26 February 2012
WeirdNews Week
26/02/12 06:58
This has been a week of odd news stories. I mean we just kept running into things that struck us as strange. For example, the Victoria BC police department had a problem with missing equipment. They didn’t think it had been stolen, it was just that their record keeping was sloppy. So the Chief ordered a full search and audit of all police property and vehicles to find the stuff. What was one of the first things they found? The Chief’s loaded service revolver improperly stored under the drivers seat of his own police car. As Marsha said, you’d think he’d at least clean up his own act before issuing the order. But then this was the same cop that while he was Chief in Vancouver had a series of loud disagreements with the City Manager. In the middle of that he decided to show him what a good cop he was by leaving one of his target sheets from the firing range on the Manager’s desk. You know just to show off the six consecutive head shots he’d gotten. He was absolutely shocked when everyone viewed that as a threat. Most of BC has decided the Chief of the Victoria’s Police Department isn’t the brightest bulb in the box.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2012/02/22/bc-graham-gun-victoria.html
Then there is The City of Kingston Ontario. They decided to honour a group of local kids that made it big by renaming a block of one of the downtown streets for the band. This isn’t unusual. I mean I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a Beatles St in Liverpool. Or a Grateful Dead Road somewhere in San Francisco. I’m sure if I look hard enough there would a Weird Symbol Guy Circle somewhere in Minneapolis. So it shouldn’t surprise me that The City of Kingston did this as well. (Yes, The City of Kingston is apparently the official name. Kingston wasn’t good enough. No, it had to be The City of Kingston, to avoid confusion with The Mire of Kingston, and The Crackhouse of Kingston.) However stop and think about this. You have an established business located on Barrack St. in The City of Kingston Ontario. Overnight your address changes. It’s now
The Auditing Firm of Scrooge and Marly,
100 The Tragically Hip Way,
How about Smith Funerals on The Tragically Hip Way, or Kingston Trial Attorneys on The Tragically Hip Way. I’m just not sure it was thought out well.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/offbeat/story/2012/02/22/tragically-hip-way.html
I did run across one strange non news item. We got to wondering if there were any other teams with a duck as a mascot. After some searching I found a list on Wikipedia. It turns out that the University of Oregon shares the name with Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken New Jersey. As interesting as that was I found a couple of other things even more amazing. First that someone took (and had) the time to compile this list. Secondly I spent the next hour laughing at what some colleges accept as a mascot. I mean the Long Beach State Dirtbags? The Loras Duhawks? The Gettysburg Bullets struck me as a little disturbing. The 41 teams known as The Bulldogs shows a lack of creativity. There are twelve teams that are known as the Bearcats, but only one, Sam Houston State in Texas that is known as the Bearkats. It says a lot when a College can’t spell. Had to be from Texas.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_college_sports_team_nicknames
So how do you know if someone is not working in their native language? I mean OTHER than because they’re from Texas that is. How about this little story I ran across Friday. Authorities in Wuhan China raided a warehouse full of counterfeit goods. Among other items they seized a pile of one burner gas hotplates marked Apple iPhone. I guess the counterfeiters knew things marked with the Apple Logo and iPhone sold and just slapped it on anything. You know, this is the reason I’ve been hesitant to have a shirt with Japanese writing on it. I may think it says Wisdom and Honor when it really says I Am a Stupid Tourist. Stop to think of the number of people with Chinese characters tattooed on their person. Not only do they not speak the language, but in all likelihood the tattoo artist didn’t either. Now there’s a recipe for success.
http://www.macnn.com/articles/12/02/24/hotplates.complete.with.logo.name/
Doug & Marsha
PIX: A Stormy Day on the Water. A Snowy Day on the Mainland
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2012/02/22/bc-graham-gun-victoria.html
Then there is The City of Kingston Ontario. They decided to honour a group of local kids that made it big by renaming a block of one of the downtown streets for the band. This isn’t unusual. I mean I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a Beatles St in Liverpool. Or a Grateful Dead Road somewhere in San Francisco. I’m sure if I look hard enough there would a Weird Symbol Guy Circle somewhere in Minneapolis. So it shouldn’t surprise me that The City of Kingston did this as well. (Yes, The City of Kingston is apparently the official name. Kingston wasn’t good enough. No, it had to be The City of Kingston, to avoid confusion with The Mire of Kingston, and The Crackhouse of Kingston.) However stop and think about this. You have an established business located on Barrack St. in The City of Kingston Ontario. Overnight your address changes. It’s now
The Auditing Firm of Scrooge and Marly,
100 The Tragically Hip Way,
How about Smith Funerals on The Tragically Hip Way, or Kingston Trial Attorneys on The Tragically Hip Way. I’m just not sure it was thought out well.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/offbeat/story/2012/02/22/tragically-hip-way.html
I did run across one strange non news item. We got to wondering if there were any other teams with a duck as a mascot. After some searching I found a list on Wikipedia. It turns out that the University of Oregon shares the name with Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken New Jersey. As interesting as that was I found a couple of other things even more amazing. First that someone took (and had) the time to compile this list. Secondly I spent the next hour laughing at what some colleges accept as a mascot. I mean the Long Beach State Dirtbags? The Loras Duhawks? The Gettysburg Bullets struck me as a little disturbing. The 41 teams known as The Bulldogs shows a lack of creativity. There are twelve teams that are known as the Bearcats, but only one, Sam Houston State in Texas that is known as the Bearkats. It says a lot when a College can’t spell. Had to be from Texas.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_college_sports_team_nicknames
So how do you know if someone is not working in their native language? I mean OTHER than because they’re from Texas that is. How about this little story I ran across Friday. Authorities in Wuhan China raided a warehouse full of counterfeit goods. Among other items they seized a pile of one burner gas hotplates marked Apple iPhone. I guess the counterfeiters knew things marked with the Apple Logo and iPhone sold and just slapped it on anything. You know, this is the reason I’ve been hesitant to have a shirt with Japanese writing on it. I may think it says Wisdom and Honor when it really says I Am a Stupid Tourist. Stop to think of the number of people with Chinese characters tattooed on their person. Not only do they not speak the language, but in all likelihood the tattoo artist didn’t either. Now there’s a recipe for success.
http://www.macnn.com/articles/12/02/24/hotplates.complete.with.logo.name/
Doug & Marsha
PIX: A Stormy Day on the Water. A Snowy Day on the Mainland