A poet in Colombia wants to go to Europe so much that he's willing to fund the trip in a very ballsy way: selling his testicles.

Rafael Medina Brochero, 52, is selling the matching set of semen-producing genitalia for the lump sum of $20,000 to fund a European tour in which he'll participate in “Poetry for Peace in Colombia,” according to ColombiaReports.com.

Brochero did not say whether the surgery would be covered in the $20,000, but he said the presumedly used testes might be able to be transplanted into a sterile person or used to make soup, Yahoo! Australia reported.

It might be a desperate way to raise money, but Brochero sees it as addition by subtraction. The poet simply doesn't want to repeat an experience he had while touring Bolivia last year when he ran out of cash and had to pawn his wedding ring, TheNewAge.co.za reported.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/14/rafael-medina-brochero_n_3438021.html?utm_hp_ref=weird-news

Sold for $560,000: Rarely available tandem parking spots in Back Bay. Sweeping alley views in exclusive neighborhood, just steps from high-end Newbury Street shops. Amenities include fully lined asphalt spaces, stains included. Second space ideal for growing one-car family.

In the end, it came down to a bidding war between two neighbors, who took the price of two parking spots behind 298 Commonwealth Ave. from $42,000 to more than half a million dollars -- nearly double the $313,000 median sales price for a single family home in Massachusetts -- in less than 15 minutes.

The neighborhood is home to the most valuable parking spots in the city. A space behind 48 Commonwealth Ave. set the record for a single spot at $300,000 in 2009. Two tandem spots a block from the Public Garden on Commonwealth Avenue sold for $200,000 last summer, and a single spot on Marlborough Street went for $250,000 in December.

http://www.boston.com/businessupdates/2013/06/13/tandem-parking-spots-sell-for/tsdqLBPRmQFEojy2US5vXO/story.html

Has explosion replaced imitation as the highest form of flattery?

The suspicious package that was detonated by an Iowa City Police controlled robot water cannon on Sunday (Iowa City Police Detonate Suspicious Package at Art Festival) has turned out to be a piece of art by local poet and artist Russell Jaffe.

Jaffes uses found objects, especially electronics, to make sculptures. One of his pieces was purchased at the art show, then left in an empty newspaper vending machine. Private security officers saw the piece, called authorities and that led to the destruction of the art by the bomb squad.

http://iowacity.patch.com/groups/editors-picks/p/suspicious-package-blown-up-by-iowa-city-bomb-squad-during-art-festival-revealed-to-be-piece-of-art

OTTAWA — It seems the return of the record player isn’t just for grown-up music fans any more.

A new release from Ottawa-based Kelp Records featuring the music of local band Hilotrons is available only for the Fisher-Price toy record player. A departure from other Fisher-Price selections like Camptown Races and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, it offers roughly 25-second versions of Hilotrons tracks “My Number” and “Not There Tonight.”

Kelp Records founder Jon Bartlett, who was a childhood fan of the late-’70s music box, came across a YouTube video last summer of a Fisher-Price turntable playing Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven that “blew his mind.”

“I’ve got a little guy now who is almost three,” said Bartlett. “That’s one of the first things I bought him, so the thought that someone figured out a way to create the discs got me really excited.”

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Ottawa+band+release+spins+only+Fisher+Price+record+player/8519637/story.html

A standoff outside an apartment in Lower Manhattan on Wednesday ended peacefully after the police determined that the man they were looking for, a suspect wanted in connection with a 2010 killing of a Pace University student, was not there.

The police gained access to the apartment just after noon following protracted negotiations through the door with the suspect’s mother, who uses a wheelchair. But when they entered, six hours after they had arrived, the police said they did not find the 31-year-old suspect, who was not immediately identified.

Paul J. Browne, the chief spokesman for the Police Department, said the situation was not unusual for warrants being executed on suspects tied to violent crimes. Presented with a potentially barricaded suspect and others who may be speaking under duress, officers proceed with caution, he said.

“We were talking to the mother and it just took several hours to establish that he was not inside,” Mr. Browne said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/13/nyregion/suspect-in-2010-killing-barricades-himself-in-manhattan-apartment.html?_r=0

Wendy's is investigating the case of an employee who was captured eating soft serve ice cream straight from the machine in a viral photo Wednesday.

A photo of the worker was posted on Reddit Wednesday morning with the title, "I was going to buy a frosty from Wendys until I saw the employee do this."

Bob Bertini, a spokesman for Wendy's, responded late Wednesday that he just saw the photo.

"If true, this is totally inexcusable. We are investigating and will take action," Bertini wrote in an email to the Journal Sentinel.

A commenter on Reddit pointed out that the photo appears to have been taken behind the counter. The person said the photographer was a fellow employee.

http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/211253261.html

IN an article on Saturday headlined ‘Flying saucers over British Scientology HQ’, we stated “two flat silver discs” were seen “above the Church of Scientology HQ”.

Following a letter from lawyers for the Church, we apologise to any alien lifeforms for linking them to Scientologists.

Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4966623/Aliens-An-apology.html#ixzz2W8HnyJHK

The leader of a British neo-fascist white supremacist group earned praise from Fox News host Brian Kilmeade this week on his radio program, just one day before he gave a very similar interview to BBC Radio that sparked a torrent of controversy across the U.K.

“Kilmeade and Friends” featured the leader of the English Defence League (EDL) on Monday, a protest group known to march through the streets attacking non-white people and making Nazi salutes. After about 15 minutes of interviewing 30-year-old EDL leader leader Tommy Robinson about his anti-Islamic views, Kilmeade exclaimed: “Well Tommy, we’ve got your back and we’ll definitely look to keep in touch. I really think it’s a very — it’s great, what you’re doing.”

“Give us your support and God bless!” Robinson, born an Irishman named Stephen Lennon, cheerfully concluded. “God bless America!” The interview was also plugged by Kilmeade’s Fox News program “Fox & Friends.”

Less than 24 hours later, BBC Radio faced a torrent of criticism in London for featuring a similarly non-critical interview with Robinson. “That interview did not constitute scrutiny,” Plly Billington, a Labour candidate for parliament, complained on Twitter. “Unchallenged lies and hatred poison our national debate.”

Robinson also appeared on Fox News last week with right-wing talk show host Bill O’Reilly, who neglected to mention the group’s numerous scrapes with violence and instead gave him a platform to spread misinformation about Muslims. Jim Treacher, blogger at The Daily Caller, also praised Robinson’s appearance because “he states his case well.”

- See more at: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/06/12/fox-news-host-breathlessly-praises-british-neo-fascist-weve-got-your-back/#sthash.8K5s4Waa.dpuf

He thought the box was empty, but a California husband accidentally sold his wife’s $23,000 diamond wedding ring for $10 at a garage sale on June 1.

“Every year our community holds a garage sale. I was in the hospital, I just had a baby, so my husband thought it would be fun for my other kids if they could sell some things at the garage sale,” said Racquel Cloutier, 31, of Laguna Niguel, Calif., who owns the ring.

For the sale Eric Cloutier chose things he thought the family no longer needed, including a seemingly empty watch box.

“He didn’t know that before I went to the hospital, I put my ring in that box. I wanted the ring to be in a safe place and out of reach from my 2-year-old twins,” Cloutier told ABC News.

Cloutier realized her ring, and the box it was in, was missing a day after she returned from the hospital, June 5.

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2013/06/calif-husband-sells-23000-ring-for-10/

AN iFLY jet took SEVEN flights before maintenance workers finally noticed there was a dead stowaway in the wheel well.
The iFly Airbus A330-300 had completed a flight from Rimini, Italy to Moscow, Russia when maintenance workers noticed blood stains on the main landing gear struts. After a complete inspection of the wheel well they found the remains of a male carrying a Georgia passport.

According to the Aviation Herald, autopsy results on June 6 revealed the man had frozen to death.

Investigations are underway to determine where the man might have got onto the aircraft.


Read more: http://www.news.com.au/travel/news/plane-flew-seven-flights-with-dead-man-in-wheel-well/story-e6frfq80-1226661564600#ixzz2W7T8YdUQ