Don't Panic! Lighten Up!S


Sheeple

Get the flock out of here! It's the Kiwi killer sheep

Kathy Marks
The Independent
Sun, 17 Jun 2007 04:10 UTC
In a country of three million people and 40 million sheep, it is the ultimate nightmare: one day the sheep will rise up and turn on the humans.

A film tapping into these primal fears has become New Zealand's highest-earning horror movie. Now Black Sheep, about a genetic engineering experiment that goes badly wrong, is being exported. It will have its Australian première at the Sydney Film Festival this week and opens in London in August.
Read More...
Wine

The Man Who Sells the Moon

Stephen Ornes
Discover Magazine
Thu, 14 Jun 2007 22:38 UTC
Dennis Hope, self-proclaimed Head Cheese of the Lunar Embassy, will promise you the moon. Or at least a piece of it. Since 1980, Hope has raked in over $9 million selling acres of lunar real estate for $19.99 a pop. So far, 4.25 million people have purchased a piece of the moon, including celebrities like Barbara Walters, George Lucas, Ronald Reagan, and even the first President Bush. Hope says he exploited a loophole in the 1967 United Nations Outer Space Treaty, which prohibits nations from owning the moon.
Read More...
Magnify

Racy ad to be removed from flight path


AP
Fri, 15 Jun 2007 17:38 UTC
A giant silhouette of a naked pole dancer painted on a field beneath Gatwick Airport's flight path is disturbing the British countryside.

The 9,300 square metre advertisement is nearly invisible from the ground, but can be seen by airline passengers, Tandridge District Council spokeswoman Giuseppina Valenza said today.

©Unk
The giant silhouette of a naked pole dancer beneath the flight path of southern England's Gatwick Airport.
Read More...
Heart

Do not go gentle into that good night: singing seniors redefine rock songs

Jake Coyle - AP Entertainment Writer
ClarionLedger.com
Fri, 15 Jun 2007 15:06 UTC
NORTHAMPTON, Mass. -- Fred Knittle wears his belt up high. His nose is tethered to an oxygen tank, and on stage he's confined to a folding chair. From this unlikely perch, he's turning rock 'n' roll on its head.

Singing Coldplay's "Fix You," Knittle transforms the song into a powerful ballad about a grandfather's healing wisdom. It means something different coming from an 80-year-old retiree suffering from congestive heart failure.
Read More...
Document

Indian man, 73, fails school exams on 38th try


Reuters
Fri, 15 Jun 2007 10:20 UTC
A 73-year-old Indian farmer who vowed not to marry before passing his high school exams has failed to get through for the 38th time.

Shiv Charan Yadav has been taking the exams -- normally given to schoolchildren at the age of 15 -- every year since 1969, without success.

He was in his 30s when he first decided to better himself through education.

This year, he failed everything except Sanskrit, scoring only 103 out of a possible 600 points.
Read More...
Coffee

Boy lives with broken neck for ten years, baffles doctors


Press Association
Thu, 14 Jun 2007 17:47 UTC
A sports fanatic teenager has baffled medical experts by living for 10 years with a broken neck that could have killed him at any time.

Alfie Tyson-Brown, 14, led an active life playing rugby, surfing, mountain-bike riding and enjoyed rollercoasters unaware he had broken a bone in his neck when he was a toddler.
Read More...
Telescope

Mom's Baby Monitor Picks Up Shuttle Astronauts


CBS
Thu, 14 Jun 2007 16:37 UTC
A mother in Palatine, Ill., turned on her baby monitor recently and saw something that was literally out of this world, reports CBS station WBBM-TV in Chicago.
Read More...
Arrow Down

Cover up!: $500 fine or six months in jail for baggy pants


BBC
Thu, 14 Jun 2007 09:53 UTC
A mayor in the US state of Louisiana says he will sign into law a proposal to make wearing saggy trousers an act of indecent exposure.

Delcambre town council unanimously passed the ordinance earlier this week making it a crime to wear trousers that show underwear.
Read More...
Bizarro Earth

Three hurt as squirrel goes nuts


Assocated Press
Thu, 14 Jun 2007 07:53 UTC
An unusually aggressive squirrel attacked three people in a German town before its last victim finished it off with a crutch, police said Wednesday.

The rodent jumped through a living-room window in Passau, on the Austrian border, on Tuesday and bit its first victim. With the squirrel hanging on by its teeth, the woman ran out into the street, where she managed to shake the animal off.

The squirrel then bit a builder before fleeing into a nearby garden, where it bit a 72-year-old man who eventually killed it with his crutch, police said.

The dead animal was to be tested for rabies.
Read More...
Wolf

Elderly care home for dogs to open in Japan


Reuters
Thu, 14 Jun 2007 07:49 UTC
Japan's first elderly care home for dogs is set to open this week, tapping into a growing market as the problem of ageing spreads from humans to the pet population.

Saradi Corp. will accommodate up to 20 dogs at a facility set up in cooperation with a veterinary surgeon in the resort area of Nasu, north of Tokyo, Chief Executive Nana Uchida said on Thursday.

A veterinarian will be on call 24 hours a day and the dogs will have the opportunity to exercise, eat natural foods and mix with younger dogs to maintain their vitality, the company said in a statement.
Read More...