Don't Panic! Lighten Up!S


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16 weird body facts

Did you know that you now have 96 fewer bones in your body than when you were born? There's a lot more you never knew to ask.

Light Sabers

Man faces five years in jail after hitting a boy with... a hedgehog

A man faces five years in jail after being accused of assaulting a teenager with a hedgehog. William Singalargh, 27, is said to have thrown the hedgehog from 15ft away during a row with the unnamed 15-year-old.

"When it hit the victim in the leg, it caused a large red welt and several puncture marks," said a police source in Whakatane, on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island.

Wolf

Psychic crackdown on the cards

The evocative question 'Is there anybody there?' conjures up images of mediums summoning spirits in a darkened room. But now psychics must add a few riders before they invoke the voices of the dead, thanks to new consumer laws due to come into force. Breathless audiences are now likely to be asked: 'Is there anybody here... who is vulnerable, of nervous disposition, or likely to sue?'

Cult

Rethink over Christ 'porn' film ban

A landmark decision to ban a film showing Christ being caressed on the cross on the grounds that it was blasphemous could be reversed after almost 20 years.

The 1989 ruling by the British Board of Film Classification to refuse a release licence for Visions of Ecstasy, a low- budget film depicting the 16th-century Spanish mystic St Teresa of Avila caressing the body of Jesus on the cross provoked a national furore.

Sherlock

UK: Oxford mystery to attract students

An Oxford college is staging an Inspector Morse-style murder mystery game to introduce more working-class boys to the historic university.

About 50 pupils from state schools in the South East will take part in the three-day "Murder in the Cloisters" event at Pembroke College.

Tutors said the teenagers would have to follow a trail of clues based on academic subjects.

They would interview suspects after finding a body in the college quad.

Beer

Gastronomic victory! Melton Mowbray pork pies join the Euro elite after 10-year fight

A list of fine European foods that includes Champagne, Parma ham and Whitstable oysters has a new member - the Melton Mowbray Pork Pie.

After a 10-year battle, the famous pie has been given EU recognition, which means it is an official delicacy that requires protection.

Unknown
©Kippa Matthews
Protected: A Melton Mowbray pork pie made by Leicestershire producers to a traditional recipe

Roses

Ancient flower tree proves it's still got what it takes

A millennium-old peony in Wangling Park in Changsha, capital of Hunan province, has surprised residents by blooming.

ancient peony
©Xiaoxiang Morning Post

Coffee

Czech shop assistant averts armed robbery with cup of tea

An armed robber gave up his criminal intent and fled after a shop assistant offered him a cup of tea and a heart-to-heart talk in the Czech Republic, the Ananova news agency reported on Friday.

The robber pulled out a gun and demanded money in a supermarket in the town of Cesky Tesin in the north of the country. However, 59 year-old shop assistant Marketa Vachova took the initiative from the very beginning.

Instead of complying with the robber's demands, she offered him a "nice cup of tea and a piece of cake".

Black Cat

Owner bites dog that bites dog

Amy Rice feared for her dog's life when a pit bull jumped over a fence into her yard and attacked him. So she took matters into her own mouth. Rice, 38, said she bit the pit bull on the nose after trying to pull the dog's jaws off her Labrador retriever, Ella.

Video

SOTT Focus: SOTT Exclusive! Italy: Marvel Penguin Speaks and Disappears

Original Title: "Pinguino delle Meraviglie Parla e Scompare"
Gazzettino dell'Avicolo
21st March 2008 - Genoa, Italy.

PIT_03
©Sott


An Italian male was found in a state of shock by one of our correspondents who received a call at home requesting investigative and moral support. The story he was about to recount was kind of odd but backed by an impressive amount of corroborating evidence. Mr. Piero V. allegedly saw a penguin materializing into his house, an Emperor Penguin of sort considering its size, and told the reporter that the bird was communicating with him using telepathy. Although nearly incomprehensible at first, the bird, after a series of buzzy signals casted into Mr. Piero's brain, succeeded by making its intentions clear.

The nearly alienated Genoan then rushed on a specific place by following the directions given by the penguin, who was apparently in the need to share its findings, only to pop away in the blink of an eye, behind a tree. Mr. Piero said that after the initial shock he now feels energized and it's like he's living a new life. After having recapitulated all what happened in that weekend that ultimately looked like a lifelong time adventure, he now thanks wholeheartedly the mysterious bird.

P.V. said that the penguin started 'talking' to him only after having stopped near a tree with a red mark on it. He was already 300 miles away from home, in the nice town of Pontremoli (Tuscany).


Here's the transcription of the words given by the penguin. He named himself as "Pen Guinn", P.V. later told the reporter.

Comment: In further developments, Master Penn-Guinn, P.V., has invited the readers to an amazing story which, he says, captures the essence of this world.