March 19, 2024

Sacrifices Made and Loves Lost

Holiday gatherings often stir emotions and memories of loved ones not in attendance. Our staff decided this month would be a good time to reflect and to remember the fallen. This photograph was taken during the winter of 2001 to commemorate September 11 and the gallant efforts of the firefighters to rescue as many people as they possibly could without reservations. Too often, time passes and without storytellers to preserve the images, times of bravery and sacrifice are too easily forgotten. So, just this once we would like to repeat a picture to remind those who might have forgotten–and involve…

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Efforts to Save on Rising Fuel Costs

Excentric World staff members take a look at Americans’ efforts to save on rising fuel costs. This motorist is a prime example of why you may not want to trade in that gas guzzling truck for a fuel saving compact. While the forklift operator argued that the vehicle could not withstand the weight of the load the homeowner ordered, the driver insisted his car had no problem carrying his order home. Judging by the photograph, the driver misjudged his car’s hauling capabilities by just a bit. The forklift driver, who snapped this picture, said the car’s axle had broken and the…

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Effects of Steroids

Excentric World staff members take a look at the effects of steroids, and Human Growth Hormones (HGH) on the wide, wide world of sports. According to recent reports, prominent professional sports figures have been accused of illegally enhancing their bodies to give them the edge over their competition. Two baseball stars destined for the Hall of Fame are facing Congressional subpoenas. Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds are accused of bulking up with some form of adult Kool-Aid. Olympians are no exception: Ben Johnson, Marion Jones, the 1976 East German female swim team, a bearded member of the 1996 female Chinese…

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Do-It-Yourself Projects

Excentric World looks at how people are attempting to save money by engaging in do-it-yourself projects. Popular television programs offer step-by-step instructions for the novice on everything from plumbing to gardening, from electrical wiring to painting. There is a show based on almost every aspect of home improvement. This picture reminded one of our staff of an occasion when his mother was trying to convince his father to put oak paneling on the walls of their living room to add ambience to her Early American motif. He refused for weeks at every request. Finally, she took matters into her own…

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Bogus Automobile Insurance Claims

Excentric World looks at some ways Americans are trying to collect on bogus automobile insurance claims to get out from under tough lease agreements. This driver had been following the portable potty carrier after spotting him from her business parking lot. She had known about the overpass and figured one or both of the potties would come tumbling down on her BMW convertible, damaging the hood and engine so severely that it would make her lease contract null and void. The photographer was laughing so hard, the follow-up shot was missed and he split after police arrived to avoid the…

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Husbands & Wives

Continuing with the husbands understanding their wives theme, our super crack Excentric World investigators look at the odd ways in which men choose to communicate their feelings. While it is doubtful that the owner of this Volkswagen Golf is a man, as most men would leave this vehicle for their wives to drive while they zip around town in the coupe, it is certain some maladjusted male, with decent printing skills and a finger most likely wiped on the side of his pants, scrawled this message onto the back of this SUV. Choosing to express his innermost feelings about his…

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Day Care Disciplinary Practices

Excentric World staff members take a look at questionable day care disciplinary practices. Parents have been complaining about the inordinate amount of duct tape adhesive having to be removed from their children’s clothing. This picture was taken by one of the other children using their new iPhone. The day care worker explained that the child taped to the wall was being given a “time-out.” Due to a shortage of personnel, and the Criss Angel-like ability to escape from the usual time-out, the child had to be taped to the wall. The employee said it made it easy to keep an…

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Hairline Cracked

North Korea appeared to have conducted its third underground nuclear bomb test, as the U.S. Geological Survey reported a seismic disturbance centered near the site of the secretive regime’s two previous nuclear (pronounced “new-clear”) (not “nuke-ya-ler”) tests. The president of North Korea takes time out of his busy day of having people salute him and sing him songs of praise to show the state controlled press the very spot where the blast could be felt. North Korea, not well known in the world of sports for its number of pro basketball players (namely none), showed very little concern that the…

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Joy of Parenting 2

This is a continuation of the joy of parenting. While a parent can’t watch over their children 100% of the  time, certain precautions can help prevent accidents in and around the house. At first glance, this infant appears to be far too young and small to open a refrigerator door, reach up to the egg holder and take out a carton containing what appears to be a dozen raw chicken embryos. One can only assume the caretaker of this adorable child recently returned from grocery shopping, retrieving a dozen eggs that were left within the tiny person’s reach. Perhaps a quick trip…

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The Joy of Parenting

The Sedona Excentric World investigative team takes a look at joy of parenting. Now, more than ever, parents and grandparents are holding their children a little tighter, seeing them in a different light and  perhaps being more forgiving and understanding than in times past. Children, on the other hand, will continue to be children. It’s not their fault; they are, after all,  children. This young lass found her way to a bowl of loose chocolate, perhaps pudding. From the looks of things, it wasn’t that good. While she obviously sampled it, she chose to use the bulk of it for interior decorating and personal adornment.  Knowing that a child will find myriad uses for pudding, it is left…

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Bound to Celebrate the Holidays

The Excentric World investigative team takes a look at the holiday season celebrations around the globe. While conducting a series of interviews with some military high muck-a-muck at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, regarding prisoner participation during Christmas, this photo was captured. Terrorists and other detainees were subjected to caroling and wassailing, tree trimming, kissing under the mistletoe and taking turns portraying the baby Jesus during the prison Nativity Play. Taking the place of ox and ass were flamingo and iguana, native to naval base interrogation facility. Since the U.S. Justice Department advised that the Guantanamo Bay detention camp could be considered outside U.S. legal…

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Getting in Better Shape

The Excentric World staff looks at the number one New Year’s Resolution: getting in better shape. Fitness centers are cropping up in every city to keep up with the desire to bulk up and slim down. Fueling even more interest in Americans maintaining a healthy weight and body mass is the threat by health insurance companies to punish the obese, or reward the thin, depending on your mirror’s point of view. With the glut of high calorie foods that are associated with the holiday season and the sedentary lifestyle brought on by colder weather, Americans tend to gain more weight from…

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Deck the Decking with Beer Can Bottoms

Excentric World takes a big picture look at the joy of celebrating the holidays with elaborate decorations as seen from the eye of a beer lover. Everywhere, Christmas is a special time–a remembrance of the nativity and the reason behind the giving of gifts, a gathering of family, friends and neighbors wishing each other good tidings. This is a time for wassailing and spiked eggnog. But, for the children, it is a time for sugar plum fairies dancing in their heads in anticipation of the big night when Santa arrives with the special gifts they have written about. These gifts are…

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Big Bird Protests

The Excentric World Really Big Story staff take a close look at the most recent protest to flare up at a university in the United States. On the heels of the election and the debates, characters from Sesame Street hit the streets to alert Congress that they won’t stand around like puppets on a string while federal funding is slashed so millionaires can keep more of their ill-gotten booty. Statistics show that children who watch Public Television grow up displaying a higher aptitude than those who are confined to sugar coated cereal sponsored cartoons–unless the cartoons were from the varietal works…

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Efforts to Save on Rising Fuel Costs

Excentric World staff members take a look at Americans’ efforts to save on rising fuel costs. This motorist is a prime example of why you may not want to trade in that gas guzzling truck for a fuel saving compact. While the forklift operator argued that the vehicle could not withstand the weight of the load the homeowner ordered, the driver insisted his car had no problem carrying his order home. Judging by the photograph, the driver misjudged his car’s hauling capabilities by just a bit. The forklift driver, who snapped this picture, said the car’s axle had broken and…

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Dirty Children Make Healthy Adults?

Excentric World staff members take a look at why some children are more prone to diseases and infections than others. While not recommended by doctors, recent studies have shown that adults who, as children, played in creeks, ate dirt, licked their wounds and lied about washing their hands were less likely to fall ill to the common cold and were able to ward off the flu and infections. The small child pictured may look forward to a healthy adulthood, taking tolerance building to a whole new level. Licking the snout of a pig may seem gross and disgusting at first,…

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Rising Gas Prices

Excentric World staff members take a look at rising gas prices. Congress recently denied a bill to take some of the tax breaks away from the rich oil companies. It makes one wish that any federal legislator, including those from the Executive Branch, be exempt from voting on any bill that would benefit Americans at the detriment of any company or product in which they have invested. In fact, in order to be elected for more than one term, every politician would have to release their holdings in all private companies, making them an ordinary citizen not influenced by corporate…

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