THE DAILY QUICKIE / THURSDAY (orangemane ed.)

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This is the DAILY QUICKIE.

PICTURES OF THE DAY



Futa, a lesser panda, is proving a hit at a zoo near Tokyo as it can stand on two legs like a human being for about 10 seconds, an unusual feat for the species, zoo officials said.



Hugo Casachahua, dressed as Darth Vader, one of the main characters in the Star Wars saga, reads a newspaper while waiting for the premiere of 'Star Wars: Episode III- Revenge of the Sith' in Lima, Peru Wednesday, May 18, 2005.



Hugo Casachahua, dressed as Darth Vader, one of the main characters in the Star Wars saga, looks through the window of a restaurant while waiting for the premiere of 'Star Wars: Episode III- Revenge of the Sith' in Lima, Peru Wednesday, May 18, 2005.

Russian Lake dissapears Overnight

MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian village was left baffled on Thursday after its lake disappeared overnight.

NTV television showed pictures of a giant muddy hole bathed in summer sun, while fishermen from the village of Bolotnikovo looked on disconsolately.

"It is very dangerous. If a person had been in this disaster, he would have had almost no chance of survival. The trees flew downwards, under the ground," said Dmitry Zaitsev, a local Emergencies Ministry official interviewed by the channel.

Officials in Nizhegorodskaya region, on the Volga river east of Moscow, said water in the lake might have been sucked down into an underground water-course or cave system, but some villagers had more sinister explanations.

"I am thinking, well, America has finally got to us," said one old woman, as she sat on the ground outside her house.

Quote of the Day

"Oh my goodness. The line is moving."

-Star Wars fan upon entering the theatre this morning

FAKE NEWS

Charles Barkley gains 35 pounds during commercial break

Former NBA star and current TNT basketball analyst Charles Barkley appeared to put on a good 35 or 40 pounds Sunday night during a commercial break at halftime of the Suns-Mavericks game.

“Charles went backstage during the commercial and really hit the spread hard,” said “NBA on TNT” host Ernie Johnson. “I didn’t witness it, but apparently he ate three roasted pigs, an entire chicken – feathers and all, four quarts of buttermilk, an chocolate cake, eight pizzas and, for some reason, an entire gallon of Crisco. And that was just in 60 seconds. I tried to nab a pretzel off him when he got back to the desk, but he bit me.”
Barkley often visibly gains weight between daily broadcasts, but rarely during an actual show. He claims estimates of a 35-pound gain during Sunday’s commercial break is an exaggeration.

“Twenty, 25 pounds tops,” said Barkley. “The extra weight people think they saw was because I stuffed some cheesecake and an entire wheel of cheese underneath my suit coat so I could pick at them during the show when I wasn’t on camera.”

Plastic Bracelet Sold to Raise Money for the Fight Against the Spread of Plastic Bracelets

An Austin, Texas-based non-profit organization founded last year to prevent the further spread of cause-based plastic bracelets, has announced it will begin selling a black plastic bracelet for $1 to raise money for its mission.

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