Cordite's stories

Mouse Burns Down House
Tue 10 Jan 2006 - 14:30

"A Fort Sumner, New Mexico, man says he caught a mouse inside his house and wanted to get rid of it. He had a pile of leaves burning outside, so he threw the mouse on it. The mouse caught fire and ran back into the house.

Eighty-one-year-old Luciano Mares talked about the event Saturday afternoon from a motel room. The blaze the mouse started destroyed the home and everything inside it." (AP)

Woman Weds Dolphin
Sun 1 Jan 2006 - 23:53

Till depth do us part?

"An unusual wedding ceremony was held in the southern resort town of Eilat on Wednesday, as Sharon Tendler, a 41-years-old Jewish millionaire from London married her beloved Cindy, a 35-years-old dolphin, Israel's leading newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported Thursday."

Who Is The Fufanu?
Thu 18 Dec 2003 - 19:22

The Fund For Animals has included on their website a Suess-esque mini-musical titled There's a Fufanu in My Collar Too! which:

"... tells the story of Penny, a young woman who has just purchased a fur-trimmed coat and handbag, only to have a creature called the Fufanu emerge from her collar. The Fufanu takes Penny to the Animangle Fur Ranch, Inc., where caged animals sing about the grotesque cruelty involved in making fur trim."

A delightfully light-hearted holiday romp, the film has increased sales of Fufanu fur dramatically.

Russian Runs by Leaps and Bounds
Sat 11 Oct 2003 - 05:11

Roman Kunikov, a Russian airplane designer, has engineered a pair of boots which can propel a human at speeds of up to twenty-five miles per hour - faster than an Olympic sprinter.

Powered by a pair of gasoline-fired piston engines, the simple device drives the wearer foward with each step, is adjustable for different user weights, and has a run time of about 25 minutes.

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Birds, Animals, Married in Name of Peace
Tue 30 Sep 2003 - 14:58

Hindu priests in Madras, India, ritually married pairs of birds and animals in an effort to promote world peace.

In addition to the 18 pairs of creatures married during the ceremony, prayers were offered to elephants, horses, and cows in hopes to reduce pollution and terrorism around the world.

Psychological Shift? It's Your Cat's Fault.
Tue 23 Sep 2003 - 12:22

A recent study conducted by the U.S., Britain, and Czech Republic has concluded that toxoplasma gondii - carried in felines - may be responsible for shifts in personality and behaviour in humans.

Czech scientist Jaroslav Flegr of Charles University in Prague has stated that the virus makes women more reckless and promiscuous, while increasing reclusiveness, jealously, and sloppiness in men. It apparantly also increases your risk of being in an auto accident (either while driving a car or being struck by one) by 2.6 times.

Such sweeping statements without much direct connection to the virus itself have left most scorning the study, and an alternate view can be read here.

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Victorian Taxidermy Collection to Hit Auction
Fri 19 Sep 2003 - 13:41

The Museum of Curiosities is auctioning off the works of Victorian taxidermist Walter Potter, which includes some 6,000 stuffed animals.

Potter's first work was his pet canary, which is now 160 years old and is included in the collection which ranges from large animals to exhibits of "kittens taking tea and bunnies learning their alphabet".

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And You Thought Navy Dolphins Were Bad?
Thu 11 Sep 2003 - 17:23

Fifteen people were injured and eight killed in the town of Chita, Columbia when a bomb strapped to a horse exploded.

The "horse bomb" went off in a crowded market area, and is believed to be the work of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), who have used donkeys and horses in past attacks.

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Prometea: World's First Cloned Horse
Thu 7 Aug 2003 - 00:11

The list of successfully cloned species was lengthened this week when Italy announced they had succeeded in cloning a horse.

Earlier this year the mule Idaho Gem was the first successful equine clone, but the Haflinger filly Prometea marks the first time a horse has been so reproduced. She is effectively a copy of her surrogate mother, the result of samplings from skin cells fused with an empty equine egg. As with Idaho Gem, over 300 attempts were made before a viable embryo was attained.

Simon Swats Italian Sausage Mascot
Tue 15 Jul 2003 - 09:05

Pittsburgh Pirates first baseman Randall Simon has been charged with misdemeanor battery for striking a woman dressed in an Italian sausage costume.

The incident took place during a mascot race of human sausages at a Milwaukee Brewers game. Simon struck the woman a two-handed blow from behind, causing her to fall forward and creating a sausage pile-up.

“It was very strange,” Pirates outfielder Reggie Sanders said.

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