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:: The brave pig
 JoAnne Altsman, 57, of Beaver Falls, Pittsburgh, began having a heart attack in her holiday trailer on Presque Isle in Erie, Pennsylvania, on 4 August 1998. Her American Eskimo dog, Bear, did nothing but bark and break a bedroom window; but LuLu, her Vietnamese pot-bellied pig, rose to the occasion.
:: The doe is patroling
 Mopsy The Rabbit, a two-year-old Orange Rex doe, landed a burglar in court after raising the alarm by frantically thumping with her foot during a break-in at her owners' house in Fetcham, Surrey, on 30 June.
:: Strucked by lightning
 Viewers watching the last 12 minutes of a televised Castle Premiership football match between the Moroka Swallows and Jomo Cosmos in the George Gogh Stadium, Johannesburg, saw a group of players collapse suddenly after being struck by lightning.
:: Frog shower
 An unnamed pensioner called the Meteorological Office at Bracknell on 4 March to inform them that an early-morning shower over her house in Shirley, Croydon, south London, had been accompanied by a large number of dead frogs, which were scattered over her garden, her neighbour's house, and nearby streets.
:: The Crocodiles
 Whatever devastated the terrestrial environments 65 million years ago and exterminated the dinosaurs, it failed to force into extinction the ultimate survivors, the Crocodiles.
:: Shark Attack!
 The first sharks appeared on earth about 400 million years ago. Today there are more than 360 known species of sharks.
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Investing in Dot.com Companies
by
Gregory Grant
In recent years, companies have flocked to the web to set up dot.com sites. Initially retail companies caught the attention of investors and consumers alike. But forecasters say the bigger growth opportunity in the dot.com world today is the business-to-business sector, because of its size.
"There's opportunity and significance of business throughout our economy as a percentage of our gross domestic product," said York Harris of Merrill Lynch. "There will be much more business-to- business in the next several years than there will be in the retail environment."
The dot.com sector is volatile, which can bring positive upswings as well as slides. So, investors considering the sector need to decide the level of risk they're willing to take in their portfolio before making dot.com investments.
"Everybody likes to make a lot of money quickly in this business," Harris said. "That's not the history of our industry. Everything cycles and we don't want someone who wants to become an investor to get disappointed overnight."
As with any investment, those looking at dot.coms should do their homework. Make sure the dot.com has the capital available for growth, as well as business plans that can keep them dominant in their industry for the long-term.
Dot.com stocks are volatile, and not for the faint of heart. Financial consultants suggest that those who want to soften their risk may look into diversified tech funds.
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