Secret Polar Bear

It's just so darn cute - no wonder they kept it a secret!

clipped from news.yahoo.com BERLIN (AFP) - After Cute Knut and Flocke, Germany on Friday got a new polar bear cub to ooh and aah over -- and this time one which hasn't been rejected or eaten by its mother. Wilbaer is the name of the new fluffy white arrival, a play on words combining Wilhelma and Eisbaer -- German for polar bear -- and although he was born on December 10 his existence has been kept secret until now. Wilbaer's mother Corinna appears to have decided to do her maternal duty and not abandon her progeny while still in cubhood, Stuttgart zoo director Dieter Jauch in southern Germany said. The zoo hopes to avoid the intense media interest that Knut attracted last year when the cub was abandoned by his mother and had to be reared by keepers at Berlin zoo. Images of Knut were beamed around the world and "Knut mania" brought the zoo a windfall of almost five million euros (7.6 million dollars) from extra visitors and associated merchandising. "Wilbaer will not be a commercial success," Jauch said.

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Python Eats Dog

It's like some sort of cartoon! The dog's legs were sticking out the snake's mouth!

clipped from news.yahoo.com BRISBANE, Australia - A 16-foot python stalked a family dog for days before swallowing the pet whole in front of horrified children in the Australian tropics, animal experts said Wednesday. The boy and girl, ages 5 and 7, watched as the scrub python devoured their silky terrier-Chihuahua crossbreed Monday at their home near Kuranda in Queensland state. Stuart Douglas, owner of the Australian Venom Zoo in Kuranda, said scrub pythons typically eat wild animals such as wallabies, a smaller relative of the kangaroo, but sometimes turn to pets in urban areas. "The family that owned the dog had actually seen it in the dog's bed, which was a sign it was out to get it," he added. "They should have called me then, but (the snake) got away and three or four days later, I was called and went around and removed it" after the dog had been killed, Douglas said. By the time Douglas arrived, all that could be seen of the dog was its hind legs and tail.

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Ireland's Entry a Turkey

Whatever happens, it'll still be a turkey!

clipped from news.yahoo.com DUBLIN (Reuters) - Ireland's rich musical tradition has acquired an unlikely ambassador for the 2008 Eurovision song contest: glove puppet Dustin the Turkey, renowned for his burps and thick Dublin accent. The choice of Dustin's song "Irelande Douze Pointe" (Ireland 12 points) played to mixed reviews on Saturday, with applause and boos from the audience. "Shake your feathers and pop your beak/ Shake it to the West and to the East," Dustin sings as he makes fun of Riverdance, a hugely successful Irish dance show. Irish rock star Bob Geldof, who has released a duet with Dustin, denied he was unfit to represent the country just because he is a turkey. "The mere fact of his being a turkey should give Ireland the edge," Geldof told the Irish Times.

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Oddest Book Titles 2008

I think the shopping cart book is addressing a major issue in our society!

clipped from news.yahoo.com LONDON (AFP) - British industry magazine The Bookseller has announced this year's shortlist for the oddest book title of the year, with a typical mix of the quirky and eclectic. The nominees for The Diagram Prize are: -- "I Was Tortured by the Pygmy Love Queen" by Jasper McCutcheon; -- "How to Write a How to Write Book" by Brian Paddock; -- "Are Women Human? And Other International Dialogues" by Catharine A. MacKinnon; -- "Cheese Problems Solved" by P.L.H McSweeney; -- "If You Want Closure in Your Relationship, Start With Your Legs" by Big Boom; -- "People who Mattered in Southend and Beyond: From King Canute to Doctor Feelgood" by Dee Gordon. Last year's winner was "The Stray Shopping Carts of Eastern North America: A Guide to Field Identification", by Julian Montague. The Diagram Prize has been running since 1978, when the winner was "Proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Nude Mice".

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Australian Postal Workers Allowed to be Fatter

I can't believe there is a maximum weight limit!

clipped from news.yahoo.com SYDNEY (AFP) - Australia's postal service has increased the maximum weight for its delivery staff after struggling to attract applicants weighing less than 90 kilogrammes (198 pounds), local media reported Tuesday. The old limit was designed to allow "posties", as they are known here, to carry 40 kilogrammes of mail on their small motorcycles for a total load of 130 kilogrammes, the Daily Telegraph said. "How many people weigh 90 kilogrammes? Not many. They lifted the limit to 105 kilogrammes after Honda gave them permission," said union organiser Michael Etue.

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Escaped Hamster

Maybe the hamster really liked Alvin and was looking for him. These fans will go to any length!

clipped from www.ananova.com A hamster escaped after his five-year-old owner took him to the cinema to see Alvin and the Chipmunks. Sarah Stokes, of Pangbourne, Berks, thought her pet, called Hamish, would love to see the cartoon movie, reports the Daily Mirror. So she smuggled him out of his cage and carried him with her on an outing with gran Bernadette Bedford, sister Rachel, 10, and brother James, four. But Hamish popped out and disappeared under hundreds of seats - and Sarah was too scared to own up. Sarah finally plucked up courage to admit what happened. And after a flurry of phone calls, cinema staff eventually found Hamish beneath the screen. Igor Geyer, duty manager at the Showcase Cinema, said: "I'm glad we were able to reunite him with his owners."

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Body-builders Rescue Car

I guess one should always crash near a gym!

clipped from news.yahoo.com BERLIN (Reuters) - A group of 10 body-builders from a German gym took a break from their normal training routine to help a driver whose car was stuck in a ditch, police said on Monday. The men were training at the Explosives fitness studio in Bad Zwischenahn near the western city of Oldenburg when the 38-year-old driver lost control of his vehicle, veered into a meadow and plunged the front of his car into the two-meter (6 feet) deep ditch. "They dropped their sweat towels and water bottles and ran over the road to the crash site," a police spokesman told Reuters. "They then heaved the car out. It only took them a few minutes." The grateful driver joined the men at the fitness studio bar and treated them to a round of energy drinks, the police spokesman said.

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Turtle Goes 13,000 Miles to Breed

I've been desperate in the past, but not THAT desperate!

clipped from news.yahoo.com BANGKOK, Thailand - A leatherback turtle has been tracked swimming from the coast of the Papua province in Indonesia to Oregon, researchers said, in what may be the longest trip for marine vertebrae between breeding and feeding sites. "This is an animal perfectly suited for doing this kind of journey," said Scott Benson, research fishery biologist for the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service, who helped track the turtle and presented details of the journey at a sea turtle symposium last month. The longest distance of nine turtles tagged in 2003, Benson said, was the leatherback that reached Oregon and then headed to Hawaii before the battery on the satellite transmitter gave out. The 12,774-mile journey took 647 days, he said.

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Pilots on Viagra

There are so many jokes that could be put here - joystick related, mile high, fly hard. But my internal censor has kicked in so I'll leave it to the reader to supply their own schoolboy humor.

clipped from news.yahoo.com JERUSALEM (AFP) - It might harm their reputation, but Israel's air force is considering giving its combat pilots Viagra to improve their performance -- in the air. A recent study conducted by Israeli doctors among mountain climbers in Africa found a link between erectile dysfunction drugs and improved performance in high altitudes, the mass-selling Yediot Aharonot reported on Thursday. This has led army doctors to consider giving jet fighter pilots -- who can fly at altitudes of up to 50,000 feet (15,000 metres) -- the same drug, the report said.

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Grandma Hides Cocaine in Bra

She has not yet been charged for the two stolen TVs, stolen DVR and illegal immigrant also found in the bra.

clipped from news.yahoo.com OAKLAND PARK, Fla. - Broward County authorities said a grandmother was arrested for hiding cocaine in her bra during a drug raid in Oakland Park. Eight others were also arrested Friday at or near the home of Henrietta Corvin Daise, 62. Many of them were her grandchildren. The Broward County Sheriff's Office said deputies conducted a search warrant on her home and found Daise with powder cocaine stuffed in her bra. Deputies also found 20 crack cocaine rocks, four grams of powder cocaine, marijuana and $1,000 in cash.

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Holmes Discovers Churchill is a Fake

There are a number of people I wished were fictitious but this is a bit bad.

clipped from news.yahoo.com LONDON (AFP) - Britons are losing their grip on reality, according to a poll out Monday which showed that nearly a quarter think Winston Churchill was a myth while the majority reckon Sherlock Holmes was real. The survey found that 47 percent thought the 12th century English king Richard the Lionheart was a myth. And 23 percent thought World War II prime minister Churchill was made up. The same percentage thought Crimean War nurse Florence Nightingale did not actually exist. Meanwhile, 58 percent thought Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's fictional detective Holmes actually existed; 33 percent thought the same of W. E. Johns' fictional pilot and adventurer Biggles.

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