Top 10 Weird News in 2010
1. The $8 Million iPhone
How about this for the ultimate stocking stuffer: a diamond-encrusted, one-of-a-kind iPhone worth $8 million? Stuart Hughes, the British jeweler that has made gem-strewn BlackBerrys, Bang & Olufsen sound systems and even a solid-gold Nintendo Wii, put this jaw-droppingly bling phone up for sale earlier this year — complete with more than 500 diamonds and a platinum navigation button, which itself contains a 7.4-carat pink diamond. So who wound up buying it? Ridiculously wealthy Australian mining tycoon Tony Sage. No word yet on whether or not it drops calls.
2. The Mystery Missile That Wasn’t
It was the supposed missile launch that no one could explain — just the kind of videotaped mystery that cable news programmers crave. In early November, a television news crew captured footage of what appeared to be a sunset missile launch off the coast of California, as an object slowly ascended from the ocean to the sky, leaving a vapor trail behind. Within hours, the footage had been picked up by every major news network, spawning not only dozens of conspiracy theories but also a string of confused government officials, all claiming that nothing unusual had taken place. In a rush to report before all the facts were in — call in the 2010 variation on 2009’s “Balloon Boy” fiasco — the cable news networks ran with the mystery for a solid day, until someone talked to an expert and discovered that it was most likely an optical illusion created by the setting sun. It wasn’t something shooting upward, just something high in the sky streaking northeast. And as quickly as the mystery missile arrived on the scene, threatening our national security and the American way of life, it was set aside and laughed away.
It was the supposed missile launch that no one could explain — just the kind of videotaped mystery that cable news programmers crave. In early November, a television news crew captured footage of what appeared to be a sunset missile launch off the coast of California, as an object slowly ascended from the ocean to the sky, leaving a vapor trail behind. Within hours, the footage had been picked up by every major news network, spawning not only dozens of conspiracy theories but also a string of confused government officials, all claiming that nothing unusual had taken place. In a rush to report before all the facts were in — call in the 2010 variation on 2009’s “Balloon Boy” fiasco — the cable news networks ran with the mystery for a solid day, until someone talked to an expert and discovered that it was most likely an optical illusion created by the setting sun. It wasn’t something shooting upward, just something high in the sky streaking northeast. And as quickly as the mystery missile arrived on the scene, threatening our national security and the American way of life, it was set aside and laughed away.
3. The 2-Year-Old Smoker
If you think your kid needs a time out, wait until you get a load of Ardi Rizal, a 2-year-old Indonesian boy who developed a two-pack-a-day cigarette habit. Actually, it’s probably not little Ardi who needs the time out; it’s his dad Muhammad, who told the Daily Mail that the kid cries and throws tantrums when he takes the cigarettes away. “He’s addicted,” said the not-so-worried dad, who started his child smoking at 18 months. Fortunately, in the months since the video became a YouTube phenomenon, Ardi reportedly kicked the nicotine habit by going through rehabilitation.
If you think your kid needs a time out, wait until you get a load of Ardi Rizal, a 2-year-old Indonesian boy who developed a two-pack-a-day cigarette habit. Actually, it’s probably not little Ardi who needs the time out; it’s his dad Muhammad, who told the Daily Mail that the kid cries and throws tantrums when he takes the cigarettes away. “He’s addicted,” said the not-so-worried dad, who started his child smoking at 18 months. Fortunately, in the months since the video became a YouTube phenomenon, Ardi reportedly kicked the nicotine habit by going through rehabilitation.
4. Kobayashi: From Competitive-Eating Champion to Jailbird
Call it the dark side of competitive eating. Back on July 4, at the annual Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest in Coney Island, Brooklyn, some fans were disappointed to not see ex-frankfurter-stuffing champ Takeru Kobayashi up on the stage. Due to a contract dispute with Major League Eating, Kobayashi was barred from competing in the event. But he was still there on the sidelines, watching rival Joey Chestnut gorge himself to victory, and at some point the spectacle became too much for the world-class chomper to bear. He jumped to the stage in a hungry rage, and was later charged with resisting arrest and disorderly conduct. There is no telling if he will get to compete in next year’s contest, but he’ll now likely be known as the Bobby Fisher of stuffing hot dogs in your face.
Call it the dark side of competitive eating. Back on July 4, at the annual Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest in Coney Island, Brooklyn, some fans were disappointed to not see ex-frankfurter-stuffing champ Takeru Kobayashi up on the stage. Due to a contract dispute with Major League Eating, Kobayashi was barred from competing in the event. But he was still there on the sidelines, watching rival Joey Chestnut gorge himself to victory, and at some point the spectacle became too much for the world-class chomper to bear. He jumped to the stage in a hungry rage, and was later charged with resisting arrest and disorderly conduct. There is no telling if he will get to compete in next year’s contest, but he’ll now likely be known as the Bobby Fisher of stuffing hot dogs in your face.
5. King Tut’s Penis: Missing?
It’s a complicated — and hilarious — scientific mystery. For years, experts have sought to better understand the demise of Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamen, better known as King Tut, disproving theories of malaria and bone disorders and determining instead that Tut was felled by sickle-cell anemia. But new research published this year in New Scientist suggests that it was actually a genetic ailment called Antley-Bixler syndrome that killed the King — a condition that produces elongated heads and can render male genitalia underdeveloped. In response, however, Egypt’s chief archaeologist Zahi Hawass dismissed the Antley-Bixler theory, claiming that Tut’s genitals were fully developed.
It’s a complicated — and hilarious — scientific mystery. For years, experts have sought to better understand the demise of Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamen, better known as King Tut, disproving theories of malaria and bone disorders and determining instead that Tut was felled by sickle-cell anemia. But new research published this year in New Scientist suggests that it was actually a genetic ailment called Antley-Bixler syndrome that killed the King — a condition that produces elongated heads and can render male genitalia underdeveloped. In response, however, Egypt’s chief archaeologist Zahi Hawass dismissed the Antley-Bixler theory, claiming that Tut’s genitals were fully developed.
Buried within this academic argument was an astonishing revelation for the casual reader: Tut’s penis, it turns out, was officially declared missing in 1968 and later reportedly discovered buried in the sand surrounding the mummy. But some now question whether the unearthed penis was, in fact, Tut’s penis or an imposter that has skewed subsequent research. All of which adds up to the strangest archaeological debate we have ever encountered.
6. Is That a Time Traveler on the Charlie Chaplin DVD?
In 1923 there were no such things as time machines. Technology has advanced quite a bit since then, but there are still no time machines. There are, however, cell phones and people with vast imaginations — and clearly some dreamers with too much time on their hands. That’s the most likely explanation behind Irish filmmaker George Clarke’s claim that he found a woman talking on a cell phone in a Charlie Chaplin movie. Or rather not in the film itself, but in the bonus footage included on a new DVD version of The Circus. Filmed outside the movie’s 1928 Hollywood premiere, a woman walks from right to left, holding what appears to be a cell phone, chatting as she strolls. When Clarke uploaded the footage in October, the Web erupted in a flurry of time-travel intrigue (the video has been watched more than 5 million times since), as viewers struggled to come up with alternatives as to what the woman was doing, and with what object. Our thoughts: she was probably carrying an early version of a hearing aid called a carbon amplifier, which Siemens Corp. patented around that time.
In 1923 there were no such things as time machines. Technology has advanced quite a bit since then, but there are still no time machines. There are, however, cell phones and people with vast imaginations — and clearly some dreamers with too much time on their hands. That’s the most likely explanation behind Irish filmmaker George Clarke’s claim that he found a woman talking on a cell phone in a Charlie Chaplin movie. Or rather not in the film itself, but in the bonus footage included on a new DVD version of The Circus. Filmed outside the movie’s 1928 Hollywood premiere, a woman walks from right to left, holding what appears to be a cell phone, chatting as she strolls. When Clarke uploaded the footage in October, the Web erupted in a flurry of time-travel intrigue (the video has been watched more than 5 million times since), as viewers struggled to come up with alternatives as to what the woman was doing, and with what object. Our thoughts: she was probably carrying an early version of a hearing aid called a carbon amplifier, which Siemens Corp. patented around that time.
7. Fired for Excessive Beauty?
Debrahlee Lorenzana is a beautiful woman; that is something all parties can agree upon. What seems to be the point of contention is whether she should have been fired from her job as a banker at a Manhattan Citibank branch for being too attractive. In her arbitration against the bank, she claimed that she was dismissed because her appearance was distracting for her male co-workers and that her employer forbade her from wearing clothes that were too tight or revealing. But Citibank said her dismissal was “solely performance-based” and called Lorenzana’s claims baseless. That didn’t stop New York City’s tabloids from eating up the story and the nation’s other news outlets from running with the pictures that could be seen on newspaper covers across the Big Apple.
Debrahlee Lorenzana is a beautiful woman; that is something all parties can agree upon. What seems to be the point of contention is whether she should have been fired from her job as a banker at a Manhattan Citibank branch for being too attractive. In her arbitration against the bank, she claimed that she was dismissed because her appearance was distracting for her male co-workers and that her employer forbade her from wearing clothes that were too tight or revealing. But Citibank said her dismissal was “solely performance-based” and called Lorenzana’s claims baseless. That didn’t stop New York City’s tabloids from eating up the story and the nation’s other news outlets from running with the pictures that could be seen on newspaper covers across the Big Apple.
8. Life in the Time of Vuvuzelas
One might have expected the sound track to this year’s World Cup, held in South Africa, to be Kwela music or perhaps Venda or Zulu tribal chants. Instead, the defining sound of the tournament was the unending monotone of the vuvuzela — the ubiquitous, China-made plastic horn that releases a continuous low bellow loud enough to wake the dead. With stadiums full of the instruments — 75,000 vuvuzelas, blown simultaneously — broadcasters scrambled to find a way to temper the irksome audio from the field. And as the instruments rapidly spread around the world — finding their way even into the stands at Major League Baseball games — a fad was born.
One might have expected the sound track to this year’s World Cup, held in South Africa, to be Kwela music or perhaps Venda or Zulu tribal chants. Instead, the defining sound of the tournament was the unending monotone of the vuvuzela — the ubiquitous, China-made plastic horn that releases a continuous low bellow loud enough to wake the dead. With stadiums full of the instruments — 75,000 vuvuzelas, blown simultaneously — broadcasters scrambled to find a way to temper the irksome audio from the field. And as the instruments rapidly spread around the world — finding their way even into the stands at Major League Baseball games — a fad was born.
9. The Way of the Samurai Porn Star
Some may call this tale bizarre, some may call it sad. It’s probably a bit of both, and it takes place in the world of pornography. Stephen Hill, 34, an adult-film performer also known by his stage name, “Steve Driver,” led police on a manhunt in June, when he was accused of killing porn actor Herbert Wong and injuring two others with a samurai sword that was meant to be used as a prop in a Van Nuys, Calif., movie studio. Wanted on one count of murder and five counts of attempted murder, Hill remained on the lam for days until he emerged from a San Fernando Valley house where he had barricaded himself, standing on a cliff with the sword pressed against his body, threatening suicide. After a dramatic eight-hour standoff, police tried to us a Taser to neutralize Hill, but the distraught porn thespian leaped off the embankment to his death 40 feet below.
Some may call this tale bizarre, some may call it sad. It’s probably a bit of both, and it takes place in the world of pornography. Stephen Hill, 34, an adult-film performer also known by his stage name, “Steve Driver,” led police on a manhunt in June, when he was accused of killing porn actor Herbert Wong and injuring two others with a samurai sword that was meant to be used as a prop in a Van Nuys, Calif., movie studio. Wanted on one count of murder and five counts of attempted murder, Hill remained on the lam for days until he emerged from a San Fernando Valley house where he had barricaded himself, standing on a cliff with the sword pressed against his body, threatening suicide. After a dramatic eight-hour standoff, police tried to us a Taser to neutralize Hill, but the distraught porn thespian leaped off the embankment to his death 40 feet below.
10.The U.S. Wishes the Queen Happy Birthday — on the Wrong Day
Queen Elizabeth II is one of the most recognizable figures in the world, and has been since she was a young woman. So it would seem pretty easy to Google her birthday, right? Well, it turns out that the U.S. State Department, which holds diplomatic court with leaders of nations big and small, flubbed one with the Queen when officials bestowed her with birthday greetings a week early. Buckingham Palace, of course, took it gracefully in stride. The truth is, Her Royal Highness gets two birthdays: her real one, on April 21 (she turned 84 this year), and then the official one, celebrated this year on June 12. Next year, however, it should be easier for the State Department to keep the dates straight: Queen Elizabeth joined Facebook in November.
Queen Elizabeth II is one of the most recognizable figures in the world, and has been since she was a young woman. So it would seem pretty easy to Google her birthday, right? Well, it turns out that the U.S. State Department, which holds diplomatic court with leaders of nations big and small, flubbed one with the Queen when officials bestowed her with birthday greetings a week early. Buckingham Palace, of course, took it gracefully in stride. The truth is, Her Royal Highness gets two birthdays: her real one, on April 21 (she turned 84 this year), and then the official one, celebrated this year on June 12. Next year, however, it should be easier for the State Department to keep the dates straight: Queen Elizabeth joined Facebook in November.
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