Don't Panic! Lighten Up!S


Camcorder

Pigeon defecates on a Google Street view camera

Image
© Unknown
A pigeon has defecated on a Google Street view camera.

Photographs taken for Google's Street View service showed the pigeon defecting on the screen of the Street view car in Los Angeles.

It is the latest mishap to hit the Street View service, which launched its Irish version earlier this year.

The Street View service, allows people to view pictures of their homes and neighbourhoods online via the search engine's maps.

The 3D images have been captured by special patrol cars with roof-mounted 360-degree cameras, which take pictures of every street and road in the city. The faces of people captured in photographs are automatically blurred so that they cannot be identified, while car number plates are also rendered illegible.

Mr. Potato

Japanese Man Takes Video Game Character as Wife

A Japanese man has married a character in a popular video game, taking her -- and his handheld game console -- on an overseas honeymoon.

The man, who prefers to use his online moniker SAL9000, met character Nene Anegasaki while playing dating simulation game Love Plus.

They got married a few weeks ago, broadcasting their ceremony live on Japan's version of video-sharing website Youtube.

SAL9000, who did not want to reveal his real name for fear of being misunderstood, admits to be an otaku, a breed of Japanese youth obsessed with video games, computers and fantasy worlds.

Newspaper

Winter Blues, Ancient Rites, Winter Weather All Part of Solstice

Around lunchtime on Monday, astrological winter will begin.

At precisely 11:47 a.m. CST that day the sun will be directly over the Tropic of Capricorn - its southernmost point in its journey across the seasons - at 23.5 degrees south of the Equator.

Most people won't observe the winter solstice, but their bodies and dispositions might well take heed. And many holiday preparations are rooted in ancient rites associated with the year's shortest day. Daylight will be down to 9.7 hours in Tennessee.

The diminished hours of sunlight at this time of year can affect everything from how people feel to how much food they consume and sleep they get.

Family

Best of the Web: America is number thirty-seven

Here is a little song celebrating our position at #37 in the world in healthcare.


"We're Number 37"

Come one, Come all
Down to the hall
We're gonna make noise
We're gonna bust balls
We're gonna disrupt
We're gonna jump in the fray
I got a list of all the things that were supposed to say
We're gonna get real rowdy
Have a barrel of fun
But were the USA so by the way be sure to bring a gun
And buddy
We're Number 37

Smiley

Chinese Burglar Gets Drunk at Crime Scene, Arrested

Police in China's Tianjin municipality detained a burglar who had broken into a construction site to steal cables and ended up getting drunk there, China Daily reported on Saturday.

The man entered a building under construction and found several unopened liquor bottles in one of the rooms.

He drank all the liquor and then passed out.

He was arrested after a guard saw him and called the police.

Cow

Cow jumps six feet on to roof

A cow has been caught jumping six feet on to a roof, after the owners thought they had been burgled.

Neighbour William de Cothi, 17, photographed the animal after he spotted it on the roof about six feet off the ground.

A cow standing on the roof
© ARCHAA cow standing on the roof of a house in Blagdon, Somerset
The Sixth Form student said: "I was looking out of my window when I saw the cow.

"At first I thought that it was an illusion and that it was in the background and not really on the roof.

"But after a closer look I could see it was actually on the roof."

Cheeseburger

German shoppers in salami and cheese fight over trolley

Two angry German shoppers were hospitalised after a fight over a shopping trolley that ended with one using a salami as a club, and another wielding a slice of Parmesan cheese like a knife.

The delicatessen ruckus began in the busy supermarket in Aachen when a 74-year-old man and a 35-year-old woman both wanted a shopping trolley, leading to a wrestling match between the two. This was ended when the woman's 24-year-old brother punched the man, knocking him over.

They then took the trolley into the supermarket.

Snowman

Why a 'Rage Against the Machine' UK Christmas No. 1 Would Be a Great Pop Moment

Cowell_RATM
© Ken McKay/Chiaki Nozu/Rex/FilmMagicRage against the pop machine ... Zack de la Rocha gives Simon Cowell the finger
If the sweary, shouty rap-rock mob prove to have the X(mas) factor it will be a victory for the democratised and downloadable nature of the pop charts in 2009.

What a lot of outrage over something so silly. In the fight for Christmas No 1 (and that's a phrase we've not heard in a long time), familiar battle lines have been drawn.

In the rock corner, we have those who are "protesting" against Simon Cowell's parade of X Factor winners hogging the top spot, and want to unleash something loud and sweary on the charts - Rage Against the Machine's "Killing in the Name."

In the pop corner, we have those who think RATM fans are being pathetic, especially as the song is ancient and the band are hardly rock rebels these days (you can read some good points about the irony of using "Killing in the Name" for this campaign on Luke Lewis's NME blog).

Comment: Rage Against The Machine's 'Killing In The Name Of', potential UK Xmas no.1?

Warning: contains most unparliamentary language..


Or the alternative version...




Mr. Potato

Fraudster Al Gore reads his poem 'Our Choice'


Beer

'Santa' stumbles out of vehicle, seeks reindeer

Sparta, Wisconsin - Santa Claus is in trouble with the law in one western Wisconsin city. Police in Sparta said they cited a man dressed as Santa after witnesses told officers he stumbled out of a vehicle, approached several children playing in a yard, hugged them and demanded to know the whereabouts of his reindeer.