Rabbit Thought of the Day

DUBLIN (Reuters) - A mountain goat was crowned king of Ireland on Sunday at an ancient festival. The Puck Fair, which dates back centuries, is an annual event marked by drinking and music in the town of Killorglin in southern Ireland.

At the centre of the festivities is a male goat, who is caught in the surrounding mountains, and paraded through the town with much fanfare before reigning as king for three days.

"Deep down it satisfies the Irish humour," Declan Mangan, chairman of the fair's organising committee, told Reuters. "The mere fact that it happens annually is something great."

The origins of the fair remain unclear, but it always falls on August 10-12.

One theory suggests mountain goats alerted residents of the town to an impending attack by English leader Oliver Cromwell's forces in the 17th century. Another points to pre-Christian pagan links. At least 100,000 visitors are expected to attend the celebration this year, which also features horse and cattle shows.

"King Puck" himself will enjoy stately care and regular feeding before being released back into the wild.

"He will have regal duties for three days and after that he'll be just another goat," said Mangan.

MADRID (Reuters) - A one euro coin has turned up in Spain bearing the face of cartoon couch potato Homer Simpson instead of that of the country's king, a sweetshop owner told Reuters on Friday.

Jose Martinez was counting the cash in his till in the city of Aviles, northern Spain, when he came across the coin where Homer's bald head, big eyes and big nose had replaced the serious features of King Juan Carlos.

"The coin must have been done by a professional, the work is impressive," he told Reuters.

The comical carver had not taken his tools to the other side of the coin displaying the map of Europe. So far, no other coins of the hapless, beer-swilling oaf have been found in circulation.

"I've been offered 20 euros for it," said Martinez.

Double click on the picture to see a larger size

Scientists in the US say they are a step closer to developing materials that could render people invisible. Researchers at the University of California in Berkeley have developed a material that can bend light around 3D objects making them "disappear".

The materials do not occur naturally but have been created on a nano scale, measured in billionths of a metre. The team says the principles could one day be scaled up to make invisibility cloaks large enough to hide people.

Stealth operations The findings, by scientists led by Xiang Zhang, were published in the journals Nature and Science.

The new system works like water flowing around a rock, the researchers said.

Because light is not absorbed or reflected by the object, a person only sees the light from behind it - rendering the object invisible.

The new material produces has "negative refractive" properties. It has a multi-layered "fishnet" structure which is transparent over a wide range of light wavelengths.

The research, funded by the US government, could one day be used in military stealth operations - with tanks made to disappear from the enemies' sight.

Sir Cliff Richard has launched a campaign to make chart history by returning to the number one spot. The veteran star has had chart-topping hits in five decades, from the 1950s to the 1990s, and now wants six in a row. A new song, ‘Thank You For A Lifetime’, is being released next month to mark the 50th anniversary of his first hit.

Please can’t he just retire and leave us in peace, he’s had his day now it’s time for someone else to take the mantle. It time for him to leave stage gracefully he has done well and made millions of people happy with his music (the majority of them old women, sorry not being sexist).

Well here we are once again, Monday morning and the start of a new working week. I already have a full ‘To Do List’ which is great, although most people say they would rather do nothing in reality that’s not he case, its ok have a quiet time with bugger all to do, but the time drags and it can really piss you off after a while.

Still I only have two more weeks and it will be holiday time, it can’t come fast enough for me, a full two weeks away from the office ‘heaven’.

We are doing well in this Olympic we have won yet gold medal and once again it our women who are leading the way. This time Rebecca Adlington has won the gold medal in the 400m freestyle.

In about an hour it will be the turn of our youngest competitor when 14 year old Tom Daley goes in the 10m synchronised diving, I was listening to this young guy on the TV yesterday and he just extrudes confidence that belies his young age, he does look very young but listening to him you would never believe he was only 14. It seems the world has also taken him heart, I hope he does really well.