Stories that are just downright weird / silly / strange / amazing

I've put your hair-raising story (sorry) here in the weird section, Rosa.

I seem to recall something similar in the U K. I can't find that one but here's a story about someone who claimed damages for a power cut in his cell.

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/prisoner-handed-4000-damages-because-11963972

Another case with a claim for being handcuffed was rejected though.

http://www.journalonline.co.uk/News/1022403.aspx#.WTugVWjyuUk

There's a saying in the Netherlands, particularly in the South, which translates as:
The Sweet Lord has strange lodgers ...

It's possible Andrew has already posted a link to this, if so please delete my post.  Anyway the innocent guy must have a very forgiving nature  -  he spent 17 years in prison for a crime he didn't commit yet he "feels blessed"  ...       Must say they really do look alike.      

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4592556/Dad-free-prison-police-lookalike.html
'I don't believe in luck, I believe I was blessed': Kansas father is finally released from prison after 17 years, when police find his lookalike who eerily shared his first name
Richard Anthony Jones from Kansas City was jailed for armed robbery in 1999
Was convicted based on an eyewitness account and sentenced to 19 years
Heard rumors about man in prison who looked like him and shared his first name
Contacted pro bono lawyers to appeal his case since the man lived closer to the area where the crime was committed

Jesus, this is weird!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4628494/South-African-sheep-births-half-human-half-beast.html

Weird even by your usual standards!

I googled the picture and this is what came up.

Best guess for this image: childbirth

A murdering rapist and his disgraced lawyer are due to marry at Paremoremo Prison in Auckland today :

https://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/94113002/convicted-killer-liam-reid-and-struck-off-lawyer-davina-murray-wed-at-prison

An awful way to go:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4648340/Woman-killed-father-law-squeezing-testicles.html

It was a row over a cockfight...........

I'm going to lie down now!

I think that this case - or a similar one - has been mentioned before.

The mind boggles over as to how the friend didn't notice anything earlier........

http://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/gayle-newland-woman-jailed-for-posing-as-a-man-to-trick-friend-into-sex-found-guilty-at-new-trial/ar-BBDrZ2K?li=BBoPWjQ&ocid=mailsignout

Definitely the sort of stuff for the Jeremy Kyle show.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/3794220/incest-womans-parents-are-brother-sister/

Freedom wrote:http://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/canadian-baby-registered-gender-unspecified-in-possible-world-first/ar-BBDGSNV?li=AAnZ9Ug&ocid=mailsignout

There's an interesting aside to this story.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-40480386

The family's lawyer, barbara findlay, who chooses to spell her name without capital letters, told Global News:

Reminds me of the character Jonattan Yeah? in the TV satire (well, it was when it was made) Nathan Barley, who had punctuation added to his name by deed poll.

Thinking of k d lang, perhaps it's a Canadian thing?!

I'm all for not enforcing rigid stereotypes of behaviour dependent on what gender you're born into, but this is ridiculous.

It's like that food blogger Jack Monroe who likes to be referred to as "they".

Far easier for those who have changed gender by medical involvement to be allowed to change their birth certificate, or am I not understanding ?
I don't think that what appears on a birth certificate (based I suppose on apparent physical indications) forces upbringing in a gender stereotype in the western world does it ?.

I don't think that the first bit about people who have changed their sex is relevant.

Certainly there is nothing to force gender stereotypes but I think that there is still a tendency to dress girls in pink frilly outfits and boys in more practical things like jeans and T-shirts and to give them only toys which are thought suitable for one sex or the other.

I actually agree with Russell Brand (not my favourite comedian) over his plans to bring his daughter up as gender neutral; by this he doesn't mean silly things like not calling her by feminine pronouns but by letting her decide how she wants to be.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-4515034/Russell-Brand-enjoys-family-day-daughter-Mabel.html

You bring back memories, Freedom.
At St Nicholas-day, we would have a wealth [well at the time a "wealth"] of presents. My brothers got an electric Marklin train and I was the one to be playing with it for hours.
At teenage-time, I bought jeans [boys only, they'd zippers in the front, whilst all other "female" trousers would have a zipper on the right and would certainly not be "jeans"]. I could tell you stories, but I'll leave it here for the moment ;-)

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/jul/30/man-marries-laptop-sues-for-recognition-wedding-ca/

There are other earlier articles about this man if you google his name.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4743558/Mum-uses-legal-aid-child-s-middle-removed.html

Hmmm, this doesn't seem like the worthiest of causes to be allowed legal aid.

I'd love to know what the name is - it can't be James, that won't automatically be linked to Jimmy Savile - maybe Rolf or Clement.

It is utterly ridiculous.

It is a middle name, so it is very easy just to stop using it, then no one would ever know!


Maybe the child has a middle name of Jimmy? Or even Harris?

Maybe she's thinking of the name appearing on the birth certificate which has to be produced on various occasions but I was under the impression that they can't be changed.

Freedom wrote:Maybe she's thinking of the name appearing on the birth certificate which has to be produced on various occasions but I was under the impression that they can't be changed.

They are changed in cases of adoption, or when someone is given a new id, or when there is a mistake on the certificate. I seem to remember that the law has changed and the birth certificate is now changed in gender reassignment as well.

At one point the birth certificate showed the situation as it was when the child was born, but now it seems to show, at least sometimes, what the person would have liked the situation to be.

http://www.ukdp.co.uk/name-change-birth-certificate-england-and-wales/

I haven't read all this yet but, on a quick skim through, it looks as if names can only be changed by deed poll.

P.S. I think I'm right about that - deed poll is the only option, so this case seems absolutely ridiculous.

Nothing to do with this, but there is an interesting case where the gender of a child on the birth certificate was changed from male to female but he is now living as a man.

http://www.itv.com/news/anglia/2015-11-06/man-who-was-raised-a-girl-calls-for-ban-on-surgery-until-children-can-make-up-their-own-minds/

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3191600/The-agony-learning-ve-raised-wrong-sex-rare-condition-meant-doctors-weren-t-sure-sex-Joe-born-support-Princess-Diana-finally-accepted-girl-came-shattering-discovery.html

I don't know why chromosome tests weren't done to establish from the start that he was male.

Gender in humans does not always match the genetic gender. There are some women who have XY chromosomes. That can happen because the developing baby did not respond to testosterone correctly, and therefore the baby is a woman. (Some famous cases were found with the genetic testing in the Olympics). It is also possible to be male, and still have XX chromosomes. Then of course there are the variations of extra chromosomes, some of which cause a massive increase in the probability of being shoved into prison.

It is therefore more usual to work on the theory that testicles equal boy, ovaries equal girl. This little baby boy was therefore a boy, and his parents brought him up as a boy, then a doctor shouted "all change" and they went over to treating him as a girl. I suspect with modern understanding of the psychological implications that would not be done.