Don't Panic! Lighten Up!S


Bell

German steeple challenges leaning tower of Pisa

Naomi Kresge and Golnar Motevalli
Reuters
Wed, 07 Nov 2007 10:14 UTC


©Reuters

The Guinness Book of World Records has ruled that a church steeple in Germany, not the famous leaning tower of Pisa, is the most tilted tower in the world.

The 25.7-metre steeple tilts at an angle of 5.07 degrees, while the tower of Pisa tilts at just 3.97 degrees, said Olaf Kuchenbecker, head of Guinness's German edition.
Read More...
Heart

It's a dog's life as the world's tallest pooch meets the smallest

Claire Bates
Daily Mail
Wed, 07 Nov 2007 19:59 UTC


©PA

Despite their radical difference in size, these two dogs have something in common - Gibson the Great Dane and Boo Boo the toy Chihuahua are both world record holders.
Read More...
Laptop

How Babel Fish almost caused a diplomatic incident


UK Guardian
Wed, 07 Nov 2007 15:36 UTC
Amazing, the internet. You can feed a phrase in one of the major world languages into a translation site like Babel Fish (babelfish.yahoo.com), and out it will come another. Type, for example, "internet translation sites like Babel Fish are more trouble than they're worth", click the "English-to-French" button, and you get "les emplacements de traduction d'internet comme des poissons de Babel sont plus d'ennui que la valeur de they're". Put back into English, that yields "the sites of d'internet translation as of fish of Babel are more d'ennui that the value of they're", which, you will agree, is about as close to the original as to make no meaningful difference.
Read More...
Magic Hat

Man nearly tosses 4.38-carat diamond


Associated Press
Wed, 07 Nov 2007 00:16 UTC
MURFREESBORO, Ark. - Chad Johnson has found about 80 diamonds at Crater of Diamonds State Park since moving to Murfreesboro in February, but the former Iowa resident on Monday nearly threw away his largest find yet. A cube-shaped rock plucked out of his sifters turned out to be a 4.38-carat, tea-colored diamond.

"Every time someone finds a big diamond here at the park, they just get slammed with tourists," said Johnson, 36, a park regular. "This has already been a bad summer for tourists and they were looking forward to winding down and then this happened."
Read More...
Wine

Danger: Beware of Falling Cows


Associated Press
Wed, 07 Nov 2007 00:10 UTC
Manson, Washington - Charles and Linda Everson were driving back to their hotel when their minivan was struck by a falling object - a 600-pound cow.

The Eversons were unhurt but the cow, which had fallen off a cliff, had to be euthanized.
Read More...
Bulb

He Wasn't Calling to Say His Prayers...


Associated Press
Tue, 06 Nov 2007 22:56 UTC
CLARKSTOWN, N.Y. - Isn't the 11th Commandment thou shalt not use the church's telephone to call a sex hot line? A homeless man has been charged with breaking into a Valley Cottage church by picking a lock so he could dial up some sex chat.
Read More...
Health

Man tortured with hot cookies and bottled urine


ninemsn.com.au
Tue, 06 Nov 2007 20:23 UTC
Two US university students kidnapped, paddled and tortured a man with freshly baked cookies after a drug deal went wrong, a court has been told.
Read More...
Gear

US police ploy 'insults' Osbourne


BBC
Tue, 06 Nov 2007 15:29 UTC
Rocker Ozzy Osbourne has claimed his reputation was tarnished by a police operation in the United States.

A party supposedly involving the star was organised in Fargo, North Dakota - but it was actually a scam by officers to round up missing criminal suspects.

©Unknown

Five hundred people with outstanding arrest warrants were sent invitations, and more than 30 suspects turned up.
Read More...
Rocket

Cherie Blair to burn at the stake


BBC
Mon, 05 Nov 2007 09:56 UTC


©BBC
Artist Frank Shepherd was among the people who built the guy
Read More...
Heart

Why can't the English be more like the French?

Hortense de Monplaisir
The Sunday Times
Mon, 05 Nov 2007 06:22 UTC


©The Times
With the high-speed link to London about to open at last, Hortense de Monplaisir warns her fellow Parisians of the horreurs anglais that await them.
Read More...