Offbeat News

It's Wednesday.

Do you know what Wednesday means?

Wednesday means it's Offbeat News Day!

"What is Offbeat News?" you might ask.

Offbeat news items are those events that make you realize that fact is stranger than fiction, the odd but true bizarre news stories that make you wonder how, why, what on earth were they thinking, and that's just amazing! It's amazing just how many things happen in our modern world that are Odd But True or totally Bizarre.

This is a selection of news items from the past week that had me laughing and bemused.

Kylie Confesses To Clothes Hanger Phobia

The Australian princess of pop apparently has an aversion to clothes hangers.

In her London home she has a room where her clothes are all laid out, and nothing is hung up at all.

"I hate the sound that hangers make when you put them in the wardrobe" Kylie told reporters.

Has Kylie Minogue not heard of those hangers my Grandmother used to have, wooden ones with fabric covering them? Those surely can't make a noise, but they used to give this small boy the creeps.

This story also reminded me of the movie "Mommy Dearest" about movie icon Joan Crawford, and the scene where her daughter Christina brings her coat hangers, and she goes totally ballistic at her, screaming "NO WIRE HANGERS".

Maybe Kylie saw this and it freaked her out.

Read the full story here

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"City Of Gonads" Jellyfish Astound Experts

Well you asked for the bizarre and this is what you get...

Scientists in Tasmania, the island off the southern tip of Australia, have discovered a new species of Jellyfish that looks like a flying saucer with a cluster of sex organs on top.

These jellyfish are a whole new family not seen before, and are only a few centimetres across.

I wonder if they are maybe alien in origin? Maybe during odd times they ascend into the skies, and a trick of the light makes them appear much larger than they really are, giving rise to UFO sightings. You never know these days, since truth is often stranger than fiction.

Read the full story here

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Sailor Runs Out Of Fuel While Circling Island

This is so bizarre that you may have seen it already, but if not, it's too good to miss.

A sailor trying to circle the UK in his boat ran out of fuel while actually going in circles around the Isle Of Sheppey, a small island in the Thames Estuary near London.

The man had heard that you couldn't get lost if you just kept the coast on your right, but he didn't realise that the land on his right was actually an island.

Apparently he didn't have any maritime charts or navigational equipment with him, so he was very lucky, given the amount of rocks around the British Coastline and the chance of being hit by stormy seas.

Read the full story here

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Twin Brother Switch Doesn't Fool The Judge

Twin brothers decided to switch places in a court hearing in Florida, rather like Hailey Mills who played twin girls in the movie "The Parent Trap".

The brothers switched clothing and each swore under oath that he was the other one.

Fingerprint checking proved the switch. The judge gave the first brother a jail sentence for failure to appear in court, and the other one 179 days for contempt of court.

Read the full story here

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Woman Claims She Shot Husband Accidentally After Sex

A Florida woman who has been accused of killing her husband and then stabbing herself told police that the gun went off accidentally after they had had sex, shooting her husband in the chest.

The couple who had been separated, apparently drunk Tequila, and then had sex together. Afterwards, the husband accused her of sleeping with another man, and somehow the gun came into play.

In an attempt to make it look like self defense, the woman stabbed herself in the stomach.

Well you do don't you, got to make it look like you didn't do it on purpose.

I'm not sure how the police knew she was guilty (other than looking at the photo - see full story), but I do know that when a man has had sex his weapon is usually unloaded...

Read the full story here

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Judge Tells Mother Of 15 Kids It No Longer Matters

A Florida woman who has 15 children, 12 of whom are in state care, was released from jail this week because the judge said "It no longer matters".

In his mind, adding the cost of a jail cell and cots to that of keeping the kids seemed pointless.

The woman and 12 of her kids were found living in a one bedroomed hotel room, Social Services have now provided a rent free six bedroom home for them.

Well Jeeze Louise! We are all doing this wrong aren't we. I mean, we work out nuts off (or whatever women work off) for our whole life just to "try" and make ends meet, when all we need to do is to keep having babies, and the state will look after us.

Presumably they have satellite television, internet, a hot tub or maybe even a pool, a maid, and God knows what else.

Who I ask is going to pay for this? And what is the betting that each one of these 15 kids has a different father too? Just another 15 people who will no doubt grow up just like their mother and put an even bigger burden on society.

Read the full story here

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They Call It The Tower Of Terror For A Reason

A man who rode on the Disneyworld ride the Twilight Zone Tower Of Terror, claimed that the ride caused him to have a stroke.

The stroke occurred in 1998, but the man didn't file a law suite until 2002, claiming that he didn't know it was a high speed ride before he boarded it.

A judge ruled against this, and in my opinion quite rightly so.

Those who have seen this ride (picture in the full story) will know what I mean, but if you haven't, it's a 15 story building, and you can see parts of the ride quite clearly from the outside and are made aware of it before you go in. The ride starts with you walking around a creepy basement, before boarding an "elevator", which takes you up 15 floors. The thirteenth floor is supposedly haunted, you stop here momentarily, then the doors close, leaving you in complete darkness, before plunging almost 13 floors. You are however completely strapped in, and the only movement is a smooth fast drop.

Read the full story here

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Well you heard these stories first on Offbeat News, and if these aren't proof enough that the truth is stranger than fiction, check the previous installments of this weekly series:

28th April 2010

21st April 2010

31st March 2010

24th March 2010

17th March 2010

10th March 2010

3rd March 2010

24th February 2010

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

Sources

ABC News Australia

South Florida Sun-Sentinel