Pig Squeels for Wellies

First, check this out.

If you are too lazy to click a link, here's the synop: Six-week old piglet Cinders cleverly discovered a way to avoid a certain future in a skillet near you. Perhaps while watching a recent episode of Monk, Cinders plotted her "fear" of mud.

Cinder's owners fitted her with her very own pair of "Wellies," formerly adorning their child's key chain. I did expect for the Wellies to be a bit more fashion-forward like these:

Now, Cinder can walk in the mud sans fear of getting dirty.

Mr Keeble and wife Debbie, both 42, run a sausage company and keep about 200 pigs on their 1,000-acre farm.

But the father-of-four said there was no chance that Cinders would be slaughtered.

"She's more of a pet really now and she's going to live a very long and happy life," he said.

With a name like "Cinders" is their doubt that the piglet was destined for the stove?

I'm sure they tell ALL the piglets that they will live very long and happy lives, all the way to the slaughterhouse.

Cinders isn't the first pig thirsty for fame. She comes at the curly-tailed end of a long line of porcine princesses.

There was , also a compulsive worrier.

Then came our literary friend Wilbur in E.B. White's .

All leading up to , the mistaken-identity pig who can impress in the sticks as well in the city.

I fully expect Cinders to extend her brand beyond the fenced confines of North Yorks. Expect her own line of Wellies, perhaps with sausages or lil piglets flying. I also heard a movie deal was in the works, after a guest spot on next week's episode of Monk.

China

China gets all the perks. First it was announced that they would play host for this year's Olympics. If that weren't enough they also got the total solar eclipse.

You can go here to check it out in case you missed it. They have a few videos recapping the amazing event. Totality occurs a little after 51 minutes in the telescope-only video.

I will always be amazed by the cosmos. I do recall a solar eclipse when I was in elementary school that was truly amazing.

Patch Print Problems In Three Easy Steps

I'm a parasite.

A leech.

According to this article in the Maui Time Weekly I am part of the problem, not the solution. Ted Rall makes some interesting market-based points about how to remedy the tanking print industry. Among them, all newspapers should pull the plug on their online offerings.

Other suggestions included copyrighting every article and cease participation in wire services.

Other key points:

• "The New York Times or the big city daily has better news, but how much better?" said San Jose State University business professor Joel West. "If it's $20/month (or even $10 or merely requires a login) will readers bother? Most won't. As with other commodities, better loses to 'good enough.'"
• "A reader of The New York Times' print edition generates about 170 times as much revenue as someone who surfs NYTimes.com. (This is because print readers spend 47 minutes with the paper. Online browsers visit the paper's website a mere seven minutes)."

Be Gabriel Almeida

Attention journalists: You may recall introductory lectures from your journalism classes instructing you on a story's legs and newsyness. Well, Gabriel Almeida is getting the press all of our professors foreshadowed.

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - An 11-year-old boy is enjoying a flash of fame in Brazil after biting a pitbull that attacked him as he played in his uncle's back yard, local media reported on Thursday.

Gabriel Almeida, who lives on the outskirts of Belo Horizonte in the state of Minas Gerais, broke a canine tooth when he bit into the dog's neck to fend off an attack. Since then, he has been pampered in the studios of several TV stations, where he has been recounting his ordeal.

And what do we all know class? Dog bites man isn't a story, but Man bites dog certainly is.

"I grabbed him by the neck and bit," he told O Globo newspaper. "It's no big deal. It's better to lose a tooth than to lose your life.

"He was freed when bystanders pulled the dog off him and needed four stitches in his arm.

What's Wrong With 'Sex Fruit'?

From the AP wire/Yahoo! News:

WELLINGTON, New Zealand - A family court judge in New Zealand has had enough with parents giving their children bizarre names here, and did something about it.

Just ask Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii. He had her renamed.

I don't see many problems with Talula, perhaps the problem arose due to the 'does the hula' part. It sounds more like an instructional video than a name. Using verbs as middle names is inventive. At least we know the girl's parents took something from school. They can form simple sentences. Subject. Verb. Object.

The story continues saying the judge listed other odd names that were prohibited. I wonder if the recent celeb baby names were on the list. Among some of the nixed names were: Fish and Chips, Yeah Detroit, Keenan Got Lucy and Sex Fruit.

• Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin take note; naming your kids after food = not cool.
• Everyone knows Detroit sucks.
• I'll take a guess that Keenan and Lucy were the parents.
• Frankly, I see no problem with Sex Fruit. I was planning on attaching that moniker to my first born.

According to the story, allowed names include "Number 16 Bus Shelter" and "Violence."