[twelli]

Date: Fri, 31 Mar 95 13:11:05 PST
From: Peter Langston <psl>
To: Fun_People
Subject: Weirdness #371

From: WEIRDNUZ.371 (News of the Weird, March 17, 1995)
by: Chuck Shepherd

* Writing in the February Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, two Wisconsin
researchers concluded that nose-picking does not create problems for most
people, but that for some, the habit "may meet criteria for a disorder --
rhinotillexomania." Among their survey findings: 66.4% of pickers did it
"to relieve discomfort or itchiness" (versus 2.1% for "enjoyment" and 0.4%
for "sexual stimulation"); 65.1% used the index finger (versus 20.2% little
finger and 16.4% thumb); and "Once removed, the nasal debris was examined,
at least some of the time, by most respondents." [Journal of Clinical
Psychiatry, February 1995]

* Canada Olympic team goalie Corey Hirsch threatened to file a lawsuit in
February against the government of Sweden because it plans to issue a
postage stamp depicting Sweden's dramatic 1994 hockey victory over Canada.
The winning goal was scored against Hirsch, and he is protesting that the
picture of him, allowing Sweden the winning goal, "is not the way I want to
be remembered." [Edmonton Journal-AP, 2-9-95]

* Joel Ford filed a $45 million lawsuit in Jackson, Miss., in September
against Oxford University Press, which publishes the principal edition of
the Bible, on the ground that it is based on hearsay and that it oppresses
blacks and gays. (He dropped the lawsuit one month later because, he said,
he had received threats on his life.) [Times-Picayune-AP, 10-29-94]

* In August a judge in Ogden, Utah, awarded $267 in damages to the owner
of a dented car after a man admitted to having sex with a woman on the hood.
The woman claimed that the two had sex on the ground next to the car; her
partner contradicted her, saying that the sex took place on the car but that
she is the one who caused the dents. [Salt Lake Tribune, 8-25-94]