News of the Weird, October 14, 2007 - WEIRDNUZ.M027 (News of the Weird, October 14, 2007) by Chuck Shepherd Copyright 2007 by Chuck Shepherd. All rights reserved. Lead Story * In September, prominent California cardiologist Maurice Buchbinder had his privileges revoked at Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla after he allegedly roughed up an unruly

News of the Weird, October 7, 2007 - WEIRDNUZ.M026 (News of the Weird, October 7, 2007) by Chuck Shepherd Copyright 2007 by Chuck Shepherd. All rights reserved. Lead Story * Ralph Whittington, 57, retired in 2000 as curator of the main reading room at the Library of Congress but was better known as the "King of Porn" for his private collection that he recently sold

News of the Weird, September 30, 2007 - WEIRDNUZ.M025 (News of the Weird, September 30, 2007) by Chuck Shepherd Copyright 2007 by Chuck Shepherd. All rights reserved. Lead Story * In August, a Roman Catholic bishop in the Netherlands, Martinus Muskens, suggested that Christians start referring to God as "Allah" as a way of relieving world tensions. "Allah is a very

News of the Weird, September 23, 2007 - WEIRDNUZ.M024 (News of the Weird, September 23, 2007) by Chuck Shepherd Copyright 2007 by Chuck Shepherd. All rights reserved. Lead Story * The periodic Christian Nudist Convocation took place in July at the Cherokee Lodge nudist camp in Tennessee, and according to a dispatch in Nashville Scene, the group evokes skepticism not only

News of the Weird, September 16, 2007 - WEIRDNUZ.M023 (News of the Weird, September 16, 2007) by Chuck Shepherd Copyright 2007 by Chuck Shepherd. All rights reserved. NOTICE: The 5th item contains an offensive word. Read at your own risk. Lead Story * Brian Blair, now a county commissioner in Tampa, Fla., asserted in a 2002 lawsuit that he had been forced into retirement from his

News of the Weird, September 9, 2007 - WEIRDNUZ.M022 (News of the Weird, September 9, 2007) by Chuck Shepherd Copyright 2007 by Chuck Shepherd. All rights reserved. Lead Story * Until a July Florida appeals court ruling, Mark O'Hara, 45, had been in prison for two years of a 25-year mandatory-minimum for trafficking in hydrocodone, based solely on the 58 tablets found in

News of the Weird, September 2, 2007 - WEIRDNUZ.M021 (News of the Weird, September 2, 2007) by Chuck Shepherd Copyright 2007 by Chuck Shepherd. All rights reserved. Lead Story * Ric Hoogestraat is married to Sue and works at a call center in the Phoenix, Ariz., area but spends 30-plus hours a week inside the online Second Life video game, pretending that he is the digitally-

News of the Weird, August 26, 2007 - WEIRDNUZ.M020 (News of the Weird, August 26, 2007) by Chuck Shepherd Lead Story * East Dublin, Ga. (in July), and Athens, Tex. (in August), sponsored their own versions of Redneck Games, with events such as mud-pit belly-flopping, seed-spitting, and making armpit music (Georgia), as well as (in Texas) "red-neck horseshoes" (played

News of the Weird, August 19, 2007 - WEIRDNUZ.M019 (News of the Weird, August 19, 2007) by Chuck Shepherd Copyright 2007 by Chuck Shepherd. All rights reserved. Lead Story * Kyle Krichbaum, 12, of Adrian, Mich., has had an obsession with vacuum cleaners since infancy, when he was mesmerized by the whirring, said his mother, and for years, he says, he has enjoyed

News of the Weird, August 12, 2007 - WEIRDNUZ.M018 (News of the Weird, August 12, 2007) by Chuck Shepherd Copyright 2007 by Chuck Shepherd. All rights reserved. Lead Story * Australian Jeffrey Lee is the last surviving member of the clan that controls the Koongarra uranium deposit near Kakadu National Park (east of Darwin), and federal law requires his permission for