Rent-A-Puppy

Most college students can't have pets, so when the Student Affiliates of the American Chemical Society at Lyon College came up with the great idea of teaming up with the Humane Society of Independence County to hold the first ever Rent-A-Puppy fundraiser.

They raised $405. Half went to the humane society and half to the SAACS. The going rate - 30 minutes of playtime for $10, or 15 minutes for $5. Even better, two of the puppies found permanent homes that day - a win-win situation for sure.

Jingle Bells the Elephant Way

This Christmas, three Asian elephants are set to help spread the Christmas cheer by performing "Jingle Bells" for crowds in Japan. Christmas + elephants = the biggest cute news this holiday season

Love on the 5 Train

So you're on the subway and you see "her" - the heavens part, angels sing and you know you have found the girl of your dreams. The problem is, you loose her in the crowd - knowing that in a city of 8 million people you'll probably never see her again. That is unless you're a creative web developer like Patrick Moberg. When he lost the girl of his dreams on the subway, he drew her picture and created a website nygirlofmydreams.com to find her.

And it worked. In a matter of days he knew that the girl with a flower in her hair was Camille Hayton, a 22 year old intern from Melbourne, Australia. She and Mr. Moberg are now in touch, but they will pursue any relationship without a webfull of onlookers. Posted on the website they say:

"In our best interest, there will be no more updates to this website,"

"Unlike all the romantic comedies and bad pop songs, you'll have to make up your own ending for this."

Who knows, perhaps next time we'll see them hand in hand on the 5 Train, pushing a pram.

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!