Odd News

Taichung’s dancing man spotted posing, smoking atop store sign

Taichung City dancing man atop 7-11 sign
Odd News 
Phillip Charlier 0 Comment ,

A man dubbed “Taichung Dancing Brother” in Taiwan’s Chinese language media, was spotted striking poses, and smoking while standing on a convenience store sign today, Friday, December 10. Taichung City Police Department dispatched three officers from Lide Station after receiving a report, but the 28-year-old man, named Zheng, had already left by the time the officers arrived. Zheng has become a fixture, not only in Taichung City streets, but in the national press in recent months, as he is regularly

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Passersby spooked by banana bags at night

Odd News 
Phillip Charlier 0 Comment

A resident of Yilan County uploaded pictures to social media after feeling spooked by what appeared to be ghostly human figures suspended in midair on a rural roadside in Wujie Township. The pictures were shared to the Facebook group “Yilan Knowledge +” as a warning in case people passing through the area at night get a fright. The spooky effigies turned out to be banana bunch covers used by a banana farmer to protect the ripening fruit. Banana bunch covers

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Driver makes unorthodox freeway exit directly from the fast lane

car drifting on freeway
Odd News 
Phillip Charlier 0 Comment

A video that went viral on social media today shows the driver of a Mercedes Benz make a drifting 360 degree spin across four lanes of National Highway 1, into an offramp lane, and it is not known whether it was accidental or executed on purpose. According to the date stamp on the video, the incident occurred at midday, Monday, October 11. The weather at the time was pouring rain to the point where it is possible that the vehicle

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4 people rescued after car lands on house roof

car on roof after falling down slope
Odd News 
Phillip Charlier 0 Comment

Residents of a house in a mountainous district of Tainan City probably thought it was a little early for Santa to arrive when they found a car parked on their roof today, October 11. The Tainan City Fire Department received a report shortly after 2:00 pm that a car with four occupants had slipped over a slope and landed on the roof of a house in Nanxi District. The Fire department dispatched five vehicles and 10 personnel from stations in

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Drunk driver caught after falling asleep on freeway

drunk driver asleep on freeway shoulder
Odd News 
Phillip Charlier 0 Comment , ,

 A man has been charged for endangering the public after police responded to reports of a man laying in the emergency lane of National Highway 1 in Yunlin County early this morning. National Highway Police Dounan Branch received reports at around 3:00 am that a man was seen sleeping behind a car parked on the Huwei Township section of the freeway near the Dounan Interchange. Police found the man, named Tsai, obviously drunk with a breath alcohol level of 0.78

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People play Popcat while world burns but Taiwan pipped on the pop chart

popcat game webpage screenshot
Stupid Stuff 
Phillip Charlier 0 Comment ,

As the world watches the Taliban’s advance on Kabul, and western civilization crumbles in the face of mutant strands of RNA, citizens in a bunch of mostly democratic countries in Asia and Europe are mindlessly poking their digital devices, oblivious to the impending apocalypse. Based on a popular meme where a cat called Oatmeal opens her mouth in the form of a perfect “O,” the game “Popcat” requires the player to simply poke the closed mouth of the cat to

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American weather weapons behind disasters in the PRC, guide typhoons around Taiwan: A conspiracy theory Made in China

cover of Smithsonian Magazine May 28, 1954
Odd News 
Phillip Charlier 0 Comment

The great thing about conspiracy theories is that they blow the mist out mysteries, and enable us to bridge vast synaptic gaps in the more vacuous recesses of our mind. A Beijing-based filmmaker recently put two and two together thus: An American military plane landed in Taiwan on Monday, and catastrophic rain landed in China on Tuesday. Therefore, Taiwan must have a secret weather weapon which can be used against the Chinese people. But the filmmaker wasn’t making a movie.

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Woman spotted in Taichung City walking around without a mask or PPE

woman walking around Taichung City naked
Odd News 
Phillip Charlier 0 Comment , ,

A woman in Taichung City caused tongues to wag, and sent the local media into a frenzy yesterday, after she was spotted walking around without wearing a surgical mask. The woman was seen near the Zhonghua Road Night Market, June 11, at around noon. Not only was the woman not wearing a surgical mask, but she was not wearing any kind of personal protective equipment (PPE) at all. Carrying only a large, black handbag, and donning a pair of slippers,

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Taipei City Mayor accidentally flips the bird during live broadcast

Ko Wenje accidently gives the finger
Odd News 
Phillip Charlier 1 Comment ,

Taipei City Mayor Ko Wen-je appeared to be giving someone the finger during a live broadcast today, May 18, but it turns out that he was just trying to make a point. Mayor Ko said that there was good news amidst bad today, noting that the percentage of positive results at rapid testing stations in the city had fallen from 11% on the first day, to 4.7% today. Ko explained that on the first day of rapid testing, May 14,

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Mystery “jetpack man” flying over Taichung City was just a balloon

Iron Man balloon over Taichung City
Odd News 
Phillip Charlier 0 Comment ,

An alleged case of a man with a jetpack flying over Taichung City that was widely reported in Taiwan’s local media today, May 11, turned out to be just a balloon. Most local media outlets reported the story this morning that a man was seen flying by jetpack over a densely-populated part of the city, after a video taken on May 5th went viral on social media platforms. Even English-language outlet Taiwan News reported the “mysterious man flying in the

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Taiwan’s Pokemon Go Grandpa upgrades array to 64 phones

Taiwan's Pokemon Go grandpa with array of 64 phones
Odd News 
Phillip Charlier 0 Comment ,

A Taiwanese man who made international news headlines two years ago for using 11 phones at a time to play Pokemon Go, has since increased the size of his array to 64 smartphones. Chen San-yuan was featured in a BBC report August 2018 after being spotted with an array of 11 smartphones mounted to the handlebars of his bicycle. At the time, Chen was planning to add 4 more phones, BBC reported. Chen was 70 years old at the time.

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