Weird News of the World Thread

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

This thread is for any bizarre or out there stories that don't have a place anywhere else on the Hype. So come one came all and find the most peculiar stories you can and share them so we can all feel better about our lives!!!

I shall start things off:

Arizona Town Overrun By Packs of Wild Roving Chihuahuas

Tiny yappy dogs have taken over the streets of a small town in Arizona, chasing young children while their parents apparently cower inside, frantically redialing 311 — Maryvale Animal Control received more than 6,000 calls in the last year alone.

According to ABC 15, the four-legged Napoleons first conquered the area's animal shelters, then turned to recruiting protection for their bone-running crew.

"Well the last time I seen six or seven Chihuahuas... and big dogs running with the Chihuahua's in a pack running every single day," Frank Garcia told Fox 10.

But Animal Control says they've been so inundated with calls they don't have the manpower to patrol the streets.

Now residents say that the Chihuahuas have won — packs of 10-15 dogs have started to chase local children to school.

http://www.wsoctv.com/news/news/weird-news/packs-wild-chihuahuas-terrorizing-city/ndTtt/

Surely that is weird enough for the first post, right? t:

 

[bullets]

Who let the dogs out?

 

[Quasimod0]

Looks like a meerkat

 

[Maximus One]

That, that is some weird, wild shtuff

 

[the last son]

That's a pretty intimidating picture

 

[KevanG]

My best friends wife has one and it has teeth so dull it doesn't even scratch the skin. I can see how they might be annoying but I can't see any inherent danger in a pack of them except to very small children.

 

[bullets]

That's a pretty intimidating picture

Seriously, who has been pumping steroids into these creatures.

 

[Duke]

I used to have a Chihuahuas & it was noisy as heck, good guard dog however.

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

This Japanese Island Is Overrun with Bunnies

You may have heard of Islet Okunoshima, or, as it will henceforth be known, Fluffy Bunny Island. Fluffy Bunny Island is populated by friendly rabbits that have taken it over in the absence of any predators.

Fluffy Bunny Island was a the site of a not-so-fluffy top-secret factory for poison gas during World War II. Some say the island's current residents are descended from the lab bunnies set free by workers at the end of the war. Others believe the rabbits trace their lineage to a group of eight bunnies set free by schoolchildren on a field trip in 1971.

Either way, there are a lot of bunnies.

So many bunnies.

This will be your next vacation. You're welcome.

http://www.amusingplanet.com/2013/01/okunoshima-rabbit-island.html

I have to admit it would be kind of awesome to be swarmed by bunnies

 

[KevanG]

That sounds much nicer than Ilha de Queimada Grande; A.K.A. Snake Island, which is covered in snakes, as much as 5 per square meter or Ramree Island which has hundreds of salt water crocodiles.

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Selfies Have Led to a Head Lice Epidemic

Selfies are so fun. You've got your cool background—ideally, a sun-soaked beach or a compelling urban environment—and you've got your cool friends. Ideally lots of them. Just flip that phone around, put your heads together, smile, and watch those Instagram likes roll in for hours. But it's too good to be true, folks.

Selfies are dangerous. California lice expert Marcy McQuillan recently went on the record to tell the world what it doesn't want to hear. "I've seen a huge increase of lice in teens this year," she told the SFist. Typically it's younger children I treat, because they're at higher risk for head-to-head contact. But now, teens are sticking their heads together every day to take cell phone pics."

This is just one expert's observation, but it makes total sense! Look no further than the 2013 word of the year, "selfie," to know that the trend is extremely popular. And when you look at the group photos, those teens are indeed pressing their skulls together—which is a terrific way to get lice.

"Selfies are fun," McQuillan added, "but the consequences are real."

Perhaps now is your chance, industrial designers of the world, to produce the year's most absurd new product: selfie caps, or legally required, shower cap-like rubber skull covers that teenagers have to slip on before they snap head-to-head photos of themselves, preventing these nasty little scalp crabs from spreading. Like California's new bartender gloves, enacted in the name of public health and safety, it would someday be illegal not to wear one.

http://sfist.com/2014/02/24/are_selfies_causing_head_lice_infes.php

I think I have maybe taken 2 selfies in my lifetime, luckily for me I'm short and usually don't end up head to head with people

 

[KevanG]

HAHAHAHA!!!

That's awesome. Seems a bit like an onion article though.

 

[Maximus One]

Hahaha it does! I still can't tell if its meant seriously or not

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Haha I didn't even think about it like that but ya it does feel like an Onion article. 100% legit though unfortunately

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

North Korea seen from space reveals a country living in the dark

Astronauts aboard the ISS recently captured a rather revealing night image of East Asia. Though the dark patch at center looks like water, it's actually North Korea — a country of 25 million people sandwiched between China and South Korea.

This picture pretty much says it all, the stark legacy of the Kim Dynasty.

According to NASA's Earth Observatory:

There are 25.6 million people in the Seoul metropolitan area—more than half of South Korea's citizens—while Gunsan's population is 280,000...

Its capital city, Pyongyang, appears like a small island, despite a population of 3.26 million (as of 2008). The light emission from Pyongyang is equivalent to the smaller towns in South Korea.

Coastlines are often very apparent in night imagery, as shown by South Korea's eastern shoreline. But the coast of North Korea is difficult to detect. These differences are illustrated in per capita power consumption in the two countries, with South Korea at 10,162 kilowatt hours and North Korea at 739 kilowatt hours.

http://io9.com/north-korea-from-space-reveals-a-country-living-in-the-1529615097

It must be so horrible to live in that country

 

[KevanG]

Yeesh. It's like a star in SK compared to NK.

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

This is how Batman would look in real life

A team of weaponry gurus and researchers (including a LOTR and Hobbit armor specialist) has designed what can only be described as Batman's perfect Batsuit. Behold the majesty.

For four years, a team of folks have been trying to create the ultimate armor. A suit that can protect, but is also flexible. Australian News site has an extensive feature on the creation of this body armor. Crafted by Unified Weapons Master, the below videos showcase the suit in action. And we really want one.

[YT]EhIJpoM2YwM[/YT]

[YT]ol2NOXyoFNA[/YT]

I'll take two please

 

[KevanG]

Everyone wants one.

Including me.

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Watch a huge asteroid crash into the Moon

[YT]zCFDkj2JtyA[/YT]

Of course, rocks and asteroids crash into the moon all the time (there's a reason it's so cratered.) But there's something about seeing it in action — and at this size — that's pretty amazing.

So how big was the crash? So big that researchers say the flash it created was very, very briefly was around the same brightness as the North Star (the brightest ever lunar impact flash observed) and that it resulted a crater 130 feet wide. You can read more about it in this paper from astronomers led by José Madiedo at the Universidad de Sevilla and Huelva for the Monthly Notice of the Royal Astronomical Society. Or just watch this video where they explain now:

[YT]perqv4qByaI[/YT]

Although not technically on OUR world it still is pretty cool

 

[Duke]

That bunny island is pretty cool, let's just hope all those rabbits don't develope rabies.

 

[KevanG]

Or turn into giants and start killing people.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069005/

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Huge Waves Knock More Than 500 Shipping Containers Into the Ocean

Hundreds of Maersk shipping containers are sitting pretty at the bottom of the Atlantic after they fell off a ship during a particularly rough storm earlier this month.

It's the largest recorded number of containers ever lost overboard in a single incident, according to CNN.

The Svendborg Maersk began losing containers near Northern France when 30-foot waves and winds of nearly 70 miles per hour began battering the ship. By the time the boat docked in Spain, around 520 containers were unaccounted for.

Maersk says none of the containers held dangerous materials; by their count, 85% of the lost containers were empty and "others included such dry goods as frozen meat."

But even the losses of containers containing benign products have had lasting impacts:

These rogue containers can pose a danger to shipping and pollute the environment. In 2006, thousands of bags of Doritos chips washed up on the beaches of North Carolina's Outer Banks — much to the delight of local gulls — after the container carrying them split apart in the Atlantic. More famously, in 1992, a container broke apart off the coast of Alaska, and 29,000 plastic ducks and frogs escaped. They've been washing up as far away as Scotland and Japan ever since.
And it hasn't taken long for some of the lost items to reach shore — more than $5 million worth of cigarettes, including Marlboro Reds and Marlboro menthols, washed up onto English beaches in the last few weeks. The container they came from held an estimated 14 tons of cigarettes.


Maritime authorities are on the lookout for floating containers — apparently the insulation in refrigerated shipping containers allow them to float for a few months — but most have already sunk to the bottom of the ocean. At least 13 have been recovered so far

http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/21/world/container-ship-loses-containers/

That's a lot of junk at the bottom of the ocean, nothing compared to all the junk I saw the Navy toss into the ocean though

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

California Couple Finds $10 Million In Gold Coins In Their Backyard

http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/19gtwq2e1wc88jpg/ku-xlarge.jpg[/IMG

[QUOTE]A rare coin dealer says that a Northern California couple basically tripped over $10 million dollars last year when they discovered a can of old coins while out walking their dog.

The couple were walking on their property in Sierra Nevada when they noticed a decaying canister sticking up from the ground. They eventually discovered eight cans in all, filled with more than a thousand gold coins, holding a face value of $27,980.

Coin dealer Don Kagin, who is representing the anonymous couple, extolled the "excellent mint condition," of coins, valuing the entire "Saddle Ridge Horde" collection at $10 million.

But it wouldn't be the first time a buried coin collection fetched millions.

According to "American Coin Treasures and Hoards," the bible of buried treasure finds, the biggest hoard of gold coins dug up before Saddle Ridge was a collection found by construction workers in Jackson, Tenn., in 1985. It had a face value of $4,500 and sold for $1 million.[/QUOTE]

[url]http://www.cbsnews.com/news/california-couple-strikes-10-million-gold-coin-jackpot/[/url]

Lucky dogs

 

[charl_huntress]

This thread is for any bizarre or out there stories that don't have a place anywhere else on the Hype. So come one came all and find the most peculiar stories you can and share them so we can all feel better about our lives!!!

I shall start things off:

Arizona Town Overrun By Packs of Wild Roving Chihuahuas

http://www.wsoctv.com/news/news/weird-news/packs-wild-chihuahuas-terrorizing-city/ndTtt/

Surely that is weird enough for the first post, right? t:

This actually sounds incredibly dangerous. Not the Chihauhaus, but if they are attracting larger dogs into the pack that's a problem.

I can handle one dog if I'm walking my dog. I carry a baton and mace for defense, but packs of dogs are dangerous....no matter the size.

 

[Teelie]

Huge Waves Knock More Than 500 Shipping Containers Into the Ocean

Spoiler

http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/21/world/container-ship-loses-containers/

That's a lot of junk at the bottom of the ocean, nothing compared to all the junk I saw the Navy toss into the ocean though

85% being empty is fortunate. Imagine if they all held stuff in them?