Japanese Woman Arrested For Virtual Murder

ONCE AGAIN Japan hits the height of weirdness as a woman gets arrested for killing her husband online because he divorced her – in the online game. Read more

The Perfect Warning Sign

THIS WARNING sign, for the Museum of Sex in New York, is possibly the most perfectly appropriate sign I’ve ever seen, and given that I’m heading to NYC next month I think a visit to this place is now an absolute must! Read more

Preaching Faith, Through Superior Firepower?

I KNOW America loves its guns, but this is weird on a whole new level folks. A Church in Oklahoma city decided recently to hold a weekend conference for teenagers, and what better way to entice some nice young faithful into the fold than by offering a prize of a semi-automatic rifle in a raffle for all attendees? Read more

Hiring A Hitman Is So Much Easier Than You Think…

ONE MINUTE you’re searching the ‘Net for a PC Game related website and some cheat codes and then before you know it you’re in court defending your actions in front of judge and trying to explain that you didn’t really intend to sign up as a hitman for hire at that website and that you thought it was all a bit of a joke really. No, really! Read more

Welsh Jedis On The Moon & Israeli Laser Defence Class Action…

THESE WELSH JEDI lot are a forward looking bunch; I’ll give them that at least. Whether you think they’re whackjobs or take them seriously the UK Church of Jedi actually exists, presumably as a subset of the Jedi Church itself, and most recently they have made the headlines because they selected a rather interesting place to build their latest church, not to mention forming a new Galactic nation state.  I refer of course to the story that some Welsh Jedis decided to create a space colony on the moon.

Yep. You read that right, on the moon!

Of course the first step in such an enterprise is to purchase some real estate, which they have in fact managed to do. Actually, they’re not just interested in buying the land (a one acre site apparently), they are also in the process of setting up a new Jedi nation up there as well. You see the moon is classed as being in ‘international waters’ (although I challange anyone to find water up there!) so legally speaking there is nothing to stop them forming their own galactic state up there.

The two brothers at the head of the UK Jedi Church organisation have gone ahead and set up a government, constitution and royal family of the sovereign state as well. The nation is called The Galactic States of Jediism and they have also nominated their own capital city on the moon called Testa City.

What beats me is how they can fit all this into one little acre of real estate… still it could set an interesting precedent if we ever manage to, you know, actually colonise the moon… although why anyone would want to at this point is a bit of a mystery to me.

Still, it’s not as weird as the next item, because quasi-religious sci-fi enthusiasts doing their thing on the moon is at least ‘out there’ somewhere, a possibility that might be a problem in the future sometime if we ever go back to the moon, where as this next item is closer to home but just as weird. Read more

It’s A Day For Goodbyes… But Who Will You Miss?

I NOTICED from various news sources today that there are quite a few goodbyes in the headlines, and apart from the sheer coincidence and randomness associated with this it made me stop and think. Of all the goodbyes I read about, which ones did I actually give a crap about?

So – who is saying goodbye then?

Well first up we have the old man of Internet browsers, the unlikely challenger to Microsoft in it’s day and ultimately the first real looser in the browser wars. Today is the last day for Netscape as AOL officially closes down support for this browser from March 1st 2008.

Today is also the beginning of the end for the notorious “Chemical Ali” in Iraq – one of the senior aides to Saddam Hussein – as the courts today removed the last obstacle to hanging him for his crimes and the plan is to carry out this execution in the next few days apparently.

Today is also the day the Spice Girls decided to say “Goodbye” to their fans via a message on their website; it seems they have finally come to the end of the road and are breaking up for good.

Not to be outdone, Brit rock legend Elton John announced today that he is saying “Goodbye” to all the fancy dressing and crazy garb as he’s getting a little old for it; so from here on he is going to just your average billionare I guess.

And last, but not least, I noticed that one time indepentant New Line Cinema announced today that they are folding up shop and merging into the parent company, Time Warner, with approximately 600 job losses in the frame.

So of all the “Goodbyes” today, which one will you miss? Read more

Did You Know Your Teeth Can Save Your Eyesight?

I KNOW THIS SOUNDS PRETTY INSANE, but it’s actually true. It’s a procedure called Osteo Odonto Kerato Prosthesis (OOKP), and it’s just saved the eyesight of a very lucky Irish man called Bob McNichol. 

The story begins a couple of years ago when a freak accident involving hot liquid aluminium exploded into the eye of of Bob McNichol from Mayo. He lost his eyesight as a result and assumed that’s the way things would stay, which I think you will agree is a fair assumption given the circumstances.

After doctors in Ireland said there was nothing more they could do, McNichol heard about a miracle operation called Osteo-Odonto-Keratoprosthesis (OOKP) being performed by Dr Christopher Liu at the Sussex Eye Hospital in Brighton in England, and that’s when the story gets really weird.

You see the principle behind this procedure is pretty wild. It’s a technique which the Italians pioneeredback in the 1960s (I’d love to know what they were smoking when they came up with this one!) which involves creating a support for an artificial cornea from the patient’s own tooth and the surrounding bone.

In this particular instance his son, Robert, donated a live  tooth so that the surgeons in England could perform the procedure on his father. The medical types gave the procedure a 65% chance of partial success, and wouldn’t you know it the crazy thing actually worked.

McNichol’s right eye socket was rebuilt, part of the tooth inserted and a lens inserted in a hole drilled in the tooth. The first operation lasted ten hours and the second five hours; they basically built a new eye socket and foundation based upon a tooth extracted from his son, and now McNichol (senior) has enough eyesight to watch TV and generally get around again.

I guess the thing that pisses me off the most about this amazing story is that the Irish doctors just gave up on him, and weren’t even informed enough to know that there were other potential options out there less than a few hundred miles away over in England.

Still, it’s a happy ending for the McNichols and will provide great hope to others out there who find themselves in a similar – if unfortunate – set of circumatances.

All you need is £40,000 in your pocket, probably access to the Internet, a willingness to do the legwork yourself and a ticket to England it seems.