Weird News

[Lamplighter]

I know an old lady who swallowed a fly....

PORTLAND, Oregon (Reuters) - An Oregon man who contracted a rare case of bubonic plague,
a disease that ravaged Europe during the Middle Ages, is expected to lose his fingers and some toes,
but should be well enough to leave the hospital within weeks, his family said on Wednesday.

Paul Gaylord, 59, spent almost a month in intensive care, most of it on life support
after he was infected while trying to take a rodent from the mouth of his cat on June 2.
The choking cat bit his hand and scratched him.

Now, my daughter-the nurse, says the background story from the family is more involved...

The cat caught a mouse... seemingly a large "mouse"... but couldn't swallow it.
The man thought the cat was choking, and so tried to get the mouse out of the cat's mouth.
The cat bit him.
The man thought the cat was choking, and so took to his gun to put the cat out of his misery.
Now, on with the new article...

Doctors at a clinic near his home in Prineville, Oregon,
about 150 miles southeast of Portland, first prescribed an antibiotic
for cat scratch fever, according to his niece, Andrea Gibb.

Several days later, his condition worsening, Gaylord returned to the clinic
and was rushed to a local hospital. He was then transferred to a larger hospital
in nearby Bend, Oregon.

"The doctors said he wasn't going to make it," Gibb said, adding that her uncle
is expected to lose all of his fingers, which have turned a black, and most of his toes.
"He has had ups and downs, but he is very strong."

The background story continues...
Since the man has something that is obviously NOT cat scratch fever,
the family goes home and digs up the cat's remains and delivers it to the lab.
The lab says they isolated plague bacteria from the cat.
Now that, in and of itself, is a news story. But to continue...

The plague, often spread by flea bites or through contact with a sickened animal,
is believed to have killed around 25 million Europeans during the Middle Ages,
when it was known as the Black Death.

Today, it is treated with antibiotics and only an average of seven cases a year
are reported in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
The cases are virtually all in the western states.

Oregon has had three cases since 1995 and none of the victims have died,
according to the Crook County Health Department.

Next our question is, was the "mouse" still in the cat's mouth ?
This is relevant because here in the west, because the plague bacteria
are carried by fleas on rodents, particularly the California ground squirrel.


So be cautious about feeding the local campground fauna.

[ZenGum]

There are indeed wild reserves of bubonic plague in wild animals in the US.

However, there is serious doubt about whether the "Black Death" was actually bubonic plague and not some Ebola-like hemorrhagic viral fever. Most notably, if there was black death in a house, quarantining that house for 40 days usually seemed to contain it. There is no way rats obey quarantine.

[plthijinx]

Man with ‘world’s biggest penis’ stopped at SFO security:

link here

A New York man known for his unusually large penis was patted down by airport security at San Francisco International last week after they questioned him about the bulge in his pants, he said.

“They wanted to know if I had something in my pockets, and when I said no, they asked if I had some sort of growth,” he said.

When he replied that it was just his penis, they “checked the area around it” but didn’t frisk him too severely, he said. They also wiped his hands to check for explosive powder.

“I”ve gone through the (airport scanner) before, and I wasn’t worried,” he said. “What was the worst that was going to happen — I was going to have to whip it out for them? I’m used to that. Sometimes when people ask me about it, if I’m feeling up to it, I’ll just show them.”

Falcon’s penis has been reported as 9.5 inches when flaccid and 13.5 inches when erect, according to Rolling Stone. He has been featured in documentaries on HBO and overseas and has appeared on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. He works as a video game journalist and as an actor with small roles in movies and television shows, according to his Internet Movie Database profile.

[ZenGum]

Again? That's three times this week!

[classicman]

lol @ zen

[BigV]

Ichiro traded to Yankees (PTUI)--left at Will Call

The Seattle Mariners have traded longtime superstar and fan favorite Ichiro Suzuki to the New York Yankees in exchange for two minor-league prospects, the baseball team announced Monday.

The Mariners are the premier club among the NY Yankees' (PTUI) farm organization. You remember Alex Rodriguez? You saw him here first. Now Ichiro. We have such an intimate relationship with the Yankees (PTUI) that we don't just develop players for them, they pick them up at will call here. Ichiro was a Mariner two hours before game time, then the trade, then Ichiro appeared in the opposing dugout. He didn't even have to fly to NY, just walked across to the 3rd base dugout.

There goes the last thing I cared about the Mariners.

[Griff]

Now now, the Yanks only grab these guys when they've got nothing left in the tank. ARod has been a very good defensive third baseman since leaving his bat in Texas, I expect similar play from Suzuki all be it with much better locker-room attitude. NY did send you Montero (for a fat kid which a sore arm) who will be the best hitting catcher in MLB once he smooths out his defensive game. I still don't know why Seattle insists on being a small market team. They blew a chance at owning Japan when they failed to surround Suzuki with talent.

[Ibby]

found it on tumblr so I can't possibly vouch for its accuracy or anything, but...

THUNDAHSTRUUUUCK!

[ZenGum]

Originally Posted by Ibby

found it on tumblr so I can't possibly vouch for its accuracy or anything, but...

THUNDAHSTRUUUUCK!

Lucky it wasn't TNT

From youtube:

Lyrics: (Oi, oi, oi, oi, oi, oi, oi, oi, oi, oi, oi, oi, oi, oi, oi)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pR30knJs4Xk if you care.

[Griff]

Somebody is having entirely too much fun.

[Griff]

I'm going to go out on a limb and say our hacker is a 48 year old white male.

[Trilby]

Hey! Rock and Roll ain't noise pollution!

[ZenGum]

No, but it might be radioactive waste.


Heck, that'll probably be AC/DC's next album title.

[ZenGum]

After 40 days and 4,500 gruelling kilometres, Australian runner Grahak Cunningham is on track to claim victory in the world's longest certified footrace.

The Perth local is currently leading the New York race, which covers 4,989 kilometres.

Rather than tracing a long path that stretches its way across different landscapes, runners make continuous laps of an 883-metre city block in Queens.

By the time they reach the finish line, they will have run the circuit 5,649 times.

Competitors must chalk up an average of 96 kilometres per day to finish the race in the goal of 51 days or less.

Why? WHY???

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-07-2...t-race/4159090

You start at 6.00 every morning and you run until midnight on a concrete path around a block in Queens.

It's definitely pretty brutal on a physical level. Some people have been walking for weeks because of injury.

Personally I've lost five toenails, and I have a really bad skin rash.

Your legs and your bones really ache, especially in the first few weeks. As it goes on you get a little stronger and it's easier to remain injury-free.

WWHHHHYYYYYY??????????

[Lamplighter]

I've often wondered, especially about "jogging", if a person's LLI is greater than 1.

Length of Life Index = Age at Death with Jogging / Age at Death with NO Jogging

Cunningham seems to have a pretty normal personality.
But would he be disappointed if his LLI was exactly 1.000 ?
(I would after having spent that much time and effort.)