Lidl Christmas dinner offer goes viral on Twitter
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Discount retailer Lidl faces a 200,000-euro ($260,000) Christmas dinner bill after an offer of chicken vol-au-vents and ice cream cake for the poor went viral. The supermarket launched a Twitter campaign in Belgium on Monday, saying it would hand out five four-course Christmas dinners to food banks for each tweet on a hash tag. Lidl had expected to hand out about 1,000 of the 20-euro dinner packs, consisting of tomato soup, vol-au-vents with chips, an ice-cream cake and chocolates, a spokesman for the German-based company's Belgium unit said on Wednesday. ...

Ariz. home: 'Ditto' to neighbor's Christmas lights

An Arizona woman who knew she couldn't compete head on with her neighbor's elaborate Christmas light display is attracting attention for her response.

LOL: Some students to major in social media
Philosophy majors may finally be off the hook. Some students are taking up a major that will be sure to confound parents who are shelling out thousands for their kids' college educations: Social media. OMG! Alas, this does not mean that everyone obsessed with their Facebook status updates is now eligible for an advanced degree. [...]

Toothy prehistoric lizard named Obamadon after smiling president

(Reuters) - Researchers have named a newly discovered, prehistoric lizard "Obamadon gracilis" in honour of the 44th president's toothy grin. The small, insect-eating lizard was first discovered in eastern Montana in 1974, but a recent re-examination showed the fossil had been wrongly classified as a Leptochamops denticulatus and was in fact a new species, researchers told Reuters on Tuesday. Obamadon gracilis was one of nine newly discovered species reported on Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. ...

Vatican: World not ending, despite Maya prediction
The Vatican's top astronomer has some assurances to offer: The world won't be ending in 10 days, despite predictions to the contrary.

Toronto woman wants her stylishly dressed monkey back

TORONTO (Reuters) - The owner of a monkey that became a media sensation after running around a Toronto department store parking lot in a stylish coat and a diaper wants her pet back, or at least assurances he is being well cared for. Yasmin Nakhuda, who was fined for breaking Toronto's prohibited animal bylaw, told CBC News that she was talking to a lawyer on whether she could regain custody of Darwin. But she said she would drop her fight if she knew he was receiving good care. "If the sanctuary is able to convince me ... ...

Man back in jail for driving 100 mph—to his wedding
An Indiana man just released from jail was sent back after being pulled over for speeding to his own nuptials, reports the Northwest Indiana Times. Timothy N. Thompson, 23, was sent to the Porter County jail, from where he said he had been released earlier the same day. In addition to speeding at an estimated [...]

YouTube's "Epic Chef" offers gluttony to the masses

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Bacon, whiskey and stilettos - this is not your mother's kitchen. This is "Epic Chef," YouTube's 20,000-calorie cooking spectacle that makes its debut on Friday. "The show is complete madness," producer Rob Czar told Reuters on a recent set visit in Los Angeles, where two scantily-clad women in heels hurled greasy bacon and corn dogs at each other during a taping. "There are no rules other than the usage of bacon and Jack Daniels," Czar said. "Pandemonium is encouraged. ...

Key ingredient in beer may help treat the common cold
Got a cold? Treat yourself to a cold one. A new study, reports Agence France-Presse, suggests that a chemical compound in beer can help the human body fight the virus behind the common cold. Of course, there are some important caveats. First, the study was conducted and published by Sapporo Breweries, a Japanese beer manufacturer, through its [...]

Did chimp from 1970s experiment die of a ‘broken heart’?
True story: As part of a scientific project, a chimp born in captivity in 1973 was raised by a family in New York City and learned to communicate through sign language. But the chimp couldn't fit in with humans and, when returned to life with other chimps, couldn't fit in as a primate either. Ultimately, after [...]

Packers fans ready to celebrate Aaron Rodgers Day
To most people, Wednesday will just be a quirky date: Dec. 12, 2012, or 12-12-12. But to Packers fans, the number 12 carries special meaning.

Monopoly comes to Lagos, Nigeria's biggest city

Nigeria's largest city of Lagos is no boardwalk, but now Monopoly is taking inspiration from the city's sprawling chaos.

Something new for Singapore's pampered pets - obituaries
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Grieving pet owners in Singapore, known for lavishing care in life on their animals, can soon share their feelings about furred family members after they pad off to the great beyond - via obituaries in the city-state's largest newspaper. From Sunday, The Straits Times pets section will let pet owners publish goodbye messages to their favourite non-human companions along with an accompanying photo. ...

Who's living past 100 in the U.S.? Mostly white women

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Women have long been known to live longer than men, but when it comes to hitting the century mark the difference is stark: just 2 out of 10 Americans who live to 100 or longer are male. Of the 53,364 Americans age 100 and older, more than 80 percent are women, a U.S. Census Bureau report released on Monday showed. The agency's findings, based on data collected from its 2010 census, also found those who make it past 100 are also more likely to be white city-dwellers in the Northeast and Midwest. ...

The healing power of maggot slime
Maggot slime and healing balm are not usually associated with each other. But ScienceNOW reports there's growing evidence that maggots not only help remove necrotic flesh, but also that their excretions can reduce inflammation by suppressing the immune system. Maggot therapy works essentially by having the larvae consume infected and necrotic flesh while largely ignoring [...]

9 Maine students suspended over pot-laced cookies
Marijuana-laced cookies taken by a student to a Maine high school on a day ethics and values were being discussed have sickened some classmates.

Apple Australia map glitch - Snakes! In the desert!

CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australian police have warned travellers off using Apple's troubled iPhone mapping software after several motorists became stuck in a snake-infested, desert corner of the country while using their phone for directions. Police in southeast Victoria state said they had been forced to rescue a number of motorists who had become stuck for up to 24 hours "without food or water" after being directed to the arid Murray Sunset National Park, instead of the tourist town of Mildura, 70 km (43 miles) away. ...

Scientists name extinct lizard after President Obama
The scientific community has come up with an unusual way of honoring President Barack Obama after his re-election--by naming an extinct lizard after him. "I was seriously thinking, if the election had gone the other way, I would have yanked it," Yale paleontologist Nicholas Longrich told the Boston Globe. "It might have seemed like we [...]

Russia's Hermitage Museum denounces blasphemy investigation

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The head of Russia's renowned Hermitage Museum accused Russian authorities on Monday of fostering "mob rule" in taking up complaints by Russian Orthodox Christians over a British exhibit they said injured religious feelings. The row coincides with a surge in religious, nationalist sentiment in Russia, with President Vladimir Putin moving closer to the Orthodox Church to consolidate his support after facing the biggest protests since he rose to power nearly 13 years ago. ...

Scientists create brain cells from human urine
A new scientific study claims that human urine can be converted into brain cells. And the surprising discovery may extend beyond practical applications, allowing a way to circumvent the controversial debate over stem cell research. The study, published online in Nature Methods and conducted by a team led by Chinese stem-cell biologist Duanqing Pei, found [...]

The Brontosaurus never existed: A tale from the Bone Wars
This may be old news to dinosaur history experts around the world, but many of us have continued to be fascinated by the Brontosaurus, which never actually existed. Still, as NPR reported Sunday, the story of how the Brontosaurus legend began is a fascinating tale that sheds light on the far-from-perfect origins of scientific discovery. [...]

Stylish, lost Ikea monkey held by Canadian authorities

TORONTO (Reuters) - A stylishly dressed five-month old monkey that caused a frenzy as it wandered around the parking lot of a Toronto-area Ikea store will be transferred to a sanctuary, officials said on Monday. Police were called to the furniture store on Sunday afternoon in Canada's most populous city after the monkey broke loose from its cage and began running around a parking area. One witness, Bronwin Page, said the animal, identified as a male Rhesus macaque, looked scared as it scurried between the ever growing crowd of people. ...

Dutchman launches life-sized replica of Noah's Ark
A full-scale replica of Noah's Ark has opened its doors to the public in the Netherlands.

Dash cam shows handcuffed burglary suspect steal police car (VIDEO)
Police in Texas are searching for a man they arrested for burglary who fled the scene in a stolen police car—a daring escape captured on video by a dash-mounted camera. Police in White Settlement, Texas, say Darren Porter was arrested early Friday, cuffed and then placed in the back of a squad car after allegedly [...]

Kid will turn 12 on 12/12/12 at 12:12
A boy celebrating his birthday on Wednesday will do so at the exact moment millions of symmetrically-inclined people will mark another unusual date-and-time alignment. Kiam Moriya, of Birmingham, Ala., was born in Bronxville, N.Y., on Dec. 12, 2000, at 12:12 p.m., meaning he will turn 12 at 12:12 on 12/12/12. "When I'm turning 12, it's [...]

Washington state bar owner tells pot smokers to light up
OLYMPIA, Washington (Reuters) - Thanks to a successful ballot initiative last month, Washington state residents can legally smoke marijuana in the privacy of their living rooms as of Thursday. When that gets old, bar owner Frank Schnarr suggests, area stoners have another option: grab a booth at Frankie's Sports Bar & Grill in Olympia and toke up there. Schnarr, 62, says he is not acting out of a love of cannabis - he says he hasn't smoked the stuff since he was a soldier stationed in Southeast Asia in the 1970s. Rather, he's looking for new sources of income. "I stay up at night," he said. ...