Ponca City writes "The Tri-City Herald reports that radioactive rabbit droppings were recently found near the old Hanford Nuclear Site in southeast Washington that produced nuclear materials for 40 years and is now being decontaminated. The Department of Health looks for contamination off-site to make sure there is no public hazard and a rabbit trapped at the 300 Area caught their attention because it was close enough to the site's boundaries to potentially come in contact with the public. Joe Franco, an assistant manager for the Department of Energy, said workers erected fences, removed potential food sources and even sprayed the scent of a predator around the perimeter to prevent any other rabbit contamination and the Department of Energy said only one of 18 rabbits surveyed were deemed contaminated. Researchers narrowed the area of possible contamination to the 327 Building used during the Cold War for testing highly radioactive materials, particularly fuel elements and cladding that were irradiated at Hanford reactors as part of plutonium production for the nation's nuclear weapons program. Because the number of contaminated droppings being discovered on-site has decreased, officials now believe it's possible that just one rabbit might have been contaminated and they now are finding old droppings from it."

Velcroman1 writes "On October 26, 2,000 Norwegians watched the sun set. The next time they'll see it rise? Sometime in February. Extended nighttime is an annual occurrence for the residents of Longyearbyen, Norway — Earth's northernmost town. Located at 78 degrees north latitude in the Arctic circle, Longyearbyen experiences a phenomenon called Polar Night, in which the town remains in perpetual darkness for four months each winter. To lighten up the seemingly endless night, Philips has started an experiment called 'Wake Up the Town.' And anyone who's complained about the brief daylight hours in winter will want to know how it works."

Irom Chanu Sharmila, dubbed the "Iron Lady of Manipur," has completed her tenth year on hunger strike to protest civilian killings in Manipur. From the article: "Now 38, she was arrested shortly after beginning her protest – on charges of attempted suicide – and was sent to a prison hospital where she began a daily routine of being force-fed vitamins and nutrients via a nasal drip. Ms Sharmila is frequently set free by local courts, but once outside she resumes her hunger strike and is rearrested." And you complain when you have to eat a late lunch.

In an attempt to promote good employee health, a Lithuanian transport company is paying thin drivers better salaries than their overweight co-workers. Over 100 drivers were weighed to determine their BMI. "We just wanted to promote a health lifestyle," said Vilius Lauzikas, director of Busturas, the transport company in question. The local union and donut loving drivers aren't fans of the new policy. "We cannot call it nothing other than a mockery. If they (the company) do not reconsider we will appeal to the courts," a union representative said.

GillBates0 writes "Indian Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh has blamed fans of Harry Potter for the demise of wild owls in the country as children seek to emulate the boy wizard by taking the birds as pets. 'Following Harry Potter, there seems to be a strange fascination even among the urban middle classes for presenting their children with owls,' Ramesh said Wednesday, according to comments reported by the BBC."

Republicans weren't the only ones to win big yesterday. Aliens in The Mile-High City can breathe easier thanks to voters rejecting a plan to officially track them. From the article: "The proposal defeated soundly Tuesday night would have established a commission to track extraterrestrials. It also would have allowed residents to post their observations on Denver's city Web page and report sightings." Let the anonymous probings begin!

morgan_greywolf writes "A British man died after poisoning himself with two spoonfuls of caffeine powder bought over the internet. Michael Lee Bedford, 23, from Mansfield, central England, was at a party in April when he swallowed caffeine powder that a friend bought online for £3.29 ($5.26), Nottingham Coroner's Court heard Thursday. He washed the powder down with an energy drink, and around 15 minutes later began sweating and vomiting blood. He later died at King's Mill Hospital in Nottinghamshire, central England, the Nottingham Post reported."

Lanxon writes "A German artist named Ralf Schmerberg has created an igloo out of fridges in a square in Hamburg, Germany, to try and draw attention to energy use and climate change. To make that point, alongside the construction is a giant electricity meter that displays how much electricity is being used by the 322 old fridges that comprise the structure."

Kids in Pennsylvania have an option for all the Smarties they collected this Halloween other than a trash can thanks to two dentists. Nalin and Arpan Patel will donate $1 to troops in Afghanistan and Iraq for every pound of candy they receive. From the article: "The dentists are accepting candy from November 1-5, and hope what is collected will cheer US troops overseas. 'Now during these hard times, the spirit of giving and helping is needed more than ever,' they said."

nonprofiteer writes "Mattel's holiday creation is Video Girl Barbie, which comes with a hidden camera installed in Barbie's torso. The lens is disguised as a necklace. The Barbie can hold up to 30 minutes of video, and then can be hooked up to a computer for uploading. Experts are worried about pedophiles taking advantage of posted Barbie footage. I'm worried about the havoc that little girls with hidden cameras are going to wreak."

Lanxon writes "A prototype for an electric vehicle — code named Urbee — is the first to have its entire body built with a 3D printer, reports Wired. Stratasys and Winnipeg engineering group Kor Ecologic have partnered to create the electric/liquid fuel hybrid, which can deliver more than 200 miles per gallon on the motorway and 100 miles per gallon in the city."

"It's normal for people to be naked, bound and blindfolded," and "don't touch a witch's book of spells or their ornamental daggers" are just a couple of the things one can learn from reading the new 300-page handbook on how to deal with members of the pagan community. The guide was created by The Metropolitan Police in an attempt to improve relations between officers and pagans, thereby decreasing the number of police turned into newts each year.

Collection agency Unicredit America is accused of staging a fake courtroom complete with fake judge in an attempt to convince visiting debtors to pay. Officials in Pennsylvania were so impressed that the Attorney General has invited victims to plead their case in front of a real judge. From the article: "The Attorney General's Office told Team 4 that Unicredit lured debtors to the building by sending employees who appeared to be sheriff's deputies to their homes, implying that they would be taken into custody if they failed to appear at the phony court hearings. 'It really galls me that someone would stoop that low,' Erie County Sheriff Robert Merski said. 'This certainly seems to be a scam, and it upsets me that they are trying to play on the integrity of this office, the office of sheriff. We've been here since the beginning of the United States.'"

UgLyPuNk writes "Typewriters that can type by themselves are one thing. Typewriters that can type by themselves and play Zork are totally different — the stuff that dreams are made of (at least the dreams of little girls who spent hours in front of a Commodore 64 telling the machine to GO NORTH and such)."

An anonymous reader writes "We always knew that Spock was wise and would probably make a pretty good judge, so perhaps it's a good thing to see the Texas Supreme Court citing Spock in a recent ruling, noting his wisdom in stating that 'the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.'"

ByOhTek writes "CNN reports that in July, rocker Ozzy Osbourne became one of few to submit his blood to have his full genome sequenced and analyzed. The results are in, and it turns out his genome reveals some Neanderthal lineage. What does Ozzie have to say about it? 'I was curious, given the swimming pools of booze I've guzzled over the years - not to mention all of the cocaine, morphine, sleeping pills, cough syrup, LSD, Rohypnol... there's really no plausible medical reason why I should still be alive. Maybe my DNA could say why,' he wrote."

itwbennett writes "British pizza chain Pizza Express is installing iPod docks and soundproof domes in booths of their new iPizzeria stores. 'The idea is that you can plug in your iPod and play whatever music you like without disturbing other diners,' says blogger Peter Smith. 'But I'm sure it'd work for talking about government secrets and other spy stuff, too.'"

bossanovalithium writes "It's what every mountaineer wants when they reach the summit of Mount Everest: a 3G high-speed communication. Those who have trekked to the top will soon able to call their mates, go on Facebook or Twitter, and boast that they got there thanks to TeliaSonera and its subsidiary in Nepal, Ncell, which have brought 3G to the Mount Everest area. Climbers who reached Everest's 8,848-meter-high peak previously depended on expensive and erratic satellite phone coverage and a voice-only network set up by China Mobile in 2007 on the Chinese side of the mountain."

Many of you have submitted a story about Irish filmmaker George Clarke, who claims to have found a person using a cellphone in the "unused footage" section of the DVD The Circus, a Charlie Chaplin movie filmed in 1928. To me the bigger mystery is how someone who appears to be the offspring of Ram-Man and The Penguin got into a movie in the first place, especially if they were talking to a little metal box on set. Watch the video and decide for yourself.

A recent survey of 750 Australian schools has revealed that on average children have grown too large for their chairs and desks. From the article: "The Education Department said schools were running healthy eating programs. 'The department takes the issue of childhood obesity seriously and works with a number of agencies to address the issue,' a spokesman said. 'We have a number of initiatives to support school communities as well as promote healthy eating.' He said parents needed to enforce the message about healthy eating and a healthy lifestyle at home."