Bizarre News

[gravyluvr]

Frankly, it's a record! Eating champ Joey Chestnut gulps 59 1/2 hot dogs
By Bob Christie
Associated Press
Article Launched: 06/02/2007 06:44:18 PM PDT


PHOENIX - A San Jose man smashed the world record for hot dog eating at a contest Saturday, gobbling up more than 59 franks in 12 minutes.

Joey Chestnut, 22, shattered the record held by Takeru Kobayashi of Japan by downing 59 1/2 "HDBs" - hot dogs and buns - during the Southwest Regional Hot Dog Eating Championship at the Arizona Mills Mall in suburban Tempe.

Kobayashi's old record of 53 3/4 was set last year at Nathan's Famous Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Contest, held at Coney Island in New York, said George Costos, who helps runs the regional contests for Nathan's.

Chestnut placed second in last year's world championships, consuming 52 hot dogs.

"He's unbelievable - he just keeps on going," said Ryan Nerz, who works for Major League Eating, which he describes as "a world governing board for all stomach-centric sports."

"These guys' numbers have just been going up at a tremendous clip," Nerz said. "I always thought there was a limit - a limit to the human stomach and a limit to human willpower - but I guess not."

Chestnut won a free trip to New York, a year's supply of hot dogs and a $250 gift card to the mall.

He flew to New York on Saturday night for a previously scheduled trip to throw out the first pitch Sunday at a game between the New York Mets and the Arizona Diamondbacks, Costos said.

[Omega_Destroyer]

When does a person come to the conclusion they are meant to eat hot dogs competitively?

[gravyluvr]

Pole wakes up from 19-year coma

Mr Grzebski credits his survival to the care of his wife Gertruda


Mr Grzebski's story
A Polish man has woken up from a 19-year coma to find the Communist party no longer in power and food no longer rationed, Polish TV reports.
Railway worker Jan Grzebski, 65, fell into a coma after he was hit by a train in 1988.

"Now I see people on the streets with mobile phones and there are so many goods in the shops it makes my head spin," he told Polish television.

He credits his survival to his wife, Gertruda, who cared for him.

Doctors gave him only two or three years to live after the accident.

A comatose patient is in a profound state of unconsciousness which renders them unaware of both self and the world around them, and from which they cannot be roused.

Although those in a coma do not respond to stimuli in a meaningful way, contrary to popular belief they do not always lie quiet and still - in some cases they can move, open their eyes and even talk.

Fall of communists

"It was Gertruda that saved me, and I'll never forget it," Mr Grzebski told news channel TVN24 of his recovery.

Mrs Grzebski is reported to have moved her husband every hour to prevent bed sores.

"I cried a lot, and I prayed a lot," Mrs Grzebski said on Polsat television.

"Those who came to see us kept asking: 'When is he going to die?' But he's not dead."

When Mr Grzebski had his accident Poland was still ruled by its last communist leader, Wojciech Jaruzelski.

"When I went into a coma there was only tea and vinegar in the shops, meat was rationed and huge petrol queues were everywhere," Mr Grzebski said.

The following year's elections ushered in eastern Europe's first post-communist government.

Poland joined the Nato alliance in 1999 and the European Union in 2004.

"What amazes me today is all these people who walk around with their mobile phones and never stop moaning," said Mr Grzebski.

"I've got nothing to complain about."


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6715313.stm

[Omega_Destroyer]

I read that a couple of days ago. It would be quite the shock to see that Communism has fallen and people blabbing away on cell phones.

[Caradoc]

He was probably surprised to hear that Bush is still President.

[Veldrynus]

A recent Newsweek poll showed that 48 percent of Americans said they believed God made humans in the present form in the past 10,000 years.

Fat, stupid americans...

[Corribus]

@Vel

I'd love to disagree with you but..... *sigh*

[gravyluvr]

Do we have anyone from Poland or other former-USSR (Communist) lands that can explain what has changed there in 20 years?

[ThunderTitan]

We stopped being communists?!

Stopped spending almost everything we produced on paying the national debt... and started importing evil imperialist-capitalist merchandise.

[asandir]

ah, now you're getting it - Freedom!

Commuter dying to ride Zagreb's late tram
A Croatian man who boarded a night tram and died in his seat rode through the city for more than six hours before the driver discovered he was dead.

The 61-year-old, identified as Tomislav K, boarded a tram shortly before midnight on Friday (local time).

He soon fell asleep and died as the tram rolled on through the night and most passengers trickled out, the Croatian newspaper Jutarnji List said.

Towards the morning, he remained the only traveller.

The driver, separated by a glass partition from the rest of the tram, tried to wake him up at the end of his shift and realised he was dead.

The police put the death down to natural causes, but are still awaiting post-mortem results.

[Elvin]

No surprise as the driver is doing his work and the passengers don't even care to check how the others are. And especially after midnight they are too tired - still it would feel weird not understanding the guy next to you is dead...

[asandir]

yep, but he was on the thing for 6 hours!!!

[ThunderTitan]

Duh... he probably started smelling and that's how they realized he was dead.

[Elvin]

We don't really know for how long the others stayed or if any were near him...Sad though.

[asandir]

it is indeed

Bookmaker offers Loch Ness reward
A British bookmaker has offered a 1 million pound reward to anyone who can prove that Scotland's legendary Loch Ness monster does actually exist.

Bookmakers William Hill are supplying up to 50,000 instant cameras to fans attending a music festival next weekend.

"We are hoping the 1 million pound bounty will help to solve one of the great enigmas of modern times," William Hill spokesman Rupert Adams said.

The winner will have to offer proof that satisfies experts at London's Natural History Museum.

But the bookmakers are confident the bounty will not be claimed at the Rock Ness music festival on June 9 and 10.

They are offering odds of 250-1 on it happening in 2007.

[Elvin]

Ah Nessie is elusive as ever. Smart girl as those who give rewards for something impossible

[asandir]

I'm surprised .... hang on, not I'm not .... that people still believe crap like this

[Elvin]

NESSIE IS REAL!!! SHE SIMPLY DOES NOT WISH TO REVEAL HERSELF TO NOOB TOURISTS!

[asandir]

yeeessss, I'm sure that's it

[Elvin]

PARAMARIBO Suriname - A frog with fluorescent purple markings and 12 kinds of dung beetles were among two dozen new species discovered in the remote plateaus of eastern Suriname, scientists said Monday.
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The expedition was sponsored by two mining companies hoping to excavate the area for bauxite, the raw material used to make aluminum, and it was unknown how the findings would affect their plans.

Scientists discovered the species during a 2005 expedition led by the U.S.-based nonprofit Conservation International in rainforests and swamps about 80 miles southeast of Paramaribo, the capital of the South American country, organization spokesman Tom Cohen said.

Among the species found were the atelopus frog, which has distinctive purple markings; six types of fish; 12 dung beetles, and one ant species, he said.

Heh and we think we know everything. See? If we keep finding new species we may find nessie in the end!