WEIRD, BIZARRE and UNUSUAL #438 WHAT, NO RE-POSSESSION? A Long Island surgeon, Dr. Richard Batista, told reporters that, after nearly four-year of divorce proceedings, he would settle for $1.5 million in compensation for a kidney he’d donated to his wife eleven years prior. (https://www.huffpost.com/entry/10-most-bizarre-divorce-s_n_963299) COW NEEDS AN ATTORNEY Serb farmer Branko Zivkov, 76, was ready to give his wife Vukadinka her equal share of everything earned during their 45-year marriage, but furious at giving her half his farming equipment. So, first, he bought a grinder and cut in-half all his tools and plows. Preparing to saw their cow in half, he wondered which she wanted, the end with horns, or the end with a tail? (https://www.huffpost.com/entry/10-most-bizarre-divorce-s_n_963299) WEIRD, BIZARRE and UNUSUAL #436 SKIPPING THEIR RESPONSIBILITY Do you donated to Cancer Survivors’ Fund? They promise to provide scholarships and prosthetics for young cancer survivors. But, for the fiscal year 2017, they spent only some $127,000 on funding for prosthetics, which cost up to $50,000 each. Meaning they gave only 8.4% of all money collect that year, enough for about two-and-a-half prosthetic limbs. (https://www.cheatsheet.com/money-career/charities-biggest-scammers-take-money.html/) A GREEDY GROUP? How about Firefighters Charitable Foundation, which “strives” to give money to people affected by fires as well as volunteer fire departments? Well, while $6 million was spent on fundraising and administrative expenses, just $444,712 (7.4%) went anywhere else. (https://www.cheatsheet.com/money-career/charities-biggest-scammers-take-money.html/) LAST ONE IS WORST ONE Every year, Kids Wish Network raises millions of dollars in donations to “help” dying children and their families. But every year it spends less than 3 cents from each dollar to help them. Meanwhile, $4.8 million goes to pay the charity's founder and his consulting firm; which still leaves $110 million to be shared by corporate solicitors. https://www.tampabay.com/news/nation/americas-50-worst-charities-rake-in-nearly-1-billion-for-corporate/2339540) *** Not to be confused with Make-A-Wish Foundation. According to Wikipedia, “Kids Wish Network” was named "the worst charity in the nation" in a 2013 review of charities with wasteful spending practices. “Charity Navigator”charitynavigator.org gives "Kids Wish Network” a score of 26%. *** Make-A-Wish Foundation. gets an 88% Financial score on “Charity Navigator”. WEIRD, BIZARRE and UNUSUAL #435 Fri, Jan 11, 2:38 PM “YUMMY (SLURP!) YUMMY” Eating manners can vary greatly, depending on the country you’re in. For instance, while eating in Japan, you should slurp your noodles loudly. It means you love what you are eating. It is acceptable, even often appreciated, but only with noodles and soup. (https://yummy-planet.com/en/5-strange-table-manners-around-the-world/) FANTASTIC FOOD-ON-FLOOR? How do dirty floors affect your appetite? In Spain, at many places where food is served, you will find papers, napkins, cigarettes, food debris, often deliberately thrown there by the wait staff. A carry-over from the 19th century; [Supposedly,] it proves how “popular” an eatery is, supposedly. BE CAREFUL BEER DRINKERS While still a kid, you were taught never to BELCH in the presence of others? Well, in some Asian and Maghreb countries, it’s not impolite to burp at the end of a meal. Though not a must, it is acceptable as long as you gas released is always above the waist. (https://yummy-planet.com/en/5-strange-table-manners-around-the-world/) 434: CURSE THE GROUND, NOT HER Fellows, have you ever called a woman a non-flattering name? Well, watch it in Oklahoma. A law there created back in 1910 can get you sentenced to jail for 90 days and forced to pay a $500 fine; all just for calling a woman a “slut”. Of course, in memory no one remembers anybody enforcing that law. (https://bestlifeonline.com/47-weird-laws-around-world/) BUTT OUTA MY FAMILY! Did you name your child a name a little unusual, hoping that later their achievements will stand out even more? If so, good thing you were not living in Denmark. There could you would pick from only 33,000 government-approved names.(https://bestlifeonline.com/47-weird-laws-around-world/) Naaktgeboren is a Dutch surname . ... 432: STILL VICTORIA’S SECRET? A Los Angeles police officer, Macrida Patterson, was trying on her new thong when the tight fit caused a metal clip from the thong to fly off, hitting her in the eye. This caused her to file a lawsuit against Victoria’s Secret. Last heard, the case was still open over 10 years later.. (https://list25.com/25-extremely-bizarre-court-cases/) SHOULD DEER WEAR CONDOMS? After a group of PETA volunteers attended an anti-hunt protest defending the rights of deer to live, a member of the group hit a deer with their car. Ironically, PETA sued the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife, saying it was because their deer management program had increased the deer population too much. (https://list25.com/25-extremely-bizarre-court-cases/) CAN SHARE HIMSELF WITH HIM NOW Peter Wellis divorced his wife, but did not want to pay alimony. So he sued her on grounds of sperm theft, saying she did not tell him she was using birth control pills. (https://list25.com/25-extremely-bizarre-court-cases/) 429: ACCIDENT THAT SAVES LIVES If not for safety glass, auto accidents would turn windshields and car windows into guillotines. And its invention was an accident. It happened when French chemist Édouard Bénédictus knocked a glass beaker from a high shelf, which shattered without breaking. An assistant informed him the beaker contained cellulose nitrate, a type of clear natural plastic, leaving a film on the inside of the glass. (http://mentalfloss.com/article/85286/8-things-invented-accident) LESSON: “STICK” TO YOUR DREAM The first popsicle was reportedly invented by 11-year-old Frank Epperson in 1905. After stirring his powdered soda in water with a stick, he left stick-in-liquid on his front porch to freeze. Then, marketed same 20 years later as an Epsicle. (http://mentalfloss.com/article/85286/8-things-invented-accident) NOW SOME 20 MILLION YEARLY During World War II, when a bullet shattered the canopy of Gordon “Mouse” Cleaver’s fighter, acrylic shards lodged in his eyes. And, when English ophthalmologist Harold Ridley saw the plastic splinters in Cleaver’s left eye had no effect on his sight, and his body did not reject them, it caused him to eventually use plastic lens to replace the natural lenses removed during cataract surgery. (http://mentalfloss.com/article/85286/8-things-invented-accident) 428 YUMMY SOCKS? Does your mans’-best-friend eat things it should not? Ranker’s Weird Nature reports on a three-year-old Great Dane that loved eating a sock so much, during future feasts it consumed 43-and-a-half more socks, ending up getting its stomach pumped. (https://www.ranker.com/list/weird-things-in-animal-stomachs/nathan-gibson) FEELING NOT WORTH TWO-CENTS And, another Ranker’s Weird Nature report says a turtle living in a public pond in Thailand, where tourists frequently flipped coins for luck, adjusted its diet to eating those round pieces of metal. Unfortunately, it ate so many the sheer weight cracked its shell, but still survived. (https://www.ranker.com/list/weird-things-in-animal-stomachs/nathan-gibson) NO LEFT-OVERS, AT ALL And, one last Ranker’s Weird Nature report concerns a shark found off the coast of Florida, which insides contained not only a number of chickens, but also the entire chicken coop they lived in. (Enough already?) (https://www.ranker.com/list/weird-things-in-animal-stomachs/nathan-gibson)