Weird, Baffling and Things That Make Sense Thread

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Pearl

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Since there was a debate in the Absolutely Disgusted thread over what really qualifies as being disgusted over a news story, I thought it would be best to start a thread for the weird, baffling and things that don't make sense. I have found stories that fell under this category and weren't exactly disgusting. Even though I am aware these two thread may overlap, I figure we could use a thread that makes you think, "WTF?" rather than lose faith in humanity altogether.

You know, instead of :barf: you have :scratch: :huh:

Anyway...

This story has me thoroughly baffled. Have we really come this far?

Tammy Cooper, a stay-at-home mom who lives in La Porte, Texas, was arrested earlier this month after a neighbor reported her for allegedly letting her kids play outside on their motorized scooters unsupervised.

Cooper, who spent 18 hours in jail overnight, says she was watching her children, ages 6 and 9, from a lawn chair during the time of the incident. The family lives in a cul-de-sac, and Cooper told KPRC that the safe location was one of the reasons she had chosen to reside there.

Tammy Cooper, Texas Mom, Arrested For Letting Kids Play Outside Unsupervised (VIDEO)

I did some research and the mother insists she was watching her kids from her frontlawn.

But even if she wasn't, did she really deserve to be arrested? That's absurd! I rode my bike up and down my hilly street when I was a kid without anyone sitting on the front steps watching me. Heck, I even took a nasty spill once but no adult was eyeing me like hawk. Was I abused and neglected? No, I was allowed to be a kid.

ETA: oh crap! I meant the thread to read "don't make sense". Ugh. Fail! Mods, can you fix that please? Thanks!
 
I think the key difference here may be the fact that they were motorized scooters. Though I agree that if she was out there watching them, then this is ridiculous.
 
I think you forgot the don't :)

Unless I'm just not making sense

OK now I see, sorry. I'm on my phone. Which is weird to me, I prefer this site on a computer.
 
^^Um, anyway..

He must hang around with thousands of feminazis, that must be why his is so small.



Rush Limbaugh characteristically stressed the power and importance of feminism on his Thursday show. The firebrand host attributed to feminists (“feminazis” as he puts it) the power to determine the size of male genitalia.

An Italian study found that penises are on average around 10 percent smaller today than 50 years ago. The study cited weight gain, pollution, stress and smoking as possible factors in the shrinkage, but Rush suggests otherwise.

Scoffing at the idea that air pollution might influence our physical constitution, he stated, “I think it’s feminism… it’s tied to the last 50 years — the average size of [a male's] member is 10 percent smaller than 50 years — it has to be the feminazis, the chickification and everything else.”
 
I remember when I went to Ireland with my mother and we stopped an elderly guy to ask for directions to the Cliffs of Moher (that was long before GPS) and he didn't even know what county they were in, named the wrong county. They had lots of elderly guys who just hung out by the side of the road-not talking about the tinkers.

This just sounds like a really bad rom com. Dude, why didn't you do something while you were there talking to her? Talk about a procrastinator. I definitely get it, those kind of moments. But they're usually fleeting and you just wonder and then you move on.


(Newser) – A Canadian dentist is on a quest to find a woman he spoke with for maybe two minutes in a cafe in Ireland last year. As Travelers Today explains, 34-year-old Sandy Crocker visited County Clare last summer and asked a young woman for directions to the Cliffs of Moher. They spoke briefly, he left, became hopelessly smitten, and is now back in County Clare for a month trying to find the woman he thinks should be his wife. The problem: He doesn't know her name or anything else about her.

"Maybe it's a shot in the dark but if it is meant to be, if it's fate, then I might bump into her walking down the street or in a shop somewhere," he tells the Irish Sun. "Who knows what might happen?" The story is getting press in both countries, and the National Post of Canada managed to get UK bookmaker Ladbrokes to lay odds: 50:1 he marries her and 10:1 he finds another Irish lass to marry. The bookmaker figures "there's a good chance" his dream girl is already married.
 
The guy who jumped into the tiger den at the Bronx Zoo. To be "one with the tiger". He wasn't drunk/on drugs or suicidal. Just fascinated by tigers. I am too, but I wouldn't do that.
 
The guy who jumped into the tiger den at the Bronx Zoo. To be "one with the tiger". He wasn't drunk/on drugs or suicidal. Just fascinated by tigers. I am too, but I wouldn't do that.


I read one news report that said he was trying to committ
suicide by tiger.

His previous FaceBook postings seemed to announce his intentions.
 
Botox is more ubiquitous than yoga pants in Hollywood. But women (and men) in Asia have been taking part in a different injection "trend" for years: saline bagel-shaped injections on one's forehead.
"National Geographic Taboo" chronicles the bizarre beauty treatment in an upcoming episode set in Tokyo, following three people who opt into the temporary forehead injections which have become a keen part of the Japanese "body modification" art scene.

'Bagel Head' Saline Forehead Injections: Japan's Hot New Beauty Trend? (VIDEO)

But what does it mean? Does it represent anything besides being different?
 
Comparing the Swedish and Saudi versions of the Ikea catalogue, Sweden's free newspaper Metro on Monday showed that women had been airbrushed out of otherwise identical pictures showcasing the company's home furnishings.
The report raised questions in Sweden about Ikea's commitment to gender equality. The country's trade minister Ewa Bjorling didn't criticize Ikea directly but told Metro that you can't delete women from society.
Ikea released a statement expressing regret, saying "We should have reacted and realized that excluding women from the Saudi Arabian version of the catalogue is in conflict with the IKEA Group values."

Ikea Saudi Arabia Catalogue Has Women Deleted (PHOTO)

Talk about a neurotic hatred and fear of women.
 
Ikea Saudi Arabia Catalogue Has Women Deleted (PHOTO)

Talk about a neurotic hatred and fear of women.

I kinda like the new underlying story the altered photos create: Mom sticks her head in an oven after being overwhelmed by parenthood and the daily knowledge that her dream of becoming a famous pop star was all but a distant memory. Father tries his best to carry on raising the kids on his own, filling the hole she left with whiskey and prescription drugs, but secretly blames the children for her death. Would the new Ikea Domsjö sink hold enough water to drown their tiny bodies? It's quaint
 
While I have my eyebrows raised in surprise, I am not baffled by this. I also did not know where else to post this:

Even in big cities like Vienna, you come across people going to work in traditional jackets with short green collars, loden coats with horn buttons and even dirndls. In post-war Austria, it has often been seen as a political statement.
"For many years, wearing Tracht was associated with conservative or even far-right ideology," one Viennese told me.


"During the Nazi era, Jews were forbidden from wearing it - and later it was often taken as a sign that you were not open to the world. But that is changing. In fact these days it is really trendy."
So trendy, in fact, that Tracht retailers are reporting big profits. There are cut-price Dirndl-chains, and discount supermarkets sell lederhosen, along with cheap food and socks.
Recently at a party, I met Clemens, who is in his early 30s and works for a telecommunications company. He says he likes to mix the traditional and the modern.
"On dress down Fridays at my office, a lot of us wear lederhosen," he told me. "I like wearing them with a T-shirt. It is comfy and I do not think it is political any more."
It is still not everyone's cup of tea. Another friend told me vehemently he would not be seen dead in lederhosen - or even a loden jacket. "It is what far-right politicians wear - never!" he said. But then he relented slightly. "Perhaps I might, if I was invited to a wedding."


BBC News - Lederhosen and dirndl dresses make a comeback


I wish the article delved deeper into why Austrians are dressing like this. Could this trend spread elsewhere? Are the Dutch going to wear their wooden shoes to work next? Are Norwegians going to wear their national dress on a daily basis, and not just on National Day? What about Japanese women and their kimonos?
 
People in Japan still wear Kimonos, and they're not just female dress.

True, but not too many wear them regularly. That article says Austrians are wearing their traditional clothes even at work.
 
True, but not too many wear them regularly. That article says Austrians are wearing their traditional clothes even at work.

I wouldn't be surprised to hear the same of Japanese people, is all. The suggestion on your part is that it's a style that has completely gone out of fashion. I've been to Japan, and that is definitely not the case.
 
Kirsten Gillibrand & Wendy Long, New York Senate Candidates, Asked Question About '50 Shades Of Grey' At Debate (VIDEO)

That was their only debate and they were asked that?

I'm bothered not because I am not a 50 Shades fan at all (I prefer the parodies), but will a moderator asks two male candidates if they check out Internet porn? Didn't think so.

Yeah, I thought that was pretty stupid, too. Not all women are interested in those books, and this is a political debate, not a book club, so...no real need for that topic to come up.
 
Something a little more lighthearted. Sounds dangerous, though.

Until now, bridges have been strictly utilitarian structures -- built for easy crossings of rivers, gorges and the like. However, a French architecture firm is trying to put the fun back in crossing a river with a proposed trampoline bridge to span the Seine.

The proposal is part of a contemporary bridge design competition sponsored by ArchTriumph, CNet reports. It would be constructed from giant PVC rings inflated with more than 130,000 cubic feet of air. Across those, stretching nearly 100 feet across, would be mesh trampolines.

"It appears to us that Paris has the bridges and passages necessary for the flow of vehicular and pedestrian traffic across its waterways," said architecture firm AZC on its website. "Our intention is to invite its visitors and inhabitants to engage on a newer and more playful path across this same water."

The new trampoline bridge would be located near the existing Pont de Bir-Hakeim, according to The Daily Mail, which points out that health and safety concerns about the bridge have been raised.

Trampoline Bridge Across The Seine Proposed For Paris (PHOTOS)
 
That does sound dangerous. I'm sure there will be netting around the trampoline, but it still doesn't sound completely safe to me.
 
I doubt they're actually taking the plan seriously, as I read it was an entry in an architecture competition. As for safety, I could imagine that with a trampoline that size, someone is bound to break a bone or two, not necessarily fall into the Seine.
 
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