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Curious Times No. 233
February 26, 2004PLEASE TELL ME THEY WON’T BE CONSUMMATING THIS MARRIAGE
A few weeks back we learned of the Nepalese man who died just three days after marrying a dog for good luck. Well, old superstitions die hard. Last week, a family in India married off their five-year-old son to a dog in order to keep evil spirits away from him and his family. Despite the fact that marrying dogs seems to be surprisingly common in some parts of the world (as readers of this column know all too well), the police claimed that "we have never heard of such a case. We will have to seek legal opinion before taking action." The groom’s father, who assured police that this was standard practice, saying that four such marriages have already taken place this year, believed that marrying his son to a dog would keep the boy, the family, and even society at large away from the evil eye. (Ananova)AN EXTRA LEAN, MEAN, FIGHTING MACHINE
The bizarre projects from America’s military research agency Darpa (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) just keep on coming. The newest is their plan to figure out a way to keep a soldier on the battlefield for five days straight without needing to eat. This is just the latest in Darpa’s quest to develop a soldier who doesn’t need sleep or food, and who will continue to fight even if severely injured. The agency has sent out research grants under the project name "Metabolic Dominance" in order to find ways to create a super cocktail of nutrients to help build endurance and to figure out ways in which the metabolism of the body might be slowed. A Darpa life sciences consultant, who asked not to be named, was quoted as saying "The question is: ‘Are there temporary biochemical approaches we can use to squeeze the last ounce of performance out of soldiers when they’re already worked to exhaustion?’" Weighing in on the other side of the debate was nutritionist Marion Nestle, who argued that "Calories are calories, laws of thermodynamics still operate, and humans are still human. I think they should use robots." (Wired)GET YOUR NAZI STAR MAP HERE
Sales of a guidebook to the homes of ex-Nazis are brisk in the small Argentinian town of Bariloche. The Nazi star map has become a bestseller as people snap up the book, which details the location and history of the homes of senior Nazis who fled to the town after World War II. Author Abel Basti claims he is not simply trying to make money off the morbid curiosity of Argentinians. "It is a serious investigation, presented in nontraditional format, which seeks to demonstrate that Bariloche was a Nazi stronghold," he explained. Among the entries in his book is a delicatessen once owned by SS Captain Erich Preibke, a clubhouse whose members included Hans Ulrich Rudel (head of the Luftwaffe and close friend of Adolf Hitler), and the town hall where Josef Mengele took his driving test. Priebke’s son George still lives in his father’s house, claiming that "The culture here is different. In Italy, people call us assassins and scream at us. Here, they greet us and shake our hands." Argentina’s President Juan Peron expressed no dismay that many Nazis took refuge in his nation, explaining that "When the war was over, some useful Germans helped us build our factories and make the best use of what we had, and in time they were able to help themselves too." (Daily Telegraph)YOU’LL NEVER STARVE IF YOU JUST EAT WHAT NATURE GIVES YOU
With bird flu killing off Cambodia’s poultry business, rats are becoming that countries new favourite dish. "I’ve got a constant stream of customers," said Van Vath, a rat butcher in Battambang. Since the outbreak of the bird flu she has seen demand more than double to the point where she is selling over 400 pounds of rat meat every day. Apparently, rat meat is considering a bit of a delicacy in the rural corners of the impoverished Asian nation, where fried, grilled and roasted rat is considered a "highly prized delicacy." Other favourite foods include spiders, water beetles, crickets, snakes, frogs and ants. (Reuters)HOW TO KILL YOURSELF IN BOTSWANA
Botswana’s Minister of Works and Transport has urged the citizens of her country to stop throwing themselves in front of trains in order to commit suicide. Her plea came at the request of Botswana’s train drivers, many of whom have been traumatized after having to remove human body parts of people they have inadvertently killed from the engines of their trains. "I am appealing to the people not to use the trains to kill themselves. If people want to commit suicide they should use trees not our trains," suggested the MInister. "I am sick of these people who throw themselves in front of the trains. The drivers are people - why turn them into murderers?" (South African Star)NEVER TRUST A HITMAN
Police in South Korea have arrested a 25-year-old college student who bilked thousands of dollars from customers through his "killer for hire" website. His site promised a little bit of everything, including murder, rape, gun smuggling and changing grades. One customer paid almost $9,000 to have her ex-boyfriend and his wife murdered. Of course, it turns out the site was a complete scam, and the man had no intention of ever following through with any of the dirty deeds. He told police he simply posted the site because he needed money to repay his student loans. (CNN)ALLAH IS BLOODY GREAT
Former Iraqi calligrapher Abbas Shaker Jawdah claims that he spent two years fulfilling Saddam Hussein’s bizarre request for a copy of the Koran transcribed in his blood. Jawdah says that he received vials of Saddam’s blood on a regular basis and was forced to work day and night for two years to reproduce the 114 chapters of the Koran. "I almost lost my eyesight working on the Koran," said Jawdah, adding that "I had no choice. Saying no to Saddam was like a death sentence." He also claimed that the pay was never fair, as he ended up earning less than $3,000 for his work on the Saddam’s version of the Koran. (AFP)
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