Zune leap year bug makes users cry

A Y2K like bug has made Zune players inoperable causing the machine to freeze. Upon finding their Zune's frozen users proceeded to freak out on the Zune message boards.

Emotions were running high on the Zune message board as some users said they were about to cry and others went so far as to say they might even die without their player. Others cut in, telling people to “CHILL OUT.”

For some, the Zune freeze made them realize just how attached they are to their player, containing music sometimes collected over years.

“My whole life’s music is on mine, over 2,000 songs, so I damn well hope they fix this,” read a posting on the Zune message board.

Your MP3 player being frozen is bad, but not bad enough to make you cry.

In case you happen to be the owner of a Zune here are the instructions on how to fix it after noon tomorrow.

• Let the battery die.
• Recharge it.
• Turn the device on.

Please don't cry

Baconnaise?

So apparently there is a new condiment in town. Baconnaise. It's exactly what it sounds like, bacon flavored mayonnaise. I can't decide if it sounds delicious or disgusting.

The company that makes baconnaise also makes bacon flavored salt to put on your fries or baked potatoes.

Good?

Gross?

Piggy bank: hot christmas gift

Americans bought a large number of piggy banks for Christmas this year.

"We definitely noticed a trend with the piggy banks," said Erin Mara at Homebody, a design store in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Washington, DC.

"People were very upfront about the need to save...the pig is very symbolic of that sentiment," she said.

Saving is always a good idea. But does the saving need to be in pig form? The little one in tights got a pug bank (complete with curly tail) for Christmas.

Caution: driving plow on ice can lead to job loss

A man in Minnesota has been fired after driving his loader onto a frozen river.

Mike Raymond was clearing snow from county parking lots early Monday when he decided to also clear off a boat ramp on the frozen Red Lake River in Crookston.

Raymond says he wanted to make it easier for people who pull fish houses on trailers onto the river. He so happens to have a fish house on the river himself — but told the Grand Forks Herald that's not why he wanted to clear the area.

The John Deere 544 loader slid down the cement ramp, through the ice to the river bottom.

Raymond was quickly rescued but it took much longer to retrieve the vehicle.

Poor guy, who would have thought that driving an extremly heavy loader onto ice would be a bad idea.

Old lady kicks her attackers butt

Police in Oregon say that a naked man that attacked an eighty eight year old woman ran off after she grabbed his balls.

The victim told police that an attacker backed her into her living room and shoved her face-down into a chair. She said the attacker fled after she grabbed his crotch and squeezed.

Go old lady go!

Man chooses jail over paying $1.57 for soda

A man in California caught stealing a soda was given a choice. Pay for the soda or leave.

Police responding to the report of a theft recently say the 27-year-old man appeared drunk. An employee told officers the man had taken a cup from the counter, filled it and began drinking.

The man who had $70 in his pocket refused to do either so the policeman cuffed him and hauled him off to prison.

That's a smart one.

Man robs bank using note written on his pay stub

A bank robber in Chicago was easily caught by police after leaving behind the paystub that he used to write a threatening note.

Federal investigators allege Thomas Infante, 40, entered the Fifth Third Bank branch shortly before 6 p.m. Friday and handed a female teller a note threatening to open fire if she did not give him cash, the Chicago Sun-Times reported Tuesday.

The robber fled with $400 but without the note, which investigators said was written on the back of a pay stub that bore Infante's name and address.

I would like to thank the bank robber for saving tax payer dollars by making it easy for the FBI to locate him. It should be easy to prosacute him.

Goldfish lives for thirteen hours without water

A goldfish in the UK lived for thirteen hours out of its fishbowl.

Barbara Woodford woke to discover Ginger missing from its bowl. Unable to find the fish before leaving for work, she feared the worst.

But when she returned home in the evening she spotted her pet on the floor behind a cupboard, alive and well.

"I picked him up with a spatula and his mouth started moving. I put him back into the water and off he went. He was swimming fabulously. I couldn't believe it - it was a real Christmas miracle," said Mrs Woodward, 61, of Gloucester.

It is not uncommon for fish to jump when they need more oxygen and this fish jumped up and out of its bowl. A spokesman from a goldfish association (yes a goldfish association) said that fish can survive for quite a while out of water as long as their gills stay moist.

So, do you think the fish was needing more oxygen or suicidal?

FDA approves drug for eyelash growth

The makers of Botox have gotten FDA approval for a new drug that will stimulate eyelash growth.

Latisse, which is designed to treat a condition known as hypotrichosis of the eyelashes, which means a person does not have enough eyelashes, has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

When applied once daily to the eyelid with a disposable applicator, the drug Latisse apparently improves the length, thickness and colour of hairs.

Continued use is necessary to maintain the thicker lashes, and side effects can include eye redness and itchiness, a darkening of the eyelid skin and a permanent darkening of the whites of the eyes.

So, you get long beautiful lashes and red itchy eyes. Sounds delightful.

The drug is expected to cost around $120. My great lash only costs $3.00 and it makes my lashes darker and longer without the yucky side effects.

Man robs store and then returns later for medical help

A man in Tennessee who cut himself while robbing a convenience store by walking through shattered glass returned hours later to ask police for medical attention.

Officer Chandler Rollo said he was at the store waiting for a manager to arrive with a key after the break-in when the blood-covered suspect approached him Christmas Eve.

The suspect required dozens of stitches in his hand and ankle.

Note to criminals. Do not return to the scene of the crime and ask police who are investigating the crime to help you with your injuries that you acquired during the crime.

Foreclosed homes = great skate parks

Skaters from around the world are rushing to Fresno for the great skating in empty swimming pools of foreclosed homes.

In these boom times for skaters, Mr. Peacock travels with a gas-powered pump, five-gallon buckets, shovels and a push broom, risking trespassing charges in the pursuit of emptying forlorn pools and turning them into de facto skate parks.

“We can just hit them back to back,” said Mr. Peacock, who preferred to give his skateboarding name because of the illegality of his activities.

In draining these empty pools the kids also are doing a good deed for the city. Removing potential mosquito breeding grounds.

Dirk Voss, a code enforcement agent in Oxnard, Calif., northwest of Los Angeles, said even those residents who manage to stay in their homes often could not maintain the pool. “They don’t want to pay for the power to run the motor or pay for the chemicals to treat them,” Mr. Voss said.

But skaters do not mind doing the work, whether it is that of scouting for pools or scouring them. Adam Morgan, 28, a skater from Los Angeles, said it used to take months to find a good skating pool. Now the task is a breeze.

The police have caught Mr. Peacock twice in the past weeks and have asked that they leave instead of issuing citations.

Shark Activist Eaten by Shark

A shark activist in Sydney has been eaten by the animal that he tried to protect.

Luke Tubbs told how a witness ran to his house in shock and screaming for help: "He just saw a big splash and then the shark roll over in the water with the guy and then [he saw] no body or anything."

Daniel Guest, who was swimming six metres away at the Port Kennedy beach, heard his father's screams but did not see the attack. He raced to shore when he saw blood in the water. His father's shredded wetsuit was found later, and aerial searches spotted a five-metre great white shark swimming in the area.

In Sydney, some hours later, a kayaker survived a terrifying ordeal after being knocked from his craft by a great white shark. That encounter, endured by 29-year-old Steve Kulcsar, occurred less than a mile off Australia's east coast, at Long Reef, and was filmed by a fisherman in a small boat nearby. The video footage apparently showed the shark circling Kulcsar after bumping him off his kayak.

The beach has been closed because of the attacks. The victims son said that this will not keep him out of the water and he wants others to think of it as a random accident and not to be scared of the ocean.

Dogs save man from crazy elk

A man in Sweden escaped with only minor injuries after a pack of dogs chased a crazy elk away from him.

The four-legged beast suddenly attacked the man as he attempted to drive the animal out of his yard.

“He was in an orchard when the elk attacked. He ended up with a wound on his head and was taken to hospital,” said Norrbotten police spokesperson Rolf Hamstig to the Aftonbladet newspaper.

The man’s injuries may have been worse had a pack of Norwegian Elkhounds not escaped from their nearby pen and chased the angry elk into the nearby forest.

Officials are deciding whether the elk needs to be found and destroyed as elks usually are not aggressive animals.

Man burned while trying to impress his girlfriend

A man in Sweden has suffered serious injuries after trying to impress his girlfriend by setting his arm on fire.

“It obviously didn’t go well. He burned his arm and other parts of his body and was in a state of shock,” said Kalmar police spokesperson Reine Johansson to the TT news agency.

“Don’t ask me what the point of the trick was supposed to be.”

Who'd of thought that pouring gasoline on your arm and then lighting it would be a bad idea.

He is also facing possible charges for endangering the public.

Family finds ten grand in a box of crackers

A family in California opened their crackers to find a surprise. An envelope with ten thousand dollars in it.

They turned the crackers and the money into the police who thought it could be drug money.

Police later heard from store managers at Whole Foods in Tustin that an elderly woman had come in a few days earlier, hysterical because she had mistakenly returned a box of crackers with her life savings inside. In a mix-up the store restocked the box rather than composting it.

The Lake Forest woman, whose identity was not released, had lost faith in her bank and decided the box would be a safer place for the money.

The family that found the crackers did not receive a reward and have not heard from the owner of the money. They did receive a free box of crackers from the store though.

Man trying to defrost snow with a blowtorch sets house on fire

A man in Massachusetts set his house on fire while trying to remove snow. He was removing the snow with a blowtorch.

This guy is smart.

Fire Capt. Scott Kruger tells The Standard-Times of New Bedford that no on was injured during Monday's incident at the three-story home.

Kruger says the man was using a torch hooked up to a 20-pound propane cylinder. He got too close to the building's wood frame and ignited the vinyl siding. The fire quickly spread into the building's second- and third-floor apartments.

He is not facing criminal charges. I bet his insurance company isn't happy with him.

Snowmen protest at city hall

A group of snowmen showed up at city hall in Anchorage Alaska to protest the possible demise of snowzilla.

A group of protesting snowmen carrying signs like "Snowpeople have rights" made a brief appearance at city hall in Anchorage, Alaska, this week.

The 3-foot-high snowmen appeared Christmas Day, the Anchorage Daily News reported. By Friday morning, they had been removed and their signs placed in the trash.

They threw the snow-people in the trash. That's terrible.

Powers' denys being the creator of the snowmen protesters and also denys being the creator of snowzilla. He said that the snowmen protesters were very cute.

Other signs carried by the snowmen included "Heck no we won't go" and "Snowzilla needs a bailout."

The snowzilla saga continues.

Woman invents kidnapped baby to get her boyfriend back

A woman in Miami told police that her baby was kidnapped. The problem. She didn't have a baby.

Miami police said McCormic had a miscarriage when she was three months pregnant. However, investigators said she pretended to carry the baby to full term in order to keep her boyfriend from breaking up with her.

On Thursday, the supposed parents of the 6-month-old, which McCormic said was named Riley Buchness, made a tearful plea to have their baby come home safely. She said she last left the baby in the care of a babysitter on Tuesday. "I don't even know if he's dead or alive, if they were in a car accident, I don't even know if they're in Florida, I don't know where they are," said McCormic with the man she called the boy's father, 26-year-old John Buchness, crying at her side.

She provided pictures of her "baby" to the police that she'd gotten off of the internet and told police that her baby had one tooth, a Mohawk and a fake tattoo. She then invented a "nanny" that had kidnapped the baby.

Wonder if she was surprised when she got arrested.

Hope the boyfriend dumped her. Perhaps she should go out with the man who attacked his girlfriend with a burger. They seem to both have morality issues.

Man shoots talking movie goer

A man in Philadelphia shot another man in a movie theater because he wouldn't keep his family quiet.

According to police, suspect James Cialella, 29, told a man and his family to be quiet during the showing of 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.' Police said Cialella then threw popcorn at the victim's son and a physical altercation ensued between Cialella and the man.

Police said Cialella then began walking towards the man's family and the man stood between Cialella and his family. Police said Cialella then shot the man once in the left arm.

The man has been charged with assault.

Sounds like both parties were behaving badly, but really shooting someone because they're talking during a movie? Sounds like he needs anger management classes.

CIA uses viagra to gain intelligence in Afghanistan

The CIA has been using the power of Viagra to gain intelligence in Afghanistan.

The Afghan chieftain looked older than his 60-odd years, and his bearded face bore the creases of a man burdened with duties as tribal patriarch and husband to four younger women. His visitor, a CIA officer, saw an opportunity, and reached into his bag for a small gift.

Four blue pills. Viagra.

"Take one of these. You'll love it," the officer said. Compliments of Uncle Sam.

The enticement worked. The officer, who described the encounter, returned four days later to an enthusiastic reception. The grinning chief offered up a bonanza of information about Taliban movements and supply routes — followed by a request for more pills.


Well, that's much cheaper than offering them cash and it sounds like the tribal leader probably could use the Viagra with his four wives, and he benefits without his neighbors knowing that he's tattling on the bad guys.

McDonalds pays 1,000 people to stand in line

A McDonald's in Japan has admitted that they paid people to stand in line to get the Quarter Pounder with Cheese which was released for the first time in Japan that day.

About 15,000 people flocked to McDonald's Japan's Midosuji Suomachi store in Chuo-ku, Osaka, on Tuesday, to buy the new "Quarter Pounder with Cheese," which was released for the first time in the Kansai region. McDonald's Japan announced on Wednesday that the store has set record sales of about 10.2 million yen on the day.

On Thursday, however, it turned out that 1,000 of the customers in the long line were part-time workers that McDonald's Japan requested a marketing company supply, including the first 20 to 30 people who waited from midnight.

"We didn't ask the company to make the people line up. We didn't intentionally do it," a spokesperson for McDonald's Japan explains.

The employees were hired by a research company to stand in line, buy a burger and eat it. They also filled out a questionnaire about the service and the burger. Sort of secret shoppers.

It doesn't shock me that McDonalds hired people to stand in line. It does shock me however that 14,000 other people were so excited about a quarter pounder that they were willing to face those crowds. I could understand if it was a special burger with fancy toppings and it was free, but a quarter pounder? Not exciting.

French government confiscates ten tons of counterfit chocolates

The french government has seized ten tons of counterfeit chocolates.

Lab tests and an examination by Ferrero itself found that the seized candies were harmless but low-quality copies. They arrived in France by refrigerated truck from Turkey and were seized in late November.

"It was the first time we had ever seized chocolates," Hocquerelle said — and what a seizure: 10 tons of coconut-filled dark chocolates and milk chocolate balls worth an estimated $312,000.

The french government will be destroying the chocolates. Seems like a waste. They should give them to the homeless like they did with the caviar.

Elderly woman gets 4,700 water bill

A woman in Houston has received a water bill that's 470 times higher than it normally is. 4,7o0!

Annabelle Baylous said her water bill is usually about $10, so she was shocked to see the amount on the bill she received this month, KHOU-TV, Houston, reported Thursday.

"Over $4,000!" Baylous said. "This is the worst Christmas present I could get."

KHOU said plumbers examined the home, which has only one bathroom and one occupant, and determined that there were no leaks and Baylous could not have possibly used as much water as the city claims.

"Even if she ran the water continuously, it wouldn't generate the amount of gallons she's being billed for," plumber John Cantu said.

The city reduced the bill to 1,000 which is still absurd. If the ladies usual bill is $10 then anything higher than $30 while they look into the problem is excessive.

Dog shoplifts bone

A dog in Utah waltzed into a grocery store took a bone and then waltzed out without paying.

The thief wasn't even perturbed by a face-to-face confrontation with store manager Roger Adamson.

"I looked at him. I said, 'Drop it!'" Adamson said. "He looked at me, and I looked at him, and he ran for the door and away he went, right out the front door."

No word on if charges will be filed. The bone was worth $2.79

Dr Fuels car with fat from liposuction

A plastic surgeon in California has been powering his car with the fat that he extracted from his patients while doing liposuctions.


For a time, Beverly Hills doctor Craig Alan Bittner turned the fat he removed from patients into biodiesel that fueled his Ford SUV and his girlfriend's Lincoln Navigator.

Using fat to fuel cars might be environmentally friendly, but it's definitely illegal in California to use human medical waste to power vehicles, and Bittner is being investigated by the state's public health department.

Although it's unclear when Bittner started and stopped making fat fuel or how he made it, his activities came to light after recent lawsuits filed by patients that allege he allowed his assistant and his girlfriend to perform surgeries without a medical license.

Sounds like he cut corners in every possible.

Snowzilla Returns!

Earlier this week we told you of Snowzilla a sixteen foot snowman that was banned by city council in a snow town in Alaska.

Well Snowzilla is back!

This year, Snowzilla is estimated to be 25 feet tall. He's wearing a black stovepipe hat and scarf.

"Have you seen him?" Powers asked when reached by telephone at his home, the sound of excited children in the background. "He's handsome."

Snowzilla has consistently risen outside Powers' modest home. His children — he is the father of seven — collected snow from neighbors' yards to make the snowman big enough. Each year, Snowzilla got a bit bigger.

Powers' claims that he did not build snowzilla and does not know how it appeared in his lawn.

Was it the local teenagers or Powers' himself? We may never know.

Merry Christmas

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Zoo Animals get to open their presents early

The zoo animals got to open their presents early at a Zoo in Sydney. The meerkats attacked the presents with the energy of a group of preschoolers while the lions were more reserved.


But Mary the gibbon was Taronga’s resident scrooge, refusing to come down from her tree to see what St Nick had brought her. Mary’s reaction came as a surprise to zookeepers, who had already put out a press release talking about her “delight in discovering her gifts” and her “cries of delight."


Click here to watch an adorable video of the animals opening their gifts.

Just what I always wanted: a robot that loads the dishwasher

A group of scientists in Japan have created a robot that does the dishes! The robot rinses the dishes in the sink and then neatly lines them up in the dishwasher.

Using its internal camera along with the sensors, the robot is able to determine the shapes and sizes of dirty dishes and utensils placed in the sink before picking them up and loading them in the dishwasher.

Scientists have set a target of creating a smaller and lighter robot which will be able to load the dirty plates and cooking utensils of a family of four into the dishwasher in just five minutes.

The robot will be available for sale in five years, with scientists also promising to tackle other household chores with the creation of devices capable of performing disliked activities such as the laundry.

I want one!!!

Milkman delivers pot

A seventy-two year old milkman in the UK has been delivering Marijuana to his elderly customers along with their milk.

He was caught placing small bars of cannabis resin into empty egg cartons, and leaving them on doorsteps.

When he was confronted by police, Holding told officers he would only ever supply pensioners with the drug to help them with their 'aches and pains'.


The judge told him that his deliveries will lead to jail time. Next time he should stick to delivering groceries.

China's favorite animal is a pig

A pig that survived being buried for thirty-six days after an earthquake has been voted China's Favorite Animal on a popular website.

The pig "vividly illustrated the spirit of never giving up," the report cited the webmasters who ran the poll as saying.

People come from all over to see the pig at its new home in a museum, the newspaper said, but it was becoming increasingly spoiled and ungrateful.

"It's gotten fatter and lazier by the day," it quoted staff as saying. "We used to take it out for a walk every morning and afternoon, but it's too lazy — and too fat — to do it."

And the pig is getting fed up with visitors, after initially being quite friendly.

"Now it just blocks the door to its bedroom when there are too many visitors outside. It's been increasingly difficult for us to convince it to open the door," the report said.

He does not sound very greatful. Perhaps they should stop spoiling him so much.

Snowzilla must go

A family in Alaska has recieved a cease and dissist order for their snowman. The family builds a sixteen foot snowman every year.

A few weeks ago, city code enforcers left three red signs at Snowzilla's bottom body ball telling its builders to cease and desist.

The city also tacked a public notice on the door of the Powers family home at 1556 Columbine St. The Powers family and some of their neighbors have been building Snowzilla in the Powers' front yard since 2005.

When the notices went up, Snowzilla still didn't have a full torso or head.

"The kids had spent hours and hours of work on it," Billy Powers said on Sunday.

The city declared that the snowman is a safety hazard and that the traffic it generates is dangerous and town council members have been told to watch out for covert snowman building at the Powers' house.

Poor Snowzilla.

Chocolate Hanukkah

A group of hasidic Jews in Palo Alto California will be beginning the Hanukkah season by lighting their chocolate menorah.

"We've already made a menorah out of ice, and Legos. Why not chocolate?" said Mushky Baumgarten, Chabad's program coordinator who bought 25 bags of Trader Joe's "Orthodox Union-certified" chocolate chips for melting and painting. "We're trying to reach as many Jews as we can."

No word as to if the menorah will be eaten at some point.

Happy Hanukkah!

Amazon staff refuses to moon the camera

Staff members in an Amazon warehouse were encouraged to drop their pants and moon the camera after a negative article was published about working conditions at the warehouse.

Staff at the warehouse said managers claimed the idea of the photograph came from Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s American founder. One said: “The managers called everyone in and said they were going to have ‘a little bit of Christmas fun and light-hearted spirit’ in response to the article. It was to say ‘up yours to the papers’, that it was good working there and not as bad as it’s made out.”

Another source said: “They were sending the supervisors to try to persuade people on a one-to-one basis. It’s ludicrous and a lot of the staff are upset about it.” More than 200 staff were eventually photographed – but waving to the camera instead of mooning.

Amazon headquarters denies any involvement in the encouraged mooning.

I think this would have gone over better in the US than in the UK.

Clowns are very supicious

A clown hired to entertain kids on a flight was searched and had some of his tools confiscated by airport security in England.

Dave Vaughn said when he attempted to board a flight at Birmingham International Airport dressed as PC Konk the clown, he was stopped by security and told to remove his costume, The Mail on Sunday reported.

Vaughn, who was to provide entertainment on a flight for disadvantage youth, said airport guards then deemed his plastic handcuffs as a security risk.

"My plastic scissors and camera got through fine, as did my funny glasses and bubble machine, but then they discovered my plastic toy handcuffs," Vaughn said of the recent incident. "I told them I had bought them from the Early Learning Center especially for the trip but they still said they were a risk."

They allowed him on the fight after determining that his suspenders were what set off the metal detector.

Seems like airport security has watched the Dark Knight too many times.

Do your homework OR ELSE

A teacher in Egypt killed his student because he didn't do his homework.

Haitham Nabeel Abdelhamid, 23, is accused of beating Islam Badr Ibrahim with a ruler before taking him outside the class and hitting him savagely in the stomach.

The boy then collapsed in a faint and was taken to hospital - but he died of heart failure.

I bet his classmates will be sure to do their homework from now on.

Annoying? Go to Jail

A town in Michigan has made it illegal to be annoying.

The Brighton City Council on Thursday approved an ordinance allowing police in the Livingston County community to ticket and fine anyone who is annoying in public "by word of mouth, sign or motions."

A city attorney says there could be situations where the measure would violate freedom of speech, but that those cases will be reviewed by the city.

Doesn't sound very American does it? Getting a citation because you're annoying?

Caviar for the Homeless

The homeless in Italy will be dining in style after eighty-eight pounds of contraband caviar was confiscated from smugglers.

The caviar has been given to Italian charities to be served alongside the traditional foods they feed the poor on Christmas — like lentils, pasta and cake — officials said Saturday.

Italy and many other countries ban beluga caviar — often the most expensive variety — in hopes of saving the dwindling population of sturgeon who produce the salty eggs.

Officials in the government decided that instead of destroying the caviar like they have done in the past that they would donate it to charities that feed the poor and the elderly on Christmas.

Burried with a cell phone

The under forty set is increasingly being buried with their portable electronic devices.

It seems that everyone under 40 who dies takes their cell phone with them,” says Noelle Potvin, family service counselor for Hollywood Forever, a funeral home and cemetery in Hollywood, Calif. “It’s a trend with BlackBerrys, too. We even had one guy who was buried with his Game Boy.”

As for the reason why people are asking to be buried with their cell phones it varies. Some do so as a memento of the person just as they would bury a football or other memento. While others leave the phones in the casket and plan to call their dead loved one in the future.

“Some people will call the deceased just as they’re lowering the coffin into the ground,” he says. “It’ll be prearranged and you’ll hear a faint ring. It’s like the new version of ‘Taps’ for people who are identified as being on the phone all the time.”

Apparently the fear of being buried alive is not one of the reasons that people are choosing to be buried with the cell phones. We are very trusting that medical officials will make sure we're dead before we're buried.

No drunkenness for teachers in Britian

A new teacher code in Britian could give teachers disciplinary action for being drunk and disorderly on their own time.

A new code of conduct, published in draft form yesterday, says teachers could face sanctions if they damage "public trust and confidence" in their profession.

Keith Bartley, chief executive of the General Teaching Council for England (GTC), the profession's watchdog, said teachers needed to "consider their place in society", and act as role models.

When asked what the watchdog would do if teachers were drunk and rowdy at the weekend, Bartley said the GTC would look at the individual circumstances before deciding if they should face disciplinary tribunals.

Teachers didn't have to be exemplary citizens every second, Bartley said. Nevertheless, their behaviour could be "lawful but not acceptable".

This is just absurd. I'm all for encouraging teachers to act nicely but what does it matter if there are no students around? No teacher should lose their job because of somthing they did legally on the weekend away from kids. Teachers have as much right to get drunk as everyone else.

The code also insists that teachers report suspected abuse and from using school computers for non-school interests.

Giraffe Pug

No story to go along with this picture. It's just cute and sad at the same time. My pugs would never put up with that costume.

For more of the best cute animal pictures of the year go here.

Shark goes down waterslide

A shark in the Bahamas jumped out of it's aquarium and went down a waterslide before landing in a resort swimming pool.

The female reef shark, one of various exotic creatures in the popular Mayan Temple aquarium at the Atlantis resort in the Bahamas, tumbled down the slide – known as the Leap of Faith – after vaulting the one foot high and 18 in wide barrier around its pool.

Although the creature survived the journey its body could not cope with the chlorinated water in the swimming pool at the bottom of the slide. Rescuers managed to return the 12-year-old shark to its own pool but it died shortly afterwards.

Poor shark. It just wanted to go on the waterslide.

Hotel managers say that no humans were at risk during the incident.

Don't try this. Ever!

A man in China is upset that the Guinness Book of World Records wil not give him credit for pulling cars with hooks laced through holes in his eye sockets.

Luo Deyuan, 21, said his feat of ocular strength was kept out of the record books because officials decided it was too dangerous, Britain's The Sun reported Thursday.

However, Luo said he has not given up on his dreams of Guinness Book glory. He plans to submit more stunt proposals to the world record authority -- including lifting buckets of water with his eyebrows, walking on sharp blades and stopping electric fans with his tongue.

Sounds like he's got a real need to be maimed. I hope someone tells him to stop it before he gets hurt.

Too many birds!

A man in Berlin had 1500 parakeets in his small apartment.

Berlin officials cleared about 1,500 budgies and parakeets on Tuesday evening from a two-room apartment occupied by a retired man in the Spandau district of Berlin, according to city veterinarian Margit Platzer, who said it took more than seven hours to catch all the birds.

He had been collecting the animals for ten years and let them fly freely around his apartment perching on rods that he'd installed. The birds went to the bathroom on the floor of his apartment and there were inches of the stuff on the floor when it was found.

"Unfortunately this isn't an isolated situation," said Wolfgang Apel, head of Berlin's animal protection services. "The number of so-called animal hoarders has risen drastically." Around 160 other pets have been recovered from similar conditions around Berlin in the past week, ranging from cats and dogs to monkeys and goats.

Eew! Can you imagine the smell, and the drips. People, you don't live in a zoo, so don't keep that many pets.

Awwww, baby hippo

Awww, how cute is she?

Her name is Paula.

She lives in a Berlin Zoo and is the first hippo calf born in three years.

She rests on her mothers back when she gets tired of running in the water.

More pictures and a video here.

Monks and their tiger pets

A Buddhist temple in Thailand is not just the home to monks, it is also the home of many tigers.

They call it the Tiger Temple, and its story is the stuff of fairy tales. According to Abbot Pra-Acharn Phusit, a tiger cub orphaned by poachers was brought to the temple years ago.

The abbot cared for her and, as word spread, more people brought sickly and orphaned cubs to the temple's doorstep. Those cubs went on to have their own cubs, and nine years on there are now 34 tigers living here.

Buddhists believe in reincarnation and the abbot also that these tigers are his family.

The temple is also a tourist spot and tourists can not only look at the tigers but can also get up close with them. Tourists like that, animal activists, not too much.

The tigers have yet to bite anyones head off.

Man lands on cow

A vintage plane pilot hit a cow while making an emergency landing in a bi-plane.

"I had to put the aircraft down straight away and spotted a likely field where I could see there were cows. They were all on my right hand side except one on my left. I narrowly missed a fence and touched down and then the silly cow ran across to join her mates on the other side of the field," Wotton was quoted as saying in the Telegraph newspaper.

"I clipped her and she went rolling away but seemed unhurt and carried on grazing. The aircraft was very slightly damaged."

The man says that he might paint a cow on the side of his plane to commemorate the cow landing.

He had a camera on board and posted the video on youtube.

Poor cow. Being hit by a cow has got to be traumatic.

Christmas tree decorated with sex offenders

A police department in Ohio has decorated their Christmas tree with ornaments that include pictures of the areas eight sex offenders.

The top and bottom of the tree explain the decor, with ribbons reading: "North Baltimore sex offenders."

"I just wanted to raise awareness for the public," Baer said. "We have a lot of foot traffic that comes in and out of here. So I thought this would be a unique way to get their attention" about local sex offenders.

Now that sounds festive.

School mispells sign for spelling bee winner

A middle school student in North Carolina returned from his spelling bee to find a sign congratulating him, and immediately noticed it was misspelled.

Joe Smith said when his son, Michael, returned to Carmel Middle School Wednesday after his involvement in a spelling contest, he quickly noticed a pair of misspelled words on the school sign congratulating his efforts, The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer said.

Smith said the sign not only misspelled congratulations, but even offered an incorrect spelling of his son's first name. The misspelling of Michael was not reported and the congratulations error was tentatively blamed on scrunched signboard letters.

The student thought the misspellings were funny and the school blamed the misspellings on a student who had made the sign and corrected the problems.