The dating website BeautifulPeople.com, whichallegedly limits its membership (600,000 people worldwide) to include onlyattractive people, announced recently that it would sponsor a companion egg andsperm bank at which its members could sell their services for a fee. However,according to a quote by website founder Robert Hintze in Newsweek in June, homely customers are welcome to make purchases."Initially, we hesitated to widen the offering to non-beautiful people.But everyoneincluding ugly peoplewould like to bring good-looking childreninto the world, and we can't be selfish with our attractive gene pool."
Least Competent Criminals
Questionable Judgments: (1) Austin, Texas,police issued an arrest warrant in June for Jose Romero, who they say robbed aSpeedy Stop clerk after demanding money and menacingly pointing to hiswaistband, which held a caulking gun. (2) Steven Kyle took about $75,000 worthof merchandise from Cline Jewelers in Edmonds, Wash., in June, but as he leftthe store, employees shouted to passers-by, several of who began to chase Kyle.Almost immediately, Kyle dropped his (fake) gun and the jewelry and fell to theground exhausted. Kyle later revealed that he had only one lung.
Thinning the Herd
(1) Police in Houston said the man who was killed when hejumped from an 18-wheeler that was aimed at a freeway pillar on July 6 was partof a two-man scheme to defraud an auto insurance company. Police said it wasthe other man who was originally scheduled to drive but that, citing the dangerinvolved, he (wisely) backed out. (2) Inmate Carlos Medina-Bailon, 30, who wasawaiting trial on drug-related charges in El Paso, Texas, escapedin July by hiding in the jail's garbage-collection system. Medina-Bailon's bodywas found later the same day under mounds of trash in a landfill.
Armed and Clumsy
Men Who Accidentally Shot Themselves Recently:Robert Stewart, 55, a police academy instructor, during class (LibertyTownship, Ohio, April); Lazaro Flores, 50, practicing quick-draw maneuvers athis girlfriend's house (Cape Coral, Fla., January); Michael Webb, 22, showingfriends how to disarm a gunman (Camp Lejeune, N.C., February); Michael RandallJr., 19, outside a convenience store, preparing to rob it (Athens, Ga.,December); Vincent Medina, 19, using his waistband as a holster, which led to ahit in the groin (Fontana, Calif., June); and Brandon Boyce, 24, also using hiswaistband as a holsterand also hit in the groin (Omaha, Neb., July).
Weird Lives
Life Imitates a Drew Barrymore Movie: MichellePhilpots of Spalding, England, and her husband, Ian, haveadjusted to Michelle's anterograde amnesia (the result of two car crashesdecades ago), which robs her of short-term memory and forces her to re-learnher life every day. According to a June profile in London's DailyMail, that includes Ian having to convince Michelle that the stranger inher bed every morning is her husband, which he sometimes does by showing hertheir wedding photographs.
Career Downgrade
(1) In May, Jim Janson, a 20-year veteran"carny" (who ran the games of chance at Canada's traveling Bill LynchShows), graduated from the law school at Dalhousie University in Halifax, NovaScotia, and has set out on his new calling. (2) Downgrade Cut Short: EduardoArrocha, whom “News of the Weird” mentioned in 2008 when he was "Eak theGeek," the "Pain-Proof Man" at New York's Coney Island CircusSideshow (eating light bulbs, putting his tongue in a mousetrap, etc.),completed his first-year studies at Thomas M. Cooley Law School in Michigan butdecided not to return and said he would concentrate on publishing his poetry.
A News of the Weird Classic
ThePhiladelphiaInquirer reported in June 1992 on the local "Silent Meeting Club,"consisting of people who gather at various spots around town and make it apoint not to speak to each other. Founder John Hudak said his inspiration wasthe observation that people often feel obligated to talk when they really havenothing to say, such as at parties. Hudak said he wondered how nice it would be"to have a group of people where you wouldn't have to talk." Hudakwas interviewed at lunchtime in a downtown park, with several of his fellowmembers nearby, not talking.
© 2010 Chuck Shepherd
