BERLIN -- A German retiree is working with North Korea on what he sees as the perfect solution to the country's chronic food shortage -- behemoth bunnies that breed like, well, rabbits.
Karl Szmolinsky has raised the German Giants -- gray rabbits the size of Cocker Spaniels -- for 44 years at his home in Eberswalde, northeast of Berlin.
After winning the biggest bunny prize last February at a state fair -- for a 10.5 kilogram, 74-cm long gray giant -- the retired chauffeur, 67, received an unexpected call from the regional farmers' federation.
North Korea, apparently, was interested in his rabbits as a possible solution to its perennial problem of feeding its hunger-stricken population.
A meeting was arranged, and diplomats from North Korea's embassy in Berlin drove out to Eberswalde to see for themselves.
"They came here and they checked out the rabbits," Szmolinsky told The AP. "They really liked them."
A woman answering the telephone at the North Korean Embassy in Berlin said she could not comment on the issue.
Szmolinsky sold them four females and two males to start a pilot program, and plans to fly to Pyongyang himself in April at their request to see how things are progressing.
Females produce two litters of 8 to 14 offspring each year, so the four could produce as many as 112 rabbits in the first year alone. At that rate it would not take long to make an impact, especially a single rabbit produces some 7 kilograms of meat.
"They're really good for their hunger problem," Szmolinsky said.
Though the rabbits need to eat a lot to get up to their full weight, Szmolinsky said their appetite should not be a concern for the North Koreans.
"They'll eat absolutely anything," he said. "It's no big problem."
As an added bonus, Szmolinsky says the meat is quite tasty.
Did anyone see that X-Files with the giant fungus that made people hallucinate, then slowly digested them, and then excreted their remains above ground? That picture reminds me of that.
(CNN) -- Reality TV star and former model Anna Nicole Smith was pronounced dead Thursday after being taken to a Florida hospital after being found unconscious in her hotel room, a law enforcement source with knowledge of the case told CNN.
Smith, 39, collapsed at a south Florida hotel and was taken to a local hospital, according to news reports.
TMZ.com had reported that Smith collapsed at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida, and was rushed to Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood just after 2 p.m. ET.
According to reports, Smith was found unresponsive in her hotel room.
Smith was involved in a paternity suit regarding the parentage of her daughter, Danielynn, as well as other disputes, including some regarding a house she stayed at in the Bahamas around the time she gave birth.
Earlier this week, Smith was included in a class-action lawsuit against a company, TrimSpa, for which she had worked as a spokesperson. TrimSpa makes a product it claims leads to substantial weight loss. The lawsuit alleges the marketing of the product, TrimSpa X32, was false or misleading.
Smith's son, Daniel Wayne Smith, died at age 20 just days after the birth of Smith's daughter. Pathologist Cyril Wecht said a lethal dose of methadone and antidepressants caused cardiac dysrhythmia, leading to his death.
"Kobe-based Yamaguchi-gumi and Tokyo-based Sumiyoshi-kai separately reported to the Metropolitan Police Department on Thursday afternoon that they made peace..."
Japan puts the organized in organized crime.
I hate poeple who do that, even on AIM. Besides, 1(V) 5|>34|< 15 |=0/2 |>|_|44135 73-/ 5(-)0|_|1|) |_|53 1337 1(\)5t34|)
That's not IM speak, that's 1337 speak and is held even lower on the totem pole than IM speak.
Anyway, I think if anyone uses IM speak in an essay, it should be an automatic F or 0. If the students can't be bothered to write out two extra letters, the teachers shouldn't have to bother reading "ur" essay.
Some educators, like David Warlick, 54, of Raleigh, North Carolina, see the young burgeoning band of instant messengers as a phenomenon that should be celebrated. Teachers should credit their students with inventing a new language ideal for communicating in a high-tech world, said Warlick, who has authored three books on technology in the classroom.
Quote:
Some educators, like David Warlick, 54, of Raleigh, North Carolina, see the young burgeoning band of instant messengers as a phenomenon that should be celebrated. Teachers should credit their students with inventing a new language ideal for communicating in a high-tech world, said Warlick, who has authored three books on technology in the classroom.
Noooooooooooo!!
Let's not let our blind rage control us. I do think it is perfectly acceptable to create a new efficent language. But only if the little bastards learn real words first. It actually causes me distress when I realize that kids don't understand that "ur" is only shorthand, and not a valid word.
Comments
I wonder what the other entries were like...
They ARE REAL.
EVERYBODY RUN.
Actually, turns out that bunny in the pic up there isn't even all that large for that breed. Most of them are between 18-20 lbs.
Awwww.
Anna Nicole Smith died
"Kobe-based Yamaguchi-gumi and Tokyo-based Sumiyoshi-kai separately reported to the Metropolitan Police Department on Thursday afternoon that they made peace..."
Japan puts the organized in organized crime.
That's not IM speak, that's 1337 speak and is held even lower on the totem pole than IM speak.
Anyway, I think if anyone uses IM speak in an essay, it should be an automatic F or 0. If the students can't be bothered to write out two extra letters, the teachers shouldn't have to bother reading "ur" essay.
Noooooooooooo!!
Let's not let our blind rage control us. I do think it is perfectly acceptable to create a new efficent language. But only if the little bastards learn real words first. It actually causes me distress when I realize that kids don't understand that "ur" is only shorthand, and not a valid word.