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Binoculars

Switzerland bans nude hiking

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© UnknownVoters in the heart of the Swiss Alps have banned nude hiking through their picturesque region.
Voters in the heart of the Swiss Alps have passed legislation banning naked hiking after dozens of mostly German nudists started rambling through their picturesque region.

By a show of hands, citizens of the tiny canton of Appenzell Inner Rhodes voted overwhelmingly on Sunday at their traditional open-air annual assembly to impose a 200 Swiss franc fine on violators.

Only a scattering of people opposed the ban on the back-to-nature activity that took off in the previous autumn, when naked hikers - primarily Germans - started showing up in eastern Switzerland.

The cantonal government recommended the ban after citizens objected to encountering walkers wearing nothing but hiking boots and socks.

Mr. Potato

Man tries to sell 'Hand of God' rock

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© eBayThe wall allegedly bearing the hand of God
A US man has tried to auction off a rock formation in his backyard after becoming convinced it bore the "hand of God".

Paul Grayhek, 52, placed the rock on eBay after it appeared following a "rare" rockfall at his home in northern Idaho last month, CNN reports.

But the "Hand Of God Rock Wall", as he dubbed it, was this morning removed from the auction site despite attracting a recent high bid of US$2175.

There was no explanation for why the item was removed.

Mr Grayhek said he believed the 2.7m-tall, 1.2m-wide rock was a "sign" from God after he lost his job and hit hard times.

Smiley

Video: Tracey Ullman as Campbell Brown brings us the real 'message of the media'


Question

How do you teach God's genocide to children?

I recently bought my seven year old daughter her first complete Bible: Zondervan's "Adventure Bible". The Bible is beautifully packaged, replete with a jungle safari theme and the NIrV text (a simplified version of the NIV), which is great for young readers. But while the book is accessible and engaging, some passages remain as perplexing as ever.

Smiley

Alabama House considers resolution praising Miss California for position on gay marriage

Montgomery - A resolution has been introduced in the Alabama House that praises Miss USA contestant Carrie Prejean for speaking out against gay marriage during Sunday night's televised pageant.

Prejean was competing as Miss California and finished second after answering a question from judge Perez Hilton concerning her views on gay marriage. The pageant was won by Miss North Carolina Kristen Dalton.

The resolution was introduced Tuesday by Republican Rep. Jay Love of Montgomery.

Robot

Here comes the Wedding Robot

This has shades of Cabbage Patch and Chucky going for it. LittleIsland's Wedding Robot, mainly supposed to be used in place of a welcome board at weddings, just gives me the spooks since the choice of a bridal costume calls to mind the jilted and tragic Miss Haversham in Charles Dickens' Great Expectations.

Sheeple

Video: Extreme Sheep LED Art


Penis Pump

Berlusconi and his TV starlet minister face naked truth

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© UnknownItaly's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi speaking with Equal Opportunities Minister Mara Carfagna in the parliament in Rome.
Silvio Berlusconi's light-hearted dalliance with a television starlet whom he subsequently appointed to his cabinet has been made the subject of an oil painting in which both are shown in the nude.

Two years ago the Italian prime minister told the starlet, Mara Carfagna -- and millions watching on TV -- that he would marry her like a shot if he wasn't married already. His wife, Veronica Lario, demanded, and obtained, a public apology but last year Mr Berlusconi made Ms Carfagna minister of equal opportunities in his new government.

Heart

Dog survives five months on island after being lost at sea

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Castaway pooch Sophie Tucker
A canine castaway lost at sea five months ago has been reunited with her owners after washing up on an island off the central Queensland coast and living off goats.

Jan and Dave Griffith were devastated when their Australian cattle dog, Sophie Tucker, fell overboard in choppy waters off Mackay in late November, while the trio were on a boat trip to Scawfeld Island.

"We hit a rough patch and when we turned around the dog was gone," Ms Griffith said.

"We were able to back track to look for her, but because it was a grey day, we just couldn't find her and we searched for well over an hour. We thought that once she had hit the water she would have been gone because the wake from the boat was so big."

Cow Skull

Letters show Mussolini's daughter love for Communist

Mussolini_02
© REUTERS/Vincenzo PintoPosters bearing the profile of Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini are plastered on walls in central Rome April 28, 2002.
Thirty-six passionate letters discovered on the Italian island of Lipari have revealed an illicit love affair between the daughter of former Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini and a prominent Communist partisan.

Written in French, English and Italian, the secret correspondence has inspired a new book: "Edda Ciano and the Communist. The unspeakable passion of the Duce's Daughter."

"There is no novelistic embellishment," said author Marcello Sorgi, who describes his book as a "journalistic reconstruction" of the romance.