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Copied From Fortean Times

• The inscription on the metal bands used to tag migratory birds in the USA has been changed. The bands used to bear the address of the Washington Biological Survey, abbreviated to "Wash.Biol.Surv." That was until the agency received a letter from a camper in Arkansas: "Dear Sirs, While camping last week I shot one of your birds. I think it was a crow. I followed the cooking instructions on the leg tag and I want to tell you it was horrible." The bands are now marked: "Fish and Wildlife Service". New Scientist, 10 Oct 1998.

• A man using the pit-style post office lavatory in Grove Town, Kingston, Jamaica on 19 December heard the tune of ‘Silent Night’ ringing up from the cesspit. Believing he was the victim of a voodoo curse, he alerted neighbors who searched the latrine and discovered cash of undelivered Christmas post, including a musical greeting card that played ‘Silent Night’. Independent on Sunday, 10 Jan 1999.

• Label on a child’s pushchair: "Remove child before folding the baby stroller". Eve. Standard, 12 Feb 1999.

• Two women came face to face to celebrate a triple coincidence they share the same name, the same town and the same age of 105. The Mary Cartwrights, of Dudley, West Midlands, met after the coincidence was discovered by a local photographer. Portsmouth News, 22 Jan 1999.

• Kent planners are running out of burial plots in Gravesend. Sunday Telegraph, 21 Feb 1999.

• Noticed in a brochure for Thomson Cruises: "A typical day might start with a genital stretch and tone session on the Sun Deck".

• After stopping for drinks at an illegal bar, a Zimbabwean bus driver found that the 20 mental patients he was supposed to be transporting from Harare to Bulawayo had escaped. Not wanting to admit his incompetence, the driver went to a nearby bus-station and offered everyone in the queue a free ride. He then delivered the passengers to the mental hospital, telling staff that the patients were very excitable and prone to bizarre fantasies. The deception wasn’t discovered for three days.

• In Minneapolis, USA, 28- year old Derrick L Richardson has been charged with third-degree murder of his much-loved cousins, Ken E Richardson. According to local police, Derrick suggested to Ken that they play a game of Russian Roulette, but having no revolver, instead put a semi-automatic pistol to his cousins head. Apparently, he did not realize that in a semi-automatic one bullet always loads straight into the firing chamber.
• Twenty-year-old Kelly Lee Hardyman was burgling a house in Gainseville, Florida when he decided to have ago on the Nintendo console he was in the process of stealing. He spent so much time playing that he was caught red-handed when the homeowner returned. It was the second time he had been caught playing Nintendo in someone else’s house.