Don't Panic! Lighten Up!S


Heart

Dog Missing 9 Years Reunited With Family


MSNBC
Sat, 28 Feb 2009 03:13 UTC
A lot has happened to the Geary family since their German shepherd, Astro, disappeared from their Florida home nine years ago. They moved three times before settling in Louisville, Ky.

The family was shocked when they recently received a call from an animal control officer, who said that Astro had been found.

The family was living in Florida nine years ago and adopted the dog in Palm City. A month later, he disappeared.
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Footprints

Setting for murder


New Zealand Heald
Sat, 28 Feb 2009 04:00 UTC
house
© Associated PressVisitors can see the drawing room where Agatha Christie entertained and thrilled friends with readings from her latest whodunnit.
The house has everything an Agatha Christie fan could want - except a body in the library.

The stuccoed Georgian villa where the writer spent her vacations is opening to the public for the first time after a $15 million restoration. Visitors can see the bedroom where Christie slept, the dining room where she entertained, and the drawing room where she thrilled friends with readings from her latest whodunnit.
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Mr. Potato

When a Bank Robbery is NOT a Bank Robbery


WOWT Channel 6
Wed, 25 Feb 2009 23:21 UTC
Transient who robbed bank will instead face threat charge.

Roberts
© WOWT
The Lincoln bank robber who waited outside for police to come and arrest him will not be charged with bank robbery. In Lancaster County Court Wednesday, he was instead charged with making a terroristic threat.

Police say 52-year-old James Roberts walked into a branch of the Hastings State Bank branch off West O Street just after 4 p.m. Monday and handed a teller a note which read, "I have a gun, give me all your money." Then he walked out with the cash and waited for police.
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Smiley

Satire: CIA Awkwardly Debriefs Obama On Creation Of Crack Cocaine


The Onion
Thu, 26 Feb 2009 20:41 UTC
Washinton - In his first meeting with President Barack Obama, CIA crime and counternarcotics analyst Timothy R. McIntire haltingly explained to the nation's first African-American commander in chief the highly classified origin of crack cocaine and the resultant epidemic that swept across U.S. inner cities. "Well, you see, sir...thing is, we needed money to help those Contras back in '85, and we never really expected...so we distributed it, and...shortsighted...and, ha, well, Christ - is it hot in here?" McIntire said between exaggerated coughs. "Yikes, okay. See, it was a very tense time - not that that makes it right - and, uh, bottom line is, we're a different agency now."
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Smiley

Virginia: Wallets Found After More Than 40 Years


United Press International
Thu, 26 Feb 2009 00:20 UTC
A Virginia man said he tracked down the owners of two wallets that had apparently been inside of a wall for more than 40 years.

Jeffrey ErkenBrack of Woodwork Specialists said he was tearing out a 6-inch block wall at the Running Etc. specialty store in Virginia Beach when he came across a cache of old-fashioned beer cans and two women's wallets, the (Norfolk) Virginian-Pilot reported Wednesday.

ErkenBrack said neither of the wallets contained any money, but both were full of cards dated no later than 1963. He said he used information from the wallets to track down the owners: Dell Dean, 70, whose wallet was stolen while she was working elsewhere in the building as a secretary in 1963, and Rose Ann Moore, 67, whose wallet was stolen at about the same time while she was working in a nearby department store.
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Bulb

Jobless Woman Headed For Texas On Horseback

Brian Reed
NPR
Wed, 25 Feb 2009 14:06 UTC
Donna Byrne - Cowgirl_01
© Tampa Tribune via News Channel 8/APDonna Byrne rides her horse Jay as Tonto carries her belongings, on her trip along U.S. Route 301 in Riverview, Fla.
On roads teeming with motorcycles, pickup trucks and 18-wheelers, it isn't too hard to spot a woman on horseback.

So Donna Byrne is attracting a lot of attention. After she lost her job as a ranch hand in Arcadia, Fla., the 44-year-old couldn't afford her rent, so she decided to ride her horses, Jay and Tonto, to Texas - maybe even Montana - in search of work as a cowgirl.

In the first few weeks of her journey, Byrne has already received a large showing of goodwill. She says every day people stop to ask about her journey and offer a hand.
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Family

Flashback A child called Ikea: Myth or reality?

Tom Geoghegan
BBC News
Wed, 09 Nov 2005 11:44 UTC
Bizarre Names Newspaper
Wrong impression
Newspapers gleefully claimed this week that Ikea was the latest example of barmy parents calling their newborn children after brand names. Er, not quite.

Loved though it is by many, the world's favourite Swedish furniture store does not inspire happy emotions in everyone - stress, crowds and flatpack-inspired frustration to name a few.

Given this, Ikea is not an obvious name to give a baby.

Hence it was no surprise that, with the news that baby names seem to be getting stranger, some papers pounced on the example of Ikea as evidence.

"After Janet and John, Moet and Ikea," was a typical headline.

The source appeared to be baby information firm Bounty, which distributes Bounty packs including disposable nappies to mothers in hospital.

Its research was based on 600,000 mothers, which the company claims covers 98% of new mums.
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Passport

'Most unfortunate names' revealed


BBC News
Wed, 25 Feb 2009 18:04 UTC
Baby Cradle
Imagine growing up as Annette Curtain or Tim Burr
What do you call some of the most unlucky people in Britain?

Justin Case, Barb Dwyer and Stan Still.

It sounds like a bad joke, but a study has revealed that there really are unfortunate people with those names in the UK.

Joining them on the list are Terry Bull, Paige Turner, Mary Christmas and Anna Sasin.

And just imagine having to introduce yourself to a crowd as Doug Hole or Hazel Nutt.
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Briefcase

10 Reasons Why We Love Making Lists

Linton Weeks
National Public Radio
Wed, 25 Feb 2009 00:39 UTC
list
One of countless 25 Random Things About Me lists on Facebook.
Why is it that everywhere you turn there's a list for this or that?

On Facebook, friends recently began posting 25 Random Things About Me - which bloggers have been doing for years. Now some people are lambasting the listiness while others are shortening it to a more manageable 3 Random Things (3 Places I Have Lived or 3 TV Shows I Watch).

Other Facebook and MySpace lists abound: 6 Great Books. 8 Favorite Songs. 7 Reasons to Hate...whatever.

David Letterman's Top 10 List has become a bona fide art form. And there's a list of Top 5 Musicians on Twitter floating around.

Everyday parlance is littered with lists: laundry, grocery, honey-do. When Dick Cheney was asked by then-presidential candidate George W. Bush to find him a suitable running mate, Cheney did what all pols would do: He drew up a short list. (And then he wound up as the VP pick.)

"Enough organization, enough lists and we think we can control the uncontrollable," observed a character on the TV show House. By now you would think there are enough lists. But still we keep jotting things down in an orderly fashion.
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Sherlock

'Superbrain' stuns Britain with genius quiz show run

Luke Baker
Reuters
Tue, 24 Feb 2009 08:17 UTC
She's being hailed as Britain's cleverest student, a shy, bespectacled and amazingly quick-minded Latin scholar who has romped away to win Britain's hardest quiz show almost single-handedly.

Gail Trimble, 26, is playing down the excitement surrounding her team's victory in the annual University Challenge on Monday, but the nation is abuzz at her polymath performance on the quiz, a favorite on British TV for nearly 40 years.

Coming from behind, Trimble's four-person team from Corpus Christi college at Oxford University raced away to beat sharp rivals from Manchester by 275-190, with Trimble answering most of the dauntingly difficult questions without hesitation.

It was a typically barnstorming performance from the team captain, who has a tendency to laugh excitedly when she knows the answer, even if she seemed nervous at the start as Manchester moved into the lead and the pressure was on.
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