wednesdayweird

Contractor wanted on a repair fraud charge

2011-10-18T02:59:00.000-07:00

A charge of home repair fraud has been filed against an Okeene man this week in Garfield County District Court and a warrant has been issued for his arrest.

The felony charge against James Quenton Johnson, aka “Booger” Johnson or “Weird Beard” Johnson, was filed Wednesday and the warrant issued for his arrest.

Johnson is accused of entering into a contract for home repair with a Garber woman in late August while having no intent to perform the work, according to the charges.

Johnson, 46, entered into the contract Aug. 26 to build a patio cover for $3,300 and was paid $1,500 before the job began to buy supplies, according to an affidavit filed in the case. The woman told Deputy Laura Roberts that Johnson wrote a contract for the job, which was to begin Aug. 29 and finish no later than Sept. 2, and both of them signed it.

On Aug. 29, the woman said Johnson did not show up for the job, so she went to run some errands after calling Johnson several times without getting a response. When she returned, there was a handwritten note from Johnson saying he would return in the morning.

When he returned, Johnson said he had paid a man $400 to be his helper and was now unable to contact him and told the woman he had “made a bad decision,” according to the affidavit. He said he could not start the job because he did not have enough money for the supplies and asked the woman for a “draw” to purchase the supplies needed.

The woman said she told Johnson she would not give him a draw but pay the extra money to have the supplies delivered and subtract that total from the rest of contracted pay. The woman said the total needed for the rest of the supplies was $128.46. Johnson had ordered about $600 supplies with the $1,500 she already had paid him, according to the affidavit.

Johnson told the woman he was going to “roust out” the man he hired as a help, left and never returned, according to the affidavit.

On Sept. 2, the woman said she received a text message from Johnson asking for her address so he could return her money. The woman tried to contact Johnson several times but did not get a response.

Home repair fraud is punishable by up to 10 years in prison and/or a fine of up to $5,000. Bond on the warrant for Johnson’s arrest was set at $5,000.

Source http://enidnews.com/localnews/x744034952/Contractor-wanted-on-a-repair-fraud-charge

Wednesday Gets Weird With The New Movement Improv

2011-07-28T22:50:00.001-07:00

Big Brother tonight, why not go for something unscripted? Beginning at 8 p.m., Get Weird Wednesday hits The Mink for a night of open improv hosted by Chris and Tami of The New Movement improv troupe.

The New Movement (TNM) got its start in Austin in 2009 when founders Chris Trew and Tami Nelson met during an improv training class. TNM's approach to the craft has been to highlight the "irrational or bizarre" with an experimental and absurdist nature. If improv were an animal, TNM might just be a platypus. Up until recently, Houstonians had to travel to distant lands (Austin and New Orleans) to learn improv The New Movement way. Beginning this summer, however, TNM has opened classes up to the Houston community, with the next round kicking off in September.

Get Weird Wednesday occurs the fourth Wednesday of every month, and this month's will be especially weird. From 8 - 8:30 p.m., special guests Chris and Tami will bring their irreverent style to Houston to perform their two-person, long form show. After that, Chris and Tami encourage the audience to jump up and join them and other TNM performers for "The Shootaround," which is open to anyone, improv masters or newbies.

If you are a little gun shy and would rather share your talents solo, stick around until 9:30 for the anything goes Block Party. Performers are invited to bring their best comedy stylings, standup, music, character monologues, poems, sketches, video and anything in between, for 5 minutes of fame.

Source http://blogs.houstonpress.com/artattack/2011/07/your_wednesday_just_got_weirde.php

A samurai and Rocky McIntosh at the Presidents Race

2011-06-23T21:59:00.000-07:00

“It’s a samurai!” the P.A. announcer said at Nats Park on Wednesday night, as a samurai emerged from the right field corner and began taking out giant racing presidents.

The surviving giant racing presidents kept going, headed toward a finish line held by Redskins linebacker Rocky McIntosh and world-famous gymnast Dominique Dawes.

Weird, no? And you know what? That still wasn’t as weird as what happened on the field. I mean, it’s late June and these Nats are .500 and in legitimate wild-card contention. Sort-of strangers are coming up to me and wanting to talk about Washington’s baseball team. You could populate the Presidents Race with three slices of talking watermelon, a grumpy kangaroo from Prague, an obstacle course made of broken yellow exploding laptops and coucous smoothies, plus Rex Grossman and John Beck, and I’d still be like, pshaw, that’s nothing, did you see what the team just did?

Plus, look to your right, at that little box with the top five most popular WaPo sports links. Odds are, at least two of them are about the Nats. The Nats. The Rapture is here, after all. I mean, Adam Kilgore has started going with Juggernats, and that works for me.

Anyhow, these images are from Cheryl Nichols and Let Teddy Win. They’re weird. Just not that weird.

(And yes, I realize it was U.S.-Japan Night or something like that. Still, a samurai taking out a giant racing Thomas Jefferson? That doesn’t happen on every U.S. Japan Night. And I’m pretty sure neither McIntosh nor Dawes is Japanese.)

Source http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dc-sports-bog/post/a-samurai-and-rocky-mcintosh-at-the-presidents-race/2011/06/23/AGcHoFhH_blog.html

From spectacular to unspeakable, the Mariners cover it all during weird home opener

2011-04-11T21:26:00.000-07:00

Well, opening night at Safeco Field was fun for a while.

And then the game started.

Leave it to the Mariners to turn their own party into a wake. On a night deemed magnificent before the first pitch, the home team was handed a celebratory atmosphere, and like a relay runner with bad hands, it dropped that baton at the worst possible time.

Before a sellout crowd of 45,727, the Mariners looked terrible in a 12-3 loss to Cleveland. They might not play this bad for the rest of the season. At most, they should only have a handful of games in this pathetic genre throughout the year. But they had to save their worst for first, and for those who watched this team Friday night looking for a reason to get excited about a rebuilding ballclub, they'll probably banish the Mariners from their minds until, oh, 2013 or so.

Starting pitcher Jason Vargas and reliever Tom Wilhelmsen combined to allow 10 runs in the top of the fourth inning alone, and by the time that disaster ended, thousands of fans rushed out of the stadium as if being forced to evacuate. Three-and-a-half innings into a new season at a wonderful ballpark, and the joy was gone.

Even worse, that painful scene was merely the tip of a broken bat kind of day. It was weird day -- inspiring yet infuriating -- that began with a Jack Wilson controversy and ended with a Wilson mea culpa.

Everything was spectacular -- except for the baseball part. Except for the most important part.

Once again, the Mariners proved that, for all their good intentions and marketing genius, they can't avoid humiliating themselves until their on-field product becomes significantly better. And after showing signs of life with two season-opening victories, this team has fallen back into a stupor reminiscent of 2010.

The Mariners (2-5) have lost five straight games. They still can't hit, and their struggles at the plate are already affecting the confidence of certain players. You should worry the most about third baseman Chone Figgins, who is 3 of 30 (.100 batting average) and off to an even worse start than last season. The offense's problems aren't limited to Figgy, however. The Mariners have scored just 13 runs in this five-game losing streak, and two of those came in the ninth inning Friday night after the Mariners had fallen behind 12-1.

Beyond Figgins, Jack Cust isn't hitting, Brendan Ryan isn't hitting, and the center-field platoon of Ryan Langerhans and Michael Saunders isn't hitting while Franklin Gutierrez is on the disabled list. Even players who've had steady starts at the plate aren't excelling enough to carry an offense.

Meanwhile, the one Mariner who has hit the ball the best so far this season, Wilson, is on the bench presently. A natural shortstop still learning to play second base, Wilson committed two errors in an inning during Wednesday's loss to Texas and removed himself from the game. Mariners manager Eric Wedge and bench coach Robby Thompson tried to convince him to stay in the game. Wilson refused.

After Wedge tried cover for his player Wednesday by saying he removed Wilson because he was "hazy," the manager admitted the truth before Friday's game.

"It's unspeakable to me," Wedge said of Wilson's refusal to return to that game.

For what it's worth, Wilson admitted his actions were "a huge mistake" after the Mariners' loss Friday night. He was professional and accountable. But the damage has been done, and he'll have to earn Wedge's confidence anew.

Will this ultimately turn into a seminal moment in which the fiery Wedge proved he's the boss? We'll see. The Mariners seem too fragile to handle anything at this moment, including tough love.

The good news is that only a week has passed in the 2011 season, and things can change quickly.

The bad news is that only a week has passed in the 2011 season, and the Mariners already seem to be managing a crisis.

Oh well. At least they nailed the Dave Niehaus tribute.

No franchise honors its heroes with as much care and heartfelt appreciation as the Mariners do. The celebration of Niehaus was so good that the son of the deceased legendary broadcaster, Andy, said during the fifth inning, "I'm staring at a 12-0 game, and it doesn't matter. You can never doubt the heart and dedication of the Mariners organization."

I won't dispute that. This franchise cares. And it's full of good people. But, man, it stinks at baseball.

"Every team is going to have them," Langerhans said of performances like this. "You don't want to harp on it so that it lingers. You have to turn the page. But you don't want to act like it never happened and not learn from it. That's not the team we want to be."

Hope not. The team we saw Friday night could bore a librarian.

We could be dramatic and say the Mariners failed to honor Niehaus' memory with good baseball. But much of Niehaus' legend came from his special gift for making awful Mariners performances sound so entertaining.

Wonder how he would've discussed this unspeakable night.

Source http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/thebrewery/2014726300_from_spectacular_to_unspeakabl.html

Grey matters

2011-03-29T21:01:00.001-07:00

All about the brain

Head or heart?

If you’re eating or particularly squeamish, you might want to skip this one. Today we believe the brain is the seat of our conscious being, but it wasn’t always so – in previous times the heart held that title.

You can see an example of that thinking through mummies from ancient Egypt, where dead bodies were carefully dried out so they wouldn’t decay easily. When preparing the body, the special priests who carried out the task would remove most of the internal organs.

And to remove the brain without messing up the face, they would stick hooked instruments into the nostrils and pull out bits of the tissue from inside the head (nice work if you could get it). But they left the heart in place, believing it to be the site of a person’s being and intelligence.

Mind-reading, sort of

Imagine if someone could read your mind – how weird would that be? Well it turns out that with a lot of expensive equipment, and under certain conditions, it can be done. Sort of, and in a really basic way.

The approach uses a technique called functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI. It measures changes in blood flow in different parts of the brain, which is a signal of brain activity.

Scientists have been able to hook volunteers up to fMRI, then using computers to analyse the data on their brain activity, they worked out with high accuracy what images the volunteers were looking at on a computer, or what images they were storing in their short-term, “working” memory after viewing them. It’s thankfully a long way off a computer rummaging your inner thoughts, but it’s still pretty amazing that scientists can link specific brain activity to what a person is thinking about.

Einstein’s brain

When you think of the word ‘brainy’, who springs to mind? Maybe Albert Einstein? He’s widely considered to have been a genius, but what made him so? Years after his death, scientists based in Canada examined his preserved brain to see if there were any clues to help us understand how Einstein could get his head around the complex mathematical concepts of spacetime and relativity.

Interestingly, they found that Einstein’s brain was not actually the size of Leitrim – in fact it was a little smaller than the average human adult brain.

But they did claim to see unusual features in his parietal lobes, which are areas of the brain involved in maths, thinking in shapes and imagining movement.

And another study, this time in California, found that one area had a relatively large number of glial cells. But was Einstein born this way, or did all that thinking about maths and the universe change his brain?

about 7,000 BC

Prehistoric brain surgery As far back as the Stone Age, surgeons used to cut holes in people’s skulls in a procedure known as trepanation. Human remains from thousands of years ago have been discovered with such holes – and some even showed signs of healing, so they must have survived the early neurosurgery. Ouch.

100BC

Getting on your nerves Galen was a big name in ancient medicine, and he was interested in anatomy. He worked out that tying off particular nerves could paralyse, and he also saw the brain as being an important controller.

15th/16th century

Hot wax breakthrough Leonardo Da Vinci was not just an artist, but he also liked to research science and the body. So he combined the two passions by putting hot wax into the brain of an ox then letting it cool. That made a cast of the “ventricles”, or cavities inside the brain.

17th century

Getting to grips with brain anatomy In 1664 an English doctor called Thomas Willis published a book that compared the brain anatomy of humans and other animals. Containing drawings by architect Christopher Wren, it is thought to have laid the foundations for the fields of neurology and neuroanatomy.

1848

An unfortunate change in personality Sometimes we learn about what an area of the brain does by seeing what happens when it goes wrong. In the mid-19th century an accident sent a metal rod through the brain of railroad worker Phineas Gage. He survived but his pre-frontal cortex was damaged and his personality changed drastically, and we now know that area of the brain is linked with personality.

19th century

Finding your voice The part of your brain that helps you talk and understand language is called Broca’s area, named after the 19th century French doctor who noticed that damage in this region was linked to speech problems.

1889

Getting to know the brain cell You have billions of brain cells called neurons in your head that wire up and talk to each other to process information and make your body work. Santiago Ramón y Cajal discovered neuron in the late 19th century. The observation no doubt prompted a few of his own brain cells to wire together too, and he shared a Nobel Prize for his efforts.

1920

A rush of blood to the head Brain breakthroughs came thick and fast in the 1920s. Researchers discovered glial cells in the brain that we now know perform important functions, they found that neurons pass each other messages using chemicals called neurotransmitters and they even saw brainwaves in the form of electrical readouts.

1940

Poke that neuron Since around the 1940s, surgeons have been physically stimulating tissue deep in the brain in order to treat symptoms in patients. By inserting or implanting a tiny electrode to a specific portion of the brain it’s possible to electrically activate or block particular neurons. One of its more recent applications has been in Parkinson’s disease, to help reduce tremors.

1950

Memory man Another famous patient in the history of brain science is Henry Gustav Molaison, or HM. He had epilepsy and in 1953 a surgeon treating it removed much of HM’s hippocampus as well as other parts of his brain. It stopped the seizures but HM lost many aspects of his memory, and studies of his case led to a better understanding of how human memory works. HM, whose mother was from Ireland, died in 2008.

1954

Mind the gap – finding the synapse By the mid-20th century microscopes were getting pretty good, and in the 1950s scientists saw the synapse, a gap between brain cells. The cells pass messages to each other across it.

1960

Can you hear me now? In the 1960s, researchers figured out how to implant electrodes in the cochlea of the human ear and electrically activate certain nerves involved in hearing. Such cochlear implants have been widely available since the 1980s and can help some people with hearing problems.

1990

Alzheimer drug The 1990s, which was designated the “decade of the brain”, saw the first drug being approved to treat the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease, in which cells in the brain die, affecting memory. The drug aimed to boost levels, in the brain, of the chemical acetylcholine, which is involved in memory. Newer drugs have now replaced it, and today scientists are working on several approaches to diagnose and treat Alzheimer’s disease.

2010

Brain genes Now that scientists are getting a better handle on the genes we humans have and how they work, they are looking at the kinds of variations in those genes that contribute to brain conditions. Some are vastly complicated, like schizophrenia, and recent studies of the human genome suggest that, in some cases at least, having extra or missing copies of particular genes could increase the risk of a person developing the condition.

FACTS

In an average-sized adult, the brain makes up only around two per cent of the body weight but hogs about 20 per cent of the energy and oxygen intake

Bionic eye for blindness An artificial implant for the retina at the back of the eye should be available through some hospitals later this year. Trials showed that when blind people used it, many could recognise large letters and find objects.

What’s your earliest memory? For most people it’s something that happened around the time they were aged three or four

Your brain contains about 100 billion neuron cells, which wire together to form hundreds of trillions of connections

You can’t tickle yourself because your brain anticipates the touch from your own hand and there’s no element of surprise

Source http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/bang/2011/0330/1224293345581.html

Key quotes from Reuters Food & Agriculture summit on Wednesday

2011-03-16T23:56:00.001-07:00

Top executives from the food, drink and agriculture industries joined Reuters reporters at the Food and Agriculture Summit in Chicago, London, Paris and Singapore. Here is a list of the top quotes from the final day of the event:

KERR DOW, VICE PRESIDENT, GLOBAL FOOD TECHNOLOGY, CARGILL CARG.UL FOOD INGREDIENTS AND SYSTEMS

"New foods and new ingredients in particular are extremely rare. We're very reluctant to eat stuff that's weird. We want to eat normal food."

TIM HASSINGER, VICE PRESIDENT, CROPS GLOBAL BUSINESS UNIT OF DOW AGROSCIENCES, A UNIT OF DOW CHEMICAL CO (DOW.N):

"By 2050 we will need 100 percent more food and 70 percent of that will come from new technology. We believe that."

KEN ASH, DIRECTOR OF TRADE AND AGRICULTURE AT THE ORGANIZATION FOR ECONOMIC COOPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT (OECD)

"Futures markets are the best risk-management instrument that farmers have."

SIMON LITHERLAND, MANAGING DIRECTOR FOR DIAGEO (DGE.L) GREAT BRITAIN

"Consumers are more discerning, so we are offering a product to match the price they are willing to pay."

VITERRA (VT.TO) (VTA.AX) CHIEF EXECUTIVE MAYO SCHMIDT on the recent slide of grain prices

"It's a strong reaction to the volatility in the market where people are saying, 'I don't want to be long, I don't want to be short, I want cash and I want to stand on my cash.'"

JULIA STEWART, CHIEF EXECUTIVE, DINEEQUITY (DIN.N), OPERATOR OF THE APPLEBEE'S AND IHOP CHAINS

"When we made the acquisition, the single biggest piece of research we did was to ask people, 'what would make you come more often to Applebee's?'... and the single (most) common answer given was 'I'd come more often if you fix the food.' Now where I come from, those are fighting words. So we have been maniacally focused on not making it be processed ... getting away from processed or tasting like it came out of the can at the back of the house."

JEFFREY ETTINGER, CHIEF EXECUTIVE, HORMEL FOODS CORP (HRL.N)

"We are not looking to expand margins through pricing, we are trying to hold our own."

Source http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/16/us-food-summit-idUSTRE72F8TE20110316

Eighteen earthquakes recorded Tuesday and Wednesday

2011-02-16T23:18:00.001-08:00

Mildred Coonrod of Greenbrier was shaken out of bed Wednesday morning, and by the afternoon, she was getting a little nervous.

One after another, sonic boom-like thundering earthquakes rattled the windows of her house on Snowden Road.

“They’ve been really active today,” she called the Log Cabin to report. “And they are getting bigger and louder.”

The one at 3:45 p.m. measured a 3.5 magnitude, much larger than the tremors earlier in the day.

She knows earthquakes. She grew up in that part of Missouri that is near the New Madrid fault.

She said when she was a kid, she’d be lying on the couch.

“The room would shake and I’d end up on the other side of the room.

“But this is weird,” she said. Her poodle was barking in the background.

At an earthquake preparedness seminar in Conway on Tuesday, Geologist Scott Ausbrooks with the Arkansas U.S. Geological Survey predicted the quakes would get “bigger and louder.”

“The faults are near failure,” he said, adding there will be more earthquakes, and they will be bigger.

Faulkner County residents near Greenbrier and Guy reported that earthquakes were felt in the morning hours Wednesday.

According to the United States Geological Survey, 17 earthquakes ranging in magnitudes of 2.0 to 3.5 occurred in the area Tuesday and Wednesday.

An initial recording of a magnitude 2.9 occurred Wednesday, three miles north-northeast of Greenbrier at 11:07 a.m.

An initial register of a 2.8 quake was felt by residents at 9:52 a.m. Wednesday, originating four miles north-northeast of Greenbrier.

An earthquake registering at 2.7 was recorded at 8:39 a.m., originating three miles north-northeast of Greenbrier.

The largest quake recorded on Tuesday occurred at 4:35 p.m., and was registered as a magnitude 2.7.

That earthquake also originated three miles north-northeast of Greenbrier.

Source http://thecabin.net/news/local/2011-02-16/eighteen-earthquakes-recorded-tuesday-and-wednesday

Carlos Boozer set for Utah return

2011-02-09T22:41:00.000-08:00

When it comes to the reception he's going to hear during Wednesday night's game at Utah, Bulls forward Carlos Boozer has a simple philosophy he plans to stick to.

"It's all Booooz to me," he said after Tuesday afternoon's practice. "I'm looking forward to it, it's going to be a fun night."

If the line of questioning towards Boozer by the local media is any indication, he can certainly expect to hear regular boos as well. After spending six seasons playing with the Jazz, the veteran forward signed with the Bulls in the offseason and it's obvious that some Utah fans still hold some hostility towards him for several different reasons including, among other things, his inability to stay on the floor during his tenure because of injuries. Despite the tension his arrival back in Utah may cause, Boozer welcomes any critics that may shout things in his direction on Wednesday night.

"You need them to keep you motivated," he said. "Little do they know, haters motivate. Guys like me take that in stride and use that as fuel ... it fuels you. I'm not one of those guys you can hate on and expect me [to be like] "Oh, you're hating on me ..." No, I'm not like that. I get motivated."

Boozer is one of three former Jazz players on the Bulls roster, including Kyle Korver and Ronnie Brewer. He admitted that the trio is still having a hard time adjusting to the fact that they will be suiting up against their former team.

"It's already been kind of strange," he said. "Me and Kyle and Ronnie have already been talking about it. Flying in last night, we got in at like 2:30-3 in the morning, went to the hotel instead of going to our houses. Coming here in another uniform, it already feels kind of weird actually but I'm sure [Wednesday] night will be weird."

Both Korver and Brewer weren't sure what to expect as far as Boozer's reception would be, but neither would be surprised if their teammate hears it from the fans.

"It should be good," Korver said. "Carlos had some great years here. He helped the team win a lot of games. When he first came here the team wasn't looking very good, so I hope people remember that and not little comments in the newspaper."

"Hopefully, it's a good one," Brewer added of Boozer's reception. "Because he did a lot for the organization. But I feel like if he gets booed, he's going to feel like he's saying Booz anyway. I think he's going to take it positively and I think he's going to have a good showing."

Brewer tried to put the feelings Utah fans may have towards Boozer in perspective.

"It's just how he's viewed in other people's eyes," Brewer said. "I think in that locker room, people knew what type of guy he was on the court and off the court. And what he meant for this organization. And when things were going down and comments he made, nobody took it personal, the coaches didn't take it personal, because we knew what type of player and what type of guy he was. He's a stand-up guy and he meant a lot and he's a good friend of mine so I think some of the [criticism from fans] was warranted and maybe the words were twisted a little bit and other times people make mistakes. I knew what type of guy he was. He's a good guy to have on the team."

The young swingman believes that the type of criticism that Boozer dealt with in Utah just comes with the territory of being a star player in the NBA.

"Only one team can win every year," Brewer said. "So every other team, somebody's got to be held accountable for it. And the majority of time it's your superstar or the guy who's making the most money, guys who are having the best numbers. If he's averaging 20 and 10 throughout the season and he averages 16 and 8, he's going to feel like he was a letdown in the playoffs. He's still having great numbers and he's still carrying the team, but that's why they're superstar players, because they can warrant that criticism and play through it."

For his part, Boozer doesn't seem to be bothered by whatever kind of reception comes his way, noting that he is prepared for the worst after going through a similar situation when returning to Cleveland after spurning the Cavs in free agency earlier in his career.

"I'm not worried about that at all," he said of how the fans' reaction. "I had a great time when I was here. Great memories, the fans were great to me. We had some great teams. We tried to compete for a title, we fell short, but I had some great memories here."

Source http://sports.espn.go.com/chicago/nba/news/story?id=6103683&campaign=rss&source=NBAHeadlines

AUTOS: Welcome To Weird Wednesday

2011-01-20T00:10:00.000-08:00

The Leata Caballero, a disco-era attempt to mate a Chevy Chevette with a pickup truck. (Photo: Barrett-Jackson)

One of the many cool things about the Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Event in Scottsdale is the eclectic selection of vehicles offered. In fact, today’s docket selections could be dubbed, “Weird Wednesday.” And I mean that in a good way.

Today’s auction, which will be televised live in HD on SPEED from 7 p.m. to midnight ET, features motorcycles, tractors, a golf cart, a bunch of covered wagons, a Winnebago and a Honda Zoe, if you can imagine that.

Sure, there will be plenty of primo muscle cars, classics and restomods throughout the evening, but there will also be a few truly out-there vehicles.

Here are five of the most unique offerings going on the block at Barrett-Jackson on Wednesday:

The very lightweight Viking Roadster should be plenty quick with its RX7 rotary engine. (Photo: Barrett-Jackson)

Lot 315.1: Leata Caballero — In case you don’t have your Spanish-English dictionary handy, “Leata Caballero” means “Chevette pickup truck” in English. Steinbaugh Manufacturing made fewer of 100 of these from 1975 to 1977 and one look will tell you why. This one was built in July 1977 “with every available option and fully documented with original window sticker, sales brochure and sales invoice.” Comes with GM 4-cylinder engine, automatic transmission, air conditioning, power windows, power driver’s seat, AM/FM/8-Track, CB, cruise control, alloy wheels, special paint and leather upholstery pushing the window sticker to just over $10,000 in disco-era dollars.

Lot 316: Viking Roadster — The Viking is an open-air roadster, built in western Washington and featuring a handcrafted fiberglass body to minimize weight. The custom built body and square tube frame utilize Mazda's RX7 engine and running gear. The engine is an 1,146cc, 12a rotary producing just over 100 horsepower, which is connected to a 5-speed manual transmission. Claimed to offer “the best of both worlds, vintage styling with modern and reliable sports car running gear.” And, oh yeah, it’s titled as a 1979 Mazda.

VetRod takes a miniature, hand-built hot rod and stuffs it with Corvette power. (Photo: Barrett-Jackson)

Lot 339: Vettrod — Unique hot rod or the answer to a question no one asked? You decide. Built in 1999, Vettrod is a custom, hand-built steel bodied roadster with the undercarriage and running gear of a 1973 Corvette. The engine is a built 350-cubic-inch Chevy producing 450 horsepower, with a GM automatic transmission. Driver and passenger seats are Recaros. The Vettrod has been driven just 5,500 miles since it was built. It is said to be mechanically and cosmetically excellent and ready for the open road or track.

Lot 403: 1957 Panhard Dyna Z — Can you have a huge collector-car auction without at least one utterly bizarre French car on the block? Signs point to “no.” The seller states that Panhard and Levassor of Paris was one of the two oldest manufacturers of automobiles in the world. The Dyna Z was aluminum, tipping the scales at a flyweight 1,630 pounds. “There were very few cars that had the combination of interior room, trunk space, styling, and most importantly a powerplant that was performance based,” the seller states. “Being a light car and having a 50-horsepower, two-cylinder engine gave enough power along with plenty of fuel economy to make this unique front-wheel-drive car desirable to the American market.” How’d that work out?

So French, the aluminum Panhard Dyna sedan is lightweight and packed with two-cylinder power. (Photo: Barrett-Jackson)

Lot 443 - 1957 Goggomobil Recreation Roadster — Is it just me, or does the phrase “Goggomobile Recreation” sound like “imitation Miracle Whip” or “faux polyester” to you, too? At any rate, this is a stylistic homage to the late and unlamented Goggomobile Dart, which was made in Australia in the late 1950s, using components from Hans Glas GmbH of Dingolfing in Bavaria. Guaranteed, the winning bidder will have the only one at his or her local cruise night. Want to know more? Just Google Goggomobil. Better yet, try to say “Google Goggomobil” three times fast.

Source http://automotive.speedtv.com/article/autos-welcome-to-weird-wednesday/

From top to bottom, 2010 generated weird, embarrassing stories

2011-01-04T23:59:00.001-08:00

Feel a chill in the air?

Is that frost on the windowsill?

That means only one thing. Old Man Winter is here, and NV Energy has shut off your power for nonpayment.

In a year of high unemployment, high foreclosure rates and high bankruptcy filings, if it weren't for gallows humor we might have no laughs at all.

The only certainty is that 2011 will be better than 2010. (I can't exactly support that statement with facts, but I prefer to play the optimist at this time of year.)

For my money, nothing warms the cynical heart like a good laugh at others' misfortunes, and that means it's time for my Bottom 10 weirdest and most embarrassing stories of the year. Just a short dozen months ago, U.S. Sen. John Ensign, R-No-Tell Motel, edged out the hapless UNLV Rebels football team for most mortifying public display. Ensign's affair with former Senate staffer Cindy Hampton was followed by revelations that his parents had paid $96,000 to Hampton and her husband.

We'll see where Ensign ranks on the 21st annual Bottom 10, but first I have to pull myself over and show you my license and registration.

No. 10: CONGRATULATIONS, MR. SMITH. You're under arrest. Columnist celebrates victory at the Nevada Press Association awards banquet with shiny bracelets after being stopped for DUI. Charge is pending, but humiliation is instantaneous.

No. 9: TILTIN' HILTON. Party princess Paris Hilton "banned" from Wynn Resorts properties by the big man himself after she is stopped and found with a small amount of cocaine in her purse. Her driver was booked for DUI -- don't blame me, I was home that night -- but Hilton initially denies the handbag is hers.

What's more embarrassing, Hilton's tall tale or Wynn's decision to banish her for doing precisely what she's well paid to do: party like an air-guitar rock star?

No. 8: SHEFF WHIFFS. Chris Sheff looks like a sure winner when he is hired to guide the College of Southern Nevada program, but his coaching career is cut short when it's discovered he has committed rule violations before the team's first practice.

No. 7: BAIL 'MONEY.' Las Vegas boxing champ Floyd "Money" Mayweather Jr. continues to prove the only one capable of knocking him out is the man in the mirror. Mayweather's run-ins with the law escalate, and 2011 threatens to find him spending big money to remain out of jail.

No. 6: CHICKEN DANCE. Sue Lowden looks like a sure thing as the Republican U.S. Senate nominee against incumbent Harry Reid. Then she tells an audience that what American health care reform really needs is good old-fashioned bartering, including trading chickens for medical care.

By the time Reid's attack team finishes deep-frying Lowden, her campaign is as scorched as a bucket of KFC extra crispy.

No. 5: HORREBEL FOOTBALL. New UNLV coach Bobby Hauck leads the Rebels to one of its worst records in a history of really bad seasons. Does UNLV really need a football program this much?

No. 4: SIEGFRIED & JOHN. Ensign magically escapes criminal prosecution and Senate sanction for the Hampton affair and cover-up. Now Ensign plans to run for re-election.

No. 3: ANGLE'S 'ASIANS.' Sharron Angle prevails in the Republican Senate primary, then runs one of the worst campaigns on record. Along the way, she says members of a group of Hispanic high school students look "Asian" to her.

No. 2: BEWARE THE DEATH RAY! As if CityCenter didn't have enough trouble opening in a recession, a lawsuit alleges the reflection from its shimmering windows creates a beam hot enough to sizzle hairdos at poolside.

No. 1: MEDAL OF DISHONOR. David Perelman gets caught lying about winning a Purple Heart in a scheme to gain $180,000 in veterans benefits.

Meanwhile, local veterans volunteer to give Perelman fresh wounds to brag about.

Source http://www.lvrj.com/news/from-top-to-bottom-2010-generated-weird-embarrassing-stories-112768179.html?ref=179

Woman ate 30,000 calorie X-mas dinner

2010-12-29T00:11:00.000-08:00

We're still busy digesting turkey, so there won't be any main posts on Newslite before Wednesday 29th December… until then here is a Weird New We Didn't Write.

Think you over did it with Christmas lunch? Chances are you gastronomic pigging-out can't come close to that of Donna Simpson - her Christmas dinner consisted of 30,000 calories. (News.com.au)

A Spanish woman faked her own kidnapping and sent her husband a photo of herself with bound hand and feet -- just to see if he would pay a ransom, say police. (Yahoo)

Nothing quite says Christmas like a series of public bare-knuckled fights to settle scores which have built up over the year. Welcome to the Takanakuy fighting festival in Peru. (BBC)

Daniel Balsam hates spam so much the daily offers of viagra and penis enlargements prompted him to quit his job as a marketer, train in law and pursue a career of suing spammers. (Stuff) Cheers David… Your news tips are not spam.

A 16th century book featuring diagrams of the world's first nose job has been sold for £11,000. (Daily Mail) Thanks Amy… Keep your nose out of it.

DNA tests are to be conducted on a bizarre looking creature which is claimed to be the mythical chupacabra… though some people think it's more likely a bald raccoon. (UPI) (YouTube)

Snowflakes are tiny. Unless they are being looked at under an electron microscope. That is all. (Wired)

A New Jersey man has produced a time-lapse video showing in 30 seconds the blizzard conditions which saw 32 inches of snow fall over a weekend. (Geekosystem) (Vimeo)

As Ben Muessig puts it: "On Christmas Eve, some people deck the halls -- others apparently deck their folks." A woman has been charged after attacking her parents with a Christmas tree. (Aol Weird News)

Source http://newslite.tv/2010/12/28/wnwdw-woman-ate-30000-calorie.html

Capitals Apparently Celebrate Victories By Fist-Pumping

2010-12-22T23:51:00.000-08:00

On Wednesday's episode of HBO's "24/7," the Capitals snapped their eight-game losing streak with a 3-2 victory over the Ottawa Senators. It's no surprise that the team would celebrate like they had won a championship, but what was surprising was their victory music of choice.

The narrator mentioned that the Capitals' victory anthem played for the first time in ages. All of a sudden, the locker room turned into the inside of a club in Seaside Heights, New Jersey. The song in question is "Beat Dat Beat" by DJ Pauly D, a cast member on MTV's "Jersey Shore." Excuse me for being flip, but it is equally parts weird and awesome that a team consisting of mostly Russians and Canadians can appreciate a good fist pump.

Perhaps Brooks Laich can make a cameo at the club during the season premiere of "Jersey Shore" next month.

Source http://dc.sbnation.com/washington-capitals/2010/12/23/1892884/washington-capitals-hbo-24-7-fist-pump-celebration