News from a Weird World - Offbeat News 15 December 2010

The latest edition of News From A Weird World (previously known as Offbeat News) is published, with a selection of bizarre stories, strange stories, odd stories and weird news stories from the past week, that have been cleverly extracted by scouring news sites from around the world.

The stories to be found on News From A Weird World are the kind that are just so bizarre, they make you realize that fact is often stranger than fiction, and make you wonder what on earth people were thinking to get into the news in this way.

This is a selection of weird news stories from the past week that I hope you enjoy, and if you do, please can you help spread the word by sharing the stories with your friends.

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Pilot Ends Up Pooped After Historic Flight Crash Landing

The crowd waited with tense anticipation in Ballarat, Australia last week, as veteran pilot Ben Buckley attempted to re-create an event that took place in 1910, the first powered, controlled flight in an Australian designed and built aircraft.

Despite some problems with power and the controls, the pilot was able to get the aircraft off the ground, however it then veered off the runway and crashed into a huge pile of chicken manure.

I am sure there will be many jokes made about this, you don't get too many stories about pilots ending up crashing into poop.

Read the full story HERE .

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Supermarket Thief Makes A Getaway In A Motorized Shopping Cart

If you are a regular reader of News From A Weird World I am sure that you have probably guessed from the article title that this took place in Florida.

At a Winn-Dixie supermarket in Riviera Beach in Florida last Sunday, shoppers were going about their business as usual, until an employee called the manager to report that a man had driven out of the store in a motorized shopping cart which was full of groceries that he had not paid for.

On heading out of the store, the manager and a security guard met a woman and her 4 year old son, who had been run over by the man as he drove out of the store at full speed, and the boy had not been able to move out of the way in time.

The store manager called the police, and they were able to catch up with the man at a nearby gas station. The police found 11 packs of meat in the cart, all of which were from Winn-Dixie,

When the police tried to arrest the man, he said that he wasn't going to go down without a fight, and managed to hit one of the officers.

He was charged with two counts of larceny as well as aggravated battery on a child, being in possession of stolen property and resisting arrest.

Only in Florida... there is always something about these people, and if you look at his picture in the full article, it makes you wonder.

Read the full story HERE .

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Gun Store In Florida Is #10 In The Nation

Well that's good you might think, unless you are against guns and people having guns. A store in Florida that is ranked #10 in the nation.

Unfortunately, the reason the store is ranked so highly is that it's #10 in the nation for selling guns that have been used in crimes.

The store, Shooters Firearms and Gun Accessories in Jacksonville, Florida, has in the last 4 years sold more than 1,300 firearms that were used in crimes, and that were later traced back to the store.

Although this is not a good reputation for the store to have, you would have thought that the police could benefit from putting 24/7 surveillance on the store, and having access to their sales records.

Not only would the police know who had been buying what, they might also be able to predict what crimes were going to take place.

So this is good news I suppose - unless you happen to live in Jacksonville.

Read the full story HERE .

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Oh Where Oh Where Did My Kitty Disappear To?

It seems that as many as 60 puppies and cats have disappeared in recent weeks in the small fishing village of Cortez in Manatee County in Florida, and it is thought that the culprits are a pack of coyotes that have moved into the area.

Residents have reported hearing yipping and yowling at night, and have actually seen coyotes snatching puppies.

People living in the area have been advised to keep their pets locked up, and also to lock away trash and pet food, and above all to not feed the coyotes.

It's sad if you happen to lose a precious pet, but the presence of coyotes will at least help to keep down the number of stray dogs and cats.

Read the full story HERE .

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Rare Beatles Memorabilia Up For Auction

It's not often these days that previously unknown items by legendary pop band The Beatles turns up, but this is exactly what happened this month, and in my home town of Bournemouth as well.

The collection of photographs, and even an unheard recording belong to Howie Casey, who played saxophone on a number of tracks with The Beatles, and later with Sir Paul McCartney's band Wings.

Included in the collection are photographs of Paul and Linda McCartney crossing the River Mersey on the ferry, and a recording on cassette of Sir Paul working on a track for a Ringo Starr album in the early 1980's.

The collection had been more or less forgotten until Mr. Casey, who is now 70, moved house. He has now decided to sell them, and the auction is on 17^th December at Sherborne in Dorset .

Howie Casey might not be well known by name, but he played with a number of bands in Liverpool, and his band played in Hamburg before the Beatles joined them. He was also touring with Wings when Paul McCartney got busted for drugs in Japan, the event that inspired the legendary track Band On The Run.

Read the full story HERE .

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Zimbabwe Wants To Send Cecil Rhodes Home

To most people outside of the UK and what is now Zimbabwe this story might not seem significant, but back in the 1960's the move of Zimbabwe, back then Rhodesia, towards independence from Britain, sparked a huge international situation.

Rhodesia was born out of the colonial efforts of Cecil Rhodes, a mining magnate of the late 1800's who created what was until after independence a peaceful and wealthy country.

Now, more than 30 years after the country gained it's independence from Britain, and over 100 years since the death of Cecil Rhodes, a politician from Zimbabwe wants to exhume the body of Cecil Rhodes and send it back to Britain, claiming that it is an insult to the citizens of the country.

Even though you might not know much about the history of Zimbabwe, I am sure you have heard about the country's president, Robert Mugabe, and the corruption that has taken the country to a situation of ruin.

If this is of interest to you, the full article in the Daily Mail is very detailed and gives a good insight into Cecil Rhodes and his role in making Britain a major power in Africa, all the way from Cape Town in the south to Cairo in the north.

Read the full story HERE .

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You can now also find links to all of the News From A Weird World and Offbeat News editions at Squidoo, and if you do enjoy these weekly Offbeat News articles, please could you help share them with your friends etc. I am sure they could use a good laugh too.

For more fun at the expense of victims around the world, take a look at the previous editions of News From A Weird World:

1 December 2010 - 8 December 2010

3 November 2010 - 10 November 2010 - 17 November 2010 - 24 November 2010

6 October 2010 - 13 October 2010 - 20 October 2010 - 27 October 2010

1 September 2010 - 8 September 2010 - 15 September 2010 - 22 September 2010 - 29 September 2010

25 August 2010 - 18 August 2010 - 11 August 2010 - 4 August 2010

28 July 2010 - 21 July 2010 - 14 July 2010 - 7 July 2010

30 June 2010 - 23 June 2010 - 16 June 2010 - 9 June 2010 - 2 June 2010

26 May 2010 - 19 May 2010 - 12 May 2010 - 5 May 2010

28 April 2010 - 21 April 2010

31 March 2010 - 24 March 2010 - 17 March 2010 - 10 March 2010 - 3 March 2010

2 February 2010

As always, your comments on any of these news stories are appreciated, and if you enjoy News From A Weird World, please share this edition with your friends.

News Reports Taken From The Following Sources:

Digital Spy

ABC News Australia

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

The Bournemouth Echo

The London Evening Standard

The Daily Telegraph

Courthouse News

The Daily Mail