Friday, Aug. 07, 2009

A Russian girl dives into a lake west of St. Petersburg.

This is your captain speaking. We are experiencing turbulence and flashbacks. Please keep your seat belt on: Does it worry anyone else that heavy metal bands are flying commercial-sized airliners? (Customized Boeing 757 owned by Iron Maiden and flown by lead singer Bruce Dickinson.)

Can I eat your hat? A goat keeps nudging Spc. Kathy Tanson as she tries to trim the hooves of a second goat in Pomona. Tanson is a member of California National Guard's 40th Infantry Division, which is training in agricultural skills at California State Polytechnic for a mission to Afghanistan. The soldiers will teach farmers more efficient crop-growing and animal husbandry methods so they won't need to rely on opium poppy production.

Boy, look at the time. I hate to be a party pooper but ... A turtle decides it's a good time to leave his perch at the Niteroi Zoo near Rio de Janeiro.

The who's whooo of the Niteroi Zoo includes four asio clamator, or striped owls.

Yacht gets a lift: A helicopter flies America's Cup defender Alinghi 5 from the waters of Lake Geneva, Switzerland, en route to the Mediterranean Sea. The 90-foot catamaran will start sea trials ahead of its much heralded duel against U.S. challenger BMW Oracle Racing in the 33rd America's Cup.

A rock nicknamed 'Block Island' lies on the surface of Mars in this image taken by the navigation camera on NASA's Mars rover Opportunity. The iron-nickel meteorite, about 2 feet wide, is the largest yet found on Mars.

Back off! A Jewish settler aims his rifle at Palestinians and activists protesting a land seizure by Bracha settlement Jews in the West Bank village of Burin.

A balloonist checks the ropes as he prepares for a dawn take-off at the 31st Bristol International Balloon Fiesta in Bristol, England. Perfect flying conditions allowed more than 100 balloons to fly.

Bear hunter: A mohawked sharpshooter tries to win a teddy bear at a carnival in Blackpool, England. Thousands of punks have descended on the Blackpool seaside resort for the annual Rebellion festival, featuring bands from the heydey of the punk rock movement.

You WILL eat your fish: Brazilian veterinarians and biologists hold down a seal in order to feed it at the Niteroi Zoo Animal Hospital near Rio de Janeiro.

Prepare to walk the plank, matey: At Centennial Pool in Kingman, Ariz., kids can watch a float-in movie, if they dare.

Above the canopy: Scientists from James Cook University study the effects of climate change on the Daintree Rainforest from the top of a 50-meter-high crane in Cape Tribulation, Australia.

A second chance at a happy life: This Chihuahua is one of about 100 dogs rescued from a Michigan home littered with feces and the corpses of 150 canines. It's hoping to be adopted at the Dearborn Animal Shelter.

This Aesop tale is no fable: A rook drops stones into a tube to raise the water level and bring a floating worm within reach of its beak at England's University of Cambridge. A new study published in the journal Current Biology demonstrates that rooks, cousins of the crow, are able to solve complex problems using tools and can easily master the same water-raising technique demonstrated in Aesop's fable "The Crow and the Pitcher."

Fresh lightbulbs are mounted into the chandelier of the Semper Opera in Dresden.