xxxNews Of The Weirdxxx
Bizarre but true stories about real people collected by syndicated columnist Chuck Shepherd.
Visionary engineer Stefan Marti last year solved what he apparently believes is a profound social problem: how to decide whether to take a cell phone call during a conversation with associates. His Conversation Finder and “social polling” Finger Ring, according to a December item in the New York Times Magazine, require one’s associates to wear special badges, which analyze speech patterns and find and synchronize themselves to one’s immediate conversation. Each associate also wears a special ring, which vibrates upon sensing a cell call impulse within the group. Each associate then can rub his ring, which diverts the call to an electronic mailbox, or not, and if no one rubs, the callee, having thus avoided a catastrophic faux pas, takes the call.
A new “stress-relief” book by David L. Mocknick of Philadelphia, called “Who’s Fred, Ha!” (described in December in New York’s Newsday), prescribes a game based on the German name Frederick, which Mocknick said has curative powers. A stressed person listens out in public for words that rhyme with Fred, and hearing one (e.g., dead), he says, “Dead! Fred! Who’s Fred, ha!” And that makes him feel better, says Mocknick. An accompanying CD suggests versions of the game based on double Freds or Freds with clues (“What’s thermometer liquid called?” “Mercury.” “Freddie Mercury (the late singer)! Who’s Fred, ha!”)
The Wichita Eagle reported in January that the BTK serial killer, Dennis Rader (now serving 10 consecutive life sentences), has been sued by a former employee, Mary Capps, for $75,000 because, while she worked for him, he used “abusive, intimidating language and physical gestures” toward her, damaging her career prospects with the Park City, Kan., government. Also named in the lawsuit was Rader’s supervisor. Rader is unlikely ever to have $75,000 in assets, and besides, most people who were only verbally abused by Rader might feel lucky.
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