News you wish you didn't know.

Kaitlin FunaroApril 30, 2013 23:56

Employees get inked with company logo in exchange for a 15% bonus

A NYC realtor is offering its employees a raise if they get a tattoo of the company logo.

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A New York City company, Rapid Realty, is offering its employees a raise in exchange for getting a tattoo of the company logo. (JOE RAEDLE/AFP/Getty Images)

Forty of the company's employees have volunteered to get a logo tattoo in exchange for a raise.

Samantha StainburnApril 30, 2013 20:36

New York elementary school adopts all-vegetarian menu

A public elementary school in Flushing, Queens, has become the first school in New York to adopt an all-vegetarian menu at the school cafeteria.

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Vegetables on sale at a market. (David Silverman/Getty Images)

"It's green so it can make your eyes better, and it can also help your muscles to become stronger, and it also has a lot of protein, not a lot of sugar,” a student said to NY1.

Freya PetersenApril 30, 2013 19:44

Italy facing shortage of pizza makers, despite big appetites and high unemployment

One out of every five managers surveyed for a report by FIPE, an Italian business federation, said that they were forced to hire unskilled laborers after failing to find anyone who was qualified.

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A pizzaiolo of the Brandi restaurant holds a pizza named after Queen Margherita of Savoy during a ceremony to celebrate the 120th anniversary of the pizza Margherita on June 11, 2009 in Naples. (MARIO LAPORTA/AFP/Getty Images)

Italy is facing an acute shortage of pizza makers.

One out of every five managers surveyed for a report by FIPE, an Italian business federation, said that they were forced to hire unskilled laborers after failing to find anyone who was qualified.

Despite a long recession and high unemployment, few Italians wan't the job because of the long hours and poor pay, ABC News reported.

Alexander BesantApril 30, 2013 17:04

Thin patients are treated more warmly by doctors than obese ones, study shows

Researchers at Johns Hopkins found in what may prove to be a controversial study that doctors showed more more warmth and empathy with thinner patients.

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A new study by Johns Hopkins researchers found that doctors showed more care and warmth with patients who were normal weight rather than overweight. (Liu Jin/AFP/Getty Images)

A new study showed that doctors were more warm and caring with thinner patients than obese ones.

Freya PetersenApril 30, 2013 04:56

Planes collide over Southern California, killing 2, while three others walk away

The collision saw one of the planes spin off into a ridge, while the other "belly flopped" on the fairway of a golf course.

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An American Flyers Pilot Training School instructor and student taxi in a Cessna 172 single-engine plane - like those that collided over Southern California. (Tim Boyle/AFP/Getty Images)

A pilot has died after a midair collision between two small planes over Southern California.

Jill LangloisApril 29, 2013 19:09

Woman convicted of cutting off husband's penis and throwing it in garbage disposal

A jury convicted a woman of drugging her estranged husband before cutting off his penis with a 10-inch kitchen knife and throwing it in the garbage disposal.

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In 1994 a jury found Lorena L. Bobbitt not guilty of all criminal charges, concluding that she was temporarily insane when she cut off her husband's penis with a kitchen knife. Catherine Kieu was not so lucky. She was found guilty of drugging her husband, cutting off his penis and throwing it in the garbage disposal. (AFP/Getty Images)

She laced his soup with the sleeping pill Ambien, then tied him up after he fell asleep. She then woke him up, cut off his penis and threw it in the garbage disposal before calling 911 and telling police that her husband "deserved it."

Alexander BesantApril 29, 2013 18:37

Somalia to receive international mail once again

Reuters reported that the war torn country struck a deal with the United Nations' Universal Postal Union (UPU) to reconnect itself to the world once again via snail mail.

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A Somali woman reacts on March 18, 2013 near the site of a car bomb in central Mogadishu. Despite bouts of unrest, Somalia has shown signs of stability recently and last week the Universal Postal Union signed a deal that would see international mail return after 22 years. (Mohamed Abdiwahab/AFP/Getty Images)

After a 22-year hiatus, Somalia's postal service will once again be accepting international mail.

Alexander BesantApril 29, 2013 16:57

Old McDonald's burger looks the same after 14 years in a coat pocket (VIDEO)

Utah native David Whipple claims that his McDonald's burger has survived intact for 14 years and looks about the same as it did when he bought it

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A McDonald's burger survived 14 years in a man's coat pocket and looks pretty much the same as it always did. (Youtube/Screengrab)

A McDonald's burger survived 14 years in a coat pocket and looks pretty much the same as it always did.

Allison JacksonApril 29, 2013 15:41

Holocaust survivor Roman Blum leaves behind $40 million estate but no heirs to the fortune

New York State could receive a $40 million windfall after a successful real estate developer failed to leave behind a will.

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A teller displays $100 notes at a moneychanger in Jakarta on May 30, 2012. (AFP/Getty Images)

“He was a very smart man but he died like an idiot,” Paul Skurka, a fellow Holocaust survivor and friend, told the Times.

Talia RalphApril 29, 2013 13:40

Virgin Galactic's commercial spaceship makes history with first test flight

Virgin Galactica's spaceship for tourists has taken its first powered flight over the Mojave desert.

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SpaceShipTwo (Virgin Galactic/Screengrab)

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Virgin Galactic made history (and space nerds' days) Monday when it sent its commercial spaceship on its first powered test flight over the Mojave desert.

ABOUT THIS BLOG

The word news most often conjures up visions of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, the troubled global economy, a political crisis in Washington, erupting volcanoes and devastating earthquakes. But as we all know, there is far more to news than that. Indeed, it’s often the wacky, weird, offbeat and sometimes off-color stories that can most intrigue and fascinate us. Those stories can range from changing astrological signs to lost pyramids in Egypt but in their essence they all cast new light on the shared human condition in all of its wild diversity.