Don't Panic! Lighten Up!S

Question

AP diary adds clue to Earhart mystery


Associated Press
Sat, 31 Mar 2007 21:41 UTC
It's the coldest of cold cases, and yet it keeps warming to life. Seventy years after Amelia Earhart disappeared, clues are still turning up. Long-dismissed notes taken of a shortwave distress call beginning, "This is Amelia Earhart...," are getting another look.

The previously unknown diary of an Associated Press reporter reveals a new perspective.

©AP
Famed aviator Amelia Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, pose in this file photo in front of their twin-engine Lockheed Electra in Los Angeles at the end of May, 1937, prior to their historic flight in which Earhart was attempting to become first female pilot to circle the globe. A clear plastic shard found on Nikumaroro island in 1977 matches thickness and curvature of the Lockheed Electra windows.
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Bomb

Cops: Woman Calls in Threat to Skip Work


Associated Press
Sat, 31 Mar 2007 00:43 UTC
KEARNEY, Neb. - Police say a Kearney woman went to extremes to avoid working the weekend. Brandy Killin, 26, faces a felony charge of threatening to use an explosive after she allegedly phoned a bomb threat in to her employer to get out of work.

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Question

"Monster" Toxic Toad Caught in Australia

Blake de Pastino
National Geographic
Tue, 27 Mar 2007 08:32 UTC


©Getty Images
Monster Toad
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Coffee

Storm in US over chocolate Jesus


BBC
Fri, 30 Mar 2007 00:06 UTC
A New York gallery has angered a US Catholic group with its decision to exhibit a milk chocolate sculpture of Jesus Christ.

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Bulb

Man Leads Chase, Claims He's Dick Cheney


Associated Press
Thu, 29 Mar 2007 20:49 UTC
STRATFORD, Conn. - A man was taken to Bridgeport Hospital for a psychiatric evaluation after he led authorities on a high-speed chase and then claimed to be Vice President Dick Cheney, police said.

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Magic Wand

Ten of the best April Fool's Day hoaxes: US museum


Breitbart / AFP
Thu, 29 Mar 2007 11:06 UTC
From television revealing that spaghetti grows on trees to advertisements for the left-handed burger, the tradition of April Fool's Day stories in the media has a weird and wonderful history.

Here are 10 of the top April Fool's Day pranks ever pulled off, as judged by the San Diego-based Museum of Hoaxes for their notoriety, absurdity, and number of people duped.

-- In 1957, a BBC television show announced that thanks to a mild winter and the virtual elimination of the spaghetti weevil, Swiss farmers were enjoying a bumper spaghetti crop. Footage of Swiss farmers pulling strands of spaghetti from trees prompted a barrage of calls from people wanting to know how to grow their own spaghetti at home.
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Bizarro Earth

Judge: Sex Change Doesn't End Alimony


The Guardian
Thu, 29 Mar 2007 07:58 UTC
A woman's sex change operation does not free her ex-husband from his alimony obligation, a judge said Wednesday.

Attorneys for Lawrence Roach, 48, had argued his 55-year-old ex-wife's decision to switch genders and change her name from Julia to Julio Roberto Silverwolf voided their 2004 divorce agreement.

''It's illegal for a man to marry a man and it should likewise be illegal for a man to pay alimony to a man,'' said John McGuire, one of Roach's attorneys.

Circuit Judge Jack R. St. Arnold, however, ruled that in the eyes of the law, nothing changed significantly enough to free Roach from his $1,250-a-month obligation.
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Life Preserver

Judge bars Bears fan from changing name to 'Peyton Manning' on bet

Staff
Associated Press
Wed, 28 Mar 2007 21:08 UTC
DECATUR, Ill. - Chicago Bears fan Scott Wiese is no Peyton Manning after all.

Macon County Judge Katherine McCarthy ruled this week that Wiese can't legally call himself Peyton Manning because it would be too confusing and might infringe on the privacy of the Indianapolis Colts quarterback.
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Magic Wand

Men drained by bed sharing


Ananova
Wed, 28 Mar 2007 16:56 UTC
Scientists in Austria say sharing a bed with someone temporarily reduces men's brain power.

When men spend the night with someone their sleep is disturbed, whether they make love or not, and this impairs their mental ability the next day.

According to the New Scientist study, women who share a bed fare better because they sleep more deeply.

Professor Gerhard Kloesch and colleagues at the University of Vienna studied eight unmarried, childless couples in their 20s.
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Sheeple

I'm Prepared To Give My Life For This Or Any Country (Satire)

Curtis Stalbank
The Onion
Wed, 28 Mar 2007 09:22 UTC
As a true patriot, I would gladly die in battle defending my homeland. I love my country more than my own life. But I would also be more than willing to give my last breath in the name of, say, Mexico, Panama, Japan, or the Czech Republic. The most honorable thing a man can do is lay down his life for his country. Or another country. The important thing is that it's a country.
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