It's that time again, funny how it comes around so regularly. Lots of intertesting and newsworthy tidbits today.
We start with a "what the hell were they thinking award" given to the teachers at Canberra high school. Whatever possesed them to stage a mock hanging is unclear. The student who had the misfortune to get the noose over his head fell and turned blue before the rope was cut. So, I have to ask myself. If I'm "staging" a hanging what might go wrong? Hmm. Oh, I know. It might become a real one. Maybe I should think twice about this.
The next obvious award goes to researchers at the University of Michigan that have found that women enjoy gossip and it boosts their progesterone levels creating a feeling of well-being and reduces stress. Who would have ever guessed? The researchers go on to talk about how important this discovery may be in understanding the link between biological mechanisms and behavior. So when I say that testosterone makes men stupid I may actually be correct. My husband will be so disappointed.
The good deed award goes to Georgette Clemons who ran into a burning home to rescue the family inside. What makes this weird newsworthy is that she did so while wearing a wedding dress. After leaving her wedding reception, Clemons spotted the fire and stopped to render aid. How cool is that?
Squirrels, bees and a deer are up next. A pair of nesting squirrels have set up their nest in a Port Huron, Michigan cometary. Nothing too unusual about that. Except that these squirrels decided that the flags placed on veterans graves for Memorial Day were the perfect resource. Cemetery employees discovered tiny empty flag staffs on Tuesday and soon discovered the culprits. As they watched a squirrel ripped a miniature flag off its staff and scampered away. Following the thief turned up a nest draped in bunting. At least they waited until after the Memorial Day ceremonies.
From cheeky squirrels we move to to tired bees. About 10,000 bees descended on an aircraft in Danvers, MA. and took over the left wing. A bee removal expert was called and he thinks the Queen stopped to rest and the rest of the hive joined her as protection. That's one hell of an honor guard.
Last is a deer who gave one cop the scare of his life. Officer Dan Deffenbaugh spotted a motorist ahead of him braking to avoid a deer and soon got the perfect dash cam picture of the deer leaping across his squad car. He claims to have uploaded the dash cam footage to YouTube but I couldn't find it. If someone sees it, drop me a link in the comments, please. Apparently, Deffenbaugh and the deer were equally frightened.
Last is a story I saw in several places this week and it kind of saddens me that it got tagged as Weird News. A Garden City, NY store owner foiled a would-be robber with an unloaded rifle. The bat-wielding thief dropped his weapon and starting begging for mercy. Mohammad Sohail, a Pakistani immigrant, granted it. He gave the robber $40 from his register and a loaf of bread after hearing his tale of a starving family. And then, and I guess this is the part that demotes this story to "weird", the thief is so impressed that he wanted to become a fellow Muslim so Sohail leads him in a profession of faith. Are we so callous and cynical that we assume this thief was just trying to avoid punishment by playing on this man's faith? Or are we so jaded that we believe all who follow a religious faith are naive and foolish? Either way, the fact that this story has been deemed laughable says more about those who categorize it thusly than either Sohail or the thief.
That's it for today. See you next week or sooner.
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