Stray Acting Child

"Now that I've learned to walk two steps without falling, go ahead and sign me up for dance classes!"

Exercise everyone

(WebMD) - Children and adolescents should
get at least one hour of exercise every day,
and adults should get at least two and one-half hours of physical activity per week, according
to new federal guidelines.

Posted on November 20, 2008 5:03 AM | Permalink

Quickie kisses

LONDON (UPI) - A 24-year-old British woman has set a world record by kissing 42 men within a 30-second time limit. Ruth Reynolds performed the feat, which topped the previous record of 36 kisses inside of a minute, with representatives of the Guinness Book of Records on hand... "It was actually a lot of fun. I kissed more men in a minute than in my whole life to date!"

Posted on November 20, 2008 4:30 AM | Permalink

Skin city

SEATTLE, WA (UPI) - The Seattle Parks and Recreation board has decided the city is large enough and diverse enough to include those who like to bare it all in public. Parks commissioners have dropped an effort to have those who go nude in the parks charged with criminal trespass...

Posted on November 20, 2008 3:17 AM | Permalink

**Help wanted: witches only**

STOCKHOLM (UPI) - A help-wanted ad for 20 witches isn't conjuring up controversy, just jobs... Swedish company Haxriket i Norden is advertising its witch hunt to place five witches each of its in four locations... Among the required skills: "contact the other side, runes, tarots, crystals, herbs, rituals, exorcism, meditation, personal coaching and more,"... The jobs opened up after an internal shake-up in which
several Haxriket witches were cast out for violating telemarketing ethics code.

Posted on November 20, 2008 2:41 AM | Permalink

No smoking pajama zones

(UPI) - Travelers across the United States have more smokeless lodging choices as more rentals go smoke-free or ban indoor smoking... Twenty-three states have laws specifying the minimum number of non-smoking rooms
in hotels and 534 cities and counties restrict smoking in hotels within their jurisdictions...

Posted on November 20, 2008 1:43 AM | Permalink

"He claims he suffers from INSOMNIA, saying that's why he usually plays video games during afternoon naptimes!"

Video gamer

(New Scientist) - Does playing computer games boost your brainpower? Not necessarily, seems to be the answer.

Posted on November 19, 2008 5:04 AM | Permalink

Profanity project

SAN FRANCISCO (UPI) - School officials say they are proud of the profanity-laden hip-hop album a number of students created... Principals Center Collaborative school principal Kevin Kerr said while the album created by students at his school for youth offenders will likely spark controversy, the students' efforts were, nonetheless, "almost heroic,"... the album was created by 12 students who had brushes with
the law and took several months and $50,000 in school funds to complete.

Posted on November 19, 2008 4:36 AM | Permalink

Waiting room toys

(WebMD) - Bring your child's toys with you when visiting the pediatrician. That's the advice of University of Virginia germ hunters who found evidence of cold viruses on one in five toys tested in waiting rooms. The commercially available germ-killing wipes that are commonly used to clean the toys are "only modestly effective,"...

Posted on November 19, 2008 3:08 AM | Permalink

A century without sex

PERRANPORTH, England (UPI) - Clara Meadmore, who claims to be the oldest virgin in Britain, has turned 105...Meadmore said that in her youth women only had sex with their husbands, and she rejected all the men who asked her to marry them... "I made my mind up at 12 never to marry and I've not gone back on that," she said. "I've always been too busy doing other things..."

Posted on November 19, 2008 2:28 AM | Permalink

Diabetic discovery

CHAPEL HILL, NC (UPI) - University of North Carolina researchers say they have transformed cells from human skin into cells that produce insulin -- the hormone used to treat diabetes... the breakthrough may lead to new treatments or even a cure for the millions of people affected by the disease.

Posted on November 19, 2008 1:58 AM | Permalink

"I've scooped all of the pudding into my mouth, yet strangely I'm still hungry!"

Chocolate walk

(WebMD) - Taking a brisk walk can cut down the urge to eat chocolate -- and may help curb cravings that can derail weight loss efforts.

Posted on November 18, 2008 5:09 AM | Permalink

Virtual affair, real divorce

LONDON (AP) - A virtual affair is ending a real-life marriage... Amy Taylor filed for divorce when she discovered her husband Dave cheating in Second Life — an online community where players adopt personas called avatars, mingle with others and teleport themselves into a series of artificial worlds... Their marriage started to fall apart after Taylor allegedly caught her husband's avatar having cyber sex with a virtual prostitute...

Posted on November 18, 2008 4:16 AM | Permalink

Paying for pounds

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea plans to help obese children pay for health club membership and other activities that can help them lose weight... Under the government plan, elementary school students whose body mass index indicates obesity will be able to receive
up to 40,000 won ($33.58) a month to help
them bring their weight down.

Posted on November 18, 2008 3:10 AM | Permalink

Little house label

HELSINKI (Reuters) - Finland has rated the DVD release of the much-loved children's television series "Little House on the Prairie" suitable for adult viewing only. To save money, Universal Pictures decided not to submit the series to state inspection... Finnish authorities charge 2 euros ($2.57) per minute for assessing the correct age limit on films and television series. Distributors who forego this can only sell their shows with a sticker saying "Banned for under-18s."

Posted on November 18, 2008 2:52 AM | Permalink

Count them

(UPI) - Researchers have confirmed the accuracy and reliability of SpermCheck Vasectomy, an at-home test for detecting low concentrations of sperm... "SpermCheck Vasectomy is similar in size and function to a women's home pregnancy test. It's designed to help couples monitor and confirm that post-vasectomy sperm concentrations have reached infertile levels and avoid any surprises..."

Posted on November 18, 2008 1:14 AM | Permalink

"He had already decided how to make his concert performances uniquely memorable: always perform in his underwear!"

Musical brain

(UPI) - Children who play a musical instrument for at least three years outperform children with no music training on verbal ability...

Posted on November 17, 2008 5:07 AM | Permalink

**First time ever: an ovary transplant and a baby**

LONDON, England (UPI) - A baby girl was born in London to a 38-year-old woman who received an ovary from her identical twin sister... it was the world's first full ovary transplant. Dr. Sherman Silber, a U.S physician who conducted the transplant, said the child was healthy, weighing 7 pounds 15 ounces.

Posted on November 17, 2008 4:05 AM | Permalink

Red kettle plastic

COLORADO SPRINGS, CO (AP) - The Salvation Army is experimenting with a plastic alternative for folks who don't have cash to throw in a holiday red kettle. This season, five area bell-ringers will be the first to accept debit and credit cards along with spare change and bills. Salvation Army officials say the kettle tradition needs to be tweaked as consumers increasingly carry only plastic.

Posted on November 17, 2008 3:02 AM | Permalink

Touching what and who

TORONTO (UPI) - A survey of Canadian adults who own mobile communications devices found many handled them more in a day than they touched their partners. The survey on handheld usage of 1,042 adults found 45 percent of men saying their hands spent more time on the devices than they did on their partners, compared
with 28 percent of women... 36 percent of men said the handheld phones and texting devices were at their bedside every night, compared with 24 percent of women...

Posted on November 17, 2008 2:29 AM | Permalink

Tortoise trip

CUPERTINO, CA (UPI) - A family said their
150-year-old pet tortoise showed up in their
front yard six weeks after he mysteriously disappeared... Penny and Chuck Carle said
their three dogs -- Amigo, Dakota and Barney -- were equally happy to have Butch back and gave him a thorough tongue-kissing before he went down for his nap.

Posted on November 17, 2008 1:34 AM | Permalink

"The first time you experience High-Def TV, you are amazed by the picture purity!"

Simultaneously

(Reuters) - Nearly a third of all U.S. household Internet activity takes place while the user watches television, suggesting new and
old media often share rather
than compete for attention...

Posted on November 7, 2008 5:08 AM | Permalink

Postpone the baby

(WebMD) - Maternity wards may get a bit quieter in about nine months. That's because economic recessions and babies apparently don't mix. It's been true for the last four recessions, and experts are predicting a similar downturn now... At times like this, demographers say, Americans postpone starting a family and think twice about adding a baby to a family that is already struggling.

Posted on November 7, 2008 4:13 AM | Permalink

Airport bird dog

FORT MYERS, FL (AP) - Southwest Florida International Airport has unleashed its newest tool for keeping birds and aircraft apart. She's Sky, a 1-year-old border collie less than two months into her job of shooing birds off the airfield...
Big birds or flocks of birds can disable wing tips, dent the fuselage, foul the motor or break windshields... the airport
is among several airports nationwide using such dogs...

Posted on November 7, 2008 3:47 AM | Permalink

Texting nudity: trendy?

(UPI) - Teenagers who post nude photos of themselves on the Internet or send them out in e-mails do not realize how public they can become... "They think they're going to get attention -- that it makes them stars of their own reality show" ... There can be legal consequences for sending nude pictures. An Ohio, teenager has been charged as a juvenile with sending pornography -- pictures of herself -- via her cell phone, and recipients who forwarded the pictures may also face charges.

Posted on November 7, 2008 2:11 AM | Permalink

Cheerful gift

(UPI) - The signature gift in the 2008 Neiman Marcus Christmas Book is aimed at football fans with well-heeled friends -- a party with the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders. For $530,000, the giftee gets an end-of-season celebration in one of the end zones at Texas Stadium... This year's Christmas Book features no items costing less than $100.

Posted on November 7, 2008 1:47 AM | Permalink