlier charge.

Rickhoff gave the pair a marriage license after the Texas Attorney General's office ruled there was no reason not to.

Pizza company hires homeless to hold ads
Tuesday, June 17, 2003

http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/West/06/1....ap/index.html

PORTLAND, Oregon (AP) -- Instead of going Dumpster-diving for maybe a half-eaten sandwich and some cold fries, Peter Schoeff, a 20-year-old homeless man, was served a slice of hot pizza dripping with cheese.

All he had to do was hold a sign for about 40 minutes that read: "Pizza Schmizza paid me to hold this sign instead of asking for money."

In a tactic that calls to the mind the hiring of unemployed men during the Depression to wear sandwich-board advertisements, a Portland pizza chain has hired homeless people off the street to promote the product. They are paid in pizza, soda and a few dollars.

"I think it's a fair trade," Schoeff said. "We're career panhandlers, that's the only other way we can get money."

The signs were meant to be humorous, said Andre Jehan, founder of Pizza Schmizza, a 26-restaurant business in Oregon and Washington.

"People don't have to feel guilty, while still appreciating the person is homeless. It's a gesture of kindness more than anything," he said.

From the sandwich board to cigarette girls to aerial banners, companies are forever searching for creative means to reach customers.

The search has become more frenetic lately as advertisers try to break through what is known in the industry as "ad clutter" -- the way people are bombarded by commercial messages from all sides.

I thought, 'What skills could they have?' Holding a sign was an obvious one. -- Andre Jehan, Pizza Schmizza founder


An ad agency in London, Cunning Stunts Communications Ltd., has recruited students to wear temporary tattoos on their foreheads while hanging out at bars or trendy stores. Sony Ericcson, the cell phone company, has hired models to lounge at tourist attractions and play with a mobile phone to make the gadget look attractive. Beach N' Billboards Inc. of New Jersey used a steamroller-like machine to imprint ads for Snapple iced tea on the beach.

Schmizza has also tried handing out fake parking tickets with pizza coupons, and putting up fake election placards reading "Elect Schmizza for Dinner."

Gary Ruskin, director of Portland-based Commercial Alert, an advertising watchdog group founded by Ralph Nader, said homeless people acting as billboards should be paid minimum wage, or else they are being exploited. And he complained that the practice adds to ad clutter.

"People don't want to get hammered with an ad every time they turn their head," he said. "Most advertising is either somewhat of a lie or deceptive, and it's an assault on our attention."

Jehan said the idea sprang from the guilt he felt passing homeless people begging for money.

"I got tired of not being able to make eye contact with these people. I thought, 'What skills could they have?' Holding a sign was an obvious one," he said.

Nate Sandall, an analyst at Standard Insurance, grinned as he passed Schoeff and his sign. "It's unusual, it's creative. At least they aren't asking me for change," he said. "Now, if every business did this, it would get old in a hurry."



---------------

Quote:

---

"I think it's a fair trade," Schoeff said. "We're career panhandlers, that's the only other way we can get money."

---

????? the picture - if you hit the link -- is of a young late teens, early twenties - white mohawked male... PLEEEZZEE "career panhandlers" :rolleyes: is that PC for "Lazy Bum" ?

Police seek men accused of killing, grilling dog
Tuesday, June 17, 2003

http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/South/06/...eut/index.html

LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas (Reuters) -- Police in northeast Arkansas were searching Tuesday for two men who allegedly killed a 20-pound chow dog, then grilled it.

The remains of the animal, named Pooh, were discovered on a backyard grill in Jonesboro, a city of about 60,000 people 135 miles northeast of Little Rock.

"We did recover some paws, but the rest of the body hasn't been found," Jonesboro police Captain Scott Roper said.

Pooh's owner, Jared Kemp, 20, identified two suspects to police, but Roper said there was no known motive for the incident.

"We don't believe at this time that they ate it," he said of the dog.


:eek:

That is SICK !

http://i.cnn.net/cnn/2003/US/West/06...y.pizza.ap.jpg
:mad: :mad:

Court Strikes Down 'Stealing Love' Law
By ROBERT SANDLER

http://channels.netscape.com/ns/news...96.htm&sc=1110

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - The Missouri Supreme Court struck down the state's ``alienation of affection'' law, saying that ``stealing'' the love of a married person is an antiquated legal doctrine.

The court, in a 5-2 decision Tuesday, agreed with a woman accused of marital infidelity that alienation of affection is an antiquated cause that has no place in a modern legal system. The justices struck down the law and overturned a lower court's $75,000 judgment against her.

The woman, Sivi Noellsch, was sued by Katherine Helsel for allegedly having an affair with Helsel's husband, David, who eventually filed for divorce. Helsel cited alienation of affection as the reason for her lawsuit.

In 2001, a Buchanan County jury found in favor of Helsel and awarded her damages, the $75,000 from Noellsch. Noellsch and David Helsel have since married.


``The cause of action is gone, the claim is gone, my client can go on with her life,'' said Noellsch's attorney, Dennis Owens.


In its opinion, the court wrote that alienation of affection has its roots in English common law and was adopted by many states in the 19th century. Today, it is cause for legal action in only eight states: Hawaii, Illinois, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, South Dakota and Utah.


In a similar North Carolina lawsuit, the state Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that compensatory damages of $910,000 were excessive against a doctor who had an affair with a coach's wife. The court, however, upheld punitive damages of $500,000.


The North Carolina House approved a measure doing away with alienation of affection, but the bill is bogged down in the Senate, where it is unlikely to pass.


Alienation of Affection is grounded in the outdated idea that married people have property interests in each other and its present-day interpretation does nothing to preserve marriages, Judge Richard Teitelman wrote for the majority.


The lawsuits are usually filed after the marriage is broken, so revenge - not reconciliation - is often the primary motive, Teitelman wrote.


``Most lawyers would have predicted this,'' Ken Jones, editor of Missouri Lawyers Weekly, said of the decision. ``It really brings Missouri into the 21st century.''


On the Net:
Missouri Supreme Court: http://www.osca.state.mo.us/sup/index.nsf


I disagree with this.

If someone has an affair with a married person, they are interfering with the contract between the married couple. The mistress/scoundrel contributes to the dissolving of said contract if there is a divorce and should be held accountable.

JMHO


06/18/03 13:35

Quote:

---

gimme a break - career panhandlers,

---

exactly.

Why don't ya get a job delivering the pizzas ?

Man Scared to Death by Horror Movie?

http://channels.netscape.com/ns/news...1.htm&sc=reodd


NEW DELHI (Reuters) - A man was found dead in his seat at a cinema in the Indian capital after the late-night screening of a horror film which the director has warned could pose a health risk to those of a nervous disposition.

A police official told Reuters that the theater's cleaning staff found the man -- aged around 50 -- slumped in his seat early on Tuesday morning after the end of the showing of an Indian horror movie, "Bhoot," or "Ghost."

Police said they had found no identification papers on the man or external injuries on his body.

"Nobody has come forward to claim his body. Maybe he got frightened, I don't know," said the police official.


"Bhoot" is a spooky thriller about a possessed housewife and is set in a high-rise Bombay apartment. It is running to packed houses in many parts of the country.


Before the movie starts, a message from the director appears on the screen warning people with heart problems or pregnant women that they view the film at their own risk.



06/18/03 08:23



:eek:

Quote:

---

Originally posted by jaybird
Zamora is a former U.S. Naval Academy midshipman who, along with then-boyfriend David Graham, an Air Force Academy cadet, was sentenced to life in prison in a 1996 trial for the murder of a 16-year-old girl who was her romantic rival. She must serve at least 40 years in prison and will not be eligible for parole until 2036, Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesman Larry Fitzgerald said.

---

I hope she NEVER gets out of prison. Forty years isn't enough.

Hackers Replace Political Party Web Site with Porn

http://channels.netscape.com/ns/news...7.htm&sc=reodd


SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Hackers transformed the Internet home page of Singapore's main opposition Democratic Party into a pornographic Web site, featuring raunchy photos of naked women and advertisements for "mature sex."

The party was forced to change its singaporedemocrats.org Web site to singaporedemocrat.org, secretary-general of the Singapore Democratic Party, Chee Soon Juan, said.

The party's homepage was replaced by a site advertising "Mature Sex: Experience is Everything" and offering erotic paraphernalia from video clips to live sex shows.

Staff in charge of the site traced the hackers to an Internet Protocol address in Poland but were unable to do anything about it, the local Straits Times newspaper reported.


Opposition parties in the island republic are small and splintered, holding only two seats in parliament. The People's Action Party has ruled since Singapore's independence in 1965.



06/18/03 08:10

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA !

{{Hi Wiccy !}}