It's been almost two years, and when the mission started, the scientists didn't even think it would make it, but Mars rover Opportunity has made it to Victoria Crater. It was a 9.2 kilometer (5.7 mile) journey to make it to the crater edge, and took about 21 months. Not bad for a little robot not expected to "live" more than 90 days!

Victoria Crater was plotted as the destination so that scientists could hopefully explore the geographical formations in this deep and wide crater, and continue their search for evidence of water. Dr. Steve Squyres of Cornell University, principal investigator for NASA's rovers says, "This is a geologist's dream come true."

Cindy Oda, a Mars rover mission manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, says, "We're so proud of Opportunity, the rover that 'takes a lickin' but keeps on tickin'." Go Opportunity!!

The Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas is home to a publicly-operated diamond site. Anything you find there, you can keep. Ask Melissa Lacey of Knoxville, Tennessee. She was just out picking up "pretty rocks" last week until one of the park staff identified it... a 1.30-carat diamond! And her husband said she wouldn't find anything.....

According to an Aug. 31 Reuters story, burger giant McDonalds has given in to demands of the British Hedgehog Preservation Society to reduce the size of the opening in its McFlurry container. (For those out-of-touch citizens who don't frequent McDonalds, a McFlurry is an ice cream treat with candy mixed in.)

It seems that some British consumers have been tossing their McFlurry containers on the side of the road, where innocent hedgehogs have been putting their heads in to get a taste of the sweet treat. The container opening is just wide enough for them to get in, but then they get trapped and eventually die of starvation (apparently when the McFlurry remnants run out).

So -- being the animal-lovers they are -- the folks at McDonalds have reduced the size of the opening on top of the McFlurry container, keeping hedgehogs from sticking their heads in and getting caught. Except for really small hedgehogs, of course.

"This is excellent, it is long overdue news," said Fay Vass, chief executive of the British Hedgehog Preservation Society.

It will be even better news when they make the container opening small enough that I can't get in.

"What is up with the bunnies?" L.B. Clark wrote in a letter to the editor of the St. Albans Messenger in Vermont, US... What's up, indeed!

"They’re all over the place,” says Mike Juaire of the St. Albans City Police... "I've heard that they’re in Essex, South Burlington, and they’re in my development in Swanton, but I’ve asked around and no one seems to know what they are..." The only commonality is that they are all absolutely identical - as if they were painted using a stencil... Beyond that, they have appeared everywhere from housing communities to farming roads and while some look fairly old, others look same-day fresh! And no one knows why...

And with at least nine sightings, the St. Albans Messenger is on the case! They've asked anyone who has a bunny sighting to report it to them on their web site... Plus, they're mapping the sightings using Google Maps so everyone can see where they are...

So far, no one has been offered a red or blue pill, and neither has anyone seen any cheshire cats, but it is surely only a matter of time...

It all started when a Canadian policeman near Cornwall, Ontario, pulled over a car going 161 km/h in a 100 km/h zone (100 mph in a 60 mph zone)... The driver turned out to be from Switzerland... That wasn't the odd part... The odd part was the reason he was speeding: there were no goats!!! The policeman wrote in his notes that "a motorist from Switzerland, used to driving around hills and mountains, takes advantage of the ability to go faster without risking hitting a goat..."

Joel Doiron, a Canadian Police spokesman, agreed the likelihood of hitting a goat was quite low - he's never seen one on the highway in over 20 years of police service... "I've never been to Switzerland, but I guess there must be a lot of goats there," he said...

Betty Horton of South Salt Lake, Utah (U.S.) had been out grocery shopping... As she was loading the groceries into her car, she noticed her purse was gone... Then she saw the man running away with it under his arm!

So she chased him! She caught up with him in a housing development as he stood ransacking her purse... So she threatened to shoot his ear off if he did not return it!

At which point the man returned the purse and apologized, saying he was broke... That was a too much for Betty, "I said, 'Why didn't you just ask me for some change? I would have helped you. I would have gladly given it to you...'" And she did, giving him $3 and telling him to "get the heck out of here..."

Now the kicker... Betty Horton is 75 years old! And doesn't even own a gun! "Good thing I had my running shoes on," Horton said... "Seventy-five years old and I can still take care of myself..."

Usually, if an airline loses something, it's your luggage... You get to where you're going, but your bags get an extended trip to places unknown... In this case, Air Malta did the reverse!

Maria Ilieva, 17, was flying home on flight flight KM 784 from Malta to Sofia, Bulgaria... Since this was a night flight, and she was tired, she took a nap... Apparently a really good nap, because she slept right through the arrival in Sofia... And the crew didn't notice that she did not leave the plane! In fact, Maria didn't know anything was wrong until she woke up as the plane landed back in Malta!!!

Her family noticed something was wrong when her luggage showed up but she didn't... "Air Malta officials said the airplane was not a place for sleeping... But I have not seen any signs saying 'No sleeping', I have only seen signs saying 'No smoking'," the girl's mother, Nadezhda Vulova, said...

Unfortunately, where lost luggage gets a free trip back to it's owner, Maria had to pay another Lm 85 (about $256 US) for another ticket on another flight 4 days later!