xxxNews Of The Weirdxxx

Bizarre but true stories about real people collected by syndicated columnist Chuck Shepherd.

(CORRECTION: In a July column, I referred to two 22-month-old girls’ “parents” as in a petulant stand-off as to whose turn it was to take care of them, with both driving off, leaving the girls in the street. Christy Leann Radacy is indeed the mother, but the man was not the girls’ father. It was Sari Muhanna, who is Radacy’s boyfriend and who was indicted, with Radacy, in September. I apologize for the error.)

Renewing a debate, Czech scientist Jaroslav Flegr reported in September that human infection by Taxoplasma gondii (to which cat owners are vulnerable as they clean litter boxes) tends to make women “reckless” and “friendly” and men “jealous” and “morose.” Though any mammal could pass the toxins, cats that handle dead birds, bugs or mice rather easily pass it in their stools, though only for a few days after their first infection. (A 2001 report by researchers from Johns Hopkins and the University of Maryland had suggested that such infections might even cause schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

On the first day of a Philippine citizens’ group’s campaign to expose government officials who spend public funds on their mistresses, more than 500 tips came in to its hotline.

For a September report, an LA Weekly writer hung out with Benji Breitbart, 20, Doug Marsh, and several other “Disneyana enthusiasts,” who spend hours nearly every single day at Disneyland; have almost total recall of the park’s history and culture; rabidly collect memorabilia; and preach with intensity on which aspects of today’s park Walt Disney would not have approved. DE’s usually wear Disney-themed clothes; use the pronoun “we” as if the park were theirs; and are dismissive of the obsessives of “Star Trek.” (“Trekkies are devoted to some stupid pop-culture fad,” said Marsh, but “Disney fans believe in the magic.”) Why, Breitbart was asked, was Disney such a central force in his life? “I tried to figure that out. I just ended up with no answers.”
Send your Weird News to Chuck Shepherd, P.O. Box 18737, Tampa, Fla. 33679 or [email protected]
Copyright © 2001 by Chuck Shepherd

NEWS OF THE WEIRD