The preference for boys in China is one thing but when bodily fluids become part of a ritual, this is gross. Once a year (for centuries) eggs are soaked before cooked in urine collected from grade school boys bathroom. No one says how long the urine is sitting before collection but maybe it doesn't matter. Health properties? Read more
Threats of killing aren't exactly new in Pakistan--these just happen to be over text messages. Pakistan Telecommunications Agency wants (what it considers) offensive or obscene texts knocked out. It says 1695 words aren't acceptable. In response, roughly 10% of those banned words now equal a death threat. 150 members have been told to step down--or die. Read more
If you’re a Pakistani and involved in conversation, don’t refer to the act as “intercourse” via text message. If it involves flatulence, shorten it to “gas” if you want that text to go through because a Pakistan government agency now considers a whole slew of words as offensive or obscene. And the PTA’s opinion matters. Read more
A stray mouse found in a United States classroom would be lucky not to find itself on a glue tray, for an unanticipated and early demise. But in the land of "Dracula," bats apparently get some precedence. Only in Transylvania do the bats become respected enough for students to move classrooms for a test--to give a flock of bats some peace and quiet, and much-needed beauty rest. Read more
Someone's responsible for the unthinkable--damaging one of Rome's most famous fountains on Piazza Navona by breaking off pieces and beheading figures from the pink marble. Video shows a man who breaks Rome's Fontaine du Maure in Piazza Navona while using a rock as a weapon. Police have the pieces. And it's a replica, one that in itself is over a hundred years old. Read more
There’s more than one thing in this world that can be crooked. One part of Italy doesn’t want anything to do with sales of ‘trashy’ items like the Leaning Tower of Pisa as penises, or the oh-so-popular ‘David's' revealed genitalia. Read more
A Swedish guy's gotten himself in trouble after trying to split atoms. Those atomic experiments took place in his kitchen -- a minor meltdown on a stove dubbed just a 'hobby' by Richard Handl. It seems Handl's been housing radioactive elements of radium, americium and uranium in his apartment -- in the south of Sweden. Read more
A Lithuania mayor is tough on crime: Vilnius Mayor Arturas Zuokas is making clear how he feels about rude people who park luxury cars like Mercedes on his city streets: The mayor speaks straight from the heart--and breaks the heart of car lovers while rolling over a new Mercedes using a military tank that crushes the car. The mayor would like bike lanes utilized. Read more
It's one better than American ads for turning gold jewelry into cash: Taiwan plans to turn dog feces into gold -- bars. Winnings could equal more than a month's salary in the New Taipei City of northern Taiwan as it prompts canine owners to clean up after those canines. It's an incentive that's literally worth gold. And, this time, the dog poop doesn't have to be weighed. Read more
The death toll of 86 has been lowered to 76 as, July 25, Anders Behring Breivik enters court for the first time in the terrorist bombing and youth camp shooting massacre in Oslo--the gunman confesses to the shooting and bomb attacks but denies criminal responsibility. He says he was saving Norway from Muslims. His father wants him dead. Read more