Wednesday Weirdness

Time for another fascinating installment of Wednesday weirdness. Let's hope I can get it finished before my boss gets in.

We start off in Osaka, Japan where police have rescued Colonel Sanders from the river. Since the good Colonel has been dead over 20 years perhaps this needs a little explaining. Seems baseball fans took the statue from a KFC restaurant in 1985 as part of a victory celebration. They thought the Colonel looked like an American player on the team. The statue was found in the river missing his legs, hands and glasses but otherwise in remarkable shape for being in a river for over 20 years. And its a good thing, too. The Hanshin Tigers haven't won a national championship since the Colonel went for a swim.

Here's the first of three stupid criminal stories today. A 66-year-old Chilean man was arrested for smuggling in Spain. He had on a cast made of compressed cocaine, as well as six beer cans and two stool legs filled with cocaine. His leg was actually broken but the Barcelona police didn't really care. They took him to the hospital after they removed the cast. He may have had his leg broken just so he could attempt to smuggle the cocaine in with the cast.

Next is a man in Jacksonville, FL and his buddy who were arrested for having 17 marijuana plants in a pick-up truck. They were moving the plants to protect them. The owner was burgled the night before and wanted to secure his plants. The driver was just helping out since our brilliant horticulturist had a suspended license. First of all, if you've been burglarized and no one took your weed, then why the heck do you think you need to move it after the fact. And second, doesn't it just suck to be the good Samaritan in this setting?

Last stupid criminal is more of a stupid drunk. In Dillsburg, PA, a man in a SUV sat through six changes of a light. Honking horns didn't faze him. The police arrived and found him asleep in his truck with a beer. When they yelled at him to wake him up his foot slipped off the brake and the SUV drifted into the intersection. He was, as you might suspect, charged with DUI.

Waking up to the sound of breaking glass in not high on the list of any homeowner. But when the culprit turns out to be a 5' 9" 90 pound kangaroo, things take a decidedly different turn. Beat Ettlin of Canberra faced that dilemma and wrestled the intruder in his tightie whities out the front door. His wife called him a "hero in Bonds undies" or at least what was left of them.

And last but not least is this jewel. I saved the best for last. A man in Key West, FL won a conch blowing contest for performing "Strangers in the Night" on a conch shell. The winning group entry was an 18 piece "conchresta" who played a parody of Jimmy Buffett's "Volcano".

I give you the NPR interview with Lloyd Mager and "Strangers in the Night" and a video.