This Week's "Realm of Bizarre News" Top 7(No.178)
-Ouch! Angry gal down in Collier County , Georgia got into a heated dispute with her roommate over who paid for which food. Finally, she hurled a stick of butter at him, striking him in the ankle! Surprisingly, she was later arrested for assault and battery(or,should that be "buttery?").
-Eek! Cows are being attacked by, of all creatures, ravenous mice down in South Australia ! The starving rodents actually are hopping on the backs of bovines and chewing them up alive! One farmer has been spreading engine oil on the cows' bodies to protect them from the mice.
(Trivia Q: What is the term for the fear of mice? Answer below)
-Larry Fick of Auburn, Michigan won a $2 million lottery in June of 2010, yet still receives food stamps! Amazingly, this is completely legal because lump-sum payments such as his are not counted in assessing an individual's eligibility for food assistance!
-A most unusual phobia: Phoebe Tann,19, of Maidstone , Kent , England is absolutely terrified of toilet paper! The problem began 6 years ago when her mom sent her to the market to purchase some TP and she freaked out! She has even undergone hypnotherapy to overcome her phobia, but to no avail. So, the TP in the bathroom must always be covered so she does not see it!
-Staffers at the SkyCity Casino in Auckland , New Zealand , are wearing pet flea collars around their ankles to ward off attacks by biting fleas! They have been complaining about the problem for months and finally resorted to this measure as daily cleanings of the floor have failed to deter the bugs.
-Incredible! A patient at the St.Joseph Mercy Hospital in Ann Arbor , Michigan was emitting poison gas as a result of ingesting rat poison! To protect other patients and staffers, he was placed in isolation and even monitored by a Hazmat team! Thankfully, at last report, his condition was improving.
-Hold your ears! According to Dr,.Todd Rickettts, associate professor of hearing and speech at Vanderbilt University (Nashville,TN), the chirping(actually, love songs) of cicadas can damage human hearing as the sounds reach 86 decibels (85 decibels is the threshold for safety). This is especially worrisome as 17-year cicadas have just been emerging from their hiatus and are chirping away in Tennessee and 12 other states.
(Trivia answer: The fear of mice is musophobia (aka muriphobia))
