Don't Panic! Lighten Up!S


Cow

Downhill Ski Champ Vonn banking on her trophy cow in tough times

Super-G champion Lindsey Vonn
© AFP/File/Olivier MorinNewly-crowned women's world Super-G champion Lindsey Vonn, seen here on February 02, 2009, revealed Tuesday that she was banking on a bizarre prize in current harsh economic times.
Newly-crowned women's world Super-G champion Lindsey Vonn revealed Tuesday that she was banking on a bizarre prize in current harsh economic times.

Vonn received a cow after winning a downhill here in 2005, and spurned the offer of a replacement cheque for 1,500 euros to keep the beast.

She transported the French heifer named Olympe to farmer foster parents close to her winter training base in Kirchberg, Austria.

"It was a lot of paperwork and it was 10 hours by road, she wasn't happy," the 24-year-old American said.

Smiley

Satire: Cheney Dunk Tank Raises $800 Billion for Nation

Cheney
© OnionCheney tells more than 200 million Americans to "throw or get the hell out of [his] sight."
Organizers reported Sunday that the 44th White House Carnival was a rousing success, raising a record $800,000,066,845 for the federal government - $800 billion of which came from a dunk tank featuring former vice president Dick Cheney.

According to Secretary of the Treasury and carnival volunteer Timothy Geithner, the 5-foot-deep tank has provided a much-needed boost to the nation's flagging economy.

"We expected a big turn out, but this is unbelievable," said Geithner, adding that it's tradition for the outgoing vice president to work the dunk tank. "More than half the country has already gone, and there's still about 20 million people stretching all the way to Maryland waiting for their chance to sink Cheney. We'll be leaving this booth open for as long as it takes for everyone to get a turn."

According to carnival sources, a visibly irritated Cheney, clad in sandals and a white cotton robe, arrived at the one-day event shortly before 10 a.m. After removing his robe to reveal a black, 1940s-style bathing suit, the vice president reportedly touched his hand to the water, muttered something to himself, and was then helped up the tank's ladder by several members of his Secret Service detail.

Smiley

New York: Two Suspected Robbers - One Without His Pants - Nabbed By Police

Lackawanna police have arrested two men in connection with a bizarre weekend robbery that left both suspects locked inside the gas station after one of them pulled out a BB gun, detectives reported today.

And police say the younger suspect was caught after he fled through an emergency exit and later was spotted by Buffalo police running on South Park Avenue without his pants.

Smiley

Florida: Man In Cape Charged With Attempted Robbery

Suspect also accused of using screwdriver as weapon.

Authorities said a man wearing a sleeping bag as a cape and carrying a screwdriver as a weapon tried to rob someone in the parking lot of a Gainesville business.

Police said Marcus Lee Mattox, 46, approached the intended victim early Sunday morning and asked for money. When the man refused, police said Mattox threw off the cape and pulled the screwdriver from his waistband. The other man quickly ran into a store and called 911.

Document

Austrian Woman Jailed Over 24,000-Euro Parking Fine

An Austrian woman has begun a 500-day jail sentence for ignoring parking tickets and failing to pay a cumulative fine of around 24,000 euros (21,440 pound), police said on Tuesday.

They said the 38-year-old civil servant from the southern city of Graz was jailed after ignoring 700 attempts by local authorities to notify her of the fines over a 2-year period.

Mr. Potato

Man Calls 911 In Dispute Over Bar Tab

Rhett Hopkins refused to pay his $4 bar tab at O'Malley's bar in Sarasota because, he said, he was an undercover officer with the Tampa Police Department and worked on homeland security.

Only Hopkins isn't an undercover officer with the agency, Tampa police say.

The manager told Sarasota police that Hopkins, 25, couldn't provide law enforcement identification to the bar Sunday morning but that Hopkins insisted he was in law enforcement.

Hopkins called 911 from his cell phone and asked the operator to connect him to his boss, Rick Diaz at the Tampa Police Department, an arrest report states.

Smiley

Philadelphia Groundhog Sees Shadow, More Winter

The legendary, weather-forecasting groundhog Punxsutawney Phil says the United States is in for six more weeks of winter.

Making his annual Groundhog's Day appearance Monday in Punxsutawney, Pa., Phil gazed out at a cheering crowd and "saw his shadow," the event's announcer said, signaling more winter to come, CNN reported.

Smiley

Indiana, US: Road Sign Warns of Dinosaurs Ahead

Signs
© WRTVThis sign greeted motorists Monday morning on Keystone Avenue in Carmel.
Indiana road sign urges dinosaur awareness.

Someone apparently hacked into an electronic road sign in Hamilton County Monday morning, prompting stares and giggles from motorists because of the message the sign displayed.

The sign, which read "Raptors Ahead Caution," amused motorists in a construction zone on Keystone Avenue, just north of 116th Street.

Comment: See another incident regarding odd road signs:

Texas Road Signs Warn Of Zombie Attack


Toys

Yarn bombers cozy up to the urban landscape

Stealthy knitters are leaving their mark on the Great Wall of China, the Golden Gate Bridge and a street near you

Vancouver - Beware the friend who suddenly takes up crochet. She (or he) may be a yarn bomber.

Working under code names such as Incogknito and the Microfiber Militia, a global network of "craftivists" is stitching makeshift sweaters, oversized tea cozies and giant pompoms around public property. Street poles, trees, bike racks, bridges - nothing is safe in target cities such as London, Paris, Chicago and Stockholm.

The craftivists' manifesto, according to Vancouver knitters Mandy Moore and Leanne Prain, is "world yarn domination."

Paris was hit in 2007 when hundreds of knitted socks were slid onto street posts in the Marais district.

Camcorder

Handcuffed escapees collared by lamp post


You might have thought that having evaded the courthouse guards and made it out of the building, the hard part would be over. However, two New Zealand prisoners - who made an escape attempt while handcuffed to each other - had not reckoned on a lone lamp post.