Anger Management

Tennessee state Rep. Jeremy Faison, 45, had to be ejected from the stands at a high school basketball game in Johnson City on Jan. 4 after he became angry at a referee and tried to "pants" him -- pull down his trousers. Faison's son was playing on the Lakeway Christian Academy team, NBC News reported. Later, Faison tweeted: "Totally lost my junk and got booted from the gym. ... I hope to be able to find the ref and ask for his forgiveness. I was bad wrong." Our advice to referees everywhere: Always wear a belt. [NBC News, 1/6/2022]

Government at Work

In the United Kingdom, as of Jan. 29, flouting a new highway code rule will cost you up to 1,000 pounds, the Mirror reported. The rule requires someone inside a car to open the door with the hand farthest from the door, employing a technique known as the Dutch Reach. In other words, if you're driving (on the right side of the car), you would use your left hand to reach around and open the car door. (The technique is borrowed from the Netherlands, thus the name.) Rule 239 reads: "This will make you turn your head to look over your shoulder. You are then more likely to avoid causing injury to cyclists or motorcyclists passing you on the road, or to people on the pavement." If a person in a car injures someone by opening with the wrong hand, a fine will be levied. Cycling UK estimates that more than 500 people are injured every year by car doors. [Mirror, 1/26/2022]

Wait, What?

Cameron Newsom, 42, of Colorado Springs, Colorado, was treated for stage 4 squamous cell carcinoma on her tongue in 2013, the New York Post reported. Removing the tumor meant also removing part of her tongue, which doctors replaced with skin and muscle taken from her thigh. Through all of her experiences in treating the cancer, she said, "The weirdest part ... was when I felt a rough texture on the 'thigh' part of my tongue -- and when I looked in the mirror, it had started growing leg hair!" Newsom had to learn to speak again and still finds eating a challenge, but she's back to being a gymnastics coach, even with her fuzzy tongue. [New York Post, 1/19/2022]

Clowns

When Mark, 38, and his wife left for work one morning in January, their back garden in Belfast, Northern Ireland, looked just like it does any other day. But when the wife returned that afternoon, there was a concrete slab painted with a creepy clown face propped against the wall, the Belfast Telegraph reported. "Someone would have had to come through our gate and down the steps to place it there -- and deliberately place it so it was facing the window so we would see it," Mark said. The clown was holding a lighted candle, and on the reverse, a Bible verse was inscribed: "Let your light shine. Matthew 5:16." Mark contacted friends, neighbors and family members to see if it was a prank, or if others had received a clown, but no one had experienced anything similar. He threw the clown away, but remains creeped out: "It's so unsettling." [Belfast Telegraph, 1/26/2022]

Thanks for Nothing!

Catherine Graham of Marshfield, Massachusetts, recently cashed in on her 15 minutes of fame on "The Price Is Right" with host Drew Carey. She flew to Los Angeles to visit her daughter and attended a taping of the show, which aired on Feb. 1. As luck would have it, Graham ended up on stage with Carey and played for a great trip -- to New Hampshire! When Carey gushed, "New Hampshire is beautiful!" Graham replied, "Drew, I live in Boston! I've been to New Hampshire a million times!" But wait, there's more! In order to collect the prize roundtrip airfare, she'll have to travel to Los Angeles again to fly to Manchester, New Hampshire. "I just wish it was Tahiti ... or Bora Bora. A cruise around the world maybe," Graham told WBZ-TV. But, she said, "It was so fun." [WBZ, 2/11/2022]

Ooohhh-kkkaaayyyyy

Some romantic relationships are full of drama and strife, so maybe Sandra, 28, of Budapest, Hungary, has come up with a better model. According to Oddity Central, Sandra has fallen for Luffancs, a plastic model of an airplane. After breaking up with her latest human boyfriend in January, Sandra bought Luffancs for $660 and fell madly in love. "I don't know why I love him, I just love him," she said. Sandra works in the aviation industry and is around airplanes every day, but says she will never cheat on Luffancs. In fact, she doesn't know if she'll ever date another human being. "Planes are more reliable as partners," she said. [Oddity Central, 3/10/2022]

People With Issues

Prosecutors have accused 20-year-old Mauricio Damian Guerrero of Bensalem, Pennsylvania, of burglary after he traveled to Somersworth, New Hampshire, and hid in the attic of a woman he had met on the website OnlyFans, WKBN-TV reported on March 7. Guerrero allegedly descended from the attic and took videos of the woman while she was sleeping, stole some of her underwear and planned to place a tracking device on her car. Police were called after someone at the home heard a noise; Guerrero was found on the roof of the home. He was released on bail and ordered to wear a tracking device. [WKBN, 3/7/2022]

It's a Dirty Job ...

In Australia, Queensland's Bill Edgar is known to some as the Coffin Confessor. As such, Edgar shows up at funerals and speaks for the deceased, telling off family members, setting friends straight and delivering bad news about beneficiaries, News.com.au reported on April 14. But Edgar's job doesn't stop there. His services, for which he charges $2,000 to $10,000, have expanded to removing items from the deceased's home that they'd rather the family not see: "Could be sex toys, messages of hate, love, whatever it is they've written down, that they want removed from their web browsers. One gentleman had ... a sex dungeon in one of his bedrooms. And that gentleman was 88 years of age, believe it or not," Edgar said. He even delivers his services in the United States and United Kingdom, and he said Paramount has picked up the story for a movie. [news.com.au, 4/14/2022]

Anti-Social Media

The Federal Aviation Administration has revoked Trevor Jacob's pilot's license, The New York Times reported on April 20, after concluding that Jacob purposely abandoned a plane he was flying and filmed it crashing into the Los Padres National Forest in California while he parachuted to the ground. Jacob then posted the 13-minute video on YouTube, calling it "I Crashed My Plane." The FAA said Jacob acted in a "careless or reckless manner so as to endanger the life or property of another." In the video, the propeller can be seen as it stops spinning, and Jacob opens the door and jumps out with a parachute and a selfie stick. The FAA noted, "During this flight, you opened the left side pilot door before you claimed the engine had failed." The agency also noted that Jacob did not contact air traffic control, try to restart the engine or look for a safe place to make an emergency landing. But he got 1.7 million views! [New York Times, 4/20/2022]

Crash Collector

Everyone needs a hobby. Christina Warren is a busy software developer, but in her free time, she collects the swag of epic corporate failure: from Enron to Fyre Festival to her latest acquisition, a PopSocket branded with the CNN+ logo. NPR reported that Warren isn't interested in milquetoast meltdowns. She wants stuff from the companies that made a big splash and then sank to the bottom of the barrel. "I'm looking at the ones that were flying high, too close to the sun," she said, which "makes it funnier to be out someplace wearing a shirt from one of those things." But she doesn't want to spend more than $75 on any one item. She avoids counterfeit merchandise, and said her "white whale, the thing I haven't been able to obtain yet, is something officially from Theranos. I would even take a pen, you know, like a ballpoint pen." [NPR, 4/27/2022]

Bright Ideas

-- An unnamed man in Detroit was arrested in late April for illegally possessing guns, but the federal agents who arrived at his home with a search warrant were more interested in how he made a living: He sold marijuana from a vending machine attached to his house, clearing $2,000 a day, he told them. The Associated Press reported that agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives made purchases from the machine to collect evidence before the bust. The man was released on bond. [AP, 5/3/2022]

-- Eighty-two-year-old actor James Cromwell, known most recently for his role on "Succession," glued his palm to a midtown Manhattan Starbucks store counter on May 10 to protest the extra charge the coffee company assesses for plant-based milk in their drinks. He later used a knife to scrape his hand off the counter. The Associated Press reported that Cromwell, who starred in "Babe: Pig in the City," is a longtime animal rights activist. For its part, Starbucks seemed nonplussed by the protest, which was organized by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, characterizing the nondairy milk customizations as similar to any other, "such as an additional espresso shot or syrup." [Associated Press, 5/10/2022]

What Could Go Wrong?

More than 800 New Yorkers aged 75 and older are going to get a new friend, The Verge reported. The New York State Office for the Aging is distributing robot companions named ElliQ, built by Israeli company Intuition Robotics, to help with social isolation -- for example, engaging in small talk and helping contact loved ones. "It focuses on what matters to individuals: memories, life validation, interactions with friends and families," said NYSOA director Greg Olsen. Intuition Robotics said ElliQ can project empathy and form bonds with users, even cracking jokes for users who tend to laugh a lot. [The Verge, 5/25/2022]

Goals

A man in Japan identified as Toko has spent almost $16,000 to make himself look like a collie, fulfilling his dream and depleting his savings in one fell swoop, Wionews reported. Toko contracted with a professional company called Zeppet, which makes sculptures and costumes for movies and amusement facilities, to create a costume that is extremely realistic. It took 40 days to build. "I made it a collie because it looks real when I put on," Toko said. "Long-haired dogs can mislead the human figure. I met such a condition and made collie, my favorite breed of dog." [Wionews, 5/25/2022]

Creme de la Weird

-- Harry Matadeen, 34, from Hampshire, England, has a wellness tip to share with the world: He drinks his own urine, and what's more, he rubs it on his face. Metro News reported that Matadeen claims his habit, begun in 2016, keeps him looking young and has cured his depression. "I felt a new sense of peace, calm and determination," he said of his 200ml-per-day dose. The skin therapy keeps his face "young, soft and glowing." Matadeen calls urine an "acquired taste," but says that "fresh urine is never as bad as you imagine -- it is neutral-smelling and not a bad taste unless you are really toxic." His family doesn't approve, and his sister has ceased talking to him. [Metro News, 5/5/2022]

-- In an effort to better educate the world about the human reproductive system, the "intimate wellness brand" Intimina has introduced Period Crunch, a breakfast cereal with uterus-shaped, raspberry-flavored pieces that will color the milk red, Oddity Central reported. Alongside the startling cereal shape and red milk, the cereal box will feature a diagram of the female reproductive system so that people can learn about its location and function. The company surveyed 2,000 adults and discovered that 48% of women are embarrassed to talk about their menstrual periods and 77% have never brought it up in their households. "Periods are a natural part of who we are," said Dr. Shree Datta, a gynecologist with Intimina, "so it's deeply concerning to hear that so many people remain uncomfortable discussing them when they are just another part of our health." [Oddity Central, 6/3/2022]

Send your weird news items with subject line WEIRD NEWS to WeirdNewsTips@amuniversal.com.

On Dec. 11 in Katwe Kabatoro, Uganda, a 2-year-old boy was playing near a lake when a hungry, hungry hippo "grabbed ... the boy from his head and swallowed half his body," the Telegraph reported. Bystander Chrispas Bagonza witnessed the event and started chucking rocks at the hippo, which caused it to spit the toddler out. As the beast lumbered away, onlookers rushed the child to the hospital, where he was treated for injuries sustained in the attack. Police warned residents in the area to be on the lookout for the hippo, as they can become aggressive when they feel threatened. [Telegraph, 12/15/2022]

'Tis the Season

-- If you don't mind sharing a ride with the quintessential bah humbug, you stand a chance at beating traffic in the HOV lane. At least, that's what one driver in Arizona was hoping on Dec. 13 as he cruised along Interstate 10 with an inflatable Grinch in the passenger seat, CNN reported. "While we appreciate the festive flair, this is illegal & the driver received a citation for the HOV violation," the Arizona Department of Public Safety noted on Twitter. [CNN, 12/17/2022]

-- Motorists in Marathon, Florida, who didn't heed the school zone speed limit on Dec. 13 were met with a choice: a citation, or an onion presented by the Grinch himself. Monroe County Sheriff's deputy Lou Caputo, a 37-year veteran of the force, started dressing up as the surly green character more than 20 years ago, the Associated Press reported. "It's about education, awareness that our school zones are still operating even though it's the holiday season," Caputo said. "It catches them off guard." Some speeders have even elected to eat the onion right on the spot. [AP, 12/14/2022]

Time on Their Hands

The Catalonia region of Spain has a quaint tradition at Christmastime that features "caganers," or "poopers" -- figurines of shepherds with their pants down, relieving themselves, Reuters reported. The figures are usually placed among nativity scenes, but more recently, they've morphed into caricatures of famous people such as Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and King Charles III. And now, inmates at a prison north of Barcelona are getting in on the action: They've been trained to produce the clay figurines for a private family business, Caganer.com. Working four-hour shifts, prisoners mold, bake, polish and paint the figures. David Fernandez, an inmate at Puig de les Basses prison, said he feels like "an elf." "I feel very good working all year to get the job done and spread illusion. It's very cool. It's something from deep inside." [Reuters, 12/15/2022]

Art = Pain

Elito Circa, 52, a Philippine artist, creates his paintings with an unusual medium: his own blood. Circa told Reuters that using his blood started when he was young and had little access to painting supplies. Now he sources his "paint" every three months when he goes to Manila's health clinic to have 500 ml extracted, which he stores in a cooler in his studio. "My artwork is very important to me because they come from me, it is from my own blood, my DNA is part of it," Circa said. [Reuters, 12/16/2022]

Awesome!

This week's "And What the Heck Have YOU Done?" story comes from Golden, Colorado, and 8-year-old Maddock Lipp. On Dec. 1, The Denver Post reported, Lipp skied with his family on Mount Heogh in Antarctica, achieving in his short lifetime a big feat: He has skied on all seven continents and is unofficially the youngest person to do so. Lipp said he liked Antarctica best because he "got to ski next to the penguins." He hopes to nab a Guinness World Record for the accomplishment. [Denver Post, 12/16/2022]

Extreme Measures

An Argentinian soccer superfan became alarmed on Dec. 13 as he headed home to watch his team's match with Croatia in the World Cup semifinals, Oddity Central reported. The 53-year-old was frustrated at the slow progress of the bus he was riding, so when the driver stopped and stepped out to buy something at a kiosk, the soccer fan allegedly hopped into the driver's seat and took off toward his home. He drove about 4 miles, then abandoned the bus and its occupants and continued on foot. But police officers caught up with him and took him into custody -- and he missed the whole game. [Oddity Central, 12/16/2022]

Mistaken Identity

Police officers in London were summoned to Laz Emporium, an art gallery, on Nov. 25 after a call about a "person in distress," Sky News reported. In a gallery window, the figure of a woman could be seen slumped over, with her face in a bowl of soup. Officers broke into the gallery, only to find that the "woman" was a mannequin, and the scene was art. The American artist, Mark Jenkins, created the piece, titled "Kristina," on a commission from the gallery's owner, Steve Lazarides. Turns out these officers weren't the first to be fooled; paramedics were called out to assist the woman in October. [Sky News, 12/13/2022]

Not-So-Smooth Reactions

A photographer in Western Cape, South Africa, set off alarm bells after he posted some shots on Facebook that eerily resembled scenes from "The War of the Worlds," LAD Bible reported. Jan Vorster's shots from Dec. 2 showed creepy creatures emerging from the surf, which provoked 22,000 comments -- but Vorster, 62, said the spidery "creatures" are just dead aloe vera plants. "I thought I could use this as a metaphor for how people see these plants as aliens, but we are actually the two-legged aliens messing up their world," he said. [LAD Bible, 12/15/2022]

Bright Idea

Even as it was naturally going out of style, the name Karen took a big hit in the last few years, when it suddenly became synonymous with an entitled, demanding, complaining woman. But one British TV and radio personality can't bear to see the moniker disappear completely, so he has a plan, LAD Bible reported. Matt Edmondson has vowed to pay 100 people to legally change their name to Karen, with the hope that they'll keep it relevant. What's the catch? He'll only pay you the standard fee to have your name changed, about $51. In addition, he's launching a board game called -- you guessed it! -- Karen. [LAD Bible, 12/14/2022]

Weird Science

Hashem Al-Ghaili, a producer and filmmaker who has a background in molecular biology, has set imaginations on fire with a concept he shared on social media: EctoLife, "the world's first artificial womb facility," Huffington Post UK reported. Basically, it's a techno farm for growing human children, and Hashem believes it could be reality within a decade. Frighteningly enough, some scientists agree. Andrew Shennan, professor of obstetrics at King's College London, said artificial wombs are a possibility. "It's just a matter of providing a correct environment with fuel and oxygen," he said. "When we put people on things like heart bypasses or other organ bypasses, we are theoretically giving them what they need from a machine." Jeepers. [Huff Post UK, 12/13/2022]

Send your weird news items with subject line WEIRD NEWS to WeirdNewsTips@amuniversal.com.

In June 2023, people in South Korea will suddenly become younger, the BBC reported. On Dec. 8, the South Korean parliament voted to switch from two traditional methods of counting age to the more widely recognized international method for official documents. Currently, Koreans are 1 year old at birth and then gain another year on the first day of each following year. An alternate method has them at 0 upon birth, then adding a year each Jan. 1. So, for example, someone born on Dec. 31, 2002, is 19 years old using the international method. But under Korea's traditional methods, they might be 20 or 21 years old. One member of parliament said the change would reduce "unnecessary socio-economic costs, because legal and social disputes as well as confusion persist due to the different ways of calculating age." [BBC, 12/8/2022]

Unclear on the Concept

Phoenix police officer Christian Goggans, who had been assigned to home duty, took advantage of the situation by dedicating more hours to his porn career, KOLD-TV reported. Goggans is facing an internal investigation after he allegedly traveled back and forth to Las Vegas while on the clock to produce and star in pornographic videos. He posted the films to a public Twitter page using his "stage" name, Rico Blaze (which has since been made private). A Phoenix PD public information officer said Goggans' work-from-home assignment required only that he call in once daily. [KOLD, 12/12/2022]

Your Tax Dollars at Work

Someone aboard the USNS Yuma, a Navy transport ship moored on the Greek island of Crete, is having a superior bathroom experience, thanks to the installation of the Bio Bidet BB-1000, The Washington Free Beacon reported on Dec. 12. At a cool $553, the BB-1000 offers a heated seat, blow dryer, remote control, deodorizer and an "effective enema function," which a retailer called "the absolute strongest spray pressure of any electronic bidet seat on the market." The Military Sealift Command confirmed the purchase but declined to offer more details. [Washington Free Beacon, 12/12/2022]

People Different From Us

In Japan, a phenomenon known as rojo-ne -- literally, sleeping on the road -- is once again becoming a hazard as COVID-19 restrictions are lifted and people are out partying more, reported The Guardian. The number of deaths of snoozing partiers has nearly doubled in Tokyo compared to last year, police say, and they're worried that the impending end-of-year celebrations will only add to the problem. Officials have also asked taxi drivers and others to drive with their high beams on and slow down. [Guardian, 12/14/2022]

Animal Antics

A live nativity scene in Carolina Beach, an island community about 140 miles southeast of Raleigh, North Carolina, was missing its cows on Dec. 4, the News & Observer reported. The two cows escaped their pen at Seaside Chapel around 10:30 p.m. on Dec. 3, police explained, and were apparently so determined to get away that they ended up in the Cape Fear River. Carolina Beach police were joined by state park rangers and a K-9 with special herding skills as they hauled the soggy bovines back to shore. [News & Observer, 12/7/2022]

Bright Idea

A homeowner in East Grand Forks, Minnesota, was puzzled when he discovered five bullet holes in the siding of his house, along with another in his son's bedroom window, the Grand Forks Herald reported. Police were summoned, and they questioned a next-door neighbor, Michael James Powers, 76, who readily admitted that he'd been shooting at a squirrel that was on his bird feeder; as he put it, "Well, that's war." Powers was aiming from his own bedroom window, and said it wasn't the first time he'd shot at squirrels. He offered to go talk to "the other guy" and make it right, but officers had something different in mind: They arrested him for reckless discharge of a firearm. When Powers told his wife he was being arrested, she responded, "Well, I told you." [Grand Forks Herald, 12/9/2022]

Police Report

Anthony Thomas Tarduno, 48, saved the Hernando County (Florida) Sheriff's Office the trouble of investigating after one of their patrol cars was set on fire on Dec. 7 in Spring Hill, Florida, WTSP-TV reported. As officers looked over the scene, Tarduno walked up and confessed to being the arsonist, saying he "had been drinking at a bar ... and decided he'd like to set it on fire." Tarduno placed a bag of garbage under the patrol vehicle and used a lighter to set it ablaze, police said. Tarduno admitted to detectives that when he gets drunk, he does "stupid things." [WTSP, 12/8/2022]

It's a Mystery

Residents of South Tampa, Florida, are shaking their heads, trying to discover the source of "a deep, vibrating bass sound" that's been occurring on Saturday evenings for months, Fox13-TV reported. "You can feel it when your head's down on the pillow," said Abbi Reynolds. People have posted on social media, saying that their "windows are literally rattling" and "it reverberates from neighboring tall houses like an echo chamber." But Tampa police can't locate the source, either. They've checked with the local Air Force base and cruise lines, neither of which are responsible for the noise. Resident Zach Reynolds and others want to get to the bottom of it, trying to triangulate the noise and station people in different areas to suss out the culprit. [Fox13, 12/10/2022]

Crime Report

Police in the village of Warzymice, Poland, are hunting for an unlikely culprit in a vandalism case, Notes From Poland reported on Dec. 12: a Christmas tree. The odd figure cut a hole in a fence and slashed the tires of 21 vehicles belonging to a meat warehouse around 1 a.m., and cameras recorded the whole incident. In fact, the figure is seen loitering nearby and covering themselves with branches taken from nearby trees before committing the crime. Mateusz Watral, who works for the meat company, called it "more of a guerilla (action) than a well-prepared operation. Along the way he lost his 'camouflage,' (and) branches were scattered everywhere." [Notes From Poland, 12/12/2022]

Flipping the Script

Alligator intrusions in Florida are so ubiquitous that News of the Weird has stopped reporting them. But in Brevard County on Dec. 4, the alligator's look-alike cousin made an appearance in Melbourne Beach, WESH-TV reported. A 9-foot-long American crocodile, which is seldom seen so far north, was chilling on a beach. "American crocodiles typically live in coastal areas throughout the Caribbean, and southern Florida is at the very north end of their range," noted the county's Environmentally Endangered Lands Program. Uh, not anymore. [WESH, 12/8/2022]

Ewwww

Muscle Shoals, Alabama, experienced a thunderstorm on Dec. 10 that brought more than lightning and heavy rain, WHNT-TV reported. The city's utility board manager, James Vance, said lightning struck controls at a sewer pump station, which allowed almost 2,000 gallons of sewage to flow into the streets of the Camden Cove subdivision. The sludge eventually flowed into a stormwater retention pond, and utility crews were able to clean up the mess. [WHNT, 12/13/2022]

New World Order

People. Can't we all agree that fast food isn't worth a human life? On Dec. 12 at a KFC restaurant in St. Louis, Fox2-TV reported, a man in the drive-thru asked for corn with his meal. When the employee told him they were out of corn, he made threatening remarks, then drove up to the window displaying a handgun. A 25-year-old employee went outside to speak with the suspect, who allegedly shot him. The victim is hospitalized with his injuries. The suspect took off after the shooting; police are still looking for him. [Fox2, 12/13/2022]

Send your weird news items with subject line WEIRD NEWS to WeirdNewsTips@amuniversal.com.