News of the Weird
Bizarre but true stories about real people collected by syndicated columnist Chuck Shepherd.
Christian stand-up comedian Brad Stine says his muscular GodMen revivals are a reaction to the “wuss-ification” of the Promise Keepers movement and encourage spiritual men to “cowboy-up” and “thank God for testosterone!” According to a Los Angeles Times report, GodMen celebrates traditional male excesses, such as cussing, raucousness and sexuality. Added a Stine associate, “(F)or heaven’s sake, don’t ask the guys (as Promise Keepers does) to take the hand of the guys next to them.” “Do not think Sunday morning worship. Think Saturday afternoon tailgate.” Back to “Onward Christian Soldiers” rather than Jesus love songs. And tell your wife the rules, Stine says: “Learn to work the toilet seat. (I)f it’s up, put it down.”
The Oklahoma City company Skulls Unlimited International is, it claims, the world’s leading supplier of bones — cleaning and polishing human and animal heads by picking off the tissue by hand and then using dermestid beetles to eat what’s left. Said owner Jay Villemarette, on the greasiness of the human head: “I am not exaggerating. It is nasty.” But, said an employee, you get used to the work: “I’ve been waist-deep in a dead hippopotamus, and I’d rather do that than change diapers.”
South African inventor Willem van Rensburg has begun to market the Pronto condom, which he promised can be applied directly from wrapper to penis in three seconds (and, with practice, one second). It’s available now only in South Africa, but he has obtained a U.S. patent.
(Send your Weird News to Chuck Shepherd, P.O. Box 18737, Tampa FL 33679 or [email protected] or go to www.NewsoftheWeird.com.) NEWS OF THE WEIRD