Preventing incest in Iceland
Iceland has established a searchable database of family trees designed to help young men and women avoid committing incest. In the tiny, inbred country of 300,000, people often find that they are related, which can be problematic in a sexually liberal society. Icelander Elin Edda says a friend began sleeping with a guy, “and then found out they had the same great-grandparents. It really freaked her out.’’ To permit quick decision-making, the database—which contains the genealogical background of every Icelander—can be searched via smartphones.
Liam Neeson's gamey stew
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Animal-rights activists have called for a boycott of Liam Neeson’s latest film after he admitted eating wolf meat on the set. Neeson, 59, says he ate wolf-meat stew to better understand his character, who is pursued by ravenous wolves after a plane crash in the Arctic. The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals condemned Neeson’s wolf meal as “out of step with the rest of the world.” Neeson concedes the stew was “very gamey,” but says that as an Irishman, “just throw a lot of carrots and onions in there and I’ll call it dinner.”
Death of a video gamer
A 23-year-old man died after playing video games for 10 hours in a Taiwanese Internet café, but his fellow gamers failed to notice. Chen Jung-yu’s body was only discovered when a clerk went to tell him that the 23 hours he had paid for had expired. Prior to that, said the clerk, “I thought that he was only dozing off and paid no particular attention.” Police say that as Chen’s body was being removed, the café’s 10 other customers remained hunched in front of their screens.
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Denmark's 'pornographic' mermaid statue is in hot waterUnder the Radar Town will reportedly remove voluptuous Big Mermaid, despite statue being 'arguably a bit less naked' than Copenhagen monument the Little Mermaid
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August 10 editorial cartoonsCartoons Sunday's political cartoons include a global plastics problem, GOP enthusiasm over tariffs, and more
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Too drunk to get married, and morefeature An Australian groom showed up so drunk for his wedding that a minister refused to perform the ceremony.
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Romanian swallows a metal fork, and more
feature A Romanian man went to the emergency room complaining of intense chest pain.
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Suicidal man helps save a stranger, and more
feature A suicidal man who was threatening to jump off London Bridge helped save the life of a complete stranger drowning in the waters below.
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Morticians discover live man in body bag, and more
feature Workers at a Mississippi funeral home got a shock when a corpse started moving inside his body bag.
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How to shake a vending machine, and more
feature An Iowa man was fired from his warehouse job after he allegedly used a forklift to pick up a vending machine and shake loose a stuck candy bar.
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Young boy goes joyriding, and more
feature A 10-year-old Norwegian boy took his parents’ car for a joyride, then told police that he was a dwarf who had forgotten his driver’s license.
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Taking aim at Kroger's, and more
feature A Kentucky woman allegedly bought a car just so she could ram it into a supermarket that she hates.
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A name like no other, and more
feature Britain’s most heavily tattooed man has been refused a passport because of his unusual name.