Bizarre News - April 1, 2015

Greetings fellow Bizarros:

There was a bit of controversy a couple years ago when power companies first started installing so-called Smart Meters. Opponents said that the Smart Meters were too intrusive, tracking information about their power usage that amounted to an invasion of privacy. There were even a couple of stories about home owners who blocked technicians from installing Smart Meters in their homes, resulting in police intervention.

As it turns out they were frightened of the wrong thing. While Smart Meters still MAY BE invading peoples' privacy with the amount of information they track, the real danger comes from them exploding.

Granted, the explosions were caused by a dump truck crashing into a substation in Stockton, California, but on the other hand you didn't see a lot of stories about the old meters exploding.

The power company said the dump truck hit a utility pole which caused some transmission wires to come in contact with each other, creating a power surge.

The explosions started at around 8:30 a.m. and interrupted power to more than 5,000 homes.

Residents in the area described it as a large pop or a bomb going off, and strong enough to shake a house.

Yeah, maybe the power company knowing what time of day you run your washing machine isn't the most dangerous feature of these things.

Bizarrely,
Lewis

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*-- Slushie-seeking girl, 4, leaves home in the middle of the night --*
PHILADELPHIA (UPI) - A Philadelphia 4-year-old who wandered away from home at 3 a.m. and boarded a bus in a search for a slushie has promised to wait for her parents next time. Harlan Jenifer, driver of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority No. 56 bus, said a man flagged down his vehicle about 3 a.m. Friday in the Tacony neighborhood and told him he had found the young girl wandering the streets alone. "Got to be kidding me! At this time, at 3 o'clock on the morning," Jenifer told WPVI-TV. "She's a small little thing. It kind of just shocked me." The girl, Annabelle, got onto the bus while Jenifer called police. "All I want is a slushie, that's all she said!" Jenifer said. "It was too funny," Jenifer told the Philadelphia Inquirer. "I was scared for her, but it was funny. She was in good hands." Annabelle's parents, Jaclyn Mager and Timothy Ridgeway, said the girl has promised not to wander off on her own in the future, but they changed the locks on their home just in case. "There are no words, he saved my daughter's life," Mager said of Jenifer. "I'll be forever grateful."


*-- Arizona man reaches into used golf bag, finds loaded pistol with safety off --*
BULLHEAD CITY, Ariz. (UPI) - An Arizona man who was surveying the bag of a recently purchased used set of golf clubs says he found a loaded pistol inside one of its pouches. Mel Grewing and his wife, Cheryl, originally spotted the clubs in a thrift store in Sedona, the Mojave Valley Daily News reported. Though he already owned a set, Grewing purchased the clubs and brought them to the couple's seasonal home in Bullhead City. While searching the golf bag's pouches for extra balls, tees and other accessories, Grewing says he found a Browning Arms .22-calber match-shooting pistol. A loaded magazine was inserted and the safety was off, he said. "If a child would have pulled that out and pulled the trigger, something (tragic) could have happened," Grewing told the Daily News. The Grewings already own similar firearms and say they are recreational target shooters. The couple took the pistol to the Bullhead City Police Department, which found through a search of federal databases that the weapon was not reported stolen and was not registered to an owner. Grewing said he and his wife would keep the gun. "If no owner is located or contact attempts have failed, the gun may be released to its finder," department spokeswoman Emily Fromelt told the Daily News.


*-- READER COMMENTS --*
Dear Lewis; About legal prostitution, yes it should be legalized on all accounts. Free health care should be included. This is a human right that could be considered a health thing. Without a check up disease tends to spread diseases, most are highly curable. The ones that aren't might be taught to use condoms. The money saved can be used for research to combat these horrible diseases will cured. Hopefully this will happen soon because I am horny.
[Oh, well, as long as your motivation is so altruistic.]

Hi Lewis, I am Richard K, an old Irishman living in China and loving it here. I am also a long time reader of Bizarre News and enjoy your comments a lot, too. I am writing now to ask your permission to spread the good word. With your permission, I would like to post each issue of Bizarre News on the China Daily forum in its entirety. I will neither add nor delete anything but simply copy and paste whatever you write.
[Well, Richard, it wouldn't be the weirdest place Bizarre News has ever been reprinted.]

Lewis, your March 28 newsletter drew a correlation between GMO and cancer but you forgot to mention, Americans are the largest consumers of processed foods. Mac 'n Cheese, instant everything, taters, noodles, cakes- made with chemicals I have trouble pronouncing. While the rest of the world's population go to markets, buy fresh veggies (at a lot lower prices then Americans pay), go home and cook and add their own spices, sugar, salt and have less incidences of cancer. Stupid Foreigners. -Barbara

Lew, your other points about GMO's and pesticides aside, the guy offering to drink RoundUp turns out to not really be a Monsanto Lobbyist. He's a pro-GMO "enviornmentalist." -Greg
[Thanks for the correction.]

*-- END OF READER COMMENTS --*
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