Be careful about opening whale videos that supposedly show footage of the trainer attacked and killed at Sea World by the whale.  Apparently, hackers are using killer whale videos that are now spreading computer viruses,

The IT and security firm Sophos is warning computer uses to be ware of messages and Web sites that claim to show video or pictures of the death of killer whale trainer Dawn Brancheau.

Hackers have created Web pages stuffed with content that appears to be video footage of the trainer’s death, but the sites are actually designed to infect computers.

Our deepest sympathy to Ms. Brancheau’s family and friends and to her colleagues at Sea World.

Photo by Edu Fon via Flickr Creative Commons.

Several years ago, my husband’s best friend found true love.  His cat Ollie meant the world to him and he doted on that silly orange boy… the kitty had a small head and a gigantic body so I always smiled when I saw him.  The roommate - the bad bad bad wolf in this true story - left the front door open one day and Ollie escaped.

Our friend was devastated and grieved for days, weeks, months.  He looked everywhere for Ollie, but never located his missing feline friend.  One day though, the same bad roommate knocked on the bedroom door and said, “There’s someone out here who needs to see you!”

The roommate had walked to the dumpster to dispose of some trash and heard a meow.  He looked behind the dumpster and sitting just on the inside of a big drainage pipe was Ollie.  I believe that was about the happiest I’d ever seen our friend when he and Ollie were reunited. 

This is why it made me happy to learn that Jesse James of West Coast Choppers has been reunited with his dog Cinnabun.

She’s in good shape…maybe a few pounds thinner than when she left. But super happy to be home. We’re taking her to the vet to get her all checked out and chipped, and GPS’d, and live-tracked by Google Earth…the works. We don’t want to lose this little gal again!!!

That’s awesome!

H/T to Aunt B… thanks for the heads up.

A new business is taking off these days.  With many people believing that the Christian occurrence called “Rapture” is imminent, they worry about what will happen to their pets after they themselves disappear in the second coming of Christ.

Enter Eternal Earth-Bound Pets, a company that specializes in caring for the animals people leave behind. The challenge is finding the right people to care for the pets, according to Business Week,

This paradox poses a challenge for Centre. He must reassure the Rapture crowd that his pet rescuers are wicked enough to be left behind but good enough to take proper care of the abandoned pets. Rescuers must sign an affidavit to affirm their disbelief in God—and they must also clear a criminal background check.

While I think it’s a nice gesture to protect the pooches, my guess is that in this event people will have far greater things to worry about than those poor animals that remain Earth bound.

I always snort with laughter every time I see the monkey pulling the tail of the dog, but the last clip with the chimpanzee is pretty hilarious too!

My friend Newscoma writes that when you’re feeling down, it sometimes pays to look around and be grateful for what you have.  Some people have problems I wouldn’t want to shake a stick at.

They saved a puppy from the flames that went up 20 feet into the air in the house. I find that to be just wonderful, as I stood in the ice watching the firemen battle the flames despite the cold wet, the family apparently standing under umbrellas watching their home go up in flames with the harsh irony that the ice was coming down and could not save their home. Tongue and groove homes tend to go up fast the fire chief told me as we stood watching it burn.

Since she didn’t have a photo of the puppy, she gave us one of Mabel instead.

TheoGeo published this video on her site.  Her advice was to turn up the volume because it would drive your cat crazy. My cat, Kitty?  She opened one eye, looked at me, then fell back asleep.  But if I got the laser pointer out, it would be an entirely different story.

The laser pointer.

The otters are holding hands!  Love!

Although purportedly all over the web, I just now saw this!  Scientists have discovered pigmentation by studying the melanosome patterns in living birds.  Using these findings, they’ve accurately figured out the color of a 150-million-year-old species called Anchiornis huxleyi, about the size of a chicken.  According to the New York Times,

Anchiornis had a crown of reddish feathers surrounding dark gray ones, and its face was mottled with reddish and black spots. Its body was dark gray, but its limb feathers were white with black tips.

I can’t wait to see what amazing colors other dinosaurs might have!

My daughter and our neighbor’s horse.  Awww…