Don't Panic! Lighten Up!S


Smiley

Panda gives birth to cub at Austria zoo

VERONIKA OLEKSYN
AP
Fri, 24 Aug 2007 01:58 UTC
VIENNA - A giant panda on loan from China gave her Austrian zookeepers a surprise Thursday: the first panda cub born in Europe in 25 years. Caretakers at the Schoenbrunn Zoo detected the cub on a surveillance camera after hearing little squeals coming from an enclosed compound where the mother, Yang Yang, had retreated. Zookeepers had not been certain Yang Yang was pregnant.

A photograph released by the zoo showed Yang Yang, a first-time mother, holding the tiny creature in her mouth and looking up toward the camera.

©AP/Tiergarten Schoenbrunn
In this photo taken by a surveillance camera and released by the Schoenbrunn zoo in Vienna, female panda Yang Yang holds her newborn baby in her mouth, on Thursday, Aug. 23, 2007. For the next two or three month Yang Yang and her baby will spend in the enclosed area where she gave birth.
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Padlock

Woman, 71, Arrested for 'Special' Plant


Associated Press
Thu, 23 Aug 2007 23:08 UTC
GREENSBORO, N.C. - A 71-year-old woman was arrested on drug charges after a chest-high marijuana plant was found in her yard, a plant she said was meant to keep animals away from her garden.
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Coffee

Belching moose emit greenhouse gases


AFP
Thu, 23 Aug 2007 14:29 UTC
A grown moose belches out methane gas equivalent to 2,100 kilograms of carbon dioxide a year, contributing to global warming, Norwegian researchers said yesterday.
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Magic Wand

Spoon Drop Saves Woman From House Blast


Associated Press
Tue, 21 Aug 2007 21:25 UTC
SODUS, N.Y. - Dropping something may have saved Joy Horton's life. The 73-year-old woman was preparing some food in her western New York home on Monday morning when she dropped a spoon on the floor of her kitchen. When she bent down, her house exploded.
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Crusader

Catholic Priest on Fox News suggests 'Allah' is god of terrorism

David Edwards and Muriel Kane
Raw Story
Tue, 21 Aug 2007 17:28 UTC
Fox News reported Monday that a Roman Catholic bishop in the Netherlands has suggested that Christians start referring to "God" as Allah as a way of bridging the cultural divide. Fox then invited Father Jonathan Morris, a Catholic priest, and Imam Shamsi Ali of the Jamaica Muslim Center to debate this proposal.

Comment: Thank you Fox for offering yet another "enlightened" commentary on which deranged ceator demiurge is better.

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People

Les' bizarre record

Blythe Seinor
thedaily.com.au
Tue, 21 Aug 2007 17:05 UTC
He spent 15 years, from 1983 to 1998, typing out all of the numbers from one to one million (in letters not numerals), simply because he "wanted something to do."

It's official, Les Stewart has done something very bizarre.

In fact, he has done something so strange that nine years after the Mudjimba resident finished doing it, he is still getting notoriety.
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Magic Hat

Blind woman tees off, hits Hole-In-One


CBS/AP
Mon, 20 Aug 2007 16:41 UTC
LEHIGHTON, Pa. - Sheila Drummond didn't need to see her hole-in-one. She heard it.

Drummond, blinded by diabetes 26 years ago, experienced the highlight of her golfing career Sunday, recording an ace on the 144-yard, par-3 fourth hole at Mahoning Valley Country Club.

Playing with her husband and coach, Keith, and two friends in a steady rain, the 53-year-old Drummond hit a driver on the hole. The shot cleared a water hazard, flew between traps and landed on the green, where it hit the flagstick before dropping into the hole.
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Rocket

Man swaps rocket launcher for trainers


Ananova
Tue, 21 Aug 2007 12:23 UTC
Police who launched a gun amnesty in Florida were shocked when a man handed in a surface-to-air rocket launcher.

Under the Kicks for Guns programme, anyone who handed in a weapon was given a pair of trainers, reports Sky News.

One man, who has not been identified, took advantage by exchanging the four-foot-long launcher for a pair of Reeboks for his daughter.
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Bizarro Earth

The world's strangest laws

Alex Wade
The Times
Tue, 21 Aug 2007 11:59 UTC
25. It is illegal for a cab in the City of London to carry rabid dogs or corpses.

24. It is illegal to die in the Houses of Parliament.

23. It is an act of treason to place a postage stamp bearing the British monarch upside down.

22. In France, it is forbidden to call a pig Napoleon.

21. Under the UK's Tax Avoidance Schemes Regulations 2006, it is illegal not to tell the taxman anything you don't want him to know, though you don't have to tell him anything you don't mind him knowing.
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People

Man Rides Mule From Minnesota to Wyoming


Associated Press
Mon, 20 Aug 2007 23:04 UTC
GILLETTE, Wyo. - He rode his mule into town looking for work. No, it wasn't the opening scene of a Western movie. It was what Rod Maday did last week, ending a six-week odyssey from his home town of Boy River, Minn. "I've done about 1,500 miles and I've got the saddle sores to prove it," he said.
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