Happy Birthday, Snuppy!
No, Snuppy is not a term of endearment for this blogger's mother, but rather is the world's first and only cloned dog.

Snuppy — an Afghan hound — celebrated its first birthday on Monday.

Amid global fanfare last August, Snuppy, short for Seoul National University puppy, was unveiled by the South Korean team that produced the hound. Time magazine named Snuppy one of the most amazing inventions for 2005.

The birthday pooch is in good health and weighs about 64 lbs, university officials said. For his birthday, Snuppy enjoyed two of his favorite foods: ice cream and sausages (Haha! Snuppy Snausages! *sigh*).

Rice Krispies Rocket Science
Ever wonder why Rice Krispies (called Rice Bubbles in Australia) go snap, crackle and pop? No? Come on, we know we're not the only ones.

Whatever. The fact is we may never understand the full story behind the snap, crackle and pop, because — little surprise here — "finding money for experiments on cereal noises isn't easy," reports LiveScience.

"I have not seen anyone fund this," said food scientist Ted Labuza of the University of Minnesota. "It's not rocket science."

Indeed.

007's Next Hot Ride: a Fiat…Bulldozer
James Bond has chased the world's most dangerous villains in everything from cars to spaceships, but in his latest adventure, his vehicle of choice will be a bulldozer, reports Reuters.

In the opening scene of "Casino Royale," the 21st installment of the movie franchise, British uber-agent 007 will pursue his latest enemy in a four-wheel W190 bulldozer supplied by Fiat, the Italian industrial group.

It will be the first time that Fiat will have a vehicle costarring in a Bond movie.

Don't panic, though. The bulldozer won't be Bond's only mode of transportation: Ford Motor Co. will also be using the movie to promote the Aston Martin, which will be driven by Daniel Craig's new Bond, after the famed secret agent having been behind the wheel of a BMW 750 iL in previous adventures.

Speaking of Ford…

Ford Motor Multitasking: Laying Off 30,000 Employees, Launching Reality Show
As if the reality TV tipping point shouldn't have been reached years ago, now Ford Motor is planning its own television reality program in which the participants develop concept cars with Ford designers, Associated Press reported yesterday.

Ford, a sponsor of the brain-cell-decaying wildly popular "American Idol," showed a promotional video about the forthcoming program at a dealer's meeting Wednesday and is working on lining up a network, the Detroit News said in Thursday editions.

Phenomenal. Watching this tripe will give 30,000 former Ford employees something to do when they're jobless after the auto company completes its restructuring.

Brits, Americans Collaborate for Sake of Art…or Something
In other reality TV news, a British-made reality show in which American porn stars vie to make it as serious actors on the West End stage has been sold to a U.S. cable channel, reports UK's The Guardian.

Independent production company Zig Zag is now talking to potential British buyers for "My Bare Lady," which will follow the four female porn stars as they study at a London drama school and aim to land a role in a West End theatre production.

The three-part series of one-hour shows is slated to air on the Fox Reality channel in the latter half of '06.

Public Service Announcement (PSA):
There are at least five ways lightning can kill you: 1) directly from above; 2) indirectly by a person touching an object that's being struck by lightning; 3) from a "side-flash" from another person or object that's being struck directly; 4) through the ground from a nearby ground strike; or 5) from a "streamer" of lighting coming up from the Earth to meet lightning from above.

A direct bolt from the blue is probably the least common, say lightning researchers.

Now you know.

Passive-Aggressive Computers
New Scientist reader Andrew Hurblatt was understandably alarmed when his computer came up with an error message saying: Catastrophic failure.

An apocalyptic threat? A concerned warning?

He nervously clicked "OK" — and then — and then everything continued as normal.

Damn computers.

(via New Scientist, Issue April 29 (2nd to last item))

Blame It On the Toilet-Inhabiting Cockroaches the Size of Toyota Trucks.
A survey for Scott Tissue reports that New York City residents are most likely to experience a clogged toilet than those of any other U.S. city.

Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Los Angeles and Philadelphia follow, according to the survey commissioned by Scott's Clog Clinic.

The Seattle/Tacoma area in Washington state is tops for free-flowing plumbing, followed by Denver, Minneapolis/St. Paul, the Orlando, Fla., area and Baltimore.

Company officials released this critical information in time to honor the nation's plumbers on National Plumbers Day, which was Tuesday.

Earth Time & Direction: Muslim Prayers In Space
Malaysia's space agency is hunting for solutions to the problems it expects devout Muslims to face while in orbit, such as in which direction to pray.

One of the five pillars of Islam requires the faithful to pray five times a day, and to face the birthplace of Islam, Mecca, while doing so.

As being aboard spaceships could pose such difficulties for astronauts, a two-day meeting of scientists and religious experts was held to thrash out solutions.

Following Earth time and facing in the direction of Earth are the key elements to solving the problem.

Malaysia is preparing to pick its first astronaut.

Possible Best News Lede of the Week:

Lawyers for a woman who was spanked in front of her co-workers as part of what her employer said was a camaraderie-building exercise asked a jury Wednesday for at least $1.2 million for the humiliation she claimed to have suffered.

(via AP)

And finally…

Apple Flashback: 1984

In the fall season of 1984, Apple published a 16-page (with fold-out) advertising insert in Newsweek magazine. For many, this was the first "up-close" experience with a Macintosh, detailing the features of this new computer. In addition to the full-page scans of the brochure you'll find at Toast Radio, you'll also find page-detail images — screenshots, hardware and people…including:

Some particularly bright engineers.

Behold 1984's Mac Brains!


Cheers.