How Cliche

 This week in odd news there seems to be a number of people that have tried to act out on old cliches but sadly got them wrong. 

Stop Lion

A Chinese zoo  has customers calling foul.....not to be confused with fowl.  The zoo in the People's Park of Luohe has been playing fast and loose with substituting common animals and trying to pass them off as exotic animals.

One zoo patron brought her son to the zoo to educate him on the sounds that animals make. As she was standing at the cage marked African Lion, she heard barking.  (Seriously????That was the ONLY thing that gave it away??)

The so-called lion was a Tibetan Mastiff in disguise. 

 "The zoo is absolutely is cheating us." said one customer who paid the $2.45 price for the ticket. 

The lion...Errrr dog .. Wasn't the only substitution. A white fox was subbing for a leopard and another dog was filling in for a wolf. 

"This is not funny at all. This is sad for the zoo and the animals." said someone on Sina Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter.

Something seems amiss in China.  They know how to build an iPhone but can't tell a dog from a lion.  Maybe we could send pictures to them on Sina Weibo.

Cheap Sleep

Have you ever gotten so drunk that when you woke up you realize the B&B you checked into is actually a shipping container?  If you have, you aren't alone.  If you haven't you probably missed a hell of a party. 

After a night of drinking in Qingdao, China, Jiang Wu found himself trapped in a sealed 60 foot container that was being prepared for a two week journey across the Pacific to Los Angeles.  According to the Fairfax New Zealand News, Wu thought the container was a Bed and Breakfast.  

Luckily, Wu had a cellular phone on him and managed to call the police.  The police were at a loss as to which container contained a hungover Wu was in,  as there were 1000s of containers stacked for shipment. After an extensive search, Wu was located in a container stacked 18 meters up.

General rule of thumb...when you are so drunk that you think a storage container is a B & B,  you are TOO drunk.  Do B & Bs look differently in China compared to those in the U.S.?

Dinner rush 

Two Chicago burglars were trying to rob the Clifton Grill in  West Rodgers Park in the Chicago area but were sidetracked when the owner asked if they could come back in an hour when he wasn't so busy. 

Proving that some crimes don't have a mastermind in charge, the two  bungling burglars came armed with a fake gun (although it appeared real) and threatened the owner.  The owner  fearing for the safety of his customers, asked them to come back when there weren't so many people dining,  and he would be free to be robbed. (I don't think that is how he phrased it..but it's implied.)

So while these geniuses are crooks they are "accommodating crooks" and they left the restaurant. You may not be surprised to hear that after they left the owner called the cops.  Upon their return to the restaurant,  there were policemen waiting for them.  The two burglars, Mario Garcia and Domingo Garcia-Hernandez were arrested and charged with attempted aggravated robbery.

These two need to find a different line of work.  

And Last But Not Least

It's NOT

You Are Such an Animal

While looking for our assorted "odd" news this week,  there seemed to be a number of reports concerning "animals".  For you animal lovers out there, you might want to hurry and get over to the Sonoma-Marin Fairgrounds and watch the Ugliest Dog Contest that starts today.

 

Who Invited You?

When Andrew and Karma Madgwick decided to have their wedding reception at the Paignton Zoo in Devon, UK, they probably didn't anticipate having their wedding crashed  by one of the local residents.  

Is this the buffet line?

 Photographer, Vicki Boulter was taking the wedding pictures of the bride and groom when a Sumatran Tiger wandered into the shot. 

Keep Your Paws to Yourself

Oh, Those Kids!!!

OK...so maybe my kid coming for a visit might not rank as high as finding three girls that have been missing for 10 years or the ending of the verdict phase of  a "whackadoodle"  trial for Jodi Arias.....but it's news here at TAOBC.

As my loyal readers know, Friday is "ODD NEWS" Day around here and....Really could there be anything more bizarre  than  the case surrounding  Jodi Arias???   In 2008 Jodi did an interview with  Inside Edition saying "No jury is going to convict me. I am innocent, and you can mark my words on that.” She claimed that she killed her boyfriend, Travis Alexander in self-defense.  Seemingly,  there is a jury that can and did convict her. 

BUT ON TO TODAY'S THEME....KIDS IN THE NEWS.

Reason Number #1 ......NOT to Upgrade

An  April robbery was among a series allegedly committed by the two 17-year-old boys, who were arrested and booked into Juvenile Hall on suspicion of armed robbery after they were tracked down in Berkeley, police said.

Oh, Yeah, It's Friday

It's Friday!!!! Woo Hoo.....It's our "meet at the water cooler" day.  It's BREAK TIME.  (unscheduled and coincidentally, unlimited)


So....let's get the idle chit chat started.
Our mission on Friday is to waste as much time as we can.


The week started off with a Egyptian Cobra "going missing" at the Bronx Zoo. It's been fun following the efforts of his capture but unfortunately or fortunately depending on your point of view, the snake has been found.
The  snake (who seemingly doesn't have a name as they keep calling him "the snake") had started a Twitter account.  I will say this is one clever snake judging from his tweets.  The last time I checked he had about nearly a 143,000 followers  (of which I am one).  Who doesn't want to communicate with a Cobra, after all.

Here are a few of his most recent tweets.

BronxZoosCobra
Getting on the ferry to Ellis Island. Let's hope this goes better than that time on the plane. #snakeonthetown

BronxZoosCobra
Checking Google maps. RT @sesamestreet The @bronxzooscobra is visiting places around NYC. Can anyone tell it how to get to Sesame Street?

BronxZoosCobra

Getting my morning coffee at the Mudtruck. Don't even talk to me until I've had my morning coffee. Seriously, don't. I'm venomous.

BronxZoosCobra

City may not sleep, but I'm ready to. Ooh a chimney! I bet you bragged to your friends about having a working fireplace in NYC. Hi roomie.

BronxZoosCobra

Leaving Wall Street. These guys make my skin crawl. #snakeonthetown

Gosh, I hope he keeps up his Twitter account now that he is back in his home.  He sounds totally fun.

Another big story of the week. 

A mom, Kerry  (and I use the word "mom" loosely)  is injecting her 8 year old with Botox regularly because she thinks this is a pre-emptive measure in making her kid beautiful.  AND if that wasn't bad enough she is subjecting her child to virgin hair waxing (never heard of it before now) to keep daughter from ever having body hair. (well, that is according to this freako mom).

This is the kind of stuff that the most talented writer of fiction couldn't make up.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/woman/3485305/I-give-my-girl-8-Botox-for-pageant.html

According to the article, Kerry gave Brittany (the 8 year old) Botox as one of her birthday presents on her last birthday.  I am sure that is what every little girl wants for their  8th birthday. Brittany is already saying that she wants new boobs and a nose job soon.  How soon?? She is 8.  She doesn't have an old set of boobs yet.

There is just so much wrong with this story that I wouldn't be able to get it in one post.  But let me try to point out a few points. These points, point to CRAZY.

1.  The mom thinks this will help her kid become a super star or a model.  Does she think that Botox can substitute teaching your child about hard work, developing your talent, and  oh, what about being happy with your body.

2.  The article says she is a single mother as her 83 year old husband died 4 years ago.  Which means there isn't another parent available to weigh in on this nonsense. (Wow, that was a May-December kind of thing.)

3.  Mom says she is a highly trained beautician that is qualified to inject Botox. They live in San Francisco. Why isn't San Francisco getting involved? Surely there are some type of rules that apply to injecting poisons into small children.

4. Kerry, also, tells us in the article that this is a very common practice.  That any child on the pageant circuit is getting Botox so they look their best. (how bad can a grade schooler look?) Supposedly, little girls are having injections in their lips to have that pouty look that is so very attractive.  (Funny, when my daughter was little, that pouty look wasn't one of my faves.  I wanted smiles!!)

OK ....one last story to waste away our Friday with. The snowboarder that landed upside down in a tree well. 

James Drummond, an experienced snowboarder was boarding down Mt. Shasta in California when he hit a tree well.  He landed upside down under 6 feet of snow.  After  20 minutes of wrangling his hands around to his cell phone he called his wife to tell her of his situation.  All of this was recorded on a helmet camera.

http://www.hulu.com/watch/227926/nbc-today-show-buried-snowboarder-thought-he-‘was-going-to-die’

The Good for the Day....snowboarder guy got through to his wife that he was SERIOUS

The Bad for the Day....that nutty mom....seriously bad way to instill "no feeling of self worth in a child".

The Weird....a no name Cobra that can think of far more clever tweets than I can.

Happy Homecoming, Bronx Zoo Cobra