A bit of comic relief during the NSA spying "scandal"...

A plumber from Lincolnshire who already holds three Guinness World Record titles - including one for the world's fastest mobility scooter - has built a jet-powered push bike dubbed Norah.


Colin Furze, 32, had the idea for this latest invention after saving his friend's mother's cycle from the scrap-heap.

By attaching a crude jet engine to the back of the old Raleigh bike and extending the frame to put the rider a safe distance from the heat, the 32-year-old managed to reach speeds of 50mph on-board the modified bike that he has named "Norah".

Footage of his test ride has been viewed just under 150,000 times on YouTube since it was uploaded on Thursday.

Mr Furze, who left school at 16, has become an online sensation after creating a YouTube channel dedicated to his weird and wonderful creations.

The speed-loving self-styled "garage inventor" also lays claim to Guinness World Records for the world's longest motorbike and the world's fastest mobility scooter.

In his classic song, "All Shook Up," Elvis Presley sang about itching like a man on a fuzzy tree.

Now, Elvis is really branching out. His kingly image has been spotted in an elm tree, according to the Scotsman.

At least that's the claim of Brit John Rowley, who was driving in Herefordshire, England, and saw the tree that he thought looked remarkably like Presley in his young pre-Army stint, not his puffy Las Vegas incarnation of the 1970s.

"I was just driving along one day and it stuck out like a sore thumb," Rowley told SWNS. "I'm not much of an Elvis fan, but I just noticed that unique quiff straight away and said, 'That tree looks like Elvis.'"

Elvis trees, like beauty, are in the eye of the beholder. While Rowley thinks the Elvis elm is a "treemendous likeness," it may be a matter of perception than a real depiction of Presley.

A cat named Morris is running for mayor of a Mexican town promising "Xalapa Without Rats."

Elections in the state of Veracruz will be held July 7. Nominated by two cynical young men, if elected Morris plans to sleep and do nothing - essentially what they believe all politicians do.

Frustrated with local officials, supporters said at least Morris attempts to clean up his mess and not leave it out for others to step in.

Smarter than average bear opens vehicle doors and gets inside


A Maple Ridge, B.C., resident caught an unusual sight on video this week - a bear standing on its hind legs breaking into a pickup truck.

Rebecca Moore, who took the video and posted it to YouTube on Tuesday, says she and her husband were awakened by a noise outside at about 5:30 a.m.

"By the time we got out of bed, [the bear] was actually inside one of our cars. We saw the car door open and it was just coming out one of our cars," she said.

"We saw him just open the door of the truck, just easy as anything.... He was obviously used to accessing vehicles."

On the road for 88 of his 105 years, New Zealand's oldest driver says, 'I don't think I'm old'

Bob Edwards was born before the first Model T rolled out of Henry Ford's factory in Detroit. He learned to drive in a French car that had a lever instead of a steering wheel. And he's still on the road, only now in a red four-wheel-drive Mitsubishi.

The oldest licensed driver in New Zealand, and one of the oldest in the world, has been driving for 88 of his 105 years and has no plans to give it up, just as he intends to keep working out every morning in his home gym, and to keep regularly cooking meals for himself and his wife, who's 91.

"In fact, I don't think I'm old," Edwards says. "Not really."

He's been involved in just one crash in his life and has gotten just one speeding ticket, a citation that still gets him riled up years later. When he broke his left hip three years ago, his doctors said to stop driving for six weeks but he didn't pay them much mind - after all, he says, he drives an automatic and only needs his right leg for that.

In New Zealand, drivers older than 80 must have their health and vision tested every two years to stay on the road. Many countries in Europe and U.S. states have similar requirements.

While stories about elderly drivers making mistakes or causing crashes often make headlines, it's young drivers who tend to cause the most damage.

A Colorado moose bull isn't hiding his feelings for a newly-installed male moose statue in the town of Grand Lake.

Within a week of the statue going up, residents started noticing that the moose was spending more time in the town.

"He's not too shy," Bob Balink explained to KUSA. "There's two things he wants to do. And one of 'em is eat."

"The strange thing is he's trying to mate with a statue," he added. "Because they're both male."

The moose courtship has even become a tourist attraction in Grand Lake.

Washington - A new report published Monday by the National Transportation Safety Board advises motorists that sending text messages while driving "is totally fine" and "not that big a deal" as long as you make sure to glance up from your phone every now and then.

"If you're driving and have a really important text to send, that's okay; just try to keep one eye on the road as best you can," NTSB chairman Deborah Hersman said of the report, which advocates a new "50-50 rule" for texting drivers, suggesting they keep half their attention on the road and half on their handheld device. "After all, you can always steer with your knees or - if you really want to be extra careful - text with one hand and hold the wheel with the other.

Better yet, just ask a passenger to give you a heads-up whenever there's a red light or another car up ahead." Hersman added that the report's findings apply not only to texting, but also to checking email, playing games, or watching movies while driving.

Yes, this cat in Clara, Ireland has not only adopted these orphaned baby ducks - she 's even suckles them.

"The minute the cat lay down the three ducklings ran underneath her. She stared to purr," the cat's owner Ronan Lally told The Irish Independent. "We lifted her up and two ducklings were latched onto the cat.

The cat has all the maternal instinct, she has her paw around them and it is just extraordinary."