Tens of thousands of subscribers to the leading online "weird but true" newsletter, "This is True", have followed the odd news and off-the-wall commentary published weekly by author Randy Cassingham since 1994. This year, those loyal fans had the opportunity to choose the Weirdest News Story of 2007 from the 7-9 items he writes weekly.
"My readers have an exquisite sense of humor," Cassingham says. "But most of all, they have a finely developed sense of justice and outrage over the absurdities of our times. Their votes definitely represent the pulse of the people."
Which story was dubbed "weirdest" of the year? Was it about
The guy who walked around Wal-Mart drinking hair spray?
The businessman who thought callgirls should be considered a legitimate tax-deductible business expense?
The judge who backed a school's refusal to stop student-on-student religious discrimination?
...Or something even more bizarre? These and other nominees for the Weirdest News Story of 2007 can be found at http://www.thisistrue.com/weirdest2007.html
"The purpose of 'This is True' is to make people think as well as laugh," Cassingham says. "By highlighting the many examples of bureaucratic folly, zero tolerance, and plain old silliness that make news every day, I hope to inspire readers to do something to end to all this weirdness." But, he says, "I'm not holding my breath that I'll ever have a shortage of material."
Published weekly since 1994, "This is True" is probably the first for-profit e-mail newsletter. A compendium of odd and weird news stories, social commentary, useful and amusing Web sites, and tributes to little-known people who have made significant differences in the world, the newsletter is read by a six-figure audience in more than 200 countries.
Author Randy Cassingham is a volunteer Emergency Medical Technician and former employee of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.