CruftBucket

THE Queen’s speech in the British parliament overnight may have been routine but at least nobody got bored to death - that would have been against the law

Dying in parliament is an offence and is also by far the most absurd law in Britain, according to a survey of nearly 4000 people by a television channel showing a legal drama series.

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Nearly half of those surveyed admitted to breaking the ban on eating mince pies on Christmas Day, which dates back to the 17th century and was originally designed to outlaw gluttony during the rule of the Puritan Oliver Crowmell.

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Respondents were given a shortlist and asked to vote.

1. It is illegal to die in the Houses of Parliament (27 per cent)
2. It is an act of treason to place a postage stamp bearing the British monarch upside-down (7 per cent)
3. In Liverpool, it is illegal for a woman to be topless except as a clerk in a tropical fish store (6 per cent)
4. Mince pies cannot be eaten on Christmas Day (5 per cent)
5. In Scotland, if someone knocks on your door and requires the use of your toilet, you must let them enter (4 per cent)
6. A pregnant woman can legally relieve herself anywhere she wants, including in a policeman’s helmet (4per cent)
7. The head of any dead whale found on the British coast automatically becomes the property of the king, and the tail of the queen (3.5 per cent)
8. It is illegal to avoid telling the tax man anything you do not want him to know, but legal not to tell him information you do not mind him knowing (3 per cent)
9. It is illegal to enter the Houses of Parliament in a suit of armour (3 percent)
10. In the city of York it is legal to murder a Scotsman within the ancient city walls, but only if he is carrying a bow and arrow (2 per cent).

Read more at WWWeird »

One American student sent major corporations, governments and even the Vatican on the defensive after coming up with Wikipedia Scanner, a software program that reveals who changed Wikipedia entries.

Wikipedia.com is an online encyclopedia edited by general users, who write articles on every imaginable subject. Since it is written by users, anyone can edit, delete and arrange the articles on Wikipedia.

What Virgil Griffith did was come up with a program that reveals who edits these articles, via a system where it scans the I.P address and cross-references it with the I.P. directory.

As soon as the software was launched on the internet, chaos erupted.
Read more at MaltaStar »

Here’s a few of my favourites:

• Apple edit Microsoft entries, adding more negative comments about its rival
• Bill Gates revenge? Microsoft edits Apple entries, adding more negative comments about its rival
• In the 9/11 Wikipedia article, the NRA added that “Iraq was involved in 9/11”
• MySpace removes paragraph when their website was hacked
• Boeing edits from “Boeing is a leading American aircraft and aerospace manufacturer” to “Boeing is the leading American aircraft and aerospace manufacturer”

Daniel Blackner, or Captain Dan the Demon Dwarf, was due to perform at the Circus of Horrors at the festival known for its offbeat performances.

His act involved appearing on stage with a vacuum cleaner attached to his member with a special apparatus.

The attachment broke before the performance and Blackner tried to fix it using extra-strong glue; unfortunately, he let it dry for only 20 seconds instead of the 20 minutes required.

He then joined it directly to his organ. The end result? A solid attachment, laughter, mortification and … hospitalisation.
Read more at WWWeird »

A PET camel that killed a 60-year-old woman in a bizarre attack in Queensland’s outback had been given to her as a birthday present from her family.

The 10-month-old animal knocked the woman to the ground, stomped on her head and then lay on top of her on Saturday at her sheep and cattle property near Mitchell, about 600km west of Brisbane.

The woman’s husband discovered her body about 6.30pm after he returned from feeding stock. Police yesterday said the camel had a history of bizarre behaviour.

The victim’s husband was "devastated", said Roma Detective Senior Constable Craig Gregory. "The camel was a 60th birthday present that he and his daughter got her in March.

"She had a love of exotic pets."
Read more at WWWeird »

A Middle Eastern businessman spent more than pound stg. 105,000 ($245,300) in a five-hour, champagne-and-vodka-fuelled spending spree in a London nightclub at the weekend.

Fraser Donaldson, a representative of Crystal, a club favoured by Prince Harry, said in 20 years working in the industry it was the biggest bill he’d seen from one customer.
Read more at WWWeird »

Scottish scientists believe they have discovered a bizarre new species: a wildcat with the head of a rabbit.

The mystery black mammal has a small head, a large snout, long canine teeth and long ears which bear a resemblance to a rabbit or hare.

Researchers have been given two carcasses and are calling on gamekeepers to capture a live rabbit-headed cat to prove its identity.
Read more at WWWeird »

A while ago we brought you a story about a plus-size woman known as the ‘Hugging Bandit‘. The Hugging Bandit waited outside bars until men left late at night with a few drinks in them. Once the suitable victim left the bar she gave them a big hug. Little did they know she was pick pocketing them.

Finally after many cash collecting hugs she’s been caught and jailed.

THE "Hugging Bandit" - the plus-size pickpocket who put the squeeze on tipsy men and their wallets in upstate New York - is behind bars, police say.

Myra Castleberry, 48, was being held without bail and police hoped they had seen the last of a decade-long spree of thefts.

“Hopefully, she’ll be hugging her pillow in her prison cell for a long time,” Detective Sergeant Tom Donovan said.
Read more at WWWeird »

Shimmering beneath the scorching sun of the Peruvian desert is an extraordinary sight - a tiny settlement, complete with lagoon, lush palm groves, carob trees, cafes, neatly clipped lawns, 100-strong population and even the odd swimming pool.

For thousands of years, Huacachina, otherwise known as the ‘oasis of Americas’ - there is only one - has been a beacon of green, hidden deep amid hundreds of miles of barren desert. Over the centuries, its glimmering waters have saved the lives of hundreds of sun-addled travellers, staggering in from the heat with their mules.
Read more at Daily Mail »

With the recent news of Paris Hilton’s jail sentence there have been many fans signing petitions in aid of her plea for pardon.

Well here at CruftBucket we’re law abiding citizens, at least when it comes to spoiled celebrities breaking the law.

So get on over to iPetitions and sign the petition to put her in jail for the crime she committed.

For a more detailed post, with links to new articles check out the post on Mick’s World.

A thirty-seven year old man has been taken into police custody after going on a rampage with a stapler in the busy staff offices of Victoria University in Wellington. It is alleged that the suspect assaulted twenty fellow staff and faculty workers in an attack following a dispute over office feng shui.

“He just came at us,” said Evelyn Jacobs, who works on the same floor as the suspect. “We all heard clicking and then suddenly I realized my boss had been stapled. Some of us jumped under our desks and a secretary of our offices tried to make it out into the hallway to get help. I heard clicking and covered my ears. I don’t know how I made it into the stair well. Everyone was screaming.”

Police and emergency services rushed to the scene and the area was cordoned off. For five hours police negotiators tried to talk the man down. The siege ended around 8PM EST, when the suspect unloaded half a box of 3/8 inch Swingline heavy-duty staples into his own head.
Article found at brainsnap »

A New Zealand mother says she was shocked and disgusted that a condom had been found in her seven-year-old daughter’s McDonald’s meal.
Louise Whitaker from Wellington said her daughter Maia was with her sister April and her grandparents at a store when the condom was found on Tuesday night. She said her mother discovered the opened condom after her daughter ordered a Happy Meal.

"I was just disgusted after I heard about it," Ms Whitaker said.

"I was shocked. A seven-year-old … I don’t think she actually saw it, so she doesn’t understand the whole thing. I am just lucky my mother discovered it."

She said the condom was returned before her mother checked whether or not it had been used. McDonald’s replaced the meal.
Read more at WWWeird »

Surgeon Naum Ciomu was operating on patient Nelu Radonescu, 36, to correct a testicular malformation when he suddenly lost his temper.

Grabbing a scalpel, he sliced off the penis in front of shocked nursing staff, and then placed it on the operating table where he chopped it into small pieces before storming out of the operating theatre at Bucharest hospital.
Read more at lifestyle.aol.co.uk »

ROLLING Stones guitarist Keith Richards has acknowledged consuming a raft of substances in his time. And in comments published today, he said he snorted his father’s ashes mixed with cocaine.

"The strangest thing I’ve tried to snort? My father. I snorted my father," Richards was quoted as saying by British music magazine NME.

"He was cremated and I couldn’t resist grinding him up with a little bit of blow. My dad wouldn’t have cared. … It went down pretty well, and I’m still alive."
Read more at WWWeird »