Weird shit you don't see every day

[Coldfire]

This thread is about the things in life that make you scratch your head, and go "HUH?". Things that are out of place, or just plain weird.

I have two. They both happened in the course of the last week.

1. The Sheep
The office I work in is partially surrounded by an artificial, small lake. A moat, if you will. Keeps the other banks from hostile takeovers, I suppose. ;)
In this lake, there are a few tiny, also artifical islands. Some bushes on them, the odd little tree. Nothing major.
Last Wednesday, as I made my way from the railway station to the office in the morning, I noticed it when I crossed the bridge leading to the office entrance.
The sheep. Smack in the middle of one of the artificial islands. And damn, it looked real. It was probably a stuffed one, since it didn't move, and -upon closer inspection- turned out to have an orange 50 meter piece of rope around its neck. The rope lead all the way up into a window on the 14th floor of one of our offices towers.
Bear in mind: this lake is NOT shallow, and the island is at least 15 meters from the nearest land. Somebody actually got his rubber boat out to place the sheep there. There's no way in hell it was somehow thrown down there from the 14th floor, because our windows don't open: the rope was passing through one of the 30*30 cm corner windows they allow us for fresh air (I suppose they're afraid of jumpers should another Black Thursday hit us). Which begs another question: since one can't toss 50 meters of rope 35 meters into the air and catch them through a tiny window, somebody must have been lasso'ing for hours to get the noose around the sheeps neck.
All in all, VERY weird. I never did find out the true meaning behind it all, and when I crossed the bridge this morning, the sheep and the rope were gone.

2. Foreign Car
Whilst waiting for my bus home last week, a Mercury Sable stationwagon pulled up in the stations parking strip. As this car is quite rare over here, it caught my eye.
Lo and behold: it sported Texas plates. The plate holder said Houston, if you must know. Sure, some expats take their car overseas, and I'm sure this must have been one of them. But it's always slightly odd to see a car with plates from a country that isn't "driveable" to. Well, maybe I'm easily amused. ;)
One other time, I spotted a "GP" (Gauteng Province, RSA) registered Land Cruiser in Amsterdam. Suppose they DID drive it here! Straight across Africa, over to Gibraltar, and up north to the Netherlands!

Am I the only one with weird brain patterns like this?

[Jack Batty]

I had mentioned this once before as seeming like some sort of omen. I was dealt with by my Dopers in a somewhat off-handed fashion. Now I demand to be taken seriously because I keep seeing this everywhere I go.

A pigeon with a club foot.

I think it's the same pigeon following me, hounding me, mocking me. I tell ya, I'm gonna get me a gun and give that fricking bird what-fer!!

I don't know ... think I ought to up the dosage?

[Heloise]

Am I the only one with weird brain patterns like this?

Yes.

[Coldfire]

Hah! Yeah, right, Heloise.

You won't relate that "incident" you had with that rabbi, two donkeys, and a large tub of Ukranian cottage cheese, then?

[Heloise]

How many times do I have to tell you, it was feta!

Okay, here's one. I'm driving down the street one day and there is a peacock flapping around and going nuts in the middle of the road. People are swerving and slowing down to miss it, I mean it was beautiful! But it would have made tragic road kill. I would have tried to do something, but peacocks are such mean creatures, I didn't know how to handle it without getting attacked or hit by a car myself.

Another, although it was Mom that was the witness, not me:

My Mom raised chickens before I was around. A snake had come into the yard and tried to take a chick. My Mom came outside to see my brother, not even in double digits yet, struggling with his fist around part of the chick, trying to get it out of the snakes mouth.

[GingerOfTheNorth]

Originally posted by Jack Batty
A pigeon with a club foot.
<snip>
I don't know ... think I ought to up the dosage?

1. Did it bob its head?

2. Yes.

[romansperson]

One day I was driving west on I-64 just outside of Williamsburg, VA. Not much there, just your occasional exit, some stores, some condos here and there, interspersed with wooded areas.

There was a lone goat peacefully munching grass in the median. AFAIK, no farms around for miles. How did it get in the median without being killed? It was completely undisturbed by the traffic around it too.

[SolarPhallusMan]

The Shirt:
I saw a retarded woman walking around, wearing a shirt which read, "Life's a Bitch." Still cracks me up and it was over a year a go.

Smokin' Ears
A woman, cigarettes in her ears, lit end out. And they were actually smoking! Unreal.

Pedestrian Bird
A bird waited for cars to cease, then walked across the road, up the ramp, and down the street. Very human like.

I look for these things every day.

[False_God]

Originally posted by Jack Batty
I had mentioned this once before as seeming like some sort of omen. I was dealt with by my Dopers in a somewhat off-handed fashion. Now I demand to be taken seriously because I keep seeing this everywhere I go.

A pigeon with a club foot.

I think it's the same pigeon following me, hounding me, mocking me. I tell ya, I'm gonna get me a gun and give that fricking bird what-fer!!


Oh, no, Jack, I see them too. I have a theory that these are the "Peg-Leg Birds", and that they're the survivors of the all-out steel cage Ultimate Toughpigeon Contests that happen when we're asleep. Sometimes I see pigeons missing BOTH feet. They sort of roll around on their little nubs.

And as for MY weird shit, this morning, I was walking through Farragut Square Park here in DC at about 07.00, when I look to my right and see..two mallard ducks sitting on the grass. No water in the park, or for several hundred yards, but ducks. They stared at me until I got out of the park.
Then I had to cross K Street. In the middle, I looked down, and narrowly avoided stepping on....

A USED HELLO KITTY CONDOM!!!!!!


I'd have taken it as proof, but

a)eew
and
b) soiled prophylactics bearing the visage on Sanrio-approved hypercute anthropomophic felines aren't really high on my must-have list.


Oh, and Coldfire? About the sheep? Maybe someone was playing a baa-d practical joke.

d&r...

[Pandora]

Originally posted by Coldfire

1. The Sheep
The office I work in is partially surrounded by an artificial, small lake. A moat, if you will. Keeps the other banks from hostile takeovers, I suppose. ;)
In this lake, there are a few tiny, also artifical islands. Some bushes on them, the odd little tree. Nothing major.
Last Wednesday, as I made my way from the railway station to the office in the morning, I noticed it when I crossed the bridge leading to the office entrance.
The sheep. Smack in the middle of one of the artificial islands. And damn, it looked real. It was probably a stuffed one, since it didn't move, and -upon closer inspection- turned out to have an orange 50 meter piece of rope around its neck. The rope lead all the way up into a window on the 14th floor of one of our offices towers.
Bear in mind: this lake is NOT shallow, and the island is at least 15 meters from the nearest land. Somebody actually got his rubber boat out to place the sheep there. There's no way in hell it was somehow thrown down there from the 14th floor, because our windows don't open: the rope was passing through one of the 30*30 cm corner windows they allow us for fresh air (I suppose they're afraid of jumpers should another Black Thursday hit us). Which begs another question: since one can't toss 50 meters of rope 35 meters into the air and catch them through a tiny window, somebody must have been lasso'ing for hours to get the noose around the sheeps neck.
All in all, VERY weird. I never did find out the true meaning behind it all, and when I crossed the bridge this morning, the sheep and the rope were gone.
[/B]

Be very careful... Tatertot has infiltrated your building...
The sheep was an attempt to recruit more inflatable animals for her evil plans.

Speak softly, and carry high quality chocolate with you at all times.


-Pandora
who is clearly in a very strange mood today

[Montfort]

A week and a half ago, an eagle was perched on the balcony railing outside my building's 11th floor office. He sat there for over an hour, watching us inside (acting like kids at the zoo) and the scene on the street down below.

Then, I went to the kitchen to get a Coke and by the time I returned, he had left. All this on a Friday afternoon in downtown Washington, DC.

[mouthbreather]

Shortly after I moved to the south, this happened.

Driving north on Interstate 75, just south of Atlanta. I'm moving along at about 75 or 80 MPH and I see in my rear view mirror that a vehicle is closing in on me, and *fast*. I was in the left lane, so I moved over to let him pass. It was a Sanford and Son style pickup truck (1940s or 1950s looking), and it was very large. It must have passed me going 100 or 110MPH. Behind the wheel is your stereotypical old hillbilly. He's 55 or 65 years old, overalls, no shirt, gray hair and a big bushy gray beard -- Upon reflection, not at all unlike Uncle Jesse. In the bed of his pickup truck he has two full phone booths. Yup. Before I could even digest what I saw, two state troopers came blowing by me at about the same speed.


Sometimes I like to imagine what circumstances could have lead up to what I witnessed.

[Weirddave]

Well, here's one that I actually did that I'm sure freaked more than one person out. I got a blow up sex doll, and filled it with helium. Then I went out to the Baltimore beltway, and tied about 50' of the thinest fishline I could find to the doll, Climed into a tree in an overgrown area next to the highway, and tied the other end of the line up in the tree. I did this at about 4AM. The commuters in next morning's rush hour were treated to the sight of a blow up sex doll, floating lazily 50' or so over the beltway, with no visible means of anchorage. Hehehe!

[GrizzRich]

Originally posted by Weirddave
Well, here's one that I actually did that I'm sure freaked more than one person out. I got a blow up sex doll, and filled it with helium. Then I went out to the Baltimore beltway, and tied about 50' of the thinest fishline I could find to the doll, Climed into a tree in an overgrown area next to the highway, and tied the other end of the line up in the tree. I did this at about 4AM. The commuters in next morning's rush hour were treated to the sight of a blow up sex doll, floating lazily 50' or so over the beltway, with no visible means of anchorage. Hehehe!

Ummmm....
Didn't "Don and Mike" do that a few years back? They inflated a love-doll with helium and, IIRC, it took several more large helium-filled balloons attached to it to get it airborne.

[Wonko The Sane]

I was driving up the NJ Turnpike last year, and the traffic was getting congested (no big surprise) and cop cars were flying down the road, some on the shoulder. NJ State Troopers never drive fast on the shoulder, and it struck me as odd. Several miles up the road, I found the reason. Cows on the road. Live cute cows, wandering around contentedly.

One day, on the way back from lunch, my cow-orker and I noticed that 15,000 barrels of jet fuel were on fire at work. I have never seen so many news copters in one place!

[scout1222]

I live in a community in San Diego that's described as "Country Living" (ha, the houses are all earthtones - oh, wait, that describes every other SoCal subdivision).

Well, apparently in the country, wild peacocks roam freely. I was headed to the garage to go to work about a week ago. As I was getting into the garage, I spotted a peacock walking down the asphalt driveway that runs through my complex. Stopped me dead on. Now that's something you don't see everyday. It just toodled on down the road, like it owned the damn place.


(came to find out later that there's a ranch nearby that breeds the darn things. I guess one escaped!) Too weird. Nobody really wanted to believe me at first, they all insisted I was either hung over or still asleep.

[Crown Prince of Irony]

Originally posted by False_God
Originally posted by Jack Batty
I had mentioned this once before as seeming like some sort of omen. I was dealt with by my Dopers in a somewhat off-handed fashion. Now I demand to be taken seriously because I keep seeing this everywhere I go.

A pigeon with a club foot.

I think it's the same pigeon following me, hounding me, mocking me. I tell ya, I'm gonna get me a gun and give that fricking bird what-fer!!


Oh, no, Jack, I see them too. I have a theory that these are the "Peg-Leg Birds", and that they're the survivors of the all-out steel cage Ultimate Toughpigeon Contests that happen when we're asleep

First rule of the Ultimate Toughpigeon Contest:

You DO NOT talk about the Ultimate Toughpigeon Contest!!

Second rule... you can see where this is going.

My weird shit (boy, did that come out wrong[that, too]):

This relates to the freaky birds (ducks sitting in the middle of nowhere, insane peacocks, Tyler Durden wannabe pigeons):

Driving down a side street one day near my office complex (near Portland Oregon), and a Canadian goose landed right in front of me. I was going slow, so I had time to stop, but I leaned on my horn, and the goose just stood there for, like, twenty seconds. Then I swear it gave me a comtemptuous look (it was probably from Quebec), and flew off.

Other weird stuff:

Used to work in a thrift store as a clerk, but sometimes I'd have to sort clothes to go out on the racks. One day I came across a thong (as in g-string, not flip-flop), that looked like it was barely big enough for a toddler. Very disturbing.

Years ago, my grandpa hit a kitchen sink in the middle of Highway 99 in northern CA (not as odd as it seems, since that stretch is kind of in hicksville, but damn, how do you explain that to your insurance agent?).

[Weirddave]

Originally posted by GrizzRich


Ummmm....
Didn't "Don and Mike" do that a few years back? They inflated a love-doll with helium and, IIRC, it took several more large helium-filled balloons attached to it to get it airborne.


I don't know. But if they did it anytime after '86, it was my joke, the bastards. And I used a very very cheep doll. Damn thing only cost $10. Frankly, It looked to me like it would pop if anyone actually tried to screw it. I KNEW that a good doll might be too heavy, and didn't feel like spending $100 on a joke, anyway.

[katiekilldare]

About a year ago, my husband and I, along with two friends visiting from out of state, were sitting at an extremely busy intersection at rush hour. This intersection is situated right beside Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, and the highway we were on (Dale Mabry) is four lanes wide both ways. We were first in a long line at the redlight, waiting for it to change.

So we're just kind of chatting until I spotted a rat (now mind you I had never seen a rat IRL before this - only in movies or in a pet store) that leapt from the curb at the corner of the block with the stadium, and made a mad dash for the opposite corner. The traffic was super heavy and this rat had a LONG way to go. But he just hop-hop-hopped through the speeding cars while we watched in awe with pointing fingers.

It was weird because none of us had ever seen a rat, first of all, and then super weird because the first rat any of us had seen apparently had super powers. Or was maybe bionic.

[Guinastasia]

I don't know if this counts, but someone sent me an animated gif of a stuffed Kermit the Frog doll anally screwing a stuffed seal, slapping it's ass!

[Wicked Blue]

One morning in late March of this year, I noticed an orange on the side of the road on my way to work. It was big and fat and orange and stood out amongst the dry grass and rocks. It was hard to miss. I live in Massachusetts, so it's not like we have giant trucks full of oranges driving around, and it made me wonder how an orange would end up on the side of the road like that. Did someone throw a perfectly good orange out the car window? Did it accidentally fall out of someone's car somehow? What series of events led up to an orange on the side of the road? I ponder these things on the way to work in the morning.
While my orange started out big and bright and full of orangey cheer, I have watched it transform into something that looks like, well, like a rotten orange.
Once the weather started getting warm, my orange was clearly unhappy. She (yes, she's a girl orange) developed a large black spot on her now-fading orange skin. I was getting kind of sad, because, you know, I was getting used to seeing her every morning.
I started making regular Orange Reports to Odieman. (I'm pretty sure that he thinks I'm insane.) :D
Anyway, one day on my way home from work, I see a flash of orange out of the corner of my eye. It's another orange! On the side of the road! I couldn't believe it!
So now I had a morning orange and an evening orange. I say 'had' because my evening orange didn't last very long, only about a month. He was sitting in a grassy area and someone cut the grass and killed him. (Yes, it was a him. Don't ask how I know, I just do)
Why an orange? Why not an apple, or a banana? Why 2 different oranges, at 2 different locations, just sitting on the side of the road? How is that possible? Are there oranges all over Massachusetts, just sitting on the sides of roads? Does it happen anywhere else? My mind is boggled.

I'm gonna miss my orange when she finally rots away to nothing.

Rose

[hardygrrl]

Originally posted by Guinastasia
I don't know if this counts, but someone sent me an animated gif of a stuffed Kermit the Frog doll anally screwing a stuffed seal, slapping it's ass!



OMG!

I used to post at wrestlingdotcom.com's forums and that gif was in one of the member's signatures.

Pig

The place where I work is surrounded by farm land. One early summer day about a year ago, me and my friends went outside to have a smoke and about 30 feet from the door,in the middle of the parking lot are two pigs. Fighting to the apparent death.

[Nefarious Chipmunk]

I live where it floods and one winter, it was flooding, and my neighbor got out the canoe and took me and my sisters canoeing down the river. This river now included the top part of several houses. On the top of one house sat a chicken. Now, two things come to mind in this senerio.

1) How did he get there? There wasn't anyway for him to get up there unless he was just floating around in the water until it reached the roof. Or maybe, while the owners were evacuating the house they couldn't bring their beloved chicken with them so they put him up on the roof, where he would, presumably, be safe.

2) Why do I care? When is a chicken on the roof going to matter in the grand sceme of things, and yet, it is still a question that I ponder far more often then the question of how to end world hunger. Go fig.

[ultrafilter]

Let's see...this was about two years ago. My friends and I used to get together to play volleyball on occasion, and we would go out for fast food afterwards.

So one fine day, we were sitting at Taco Bell after volleyball, and one of the guys randomly said, "A guy walked by my dorm last night." This wasn't that odd of a thing for him to say, so we asked him if there was anything special about this guy. "Yeah," he says, "this guy had a stop sign." We laughed, and forgot about it.

Two weeks later, we were playing volleyball again, and we were short some people, so one of my other friends brought a guy he knew. Somehow, the subject of the guy who walked by the dorm came up. The new guy immediately started asking about all the details, and after about two minutes it came out that he was the one carrying the stop sign.

Freaky, huh?

[Tapioca Dextrin]

I saw my first real life feral alligator last week (bet there aren't too many of those in Amsterdam). It would have been a lot cooler if the guy driving the car had seen it too - now the poor guy is just a handbag waiting to happen :(

[Ell]

Originally posted by heraldgwena
I live where it floods and one winter, it was flooding, and my neighbor got out the canoe and took me and my sisters canoeing down the river. This river now included the top part of several houses. On the top of one house sat a chicken. Now, two things come to mind in this senerio.

1) How did he get there? There wasn't anyway for him to get up there unless he was just floating around in the water until it reached the roof. Or maybe, while the owners were evacuating the house they couldn't bring their beloved chicken with them so they put him up on the roof, where he would, presumably, be safe.

2) Why do I care? When is a chicken on the roof going to matter in the grand sceme of things, and yet, it is still a question that I ponder far more often then the question of how to end world hunger. Go fig.


But the real question is: Which came first, the chicken or the roof? :d&r:

[Kat]

Originally posted by Wicked Blue
So now I had a morning orange and an evening orange. I say 'had' because my evening orange didn't last very long, only about a month. He was sitting in a grassy area and someone cut the grass and killed him. (Yes, it was a him. Don't ask how I know, I just do)
Why an orange? Why not an apple, or a banana? Why 2 different oranges, at 2 different locations, just sitting on the side of the road? How is that possible? Are there oranges all over Massachusetts, just sitting on the sides of roads? Does it happen anywhere else? My mind is boggled.

I'm gonna miss my orange when she finally rots away to nothing.

I have a truly incredible urge now to go out and buy a few oranges and place them strategically alongside the road.

[Sue Duhnym]

You know those green plastic quart-sized baskets that strawberries are sold in?

I was driving down the freeway shortly after a truck carrying those evidently exploded. Green plastic everywhere! There were whole ones in the bushes, shredded ones piled up between lanes, it looked like it had snowed in Grinchville.

[City Gent]

Check this out, if you have the balls...

http://www.eunuch.org/

Definitely something you don't see every day. Or want to.

[Linear Crack]

One night my girlfriend and I were playing around with her cat "Newt". Newt loved to sqeeze her way into my briefcase and use it a base of operations for her attacks.

Well as she was sticking her paw out to swipe my girlfriend, Newt's elbow got caught on the edge of the briefcase the the lid closed down on her arm. It wasn't with much force, but enough to "pop" her little cat arm out of the socket.

I could tell by the sound coming from inside the briefcase that Newt was not a happy camper and when I opened the case up we saw why. Her arm was popped out of her shoulder and just dangling over the edge of the briefcase.

My girlfriend FREAKED! Of course, this meant I had to do something, but what? This is definately something "I" don't see everyday. Not even on E.R.!

So with little knowledge of feline anatony, and armed with memories of "Lethal Weapon, Part 1" (where Mel slams his shoulder into a wall to pop his shoulder back in place), I grabbed Newt by the scruff of the neck, then grabbed her dangling arm, and with one quick motion I slammed it back into place til I heard a pop.

I was sure it wouldn't work, but much to my suprize, Newt stood up, looked up at me as if to say "You just earned one less hairball in your shoe, my man", and walked away meowing.

So to Mel, I thank you, and my girlfriend's pussy thanks you. :)

[Cajun Man]

Damn, Heloise . . . that was what I was gonna post. :(

(Why do I always get to these threads too late?)

[Cajun Man]

Oops . . . I quess I should quote the post I'm referring too, huh?Originally posted by Heloise
Am I the only one with weird brain patterns like this?Yes. :o

[gadgetgirl]

Who ever said that watching Lethal Weapon movies wasn't educational never met Linear Crack.

I have a friend who was riding his motorcycle along an ocean road, having a fine time when soemthing fell out of the sky and whaked him in the chest. It was a FISH! The only thing we could figure was that some sea bird had caught himself a fish dinner when he lost his grip and, well, my friend had to explain the strange bruises on his chest to his wife.

One night I was at a friend's house and after much smoking and drinking we were all sitting around, just hanging out. This guy walks into the house and asks, "hey, you guys got any firewood?" We all said "no" and the guy walked out. About an hour later, I asked the guy who's house it was who the firewood guy was. He thought someone else knew him and we thought he knew him. As it turned out noone knew who this guy was. Very strange. To this day I wonder who that guy was.

This next story was told to me by a former boss.A number of years ago he was at a gas station filling up his car and who pulled up next to him but Muhammad Ali.
"Wow," he thought, "I just have to say something to him."
So they started chatting and M.Ali asked my former boss if he wanted to see something cool.
Well of course he said yes, I mean who wouldn't?
Muhammad held his arms out from his sides, bowed his head and proceeded to LEVITATE!! about 3 or 4 inches off the ground apparently. How cool is that? I know it must have been a trick but who cares? Muhammad Ali levitated for him!
My former boss swears its true.

[Coldfire]

That reminds me of a story, gadgetgirl.

yojimbo and myself were riding a taxi through Dublin. The driver was going on and on about how good a football player he had been in his youth, and how Bugsy himself grabbed him from the Dublin suburbs to play for the big Manchester United, and how he got banned for life from playing Gaelic Football because he was caught playing league football. We basically thought he was just talking a load of bollocks, and thought nothing of it.
The driver continued to say that he frequently met up with lots of very famous (ex-) football players, and how some of them were very close friends.
"Here, look at this. This guy is a very close personal friend of mine."
He hands us a little booklet. We fold it open. In it - a photo of our driver and no one other than Pele himself!!

Hmmm. Maybe he wasn't full of shite after all! :)

[TwistofFate]

GagetGirl,

Its a great trick, and very easy to do. I'll put my life savings that Mr. Ali stood with his back to him while he did it.



What you do is turn your back the person, facing a light source. slowly, raise up on your toes with your heels together. When you have raised your heels about 5 cm off the ground, slowly shift your weight onto one foot and lift the toes of the other foot off the ground.


From behind this will give the impression that you have "levitated" about 1 to 2 inches off the ground.

[kabbes]

I have a birthday card from Pele.

No shit - I'm serious (but I'm not telling you how I came by it :))

pan

[frobozz]

Originally posted by gadgetgirl
I have a friend who was riding his motorcycle along an ocean road, having a fine time when soemthing fell out of the sky and whaked him in the chest. It was a FISH! The only thing we could figure was that some sea bird had caught himself a fish dinner when he lost his grip and, well, my friend had to explain the strange bruises on his chest to his wife.

Homer: What the hell is that?
Lisa: Looks like a sturgeon.
Homer: Where did it come from?

Cut to Mir, up in outer space....

Cosmonaut 1 (in Russian): You lost our dinner!
Cosmonaut 2: You left the door open!
fighting, Russian profanities

[Mort Furd]

Me, sitting at a bus stop at about three in the morning in Mainz waiting for the first bus to Wiesbaden. The bells on one of the churches ring the hour, and rats run out of their hiding places and scurry back and forth across the street between the bus stop and the train station. When the bells stopped, the rats were gone. Freaky.

[lurkernomore]

Originally posted by Coldfire

There's no way in hell it was somehow thrown down there from the 14th floor, because our windows don't open: the rope was passing through one of the 30*30 cm corner windows they allow us for fresh air (I suppose they're afraid of jumpers should another Black Thursday hit us). Which begs another question: since one can't toss 50 meters of rope 35 meters into the air and catch them through a tiny window, somebody must have been lasso'ing for hours to get the noose around the sheeps neck.

Am I the only one with weird brain patterns like this?

Coldy, the rope trick.

Assume rope is around the sheep's neck when it was planted on the island. Rope had been dropped from window to ground, tied around sheep, which was then put out on island.

Dramatic method: Sheep lassoed. Rope trailed to base of building. Broostick stuck out desired window pointing up at 45o . Fishing line attached to arrow. Arrow shot over pole. Line grasped by accomplice at window. Rope tied to other end of line and drawn up. (also usable for rope bridges)

You that concerned with lassoing sheep? Social life been that slow? :)

[Coldfire]

Doesn't wash, lurkernomore. A valid explanation in some cases, but not here.

The 30*30 cm windows only tilt backwards about 30 degrees in their frames. They are joint at the bottom of the frame. So you have basically a 30*5 cm slit, at 2.30 meters of the ground, to guide your rope through. Granted, some sort of shoot-arrow-with-rope-to-ground trick COULD be done. But the broomstick-reversal-theory won't work.
And even IF the arrow trick was used, the shooter on the 14th floor would have to cover about 30 meters horizontally over a 35 meter drop to make the island. All this whilst transporting an ever heavier end of orange industrial type rope. You'd need a powerful crossbow or something.

I'm still confused, but amused as well. ;)

[slortar]

Originally posted by Coldfire
Doesn't wash, lurkernomore. A valid explanation in some cases, but not here.

The 30*30 cm windows only tilt backwards about 30 degrees in their frames. They are joint at the bottom of the frame. So you have basically a 30*5 cm slit, at 2.30 meters of the ground, to guide your rope through. Granted, some sort of shoot-arrow-with-rope-to-ground trick COULD be done. But the broomstick-reversal-theory won't work.
And even IF the arrow trick was used, the shooter on the 14th floor would have to cover about 30 meters horizontally over a 35 meter drop to make the island. All this whilst transporting an ever heavier end of orange industrial type rope. You'd need a powerful crossbow or something.

I'm still confused, but amused as well. ;)

You guys graduated from elementary school? :D

Simple, my disciples. Boat sheep out to island. Tie rope around sheep. Bring one end back to base of building. Get lots of string (a hundred feet of yarn or twine would do the trick.) Go to office. Toss one end of out of window. Go down (or have accomplice do it to save time). Tie end of string to end of rope. Pull up through window. Voila.

[Coldfire]

Fucking A. That would work. The only caveats (which doesn't make this impossible) are that:

a) The base of the tower is in the water;
b) The side of the tower is sloped outward, i.e. the top floor is about 2 meters wider than the bottom floor on each end.

So it could take boating skill AND aiming skill from both parties, but it WOULD explain things. Thanks, slortar!

I need my sleep, dammit, and it's been over a week. :D

[Munch]

I saw the Hershey's Kiss version of the Oscar Meyer Weinermobile yesterday. It had 3 kisses on it, regular, almond, and hugs. I wanted so badly for it to be playing some sort of ice-cream truck music as it passed. Or at least be driven by a clown.

I guess I'll have to be content with it as-is.


Re: the sheep. Here's an even simpler solution:

1. Throw 100 feet of rope out of window, holding onto end of rope.

2. Tie other end of rope to sheep.

3. Row sheep out to island.

4. Row back, and pull in the rest of the slack of the rope through window.

[slortar]

Originally posted by Coldfire
Fucking A. That would work. The only caveats (which doesn't make this impossible) are that:

a) The base of the tower is in the water;
b) The side of the tower is sloped outward, i.e. the top floor is about 2 meters wider than the bottom floor on each end.

So it could take boating skill AND aiming skill from both parties, but it WOULD explain things. Thanks, slortar!

I need my sleep, dammit, and it's been over a week. :D

After I hit submit I realized that for best effect, you'd probably have to tie a washer or something to the end of the string to get it to clear the slope of the window more easily. Now that you have the technique, though, you almost have to match them with something even more absurd, like, say, a blow-up doll or possibly a plastic Ronald McDonald doll.

Anyway, quite welcome. For my next miracle of explanation, I'm going to explain Britney Spears. *long pregnant silence* :rolleyes:

[lurkernomore]

Originally posted by lurkernomore

Coldy, the rope trick.

Assume rope is around the sheep's neck when it was planted on the island. Rope had been dropped from window to ground, tied around sheep, which was then put out on island.

Dramatic method: Sheep lassoed.

Hey, please note, the simple "drop rope out window" was addressed before the more dramatic, "fun" method. We didn't know at first the base of the tower was in the water.


And Coldy, the bowman doesn't shoot the rope, as mentioned above he shoots the light fishing line. The coil of rope can be in the bottom of the boat.

[Coldfire]

Awright. Admit it, dammit. It was youse guys all along, wasn't it? Bastards!

[Morrison's Lament]

I used to work in a movie theatre, and one day I came in and was told I just missed the single weirdest thing in the history of the building.

This girl walks in, buys a ticket. She then walks into the theatre and buys two of the largest soft drinks we have available (very large stuff). She takes a seat in the lobby and waits around for a minute (no more than five minutes, probably less).

Suddenly, she stands back up with no special look on her face, pours both drinks over her head and then walks directly out of the theatre.

WTF?!?!

I have more, later.

--- G. Raven

[Tars Tarkas]

Originally posted by slortar
For my next miracle of explanation, I'm going to explain Britney Spears. *long pregnant silence*


I don't think "pregnant" and "silence" are good adjectives for Ms. Spears, just wishful thinking on your part...

[slortar]

Sorry, I've been pondering and I just don't have the words to describe the sheer ineffability of Britney. *sigh*

On a different note, one of my classmates (years ago) once told me she was driving down the interstate (in Kalamazoo) and saw a man in full samurai garb, holding a sword and meditating in the median strip.

Sadly, after half a decade or so in the martial arts community, I can understand the man's reasoning.

[Flutterby]

Morrison's Lament might I offer an explanation? Is there a college or University nearby? Perhaps it was a frat thing..

[Lute Skywatcher]

Originally posted by slortar:
Now that you have the technique, though, you almost have to match them with something even more absurd, like, say, a blow-up doll or possibly a plastic Ronald McDonald doll.


Or a Mutton Bone sheep (http://www.muttonbone.com/).

[FisherQueen]

Well, when I was in college, I looked out of my first-floor dorm window early on a foggy morning and saw a white horse grazing on the grass. No bridle or ropes of any kind, just the horse.

That was odd.

But I thought this was odder.

I wasn't sure what to do, exactly, so I called campus security. I told the woman who answered the phone, "Um, there's a horse on my lawn."

"Oh, that's mine," she answered.

[furryman]

1. I was sitting at a bus stop across the street from an abandoned gas station (a victim of the gas crisis) when a long black limousine pulls into the gas station. A minute or so later another limo pull up and everyone but the driver piles out of one of the limos and into the other. A minute or so later both limos take off.
2. I used to be a cab driver. One day I pick up this pretty woman. As were driving down the road she proceeds to take all her clothes off and pretends to masturbate. Before I proceed with this story you should know two things: 1.I knew this woman was crazy. 2. I also used to be in the Navy and I knew that getting a sexually transmitted disease was not a thing on my to do list. Anyway, I had to drive down the road for the next 20 or so minutes pretending to ignore a hot naked babe dry humping herself while she was sitting right next to me. Torquimada never designed such a fiendish torture.

[mothman]

I used to manage a poolhall/bar and I have seen many many strange and crazy things but the one that stands out the most was this:

One night after closing I was walking up the stairs onto the main street only to see a topless woman walking down the middle of the street.
But thats not all, not only was topless - but she was bald headed AND she had only ONE ARM, which was successfully holding her 40 ounce bottle of cheap malt liquor that she was drinking!
SO there was a bald headed-one armed-topless woman (BHOATW??) walking straight down the double yellow lines!!
That image is still (sadly) burnt into my mind.

[Diane]

One day while driving close to my office, I just happened to look up at the City Building and see a big ball stuck on the lightening bolt of the statue Columbia.

Later I learned what it actually was.

City Weekly, Nov 2, 2001, Anna Brinkman:

In part -

"Pumpkins have been popping up in tall places since at least 1997, when the mysterious and high-climbing pumpkin impaler began his quixotic journey at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. Salt Lake City boasts the seventh pumpkin lofted into the sky on public buildings in various cities all over the country. Montana had a pumpkin, as did Boston, our source noted.

On the evening of Oct. 24, a man posing as an architecture student and carrying a large bag asked officials if he could take some pictures of the top of the City-County building from the cupola—the small dome some 300 feet off the ground. Officials now believe the man was actually carrying climbing gear and a pumpkin in the bag. Still, once he gained the cupola, several feet of slippery, sloping roof separated the intrepid climber from his goal. Somehow he navigated the final 20 feet to the top of the statue, and then managed to get a very large pumpkin perfectly centered on the statue’s lightning bolt.

“The mayor thought it was a pretty impressive feat,” says D. J. Baxter, senior advisor to the mayor. “He must be a very skilled climber.”


That baby stayed there all winter!

[Cerowyn]

Originally posted by Diane
City Weekly, Nov 2, 2001, Anna Brinkman:


Cool! Can I borrow that machine? (That happens to be my sons' 7th birthday...)

[Morrison's Lament]

Originally posted by Obsidian Flutterby
Morrison's Lament might I offer an explanation? Is there a college or University nearby? Perhaps it was a frat thing..



There was only one college in Iceland at the time, and no one has ever heard of the "frat" concept over there.

There's always the chance it was some kind of dare, but the waiting around and actually paying for a ticket just made it seem weirder :D

--- G. Raven

[TheLoadedDog]

A few years ago, some filming was being done in Sydney which involved a giraffe. Nothing spectacular so far, I'm sure there are private zoos, etc which would hire one out. Weird thing is, the giraffe scene took longer than one day, so instead of transporting it all the way back to where it lived, one of the film crew kept it over night in the yard of his inner city home. Now a giraffe is considerably taller than your average suburban fence, so it's going to be pretty obvious if you walk past. Pity the poor bugger who's just staggered out of the pub at closing time.

[Pammipoo]

I was driving to work today, and when I got off at my exit, there was a ca parked on the grass median. Next to the car were 2 people, in lawn chairs, tanning. It just stuck me as odd to see people tanning off 495...

And Wicked Blue, I've never seen oranges in Massachusetts. I did see a head of lettuce rolling down 24 one day though...it was packaged and everything.

Weird.

[G. Nome]

How many people have heard about the walking nuclear missile who is following George Bush around Europe? I saw it on today's news. To really appreciate it though, I think you need the English TV reporter's voiceover.

[Sublight]

Well, there was the moose wandering the streets of suburban Boston (Melrose, actually). Apparently, it had wandered on to the median of I-95 during the night, then proceeded to walk south after the sun rose and the road became too crowded for it to cross back.

More recently, I was surprised to find a dairy farm in the middle of one of the residential neighborhoods of Tokyo, surrounded by houses and apartment buildings. I have no idea how the owner manages to make a profit.

Nowadays, though, I'm usually the weirdest shit in everyone else's day.

--sublight.

[Diane]

Whoops - Make that Nov 2000.

[TheNerd]

This isn't the weirdest, but it is fairly recent. It was only last week.

I was in a coffee shop, the independently owned arty weird kind, and 4 college age girls walk into the shop, proceed to one of the one-person bathrooms and all enter. Several minutes later, they all come out (giggling) and leave the shop. I'm very curious what happened in there.

[seawitch]

Walking around in LA one day, near the garment district, a friend and I stopped to wait for a green light. While we stood there, someone came up to wait next to us.

An African American gentleman. (Nothing unusual.) Wearing a blue mohawk. (Well, a little flashy, maybe.) In a wheelchair. (Poor guy.) Also wearing a corset, short skirt, fishnets, and heels. (Uhh...)

It wasn't any one of the things I listed above. It was the combination of them... and my friend's comment.

"You know, it isn't every day you see an African-American punk rock transvestite paraplegic."

[Tranquilis]

Moored at the pier in Penang, Maylasia, standing Officer of the Deck, when the Junior Officer of the Deck calls me to the rail. He's clutching his sidearm rather tightly, though he's not drawn it yet. Concerned, I sidle up to the rail and look over. Pointing mutely at the aft spring line (mooring line to you lubbers), he shows me his concern: Godzilla the Rat, sitting on the line, with it's upper paws resting casually on the upper rim of a 22" ratguard. It sat there, unconcerned, surveying the ship for about 5 minutes before deciding that we were either too ready to repel boarders, or just didn't merit his regal attention. Had it tried to cross the guard, I think I'd have been reaching for my sidearm, too.

[Muffin]

Originally posted by Coldfire
I need my sleep, dammit, and it's been over a week. :D

Try counting sheep. :D

[Wicked Blue]

Originally posted by Pammipoo

And Wicked Blue, I've never seen oranges in Massachusetts. I did see a head of lettuce rolling down 24 one day though...it was packaged and everything.

Weird.

Pammipoo, I saw the oranges on 24!

[Weirddave]

Originally posted by Pammipoo
I was driving to work today, and when I got off at my exit, there was a ca parked on the grass median.

Boy you really ARE from Mass., aren't you? ;)

[Tuckerfan]

Okay this happened to me, more years ago than I care to think about. I was driving home late one night and debating if I should stay up longer or go to bed, when I saw it. It seemed normal at first, just your average Ford Escort coming the opposite way. Then I saw the driver. A little old lady. Wearing a crash helmet. And one of those WWI flying ace scarves. She was grinning from ear-to-ear. I decided that I needed sleep and went to bed when I got home.

[OpalCat]

I found it quite odd one day to see a tank driving really fast down Euclid/1st Ave in Tucson one afternoon. Still don't know what that was all about.

[Pammipoo]

Originally posted by Weirddave
Originally posted by Pammipoo
I was driving to work today, and when I got off at my exit, there was a ca parked on the grass median.

Boy you really ARE from Mass., aren't you? ;)

Hehe. Ooops...my bad! I knew I should've edited...oh well. It makes more sense that way anyways :)

And by the way Wicked, we're gonna be neighbors. I see from the online map that you're in Fall River, and I'll be moving there next month. We'll have to get together and scout out produce sometimes :p

[GrizzRich]

Was out on our boat fishing with my dad, many long years ago, and was trying out my new rod and reel. I believe I was maybe ten years old at the time.
Dad told me that if I caught something on the first cast, that it'd be good fishing for as long as I owned the pole.
(I'm sure he made that up)
I carefully baited my hooks and cast my line and waited for something to bite.
Nothing.
After a little while, I relegated myself to having missed the opportunity to have "good luck" blessed on my rod and reel by catching a fish. So I pulled up my line to re-cast.
I didn't realize that I'd actually caught something.
So, I reeled it in.

I'd caught a radio.

Someone evidently had knocked it overboard quite a while back. It had barnacles growing on it.

[Tir Tinuviel]

Wonko,

How do you "Ork" a cow?

:)

[Wonko The Sane]

Originally posted by Kat22
Wonko,

How do you "Ork" a cow?

:)

I'll have to ask my cow-orkers. I think it involves a very big jar of vaseline, two quarts of corn or vegetable oil, and eight pounds of rice crispies.

Curiously enough, the cow is actually optional. Besides- if you saw my officemate walking towards you with all of the above items, wouldn't you run away if you were a cow?

[gadgetgirl]

Please, Ms. Spears can be explained very easily....
Every 12 year old boy need something to masutbate about, she's the current wet dream. go figure. Farrah, Madonna, heck, Annette Funicello...hey wait a minute, she was a Mousekateer too, maybe they are breeding little sex objects over at Disney studions....hmmm. Soilent Green seems a little more real to me now...hmmmm.
And don't get me started about "boy bands" vs "virginal female singers".
That is for another post.
Ok, Ok, no more drinking and posting for me...
I must sleep now.

[mongrel_8]

1. My girlfriend said that one day she was waiting in a commons area for her next class to start. When 2 guys start arguing with each other. One pushes the other in this fountain thing and then jumps in after him. They wrestled around for about 30 seconds. Then all of the sudden they stopped jumped out of the fountain and ran in opposite directions. She said it was the weirdest thing she has seen in a while. It wasn't until later she found the possible explanation for it. There is a sociology class on campus that does strange stuff like this to see how people react. Sounds like a neat class to me. :)

2. Another time I was driving into school on a rain soaked morning. In the middle of the highway was a baby crib. I stopped to pull it out of the road so that mo one would hit it. When I got up to it to move it, it had baby blankets in it. That was definately a bit strange.

[11811]

Originally posted by Linear Crack


So to Mel, I thank you, and my girlfriend's pussy thanks you. :)



Linear Crack:

I see a new sig in your future.

[Pammipoo]

Originally posted by mongrel_8


2. Another time I was driving into school on a rain soaked morning. In the middle of the highway was a baby crib. I stopped to pull it out of the road so that mo one would hit it. When I got up to it to move it, it had baby blankets in it. That was definately a bit strange.

This reminded me of another Massachusetts highway experience. I was on 93 right past Braintree, in the middle of rush hour. People in front of me started slamming on their brakes, and switching lanes. By the time I got there, I had no way to change lanes, and ran smack into a playschool kitchen set...you know the plactic things with a stove, and telephone, and table? To this day, I'll never know how it got there...

[SanibelMan]

Once, my girlfriend was taking a friend of ours home after school. They stopped at a red light, and turned to see a clown driving a car. But this was no ordinary clown. This clown was completely dressed -- wig, makeup, even the nose. What clown gets completely made up before driving somewhere? Why'd he bother to put the nose on? Weird.

In a similar situation to Coldfire's second incident in the OP, I had to get some bloodwork done a few weeks ago and when I pulled into the parking lot at the medical complex, there was a car with Hawaii plates - a Jeep Cherokee, I think. I thought it odd at the time, since it's rare that you'd see one of the few people that move here from Hawaii in the first two weeks before they'd inevitably get Florida plates. Then today, I saw a pickup truck at the car wash with Hawaii plates! How weird is that? Two Hawaii plates in as many weeks, and the last one I'd seen before that was in Hawaii.

[Ad Noctum]

I think I saw Fidel Castro in work once. complete with military garb on and the beard. kinda freaked me out. then he got into a piece of shit rusted out boat of a car. I figured Fidel would at least have a caddy or something, so I got back to work.


I was out fly fishing one day in a somewhat shallow and small pond which connect 2 larger lakes, and is fairly full of sunfish, bass, and crappies. I was standing there when I hear a very low hum, not a loud thud like machinery, but more like an ultrasonic, barely audible hum. it coulda been the howitzers or the tanks at the army bass down south about 20 miles, but I digress. suddenly, the entire lake just erupted with fish, I'd say about 50-60 sunnies and crappies and bass jumped up outta the water creating ripples. I nearly shit my pants I was so damned creeped out.
prolly a good thing I didn't shit my pants though, I was wearing waders.

[Ad Noctum]

I was standing there when I hear a very low hum, not a loud thud like machinery, but more like an ultrasonic, barely audible hum.


uh yea, that should be sub-sonic

[sulawesi]

When I was 10 or so, I was being driven home from school and noticed a very large turtle crossing the street (on Turtle Creek Boulevard, no less :)). While most cars just moved to the other lane to avoid it, one driver slammed on his brakes, got out of the car, grabbed the turtle, ran back to his car and drove off. That was pretty weird, I guess.

Sometime soon after, driving down the same street, I looked out the window and saw a car going about 30 MPH, and the woman driving -- who was alone in the car -- was apparently putting on some sort of puppet show for herself with her hands, steering with her elbow, and making her hands "talk" to each other while she mouthed something. She seemed quite absorbed in what she was doing, and I don't think she was even really watching the road.

Incidentally, I used to live in a neighborhood next to another one with huge yards, and diagonal from me was a woman who had, next to her monstrously large cinderblock house, a cinderblock shelter bigger than most houses for her numerous peacocks, so I often saw peacocks wandering around my neighborhood, and feathers all over the place. For some reason, this didn't seem so strange at the time, just irritating. Do you know how loud peacocks can be while you're trying to sleep?

[GargoyleWB]

At work I was standing outside taking a break. This lady in a car is driving slowly down the lane beside the building toward the parking lot. She had to stop as 5 geese were meandering across the road in front of her. They then stopped and sat down in the middle of the road blocking her car.

Without the slightest hesitation I saw her roll down her window, stick her arm out holding a mysterious cylindrical object...a pepper spray canister. She then maced the hell out of the geese, which scattered squacking out of her way, then rolled up the window and calmly drove on.

She didn't even rev the engine or honk to try and scare the geese. Just BAM, straight to the pepper spray!

[TheLoadedDog]

Originally posted by seawitch
"You know, it isn't every day you see an African-American punk rock transvestite paraplegic." [/B]

Haven't seen one of those, but I have seen a transvestite. Nothing special? How 'bout a Chinese transvestite? Not impressed? Then how about a freakin' seven foot six Chinese transvestite? Yeah, well I saw one of them walking down the street in Sydney last year.

[AbbySthrnAccent]

Last week, watching the local flood coverage here in Houston. As if the flood pictures of water to roof lines and submerged vehicles weren't overwhelming enough...

A Budweiser 18 wheel truck driver (among many others) had to abandon his truck due to rapidly rising flood waters. The news footage was of a looter who had to be rescued from the truck because he tried to steal beer from the abandoned and nearly submerged truck.

Abby

[Lute Skywatcher]

I once saw a Santa Claus driving down Columbia Pike in a completely decorated (Christmas lights, tree, garland, etc.) red '60s convertible. Strangest part is this was in mid-November and he had the top down!

[Lute Skywatcher]

For those who don't know, Columbia Pike is a main east-west commuter route in Arlington, VA. Anyone driving a convertible down Columbia Pike with the top down in mid-November would be unusual.

[Bubble Girl]

I think this is the weirdest thing I have seen in awhile.

I was driving home Saturday night with fiance and daughter from a friends house at about 12:30 am. We pull up to a red light and I look over at the car next to me. It's a souped up little honda accord driven by a young guy maybe late teens early, early twenties. He has his driver side window down and I tell both fiance and daughter "Hey look at that car, he has a TV in the dash. Thats pretty cool!" I'm easily amused as you can tell. Well I get a closer look and realize he is watching a porno in his car! :eek: I quickly tell my daughter not to look and of course she asks why. Only thing I could think of to say is that its not polite to stare. :rolleyes: I learned my lesson.

[Nocturne]

I took a walk around my circle today. I live in a quiet, residential area of my small town (5000 people). We don't get tons of traffic or noise. We're basically in the woods.

Anyhow, I was walking, and I came around a curve, and three people were standing in the middle of the road. Okay, that's not terribly unusual. Okay, two were older (60's-70's); one man, who was wearing a derby, and one woman. There was also one other woman a bit younger (30-ish) with them. Again, not terribly strange.
The old man had a metal detector and was standing over a water spigot and the detector was beeping! The old woman had a rake in her hand.
What the heck were they doing? Those aren't people that live in my neighborhood or even in the county, judging by their truck's license plate. When they saw me coming, though, they ran to the truck, jumped inside, and started it up. I walked past them, feeling very strange, they passed me, and the old man tipped his hat to me. Then they sped off.

[seawitch]

You know those car alarms that are a male voice telling you to "Step away from the vehicle"?

Well, when I came out of the supermarket last night, I saw a Honda yelling at a shopping cart. Every time it yelled, the cart would gently drift forward and tap the bumper, then the Honda would start yelling at it again.

Easily understood, but very surreal to watch.

[Fionn]

Street musicians are fairly common on the Drag by the UT campus, but today there was a green-Mohawked shirtless guy sitting crosslegged on the ground playing a violin. Not something you see every day. Since he played "Greensleeves" I had to listen and give him some money.

[Nukeman]

A wierd thing happened to me the other day. I live in London (England) and I was walking past Embankment tube station in the direction of Big Ben when this guy on my left suddenly stopped, kneeled down, and drew an arrow in chalk on the ground, then stood up and kept walking.

[Coldfire]

Easy, Nukeman. It's an ancient kids game! You divide into two groups. The first leave indications and assigments on the ground, and the second have to perform them and ultimately find group 1. The Dutch name for it translates into "track seeker", if that makes any sense.

I suppose it's odd to see a grown man do it, though.

[Nukeman]

Coldfire, I dont know if you ever read any Frederick Forsyth novels, but in some of them he describes the methods (whether they are real methods or not I dont know) used by MI6 spies to pass on secret documents. The spy and the MI6 agent meet up and agree on a place to hide the documents or whatever (eg behind a loose brick). They then choose a lamp post by a main road nearby that the spy can put a symbol on in chalk to tell the MI6 agent that there is something in the 'dead letter box'. This is what made it so surreal for me.

[Whammo]

Driving on my way to work one morning I saw an elderly Asian gentleman riding a pink little girls bike down a busy street. It was obviously a mode of transportation rather then for fun. ODD.

[Jack Batty]

I know I told everybody I was taking a break from the boards (and I am) but I had to pop back in here to let everybody in on two things...

1 - Yesterday was my SDMBirthday - one year on the boards - whoopee.

and

2 - Yesterday I was having a Western Ranch Crispy Chicken Sandwich at Carl's jr. (I was sitting inside the building, mind you, not on the patio or anything) and guess what came walking right by my table ... a frickin' pigeon with a gaddamned club-foot.

It's creepy, I tell you!

[Gyrate]

Originally posted by AbbySthrnAccent
A Budweiser 18 wheel truck driver (among many others) had to abandon his truck due to rapidly rising flood waters. The news footage was of a looter who had to be rescued from the truck because he tried to steal beer from the abandoned and nearly submerged truck.
Speaking of Budweiser, the new Budweiser advertising campaign (http://media.guardian.co.uk/advertising/story/0,7492,524716,00.html) does my head in something fierce.

I don't know if these are being shown in the US, but the first ad out extols the virtue of the man who invented the foot-long hot dog. Whoever came up with this campaign has perfectly spoofed the standard US TV commercial "Real American" format -- manly mustachio'd men (holding hotdogs), a mulleted rock singer to emphasize key phrases ("Real American Hero!" "Mr. Foot-Long Hot Dog Inventor!"), combined with copy along the lines of "We marvelled at your ten-inch hot dog. But you said 'Wait -- I can give you two more inches."

The first time I saw it, I stared goggle-eyed, mouth agape, until the tag line: "Thank you -- for giving us all a longer wiener." And then my head exploded.

Quotes are from memory and may not be accurate. The ad itself can be viewed from the link above. Weird as it is, it's still a lot better than those stupid frogs.

[longjohn]

jr8 – seen the all american demolition man hero yet?

You’ll not be surprised to know that he has a HUGE ball.

Anyway my weirdness.

Saturday afternoon at a bowling alley. Me and several mates are just easing ourselves round a few beers, warming up for a stag night.

As it’s Saturday afternoon, the place is rammed with groups of sprogs. One little chap wanders in front of me as I’m about to bowl for a spare. He’s perhaps two or three years old – I’m not good at aging kids, but he’s small enough that he’s holding the ball in front of his chest and he can’t get his arms all the way round it and is staggering under the weight.

Now I am a seriously poor bowler and the lads I was with are more experienced than I at bowling. Cos this is a stag do, there is testosterone aplenty swilling around and I am therefore bowling for my Honour. The previous ball had surprised me, I had put nine pins down.

So, the tyke gives me a large grin, turns round and throws his ball down my lane. It goes THUMP as it hits the wood and rolls in slo-mo down the lane, teeters over the gutter and then takes out the last pin.

Kid gets a round of applause from two lanes either side, takes a bow and strolls off into the wings.

[BunnyGirl]

Ohmygawd! That is the funniest thing!

[Zebra]

I live in NYC and have seen many strange things. One that sticks out was a delivery van I saw one day. It had a poorly done, hand painted logo on the side of the the van for the company.


Hansel and Gretel Brand
Fresh Cold Cuts


Yikes!

[Superdude]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by slortar
[B]Sorry, I've been pondering and I just don't have the words to describe the sheer ineffability of Britney. *sigh*

I have to disagree with you on the use of the word "ineffability." I think the word you were looking for was "effability." As in "F-ability." As in "f*ck-ability." Because she is definitely f*ckable.

[psychogumby]

Originally posted by Weirddave
I don't know. But if they did it anytime after '86, it was my joke, the bastards. And I used a very very cheep doll. Damn thing only cost $10. Frankly, It looked to me like it would pop if anyone actually tried to screw it. I KNEW that a good doll might be too heavy, and didn't feel like spending $100 on a joke, anyway.

I'm curious as to how one would judge the quality of an inflatable doll. Do the cheaper models have inferior orifices or something?

[darksenshi]

I live in a very small town. It isn't the most sophisticated place. It's about 2 hours north of Atlanta,GA.
Here is where the strangest stuff breeds. One of my favorites here is a small farm. In the front pasture they have a sign that clearly states what the farm has too offer.
KILLER GOATS!!!!!!!!!!
I am not kidding.
I have a picture & when I get time I will post a link.
This is something everyone should see.

[Zebra]

Once while driving to L.A. from Flagstaff AZ as I came out of the mountains I came across some Army helicopters. About 200 of them. It made the helicopter scene in Apocolypse Now look week.

In Oklahoma once I saw a vending machine outside a semi-rural area gas station. It sold bait. The machine was called a 'Vend-da-bait'.

[Gyrate]

Originally posted by Zebra
Once while driving to L.A. from Flagstaff AZ as I came out of the mountains I came across some Army helicopters. About 200 of them. It made the helicopter scene in Apocolypse Now look weak.

I used to have a desk overlooking the Thames, and one day the military (SAS?) were doing manoeuvres down the river -- sliding from fast-moving helicopters into small motorized rubber rafts, all in the space between London Bridge and Tower Bridge (which is not all that far). Very surreal.

My transvestite sighting involves stepping out of a store only to be almost run over by a transvestite with his (her?) head in a birdcage leading a parade of other transvestites, all shrieking "Keep your hands off our balls!". I believe it was a protest march, "balls" being a reference to some gala event they weren't allowed to hold rather than the anatomical kind. Still very bizarre to see close-up.

It's a weird world. I've seen a woman in a bear costume playing a harp and a man in a catsuit (the Sylvester kind, not the Diana Rigg kind) playing the trumpet in separate locations. I've seen a tractor tire bouncing along the middle of a four-lane highway in great fifteen-foot arcs over the oncoming traffic. I've seen forty grown men carrying a Virgin Mary statue through the streets of Palermo. I've been undressed by kings, and I've seen some things that a woman ain't s'posed to see. But I digress.

And, for the record, I see club-footed pigeons all the time. In fact, it seems to be the rare pigeon indeed who has both feet intact. But they're still horrid creatures.

[Myron Van Horowitzski]

We have those all over here in Wisconsin. The state's full of bait shops, anyway. I remember one UpNort called "The Master Bait Shop."

[Paul The Younger]

Mine are all highway related --

Berry Strange: Driving down the Pennsylvania turnpike, I crested a hill and saw four 10 foot tall strawberries entering the road ahead of me. WTF?!?

It took a few seconds to register that it was a carnival ride (a fruity version of the "Mad Tea Cups" or Barrel ride, where you sit inside and spin it around) being towed by a truck. I picked up my CB and just plainly said "Now there's something you don't see everyday, is it?" The truck driver came back laughing and said "No, I guess not!"

Dude, Where's My Car?: At the Davidsonville exit off rte. 50 in Maryland, there's a Park and Ride lot. One day it had a sign up saying the lot would be closed that weekend. On Monday it was obvious why they had closed it -- to repave the asphalt. The odd thing was that someone hadn't moved their truck, SO THEY PAVED THE LOT RIGHT AROUND IT! In the middle of this freshly paved lot is an old pickup truck standing on its own rectangle of old pavement. Funnier still is that it was still there a week later.

[screech-owl]

Berry Strange: Driving down the Pennsylvania turnpike, I crested a hill and saw four 10 foot tall strawberries entering the road ahead of me. WTF?!?

Yup, a carnival ride called the "Berry-Go-Round".

Imagine seeing a convoy of this, purple dinosaurs, ladybugs, sailboats, undersized firetrucks, and bears with honeypots.

Just another day opn the carny circuit.

[Paul The Younger]

Just recalled another strange one....driving again.

My wife and I were driving late afternoon down rte. 29 through rural Virginia one day, just after it had rained. The low sun caught the ending rain to the west and sure enough we saw a brilliant rainbow.....and then we noticed the quarry we were driving past. The rainbow just seemed to flow right into it....it was beautiful.

Then we saw the sign for the quarry. The company was called the Luck Stone Corp., and its sign featured a leprechaun.

Chills, I'm tellin' ya......chills.

[Hamadryad]

You know how people throw tied-together tennis shoes over telephone wires?

Right now about 1/2 mile from my house there's a pair of beautiful glittering silver pumps strung together and hanging over a telephone wire right above the middle of a busy street.

I figure it's the drag queens marking their turf. :D

[Superdude]

Turner's Station, KY. Right across from the biggest building and tourist attraction, the Post Office (which is a trailer), is a Coke machine. In a field. With nothing else around it. And it works.

[Paul The Younger]

Originally posted by Superdude
Turner's Station, KY. Right across from the biggest building and tourist attraction, the Post Office (which is a trailer), is a Coke machine. In a field. With nothing else around it. And it works.

:: singing :: "Have a Coke and a --- Hey, where the hell is everybody?!?

:)

[Gyrate]

What's it plugged into? :confused:

[Superdude]

Originally posted by jr8
What's it plugged into? :confused:

You know, I wondered that myself.

[warmgun]

Maybe it's the old fashioned kind....

My story: I was passing thru El Paso, TX and drove up the mountain road that overlooks the town. There is a retaining fence at the pull-offs to keep people from falling. Kids drink at these pull-offs and toss their empties over the fence. The ground squirrels that live there lift the bottle by the neck, let it drop, and drink like crazy when the beer sloshes to the front. Over and over until they wobble back to their burrows. Fasinating! , but how did they learn?