News from a Weird World - Offbeat News 5 January 2011

In this latest edition of News From A Weird World you can find bizarre news stories that include the Enterprise losing it's captain, Taiwanese potty trained pigs, Cambodian snake wedding, Florida mad cow victims, Florida body snatchers and more.

News From A Weird World (previously known as Offbeat News) is 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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Even Scotty Can't Save Enterprise Captain From This Fine Mess

In this case it's not the captain of a starship that is in trouble, but the closest thing to it, a US Navy Aircraft Carrier.

It seems that the captain of the USS Enterprise has been caught showing lewd videos on the ship's television system, including gay scenes, masturbation and shower scenes.

Although this happened in 2007, when Captain Owen Honors was executive officer on board the USS Enterprise, he has since been appointed captain.

The offending video (see full article) became public knowledge this past weekend, and as a result Captain Owen Honors has been relieved of his command, another victim of the rise of political correctness.

A number of sailors who served under Captain Honors on the USS Enterprise have rallied to his support however, stating that these videos helped to boost morale while the ship spent long periods at sea.

Apparently these videos were nothing worse than those on shows like Saturday Night Live or The Family Guy.

The USS Enterprise is currently in Norfolk, Virginia, and set to deploy in the Middle East later this month.

Read the full story HERE .

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Potty Trained Pigs Prevent Pollution

Increasing livestock populations in rural parts of Taiwan have resulted in rivers becoming heavily polluted, but now there is a revolutionary scheme aimed at reducing the levels of pollution by pigs.

This follows on the success that a farmer had in 2009, where he created special toilet areas that were smeared with pig faeces and urine, which attracted the pigs and encouraged them to do their duty their, rather than in the river.

The scheme was a big success, reducing the amount of wastewater by up to 80 percent, but also helped to reduce sickness among the pigs and increased their fertility.

Since the main complaints received by the Taiwanese EPA are related to water pollution from livestock, the concept of potty training pigs could soon spread to the rest of the country.

Read the full story HERE .

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Pythons Get Married But It's Nothing To Do With Monty

You can always trust the Asians to do something different, and in Cambodia last week an unusual wedding took place, the bride and groom both being pythons.

Snakes are believed by Cambodians to bring luck to a village, and the residents of two villages south of the capital Phnom Penh are hoping that the wedding held for Chamreun (the bride) and Krong Pich (the groom) will bring fortune and happiness for their villages.

The decision to marry these two snakes was made after a local boy who is believed to be possessed by spirits said that Krong Pich (great name by the way) wanted to marry Chamreun, otherwise the villages would have illness and bad luck.

You have to admit, these pythons can be rather demanding, and obviously this one put up a convincing argument. The bride was not heard to comment however.

Read the full story HERE .

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Farmer And Wife Victims Of Mad Cow Disease

A Florida farmer had to be flown to hospital on New Year's Day after a cow attacked him on his ranch in St. Lucie County.

The 70 year old man was repairing a fence when his wife heard him yell out.

She drove into the pasture and saw the cow savagely attacking her husband, so she did what any woman in her right mind would do of course, and repeatedly rammed the cow with the truck until it let go of him.

The farmer then shot the cow, which had apparently always been nasty, and had attacked his wife a week before, causing her bruising.

Read the full story HERE .

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Somebody Stole Some Body

Well we all know that strange things happen in Florida, and what could be more strange than a mortuary van being stolen, with a body still inside it.

A mortuary worked was just about to pull away in the van, which had the body of a recently deceased 98 year old woman in it, when he realized that he had left his cell phone behind.

He left the engine running, went back to get the phone, and in the meantime the thief jumped into the van and drove off in it.

Fortunately the police were alerted and the van was found abandoned a short time later.

I wonder whether the thief had stopped to look in the back to see what was worth stealing and seen the body, or if the woman "called out" to him. Either way the thief ought to have been scared witless, and the police should be on the lookout for a man looking like he has seen a ghost.

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_Dec_2010 - 8_Dec_2010 - 15_Dec_2010 - 22_Dec_2010 - 29_Dec_2010

3_Nov_2010 - 10_Nov_2010 - 17_Nov_2010 - 24_Nov_2010

6_Oct_2010 - 13_Oct_2010 - 20_Oct_2010 - 27_Oct_2010

1_Sep_2010 - 8_Sep_2010 - 15_Sep_2010 - 22_Sep_2010 - 29_Sep_2010

4_Aug_2010 - 11_Aug_2010 - 18_Aug_2010 - 25_Aug_2010

7_Jul_2010 - 14_Jul_2010 - 21_Jul_2010 - 28_Jul_2010

2_Jun_2010 - 9_Jun_2010 - 16_Jun_2010 - 23_Jun_2010 - 30_Jun_2010

5_May_2010 - 12_May_2010 - 19_May_2010 - 26_May_2010

21_Apr_2010 - 28_Apr_2010

3_Mar_2010 - 10_Mar_2010 - 17_Mar_2010 - 24_Mar_2010 - 31_Mar_2010

2_Feb_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 Are Taken From The Following Sources:

ABC News Australia

Courthouse News

Digital Spy

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

The Bournemouth Echo

The Daily Mail

The Daily Telegraph

The London Evening Standard