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Binoculars

World's Longest Cat Stewie Measures 4 Feet


The Associated Press
Thu, 21 Oct 2010 14:28 UTC
Image
© Reno Gazette-Journal/Andy Barron/AP PhotoRobin Henderson stretches out her Maine Coon cat Stewie outside of her home in Reno, Nev.
The world's longest cat measures more than 4 feet, stealing the record from another Maine Coone.

The Reno Gazette-Journal reported that 5-year-old Stewie was certified as the new Guinness World Record holder after measuring 48 1/2 inches from the tip of his nose to the tip of his tail bone. That's a little more than 4 feet long.

The record was previously held by another Maine Coon that measured 48 inches.

Stewie's owners, Robin Hendrickson and Erik Brandsness, say they decided to try for the record after hearing countless people say they were amazed by Stewie's length.
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Oscar

Video: Gordon Pinsent Reads Justin Bieber

Cathal Kelly
Toronto Star
Thu, 21 Oct 2010 09:24 UTC

Gordon Pinsent's basso growl could make furniture instructions sound authentic and important.

It cannot save Justin Bieber.

The Canadian acting icon took a gentle swipe at the Stratford-born pop star on a recent episode of This Hour Has 22 Minutes, reading several excerpts from Bieber's autobiography, First Step 2 Forever.

Really? That's the title? Sweet Mary.
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Family

Michigan, US: Couple's Kids Born on 8/8/8, 9/9/9, 10/10/10


The Associated Press
Fri, 15 Oct 2010 13:13 UTC
birthday,10-10-10,9-9-9,8-8-8
© AP PhotoDespite the neat pattern of their children's birthdays, the Sopers insist it was not planned.
A southwest Michigan couple shouldn't have too hard a time remembering their children's birthdays. After all, it's as easy as eight, nine, ten. Or more specifically, 8/8/8, 9/9/9 and 10/10/10.

Chad and Barbie Soper's three kids were born on those dates. The most recent, Cearra Nicole, was born this past Sunday.

Barbie Soper, 36, said she often is asked whether the couple manipulated the birth dates. The answer is no. Well, sort of.

The Sopers' first child, Chloe Corrin, arrived exactly on the couple's due date. But the second baby, Cameron Dane, was born with induced labor ahead of the Sept. 20 due date.

Cearra came early because Soper's physician wanted to prevent potential health complications. The original due date was Nov. 4.
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Pumpkin

"Fake" Halloween skeleton turns out to be real

Lounge Daddy
Datelinezero.com
Mon, 11 Oct 2010 06:25 UTC
How's this for a Halloween scare? You find a great deal on a realistic "fake" skeleton at a yard sale, buy it, and race home to show it off to your spouse ... who find the skeleton to be a little too realistic-looking. While waiting for Oct 31 to arrive, you and your spouse give the thing a closer look and discover that it's real.

Boo!

That's exactly what happened to a Florida man, who gave the "fake human skeleton" a closer examination with his wife - and then called the police. He bought it for $8.00 at a local yard sale.

The officers examined it and determined that it was real.
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Newspaper

10-10-10: Vegas Chapels Busy on Symmetrical Date


The Associated Press
Sun, 10 Oct 2010 16:20 UTC
Image
© Scripps Media, Inc.
Churches, banquet halls and other wedding venues across the country were extra busy Sunday as couples seeking a perfect 10 rushed to tie the knot on a once-in-a-century milestone: Oct. 10, 2010.

In Las Vegas - long a destination for weddings - one marriage license bureau extended its Sunday hours from 6 p.m. to midnight to accommodate the rush. Hotels and churches in New Hampshire's Seacoast area were booked long before Oct. 10.

Wedding-related businesses said the day was perhaps the most sought-after wedding date since July 7, 2007, when the lucky 07-07-07 marked the calendar. Some 10-10-10 couples even chose to take their vows at 10 a.m.

One pastor in Nevada took the rush airborne by planning to join 30 couples at various venues Sunday and aboard a helicopter through the buzz of a headset.
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Smiley

PCP: Look no Further Than Man's Best Friend

Dave Coffey
Daily Collegian
Thu, 07 Oct 2010 22:26 UTC
Man's Best Friend
© David Leather/Flickr

Is there any creature nobler than man's best friend? Dogs have earned that nickname for literally thousands of years. Many people do not realize that humans have been domesticating Canis lupus familiaris for over 100 centuries. That is not a typo; dogs and humans have been interacting in a domesticated fashion for more than five millennia. Dogs have extended nearly undying loyalty and friendship to their human counterparts throughout this time period.

Look anywhere in time and space, and one can see dogs aiding and accompanying humanity in some way. In ancient Rome and Greece, dogs were used to aid in hunting. When humans migrated from Siberia to North American across the Bering Strait, many experts suggest they used sled dogs to aid in transportation. During the large migration of Navajo and Apache Native American tribes 1,400 years ago, dogs carried much of the load as pack animals. Australian Aborigines made great use of dogs as camp companions because they improved sanitation (cleaned up human waste and spare food scraps), alerted the camp of predators or strangers and even slept with humans in order to provide warmth at night.

Today, domesticated dogs obviously still play a large part in the lives of humankind. Besides earning near-familial status in many households across the world, they fulfill dozens of other uses as well. In addition to their historical roles as aids in hunting, herding and protection, canines today assist handicapped individuals as Seeing Eye dogs, aid police forces in detecting explosives and drugs and help search and rescue officials save and recover endangered individuals.
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Camera

'Disgusting' Sculpture Stays on Show in Milan

Mark Duff
BBC News
Wed, 06 Oct 2010 11:26 UTC
Image
© BBCThe statue seems to be sending a message to the Milan stock market

Milan city council has extended the display of a controversial new sculpture by Italy's most famous living artist, Maurizio Cattelan.

The sculpture - officially titled L.O.V.E. but popularly known as The Middle Finger - will now remain in the Piazza d'Affari outside the Milan stock exchange until the end of a retrospective of Cattelan's work in the city on 24 October.

Now admirers of the artist's work are pressing for the piazza to become its permanent home.

But opinions are sharply divided.
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Binoculars

Maldive Islands: Island to be Staffed Exclusively by Blondes

Dan Newling
The Telegraph, UK
Tue, 05 Oct 2010 13:19 UTC
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© Alistair GrantGirls who work for for Olialia, the Lithuanian firm planning the fantasy paradise Island of Blondes in the Maldives
A travel company has announced plans to open a holiday resort in the Maldives staffed exclusively by young blonde women in an attempt to break the stereotype that "blonde women are less intelligent".

As well as providing male and female holidaymakers with all the standard holiday resort services, female guests will be able to make use of a blonde-staffed 'education centre' which will teach them "how to always be perfect and look great".

The Olialia development - which reportedly has British, Russian and German financial backing - is due to open on a private island in the tropical Indian Ocean archipelago in 2015.

The project will also include the creation of an airline and yacht service for visitors to the private island, both staffed exclusively by blondes.

Lithuanian-born Giedre Pukiene, who is behind the project and is herself a blonde, said: "Our girls are very smart and they have degrees. All of them want to do something with their lives. They have lots of business ideas."
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Smiley

Ig Nobel Prizes: Boffins Gather to Research and Rib-tickle

Clara Moskowitz
LiveScience
Thu, 30 Sep 2010 14:51 UTC
ignoble prize
© UnknownThe Ignoble Prize
Fruit bats enjoy fellatio. Wearing socks on the outside of shoes prevents slipping and falling. Riding a roller coaster can relieve symptoms of asthma.

These are just a few of the scientific discoveries that are being honored tonight (Sept. 30) at the 2010 Ig Nobel Prizes presented here at Harvard University's Sanders Theater. The awards honor scientific achievements that "first make people laugh, and then make them think," according to an Ig Nobel release.

Winners traveled, at their own expense, from New Zealand, Japan, the Netherlands, Mexico, Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States to collect their prizes in person.

"Why not?" said winner Richard Stephens, a psychologist at England's Keele Unviersity, on his reasons for traveling across a pond to attend the ceremony. "I think it's a form of recognition. I had no qualms about saying yes."
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Camcorder

YouTube drive to 'crowd-read' Spain classic Don Quixote


BBC News
Thu, 30 Sep 2010 23:55 UTC
Don Quixote
© UnknownImage of Don Quixote and his squire Sancho Panza travelling on horseback The novel tells the story of a 17th Century gentleman obsessed with chivalry
The Royal Spanish Academy has invited people around the world to record short chunks of the classic novel Don Quixote and upload them to YouTube.

Miguel de Cervantes' Don Quixote is often described as Spain's most famous novel - and yet few have ever read it.

Now the academy, the official guardian of the Spanish language, has divided the work into more than 2,000 segments.

They will be read and recorded - in Spanish only - by volunteers visiting a special YouTube page.

The academy said the campaign was aimed at promoting both the Spanish language and the famous book, which carried the full title The Ingenious Hidalgo Don Quixote of La Mancha.

"The Spanish language does not occupy the space that it deserves on the internet," the secretary of the academy, Dario Villanueva, said.

"We want to denounce that and do something to correct it," the AFP news agency reported him as saying.
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