Friday, December 14, 2007

Column: Dr. Ruehl's Realm of Bizarre News


No one is better at scouring the world's media, from the tabloids to the medical journals, to find the weirdest and wildest true stories of the week, than Tabloid Baby pal and contributor Dr. Franklin Ruehl, Ph.D.  Now, in his weekly column that we began running last week, the good doctor  explores...


This Week's
"Realm of Bizarre News"
Top 13

* In order to conserve diesel fuel, a crematorium in Hunan, China has been dumping half-burned cadavers into ditches along the road. Locals were alerted to the practice by the unbearable fetidity being emitted by the body parts which were placed in plastic bags!

* During a spat, a wife in Nicholson, GA knocked her hubby unconscious when she threw a potato at him, striking his nose! As an alternative, I strongly recommend driving straws into a potato rather than throwing them, such as seen on the following video: this video.

* Hedgehogs are suffering a rash of broken bones in England due to unseasonably warm weather, keeping them active when they normally would be hibernating. Many are being treated at the Tiggywinkles Animal Wildlife Hospital in Buckinghamshire where their injured paws are covered with booties.

(Trivia Q:The hedgehog is the European cousin of which American critter? Answer below...)

* A phantom voice told aspiring baseball player Billy Ray Cyrus to trade in his catcher's mitt for a guitar! He heeded the paranormal advice and the rest is music history!

* A despondent tigress, whose own cubs died, is nursing a quintet of piglets covered in tiger-skin coats at the Sriracha Tiger Zoo in Thailand. Amazingly, it is common in Thailand for tigers to nurse pigs and for sows to adopt motherless tiger cubs!

* Two window washers, brothers, fell 47 stories as they were getting onto their scaffolding at a New York City high-rise apartment building. One died while the other, miraculously, survived!

* Surprise! Kangaroo flatulence is eco-friendly! Roo stomachs contain a special bacteria that eliminates the potent greenhouse gas methane that cows and sheep normally emit. The goal is now to introduce that bacteria into bovines and ovines, and slash global warming!

* The longest-living artificial heart recipient has died at age 66. Peter Houghton of Birmingham, England received the device in June of 2000. He succumbed to multiple organ failure, but could not be declared dead until the battery in his heart, which was still beating, was disconnected!

* Marijuana farm consisting of 30 cannabis plants was discovered at a nunnery in Filiro, Greece! Two men posing as gardeners had been cultivating the plants, unbeknownst to the sisters.

* Meow! Wild Oats, a feral cat in Bartlett, Tennessee was running around for 19 days with her head stuck in a peanut butter jar, preventing her from eating. Finally, the family that had been feeding the starving feline caught her with a fishing net and extricated her head from the jar! Meow!

* A Syracuse, NY dentist began dancing to the song "Car Wash" as he was drilling a woman's tooth, his antics caused the drill to snap, with part lodging near her eye! She underwent 3 hours of emergency surgery and is now suing for $600,000!

* After having difficulty understanding the proceedings in court, death mute couple in Tianjin, China, used text messaging coordinated by a judge to carry out their divorce, believed to represent a first!

* Congrats! Ming the clam is the world's oldest living animal, estimated to be between 405 and 410 years old! He was recently caught off of the Icelandic coast. His age was ascertained by counting the rings on his shell!

(Trivia answer: The porcupine is the hedgehog's American cousin!)

I can present these and other intriguing reports (which can be fleshed out in more detail if needed) for you in a dynamic new 1-5 minute feature (or even 30-second microfeaturette) that can run daily, tri-weekly, or weekly on any of your existing productions, or stand unto itself as a separate 30-minute weekly entity! I am currently host of the cable TV series, Mysteries From Beyond The Other Dominion.

Click here to see my demo reel.

May the Power of the Cosmos be with You!

Dr. Franklin Ruehl, Ph.D.

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