Spoon-bender Geller ‘convinced CIA’

Posted on January 27, 2017 by Extraordinary

Uri Geller, the self-proclaimed psychic known for his ability to bend spoons, had his telepathic skills tested by the US Central Intelligence Agency.

Newly published documents shows that Geller went to the Stanford Research Institute in 1973 for a week of experiments as part of the CIA’s Stargate programme, which looked at psychic powers and whether they could be weaponised in some way.

The CIA concluded: “As a result of Geller’s success in this experimental period, we consider that he has demonstrated his paranormal perception ability in a convincing and unambiguous manner.”

The cache of documents were declassified after a two-year campaign by freedom-of-information activists and a lawsuit against the CIA.

Lovely grub – here’s a grand

Posted on January 12, 2017 by Extraordinary

Very happy diner leaves grand tip on 79 quid bill.

It’s a new year. Most people, including us here at Extraordinary News, are, to be frank, penny pinching. We’re avoiding takeaway coffees, cancelling our subscriptions to online streaming services and losing friends as we find excuses not to pay a round.

Not so a customer at Indian restaurant The Indian Tree in Portadown, in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The man, who wanted to remain anonymous, was so pleased with his dish, billed at £79.50 for five people, he slapped a whopping £1,000 tip on top.

It’s thought the mystery tipper, a businessman who pops into the curry house every couple of months when he’s in town, is a big fan of its chef, known as Babu.

Luna Ekush, who owns the restaurant, said the tip was “incredibly generous”.

“It is a very simple thing to express gratitude, but this has had such a big impact. We are still in shock,” she told the Portadown Times.

“All the staff working that night will split the money as the customer said it was for everyone.

“I don’t think anyone at the restaurant has ever received such a massive tip, I definitely have not.

“I want to thank Babu for his hard work, all credit for the food must go to him.”

Hollyweed? No, Hollywood

Posted on January 5, 2017 by Extraordinary

Los Angeles residents must have thought they’d been smoking something when they woke up to a new year to find their famous Hollywood sign had been changed to read ‘Hollyweed’.

Security cameras caught a vandal, dressed in black, scaling the sign in the middle of the night, covering the Os in huge tarpaulins so they looked like Es.

The Hollywood Sign Trust, which maintains the world-famous, 50-foot-tall landmark, is to look at boosting security on the back of the incident, which is being investigated by police.

It’s thought the prank could be a knowing reference to voters in California approving a law which means the recreational use of marijuana will become legal from 2018.

However, it’s not the first time the sign has been changed to read Hollyweed. A college student first did it on January 1 1976, exactly 41 years to the day.

The original sign was first put up in 1923 and read Hollywoodland to promote a housing development. However, the last four letters deteriorated and were removed in the 1940s.

Where did you sleep last night? Ikea Westfield?

Posted on December 23, 2016 by Extraordinary

Have you been sneaking into Ikea stores for cheeky sleepovers with your mates? Well stop it. Just stop it.

It’s a thing, apparently.

Getting together with your pals, grabbing a few sleeping bags, crisps, popcorn and drink and heading to your nearest retail park to, y’know, bed down for the night next to (or maybe in) a Gjora or Malm.

Ikea sleepovers have become something of a YouTube craze and, recently, there have been around ten incidents in Britain the US, Canada, Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden, Japan, Australia and Poland.

Typically the pranksters hide in wardrobes at closing time before coming out to have a spot of fun.

Problem is, it’s illegal and potentially unsafe and the Swedish furniture firm is now calling on youngsters to give it a rest.

Ikea spokeswoman Johanna Iritz said the company is taking the incidents seriously because it can’t guarantee the safety of those involved. Anyone trying the stunt could face arrest.

Two Belgian vloggers are thought to have started the craze with their video of a 12-hour stay in the store.

Ikea might be partly to blame though. In 2011 it ran an event called ‘Big Sleepover’ in which lucky fans of the furniture giant spent a “relaxing night surrounded by the retailer’s products”.

“Ikea has listened to what its customers want and given it to them – a night in an Ikea store. Nearly 100,000 people signed up to a Facebook group called “I wanna have a sleepover in Ikea.”

Whoops…

On the first day of Christmas, my true love sent to me…

Posted on December 21, 2016 by Extraordinary

A, um, venomous tiger snake all curled in ma Crimbo tree.

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Snake Catcher Victoria

In one of the more unusual festive stories doing the rounds, news reaches us that an Australian woman was putting the finishing touches to her Christmas tree over the weekend when, nestled among the tinsel and baubles, she discovered a snake.

Professional snake catcher Barry Goldsmith (strong name) was called in to get a handle on the situation, at a house in Melbourne.

“It’s one of the more different ones, but we find them in all sorts of places,” he said, “Tiger snakes are very good climbers.”

With the warmer weather, snakes are more active, but people should leave them alone and not try to kill them, he said. “It’s dangerous, it’s illegal, and it’s cruel.”

Tiger snakes, which are common in southeastern and southwestern Australia, are highly venomous and can be very aggressive.

They can be yellow, orange-brown and jet black – good camouflage for a Christmas tree…

Man Shocked to Discover Puppies are Actually Black Bears

Posted on July 8, 2015 by Extraordinary

1. Take a look at picture A. What do you see?

Picture A: Can you name the animal?

2. Now take a look at picture B. What do you see?

Picture B: Can you name the animal?

Hopefully, if you have a set of functioning eye balls and a rudimentary knowledge of the animal kingdom your answer to questions 1 and 2 would have been bear and dog respectively. See, it’s not that tough really is it?

Well try telling that to Wang Kaiyu.

Mr Kaiyu bought two puppies while on a trip to Vietnam back in 2013. At least, he thought they were puppies; it turned out that his new pets, which were described to him as “very lively, not picky about food and friendly with human beings”, were in fact baby black bears. Awww.

The penny finally dropped TWO YEARS LATER! when the man, who works as a banana farmer in China – at least he thinks they are bananas, perhaps they are watermelons – saw a wildlife protection poster warning about black bears on the loose, which looked suspiciously like his own little pooches.

Needless to say, he could bear-ly believe what had happened. Mr Kaiyu had no choice but to contact the local public security bureau and give up his beloved dogs/bears, which were promptly sent to a rescue centre.

The pair of pets, one female and one male, reportedly weight 50 kilograms each and according to China.org they are both in good health… probably all that fetch they were playing.

Now check out this waving dog…

Study Links Eye Colour to Alcoholism

Posted on July 3, 2015 by Extraordinary

People often say their partner’s eyes are the part of them that they’re most attracted to. Well make sure you get a proper look at them, because a new study has suggested that eyes are more than the gateway to someone’s soul.

According to scientists at the University of Vermont, there is a clear correlation between someone’s eye colour and their propensity to become an alcoholic. And to summarise the three years of hard genetic research they’ve completed, what the boffins found is that people with blue eyes are more likely to enjoy a tipple or two… or three… or 10.D

awei Li, the university’s assistant professor of microbiology and molecular genetics led the study along with Arvis Sulovari, a doctoral student in cellular, molecular and biological sciences.

The research began back in 2012, when Li attempted to create a data base of 10,000 Americans of mixed descent who had all been diagnosed with at least one psychiatric illness or an addiction like alcohol dependency. As the study progressed Li whittled the sample size down to the 1,263 people who had struggled with alcohol addiction.

It was at this stage that Li made the discovery that there was a link between eye colour and an addiction to booze. However, Li states that his team still don’t know why people with blue eyes are more likely to be alcoholics, with him and the team now preparing to do further research into why this might be the case.

Meanwhile, for those with blue eyes, it’s probably best to keep a lid on that drinking habit… ah screw it, being drunk is fun!

Scientists Discover Animal that Changes Sex When it Gets Warm

Posted on July 2, 2015 by Extraordinary

First there was Caitlyn Jenner and now the Australian Central Bearded Dragon: sex changers have been all over the news in recent weeks.

In the case of the latter, scientists have just discovered that the cold-blooded reptile has chromosomes that can change depending on the weather. This means, to put it in simple terms, the temperature at which the bearded dragon’s eggs are incubated at will dictate whether you have a boy or a girl.

All Australian Central Bearded Dragon begin life with two Z chromosomes – making them genetically male – but at warm temperatures this genetic make-up changes and they are born female. It had been seen in the lab before, but for the first time ever it has taken place in the wild.

Exciting, head-scratchingly interesting news, yes. But scientists also say that the discovery raises some concerns. Namely, with global warming pushing temperatures higher and higher, it is foreseeable that more of the lizards could make the transition to become female.

However, while this has been making the news, gendering altering animals are nothing new; there have been various extraordinary discoveries of species that are able to switch between being male and female to adapt to their surroundings.

Hawkfish, Parrotfish and Clown anemonefish all have the ability to choose their gender depending on the balance of males and females in the area. Sluts.

But none of these can compete with our favourite sex-changing animals. No, no. That prize goes to the cleaner fish.

Back in 2011 a team from the Institute of Zoology at the Zoological Society London published a groundbreaking study which found that female cleaner fish, if they eat too much can actually turn into men. What better motivation than to not eat that last tub of ice cream than the risk of a penis popping out?!

The Five Weirdest Dating Sites on the Internet, Including Clowns and Adult Babies

Posted on June 26, 2015 by Extraordinary

Whether by app or by website, the world of online dating has grown immeasurably in recent years. And naturally, when a phenomenon grows at pace, very strange sub cultures tend to be spawned within it.

For online daters this comes in the form of very niche, extremely specific sites dedicated to pairing people with peculiar fetishes and hard-to-satisfy desires. Here is a run down of five of the weirdest dating sites on the internet:

Ugly Schmucks

Ugly Schmucks is relatively straightforward – it is a dating website that is designed purely for ugly people, like reverse eugenics, if you will. For those fed up of being swiped to the left on Tinder or having their monstrous mugshot quickly passed by on dating sites, they can decide to find someone ‘in their own league’. It is quite a sweet idea, but the moment you create an account of Ugly Schmucks, one would imagine, is somewhat of a low point in one’s life.

Trek Passions

It stands to reason that Star Trek fans are horribly single, so naturally there is a dating site just for the Trekkies: Trek Passions. Inevitably the website uses the tagline ‘Love Long and Prosper’. No official figures have been released but is probably safe to assume that the ratio of men to women on this site is similar to what you would see at a pub darts match.

SWFA

Singles with Food Allergies, or SWFA, is, as you would guess, designed for fussy eaters. After all, they often say the way to your partner’s heart is through their stomach (that being good food, not some sort of DIY home surgery). So for those who finds their allergies are holding them back, this could be the place for them.

DiaperMates

Now this one is strange. DiaperMates has been created to fill the nichest of niches – it is for adult babies: grown adults who like to wear diapers and soil themselves while refusing to eat from anything but a spoon that makes aeroplanes noises. If that’s your bag, sign up today!

Clown Dating

And finally, there is Clown Dating. Some people find clowns terrifying, many are indifferent towards them. But there a few people, a small questionable minority, who see a red nose and crazy hair and find their pulse starting to race. “Everyone loves a clown, let a clown love you,” the website reads, which sounds like the tagline for a sinister horror film featuring rapey clowns… #JustSaying.

RUUUUNNN! Australian Town Taken Over by 25,000 DEADLY SPIDERS!

Posted on June 25, 2015 by Extraordinary

One standard domestic house spider can often illicit such fear in people that their screams become ultrasonic and their hands flap fast enough to propel them off the ground.

So just imagine what it would be like if 25,000 of them INVADED YOUR TOWN! Because that’s exactly what happened in Australia this week.

The arachnid invasion of Maningrida, a town 300 miles away from Darwin on the country’s north coast, has left scientists scratching their heads and the residents (quite rightly) running for their lives.

Arachnologist Dr Robert Raven, whose own state of wellbeing must be seriously questioned if he chooses to spend his life pocking at these eight-legged freaks, is stumped as to what has brought so many venomous tarantula – oh yes, did we not mention, these are tarantulas AND THEY ARE VENOMOUS – to the small town.

He said: “Normally, I find two or three hundred spiders in one spot. Presumably, something is missing that would hammer them or there is something good [like a food source].

“It’s one of the beauties of science, being able to say ‘I don’t know’.”

Great, thanks Dr Raven.

The only comfort anyone can take from this is that the venom from the spiders is not strong enough to kill you, it will simply make you vomit for around eight hours. But seeing 25,000 tarantulas running riot in one town would probably do that anyway, with or without a bite.

Extraordinary News has suggested to the Australian government that the entire town and a 1,000-mile radius surrounding the new arachnid HQ is bombed until it falls into the ocean. We are yet to get a response… don’t they realise this is how apocalyptic horror films start?!

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