I enjoy checking out News of the Weird stories. It's somehow reassuring to know that fiction will never catch up with human folly. I remember laughing in disbelief over a story where a very surprised individual received a notice from the bank informing her that she was deceased. Years later, that's happened so many times that Chuck Shepherd's site has reclassified this experience as "No Longer Weird." In fact, a lot of things that should be rightfully filed under weird are now regular occurrences.
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Plenty of things are still weird, like chihuahuas cornering a mountain lion, or a woman hiding a loaded gun in a rather personal place. Dumb criminal stories seem particularly popular, so a criminal has to work hard to stand out, like the wanted felon who entered a donut-eating contest against cops.
A sampling of items that are no longer weird:
Criminal drops wallet with ID while fleeing a crime scene.
Somebody goes to jail for an overdue library book.
A tied election is settled with a coin flip or poker game (the latter is specified in New Mexico, and nearly happened during the 2000 Bush/Gore fiasco).
Carjackers get stuck because they can't drive a stick shift.
Judge forces juvenile offenders to listen to uncool music, such as polka.
A church/charity gets a phone number that used to be a phone sex line, or a flier for their event has a similar number put in by mistake.
People follow their GPS even when it results in driving off a bridge, etc.
The list even includes the story that used to be the definition of weird: Man Bites Dog.
But don't worry, a guy arrested with
50 turtles strapped to his body is still weird.
On to Top Comments!
From joedemocrat:
In this comment, FogCityJohn does an excellent job explaining why some working class whites keep voting against their economic interests. (Comment is from chaunceydevega's diary "Dear White Racists" is one of the best explanations of white privilege you will likely ever read.)
From
Puddytat:
Pluto's thoughtful comment shouldn't be missed.
From your humble (if antisocial) diarist:
In Laura Clawson's front-page diary Voting is like wedding dress shopping? So say GOP young votr outreach ads, martydd figured out how the two are connected.
Top mojo, courtesy of mik:
1) Good! by Mostel26 — 253
2) If the Kochs insist on digging by gizmo59 — 171
3) I don't know which is dumber: by CJB — 171
4) Looks like they hired a criminal and he by a2nite — 158
5) Press Freedom by Senor Unoball — 148
6) Yes, they call that CYA by Steven D — 126
7) A true Journalist, and his audience are the lucky by kurious — 122
8) NFL has issued a statement by bobsc — 120
9) And he's sitting at home on paid leave, by Mother Mags — 116
10) Here is part of the talk for those who by TomP — 111
11) Americans for Propsperity's voter information by LakeSuperior — 105
12) The NC Board of Elections by TarheelDem — 100
13) We are. When we GOTV. by jan4insight — 93
14) AFP should be charged by jayden — 93
15) Let's get these assholes behind bars. I want by zenbassoon — 92
16) In Boston - come demonstrate against Koch at WGBH by tsackton — 88
17) With gun bothers me. by raptavio — 88
18) You mean this ISN'T a tale of two outdoorsmen by Champurrado — 87
19) Not to dominate the discussion, by TomP — 87
20) Great story. Much wisdom therein. by OldJackPine — 86
21) I don't know how by Darth Stateworker — 78
22) It ends with Solidarity. by TomP — 74
23) I got push-polled by these buffoons here in NC… by basquebob — 70
24) Great story and photos! by kharma — 70
25) Good post. by TomP — 69
26) Or badge. by nosleep4u — 68
27) Truly a model journalist... by markthshark — 69
28) Large piles of money tend to self-perpetuate by eyesoars — 66
29) Possibly. I am not a native moose-speaker. by OldJackPine — 62
30) Did the moose want your coffee? by foresterbob — 62
Photo quilt, courtesy of jotter: