Category Archives: Weird

Weird and bizarre news reports

Ten Questions That Keep Me Awake at Night

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#1 Question That Keeps Me Awake at Night

Why doesn’t the Flat Earth Society put up warning signs to prevent the rest of us from walking or sailing off the end of the world? If they truly believe the earth is flat, it seems like the least they could do for all the skeptics would be to ensure proper signage.

#2 Question That Keeps Me Awake at Night

Why don’t school boards provide crossing guards with cameras to snap pictures of vehicles driven by people who refuse to slow down and stop for kids trying to cross the road? Wouldn’t this reduce the number of close calls and accidents around schools?

Sleepless at Night, Photo by Hermes, Flickr

Sleepless at Night, Photo by Hermes, Flickr

#3 Question That Keeps Me Awake at Night

Why isn’t there an optional questionnaire attached to birth certificates to ensure that everyone knows who their parents are? Adoptions and sperm-donor babies would need to be handled differently, of course. Don’t worry that this would kill the popular hobby of genealogical research. There are always going to be huge gaps to be filled in, from years gone by.

#4 Question That Keeps Me Awake at Night

Why don’t the rocket scientists of the world get together and figure out one measurement system for use in the kitchen? It’s a struggle for the math-challenged among us to bake and cook when we’re constantly switching between the Metric and Imperial systems. Why can’t someone come up with a new, universal system, using a new measurement entirely? They could call it the Newly Ordained Fully Universal System (for) Simplifying Nutrition or No Fuss’n for short.

#5 Question That Keeps Me Awake at Night

Why can’t we end World Hunger? Everyone I know would happily give a sizeable, mandatory annual donation if they could only be guaranteed never to have to look at any more heart-rending ads about starving children at suppertime. This would need to be a new program which had been hammered out by the G7 nations and enforced by all. Surely it’s not impossible?

#6 Question That Keeps Me Awake at Night

Does anyone know if those little headlight “windshield wipers” really exist, or is it only in James Bond movies? Canadian Tire doesn’t have them! They’d be great in mud and snow, for rural dwellers.

#7 Question That Keeps Me Awake at Night

How can I legally drive my car into town? I bought an ’81 Honda at the car auction two years ago. I’m a short person, and I need the seat all the way forward. Seatbelts were shorter in 1981, and it won’t fit around me with the seat so far forward. I tried to buy a seatbelt extender but they are no longer sold because of liability concerns in case of lawsuits. I called all the body shops in town, and the wreckers. No luck. I even went into the Honda dealership, but they said there are none available from Honda. I thought I might drive it to the cop shop and throw myself on their mercy. But would they ticket me, as seatbelts are mandatory here? How did I get it home from the Auction? I’ll never tell!

#8 Question That Keeps Me Awake at Night

We’ve all heard of “boomerang kids” who find living on their own too expensive and opt to move back into the empty nest. But does anyone else have boomerang dogs? I sure do. These are the mutts which kids own before leaving home. They take the pooch with them when they go, but, for any number of reasons, they bring it back soon after. They assure their tight–lipped parents that this is only a temporary arrangement. When their circumstances allow, they’ll be back to pick up Rover. Then, after handing over a neatly printed sheet of instructions regarding feeding and exercise, (like we don’t know!) they’re off to get on with their lives. There are more baby-boomers out there struggling with geriatric dogs than you may have noticed. Just watch for frail elderly people struggling with 50 pound bags of dog food. Watch for middle agers being dragged through hedges by big unruly dogs. You’ll see seniors, wrangling unsuitable dogs, if you look. Anyone else dealing with this?

#9 Question That Keeps Me Awake at Night

Does anyone know of a Canadian webcam positioned to broadcast pictures of Bigfoot? Like the NessieCam in Scotland, you know.

#10 Question That Keeps Me Awake at Night

Who killed J. R.? No, really, I’ve forgotten.

Charles Stewart Parnell and the History Behind the Word Boycott

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When you withdraw your support, patronage, respect, attention and involvement from an event, you are boycotting it. But where did that expression come from? What is the origin of and the history behind the word boycott?

The Irishman by the name of Charles Stewart Parnell (1846 – 1891) was a landowner and politician. He came from a distinguished family, even having links to royalty. Despite his comfortable personal background, he upheld the rights of the impoverished Irish tenant farmers. It was common in those days for absentee landlords to evict tenants when they were unable to pay the originally agreed-upon rent. These hard hearted managers would also announce huge rent increases and brutally enforce evictions when the tenants could not pay.

Charles Stewart Parnell, Photo by Mathew Brady and Levin Corbin Handy, Library of Congress ID cwpbh.03648

Charles Stewart Parnell, Photo by Mathew Brady and Levin Corbin Handy, Library of Congress ID cwpbh.03648

Charles Parnell was in favor of land reform. He advocated the strategy of refusing to leave when evicted, and of standing firm against all attempts to be dumped homeless into the countryside. Charles Parnell promoted the idea that landlords who refused to be fair enough to lower prohibitively high rents, should be ignored and cold shouldered by his supporters. Likewise, people who moved into the empty homes of evicted peasants were to be ostracized and ignored. These were strong tactics, and naturally there was much opposition to this system. Parnell’s words struck a chord with the tenants of the big estates. They extended their “cold shoulder” tactics to the agents who carried out the work of the absentee landowner.

The Earl of Earn in County Mayo was an absentee landlord who held vast properties in Ireland. In 1880 the Earl hired an experienced military man to act on his behalf on his Irish estates. That man was Charles C. Boycott. His dedication to his employer’s interests was such that he followed his instructions to raise rents and to evict tenants to the very letter. Parnell’s Irish Land League became involved, and Charles C. Boycott and his family soon found themselves completely isolated, and barely able to survive. Their servants all quit – both the farmhands and house staff. When Boycott tried to go and buy provisions for himself and his family, no one would sell to him. His household was even refused mail delivery.

This concerted ostracism of the Boycott family was further aggravated when the crops were ready for harvesting. The locals refused to do this seasonal chore. The landlord would have suffered financial consequences if the crops were left to rot in the fields. Although 50 men from outside the local area offered to harvest the crops, they had to be protected and escorted by a force of 1,000 policemen and soldiers. Parnell had specifically insisted that violence was not to be a part of the isolation tactic. We’ll never know if violence was ever likely. None took place. Needless to say, these security services cost more than the amount realized by the harvest.

Charles Cunningham Boycott (1832-1897), Caricature by Leslie Ward for Vanity Fair Magazine, Image in Public Domain

Charles Cunningham Boycott (1832-1897), Caricature by Leslie Ward for Vanity Fair Magazine, Image in Public Domain

The outrage caused by this entire episode was reported far and wide, and Boycott’s name began to be associated with the withdrawal of all social and business contact from a person or organization. By November of 1880, the Times used the term “boycott” with the meaning that it has today.

The term Boycott has now grown and widened to encompass many different situations. The boycott is used to make a point in labor disputes, as well as to highlight perceived social injustices. I’m sure the people who still bear this name look toward their famous ancestor with mixed emotions.

5 Disasters to End the World

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Why are we fascinated by apocalyptic stories? For some reason, we’re horrified and yet drawn to end-of-the-world scenarios. Here are five possible ways our planet will meet its doom.

Earth Tilt

Diagram of Earth's Axial Tilt, Image by Dna-webmaster, Wikipedia

Diagram of Earth's Axial Tilt, Image by Dna-webmaster, Wikipedia

Doomsday meteors have been part of our world’s myths forever. But what if a meteor hit earth that wasn’t large enough to cause complete devastation – but just big enough to change the tilt of the earth’s axis? Our solar system is very delicate balance: every body exerts a gravitational pull on every other body. If our planet’s axis shifts just a bit, it would soon wobble completely out of control, spinning towards the sun, the moon, another planet, or simply off into space. Not to mention the melting of the ice caps and death of nearly living thing in the interim.

Super Volcanic Eruption

Yellowstone Caldera - Supervolcano That Could End the World, Photo by Ed Austin/Herb Jones, US National Park Service

Yellowstone Caldera - Supervolcano That Could End the World, Photo by Ed Austin/Herb Jones, US National Park Service

Supervolcanoes are relatively new to scientists. There are only five known in the world. When the last supervolcano erupted in Indonesia in 1815, it changed the entire climate of the region, caused massive devastation, and killed nearly everyone in the area. That supervolcano is dwarfed by the one underneath Yellowstone National Park in California. Scientists predict when that volcano erupts, it will trigger the eruption of all the other supervolcanoes and a number of smaller ones. In other words, our planet will be one massive lava pool.

Nuclear Annihilation

Mushroom Cloud of the Atomic Bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, Image Source: US National Archives

Mushroom Cloud of the Atomic Bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, Image Source: US National Archives

Although the possibility of everyone dying in a nuclear winter seems remote, it wasn’t too long ago that it was a plausible scenario. The Zone of Alienation surrounding Chernobyl offers a chilling glimpse of what life after nuclear holocaust would look like. There are still nuclear warheads around the world unaccounted for, and terrorism is on the rise. Those quaint bomb drills of the 1960s don’t seem quite so antiquated now, do they?

Freeze to Death

Could Global Freezing Turn Whole World Into a Place Like Lake Fryxell in Antarctica? Photo by Joe Mastroianni, US National Science Foundation

Could Global Freezing Turn Whole World Into a Place Like Lake Fryxell in Antarctica? Photo by Joe Mastroianni, US National Science Foundation

There are two ways this scenario could come to pass. One is that our sun will eventually fizzle out. As it dies, our world will be become colder and colder, until eventually all life will die away. The other is that global warming will melt the ice caps, disrupting the natural heating and cooling flows of the planet. The results would be largely the same, but global warming would be much more likely to occur in our lifetime.

Biohazard

Could a Biological Disaster Bring Upon the End of the World as We Know It? Photo by William Rafti Institute, Wikipedia

Could a Biological Disaster Bring Upon the End of the World as We Know It? Photo by William Rafti Institute, Wikipedia

We may all die from an epidemic, triggered naturally or released by terrorists. There could be any number of diseases spread, from the mundane to the truly horrifying. Where nuclear wars were the fear of the Cold War, bio-terrorism is the fear in our era.

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