Wednesday Weirdness

Okay, okay, I'm late. I know it. But in my defense, it's still Wednesday, dammit. Plus, I promise it was worth the wait. Today I found some good ones, including an update on an earlier entry.

We begin in Iquique, Chile where apparently even a little rain is too much rain. Less than 1/100th of an inch of rain fell Monday and caused power outages and damaged 4,000 roofs. Since the region gets less than .02 inches of rain a year, their homes are not built to take the rain and generally have flat roofs. Kinda takes the fun out the whole experience.

Here's a story worthy of a Japanese monster movie. Nomura's Jellyfish grows up to 6 feet wide and can weigh in at 440 pounds. It's large enough that it clogs the water coolant intakes of nuclear reactors and can devastate fisheries. When they're attacked, they release millions of sperm or eggs, thus resulting in more of the monsters. And they're headed for Japan. Godzilla, eat your heart out.

It pays to be a careful shopper when bargain hunting at your local Goodwill. But usually the most you have to worry about are items in disrepair. Not so at the Arvada, Colorado Goodwill where an employee discovered a Claymore mine. The bomb squad was called and the strip mall where the store was located was evacuated.

In Haverford, PA it's apparently not okay to have that childhood tradition, a lemonade stand. A neighbor called police when he encountered some children selling lemonade door to door. He felt they weren't being properly supervised and police responded. They in turn told the kiddos they were breaking the law by selling lemonade without a permit. (Turns out they were a mite overzealous. The law doesn't apply to anyone under the age of 16.) But don't you know that selling lemonade is a gateway crime? They'll figure out "that if you let the lemonade sit and ferment you got yourself alcohol." The comments are sometimes the best part of these stories.


And last but not least, the barrel monster creator has been sentenced to 50 hours of community service for stealing highway construction barrels to build his creation. The company who owns the barrels wants the artwork for advertising. Too bad the Raleigh police dismantled it. Despite its own fan page on Facebook, both the monster and the artist have had to face the music.