happy hens lay the tastiest eggs, apparently.

And the best babysitters are alpacas. I'm betting your kids would rather have an alpaca that the snarly teenager you usually get. They are supposedly fierce and loyal. This is news to me, and it is very cute, so I think it qualifies as Cute News!

:-) Happy happy happy

It's the 25th anniversary of the smiley face emoticon today. Can you believe it? It seems nearly impossible to me that I am that old, but I remember my Dad's trash 80 compy and the text based adventures we would play with much fondness. My favorite smiley lately is the shock and awe one that goes like this 0.o ... So send some smilies today to someone you want to visualize turning their head sideways to read them. Such power!

Who knew?

Who knew that guys who train dogs at a prison could be so cute? And brave? And immune to dog germs? Steve Tugwell, I salute you!
Auugh! I've been kissed by a dog! I have dog germs! Get some hot water! Get some disinfectant! Get some iodine!

Real live Mermaid

This is the best story I have heard for months. A woman who is a double amputee, was asked all the usual "why?" questions about her prosthetic legs by a curious 4 year old. With a sparkle in her eye, she told the child she was a mermaid! Spurred on by the idea, she contacted a special effects company to make her a real functional mermaid tail. Since she is an avid swimmer, it will even be useful in giving her some thrust as she swims. Brilliance!

As Shel Silverstein once pointed out, all the magic I've ever seen, I've had to make myself. Way to make some magic, Nadya!