The strap demands a sacrifice.

A Japanese manufacturer, Rinkya Inc, has come up with a series of earthquake kits for your cat or dog. The kits come in three types, but all contain padded jackets and rain hats, boots to protect paws, and aromatherapy oil to soothe a pet that is freaking out because the earth has just violently shifted beneath them. Laurel Stavros, Vice President of Rinkya Inc. said, "Although it may seem odd to have a special kit for your pet, most are part of our families, so really this kit makes sense in that it helps to protect your precious dog or cat."

Being born without arms hasn't stopped Steve Valdez from living a normal life, but it has stopped him from being able to cash a check at Bank of America. Even though he had two forms of picture ID, the bank still wanted a thumbprint to cash his check. The teller acknowledged that a thumbprint would be impossible to get, saying "Obviously you can't give a thumbprint," but her manager refused to process the check unless they had one.

Hugh Pickens writes "With razor-sharp teeth piranha, native to the Amazon basin, the Orinoco and the rivers of the Guyanas, are generally considered to be the most ferocious freshwater fish in the world with a voracious appetite for meat, able to strip the flesh of large animals within minutes when traveling in a shoal. So when members of the British Environment Agency were conducting a sampling trip in the East Okement tributary of the River Torridge, they were amazed to see a large tail emerge from the undercut bank on the far side of the river. 'What we actually discovered was something we would not expect to find in our wildest dreams — we could hardly believe our eyes,' says Eddie Stevens. 'Our first thought was that a sea trout had become lodged in amongst the rocks and debris collected under the bank, but when it was removed from the river we were speechless to find it was a piranha.' Tests carried out on the dead piranha revealed it had been eating sweet corn, which proved it must have been kept as a pet. The Environment Agency said it believes the piranha was alive when it was put in the river, possibly because at 35 cm it had become too big for its tank. 'Whilst piranhas can't survive the colder climates of the UK, this latest find highlights a real issue — that releasing unwanted exotic pets or plants into rivers can have serious consequences for native wildlife,' says spokesman Paul Gainey. 'Rather than dumping things in the wild, we would urge people to seek advice about what to do with exotic species.'"

tomachi writes "An accountant in NZ has been awarded $17,000 NZD for unfair dismissal after her boss fired her without warning for using uppercase letters in a single email to co-workers. The email, which advises her team how to fill out staff claim forms, specifies a time and date highlighted in bold red, and a sentence written in capitals and highlighted in bold blue. It reads: 'To ensure your staff claim is processed and paid, please do follow the below checklist.' Her boss deemed the capital letters too confrontational for her co-workers to read after they woke up from naptime."

TheZid writes "A newly proposed bill would give Uncle Sam the power to disconnect private sector computers from the internet in the event of a 'cyber security emergency.' As usual, our government is trying to take away our privacy by citing security. What actually counts as a 'Cyber-Security Emergency?' Does the president now have the option of disconnecting people when they disagree with his policies? How about disconnecting bloggers that criticize his health care reform? What counts as an emergency? Can political opponents be deemed a cyber-security emergency?"

Hugh Pickens writes "BBC reports that a treasured piece at the Dutch national museum — a supposed moon rock from the first manned lunar landing given to former Prime Minister Willem Drees during a goodwill tour by the three Apollo-11 astronauts shortly after their moon mission in 1969 — has been revealed as nothing more than petrified wood, curators say. A jagged fist-size stone with reddish tints, it was mounted and placed above a plaque that said, 'With the compliments of the Ambassador of the United States of America... to commemorate the visit to The Netherlands of the Apollo-11 astronauts.' The plaque does not specify that the rock came from the moon's surface. Researchers from Amsterdam's Free University said they could see at a glance the rock was probably not from the moon. They followed the initial appraisal up with extensive testing. 'It's a nondescript, pretty-much-worthless stone,' wrote Geologist Frank Beunk in an article published by the museum. Beunk says the rock, which the museum at one point insured for more than half a million dollars, was worth no more than $70. The 'rock' had originally been been vetted through a phone call to NASA. As the US Embassy in the Hague said it was investigating the matter, the Rijksmuseum says it will keep the piece as a curiosity."

An anonymous reader writes "If you guessed San Bernardino County prisons as the ideal place to put drug vending machines, come claim your prize. From the article, 'Corrections departments are responsible for so many burdensome tasks that many of their everyday functions, like administering prescription drugs to inmates, are afterthoughts for the public. However, dispensing medication was so laborious and wasteful for the San Bernardino County (Calif.) Sheriff-Coroner Department that officials sought a way to streamline the process. The end product was essentially a vending machine that links to correctional facility databases and dispenses prescription medications.'"

Robadob writes "Police in south-west London have started to remove items from unlocked cars to protect motorists from thieves. From the article, 'Supt Jim Davis said no law was being breached but admitted: "Technically we are entering the vehicle." But a leading lawyer said police could face civil proceedings for trespass if any items taken by them were damaged.'"

An anonymous reader writes "Thanks to a computer glitch and bad diagnosis coding, the VA sent a letter to thousands of veterans telling them they have Lou Gehrig's Disease. Some were right, but many were mistakes. From the article, 'Recently, the VA determined ALS to be a service-connected disability and generated automatic letters to all veterans whose records included the code for the disease. However, since the coding contained both ALS and undiagnosed neurological disorders, some of those letters were erroneous.'"

wanted writes "If you look at Microsoft's Poland business solutions Web site, you will probably not notice anything odd about the main picture. However, when you compare it with the original English version, you can see that someone decided that showing black people in Poland is probably not going to be convincing to business. They just Photoshopped the head of a white guy in for the black one, in an amateurish way, leaving his hand unchanged. (Here's a mirror in case something should happen to the original.)" We noted a few months back that the city of Toronto had done something similar.

These are not the bobbies you are looking for.

Amiralul writes "A Romanian student, Andrei Gheorghe, put up a website that aggregates "real-time public twitter updates and selecting those that rhyme" making in this way the longest poem in the world, with approximately 4000 verses/day being added continuously." Saying that this is the world's longest poem is like saying the Oxford English Dictionary is the world's biggest choose your own adventure book.

56-year-old Scott Gibson, was unable to convince the police of Mount Carmel, Tenn. that he was in fact, special agent lead foot, deputy chief of the CIA. After receiving a speeding ticket, Gibson sent back a copy of the citation with a handwritten note, claiming he wasn't subject to local speed zones because he was the deputy chief of the CIA. The cops contacted the CIA, which confirmed that he wasn't and never had worked for the agency. The police thought the joke was so funny, they arrested him and charged him with criminal impersonation.

If there is an easier way to raise money for charity than walking on 18 miles of broken glass, 56-year-old Nigel Jardine hasn't heard of it. Nigel walked an octagonal course of broken glass for 27.5 hours, setting a new world record and raising money for the charity, Action for Children. The walk was held at the Bageecha restaurant in his home town. "I'm used to walking on broken glass but I suppose the customers at the restaurant weren't used to watching someone do it as they tucked into their meals," he said.

A Sydney nightclub owner knows there is nothing cuter than watching kids beg for Xanax after doing too much blow in the restroom, so he has opened up a disco for children. You have to be under 7 to get in to the Baby Loves Disco events. The young ones can get feather boas, organic apple juice and temporary tattoos under the watchful eye of babysitters, while their parents enjoy something a little more adult at the bar upstairs. Event co-host Tash Henry, a mother of two, said, "We really wanted to create the ultimate dance party for our kids."

A 58-year-old, North Queensland man didn't find the humor in the prank that left him stuck to a shopping center toilet seat. The man had to be taken to the hospital with the seat still attached after he found himself caught by a fast-acting adhesive that had been smeared on the toilet. Hospital staff were able to remove the seat with the help of some industrial strength solvents. Cairns City Council community safety committee chair Di Forsyth said, "I'm disgusted that a gentlemen has had to go through that because someone thinks it's funny — it's a sick joke. I think the community would be outraged and quite rightly so ... it's quite a dangerous prank." Police have a few leads in the case, but nothing that will stick.

I think it's obvious who wears the riding pants in this relationship.

An Australian TV station is in hot water after an on-air stunt caused a wave of complaints. The station ran a live hypnotherapy segment designed to help viewers lose weight. After clucking like a chicken for a full minute, authorities at The Australian Communications and Media Authority found the station guilty of a number of breaches of the commercial television code.

Barence writes "Following his blog last week about the homemade hard disk destroyer, Bustadrive, Mike Jennings was deluged with comments from readers, both on the blog and here on Slashdot. Most seemed to like the product, but also offered up far more innovative and madcap methods of hard disk destruction, with a wide range of implements used — household and otherwise. In this follow-up post, he rounds up the best of an imaginative bunch of hard disk destruction methods."