The bird's 104 years of age, and has as much verbal spunk as it did when it was a youngin' in the midst of the second World War.

In fact, a little too much spunk.

Charlie was Winston Churchill's trusty parrot during Britain's darkest hour, and to this very day doesn't shy from cursing Adolph Hitler and his Nazi regime.  Yes, Charlie is an unusual parrot, one that can't be placed in pet stores due to an unpredictably foul-mouth.

"(Expletive) Hitler," it'll say, or "(expletive) the Nazis."

Charlie is actually a girl, but was given a boy's name by the British prime minister when he purchased the blue and gold macaw in 1937.

"Many an admiral or peer of the realm was shocked by the tirade from the bird's cage during crisis meetings with the PM," the London Mirror said.

"Churchill may no longer be with us but that spirit and those words of defiance and resolve continue," said James Humes, an expert on the late prime minister.

Peter Oram, a pet shop owner, purchased Charlie when Churchill died in 1965.  He was forced to remove the bird from the shop, however, after she kept swearing at children.  Instead, his garden center in Reigate, England, has been Charlie's home for the past 12 years.

"If truth be told, Charlie is looking a little scruffy, but she is very popular with the public," said Heathfield worker Sylvia Martin, according to the Mirror. "We are all very attached to her."

Lighted Squid Found In Hawaii
by Jonathan Drake
S: CBSNews.com (1-9-04)

"The light is subtle, but it's there.  We think it's a counter-predatory camouflage."

Such are the words of Wendy J. Crookes, first author of an article recently published in the journal Science.  A unique squid with an amazing type of reflective plates that form a built-in light it may use to confuse predators has been discovered by scientists in Hawaii.

Known as the Hawaiin bobtail squid, the light itself of the small creature is provided by colonies of luminescent bacteria living on the squids.

"Light organs are not uncommon in nature," says Crookes. "In this one the light organ does have a lens similar to an eye in some respects, but we don't really know its capabilities in terms of specifically directing light."

The squid are only 2 to 3 inches long, and while reflective plates in many other aquatic species are formed from chemicals called purines, those of this species are made from a unique type of protein called reflectin.

The bacteria that produces the light and the squids have a mutually beneficial relationship, something very common in nature.

Story Of The One-Eyed Goat
by Jonathan Robison
S: IOL.co.za (1-13-04)

It's not a joke, and it's not a hoax.

Amazed locals of Durban's Folweni township couldn't believe their eyes when they saw a goat with only one eye . . . and right in the middle of its forehead.

More than that, it almost looks human.

Locals have dubbed the little animal "Umlingo," isiZulu for miracle.  Some have suggested the goat might have been the result of an act of bestiality.  "We've never seen anything like this before," said one.  "There are many immoral people who think nothing of raping toddlers, so why not a goat?"

Some want to kill it, while others wish to let it live.  Owner Rose Magubane, 63, said there was nothing wrong with the animal.

"Yes, it's abnormal, and it doesn't look like a goat, but that doesn't mean it has to be killed. It's God's creature."

Whatever the case, it sure is an interesting critter.

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