Iowa weatherman Kurtis Gertz has an encounter with a giant snake and hilarious hijinks ensue.

Wacky weathermen, you are not funny. Please stop. Just tell us whether it will rain or not.

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It's called a snub fin dolphin and it isn't pretty.

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Two Tribune reporters covering the Olympics in Beijing walk into a restaurant and order animal penis:

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A year ago the Dramatic Hamster/Prairie Dog took the Internet by storm.

Now there is Dramatic Cat. He's got almost 300,000 hits in a week.

The Dramatic Cat - Watch more free videos

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YouTube confirms what you've always suspected:

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Here's a viral video you can send to grandma: an adorable bunny opening mail.

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Which is the superior combination of thumping music and animals -- the techno kittens or a techno chicken? Watch and decide.

First, the Techno Kittens:

Now the Techno Chicken:

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It all depends on the soundtrack at the time, I suppose.

Language warning, it's the non-radio version of the song.

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These people are way too excited about the new product Poop Freeze.

This commercial has to set the record for the most times the word "poop" is used within a two-minute span.

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Continuing with today's animal theme today, here's a clip that's been around awhile but is still worth posting:

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Wichita Eagle (and former Sun-Sentinel) reporter Roy Wenzl interviews YouTube sensations Oscar, Ginger, and Zooey on camera [click here to see the video].

Here's an excerpt from his print article:

Klusman is getting proposals from filmmakers interested in marketing more of his ideas. He and Wingard, who works in the cubicle next to Klusman's at Spirit Aerosystems, are getting proposals from cat-loving ladies worldwide.

"OMG will you marry me?" one wrote.

"Paul is the George Clooney of engineers," another wrote.

Others sent "extremely interesting" photographs of themselves, Klusman said.

Meow.

Here's the video that started it all:

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This silent footage of a massive flock of birds is fascinating and frankly, a little creepy.

I wonder where a flock this size lands. Knowing my luck, it would be right above my car.

The Bird's Poltergeist - 2 - video powered by Metacafe

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It was cute when Johnny Carson used to have animals on his show. Now it's just a tired bit occasionally trotted out by morning news and late night TV.

Monkey, free yourself from your oppressor! You do not need to listen to him answer any more questions about cat vomit.

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OK, there's no other purpose to this than it being cute. And it's environmentally conscious. And you need to quit spending so much time in your cubicle and get out and see the world.

And I hate cat videos, but felt the need to post something cute after a long drought:

Here's some background from the London Zoo:

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Last week I posted a clip of a monkey waiter.

Now there's a monkey babysitter.

I'm still trying to find a clip of a monkey CPA.

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Not just another cute pet video! This video shows shows an interactive ad campaign coming soon to major airports.

According to Newsweek, the interactive ads will be installed in these cities: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago (O'Hare and Midway), Dallas-Ft. Worth, Denver, Detroit, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Antonio, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle-Tacoma, and St. Louis. Nationwide rollout will happen later this year.

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I'm sorry, I just would not be cool if my waiter was a monkey.

I'd hate to see how he'd react to a bad tip.

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A bit of aquarium etiquette: Do not use a plastic bag to taunt the dolphins!

If I were a dolphin and I saw this girl trying to swim with me, I'd just smack her with my tail.

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Life is like this sometimes. You try really, really hard to do something, only to have someone stand 20 feet away, laughing and videotaping the whole thing.

It is kinda funny, though.

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People can't get enough of Oscar, the featherless bird. Here's an excerpt from an article Robert Nolin wrote on the little lady last week:

Polly want a feather?

Actually a full coat of feathers would be more fitting for Oscar, the naked cockatoo that so resembles a grocery store chicken one would be tempted to baste it and pop it in the oven.

If it wasn't so darn unsightly.

The oversized bird's flesh is saggy and wrinkly and the color of a purple bruise. An Einstein-like halo of scraggly feathers adorns — to use the term lightly — its head.

"She's being categorized as the world's ugliest bird right now," says Cherie Wachter, marketing director for the Humane Society of Broward County, where Oscar has lived for 12 years. "She's actually been an Internet sensation."

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If only this could be turned into a movie with Ralph Macchio.

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Well, of course the cat wants cake. Who doesn't?

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Our partners-in-blog at the Orlando Sentinel's "What the Blog?" posted this clip of a cat playing an electronic instrument called a theremin. Check the clip out here.

I don't know if you can classify what this is as music. I think it's about the most annoying sound I've heard. But I guarantee since it's on YouTube and involves a cat, this clip will have 3 million hits by tomorrow.

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Meet Paya, one of six elephants from Thailand that have been trained to paint. Their artwork is actually going on display in Scotland.

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For your amusement, two clips today involving dancing animals.

In this first clip, a walrus and his trainer dance to Michael Jackson's "Smooth Criminal." He's got pretty good moves, for a walrus. Maybe the walrus could hook up with those Filipino inmates behind that Thriller routine and they could create a YouTube classic for the ages.

The second is appropriate for this day-after-St. Patrick's Day. This clip involves Sea World's Clyde the Sea Lion vs. a guy described only as an "award-winning Irish dancer" -- what, the dancer doesn't have a name? -- compete for a shamrock medal.

Guess who wins?

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My family used to have a cat that was left to us by an aunt who had to move out of town. We were all hopelessly allergic to the guy (had to wash our hands after every time we touched and vacuum every evening), but we managed to still pet him with our feet. I know, gross, but he got accustomed to it. So accustomed he eventually forgot about our outstretched appendages and just went straight to rubbing his face in our shoes.

Now that was weird.

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This video sort of freaked me out. The cat, strapped to his owner, looks calm until he is nearly out of the airplane. At the edge, he starts flailing in his jumpsuit and booties. The owner jumps and then the video ends!

Does the cat survive?

He wasn't even wearing goggles. I was very distressed.

I found an article, but I don't read Russian. Fortunately, one desk away from me sits editor John-Thor Dahlburg, who is pretty much the master of multiple languages. So I begged him, a former reporter who once worked in Afghanistan covering the Taliban resistance to the Soviets, to interpret this puff piece on a sky-diving kitty.

The good news is that the cat survived the sky dive. His name is Malysh. The 60-year-old owner is Vladimir Kulikov, a retiree from a town near Moscow. Apparently, Kulikov has been preparing for the co-jump for five years. He even sewed together a custom-suit for his cat. They jumped from 1,200 meters and the cat made no noise and showed no sign of fear. Upon landing, Malysh was presented a certificate for the jump.

Kulikov is working on creating a special parachute so Malysh can jump solo in the future.

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I happened across this cat video late last week. It was posted last Monday. As of last Thursday night, it had more than 1.3 million views.

More proof that people love goofy animal clips. And this one is pretty goofy -- cat sits there while owner dangles little cards in front of his face. Because he is the Cat of 1,000 Faces.

All I know is, my cat would smack around the cards and then run and hide under the bed. Just another reason why he will never be a star on YouTube.

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