What weird news stories make you either laugh out loud, or just say "huh?'

[Auryn]

You know who will buy these.. those people that put their 3 year olds in beauty pageants and cover their kids in makeup and make them strut like a peacock,
thats who.

All those parents should have psych evaluations done

[Rowan MacD]

I agree,  these are the same parents that send their 3rd graders to school with fake nails, lipstick and skin tight daisy duke shorts.  I actually saw one of these kids tottering about on 2 inch heels!
  Sheesh, who makes high heels for kids?  Probably A&F.

[LadyStitch]

Oh I had 2 inch heels when I was 6 years old. I called them Click Clacks, they were for my dress up trunk, and not to be worn out of the house!
It get's me that parents will dress their kids in these outfits, and THEN get upset when an older man/teenager whisles or makes some comment. 
I'm sorry when my 19 year old actress is wearing a size -2 pair of jeans, which equates to a child's size 10, and she can easily pass herself off as a 10 year old with no problem.  It makes you wonder if a guy would accidently hit on a 10 year old thinking she is 19.
It happened to me when I was 12 (I developed early) and scared the living crud out of me. /shutter

[Becky10]

That's like when target or walmart were selling the girls (like little girls) panties that has "eye candy" and "hot stuff" on them. Worrying.

[LadyFae]

I agree,  these are the same parents that send their 3rd graders to school with fake nails, lipstick and skin tight daisy duke shorts.  I actually saw one of these kids tottering about on 2 inch heels!
  Sheesh, who makes high heels for kids?  Probably A&F.

It probably doesn't help that Tom Cruise and Katie Holms put their little girl Suri in high heels- she is all of, what, 3?  4 maybe?
Any clothing with writing on the butt is disturbing.  Well, except for at Faire when Denise wears her "Wyde Lode" sign, that is pretty funny- but other than THAT (and she isn't a young child!)
A&F took the "push-up" description off of the site but the actual PRODUCT still exists and that is just WRONG! 
Parents that not only allow their daughters to dress like tarts but actually HELP them look like that need to be educated about all of the dangers of encouraging that.  There is NOTHING CUTE about any of this!

[Lady Kett]

Sidekick says it won't fit in the garage. 

HMS Ark Royal For Sale

[arbcoind]

http://www.cnn.com/video/#

a big fat "huh"?

[Merlin the Elder]

Was that a mooo-ving violation?

[Rowan MacD]

  Sounds like Vietnam has their own version of  'The Lady of the Lake'.  interesting story....

Vietnam finally nets legendary turtle for treatment-Reuters

       
By John Ruwitch John Ruwitch – Mon Apr 4, 5:19 am ET

HANOI (Reuters) – Experts in Hanoi captured a legendary giant turtle for medical treatment on Sunday, a milestone in a case that has grabbed national attention and cast a spotlight on environmental degradation in Vietnam.
  Several dozen people including special forces soldiers swam and used boats to pull three rings of nets around the rare beast the size of a car door with a head as big as a human's, in Hoan Kiem Lake in the heart of the Vietnamese capital.
  In recent months the turtle has surfaced almost twice as frequently as in previous years, according to state-run media, and what appear to be pink sores have been photographed on its shell, neck and feet, raising alarm.
   Experts believe the turtle, weighing some 200 kg (440 lb), may be suffering the effects of pollution, snaggings by fish hooks, attacks from smaller red ear turtles that have proliferated in the lake, or all three.
   "Generally, the turtle is fine and stable," turtle expert Ha Dinh Duc, part of the capture operation and a member of a steering committee set up to make decisions about the elderly animal, said after it was ensnared.
   Thousands of people crowded around the lake to watch.
   According to Vietnamese legend, a giant turtle in the same lake -- some believe even the same animal -- reclaimed a magic sword given to king Le Loi in the 15th century that he used to win independence from China's Ming Dynasty.
   The lake was thereafter named 'Ho Hoan Kiem', or 'Lake of the Returned Sword', and Hanoi has been built up around it.
   Scientists have said they believe the turtle caught on Sunday may be more than 100 years old and a member of the critically endangered 'Rafetus Swinhoei' family of turtles, although others have dubbed it an independent sub species, 'Rafetus Leloii'.
   "You could say it is a representative of the country so bringing the turtle up for treatment is a necessity," said 78-year-old Hanoian Luu Tien Xuan.
   "The people are concerned. The leaders are concerned... It would be sad if Ho Guom didn't have the turtle in it anymore."
   The case has made headlines in the local media for months, sparking some criticism over the state of the environment in fast-developing Vietnam.
   "We have been too apathetic with regard to the turtle in the past as we rolled along with the speed of industrialisation and modernisation and forgot to protect its habitat... Save Ho Guom, save the environment, save ourselves!" a person named Le Tuan posted on the popular news website Vnexpress.vn.
   Critics also say it took scientists and the government too long to decide how to care for the animal.
   "Nobody wanted to take responsibility if it died," said one Hanoi resident who lives near the local government office facing the lake and declined to give her name.
   The reptile tore a hole in a net on March 8 and escaped when workers waded into the algae-green waters of the lake, also called Ho Guom, in a first attempt to catch it.
   On Sunday the turtle appeared to get past two of the nets, but a shirtless swimmer believed to be from special forces grabbed the shell and rode the animal a short while to prevent it from getting past the third net, television footage showed.
   It was put into a pen on an island in the middle of the lake that has been dubbed its hospital and sanatorium.

[redkimba]

Elf Ears Are the Rage Among Quirky Young Adults

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/ear-pointing-surgery-elf-ears-mr-spock/story?id=13317198

[Becky10]

Anyone remember the ER(?) episode where the guy comes in after giving himself "doberman" ears? 

[Rowan MacD]

Colorful Poo Could Give Health Warning


Parents have long divined their child's health by reading the contents of toilets. But future humans who spot brightly colored poo could take it as a warning from genetically-engineered bacteria in their gut that they should go see a doctor.

Such a colorful scenario comes from the scientists and designers of E.Chromi, according to Co.Design. They transformed ordinary E. coli bacteria into biosensors that could change color in the presence of certain chemicals – perhaps water pollutants or chemical signals related to certain diseases.

That opens up all sorts of future possibilities. E.Chromi envisions humans gulping down special probiotic yogurt containing their bacteria in 2039. The bacteria could then colonize the gut and serve as frontline sentinels for human health and future medicine.

E.Chromi's open secret comes from using standardized DNA sequences, called BioBricks, which allow the bacteria to create colors such as red, yellow, green, blue, brown or violet. Other genes helped create a sensitivity tuner that tells the bacteria when to change color.

Such efforts won the Grand Prize at the 2009 International Genetically Engineered Machine Competition (iGEM). Since then, the original team from Cambridge University in the UK has joined with designers Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg and James King to explore the possibilities of their technology.

The open-source work for such designer organisms is included in the iGEM database hosted by MIT. It's just one example of a growing synthetic biology movement that aims to make or redesign living organisms with human-created genetic code not found in nature.

If E.Chromi can make the application a reality, health surveillance at home could become as easy as going through the usual morning routine.

This article was provided by InnovationNewsDaily, a sister site of LiveScience.

[Merlin the Elder]

Just the title was enough: Well-Endowed Apollo Statue to Be Re-Erected in France (my emphasis)

[Lady Kett]

Iceland's Phallological Museum finally gets human specimen

Okay then. I seem to be hitting a recurring theme in my interwebs-search-fu.

[Merlin the Elder]

The museum is subsidized by Peter Piper who packed his pick of pickled peckers...