france – Museum of the Weird

Posted on June 4, 2015 by MOTW Admin

Loyalty cards for drug dealers

So, you go into your favorite sandwich shop and they punch your card with each purchase as you work your way toward a free sandwich. You go to your grocery store, and you use a card for members-only discounts. Why can’t a marijuana dealer be like that? Well, in Marsaille, France, it seems that they are.

This article in La Provence (French. English translation by Google) describes how drug dealers in Marseille are trying to give their customers a break and reward them with special discounts for regular customers. Just like your sandwich card they give you a stamp for each purchase. Fill the card up and you qualify for special discounts.

Dealing drugs is illegal in Marsaille, as it is in many places. Yet it seems to be lucrative enough that people not only continue to deal, but engage in marketing programs as well. How weird is that?

Posted on September 26, 2012 by MOTW Admin

EUROPEAN MUSTACHE AND BEARD OLYMPICS

The first stage of the European Beard and Mustache Olympics were held in Wittersdorf, eastern France.

Quite a weird competition to be sure, the Mustache and Beard Olympics draw a huge crowd to marvel at the facial hair wizardry by competitors that have traveled from all across the continent to show-off and compete.

The Herald Sun writes:

Boasting beards that would make most men blush with envy, more than 100 competitors from around the world have converged on Wittersdorf in France to compare facial hair.

While no rival to the Olympics or European football championships, the event proved a popular opportunity for men to flex their follicle muscles and impress judges and crowds of spectators.

To enhance the effect of their remarkable growths, many participants, who came from across the continent, wore extraordinary costumes and outlandish hats.

While many entrants opted for the self-supporting curly look, other competitors boasted moustaches that were so magnificently proportioned they required sticky tape or grips to keep them in place.

BLOOD RED WATER FLOWS IN FRANCE

In the flats of Camargue, the usually blue water turns a very creepy red.

Horror movie scenes and natural phenomena collide in the salt flats of France where the Rhône river meets the sea, creating quite the startling sight.

The high concentration of salt not only turns the water red, but also collects on just about everything.

NY Daily News writes:

At first glance, it might look like a sign of the apocalypse – but scientists say the blood red lakes in southern France are actually a natural phenomenon.

Camargue, France is a river delta where the Rhône meets the sea. The picturesque area is home to numerous salt flats, and it is this concentration of salt that will occasionally stain red the regions normally blue water.

A photographer driving through the region recently stopped to chronicle the incredible blood-red color of the water and the trillions of salt crystals crusting rocks, branches and shoreline.

Though it is unclear how often this phenomenon occurs, salt has been a lifeblood of the region for hundreds of years.

Today, evaporation pans at Salin-de-Giraud, the largest salt extraction city in Europe, extend for thousands of acres and produce some 1,000,000 metric tons of salt per year, according to Languedoc.com.

The area is also home to riz rouge, or red rice, so-named for its unmistakable blood red color.