Don't Panic! Lighten Up!S


Butterfly

Australia offers 'best job in world' on paradise island


Agence France-Presse
Mon, 12 Jan 2009 19:24 UTC
Great Barrier Reef
© AFPAn Australian state is offering internationally what it calls "the best job in the world" -- earning a top salary for lazing around a beautiful tropical island for six months. The job pays 150,000 Australian dollars (105,000 US dollars) and includes free airfares from the winner's home country to Hamilton Island on the Great Barrier Reef, Queensland's state government announced on Tuesday.
An Australian state is offering internationally what it calls "the best job in the world" -- earning a top salary for lazing around a beautiful tropical island for six months.

The job pays 150,000 Australian dollars (105,000 US dollars) and includes free airfares from the winner's home country to Hamilton Island on the Great Barrier Reef, Queensland's state government announced on Tuesday.

In return, the "island caretaker" will be expected to stroll the white sands, snorkel the reef, take care of "a few minor tasks" -- and report to a global audience via weekly blogs, photo diaries and video updates.
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Family

Girl, 13, Sends 14,528 Texts In A Month


United Press International
Mon, 12 Jan 2009 19:56 UTC
A California father says he discovered his 13-year-old daughter sent 484 text messages per day last month - one message every 2 minutes of every waking hour.

Greg Hardesty of Silverado Canyon, Calif., told the New York Post his 440-page cell phone bill revealed his daughter Reina had sent an astonishing 14,528 text messages.

"First, I laughed. I thought, 'That's insane, that's impossible,'" said Hardesty, 45, a reporter for The Orange County Register. "And I immediately whipped out the calculator to see if it was humanly possible."
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Sherlock

Man finds coin lost for 102 years


United Press International
Mon, 12 Jan 2009 21:56 UTC
London -- A British man said he has found a gold sovereign, worth about $222, that was lost on his farm more than 100 years ago.

Alan Booton, 64, said he heard a story about a previous occupant of the Greatham, England, farm losing the coin, which was a gift for his daughter's wedding, in 1907, The Times of London reported Monday.
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Smiley

Couple Weds In Taco Bell


United Press International
Sun, 11 Jan 2009 21:38 UTC
An Illinois couple who said they enjoyed hanging out at Taco Bell decided to marry there.

"It's appropriate. It's an off-beat relationship and we figured that would be off-beat," said Paul Brooks, 30, a professional videographer from Normal, Ill.

Friday night, Brooks wed Caragh Brooks, 21, an Australian artist and writer he met through an Internet dating service more than a year ago, The Pantagraph in Bloomington, Ill., reported Sunday.
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Smiley

140-year- old lobster granted freedom

Verena Dobnik
Associated Press
Sat, 10 Jan 2009 15:57 UTC
Image
© AP Photo/P.E.T.A.In this photo released by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, 'George,' a live 20 pound lobster rests on a plate at City Crab and Seafood in New York, Friday, Jan. 9, 2009. City Crab and Seafood has spared the lobster, which is expected to be released Saturday, Jan. 10, near Kennebunkport, Maine, in an area where lobster trapping is forbidden. PETA and the restaurant gauged George's age at about 140, using a rule of thumb based on the creature's weight.

A 140-year-old lobster once destined for a dinner plate received the gift of life Friday from a Park Avenue seafood restaurant.

George, the 20-pound supercentenarian crustacean, was freed by City Crab and Seafood in New York City.

"We applaud the folks at City Crab and Seafood for their compassionate decision to allow this noble old-timer to live out his days in freedom and peace," said Ingrid E. Newkirk, president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

PETA spokesman Michael McGraw said the group asked City Crab to return George to the Atlantic Ocean after a diner saw him at the restaurant, where steamed Maine lobster sells for $27 per pound. George had been caught off Newfoundland, Canada and lived in the tank for about 10 days before his release.
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Bizarro Earth

Got Pathology? Man allegedly caused flats with nails in driveways


Associated Press
Thu, 08 Jan 2009 18:13 UTC
Police in upstate New York say a man has been sprinkling roofing nails on the driveways of people he didn't like to cause flat tires for two years. Stony Point police Lt. Peter Quinn said Michael Delisio was arrested Tuesday after an officer staking out one victim's home saw nails being thrown from Delisio's car.

Quinn says the 60-year-old man from West Haverstraw has been charged with harassment, criminal tampering and mischief.
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Smiley

Mentally Challenged Sarah Palin complains: Media goes easy on educated, articulate, Kennedy

Andy Barr
Politico
Thu, 08 Jan 2009 20:37 UTC
Gov. Sarah Palin (R-Alaska) believes Caroline Kennedy is getting softer press treatment in her pursuit of the New York Senate seat than Palin did as the GOP vice presidential nominee because of Kennedy's social class.

"I've been interested to see how Caroline Kennedy will be handled and if she will be handled with kid gloves or if she will be under such a microscope," Palin told conservative filmmaker John Ziegler during an interview Monday for his upcoming documentary film, "How Obama Got Elected." Excerpts from the interview were posted on YouTube Wednesday evening.

"It's going to be interesting to see how that plays out and I think that as we watch that we will perhaps be able to prove that there is a class issue here also that was such a factor in the scrutiny of my candidacy versus, say, the scrutiny of what her candidacy may be."
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Heart

Boy and girl, six and seven, try to elope to sunny Africa


UK Independent
Tue, 06 Jan 2009 20:29 UTC
Fed up with the near-Arctic temperatures at home, a seven-year-old German girl and her six-year-old boyfriend hatched a plan to "elope" to Africa and get married in the sun. But their dreams were thwarted after officials stopped them boarding a train to the airport, police revealed yesterday.
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Heart

Tennessee mule brays alarm, saves owner from fire

Pat Harris
Reuters
Wed, 07 Jan 2009 23:36 UTC
NASHVILLE - Add a 38-year-old mule named Lou to the list of heroic dogs, dolphins and other animal rescuers.

When fire broke out at Jolene Salomon's farmhouse near Morrison, Tennessee, on Friday, her pet mule sounded the alarm by braying loudly and loping around its pasture, she told the Southern Standard newspaper in McMinnville.

A semi-invalid, the 63-year-old Salomon was able to get to safety as the house burned to the ground.
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Smiley

We can't stop the train because our GPS is broken


Daily Express
Fri, 02 Jan 2009 00:26 UTC
Over the years railway passengers have become used to the wrong sort of snow and leaves on the line bringing chaos to their journeys. But the rail industry has now come up with a new blight: The wrong sort of satellite connection.

Passengers on a Southern service from East Croydon were stunned when they were told that their stopping train would skip six stations and go direct to the end of the line in Caterham, Surrey. When they got there the driver said the reason was that the train had lost its satellite link.

Because some stations have shorter platforms than others it meant that he could not open the right doors at every station on the route. The loss of the satellite link meant that passengers who had wanted stations in between had to wait half an hour for another train.
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