WEIRD NEWS

Puddle Prank?
A video of a man jumping into a puddle–only to find it is as deep as he is tall – is going viral online. All we know is that it is in a parking lot somewhere in America. The clip starts with the man preparing to leap into a frozen puddle in a supermarket parking lot and quite to his surprise, he ends up completely submerged as the cameraman keels over in hysterics. The video has notched up more than 1.3million views on YouTube but some users expressed doubts whether it was genuine. One asked: “So why is there a four feet deep hole in a parking lot?” But another added: “This is one of those moments where the guy is laughing so hard he can’t do anything else, not even breathe. Man, those are the best.” (Ananova)

Dysfunctional Family Taken To a New Level
Looks like the Bowring family of Tauranga, New Zealand have just raised the bar on the whole dysfunctional family thing. 45-year-old James Bowring told a court judge that he indeed wants to reconcile with his son, 18-year-old Jacob, despite the fact that he was recently convicted of trying to run Jacob over with his car at 50 mph– after making a U-turn and jumping a curb to try get at him. James said he was just upset at the time because his boy Jacob had called him a “pedophile.” Jacob did this because his dad had just successfully wooed and won over Jacob’s 18-year-old girlfriend– and had gotten her pregnant! Subsequently, a judge sentenced James to five months’ home detention — which in this case is a bus that he currently lives in with the pregnant girlfriend. (The Dominion Post)

Shorter Men Are More Jealous
A study published in New Scientist magazine says that shorter men are more prone to jealousy than taller men, suggesting that men who do not measure up to the ‘”deal height” harbor insecurities. The study, conducted by Netherlands-based University of Groningen, is considered as possible proof of the so-called “Napoleon complex” or “short man syndrome” where short men compensate for their lack of height with aggressive tendencies, often associated with leaders with strong personalities such as Napoleon, Mussolini, and Hitler. Among women studied, average-sized females were the least jealous, while tall and short women were the most jealous. Repeated studies have shown that women rate taller men as more attractive and powerful than shorter ones, while men prefer “average” women usually who are a couple of inches shorter than them in height. (AHN News)

A Very Secure Marriage Proposal
Hats off to 24-year-old Aaron TKachuk of Prince George, British Columbia, for one of the most creative marriage proposals we’ve ever heard. While most people cringe at the idea of going through airport security, Aaron got the idea to use all the hassles to his advantage as he and his girlfriend, 24-year-old Jennifer Rubadeau, were going through airport security at the Prince George airport. Aaron had hidden the ring in a small box and tucked it into the toe of a sock, knowing full well it would arouse suspicion of security screeners. It did — and they insisted on having a closer look at the box. When they opened the box to find a white gold, diamond and ruby ring, Aaron dropped to one knee on the spot and popped the question. Other travelers and security personnel all cheered as Jennifer said yes! (AHN News)

Talk About a Screwed Up Operation
In Hochfranken, Germany, an unidentified woman is suing a hospital after they completely botched her surgery — and we mean really botched it! She was supposed to get an operation on her leg but woke up to find she had been given a new anus! The entire surgical team has been suspended after they apparently mixed up the notes on two patients. The woman apparently got the surgery that was supposed to have been done on another patient who was suffering from incontinence. (Ananova)

Guy Steals Gas From Police Car
Everybody knows the price of gas is sky high, and as a result it’s not surprising to hear of people actually stealing gas from other people’s car. But stealing gas from a police car? That’s what a 17-year-old boy was caught doing in Lambertville, Michigan. Sheriff’s detectives on a stakeout caught him. At least to the boy’s credit, it was an unmarked police car so we don’t think he’s a complete idiot. After being arrested, the teen later admitted to two recent arsons as well as three other arsons in 2006. (myway.com)

Bizarre Chase Scene
This had to be one of the funniest chases in history. In Toronto, police recently arrested a man who had stolen a backhoe with the apparent intention of driving it to a car wash in order to break down a wall to get at the facility’s coin machine. But the call to police came from the driver of a snow plow who was in hot pursuit of the backhoe’s driver. Too bad nobody caught that on video. (Toronto Star)