Friday Snippets and Soundbites

It's Friday! The last Friday in February! And since that seems like something we should celebrate, we thought we'd get the party started with this week's online edition of "Snippets and Soundbites." We just can't wait to fill you in on some of the crazy stories we found among this week's headlines!

Let's go!

GOAL!!!!!!

Soccer is exciting. . . but apparently one student took his love for soccer a little too far—and that decision had its consequences. While secretly listening to a soccer game during class, he got a little excited. Why don't we just show you the rest?

Thin mints in jail? 

Members of a Georgia Girl Scout troop may have wondered if they'd be munching on Girl Scout cookies in jail this week after a strange run-in with a local police officer. Apparently, the girls and their leader had set up a stand to sell cookies at a strip mall near Atlanta on Wednesday when the police officer approached them and asked if they had a peddler's permit. They didn't, and he then told them to pack up and go home. The younger members of the troop were convinced they were headed to jail and very frightened by the experience. Of course, the story hit the local news and both the city's police chief and mayor have now spoken with the officer in question. They say the whole incident was a "misunderstanding" and are planning to make it up to the girls with a pizza party. To read more about this story, go here.

Run, Robot, Run!

Once upon a time, we thought robots would rule the world—or at least do our household chores like on the cartoon "The Jetsons." And robots are doing a lot of cool stuff these days. There are robots used in medical fields and surgery, robot vacuums, and robots who do a lot of basic tasks in manufacturing that we'd never even dream of. And there are robots who run. Yep, run. The world's first robot marathon got underway yesterday in western Japan. According to the story we read, 5 two-legged robot participants are racing on an indoor track as a way to “demonstrate the machines' durability and maneuverability.” The race is sponsored by a Japanese robot maker, and the robots are 1-foot-tall and battery-charged. They will have to cover 26 miles and it's expected the race will last through Sunday. To learn more, go here. Check out a video here.

As always, if this edition of “Snippets and Soundbites” isn't enough for you, check out page 38 in this month's (and every month's) issue of ec. You can subscribe to the print edition of ec here.