Don't Panic! Lighten Up!S


Heart

My REALLY little pony: Einstein, the world's smallest stallion, gets set for first birthday


The Daily Mail, UK
Sat, 26 Mar 2011 06:22 UTC
He may not be able to compete in the Kentucky Derby, but he is surely as popular as the winner.

And with appearances on Oprah and across the U.S. it has certainly been an eventful first year for Einstein, the world's smallest stallion, as he approaches his birthday.

Standing just 20inches tall, the horse attracted huge media interest when he was born in April last year.
Image
© Barcroft MediaLittle and large: Regular-sized stallion Playboy stoops down for a closer inspection of his tiny cousin, Einstein
Thousands queued at a farm in Barnstead, New Hampshire for a glimpse of him.

But while human interest was high, he didn't have many friends of his own breed.
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Roses

London Orchestra Plays Concert...for Plants


Agence France-Presse
Thu, 24 Mar 2011 11:49 UTC
flowers, orchestra
© AFP/Ben StansallFlowers displayed at a garden show.The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra has performed to a rather unusual audience -- row upon row of plants, in an attempt to see whether the music helps them grow.
British Royal Philharmonic Orchestra for once had a deathly quiet audience, reason being they were performing for plants, with the sole purpose of helping science prove a theory.

The 33-member orchestra played a three-hour recital to an auditorium packed with greenery to help test the theory that plants grow better when played classical music.

The unorthodox audience was made up of over 100 different varieties of plants and bulbs including geraniums, fuchsias and perennials.

Scientists have claimed that classical music - and the reverberation of sound waves - is thought to stimulate protein production in plants.

In theory, this is thought to lead to increased plant growth, although experts have long been divided on the subject.

Researchers have previously exposed rice plants to classical music and noted that some samples responded to noise levels with increased gene activity.

The recital at Cadogan Hall, London, was commissioned by shopping channel QVC and included Mozart's famed Symphony Number 40.
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Black Cat

US: Instant karma for suspected Idaho wallet thief


Associated Press
Wed, 23 Mar 2011 21:18 UTC
Boise - Chalk it up to instant karma. An Idaho man suspected of stealing a wallet from the desk of a prospective employer has been arrested after calling police to report that his wallet was missing.

The Idaho Statesman reports Boise police realized the man who reported the missing wallet matched the description of the suspected wallet thief and arrested 25-year-old Daniel Damico on suspicion of burglary and grand theft.
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Pistol

Scorned granny shoots up neighbor's home


Cable News Network
Wed, 23 Mar 2011 11:43 UTC
Image
© Cable News NetworkHelen Staudinger
Fort McCoy, Florida - Helen Staudinger, 92, wanted a kiss. And when she didn't get one from her neighbor Dwight Bettner, she got angry.

"There's three holes here in the wall and one hole in the window and of course one in my car," Bettner said. "She said 'I'm not leaving without a kiss.' And I said, 'I have a girlfriend so I'm not gonna give you no kiss.'"

Bettner, 53, says his home was hit with a barrage of bullets shortly after finishing a conversation with Staudinger, his elderly next-door neighbor.
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Smiley

Satire: CIA's 'Facebook' Program Dramatically Cut Agency's Costs


Onion News Network
Mon, 21 Mar 2011 13:07 UTC

CIA's 'Facebook' Program Dramatically Cut Agency's Costs
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Heart

Texas, US: Mysterious Woman Gives Away Hundreds Of Dollars To Random Shoppers

Gaby Loria
ABC 7
Wed, 16 Mar 2011 09:03 UTC
What happened at a Central El Paso shopping center on Wednesday morning wasn't just unlikely.

"It was bizarre," said Liz Hartman, a cashier at the Big Lots! store on Montana Avenue. Hartman said a well-dressed woman, who appeard to be in her late 50s, "just came into the store and started passing out $100 bills to our customers."

Julie Mireles was one of those customers. She was making her way into the store when a stranger stopped her in the parking lot. "She says, 'Excuse me young lady, can I just bless you with this?' and she just put the bill in my hand," Mireles told ABC-7.

The generous gift caught Mireles off-guard. She did not get a chance to ask the woman who she was, or why she was handing out the money. Once inside, Mireles saw the mysterious woman giving more free money to random customers.
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Display

Hacker with iPhone take over Times Square screens


MomentumBlog
Sun, 13 Mar 2011 04:34 UTC
"The way it works is pretty simple: plug in my transmitter into the headphone minijack of an iphone 4 and play back any video clip. you can play it through the ipod feature or through the camera roll. the transmitter instantly sends the video signal to the video repeater and the video repeater overrides any video screen that it's being held next to. it doesn't matter what shape or size the hacked screen is because the hack video will simply keep its correct dimensions and the rest of the hacked space will stay black.

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Chalkboard

Happy Half Tau Day!


Halftauday
Mon, 14 Mar 2011 04:38 UTC
Image
© HalfTauDay
The π is a lie...

March 14, or 3/14, is known as "Pi Day" because of its resemblance to the first three digits in the decimal expansion of π (pi), which is defined as the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter:

π= C/D = 3.14...

As "the circle constant", π is the object of virtually unlimited adulation, so you are
probably under the impression that π is a particularly important number. I am sorry
to report that you have been misinformed.

The true circle constant is the ratio of a circle's circumference to its radius, not to its diameter. This number, called τ (tau), is equal to
2π, so π is 1/2 τ - and March 14 is thus Half Tau Day. (Of course, June 28, or 6/28, is Tau Day itself.) Although it is of great historical importance, the mathematical significance of π is simply that it is one-half τ.
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Mail

US: Letter Postmarked from Alabama City in 1944 Finally Headed for Soldier's Sister, Now 90


The Associated Press
Fri, 11 Mar 2011 10:12 UTC
A World War II-era letter mailed to a soldier's sister at a Red Cross hospital is finally headed for its intended recipient.

The letter was postmarked from Montgomery on Aug. 9, 1944, and addressed to a Miss R.T. Fletcher at an American Red Cross hospital at Camp Roberts, California. There was no return address.

It was delivered in February to the camp's historical museum. The postal service couldn't explain what delayed the letter.
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Bulb

US: Burglar scared of homeowner calls 911


CBS News
Wed, 09 Mar 2011 18:44 UTC
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A man who broke into a home was so scared when the owner came home that he called 911.
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