THIS is TRUE by Randy Cassingham A weekly column of oddities from around the world VIRAL MARKETING: Roger Freeman, an Encino, Calif., dentist and lecturer on infectious diseases, wants to start an epidemic. Well, not really: his new company is pushing a line of neckties with magnified pictures of diseases from microscope slides. “The gonorrhea […]

THIS is TRUE by Randy Cassingham A weekly column of oddities from around the world WE’RE FROM THE GOVERNMENT, WE’RE HERE TO HELP YOU: Sydney, Australia, is sponsoring a legal “shooting gallery” — a safe indoor place for addicts to inject drugs. The facility will be located in the city’s Kings Cross nightclub district, and […]

THIS is TRUE by Randy Cassingham A weekly column of oddities from around the world HIDE AND SEEK: Police in Astoria, Ore., stopped to talk to a driver of a car parked in a crosswalk. He had no license, so the chat was prolonged — enough that a passenger, Roberto Valiente-Martinez, 28, “got fidgety,” police […]

THIS is TRUE by Randy Cassingham A weekly column of oddities from around the world WE’RE FROM THE GOVERNMENT, WE’RE HERE TO HELP YOU: Sydney, Australia, is sponsoring a legal “shooting gallery” — a safe indoor place for addicts to inject drugs. The facility will be located in the city’s Kings Cross nightclub district, and […]

THIS is TRUE  by Randy Cassingham A weekly column of oddities from around the world NOT FURLONG: Gamblers wanting to wager on horse races at Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie, Texas, have it easier than ever. The track has opened four service lanes in the parking lot for drive-through betting. “You just drive right […]

THIS is TRUE by Randy Cassingham A weekly column of oddities from around the world WHAT A DOLL: When you raise the right arm on Mattel’s “Rad Repeatin’ Tarzan” doll, its “jungle yell” recording plays. But “that right arm is the topic of controversy,” Mattel spokeswoman Sara Rosales admits. It seems that pushing the spring-loaded […]

THIS is TRUE by Randy Cassingham A weekly column of oddities from around the world WHAT’S IN A NAME? An Australian man is claiming discrimination because the Registrar of Births, Marriages and Deaths has refused to let him change his name. He wants his legal name to be ‘Prime Minister John Piss the Family Court […]

THIS is TRUE by Randy Cassingham A weekly column of oddities from around the world PUT A PRICE ON THIS, YOUR HONOR: MasterCard International’s current ad campaign — giving prices for various items and then describing the experience of buying them as “priceless” — has generated numerous parodies. But the credit card company isn’t laughing […]