Stray Acting Child

"His day was going good until he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror wearing his new winter outfit!"

2009-01-06T10:05:57Z

Hardwired looks

(WebMD) - Spontaneous facial expressions
come naturally; they aren't learned by
watching other people.

2009-01-06T09:36:58Z

Serial surrogate mom: it's a career choice

STEVENAGE, England (UPI) - A British woman loves being pregnant so much she
has been almost permanently pregnant for more than a decade -- with other people's children. Surrogate mother Carole Horlock, 42, has delivered 12 babies in 13 years, including triplets in March. Britain's most prolific surrogate mother has been told she actually holds the world record, but she has never checked... Surrogates receive an average $25,000 to $30,000 for their services.

2009-01-06T08:56:46Z

January blues

(ABC News) - Forget the cliche holiday blues. Social workers, therapists and counselors say more people seek help for depression in January than in December. Going back to work, burst family illusions, self-reflection triggered by the new year and December's credit card statements can all be bummers, but experts say it's often the constellation of circumstances that can push people over the edge...

2009-01-06T07:43:10Z

Bride vitamin

WASHINGTON (UPI) - Before brides-to-be say "I do," they should be taking a
daily multivitamin with 400 micrograms of folic acid daily, U.S. researchers said...
This essential B-vitamin helps build and maintain healthy cells, which is especially critical for the developing fetus. "We know that nearly half of all pregnancies in the U.S. are unplanned and that the average woman is getting less than one-third of
the recommended amount of folic acid,"...

2009-01-06T06:00:40Z

Urban chicks

(UPI) - City dwellers across the United States are reported picking chickens as pets these days for fresher eggs, low-cost protein and pest control... cities generally limit residents to five or fewer hens,
with no roosters.

"We've got two mysteries going on: how this book will END, and where is my other SOCK!"

2009-01-05T10:09:11Z

Borrowing books

(UPI) - Librarians across the United States are struggling with a combination of higher demand in tough economic times and smaller budgets.

2009-01-05T09:51:07Z

Mom, it's me

ANAHEIM, CA (UPI) - A contractor working in Iraq stunned his mother on her 50th birthday by appearing live on a computer screen in a California mall store window she was passing. "That's my son!" Ginger Barnett squealed Saturday night when she saw 33-year-old Carl waving hello from the monitor inside Ben Bridge Jewelers at the Brea Mall. The son enlisted family and friends to set up the live Web cam and accompany his mother to the mall and past the store, where she had often admired the jewelry...

2009-01-05T08:38:47Z

It's raining shoes

MIAMI, FL (UPI) - State work crews used brooms to clean up thousands of shoes that fell off a truck and snarled traffic on a Miami highway. It took several hours to pick up the scores of shoes, boots and sandals that littered the Palmetto Freeway at daybreak Friday... the owners of the spilled cargo did not immediately come forward and county officials were already looking for a charity to give them to.

2009-01-05T07:49:40Z

Don't call it what it is

SHEFFIELD, England (UPI) - A new primary school has decided against calling itself
a "school" because the word is too negative... Watercliffe Meadow also will ban whistles, bells and locked doors... Not everyone is in favor of Watercliffe Meadow's decisions. "We all know that they are going to be going to a school whatever you
call it," said Marie Clair, spokeswoman for the Campaign for Plain English, a group
that opposes the use of "gobbledygook" in public life in Britain.

2009-01-05T06:39:57Z

Losing tons of weight

(AP) - Seven elephants at the San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park have lost a combined total of 11,314 pounds ever since zookeepers enforced a nutrition and exercise regiment for them... To get the elephants back in shape, zookeepers introduced a diet high in hay and stopped feeding them treats such as bread, corn and jelly beans.

"One goal for the New Year is a simple one: to finish the foaming drink without leaving any residue above the upper lip area!"

2009-01-02T10:00:30Z

Drink it

(UPI) - A hot drink -- as opposed to a cold drink -- may help reduce the symptoms of common colds and flu.

2009-01-02T09:31:22Z

Twins of two colors

LONDON (UPI) - A mixed-race couple in Britain for the second time find themselves parents of twin girls -- one born with light skin and one with dark skin. Miya was born with dark skin like her father, Dean Durrant, while Leah was born with white skin like her mother, Alison Spooner... Their twin daughters born seven years earlier also
have different skin tones -- Lauren with white skin and red hair and Hayleigh with black hair and dark skin... [WATCH THE VIDEO]

2009-01-02T08:34:55Z

The print generation

(UPI) - Many students increasingly are illiterate when it comes to cursive writing and choose instead to print their words... the digital age threatens to make penmanship skills like cursive writing extinct... Cursive increasingly is rejected by students who use computers, e-mail and text messaging to communicate.

2009-01-02T07:43:07Z

Prima donna piggy

BEIJING (Reuters) - A pig that survived 36 days buried in the rubble of May's massive Sichuan earthquake has been voted China's favorite animal in an online poll, but the attention has made Zhu Jianqiang fat, lazy and bad-tempered, state media reported. People come from all over to see the pig at its new home in a museum... "It's gotten fatter and lazier by the day," staff are quoted 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."

2009-01-02T06:21:14Z

Our bad

HAMILTON, OH (AP) - Firefighters are apologizing after mixing up street addresses during a training exercise... Deputy Fire Chief Greg Robbins directed firefighters to what he thought was a vacant, city-owned home to run training drills... Instead the crew broke down the door at the home of Mike and Cathy Grosse, causing $1,000 in damage... The fire department was paying to have the door replaced.