If you want to sing in a karaoke bar in the Philippines, be forewarned not to sing Frank Sinatra’s My Way … that tune by Ol’ Blue Eyes could just be your last …
“I used to like ‘My Way,’ but after all the trouble, I stopped singing it,” he said. “You can get killed.”
The authorities do not know exactly how many people have been killed warbling “My Way” in karaoke bars over the years in the Philippines, or how many fatal fights it has fueled. But the news media have recorded at least half a dozen victims in the past decade and includes them in a subcategory of crime dubbed the “My Way Killings.”
The killings have produced urban legends about the song and left Filipinos groping for answers. Are the killings the natural byproduct of the country’s culture of violence, drinking and machismo? Or is there something inherently sinister in the song?
Whatever the reason, many karaoke bars have removed the song from their playbooks. And the country’s many Sinatra lovers, like Mr. Gregorio here in this city in the southernmost Philippines, are practicing self-censorship out of perceived self-preservation.
Norimitsu Onishi of The New York Times has the fascinating story: Link (Photo: Jes Aznar/NY Times)
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Having solved all serious crimes, New York City Department of Education focused its might to quash the scourge of doodling in today’s school.
Here’s what doodling on a school desk with erasable marker will get you: a perp walk in cuffs!
Alexa Gonzalez was scribbling a few words on her desk Monday while waiting for her Spanish teacher to pass out homework at Junior High School 190 in Forest Hills, she said.
"I love my friends Abby and Faith," the girl wrote, adding the phrases "Lex was here. 2/1/10" and a smiley face.
But instead of simply cleaning off the doodles after class, Alexa landed in some adult-sized trouble for using her lime-green magic marker.
She was led out of school in cuffs and walked to the precinct across the street, where she was detained for several hours, she and her mother said.
Another hardened criminal off the street! Good job, New York. Good job. Link
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Getting drugs sure got a whole lot easier for Belleville, Washington Illinois residents. The police there place signs to let everybody know exactly where to buy them!
The police have only two signs, and when they use them at a location, it’ll likely only be for a day, and only during daytime hours. However, the sign will be up again on West H Street today because police used
it for only part of Wednesday. The signs are heavily weighted, which police expect will deter people from stealing them.When asked whether he thinks the signs will advertise where people can buy drugs, Sax said that those buying the drugs probably already knew to get them there in the first place.
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22-year-old Julia Popova was mugged on her way home from work in Moscow. She struggled with the purse-snatcher and was so shocked by the experience that she didn’t realize he’d left a 6-inch knife sticking in her neck at the top of her back!
Her horrified parents rushed her to hospital where surgeons managed to remove the blade without damaging Julia’s spine.
“Shock had kicked in and her body prevented her from feeling any pain. She simply walked home without feeling the knife in her back,” said one medic.
Warning: the full picture at the link may be disturbing. Link -via Arbroath
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It was three years ago today that Boston officials panicked over a guerilla advertising stunt in Boston featuring Mooninites.
Authorities have arrested two men in connection with electronic light boards depicting a middle-finger-waving moon man that triggered repeated bomb scares around Boston on Wednesday and prompted the closure of bridges and a stretch of the Charles River.
Meanwhile, police and prosecutors vented their anger at Turner Broadcasting System Inc., the parent company of CNN, which said the battery-operated light boards were aimed at promoting the late-night Adult Swim cartoon “Aqua Teen Hunger Force.”
Relive the silliness as Neatorama and others covered it.
1-31-2007 Cartoon Ads Cause Bomb Scare in Boston
2-1-2007 Peter Berdovsky and Sean Stevens pleaded not guilty then held a press conference
2-4-2007 Jack Bauer Interrogates the Mooninites
5-11-2007 Community service for defendants in Cartoon Network case
5-13-2007 Mooninite LED vs. Fake Pipe Bomb: a Tale of Two Hoax Devices
-via Cynical-C
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Can you get fired over a slice of cheese? Apparently so, if you work at McDonald’s!
The waitress was fired last March after she sold a hamburger to a co-worker who then asked for cheese, which she added.
The fast-food chain argued this turned the hamburger into a cheeseburger, and so she should have charged more.
The fired employee sued, and won:
The fast-food chain had argued that the waitress – who was employed at a branch in the northern town of Lemmer – had broken staff rules prohibiting free gifts to family, friends or colleagues.
But the court said in its written judgement: "The dismissal was too severe a measure. It is just a slice of cheese," reports AFP news agency.
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Of all the inane lawsuits we hear about, these are the worst offenders. Well, maybe not all of them; I suppose there are plenty of people out there who have wanted to sue God at one time or another. But these seven cases are truly outrageous!
In 1991, a Michigan man sued the large brewer for false advertising and mental anguish. Citing a commercial in which two women come to life for a couple of Budweiser drinkers, he was angry that he wasn’t experiencing the same fantasy. Because he’s an idiot and tried to make this happen so often, he also sued for financial loss. The case was dismissed by the judge.
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The earthquake in Haiti has had the world’s attention locked on its tragic aspects, the relief efforts, and even controversy. Now, CNN has video footage of their reporter, Anderson Cooper, stepping in to help a boy caught in the middle of a violent looting. The narrator says it, but I’ll say it, too. Graphic footage warning.
via Buzzfeed
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Limousines into windows, helicopter getaways, and diamonds hidden in face cream sound more like an elaborate movie plot and less like real life crime. However, this is not Oceans 11, and the "Pink Panthers" are a very real group of highly organized diamond thieves know for some of the most elaborate and expensive heists across Europe and Asia.
Each member of the gang did his or her job perfectly. The attractive young woman seduced the son of the jewelry store owner in Rome to find out where the safe was in the owner’s house. She also discovered that the owner needed builders for repairs. Some of the others secured the renovation contract and cased the house. The get-away driver spent weeks learning every one-way road and stop sign in downtown Rome. And eventually the safe-cracker, the smallest in the group, hid himself inside a false-bottomed chest that the others left on the balcony of a bedroom where the safe was located.
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This skimmer was found last year, attached to the front of a Citibank automatic teller machine in California.
This is fairly professional job: Notice how the bulk of the electronics fit into the flap below the card acceptance slot. Also, check out the tiny pinhole camera [on the left, underneath the slot], ostensibly designed to switch on and record the victim’s movements as he or she enters their PIN at the ATM.
Neatorama has previously featured “traps” that physically steal the ATM card, and totally fake ATM machines. To counteract these skimmers, some ATMs “now oscillate the card back and forth as it is motored into the machine, effectively not providing a smooth “swipe” these skimmers need.” Other ATMs incorporate GreenSleeves, but criminals have devised fake GreenSleeves!
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Does having tattoo make you a deviant? Your mom may think so, and she’s right. Well, partially anyhow. A new study of tattooed and/or pierced college students reveal the correlation between having (lots of) body art and deviant behaviors:
Aside from their use of the body as a canvas, the students were asked about various aspects of their behavior, including drug and alcohol use, sexual activity and whether they cheat on tests.
The findings revealed "sharp differences in the levels of deviant behavior among those with just one tattoo vs. those with four or more, and among those with just one to three piercings vs. those with seven or more," reports sociologist Jerome Koch, the paper’s lead author. "The level of deviance reported by respondents with low levels of body art is much closer to those with none than to those with multiple tattoos and piercings, or intimate piercings."
"Results indicate that respondents with four or more tattoos, seven or more body piercings, or piercings located in their nipples or genitals, were substantially and significantly more likely to report regular marijuana use, occasional use of other drugs, and a history of being arrested for a crime," the paper continues. "Less pronounced, but still significant in many cases, was an increased propensity for those with higher incidence of body art to cheat on college work, binge drink and report having had multiple sex partners over the course of their lifetime."
Link – Thanks Julia!
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Sal Esposito of East Boston has been summoned for jury duty. He just might be excused for being a cat, but so far he is expected to serve. Sal’s owners Guy and Anna Esposito think his name may have been pulled from census records, where he was listed as a pet.
Anna filed for Sal’s disqualification of service. However, the jury commissioner was unmoved and denied the request.
Sal’s service date at Suffolk Superior Court is set for March 23. Anna said that if the issue isn’t cleared up by then, she will simply have to bring the cat to court.
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Not for the squeamish. At first glance, it seems improbable and downright impossible, but inmates are actually attempting to stand out from the crowd by having ink injected into the whites of their eyes. DamnCoolPics has a bit more information on the procedure:
Because the we had trouble getting the ink under the surface (and were able to “wash” it out of the small needle incisions), we tried the second procedure, on Josh using a 29ga needle and syringe, thinning down the ink very slightly with an antibiotic eyewash. Since the goal was simply to blanket the white of the eye in color, there wasn’t a need for fine detail. The first injection was shallow and appeared to dissipate on the surface, but the second injection was at the perfect level and formed a dark bubble of ink just over the sclera (in the third picture you can see some of the ink running back out of the injection hole).
Link. (via Cynical-C)
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Police in Cheshire, England are investigating the case of a man who installed a camera in a fitting room at the Asda department store. Finding him should be easy as he left crucial evidence behind. A police spokesman said,
“The device was placed in a light fitting and was in place for 30 minutes before being discovered by staff.
“Unfortunately for the man he did not turn off the camera while placing it in situ and forensic examination of the data card shows an image of him while doing this.”
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Nicholas Nunley needed a little cash, so he did what anyone would do -he hooked a Coke machine to his car and drove off! Deputies from the McMinn County Sheriff’s department in Riceville, Tennessee chased Nunley as sparks flew from the dragging machine Wednesday morning. The Coke machine eventually disconnected from the car, but Nunley drove on. He pulled over after a nearly five mile chase. Nunley was charged with theft and resisting arrest. Link -via Arbroath
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42-year-old Roberto Carrillo didn’t want to be in jail for New Years Eve. He tried to escape the cell in Valle Hermoso, Mexico by squeezing through a gap he saw where the roof met a wall of bars, but there wasn’t enough room. He became stuck hanging upside-down and had to be rescued by laughing guards.
A source at the jail told The Sun: ‘If he’d had a brain, it could have been embarrassing.’
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We’ve covered a whole lot of strange crimes here on Neatorama, but this one takes the (wedding) cake: when Nadia Clay and Terrance Simmons tied the knot, their best man pulled a gun and robbed the DJ … at the wedding reception!
"He steps back, takes it [the gun] and then shoots it in the air," said Kendrick Shepherd, the wedding DJ. "And then comes and pushes me, grabs it and runs out the door and I’m like, did that just happen?"
Shepherd said the suspect grabbed an expensive crystal decanter full of liquor and fled.
Nearly two months later, police haven’t been able to find the gun-toting best man.
The couple claimed that they didn’t know who the best man was. Well, weddings are expensive, or perhaps the music sucked … Link
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When Danish political cartoonist Kurt Westergaard was attacked at home by an ax-wielding man, he didn’t lock himself in the bathroom – instead, he utilized the panic room:
Westergaard took his 5-year-old granddaughter into the "panic room" when he realized what was happening, Chief Superintendent Ole Madsen said.
Westergaard, who has been threatened for drawing cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, is ordinarily accompanied by bodyguards when he leaves his home, but nobody was on guard at the house Friday, the Security and Intelligence Service told CNN.
And you thought that the 2002 movie Panic Room by Jodie Foster and Forest Whitaker was just Hollywood non-sense: Link (Photo: AFP)
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You don’t have to be actually driving a car to be arrested for drunk driving. People have been arrested while operating a horse-and-buggy, a golf cart, or even a couch.
In perhaps the most absurd DUI case ever recorded, Dennis LeRoy Anderson, a 62 year old Minnesota couch potato with far too much time on his hands, was charged with DUI after crashing his motorized La-Z-Boy couch into a parked car. On October 22nd, 2009, Anderson swigged down far too many beers before taking his hot rod couch out for a spin around town. The couch, which was powered by a lawn mower engine, came strapped with a music-pumping boom box, a living room lamp, and cup holders to store his beer while steering.
Link -via Gorilla Mask
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Two Germans have been apprehended in Austria after bringing $500 million in counterfeit million-dollar bills to a bank.
The Austrian National Analysis Center (NAC) examined the 493 banknotes Hölzen and B. had in their possession. Of those notes, 295 were originally $1 bills. Counterfeiters increased the face value of the bills to $1 million, simply by adding six zeros. The counterfeiting was done “very expensively and professionally,” say the specialists.
The men – one of whom is an attorney – claim that they were not trying to pass counterfeit money because they thought the bills were genuine. They now suspect that they may have been victims of a scam.
Link.
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There’s no way of knowing whether the tiger that made a meal for five men was really the last Indochinese tiger in China, but no one has seen any others in years. Kang Wannian of Yunnan Province in China claims he killed the tiger in self-defense last February. Then he ate it.
The only known wild Indochinese tiger in China, photographed in 2007 at the same reserve, has not been seen since Kang’s meal, the Yunnan-based newspaper Life News reported earlier this month.
The paper quoted the provincial Forestry Bureau as saying there was no evidence the tiger was the last one in China.
A local court sentenced Kang to 10 years for killing a rare animal plus two years for illegal possession of firearms, the local web portal Yunnan.cn reported. Prosecutors said Kang did not need a gun to gather clams.
Four villagers who helped Kang dismember the tiger and ate its meat were also sentenced from three to four years for “covering up and concealing criminal gains”, the report said.
The Indochinese tiger is on the brink of extinction, with small populations in Laos, Vietnam. Cambodia, Thailand, and Burma. Link -via Arbroath
(image credit: Cburnett)
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Father Tim Jones of the St. Lawrence Church in York, England is getting some flack for advice he preached after his Nativity sermon on Sunday, in which he advocated shoplifting for those in desperate straits.
Delivering his festive lesson, Father Jones told the congregation: ‘My advice, as a Christian priest, is to shoplift. I do not offer such advice because I think that stealing is a good thing, or because I think it is harmless, for it is neither.
‘I would ask that they do not steal from small family businesses, but from large national businesses, knowing that the costs are ultimately passed on to the rest of us in the form of higher prices.
‘I would ask them not to take any more than they need, for any longer than they need.
‘I offer the advice with a heavy heart and wish society would recognise that bureaucratic ineptitude and systematic delay has created an invitation and incentive to crime for people struggling to cope.’
He added that he felt society had failed the needy, and said it was far better they shoplift than turn to more degrading or violent options such as prostitution, mugging or burglary.
Both the North Yorkshire police department and local MP Anne McIntosh hav publicly denounced Father Jones’ sermon. Link -via Fark
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Photo: James Reynolds
One of James Reynolds’ projects is photographically documenting Death Row prisoners’ requests for their last meals before execution. Included is a pack of cigarettes complete with health warning label.
Link.
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We are being inundated with not only end-of-the-year lists, but also end-of-the-decade lists. It’s nice to look back at the biggest news stories, sports highlights, and the best photographs, but I prefer the offbeat lists, like these memorable mug shots. Pictured is school principal Tracy Tredway of Indiana, arrested for drunk driving. Link
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An unusually frank art exhibition has opened in Athens. The Museum of Cycladic Art is hosting a show of 272 objects dating from the 6th century BC to the 4th century AD. The top floor of the museum is off limits to unattended children under 16:
There in three rooms reserved for artistic renditions of sexual congress, pederasty (socially accepted in ancient times), homoerotic love, and the quaintly named “bucolic love affair”, viewers are bombarded with what the ancients were clearly good at: being bawdy. From scenes of anal copulation to mutual oral sex, to lucky charms of giant phalluses and engravings of frenzied sex with the half-man, half beast satyrs and silens, Eros is depicted in all its glory.
Some of the images in the exhibition reportedly contain material that in many countries would result in the arrest and incarceration of the owner (or viewer). It is interesting how, once the items are designated as objets d’art, official attitudes seem to be modified. Or perhaps the legal code of Greece is just more permissive.
Link. Photo of sleeping Eros credit Yiorgos Karahalis/Reuters
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27-year-old Lin Rong re-entered Japan even though she had earlier been deported back to China. She wasn’t caught until she was arrested on other charges, because her fingerprints were different. Lin had undergone surgery to have her left fingerprints moved to her right hand, and vice versa!
Local media reports said Ms Lin had undergone surgery to swap the fingerprints from her right and left hands.
Skin patches on her thumbs and index fingers were removed and then re-grafted on to the matching digits of the opposite hand.
Japanese newspapers said police had noticed that Ms Lin’s fingers had unnatural scars when she was arrested last month for allegedly faking a marriage to a Japanese man.
Lin reportedly paid around $15,000 for the surgery in China. Link -via Boing Boing
(image credit: Flicker user chadmiller)
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When a fire truck responded to an emergency call in Philadelphia, firemen found that access to a fire hydrant was blocked by … the Philadelphia Parking Authority van!
The visibly perturbed firefighters politely asked the PPA agent — who sprinted back to her vehicle with the quickness once she realized how terrible she was about to look — to move the van, to which she responded something along the lines of, "I was only there for a second, I’ll move it right away!" Strange, I feel like I’ve heard that somewhere before.
Oh, the irony! Link (Photo: Drew Lazor) – via Reddit
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Besides being chased by an angry spouse wielding a golf club, adultery now carries another danger: lawyers.
The next time a married man or woman glances your way, you might think twice before acting on impulse and frolicking between satin sheets. The scorned spouse could sue you.
Yes, you read that right. You, the paramour, can get hit with a lawsuit that could cost you hundreds of thousands of dollars.
They’re known as "alienation of affection" suits, when an "outsider" interferes in a marriage. The suits are allowed in seven states: Hawaii, Illinois, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, South Dakota and Utah.
The law allowing such legal action dates back to antiquated times when a wife was considered the property of a husband. A broken-hearted hubby could go after his wife’s lover — not with a gun, but with the law.
Wayne Drash of CNN has more on the "alienation of affection" lawsuits: Link
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The Czech government has revised and liberalized the criteria for what constitutes “small amounts” of recreational drugs for personal use.
The Czech government today approved the list of hallucinogenic plants and mushrooms, including hemp, coca, mescaline cactus and magic mushrooms, and decided that people would be allowed to grow up to five pieces of such plants and keep 40 magic mushrooms at home…
Beginning January 1 Czechs may grow up to five marijuana plants without fear of criminal prosecution, although it apparently will still be a misdemeanor.
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Since the Internet began, people have been sharing lists of the weirdest laws in the world, even so, I can’t get enough of these absolutely inane rules. Elistmania has a great top 10 of these terrible laws, the best of which may just be “Single women can’t parachute on Sundays in Florida.”
Why in the world would this be a law, and how could it be legal to discriminate like this in modern times?
For more silliness, see the rest of the list.
Link Image Via Bloomsberries [Flickr]
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