WEIRD NEWS

Pro Tip About Using Shop Vac to Clean Up Gasoline Spill

Here's another important pro tip - if you've got a gasoline spill to clean up, you don't want to use an electric shop vac! In Culver Township, Minnesota, two small children, ages 5 and 6, were playing in a shed when they accidentally tipped over a can of gasoline. Leaving aside the insanity of letting children play in a shed where gasoline is stored for the moment, the kids then made the horrible mistake of trying to clean up the spill using an electric shop-vac which quickly ignited the spill and caused second degree burns to approximately 20 percent of their bodies. They are being treated at a nearby hospital. The children's or parents' names have not been released. (Star Tribune)

DIY Insemination Kit!

Meanwhile in the UK, Kerry Allen and her gay best friend, Ali Thomson, have had a baby together using nothing more than a $3 syringe bought on Amazon and a Tupperware container. After researching artificial insemination they decided to take a DIY approach - which we're pretty sure your imagination can figure out. Kerry, 29, quickly became pregnant but at 19 weeks her baby's heart had stopped beating and she gave birth to the stillborn infant in May 2017. But they decided to try again and now have had a healthy baby girl who was born on May 23. Kerry, who lives with Ali said, "Being parents was something we had both wanted for so long, and seeing Lanah for the first time, I felt completely full of love." Ali, 27, who works as a barman, and Kerry, who worked in Burger King until her pregnancy, say they "just clicked" six years ago when they met at the fast food restaurant. They moved in together in 2014 and a year later, during a drunken night out, Kerry struck up the idea. (Metro)

It's Up, It's Down, It's Up!

The White House flag had an interesting weekend. It was lowered to half-staff on Saturday in the wake of Sen. John McCain's death, then raised back up on Monday in keeping with the US flag code. Then came the outcry from the media and the public who felt a flag proclamation from President Trump was in order. After lowering the flag once more, that proclamation came Monday afternoon. Reuters describes it as being issued in a "delayed" manner, noting that presidents typically take their cue from Congress when a high-profile lawmaker dies. President Trump's statement: "Despite our differences on policy and politics, I respect Senator John McCain's service to our country and, in his honor, have signed a proclamation to fly the flag of the United States at half-staff until the day of his interment," which is Saturday. (Reuters)

So Much for That Vow of Poverty!

Last time we looked, catholic priests took a vow of poverty. Apparently that vow expires when you retire. The Catholic Diocese of San Jose has purchased a five-bedroom, $2.3 million home in Silicon Valley for its retiring bishop despite the 640,000-member diocese's mission of charity and serving the poor. Bishop Patrick J. McGrath, 73, acknowledged in an interview that he "could understand" how the purchase might not sit well with some parishioners. But that won't stop him from moving in the nearly 3,300-square-foot home which features a "grand-sized chef's kitchen," ''soaring ceilings," and a "spa-like marble bathroom" in a "Tuscan estate." It was purchased with funds set aside for paying the costs of a bishop's housing and upkeep after retirement, said a rep for the diocese. McGrath said, "The fund ... can be used for nothing else. When I'm not around anymore, the house can be sold. It's a good investment in that sense." Still, the purchase appears at odds with McGrath's previously expressed concerns about housing inequality in Northern California. Many retired clergy choose to live in a retirement community in Mountain View sponsored by the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul. Others live in church rectories, the homes of parish priests. But McGrath plans to live alone and said he's not planning to have other clergy as regular housemates, though people to help him cook and clean might come and stay. (Mercury News)

Rosanne Conner is Dead

ABC hasn't officially revealed yet how it will deal with the absence of Roseanne Barr when the "The Conners" spinoff debuts in October, but star John Goodman may have let the cat out of the bag so to speak. In an interview with the UK's Sunday Times, Goodman says this of his own character, Dan Conner: "I guess he'll be mopey and sad because his wife's dead." In the interview, Goodman also insists that Barr herself is not racist, despite the infamous tweet that caused ABC to cancel the reboot of Roseanne. Barr will have no say in the new spinoff and Goodman says he thanked her in an email for relinquishing her rights to the series to allow it to move forward. "I did not hear anything back, but she was going through hell at the time," he says. "And she's still going through hell." (Sunday Times)

Do You Gongbang?

Do you gongbang. Okay - it's not as weird as it sounds. It's even weirder! Gongbang is the name of a growing live-streaming trend in South Korea, where college students broadcast themselves studying in almost total silence for hours on end to sometimes hundreds of viewers who love nothing more than to watch them do it. The trend seems to be at odds with the usual rules of providing exciting content and viewer engagement. Gongbang streamers almost never connect with their audience, and as for providing exciting content, the most excitement they offer is turning a page every once in a while. So how did all this start? The story is somebody originally did it as a way to prove to their parents that they were studying, instead of wasting their time, while others decided to use it as a self-motivation tool, as one is less likely to become distracted when he/she knows they are being watched. Here's the sad part - when asked if this would work in the western world, one South Korean student said, "You would think not, as they don't take studying so seriously as students in South Korea do. They also don't feel the same pressure from or families and peers to get into the best universities and earn a great position in today's competitive job market." (Oddity Central)

What the What?

It's often said that the only way to stop a bully is to stand up to him. In Olympia, Washington, a six-year-old boy tried just that. He stood up to a group of bullies - and they sent him to the hospital. He was attacked by the group of kids outside his apartment and ended up with a broken arm, lacerated eye and several cuts and bruises across his head and face. His mother, Dana English said, "It's been hell. I haven't slept. I haven't eaten. I can't do anything. I can't even leave his side." Police are investigating. Meanwhile, more than $12,000 has been raised for the boy in a GoFundMe account. The account was set up by friends of the boy's mother, who wanted to help her with medical bills and gas money. (KOMO News)

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