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The Weird Week in Review

Naked Shopping is a Hit A new Priss supermarket opened in Süderlügum, North Frisia, Germany, on Saturday with a special promotion offering €270 worth of groceries to the first 100 shoppers who showed up in their birthday suits. The offer went over much better than expected, with around 250 naked people waiting as the store opened. Supermarket manager Nils Sterndorff was surprised, as he had expected maybe a dozen people to take advantage of the promotion. He was pleased with the gimmick's success.... READ ON

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The Weird Week in Review

Drunk Party Steals Airplane A Soviet-era Antonov-2 plane is missing from the Serov aerodrome near Yekaterinburg, Russia. The privately-owned plane had been rented to monitor forest fires, but is believed to have been boarded by an inebriated group of 13 people, including the local police chief. Officials believe the party wanted to view some waterfalls around 100 kilometers away. Emergency responders are scouring the Urals, an area of 12,000 square kilometers, with six search planes for signs of the... READ ON

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Your Partner for Mushroom Processing on an Industrial Scale

Havatec makes, among other things, massive industrial machinery for processing mushrooms. Now, the world of industrial mushroom processing may not seem that interesting, and I'll admit I'm glad it's not my day job, but it's impressive to see how much effort and thoughtful mechanical work has gone into sorting, trimming, and otherwise preparing mushrooms for sale. It's a complex process, and most of it is automated; human workers guide the process at key points, but for the most part this gigantic machine... READ ON

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The Weird Week in Review

Arrested for Drunk Driving a Wheelchair Raymound Kulma of Utica, Michigan, was pulled over by police while cruising in a motorized wheelchair. Police found his blood-alcohol level was three times the legal limit, and the wheelchair was stolen. It belonged to James Konkel, with whom Kulma had argued just prior to the arrest. The wheelchair was returned to Konkel. Kulma has a history of drinking and driving. Cow Proposal Nathan Evans of Bracknell, England, wanted to ask Angela Olano for her hand in... READ ON

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The Weird Week in Review

You Gotta Pay the Piper If you had to guess what German city has a big rodent problem, you might guess Hamelin -and you'd be right. City officials admitted that rodents have chewed their way through a power cable at a popular fountain, forcing its closure. It sounds like a repeat of the legend of the 1284 infestation, in which the Pied Piper was hired to lead the rats out of town and into the Weser River. This time around, city officials say they'll just decommission the fountain, which was due to be... READ ON

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How Fake Snow Works

Last Christmas, I received a curious gift: a tiny bag of white crystals labeled Fake Snow. "Just add water," it said. So I did. And the crazy stuff puffed up unbelievably, forming a white-ish snow-like substance. Even weirder, the bag indicated that the snow could be dried out and reused (!) -- I didn't try that part. So what is fake snow? Apparently the powder I had was primarily sodium polyacrylate, a polymer that can absorb 200-300x its own mass in water. This polymer also shows up in diapers... READ ON

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In Defense of the Mosquito: 10 Things to Know About Summer’s Biggest Annoyance

Mosquito image via Shutterstock Between the itching and the welts and the fears of West Nile, it's easy to forget that mosquitoes are a wonder of evolution, and maybe they don't really get a fair shake from us. Of over 3,000 known species, only 80 actually bite people, and at least one eats other mosquitoes for us. They grow from egg to adult in just five days, begin mating within minutes of hatching, and possess, by way of their stinging mouthparts, some of the coolest appendages in the animal kingdom.... READ ON

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The Weird Week in Review

Party-crashing Cows A backyard party in Boxford, Massachusetts turned ugly when a herd of cows arrived uninvited. A police officer responding to a call about loose cows saw the herd head into a backyard, with the sound of screaming soon following. The beasts chased people away and then turned over their abandoned beers and lapped them up. Cows even rooted through a recycling bin of beer cans. The owner of the livestock was located and he and a few friends rounded up the cows and took them home. Marvel... READ ON

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The Weird Week in Review

Mountain Lion Attacks Dog, Man Responds with Frying Pan Brandon Arnold of Chino Valley, Arizona, was camping with a group of friends in Tonto National Forest when a mountain lion attacked his dog. Arnold tried to pull the animals apart before he realized the attacker wasn't another dog. The campers grabbed whatever was nearby, which for Arnold was a hot cast-iron skillet. He bopped the cat in the head twice, killing it. Another camper shot the mountain lion, just to make sure. Officials from the Arizona... READ ON

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The Weird Week in Review

Naked Unicyclist Charged For Distracting Drivers Joseph Glynn Farley of Clear Lake, Texas, was arrested in nearby Kemah for indecent exposure when he rode a unicycle naked on a bridge. Police chief Greg Rikard said Farley kept falling off the unicycle, causing a traffic hazard. However, he was not intoxicated. The 45-year-old Farley said he liked the feeling of riding without clothes. Police had warned him earlier, before he shed his clothing, not to ride the unicycle on the bridge. A Prom Night to... READ ON