Why I Read News of the Weird

I guess I could be a spy in Russia:

Russian president Vladimir Putin apparently surprised diplomatic observers in Britain in January when he declined to expel four U.K. diplomats who had been accused of espionage. Reasoned Putin, according to a January dispatch in Britain's Guardian, these four weren't smart enough to avoid getting caught, and if he expelled them, the U.K. would just send replacements who are more clever.

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Wow. Good stuff, huh?

In 2003, News of the Weird reported that the Pentagon's Defense Threat Reduction Agency had been Internet-monitoring a facility on Scotland's Isle of Islay whose webcam was showing images suggesting a chemical weapons lab but that, after lengthy surveillance, the agency had found it to be a whiskey distillery. In February 2006, that distillery (Bruichladdich, one of the U.K.'s most adventurous) announced it is preparing to make a 92 percent-alcohol whiskey whose recommended dose is two spoonfuls. Said the managing director, "To be honest, I'm just hoping the distillery doesn't explode." [Sunday Herald (Glasgow), 2-26-06]