Hamster on a Plane
An unlikely animal has struck fear in Austria. A bear? A shark? Nope. A hamster. To most people, hamsters are cute, furry and fun pets. But not to one airline pilot bound for Austria.

It seems a passenger had smuggled her hamster onto the plane. Then, the furry critter escaped. When notified of the lost pet, the pilot made an emergency landing in Austria, passengers were evacuated, and the plane was searched.

Officials say the seemingly harmless hamster was a problem because he could gnaw through wiring. In fact, the hamster is such a danger to the electronics on the plane that the airline has grounded that jetliner until they can find the hamster or determine that no damage was done.

Who would have thought facing a hamster could be so scary—unless you're a tiny food pellet.

That's Not a Hot Wheel!
All 16-year-olds dream of owning their first car. But in 13 years, Jack Neal's dream will be to own his second car.

That's right, 3-year-old Jack has already bought his own car—by accident. It all started one afternoon when Jack's mom was online using eBay. She thought she logged off of eBay but car-lover Jack jumped up on the desk chair, found a car picture to look at—a pink Nissan—and somehow hit the "buy it now" option.

Jack's parents remained clueless about the purchase until they received an e-mail about picking up their brand new car. Luckily, the car dealer saw the humor in the incident and is not actually going to hold Jack to his purchase. That's a good thing because Jack doesn't have an after-school job—mainly because he doesn't go to school yet.

The Dirt on Henry's Gold Dig
Henry Mora of California was using a gold detector in his front yard when it went off. Henry excitedly began to dig.

But after three of four feet of digging, there were only tiny traces of gold dust. Still, his gold detector indicated he was close. So he dug more. And more. By the time neighbors called authorities, Henry had hired two workers to help him and the hole was 60 feet deep. But he'd found no gold.

Henry admits he got a little carried away, but insists there's gold in his yard. But either his detector needs new batteries, or he accidentally grabbed his dirt detector that day—which apparently works just fine.

Will Paint for Fish
Some artists paint for money. Others do it for fun or self-expression. But 11-year-old Maggie paints for dead fish.

Oh, you should know: Maggie is a sea lion. Her keeper at the Pittsburgh Zoo has been training her to paint for more than a year. It took Maggie three months to learn how to hold a brush in her mouth. But now she paints one stroke for every fish her trainer gives her.

That seems like a good way to motivate an art class. Instead of grading, maybe your teachers could give you a cookie for every brushstroke. And you'll get more done than Maggie. After all, since you don't have to paint with your mouth, you wouldn't have to stop to eat.

Read more from 'Tabloid News'

				Try an Issue of Ignite Your Faith Free! Name Street Address City/State/Zip E-mail Address No credit card required. Please allow 4-6 weeks for delivery. Offer valid in U.S. only. Click here for International orders. If you decide you want to keep Ignite Your Faith coming, honor your invoice for just $19.95 and receive eight more issues, a full year in all. If not, simply write "cancel" across the invoice and return it. The trial issue is yours to keep, regardless. Give Ignite Your Faith as a gift Buy 1 gift subscription, get 1 FREE!

FREE Newsletters Subscribe to the Ignite Your Faith Connection Newsletter: Subscribe to the Christian College Guide Newsletter:    RSS Feed   RSS Help