http://www.cityweekly.net/utah/articles.sec-8396-1-news-quirks.html By Roland Sweet

The longest anyone can tolerate the world's quietest place is 45 minutes]]> By Roland Sweet

Wind farms could be contributing to climate change and affecting crops, according to new research based on satellite data of surface temperatures from Texas. ]]> By Roland Sweet

Following revelations that the federal General Services Administration spent $823,000 of taxpayer money on a lavish Las Vegas conference that included $3,200 for a motivational mind reader, ]]> By Roland Sweet

Police charged Gregory Derrell Lea, 42, with assaulting a 27-year-old woman in Charles County, Md. They said he “threw a couch on top of her.” (The Washington Post) ]]> By Roland Sweet

When the men couldn't produce a bill of sale for the animal, they were arrested on suspicion of rustling]]> By Roland Sweet

The gift shop at the Gettysburg National Military Park visitors’ center stopped selling bobblehead dolls of John Wilkes Booth holding a handgun after a reporter asked about them. ]]> By Roland Sweet

Holding a gun makes you think others are, too, according to research by University of Notre Dame psychologist James Brockmole and Purdue University perception expert Jessica K. Witt. ]]> By Roland Sweet

Missouri lawmakers voted to add gun owners to the list of groups protected against workplace discrimination. The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Wanda Brown, said the measure was inspired by a constituent who runs a meat-packing plant in a bad neighborhood and “was told that if he didn’t quit carrying his gun, the USDA would not come and inspect his product,” meaning he couldn’t sell it. After the measure passed, 115 to 36, openly gay Rep. Mike Colona declared, “What this body has done is put protecting gun ownership above discriminating against somebody because of their sexual orientation.” (St. Louis’s KWMU-FM) ]]> By Roland Sweet

A Brazilian school system is spending $670,000 to provide students with computer chips, to be embedded in school uniforms, that send a text message to the cell phones of parents when their children enter the school or alert them if the children fail to arrive within 20 minutes after classes begin. Coriolano Moraes, education secretary of Vitoria da Conquista’s 213 public schools, said nearly half of the city’s 43,000 public-school students have started using the chips and that all of them will be using them by next year. (Associated Press)]]> By Roland Sweet

English fire fighters summoned to rescue Simon Burgess, 41, found the victim floating face down in a 3-foot-deep model boating lake in Gosport, Hampshire. They refused to enter the water because it was above their ankles. “The officers were trained to go into ankle-deep water, which is level one, so we waited for level-two officers, who can go into chest high,” Tony Nicholls, a watch manager at Gosport fire station said. “One of the police officers told me he would like to go in the water, and I advised him in the strongest terms not to.” Nicholls added that because the body had already been in the water for five or 10 minutes when he arrived, “I made an assessment it was a body retrieval and not a rescue.” (Britain’s The Telegraph)]]> By Cecil Adams

Seeking sexual gratification by blindfolding pupils to play a "tasting game" and then spoon-feeding them his ...]]> By Roland Sweet

He was puffing on one when it exploded in his mouth, severely burning his face, knocking out his front teeth and blowing off a chunk of his tongue.]]> By Roland Sweet

Rigging pay phones in the Washington, D.C., area to make phantom calls to toll-free numbers so he could collect a fee for each call.]]> By Roland Sweet

The Los Angeles Police Department warned city real-estate agents to stop using unmanned aircraft to take aerial photos and videos of homes for sale. ]]> By Roland Sweet

He admitted setting the fire and writing the note, hoping to frighten her so she wouldn’t divorce him.]]> By Roland Sweet

Controlling wildfires in Australia by introducing elephants and rhinoceroses Down Under.]]> By Roland Sweet

The Environmental Protection Agency is penalizing the companies that supply motor fuel about $6.8 million for failing to comply with the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act, ]]> By Roland Sweet

A federal court in Brazil sentenced politician Talvane de Albuquerque to 103 years in prison for ordering four of his aides to kill congresswoman Ceci Cunha so he could replace her in the Chamber of Deputies. Albuquerque was Cunha’s alternate and would have assumed her seat. Albuquerque was also convicted of ordering the murders of Cunha’s husband and two of her relatives. (Associated Press) ]]> By Roland Sweet

Scott Bennett, 45, published a newspaper obituary for his mother, even though she was still alive. Brookville, Pa., police Chief Ken Dworek said Bennett submitted the bogus notice to The Jeffersonian Democrat ]]> By Roland Sweet

After an internal review of the metropolitan Washington, D.C., transit authority showed 645 items missing from one branch, investigators found 74 items in the home of a branch employee. ]]>