Weird news - Universities and colleges buying up XXX domains

People who use the internet are used to domain names such as .com, .info, .biz, and some others such as .de or .jp. For many years now, there was the planning to create a new set of domains that will end in .xxx, so that these domains can be identified to belong to the sex entertainment industry, and also allows better filters to prevent children and others from seeing sex related content.
So, when the availability of these domains was finally started, one expected that many players of the adult entertainment industry would sign up to buy these domains (and well known people were allowed to buy domain names with their names so that these would not get in controversy).
However, once these domains were available, one of the funny aspects was about some of the groups that started booking these domains. These were those of colleges and universities that were booking these domains with the thought of ensuring that they did not get into the wrong hands (these domains would not be available for anybody else to book) (link to article):

Colleges, museums and well known groups have rushed to grab online addresses in the ".xxx" domain to prevent porn purveyors from using their names in the Internet's new red light district.
Well-known colleges were among those quick to stake claims to .xxx websites, paying $200 for a decade of exclusive control over addresses based on their names.
Despite painful budget woes in the California State college system, the University of California, Berkeley, paid $1,200 for six .xxx web addresses based on name variations for the school and its Golden Bears football team.

Weird news - Man dies after his penis is injected with silicone

The length of the male sexual organ is something that drives a large amount of spam on the internet, and is actually a huge part of the self-esteem of a large number of males. People will do all kinds of treatments to increase the length of the male organ, and this is something that is fraught with danger. The penis, the male organ, is very sensitive, and is a center for pain as well, so any mis-step in this area can be very dangerous.
Taking medicines or any other medical treatment is a dangerous step if you are not sure of the credentials of the person who is doing it, such as this case where young male got his penis injected with a silicone implant, and it was this implant that was the cause of death (link to article):

Authorities have filed homicide charges against a woman after she allegedly administered a silicone injection into the penis of a 22-year-old man, who suffered a fatal blood clot.
The victim, who died in May, had been seeking a penis enhancement, authorities said today.
Kasia Rivera, 34, of East Orange, was arrested today on manslaughter charges and unauthorized practice of medicine in the death of Justin Street, the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office said.

Big Penis: The Ultimate Guide for a Longer, Thicker, Stronger Penis

The Largest Penis

Penis of Steel - The Ultimate Penis Enlargement Manual

Weird news - Cat willed 10 million pounds, but won't get it

From time to time, you hear of rich people bypassing any relatives they have, and donating sizable sums of money to some of their pets, and you can wonder about the significance of such wills, since you are leaving money (which is a creation of man) to non-humans. An animal has no knowledge of money, how to handle it, or any other item related to money (except that if they live in a rich house, they get used to more luxury, food at regular intervals, and so on).
In another case, an Italian lady left a huge fortune of 10 million pounds to her cat, a stray that the lady had adopted since she loved animals. The lady had no close relatives, so this decision was all the more easy, and unlikely that you would get relatives stepping up to challenge such a decision (link to article):

Believe it or not, an Italian cat has inherited a fortune of £10 million after her owner died aged 94, reportedly making her the third richest pet in the world.
Maria Assunta died last month and according to lawyers entrusted with her estate, she left the fortune in property to Tommasino, a stray cat she had found and looked after because of her love for animals, the 'Daily Mail' reported.

However, as per Italian law, the gift cannot be made directly to the animal, and hence there is a hunt for animal rights organizations.

Weird news - Man spies on his wife at home, using cameras

Believing your partner to be unfaithful is one of the most common reasons for divorces, as well as violence inside the home. A marriage is a coming together of people, but it does not mean that a person totally loses all their rights, including a right to privacy. Won't it feel creepy when you get to know that every action of yours is getting recorded by the spouse who wants to find some evidence of your disloyalty; and this is even more so when there are already tensions in the house.
In this case, the man believed that his wife was cheating on him, and had installed a number of spy cameras inside the house, trying to catch his wife cheating on him in some way, and when she detected the cameras, she was horrified (link to article):

Police said around 2pm on Tuesday, when Mahendran was out on duty, Kamala found a few spy cameras "hidden in different objects," in the bedroom, kitchen and bathroom. Shocked, she confronted Mahendran about it when he returned home but was allegedly insulted. Kamala then decided to seek divorce but Mahendran refused and said he was ready to talk, police said.On Wednesday, Kamala lodged a complaint with the Ambattur police who registered a case under Section 4 of the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Women Harassment Act and IPC Sections 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) and 290 (punishment for public nuisance).
Police said Mahendran allegedly suspected the fidelity of his wife and often ill treated her. The couple frequently quarrelled over trivial issues and after the confrontation on Tuesday "Kamala said she would live separately and went away," a police officer said. However, Mahendran convinced her and brought her home the same day, the officer said. The couple have a seven-year-old daughter and a five-year-old son.

Spy Net: Flex Neck Snake Cam

Sneaky Uses for Everyday Things

Locked-band Mini Wireless Full Motion Color Camera w/4-Channel Receiver

Weird news - Woman beheaded over sorcery claims in Saudi Arabia

Witchcraft was a major problem for women in the medieval ages, with the official law and order system of countries actually trying women and killing them for the same. This was with the sanction of the Church, but was something that was stopped many centuries. However, even now, in many parts of the world, you hear of some poor lady or the other being accused of witchcraft (this provides somebody who is suffering an outlet to blame somebody for their problems, and when combined with societies where people believe in magic) and being killed. However, these are not officially sanctioned, and are more individual or mob actions.
So it was very surprising when I read this news article about a woman being beheaded in Saudi Arabia for practising sorcery. Does Saudi Arabia believe that a person could actually know magic, and yet not be able to save herself from being accused and executed for such a crime ? Apparently yes, since the news report makes it clear that the conviction was for forgery, which led to a beheading (link to article):

A Saudi woman was beheaded on Monday after being convicted of practising sorcery, which is banned in the ultra-conservative kingdom, the interior ministry said.
Amina bint Abdulhalim Nassar was executed in the northern province of Jawf for "practising witchcraft and sorcery," the ministry said in a statement carried by SPA state news agency.

Ancient Paganism: The Sorcery of the Fallen Angels

Sorcery

The Path: A Practical Approach to Sorcery

Weird news - Man sentenced to 500 lashes for blasphemy

When you pick up novels about medieval times, you see so many cases where people were sentenced to many sorts of different sentences for crimes against God, such as the extreme one of being burned at the stake for blasphemy. A number of people were convicted and killed in such a manner, which even encompassed acts such as proposing that the universe did not center around the earth, rather that the earth moved around the sun. But these were all stories of what used to happen many centuries earlier.
So, it seems very surprising that such cases happen even now, primarily in Islamic countries where uttering anything that could be construed to be against god can actually be punished by death. And this is not a hypothetical case, there have been numerous cases where people have been convicted of blasphemy on flimsy evidence, or in the more horrid cases, mobs have believed about these utterances of blasphemy and lynched people. Consider this case, where a person on the Haj was convicted of uttering something against the relatives of the Prophet Mohammed and sentenced to a prison term as well as 500 lashes (which could actually kill him) (link to article)

Mansor Almaribe, 45, was found guilty of blasphemy after he was arrested last month in Medina while on a pilgrimage, Australian officials said.
It's unclear what Almaribe, a Shia Muslim from Victoria state, said or did to get arrested.
"The ambassador has urgently contacted Saudi authorities and will make strong representations, including to key figures in the Saudi government, seeking leniency," said Kate Sieper, a foreign affairs spokeswoman.

Silenced: How Apostasy and Blasphemy Codes are Choking Freedom Worldwide

Is Critique Secular?: Blasphemy, Injury, and Free Speech

Freedom of Religion, Apostasy and Islam (Liturgy, Worship and Society Series)

Weird news - Bananas and cucumbers prohibited for women as per Islamic preacher

Sometimes one comes across religious sanctions that seem utterly strange. There was a case where a husband divorced his wife when angry, but when he became normal, was unable to take her back since the divorce (of uttering the words talaq 3 times) was held valid; and if he wanted to marry her, she had to marry somebody else first, then get divorced and then only could they marry again. Such cases seem so weird; now consider this wisdom from a preacher about how to keep woman pure. Apparently if a lady sees something resembling the make sexual organ, then it will cause her to have impure thoughts, and hence the lady should keep away from such fruits and vegetables. No word on the many other items that seem similar in shape to the male organ such as pens, tubes, and so on (or looks like the preacher has been seeing too many X-rated movies) (link to article):

The Egyptian news website Bikya Masr on Wednesday quoted the cleric whose diktat featured in an article on el-Senousa, a religious publication. The cleric has said that women should not even get close to bananas or cucumbers. "If women wish to eat these food items, a third party, preferably a male related to them such as their a father or husband, should cut the items into small pieces and serve," the cleric dictated.
According to the cleric, bananas and cucumbers "resemble the male penis" and therefore could arouse women or "make them think of sex." The cleric also added carrots and zucchini to the list of forbidden foods for women.

Such ridiculous statements get a lot of attention (and ridicule) on the internet, and can make moderate Muslims embarrassed. But on a serious note, such a statement also shows what the opinion many of these clergy have of women.

The Truth About Islam and Women

In the Land of Invisible Women: A Female Doctor's Journey in the Saudi Kingdom

Inside Islam (History Channel)

Weird news - A crash that caused $4 million in damages to expensive cars

Road crashes are caused by various reasons, such as bad weather, car malfunction, slippery roads, too much to drink, or other such causes. They can be fatal to people, but very rarely do you see a car crash measured in terms of the amount of damage caused to vehicles, especially expensive vehicles such as a Ferrari. However, this article is more about the total damage caused during an accident which involved very expensive cars - how often have you heard of an accident that caused more than $4 million in damage (link to article):

Eight Ferraris and a Lamborghini -- plus a Toyota Prius -- were among the vehicles involved in the crash, which witnesses said happened when a speeding car slid across a wet road surface. Television footage showed mangled Ferraris -- many of them racing red -- and debris spread over some 400 metres (yards) of the east-bound side of the Chugoku Expressway, the main trunk road in southern Honshu.
A pack of about 20 supercars was travelling in convoy on Sunday morning on a stretch of wet highway when the leading Ferrari slid into a guardrail, police said.
Those behind slammed on their brakes, but for many of them it was apparently too late.
"I've never seen such a thing," highway patrol lieutenant Eiichiro Kamitani told AFP by telephone. "Ferraris rarely travel in such large numbers."