for those who care... >Originally published 11.26.00 > >News of the Weird(.668) > >LEAD STORIES > >* The attorney for alleged San Francisco dog-abuser Steven Maul said in >November that Maul only bit the dog in the neck as part of an unorthodox >but >loving discipline method and that in fact Maul "is very oral" and "has >French-kissed his dog." According to a report in the San Francisco >Chronicle, >Boo, an 80-pound Lab, had darted out into traffic in November (again), and >Maul, intending to teach against that, clamped down on Boo's neck in a way >he >said dogs signal dominance to each other, but did not break the skin. >(Researchers have written about bite-training, but the method is currently >far >out of favor.) > >* In October, Rev. Derek McAleer revealed to his 350 small-town St. >Marys (Ga.) United Methodist parishioners that their church had become the >recipient of what is believed to be the largest one-time church donation in >history: $50 million from the estate of the recently deceased man who >founded >the local telephone company. Actually, the donor, Warren Bailey, was a >long-time church supporter but was also known in town for not having >attended >services in more than 20 years. > >------------------------------------------------------------------------ >In an Ordinary Year, This Would Be Weird Election News > >In the Sept. 19 primary in New Ashford, Mass., none of the town's 202 >registered voters cast ballots, including the disgusted town clerk, who >manned >the polls for 14 hours. And a Green Party candidate for the Maine >legislature >failed to vote for himself in the June primary, leaving him with zero votes >and forcing him to return his public financing. And Texas Lt. Gov. Rick >Perry >sent a fund-raising letter in July that not only shook down lobbyists but >asked lobbyists to rank their clients as to how much they could be expected >to >be shaken down for (from $1,000 to $25,000). And the money flowed so freely >at >the GOP convention in August that Philadelphia Inquirer reporters >discovered >an accidentally discarded $5,000 lobbyist's check to a congressman stuck to >the bottom of a utility cart outside the hall. > >------------------------------------------------------------------------ >Great Art! > >* The Golden Tower Project, an installation by Seattle artists at this >year's Burning Man festival, consisted of 400 jars of urine from other >artists, stacked and electroluminescently lighted ("gorgeous," "faintly >blue >and gold," "warm, kind of like biological stained glass," according to >Seattle's The Stranger weekly). (In 1993, News of the Weird reported that >New >York City artist Todd Alden had asked 400 art collectors worldwide to send >him >samples of their feces so he could offer them for sale in personalized >tins. >Said Alden, "Scatology is emerging as an increasingly significant part of >artistic inquiry in the 1990s.") > >* News of the Weird has reported on scientists who borrow the jellyfish's >"green protein" for medically productive genetic modifications, but Chicago >artist Eduardo Kac created controversy in September by proposing to create >embryos with the jellyfish's green-light-producing gene just to make >visually >appealing organisms, such as a glowing rabbit. (Kac's major work so far is >"Genesis," a sentence from the Old Testament, translated into Morse Code, >transposed onto DNA, inserted into fluorescent bacteria, and lit up when >anyone accesses the piece on Kac's Web site.) > >* In a summer contract with the city of Montreal, artist Devora Neumark >performed "The Art of Conversation," which consisted of her standing at the >entrance to a subway station from noon to 4 p.m. every Tuesday and >"conducting >spontaneous interchange with interested parties on a variety of topics." > >Frontiers of Science > >* A U.S. Forest Service researcher announced in August that her team >had discovered the largest living thing ever found, a 24-centuries-old >fungus, >covering 2,200 acres in the Blue Mountains of eastern Oregon; DNA testing >confirmed that the underground, stringlike structure was all the same >organism. And three weeks later near Lake Okeechobee, a University of >Florida >biologist discovered what he called an "evolutionary relic," a previously >unknown, carnivorous, flowering plant that grows entirely underground but >by >photosynthesis. > >* An August British Broadcasting Corp. documentary, "Brain Story," featured >a man whose cranial lobes were surgically severed in order to treat >epilepsy >and who now is able to do what he calls the "party trick" of drawing >different >designs, with each hand, at the same time. > >* Japan's Mizuno Corp. has developed a synthetic material for men's >underpants that would keep the covered area one Celsius degree cooler than >cotton underwear and therefore helpful, for example, to skiers (and, say >doctors, to those desiring increased sperm production), according to an >August >New Scientist report. However, Canadian polyester-mesh underwear >manufacturer >Stanfield's Ltd. disputed Mizuno's claim of superiority; said a spokesman, >"We >just haven't got up the guts to measure the temperature of someone's crotch >yet." > >------------------------------------------------------------------------ >"Winning Isn't Everything; It's the Only Thing" > >Thomas Lavery, 56, was indicted in Akron, Ohio, in August on nine counts of >roughing up two of his high-achieving, home-schooled daughters when they >performed worse in their endeavors than he expected. According to the >indictment, when one daughter came in second in the National Spelling Bee, >botching "cappelletti," Lavery threatened to kill her and had to be >physically >restrained. The girl told the Akron Beacon Journal that Lavery would punch >them in the head for their failures and that screaming and profanity were >common. Lavery complained to the Associated Press that he was "easier on >(his >kids) than my father was (on me)." > >------------------------------------------------------------------------ >Update > >News of the Weird reported in 1999 on the lawsuit by 5,400 descendants of >the >18th-century Welsh pirate Robert Edwards, claiming ownership of 77 acres of >lower Manhattan (including the World Trade Center and the New York Stock >Exchange). In August 2000, four descendants claimed to have found a copy of >a >1778 lease for the land, which had been given to Edwards shortly before by >a >grateful King George, stating that Edwards' heirs would get the land back >in >1877. The value of the land now is conservatively estimated at $750 >billion, >or $140 million per descendant. Courts in South Wales, New York City and >Pittsburgh have opened proceedings. > >------------------------------------------------------------------------ >Least Competent Criminals > >Customs Agent Adventures: Cocaine "mule" Jose Antonio Campos-Cloute was >arrested at the Melbourne, Australia, airport, in September after a >momentary >lapse; as he was filling out the Customs form, he absentmindedly checked >the >"yes" box on whether he was carrying illicit substances, and that led to a >search. And Briton Alison McKinnon was sentenced in August to five years in >prison in Turkey for attempting to smuggle six pounds of heroin out, >strapped >to her chest; she was ready to board a plane home from Istanbul but was >designated for searching only because one of her body-piercings set off a >metal detector. > >------------------------------------------------------------------------ >Also, in the Last Month ... > >The U.S. Supreme Court declined to overturn a Californian's drug-possession >conviction even though one juror admitted he decided guilt by flipping a >coin >(which the juror defended by noting that he did two out of three). An >Atlantic >City casino introduced a row of stationary bicycles rigged with 25-cent >slot >machines. In separate incidents four days apart in Chicago, two cab drivers >accidentally drove off with customers' toddlers sleeping in the back seat >and >required police help in reuniting the families. Doctors revealed that >transplanting part of a woman's ovaries into her arm was successful in >growing >new eggs, for in vitro fertilization (San Diego). _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html You may also send subscription requests to [log in to unmask] if you have problems accessing the web interface and remember to write your full name and e-mail address. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------