Weird News of the World Thread - Part 1

[Monsieur Xavier]

Frenchman who 'covered himself with Dior perfume' claims he was booted from American Airlines flight because he smelled bad

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ted-American-Airlines-flight-smelled-bad.html

The comments in this article are face palming but at least they are not racist like the ones I read on some french online news.

​

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

I could see them doing that if the person reeked. I know I wouldn't want to sit next to someone that dumped a bottle of cologne on them

 

[Monsieur Xavier]

From the article ( in France too ) it looks like it wasn't an issue with a strong perfume smell but rather the guy smelling bad.

One thing not mentioned in this article ( or I missed it ) is the guy being of Algerian origin, I think, the issue was his "face", some passengers saw a "middle eastern" looking person and the paranoia kicked in and of course a poor excuse was to be found.
Who would be shocked about a smelly French right, everyone knows we don't bath nor wash ourselves daily.
Unless the guy suffers from a sweating disorder I find this story sketchy at best.

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Ya it does sound shady now that you broke it down

 

[Marvolo]

Colgne on a smelly guy is a lot like cologne on ****. It doesnt mask the awful smell. It enhances it and mutates into some unholy assault on the nostrils.

 

[Monsieur Xavier]

^^
Yes I suppose but I am past the point of believing the story to be true.

 

[TheDreamMaster]

Frenchman who 'covered himself with Dior perfume' claims he was booted from American Airlines flight because he smelled bad

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ted-American-Airlines-flight-smelled-bad.html

The comments in this article are face palming but at least they are not racist like the ones I read on some french online news.

​

Man, I'm a little too literal lately. When you mentioned this few posts ago, I thought they literally threw a guy out of the plane in flight, like maybe with a parachute or something.

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Haha not gonna lie that was my first thought as well

 

[Alex_Spider]

Twelve Technologies Taking Us Toward A World Without Money

As more and more jobs are shed on a daily basis, it’s no wonder why an increasing amount of people are leaning toward the prospect of a moneyless society and resource based economy. Usually, as a general rule, we, as a society, are only presented with a problem when (and only when) the solution for that problem also exists. But in this case, many of the things actually causing the problems are also going to be the very same things that give us our solutions, as well. As more and more labor is replaced by robotics and automated systems, it will only become ever more increasingly apparent that we as a society will soon have a very large disconnect between our actual production capacity and the labor needed to produce those goods. Hence, if we are to avoid complete collapse of our system, we must leave some of our old ways of thinking behind and change our frame of mind from one of survival depending upon compensation for labor, to thriving upon the abundance of resources and goods we have created.

Here are just a few of the technologies that are either already producing this shift, or will greatly accelerate it in the years to come.

http://www.moneylesssociety.com/2014/04/13/twelve-technologies-taking-us-toward-a-world-without-money/

Do we need money at all...? Can a moneyless society work?
We are not that motivated by money and reward as one used to think...

When the 'workers' in the businesses are not motivated by money, why should the businesses be? The owners of these are people too. Yes, they 'need' money to continue to exist. But, could we think totally out of the box for once? Could we simply abandon money all together? And start creating a truly sustainable world where all people all over the world are motivated by this common task? I know I would be highly motivated by this. What about you?

We all know the damage money and the 'money mindset' has done to this planet and humanity. Imagine if we took money out of the equation and really started to share the resources and build a world that works for everyone. There would be no more bills, banks, loans, financial crisises, corruption, unemployment, crime, war, passports, terrorists, pollution, prostitution, hunger, poor, homeless....and the list goes on. Money and the 'logic of money' major force behind all of this.

Up to now, money as a motivator has worked well to perform the 'mechanic' jobs that needed to be done. Now, however, most of those jobs can be automated. And with the profit motive out of the way, we can truly develop all good inventions to their fullest potential, and develop technology to the betterment of humanity, rather than to maximize profits.

When people in general are not motivated by money and profits. Why, then is our world still running on it? The answer is that we have been doing this for so long, so people have gotten so used to thinking that money, profit, margins, loans, banks and credit is a 'natural' part of our lives. But, it is not. All of this is artificial. The natural is our true motivations, like Dan Pink shows in his talk. I know there are several millionaires that would also like to see a different world.

Maybe we can make it work?

http://www.theresourcebasedeconomy.com/
http://www.thevenusproject.com/
http://www.thezeitgeistmovement.com

 

[Alex_Spider]

http://inhabitat.com/lab-grown-diamonds-could-make-the-mining-industry-obsolete/

Lab-Grown Diamonds Could Make the Mining Industry Obsolete

Diamond mining takes a terrible toll on both human life and the environment, but lab-grown gems, which are now just as pure as natural ones and produce one-fifth the carbon dioxide emissions, could provide a viable alternative. Not only is the carbon footprint of the gems much smaller, but laboratories don’t require forced child labor to make their diamonds. So far, the artificial variety only account for 2 percent of the world’s jewelry market, but they have the potential to make mining obsolete.

There is already a wave of ethically, and environmentally conscious companies such as Deluxe Diamonds and Gemesis leading the charge. Their jewels start out as a tiny diamond “seed,” which is placed in a carbon-rich environment the gemstone grows atom-by-atom until it is a fully-formed diamond. Some of these lab specimens qualify for “type IIa” status, which is the purest form produced in nature.

As for the environmental impact, one Stanford University graduate carried out research that compared the energy intensity of mined diamonds from BHP Billiton‘s Ekati mine in Canada, with those created in the Gemesis lab. The lab variety produced less than one-fifth of the carbon dioxide emissions compared to those from the mine. For that one mine alone, that could save the equivalent of roughly 483 million miles’ worth of auto emissions each year.

Others advocate more responsible mining, supported by campaigns such as No Dirty Gold. The problem is that with so much money involved in the mining industries, and the fact that some communities have no other source of income but precious minerals, it’s often profit that wins out over human rights and ecological balance. Even so, lab-grown diamonds could offer a bright, sparkly, and sustainable alternative which protects not only people, but our future environment as well.

Why Should You Care Where Your Diamond Comes From?

Why do so many couples care where their diamonds come from? Maybe the best answer to that question is that many diamonds are tainted by bloodshed and violence. But the ethical problems facing the diamond industry run deep, and are more varied than some people realize. In too many ways, diamond mining contributes to the exploitation of people and the environment. Hit the jump to learn more.

http://inhabitat.com/why-should-you-care-where-your-diamond-comes-from/

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Ayn Rand's Capitalist Paradise Is Now a Greedy Land-Grabbing Crapstorm

Atlas Shrugged readers remember Galt's Gulch as the rural refuge where Ayn Rand's Real Men of Genius spurned American socialism for their own anti-leftist paradise. Some inspired libertarians have set up a real-life Galt's Gulch in Chile. Unregulated capitalism, though, is presenting some problems!

In Rand's weighty tome, America's bravest, wisest industrialists and inventors—the kind of job creators we lowly leeches suck dry of lifeblood—quietly leave an increasingly collectivist and crumbling American society and follow their capitalist working-class hero, John Galt, to form a completely transaction-based community in the Western wilds.

Plenty of Rand-y acolytes have dreamed of fleeing Obama's (and Clinton's and Carter's and Johnson's and Kennedy's) America and entering the warm, dopamine confines of their own Galt's Gulch. Last year, one group appeared to have succeeded with a settlement in Chile—"a fully self-sustaining community" that would enable individualistic immigrants (with sufficient funds) to fully renounce "the oppression of the over-regulated, over-taxed, war-riddled and welfare-riddled society consuming the world." They take Bitcoin and everything.

[YT]SJyafOxDOeE[/YT]

But all is not so sweet. Wendy McElroy, a "Canadian individualist anarchist" of some note, bought a 1.25-acre plot in Galt's Gulch Chile last year, or so she thought. She wrote a blistering post Monday suggesting that the Real Men of Genius behind the settlement are grifters, or incompetents, or both:

Shortly after purchasing, I received an unsigned email through the webform of a site I maintain. It informed me that GGC was a fraud. One reason: GGC lacked water rights. In Chile, purchasing surface land and water rights are two separate processes. GGC is desert terrain, rather like California, and water rights are absolutely necessary for a community to be established.

The emailer was apparently an ex-employee who demanded payoffs from Galt's Gulch's two main developers. Which, according to McElroy, he got, after "many unpleasant details," and after GGC did get some land that included water rights. But then, the whole thing deteriorated into a power struggle and lawsuits over "maze-like transfers of cash and authority," and at some point McElroy learned that she didn't actually own her plot, because the development wasn't authorized to sell lots that small:

I had the opportunity to ask a question of the salesman who showed my husband and me "our property." I claimed it because I fell head over heels for the most beautiful tree I've ever seen. I felt an instant connection as though the two of us were old souls who had found each other. I could believe it, I could see it... waking up each morning and having coffee under that tree, telling it about my plans for the day. Months later, in a Skype conference, I asked the then-GGC-alienated salesman, "When you 'sold' us the property, when you printed out a photo from your phone that read 'Wendy's tree,' did you know you could not legally sell us the lot you were offering?" He said, "That is correct."

That silence you hear? That's the sound of Atlas shrugging.

The upshot, McElroy learned, is that Galt's Gulch also "owes hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars to hardware stores [and] service providers" in the nearest town, "ordinary Chileans who are acutely harmed by the project's malfeasance."

Even so, GGC developers will still sell you a 1,200-acre "Master Estate" for a mere $500,000. As long as you're also willing to extend GGC developers a $2 million "Founders Club" loan along with that $500,000, which they'll totally pay back, they swear.

In other words, Galt's Gulch Chile sounds exactly like the sort of plan you would expect from a a bunch of fans of a crotchety old millionairess who wrote a book called The Virtue of Selfishness.

http://www.thedailybell.com/editori...te-of-Galts-Gulch-Chile/#sthash.COJaBdc4.dpuf

Ahh yes, unbridled capitalism at it's finest folks

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Woman Working Four Part-Time Jobs Dies in Car While Trying to Nap

A 32-year-old woman was found dead inside her SUV in a convenience store parking lot, where she was trying to get some extra sleep between shifts at her four part-time jobs, the New Jersey Star-Ledger reports.

Police say Maria Fernandes, who worked at two New Jersey Dunkin locations, left her car running while she napped Monday morning, and died after inhaling carbon monoxide and fumes from a spilled gas can.

She kept the gasoline container in the car because she sometimes ran out of fuel while commuting between jobs. Police said Fernandes would often nap in the car for a few hours before her next shift started.

Her body was discovered 8 hours later by workers at the Wawa convenience store where she was parked. She had made plans to lend her SUV to a friend that day.

"This sounds like someone who tried desperately to work and make ends meet, and met with a tragic accident," Elizabeth police Lt. Daniel Saulnier told the Star-Ledger.

http://www.nj.com/union/index.ssf/2...vercome_by_fumes_police_say.html#incart_river

That really sucks. She was working her ass off and this happens to her

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Texas Jury Acquits Dad Of Murdering Drunk Driver Who Killed His Kids

A jury in Southeast Texas yesterday declared that a bereaved father accused of shooting and killing the drunken driver who crashed into his two children was not guilty of murder, according to news reports.

The AP reports that David Barajas and his 12-year-old and 11-year-old sons David Jr. and Caleb were pushing his truck down a rural road about 100 yards from their home in Alvin back in 2012 because it had run out of gas.

That's when 20-year-old Jose Banda drunkenly crashed his Chevrolet Malibu into the truck, killing both boys, authorities said. Prosecutors claimed Barajas then went home, got his handgun, and shot Banda to death "in a fit of rage."

But besides the obvious sympathy a jury would have for a father who just watched his sons die at the hands of a drunk driver, prosecutors had other problems. They included the fact that the gun used to kill Banda was never found, and that there was little physical evidence actually linking 32-year-old Barajas to the shooting.

Investigators said the bullets that killed Banda could have come from a .357-caliber gun, ammunition of which was found in Barajas' home, but other than that prosecutors didn't have much.

Still, the whole case is just an unbelievably tragic event for everyone involved. From the AP's report:

"Three sons were lost that day. The state has compassion for every single one of them, the Barajas children and the Banda son," [Brazoria County District Attorney Jeri] Yenne said.

Barajas said he is hoping to move forward and get closure with regard to his sons' deaths. But he also said that he is praying for Banda's family.

"They lost a son, too," Barajas said.

http://www.dallasnews.com/news/stat...slaying-of-drunken-driver-who-killed-sons.ece

As a father I'm really torn on this, I totally understand but at the same time he doesn't have the right to take someones life. I guess if the state could have made a better case he would have got convicted

 

[KevanG]

Woman Working Four Part-Time Jobs Dies in Car While Trying to Nap

http://www.nj.com/union/index.ssf/2...vercome_by_fumes_police_say.html#incart_river

That really sucks. She was working her ass off and this happens to her

That really does suck.

Ayn Rand's Capitalist Paradise Is Now a Greedy Land-Grabbing Crapstorm

http://www.thedailybell.com/editori...te-of-Galts-Gulch-Chile/#sthash.COJaBdc4.dpuf

Ahh yes, unbridled capitalism at it's finest folks

Funny thing is I'm reading the Bioshock book Rapture about the rise and fall of the city which was almost identical in nature to that and it went in the same direction both times due to jackasses ruining everything and trying to swindle everyone.

 

[MangleBoP]

http://www.moneylesssociety.com/2014/04/13/twelve-technologies-taking-us-toward-a-world-without-money/

The problem I can see with this idea is that history tells us that whenever a new technology renders manual labor unnecessary, the people who benefit most from the change are the ones who already have resources. If a company with 1000 employees working in a factory can replace most or all of them with robots that cost less than human workers will invariably do so, no matter how much that hurts people, because it helps their bottom line. Rich people stay rich by not being willing to share, and having everything they need to hold on to what they have. Not ALL rich people are greedy, but the ones who are have always been able to control whatever government would otherwise act to help the people. Money is irrelevant to this equation. The person who controls the most land, or food, or water, or other resource, will always try to find a way to maintain that advantage.

 

[KevanG]

If you look at Star Trek they have the cashless society only with the invention of 'Utopia Technology' like replicators which can make almost any substance using the almost limitless energy the society has been able to use. Those two things are the biggest issue when dealing with money in a society, energy and goods. If all of a sudden we have unlimited free energy (or close enough) then we can work on using that to enhance ourselves otherwise but we will always be limited by material goods available. If we have the replicators but not the energy then it's the same problem as we can use something but the energy drain to materialize something from pure energy would be enormous.

The only way to have anything resembling a cashless society is to solve both problems simultaneously.

Or take over the world and strictly regulate everything every person gets and destroying any type of barter and/or black markets.

 

[Breogan]

Woman Working Four Part-Time Jobs Dies in Car While Trying to Nap

http://www.nj.com/union/index.ssf/2...vercome_by_fumes_police_say.html#incart_river

That really sucks. She was working her ass off and this happens to her

, Not so much weird news as it is sad news.

 

[Alex_Spider]

Edit

 

[redmarvel]

I wasn't saying shoot them, but how are they not arrested for criminal trespass? Why the whole court thing? Makes no sense to me.

The court thing is to prove criminal trespass.
Say you own a home and rent it out, then one day you decide to remodel the home.
You can't just throw the tenants out, they need to be given notice to vacate and if they want to fight it, you would have to prove, in court, that you own the home.

The cops don't know for sure who owns any particular home.
That's why the lawyers have to weigh in (and get money) to sort it out.

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

So what the hell is the purpose of a deed or title then? Seems like that should suffice

 

[KevanG]

It really should be as simple as contacting the bank, verifying who owns the property and verifying who is living in the house.

If it's a recent sale from the previous owner, get in contact with them and the realtor who sold it.

If they are living in the house illegally and have taken it from the owner then they should be evicted once you have proof enough.

If you have the deed, info from the bank, the realtor and other sources than it should just be a matter of a few hours to kick their asses out.

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Woman Discovers Her Cat Has Been Keeping a Second, Secret Human Family

Two families are fighting each other for custody of a no-good, dirty cat after discovering that the pet they thought they knew and loved had actually been cheating on them for more than a decade.

The Siamese cat, Ming [KNOWN ALIAS: Cleo], lived happily with Alice Alexander and her family for years. Or so she thought.

But after a few good years, Ming began coming home late, without his collar ("Must have left it at the office Alice, my bad."), and lost interest in having dinner. It's also strongly suggested that he switched to a new cologne, covered up the grey in his fur and started going to the gym.

Eventually he stopped coming home at all, and the Alexanders presumably moved on with their lives and began to rebuild.

Until Ming showed up again four years later. After some sleuthing, detailed in this Stuff.co.nz article, the Alexanders discovered the ultimate betrayal: Ming had been living with a second, apparently unaware family, the whole time.

Now the two families, who say "they just want the cat to be happy," are apparently trying to come to a custody agreement.

Although they say they understand Ming/Cleo will probably always be a cheater, his second family told the website, "Cleo is part of the family and been with us for nine years, we can't just push him away now. It's emotional for us too, he loves us and always come back."

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/10419001/Nine-lives-two-homes

Never trust a cat IMO. Also my daughters name is Cleo t:

 

[KevanG]

That actually happens quite a lot.

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

A Bronx Man Tore His Own Head Off in Broad Daylight

In a particularly gruesome story out of the Bronx, a Hunts Point man apparently decapitated himself in broad daylight today.

According to the New York Daily News, an unidentified 51-year-old man parked his 2005 Honda CRV on the street on Monday around 9:35 am. He reportedly looped a chain around his neck, secured it to a pole, and got back into his car.

Police told the newspaper that the man then stepped on the gas, decapitating himself. The Daily News reports he died on the scene.

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york...ource=***********&utm_campaign=NYDNBrooklynTw

Freaking horrible way to leave the world. I've read that a severed head stays conscious for at least a minute, seems short but I bet it felt like an eternity

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Police Say Restaurant Called "Java Juggs" Also Had Sex On the Menu

Police say the owner of an anatomy-focused cafe called Java Juggs may have taken the adage "sex sells" a bit too far, allegedly raking in millions of dollars with a less-than-legal side business.

Carmela Panico, who also owned a coffee shop called Twin Peaks, was arrested and charged with prostitution and money laundering Thursday. Police say baristas were required to wear bikinis to work and were docked pay if they weren't tan enough or if they failed to wear makeup or high heels during their shifts.

According to the Herald Net:

She bought property and coffee huts with other cash, sometimes bringing along a money counter to dole out the bills. Her baristas reported making hundreds of thousands of dollars out of her stands, working mainly for tips. The women told cops the price for a cup of coffee started at $6 and customers typically paid with a $20 bill. The baristas kept the rest to shake their breasts or expose their genitals. They charged more for sex acts with the droves of men who stopped at the stands, mainly located along Highway 99 in Snohomish County.

Panico, a former nude dancer, allegedly pocketed $2 million in less than three years with a profit margin prosecutors say was "twice that of well-run, established coffee stand."

And she apparently had help. Last summer, a sheriff's sergeant was arrested for tipping Panico off to undercover investigations—allegedly in exchange for sex.

http://nypost.com/2014/08/31/bikini-coffee-shops-made-millions-selling-sex-acts/

Eh, oldest profession in the world as they say. Just like the war on drugs it would be much better if they regulated and taxed it.