Shear cheek of it
Meet Prickles the merino sheep that went missing in 2013 during the Tasmanian bushfires but returned seven years later.
In a story very much like Kiwi icon Shrek, who went bush
from Bendigo Station near Tarras, hiding in cave and avoiding muster for six years, Prickles and his hearty fleece returned.
Shrek met the then PM Helen Clark and his shearing was broadcast on national TV.
Prickles was on YouTube giving up only 13.6kg of shorn fleece — nowhere near Shrek's fleece which weighed 27kg.
Nice try Australia!
Strange but True Intellectual Property Disputes…
1. In 2018, Draion M. Burch, a gynecologist and the author of 20 Things You May Not Know About the Vagina, trademarked the name Dr Drai. No one in the world had a problem with that, apart from Andre Romelle Young, better known as rapper Dr Dre who tried to prevent the trademark, arguing that the public would be confused at the similarity of the names. The US trademark office, however, sided with the real doctor, quite reasonably arguing that the public would be unlikely to confuse a rapper with a gynecologist.
2. In 2006 Louis Vuitton sued Haute Diggity Dog for trademark, trade dress, and copyright infringement. Haute Diggity Dog, a designer and manufacturer of parody plush dog toys, provoked Louis Vuitton's wrath with its furry "Chewy Vuiton" dog chews. Louis Vuitton argued the toys were likely to cause confusion but the courts found that Chewy Vuiton was "a joking and amusing parody" and nothing more.
You see me Trollin'
Troll Cakes says it's a bakery/detective agency that can not only bake a delicious cake iced with an internet troll's insult, but can actually track down the troll's address and send the sweet treat anonymously - talk about getting the last word in! How satisfying would that be.
Slipping back into facetime
An aquarium in Japan is asking people to FaceTime with its lonely eels, who have become shy around people after two months without any visitors. The idea being to reduce stress when the aquarium starts opening again. They're not in the wild and most likely hatched in the aquarium so depend on humans.
Did you know...
1. The swimming-pool smell you think is chlorine isn't chlorine at all. It's a compound called trichloramine which forms when chlorine reacts with pee and sweat.
2. The working title for penicillin was 'mould juice'.
3. The atmosphere of Venus is so hot it would cook a pizza in seven seconds.