Diamond in the rough

Want to see something that will make you cry, and then smile all day? Watch Paul sing.

Polynesia Strikes Again

Remember that old movie Dr. Doolittle, where his parrot, named Polynesia, teaches him how to talk with the animals?

"An autistic boy who could not speak has learned his first words with the help of his family's pet parrot.

Dylan Hargreaves, four, has severe learning difficulties and had never uttered a single word.

But after listening to macaw Barney, he can now say "Night, night", "Dad", "Mum", "Ta", "Hello" and "Bye", reports The Sun.

"Every time I gave the bird something to say, Dylan started trying to say the same thing. I think it's because the bird says things slower than me, which helps Dylan understand.

"Now when I put him to bed he says, 'Night, night, mum'. It means the world to me."

Attribution: Ananova

Interspecies Love

Dr. Peter Venkman: predicted dogs and cats living together, but who'd have thought?

Today we have:

• a dog raising kittens
• a cat raising puppies
• and my favorite, a cat raising chicks. Probably my favorite because of the video of her carrying the chicks back to their box. In her mouth.

Real American Idols

Fred Thompson, of Law and Order fame, and possible presidential candidate, has an article about why bad girls are so five minutes ago and Nice Girls are better.

He says:

"If you tune into the news, you’re going to end up hearing or reading at least the headlines of stories you’d probably rather not know about. Somehow, I know that Paris Hilton may have violated her parole. I’m not sure how it happened, but I even know a little about Britney Spears’s hairdo, divorce, and trip to rehab. These bits of cultural trivia, I really wish I hadn’t digested."

Right on, Fred. More about why Britney, Anna Nicole, and Paris are not worthy but Candace Parker is.

Acheiving Boyhood Dream

What was your first dream? Didja want to be an astronaut? A ballerina? My son currently wants to be a Jedi. When we were kids my brother loved that book Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel, and he wanted to *be* the Steam Shovel. We don't always get to achieve our dreams, but this guy does:

He gets to be a Space Ranger like he always dreamed. That's nice.