Oddball News Stories

[Slenderman - Doctor]

For the lulz.

*

Unilever has announced the launch of a special Christmas dinner-flavoured Pot Noodle.

According to The Guardian, the Pot Noeldle has been described by the firm as a "festive fusion of turkey and stuffing with all the trimmings".

A donation of 2p from each £1.10 pot bought will be given to the RAF Association's Wings appeal to support Miles More Minutes, which helps troops contact their families over Christmas.

Pot Noodle spokesman Tom Denyard said: "We're especially proud of the Pot Noeldle. It's been 12 months in development, with several taste tests involving the troops themselves. It's the first time we've produced a flavour from a homegrown story."

Squadron Leader Stuart Balfour, head of RAF licensing, said: "The snack is enjoyed by so many of the troops and it's great to know that every pot sold will help them keep in touch with loved ones at what is a really important time of the year."

*

A Taiwanese office worker has reportedly decided to marry herself.

According to Reuters, Chen Wei-yh from Taipei has come under social pressure to wed but has also been unimpressed with the men she has met.

Chen said: "Age 30 is a prime period for me. My work and experience are in good shape, but I haven't found a partner, so what can I do?

"I'm not anti-marriage. I just hope that I can express a different idea within the bounds of a tradition."

Chen has hired a wedding planner and hall and will attend a reception with 30 guests next month. She added that her mother has accepted her plans for a solo marriage after first insisting that she find a groom.

*

A 99-year-old man from Guwahati, India has enrolled to begin a course at university.

Bholaram Das, who retired from his job as a court judge 39 years ago, will study a doctorate course on the role his village has played in spreading a particular stream of Hinduism.

Das, who turned 99 on Saturday, told AFP: "There is no age limit for acquiring knowledge.

"I had a very fulfilling 100 years, having been a teacher, dabbled with politics by joining the Congress party in 1945, became a lawyer, then a magistrate, and retired as a judge in 1971."

Guwahati University vice chancellor Okhil Kumar Medhi added: "A 100-year-old student is indeed a rarity anywhere in the world."

*

An Australian man has been recognised by the Guinness Book of World Records for collecting 22.1g of his own belly button fluff.

Graham Barker, 45, from Perth, saved the lint over a 26-year-period and keeps the fluff in separate jars according to colour, The Daily Telegraph reports.

The librarian, who began his collection in 1984, said: "One evening, when a little under-occupied, I noticed the lint in my navel and started wondering about it.

"I became curious as to how much of it one person can produce, and decided the only way to find out was to collect it for a while and see."

Barker sold three jars of the fluff to a museum and added: "The raw material is worthless but as a unique world record collection and a piece of cultural heritage, of debatable merit, it has some curiosity value."

Of his potential competition over the years, Barker said: "One guy might have persisted, but he got married and his wife ordered him to stop."

*

A thief who stole a laptop computer from a professor has reportedly backed up the machine and returned the files to his victim.

The unnamed owner, who works at Umeå University in northern Sweden, had left his backpack behind a door in his apartment's stairwell for a few moments when going to the laundry room, The Local reports.

The bag was grabbed but later returned, with his keys, calendar and credit cards still present but his computer and library card stolen.

"Unfortunately, I have been bad at backing up my computer," he told the Västerbottens-Kuriren newspaper.

A week later, a USB stick which had stolen with the computer was also returned in an envelope, and all the documents and personal files from the machine had been backed up on it.

The professor explained: "Often when people lose their computers and cameras, it is understandably not the gadget itself that is the most important. The content is often irreplaceable."

Of his still-missing library card, the man quipped: "Perhaps the thief needs to improve him or herself."

[silverwall]

I like the theft one the most. Come on does that not just say: "Come catch me" or what? Although it's strange because it's nice that the files were backed up and yet they would not need to me in the first place if the computer had not been stolen. Strange world.