Atomictown: Weird News
APTOPIX Brazil Art
AP Photo

Brazilian artists Gabriel Primo, left, and Tiago Primo sit in their installation art work, exhibited on the wall of a building, in Rio de Janeiro, Thursday, July 9, 2009.

Published Thursday, Jul. 09, 2009

Two brothers in Rio are living over the edge - literally: sleeping, working and eating on the side of a building 33 feet (10 meters) up in the air. Twenty-seven-year-old Tiago Primo and his 20-year-old brother Gabriel spend 12 hours a day in the bed, hammock, chair and dining table they've attached to a bright red-and-yellow wall as part of an art exhibit in Rio's old center.

Published Thursday, Jul. 09, 2009

An Ohio man has his wedding band back - and is back in his wife's good graces - after the ring accidentally wound up in the till at a Texas tollbooth. Rodger Moore went to Texas for a family wedding nearly two weeks ago. He said he was on his way to catch his flight home when his ring slipped off as he threw change into the basket at an unmanned booth on the Dallas North Tollway.

Cooking Complaints
AP Photo

This photo provided Thursday, July 9, 2009 by the Lee County Sheriff's office shows Meredith Hart Mulcahy of Bonita Springs, Fla. Mulcahy was arrested after deputies say she assaulted her husband for complaining about her cooking Tuesday night.

Published Thursday, Jul. 09, 2009

A southwest Florida woman was arrested after deputies said she assaulted her 71-year-old common-law husband after he complained about her cooking. A Lee County Sheriff's Office arrest report shows 66-year-old Meredith Hart Mulcahy was charged with battery on an elderly person Tuesday night.

Published Thursday, Jul. 09, 2009

God might not be the only one passing judgment on a man who skipped out on paying $200 for a religious tattoo at a parlor. Denton police are investigating a nonpayment complaint filed by a tattoo artist who inscribed "Only God can judge me" on a customer's arm. The Denton Record-Chronicle reported Thursday that the artist finished the work, which included a pair of praying hands, and presented the bill.

Published Thursday, Jul. 09, 2009

Authorities say a prankster persuaded a married couple to smash their Florida hotel window after falsely telling them the room had a gas leak. Police say a person claiming to be a front-desk clerk at an Orlando hotel convinced the couple to break a wall mirror and use a lamp to punch a hole through the wall. The couple also threw a mattress out the window, but a hotel manager came to the room before they could jump.

Published Thursday, Jul. 09, 2009

Fiery horses and a cloud of dust, but no hearty "Hi-Yo Silver."

Published Thursday, Jul. 09, 2009

A Pennsylvania toddler did such a remarkable job of hiding during a game of hide-and-seek that the family had to call police and firefighters to help find her. Two-year-old Natalie Jasmer was playing the game with her siblings Tuesday in their Pymatuning Township home. When the family couldn't find her, parents Dennis and Michelle Jasmer called authorities.

Published Wednesday, Jul. 08, 2009

A runway at John F. Kennedy International Airport was shut down briefly Wednesday morning after at least 78 turtles emerged from a nearby bay and crawled onto the tarmac.

Published Wednesday, Jul. 08, 2009

Two inmates at the Chatham County jail in coastal Georgia got burned by their own smoking habit when they started a fire trying to light a handmade cigarette with a spark from an electrical socket.

Published Wednesday, Jul. 08, 2009

A Las Vegas man won a courtroom battle Wednesday with the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles over his "HOE" license plate, which the agency tried to cancel on grounds that he was using a slang reference to prostitutes.

Published Wednesday, Jul. 08, 2009

An Ohio woman who found a fawn in her flower garden has been accused of beating it to death with a shovel. Dorothy Richardson, 75, was charged in a warrant with animal cruelty at her Euclid home near the Cleveland Metroparks Euclid Creek Reservation, a wooded park where deer, foxes and other wildlife roam.

Published Wednesday, Jul. 08, 2009

A robber left his mark on a San Antonio victim by biting her left arm. San Antonio police are seeking the man who robbed 65-year-old Rita Cervantes after she cashed a check at a bank and was getting into her van. Cervantes told police that a man with a towel over his face approached, jumped into her vehicle and began fighting with her.

Published Wednesday, Jul. 08, 2009

A British man who arrived at a Spanish airport on Wednesday after having too much to drink was taken into custody - not for bad behavior but for being too generous. Turns out the tourist had recently received an inheritance, and he had started to give away 52,000 ($72,285) he was carrying in cash and travelers checks.

Published Wednesday, Jul. 08, 2009

Authorities say a man has died after falling into a vat of melted chocolate in a New Jersey processing plant.

Published Wednesday, Jul. 08, 2009

Plans for a Michael Jackson statue made of butter are churning up so many comments that Iowa State Fair organizers are putting the proposal to a vote.

Published Wednesday, Jul. 08, 2009

Police say a Connecticut man has been arrested because he showed up at a dental office naked. Police say 41-year-old Christopher Hoff, of Stratford, also was five days late for his appointment. Authorities said Hoff entered Optimus Dental's office Monday with nothing on. A startled female receptionist screamed, and he ran away.

Published Wednesday, Jul. 08, 2009

Police in Maine's biggest city are on the lookout for a thief with an eye for roses. Gardeners at Portland's Deering Oaks Park noticed Monday that someone had snipped 100 blooms from the rose bushes. The same thing happened last year but not on the same scale.

Published Tuesday, Jul. 07, 2009

Police arrested a Woodbine, Md. woman twice in five hours on charges of driving under the influence of alcohol. Police said a 20-year-old woman was swerving across lane markers and failed to stop at a stop sign about 2:15 a.m. Friday. When officers stopped her, police said she was driving under the influence of alcohol.

Published Tuesday, Jul. 07, 2009

It's a case of thief's remorse - more than three decades later. A man who said he stole a stop sign 35 years ago from a Salt Lake County road has mailed a $600 cashier's check - bearing an illegible signature - to the Utah Department of Transportation.

Published Tuesday, Jul. 07, 2009

Call it the case of the dead cells - both telephones and the ones in the brain. Employees at a Telefonica Movistar cell-phone store in Morelia, Mexico say they arrived Tuesday morning to find that the store had been broken into.

Published Tuesday, Jul. 07, 2009

An Arkansas man who lived in a Pennsylvania family's attic for more than a week has been sentenced to jail time. Stanley Wayne Carter was sentenced Tuesday in Luzerne County Court to nine to 23 months in jail. He pleaded guilty in May to burglary, trespassing and other offenses.

Published Tuesday, Jul. 07, 2009

Authorities said a homeless man claimed to be the devil and attacked another man outside a Port St. Lucie convenience store. The victim told police that the 53-year-old man approached him early Monday morning and began speaking with him. After a few minutes, the man shouted, "I am the Devil and I am going to kill you."

Published Tuesday, Jul. 07, 2009

A Delaware man who claimed he lost his pants faces drunken driving charges after authorities say the deputy who pulled him over noticed he was in the buff below the waist. A spokesman for Maryland's Cecil County Sheriff's Office says 41-year-old Jonathan Schultz "was driving commando" and only partially covered with a towel on his lap, though he was wearing a shirt.

ODD Busty Sign
AP Photo

Kenny Tessel, right, is all smiles as he carries his mannequin, BarBe Q, to his car following his successful appeal before the Reading Board of Zoning Appeals Monday , July 6, 2009. Employee Jennifer Dove follows. In May, the city's Design Review Board agreed to let BarBe Q remain on display outside as long as she dressed more modestly. But Tessel appealed, and Monday night a zoning panel in the community of Reading agreed.

Published Tuesday, Jul. 07, 2009

BarBe Q, the shapely mannequin outside KT's Barbecue restaurant in Reading, Ohio, can continue wearing her revealing halter top and short shorts. On May 13, the city's Design Review Board agreed to let BarBe Q remain on display outside as long as she dressed more modestly.

Published Monday, Jul. 06, 2009

Police said a 72-year-old woman woke up to discover a 27-year-old man dressed only in underwear trying to get into her house. A police report said the man was booked with burglary early Sunday.

Published Monday, Jul. 06, 2009

A father and son are facing almost $20,000 in fees and fines after New York authorities said they removed about 42 tons of trash from their property. Brookhaven Town officials said they took away tires, car parts, hoses and other trash - about 85,000 pounds in all - piled up on a residential lot in Mastic Beach on eastern Long Island.

Published Monday, Jul. 06, 2009

Cedar Rapids police arrested a woman after officials said she drove a stolen car from Illinois around a barricade at a deadly accident. Police said the woman drove past two squad cars and officers who were directing traffic after the accident Sunday morning that killed a Cedar Rapids man.

Published Monday, Jul. 06, 2009

A 21-year-old woman faces felony charges after allegedly prank-calling her 69-year-old grandmother 45 times in one day, threatening to kill her. The woman faces five felony counts including harassment. A criminal complaint said she told police she was "bored" and "wanted to have some fun."

Published Monday, Jul. 06, 2009

Authorities arrested two people connected to the theft of a baby skunk from a pet store. The Sarasota County Sheriff's Office reported that the skunk was stolen Wednesday from Animal Crackers Pet Store. The animal was valued at $400.

Published Monday, Jul. 06, 2009

Police charged the father of a 5-year-old girl with child abuse after the girl was spotted behind the wheel of a speeding pickup truck. KRQE-TV reported the father was arrested Thurday when police saw his truck speeding and swerving on the city's west side. Police said the father told them he was trying to teach his daughter how to drive by having her sit in his lap.

Published Monday, Jul. 06, 2009

Money doesn't grow on trees, but a tree-care supervisor in New York City's Central Park found an old wallet inside a dead one.

Published Sunday, Jul. 05, 2009

Two orange lobsters that look as though they've just emerged from a steamer pot are definitely alive and pinching in Maine.

Obama Turtle
AP Photo

In this photo released by the Florida Keys News Bureau, staff and volunteers from the Florida Keys-based Turtle Hospital release "Obama" the loggerhead sea turtle, at Higgs Beach in Key West, Fla., Saturday, July 4, 2009. The turtle was found severely ill Jan. 19, 2009, the day before President Barack Obama's inauguration and nicknamed after the 44th president of the United States. Turtle Hospital officials said that since the 200-pound reptile had come to the hospital at a historic moment, it was appropriate to release it to freedom on America's Independence Day anniversary.

Published Saturday, Jul. 04, 2009

A sea turtle named after President Barack Obama that was rescued just before Inauguration Day has been set free on Independence Day.

Published Saturday, Jul. 04, 2009

"Cops & Doughnuts" is more than a punchline. It's now a bakery in Michigan - owned by nine full-time employees of the Clare Police Department.

Published Friday, Jul. 03, 2009

In the fight of pachyderms vs. people - the pachyderms now have the upper trunk.

New Zealand Flying Nude
AP Photo

In this undated photo supplied by Air New Zealand Friday, July 3, 2009, its staff is seen with body paint on in the airlines latest safety video call the "Bare Essentials of Safety." The video shows three cabin staff and the pilot, all in uniform-colored full body paint, talking viewers through the aircraft's safety procedures. New Zealand's national airline has adopted the cheeky way to encourage passengers to watch its in-flight safety video: The cabin crew's uniforms are nothing but body paint.

Published Friday, Jul. 03, 2009

New Zealand's national airline has adopted a cheeky way to encourage passengers to watch its in-flight safety video: The cabin crew's uniforms are nothing but body paint.

Published Friday, Jul. 03, 2009

An Oregon woman obsessed with bunnies has been ordered back behind bars after police found her in a hotel room with more than a dozen rabbits.

Published Thursday, Jul. 02, 2009

Police in suburban Chicago say a taxi driver who didn't have Mace handy when he was attacked by a knife-wielding passenger instead disarmed the man with a can of aerosol deodorant.

Published Thursday, Jul. 02, 2009

A Northern California elementary school teacher sent her students home for the summer with a video of class memories, only the DVD included six seconds of her having sex on a couch.

Rookie Arrest
AP Photo

This undated image provided by the New York Police Department shows Dariel Firpo. Firpo, a New York Police Department rookie just couldn't wait to get started. One of the NYPD's newest officers has made his first arrest just minutes after graduating from the Police Academy in a ceremony at Madison Square Garden.

Published Thursday, Jul. 02, 2009

A New York Police Department rookie just couldn't wait to get started.

Published Thursday, Jul. 02, 2009

Workers at the Frederick County Landfill were surprised by what they found in a large trash bin trucked in from a Goodwill Industries store: a woman who had apparently gotten trapped. "They opened the door and she got out," said landfill manager Ron Kimble.

Published Thursday, Jul. 02, 2009

The Iron County sheriff's office said an inmate tried to escape from a correctional facility by fashioning a fake bomb. Sheriff's Deputy Aaron Pallesen said the 28-year-old inmate cornered an officer in a lobby while holding what looked like a silver device with a red detonator.

Published Thursday, Jul. 02, 2009

A Connecticut woman's close encounter with the mythical beast, Sasquatch or Big Foot, turned out to be nothing more than a boy in a costume. Fairfield police said a woman driving last Tuesday night called police to report that she "almost hit Sasquatch," which was standing in the middle of the road.

Published Thursday, Jul. 02, 2009

A northwestern New Jersey man said he was mugged in his driveway by a sandwich-craving bear. Henry Rouwendal said he was packing his car last Friday when he was hit from behind and knocked to the ground. He said the culprit was a black bear who took his Italian sandwich.

Published Thursday, Jul. 02, 2009

It must rank among the easiest fires ever to put out. Zurich authorities say police and firefighters were called to the house of an elderly woman early Thursday after she reported her television set was burning. When they arrived, they discovered no signs of fire or smoke.

Congregation Protest
AP

Maria Moran, 41, the pastor's wife showing pictures outside the Iglesia Profetica Peniel church in Webster Texas Wednesday July 1, 2009. Police used a Taser on the pastor and pepper spray to disperse his congregants Wednesday after the pastor allegedly interfered with a traffic stop in the church parking lot. (AP Photo/Arelis Hernandez).

Published Wednesday, Jul. 01, 2009

Police used a Taser on a pastor and pepper spray to disperse his congregants Wednesday after the pastor allegedly interfered with a traffic stop in the church parking lot. Congregants say they were in the Iglesia Profetica Peniel church for an early morning prayer when pastor Jose Elias Moran went to assist the stopped driver, a church member, by asking the police what had happened.

Published Wednesday, Jul. 01, 2009

A passenger stripped naked during a US Airways flight and resisted a flight attendant's efforts to cover him with a blanket before two off-duty law enforcement officers on board subdued and handcuffed him, authorities said Wednesday.

Published Wednesday, Jul. 01, 2009

The wheels of justice grind slowly, but this is pushing the envelope. In Montana's Toole County, retired District Judge Ronald McPhillips ruled this week in a lawsuit that was left hanging for nearly a quarter-century. The judge ruled in Great Falls against Milan Ayers, who contended that former partner James Rubow swindled him out of his share of a natural gas field, with leases potentially worth millions of dollars.

Published Wednesday, Jul. 01, 2009

Authorities said a man walking through a security checkpoint at a Pinellas courthouse tried to steal an expensive watch, just feet from deputies. The sheriff's office reported that a man who had emptied his pockets to walk through a metal detector Monday complained that his $1,000 Wittnauer watch was gone.

Published Wednesday, Jul. 01, 2009

The planters in her front yard brought Tina Asmus national publicity last month. This week, they brought her a $25 fine. Asmus said Tuesday she will go to court to fight to keep her lawn ornaments, which are made from two old toilets and a bathroom sink.


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