Weird But True

WEIRD BUT TRUE

New Yorkers will have another thing to lease come September, when a California woman brings her rent-a-dog business to the city.

Marlena Cervantes, who runs FlexPetz, says members will shell out an annual, monthly or per-visit fee for their chance to spend time with a pooch.

“Our members are responsible in that they realize full-time ownership is not an option for them and would be unfair to the dog,” said Cervantes, 32.

“It prevents dogs from being adopted and then returned to the shelter by people who realize it wasn’t a good fit.”

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A gloomy Web site is archiving the MySpace pages of people who have passed away.

MyDeathSpace.com is already listing nearly 2,700 demises.

“This site does kind of let you look into the heart of darkness,” says Syracuse University Professor Bob Thompson.

“We see those kinds of things that we try not to think about, which is how we are all dancing on the edge – how quickly mortality can come in and claim us.”

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An Illinois town that already holds the record for having the world’s largest ketchup bottle has now added the honor of world’s largest ketchup packet.

Folks in Collinsville, Ill., united to raise money for a fire-damaged school, and filled an 8-foot-tall plastic pouch with $4,000 worth, or 1,500 pounds, of donated Heinz ketchup.

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In an effort to promote equality, Sikh leaders in New Delhi, India, have called for a ban on expensive weddings.

“Our fight is against the exploitation by those who pose demands on the girl’s family to organize elaborate weddings,” the Times of India quotes one leader as saying.

The city’s main Sikh body has instructed its clergy not to hand over wedding certificates to couples who throw over-the-top bashes.

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An 84-year-old woman has risen to the top by falling fast – becoming the oldest parachutist in Poland.

Grandma Krystyna Zbyszynska said, “I survived World War II and wasn’t afraid, so what’s there to be afraid of now?”