Results tagged “off-beat” from Odd News | newslite.tv
Moses and the biblical Israelites could have been stoned when the Ten Commandments were brought down from Mount Sinai, it has been claimed.Benny Shanon, a professor of cognitive psychology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, claims psychedelic drugs formed an integral part of the religious rites of Israelites in biblical times.
According to him, drinks based on the bark of the acacia tree, frequently mentioned in the Old Testament, could have hallucinogenic effects.
Continue reading and comment >>Was Moses high?.
A water powered sports car which can reach 100mph and has zero emission is to be launched.The Morgan Lifecar has been developed by a consortium of UK companies and universities at a cost of £1.9 million over the last three years.
But makers say despite doing 0-60 in seven second the car is so quiet they may have to add MP3 sound effects to make it sound like a powerful petrol engine.
Continue reading and comment >>Water powered 100mph sports car.
Cosmopolitan Magazine has named the Apple store one of the best places for women to pick up a man.The unlikely location normally associated with geeks rather than eligible bachelors ranked alongside gyms, rock-climbing center and Fortune 500 companies.
In the latest issue of Cosmo it says: "Most guys are natural gadget lovers, and with sales of iPods and MacBooks skyrocketing, more men than ever are stopping by Apple boutiques."
Continue reading and comment >>Beauty and the Apple geek.
A Scottish student has been crowned the UKs top lard carver ... yes you read that correctly.Entrants in the annual competition use pastry lard to model intricate sculptures around a wire frame.
The more unusual works this year included one of Ozzy Osbourne singing into a microphone, two horses with a rider on one and the winner, an 18 inch Mickey Mouse.
Continue reading and comment >>Fat-carvers fight for title.
Firefighters were called in to help rescue a paragliding dog after it was left dangling from a tree 100 ft above the ground.
Strapped to the chest of owner Paul Hansen, Emma, a four-year-old, chihuahua had been launched in the paraglider from Warburton in Melbourne, Australia.
But shortly after take-off the pair got caught in a tree and Paul was forced to use his mobile phone to text friends who in turn called police and firefighters.
Strapped to the chest of owner Paul Hansen, Emma, a four-year-old, chihuahua had been launched in the paraglider from Warburton in Melbourne, Australia.
But shortly after take-off the pair got caught in a tree and Paul was forced to use his mobile phone to text friends who in turn called police and firefighters.
Continue reading and comment >>Paragliding dog rescued.
They include sewage pipes, tree houses and dock cranes - welcome to 10 of the world's weirdest hotels.While some people are just happy to get away from it all when they go on holiday, others insist on something a bit different, and it doesn't get much more different than these.
Continue reading and comment >>Top 10 odd hotels.
A wallet which was lost almost half a century ago has finally been returned to its owner.When Ron Russell lost his wallet in 1962 he never reported it missing, but when it turned up during a recent sping clean it was handed into police who decided to track him down.
Officers used clues from the photos and letters in the wallet to track down the 81-year-old, a former Royal Marine who is now in a nursing home in Hull.
Continue reading and comment >>Missing wallet returned - after 46 years.
Hackers have broken into the Met police website - leaving them with an taunting comments about their counter-terrorism unit and an image of a green teddy bear on their front page. The teddy Brobee, a character from children's TV series Yo Gabba Gabba, is quoted on the site saying: "I see that teh so15 anti-terrorism anti-lulz police are hiring more incompetent nervy edgy sociopaths to make London's streets just that little bit safer! Oh lulz."
A spokesman for the Met said the page had been noticed and since put back to normal.
Continue reading and comment >>Metropolitan Police Hacked.
A-list movie stars often insist on having the very best, and in LA this even extends to the tap water.The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California has been awarded the title 'tastiest tap water' after beating off rivals at the Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting.
With a selection criteria was based on taste, smell, texture, after taste and clarity - a panel of 10 judges supped sparkling, tap and bottled water from 19 US states and 9 other countries.
This is not like any rugby tackle you have seen before - the 'players' skin has been removed and their skulls cut open so you can see their brains.It is one of 200 displays at Gunther von Hagens’ latest Body Worlds exhibition, where he display plastinated bodies which have been 'frozen' with plastic and stripped of their skin.
Body Worlds 4, which opens in Manchester will focus on a sports and features a badminton player, a jumper doing the splits and ‘Wave Roller’ – a male plastinate rolling inside a metal wheel.
Continue reading and comment >>Now that's a sporting body.
The worlds youngest show-jumper has landed a sponsorship deal - at the age of four.Arron Butterfield first sat on his pony aged 18 months, won his first riding-show prize aged two and received over 25 rosettes in 2007.
Now he has achieved what many show-jumpers dream of, a sponsorship deal which will see him receive thousands of pounds over the next ten years.
Continue reading and comment >>Youngest jockey lands sponsorship deal.
Stores in Singapore have pulled a range of Jesus themed cosmetics from the shelves after complaints from local Roman Catholics.The 'Lookin Good for Jesus' range had included "Virtuous vanilla" lip balm and a "Get Tight with Christ" hand and body cream.
Locals had complained that the American products were disrespectful, full of innuendo and trivialised Christianity.
Continue reading and comment >>Jesus make-up row.
More than £10 million worth of damage is caused in the UK each year by drivers who follow their sat-nav down inappropriate roads by, it has been claimed.Drivers are failing to pay attention to road sign and warnings and blindly trusting their GPS systems, often meaning they end-up on roads with weight restrictions - or wedged under low bridges.
Network Rail say 2,000 of their bridges were hit by lorries in 2007, causing 5,000 hours of delays to UK trains, all because the drivers were following what their satellite navigation system told them.
Continue reading and comment >>Sat-navs cause £10 million damage.
A battle is underway to find the UKs best cup of coffee - apparently the answer is not just 'the first one of the day.'There are 2,000 baristas in the UK who are professionally trained in the art of espresso preparation and the top 24 are set fight it out this week in London.
Each will be judged on four aspects of their drinks; taste, beverage presentation, personal presentation and barista technique.
Continue reading and comment >>Best cup of coffee in the UK.
A gizmo which attaches to your knee and generates energy as you walk could soon be used for charging gadgets on the go.Boffins who created the device - an adapted knee brace - say one minute of walking provides enough electricity to sustain 30 minutes of talk time on a mobile phone.
The device is rigged with a generator, clutch, gears and a real-time control system to selectively engage and disengage power generation. It collect the kinetic energy typically lost when the muscles of the body slow the knee after swinging the leg forward to take a step.
Continue reading and comment >>Bionic knee charges iPods.
When photographer Steve Lowe visited London zoo left his normal camera at home taking a thermal imaging one instead.The images show just how well feathers and fur insulate animals, and reveal some more unusual tactics to keep warm including some birds cutting off the blood to one leg to conserve energy.
The photographs were taken using a FLIR civilian thermal imaging camera by and have been donated to London Zoo for use as part of it's education programmes.
* Pictured are Three South African black-footed penguins trundling along the edge of their cold pool.
Continue reading and comment >>Thermal camera at London Zoo.
British spooks have admitted they are having problems keeping up to date with internet technologies like Facebook and Skype.An Intelligence and Security report has revealed that GCHQ - the UKs electronic spying and code-breaking agency - are struggling to use the new sites and systems to gather information.
For decades they have been able to tap phone lines, but now they warn this is not so easy with more people, including terrorists, using websites and the internet to keep in contact.
Continue reading and comment >>British spies can't Facebook.
NASA will tomorrow, for the first time ever, broadcast a song into deep space.The Deep Space Network will be used to aim 'Across the Universe' (Recorded by the Beatles 40 years ago) at the North Star, Polaris, which is located 431 light years away from Earth.
The song will travel across the universe at a speed of 186,000 miles per second.
Former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney said: "Amazing! Well done, NASA! Send my love to the aliens."
Continue reading and comment >>NASA send Beatles to space.
A bizarre-looking creature the size of a cat with a flexible snout has been discovered by scientists.Dubbed 'Rhynochocyon udzungwensis' it is a type of elephant shrew and has been found in the mountains of Tanzania.
Looking like a cross between a miniature antelope and a small ant eater the animal has distinctive colouring and is larger than other species of giant elephant shrew.
Continue reading and comment >>Strange new mammal discovered.
A speed-dating event has been set up to bring together rich older women (over 35 with a $500,000 salary or $4 million assets) and younger attractive guys.On 7th Feb, 20 "sugar mamas" and 20 "boy toys" will meet for the first time at 230 Fifth club in New York - where they will have a few minutes to impress each other.
"Symbiosis has allowed ugly rich men to attract young, gorgeous, money-hungry women for centuries; it's now the women's turn," says website pocketchangenyc.com where the event is being promoted.
Continue reading and comment >>Wanted: Rich older women.
Flat-pack houses from IKEA stores have gone on show in the UK.The homes, ranging from one bedroom apartments to three bedroom houses will be available in Tyneside costing up to £149,995.
The timber-framed 'BoKlok' structures will be sold by the Swedish furniture giant exclusively to first time buyers earning between £15,000 and £35,000.
Continue reading and comment >>Ikea flat-pack houses on sale in UK.
Special surgical gowns with zips where incisions should be have been designed to help medial students know where to cut.It is hoped the gown - with nine zips to show the main points of entry - will improve students understanding of where surgical incisions need to be made, and what they mean to the patient.
The zips show the would-be surgeons where to make cuts to perform tasks such as removing the appendix and conducting open-heart surgery.
Continue reading and comment >>Zips help medical students find incisions.
While the brightly-coloured swings and see-saws might look brand new, the people playing on them don't - welcome to the UKs first playground for the over 60s.The young at heart pensioners of Manchester, UK, have with the help of a local housing firm, built this £15,000 play-ground to keep themselves fit.
Six pieces of specially designed equipment provide gentle exercise for different parts of the body such as hips, legs and torso.
Continue reading and comment >>Playground for the over 60s.
An asteroid up-to 2,000 feet across has passed close to the Earth - as you may have noticed, it didn't hit.The object '2007 TU24' whizzed past just 1.4 times the distance from the Earth to the moon.
A collision of a similar sized object happens on average once every 37,000 years and would have a major impact on the human population.
TU24 was spotted in October by the NASA-funded Catalina Sky Survey in Arizona.
Giselle, Jennifer Lopez and Jessica Biel are the latest stars to be photographed by Annie Leibowitz as Disney characters.
Giselle became Wendy Darling from Peter Pan, Jessica Biel became Pocahontas and J-Lo traveled on Aladdin's magic carpet as Jasmine.
The photographs have been released mark Disney Parks Year of a Million Dreams celebration in 2008.
Giselle became Wendy Darling from Peter Pan, Jessica Biel became Pocahontas and J-Lo traveled on Aladdin's magic carpet as Jasmine.
The photographs have been released mark Disney Parks Year of a Million Dreams celebration in 2008.
Continue reading and comment >>Giselle's Disney photoshoot.
Ringo Starr, walked off the set of US TV show Live with Regis and Kelly after he was told to cut his performance short.
The 67-year-old former Beatle was promoting his new album, Liverpool 8 and due to play the title track, but he wasn't happy when bosses told him he only had two and a half minutes.
Starr's publicist said in a statement after the show: "We offered to cut back our chat time and asked them to fade or go to commercial.
Continue reading and comment >>Ringo walks out of live US Show.
A digital book telling the fairy tale 'Three Little Pigs' has been slammed by a UK government agency, because it could offend Muslims.
The CD-rom version of the story tells the classic tale in a modern way and is called 'Three Little Cowboy Builders'.
But judges at this year's Bett Award, where Becta - the government's educational technology agency is a partner - said that they had "concerns about the Asian community and the use of pigs raises cultural issues".
They also warned that the story might "alienate parts of the workforce (building trade)".
(Off-beat News) A sports car built for fascist Italian dictator Benito Mussolini is set to sell for £1,000,000 at auction.The dark red, 1935 Alfa Romeo 6C 2300 Pescara Spyder was built to the special order of Mussolini with a dickey seat and the engine was specially tuned to deliver 95bhp rather than the 68bhp of the standard model.
The car was driven in the 1936 Mille Miglia by Ercole Boratto finishing 13th overall and 3rd in class.
Continue reading and comment >>Mussolini car for auction.
Virgin Galactic have released the final design of their ship which will take high-paying passengers into space.Starting in 2010 the ship will take eight people (two pilot astronauts and six ticketed passengers) on two-and-a-half hour sub-orbital trips.
Despite each seat costing £100,000 Virgin Galactic say 200 people have already booked with another 85,000 having registered interest.
Continue reading and comment >>Commercial spaceship unveiled.
Over half of singles say they will 'research' a potential date on social network sites such as Facebook before saying yes.
53 percent of men and 54 percent of women claim they use websites like Facebook, MySpace and Google to check up on would-be love interests before agreeing to go out on a date with them.
This means they can see who the person is friends with, look at pictures of what they get up to and some even claim to contact the persons previous partners to ask them what they are like.
53 percent of men and 54 percent of women claim they use websites like Facebook, MySpace and Google to check up on would-be love interests before agreeing to go out on a date with them.
This means they can see who the person is friends with, look at pictures of what they get up to and some even claim to contact the persons previous partners to ask them what they are like.
Continue reading and comment >>Singles 'web research' prospective partners.
(Off-Beat News) Brit artist Alison Jackson, who specializes in creating photos with celebrity look-a-likes, says she is struggling to find a Gordon Brown.
Jackson has produced cutting edge satirical images with political and celebrity look-a-likes including Tony Blair, George W Bush, Britney Spears and David Beckam.
For six years she has tried to find a suitable Gordon Brown - without success.
"It's exasperating," she said.
Jackson has produced cutting edge satirical images with political and celebrity look-a-likes including Tony Blair, George W Bush, Britney Spears and David Beckam.
For six years she has tried to find a suitable Gordon Brown - without success.
"It's exasperating," she said.
Continue reading and comment >>Desperately seeking Gordon.
(Offbeat News) An artist has shown that the humble Lego brick is more than just child's play - by creating an entire exhibition based around brick forms.
33-year-old Nathan Sawaya's show 'The Art of the Brick' features more than 30 works and uses over one million colorful LEGO bricks
Items on show include a 5ft hand, life size sculptures and abstract 2 dimentional 'canvas.'
Continue reading and comment >>Lego - more than child's play.
Botanists have discovered a new kind of Palm so big it can be seen from space.
The gigantic Tahina spectabilis, found by accident in Madagascar, grows over 18m high and it's leaves can each measure 5m in diameter.
But the plant has an unusual and spectacular life-cycle, after growing to dizzying heights it bursts into branches of hundreds of tiny flowers using so much energy it dies.
Continue reading and comment >>Suicide tree can be seen from space.
Psychologists claim users of Apple Mac computers have a distinct mindset that predetermines their responses to and interpretations of situations.
A study of 7,500 people found that Mac users are more liberal, less modest, and more assured of their own superiority than the population at large.
The boffins from Mindset Media say that as such, Mac users are also more likely to seek varied and novel experiences, believing that imagination and intellectual curiosity contribute to a life well lived.
A study of 7,500 people found that Mac users are more liberal, less modest, and more assured of their own superiority than the population at large.
The boffins from Mindset Media say that as such, Mac users are also more likely to seek varied and novel experiences, believing that imagination and intellectual curiosity contribute to a life well lived.
Continue reading and comment >>Mac users have 'different' brains.
A wall covered in graffiti by elusive artist Banksy has sold online for £208,100 - now the winning bidder needs to take it home.
The work, which features a stenciled design of a painter putting the finishing touches to the name Banksy, is spray-painted onto the wall of a post-production company in London.
When Luti Fagbenle, who runs the company which owns the wall, saw it he decided to cash in on the work knowing original Banksy's can sell for over £250,000.
Continue reading and comment >>Banksy wall sells for £208,100.
Tanorexia (obsessed with tanned skin) and Chindia (Chine and India) are just two of the words Australians are currently voting for as their favorite words of 2007.
The online vote organized by the Macquarie Dictionary contains 85 new words which reflect global developments and trends.
Other words include 'salad dodger' an overweight person, 'Manscaping' male grooming and 'Man-flu' a mild cold whose symptoms are exaggerated by the sufferer.
The online vote organized by the Macquarie Dictionary contains 85 new words which reflect global developments and trends.
Other words include 'salad dodger' an overweight person, 'Manscaping' male grooming and 'Man-flu' a mild cold whose symptoms are exaggerated by the sufferer.
Continue reading and comment >>Australians pick word of 2007.
(Odd News) A stuffed fox, a voodoo doll and fermenting wine are some of the weird items found in the drawers of UK office workers.
Relocation company Space Solutions say they have found such odd items when helping people move between offices they have produced a Top 10 list which also includes a racing car and a grand piano.
Space Solutions business manager, Lee Brandie, said: "It never ceases to amaze me the bizarre range of items which are stored in offices around the country."
Continue reading and comment >>Odd objects found in desks.
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