Big pig. Talk about bringing home the bacon! 11-year old Jamison Stone shot and killed what may be the biggest pig on record. The Alabama boy was hunting in the woods with his father on May 3 when he came upon the wild pig. The giant boar measured 9 feet 4 inches in length and weighed in at 1,051 pounds. That is even bigger than the famous 800-pound Hogzilla killed in Georgia back in 2004.

Found bees. Remember the vanishing bees story from last month? Well, it looks like they found some of them: in an attic, in a jet engine, and at a fundraiser.

Space trip. Do you want to take a trip into space? Virgin Galactic hopes to start testing it’s space passenger ship in 2008 and begin passenger flights in 2010. Can’t afford the $200,000 price tag? Not to worry. Virgin Galactic’s chief operating officer, Alex Tai, said the costs should drop to $100,000 or even lower in later years.

G.I. Jonah. Don Levine, the creator of G.I. Joe, presents Almighty Heroes, a series of Bible-based action figures depicting champions from the Old Testament. The new series includes biblical figures such as Samson, David, Noah and Moses. For girls, there are fashion dolls based on women such as Queen Esther and Deborah the Warrior. Each figure comes with its own Bible storybook. Levine, who is Jewish, hopes that children can learn about the same heroes that he did as he grew up.

A long way from home. A very confused penguin swam ashore on Peru’s southern coast Sunday, 3100 miles north of its Antarctic home. “It seems he was disoriented and got lost in the sea due to the different ocean currents,” said Wilder Canales, who heads the National Paracas Reserve in southern Peru. Maybe it took a wrong turn at Albuquerque.

Preacher dies preaching. The Rev. Dennis Jenkins, a retired minister, died while preaching an anniversary service at Tabernacle Baptist Chapel in Wales. He was 77 years old. Chapel secretary Nigel Hughes said: “His sudden death was a great shock not only to his family but also to the church and the wider Christian community throughout Wales and beyond. This grief is tempered by the fact he died proclaiming the Christian gospel he loved and preached so passionately.” That’s how I want to go – just not this Sunday.

100th birthday present. Ten years ago Briton Alec Holden bet his bookie 100 pounds that he would live to see his 100th birthday. His bookie gave him 250-1 odds. On April 24, 2007 Holden turned 100 years old and collected on his bet to the tune of 25,000 pounds (over $50,000). Holden, still in good health, attributes his longevity to daily porridge, chess, and “remembering to keep breathing.” Nonsense, he just really wanted to collect on that bet!

Going up? Two not-so-bright men in Norway were arrested for vandalizing an elevator. How did they get caught? They damaged the elevator from the inside causing the doors to jam. Security guards then called the fire department who freed them while the police waited for them outside. Oh yes, a security camera also recorded the whole episode.

Rooftop preacher. The Rev. Alan Gibson of Evansdale United Methodist Church, NC, was scheduled to preach from the roof of his church last Sunday in celebration of his congregation reaching over 100 in attendance. His neighbor thought it might be a good idea to tie a rope to the pastor’s belt to keep him from falling.

HT: Justin Childers at CROSS-Eyed

Man throws pie at preacher. Last week it was peanuts – this week it’s a pie. A man was arrested in Colorado Springs on Sunday for disrupting a worship service by throwing a pie at the pastor while he was preaching. The pastor was preaching on the subject of loving your enemies.

Extreme population control. Paul Watson, founder and president of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, calls human beings a virus and recommends dropping the planet’s human population to fewer than one billion. Says Watson, “A virus kills its host and that is exactly what we are doing … We are killing our host the planet Earth.” So, who gets to stay, and who has to go? This is nuts.

Friendship fries. Remember the campaign back in 2003 to start calling French Fries, “Freedom Fries,” in protest of France’s refusal to help with the war against Iraq? Now that France has elected pro-American president, Nicolas Sarkozy, a new campaign has started to rename French Fries, “Friendship Fries.” I’ll just have a burger and fries with that please.

Free Comic Book Day. Saturday, May 5, is the sixth annual Free Comic Book Day. Check the Free Comic Book Day website for participating stores and available titles.

Dodging peanuts. Pastors on the western frontier used to have a rough time of it. According to a history report prepared as part of a community development study in Washington state, “It was not uncommon for people from other denominations to attend different churches, throw peanuts at the ministers and boo them. The Wild West must have been trying at times for Men of the Gospel.”

Global warming on Mars. Scientists from NASA report that the planet Mars has experienced rapid global warming over the past three decades and is in danger of losing its southern ice cap. However, due to the lack of human activity on Mars, scientists are looking elsewhere for an explanation. Strong winds are stirring up giant dust storms, trapping the heat and raising the planet’s temperature.

Bible helps. A Cincinnatti man charged with credit card fraud was released on bond after reciting scripture in the courtroom. When the man’s attorney described his client as a church-goer, the judge asked the defendant to recite the 23rd Psalm. The man promptly recited all six verses, and the judge released him on a $10,000 appearance bond.

The Green Commandments. How many lightbulbs does it take to change a Christian? That is the title of a new booklet published by the Church of England aimed at encouraging Christians to become more environmentally conscious. Among the lifestyle changes suggested in the booklet are: carpooling to church on Sundays, vacationing locally, and using a toaster instead of a grill.

Finishing college in one year. 19-year old Nicole Matisse is on track to graduate from the University of Michigan this summer with a bachelor’s degree of psychology after only one year of studies. She entered the university last fall as a junior after passing eight advanced placement courses and completing eight community college classes. She took 19 credits in the fall semester and 27 credits this semester. She plans to start law school in the fall.

Vanishing bees. In the United States tens of billions of bees have gone missing (more than a quarter of the country’s bee population), and scientists don’t know why. Although conspiracy theorists are blaming everything from cell phones to Osama Bin Laden, scientists are exploring more likely suspects such as a virus, a fungus or a pesticide.

Strait Track. Russia wants to build a railway link under the Bering Strait between Siberia and Alaska. The 63-mile (102-kilometer) tunnel would be the longest in the world, twice as long as the Channel Tunnel connecting France to the United Kingdom. If completed, you could conceivably ride from New York to London by train, three-quarters of the way around the world. The plans for the tunnel include a high-speed train line, oil and gas pipelines, and a fiber-optic cable network.

Rabbit roadblock. Five-thousand runaway jack rabbits closed the main highway between the capitals of Hungary and Austria for several hours Monday morning. The truck carrying the rabbits turned over when it was struck by another vehicle.

Dying star. Using the 200-inch Hale Telescope at Caltech’s Palomar Observatory and the Keck-2 Telescope in Hawaii, astronomers have taken some amazingly beautiful pictures of a dying star at the center of the Red Square nebula. The Red Square is one of the most perfectly symmetrical objects ever observed by scientists.

Bible Belt. This story gives a whole new meaning to the phrase “Bible thumper.” A Minnesota jail guard is on leave after striking a prisoner with the prisoner’s own Bible.

PC Bunny. A Rhode Island public school thought the Easter Bunny was too Christian, so they changed his name to the more politically correct “Peter Rabbit.” But wait, that won’t work either. Peter was one of Jesus’ twelve apostles. Perhaps they should just call it the PC Bunny.

Getting a leg up on crime. A man with a prosthetic leg was apprehended by police after his leg fell off during the getaway. He and his partner had just hoisted a 1,500-pound ATM machine loaded with cash into their pickup truck when police gave chase.

The History of Easter. You can view the history of Easter in under four minutes on this video from the History Channel. So who really came up with the Easter egg first?

Amazon.swim Martin Strel, a 52-year-old man from Slovenia, completed a 9-week-long, 3,272 mile swim down the Amazon River, braving piranhas, toothpick fish and bull sharks along the way. Strel’s previous long-distance swims include a 1,866-mile swim along the Danube, a 2,360-mile swim down the Mississippi and a 2,487-mile swim along the Yangtze river in China.

Space race. This woman plans to run the Boston Marathon in space. Rocketing along at a speed of 17,500 mph on the international space station, astronaut Sunita Williams should complete the course in a record-breaking 5.4 seconds. But she will track her time and distance on a treadmill just to keep it fair.

Rudy, John, Mitt . . . and Fred? Former Tennessee senator and actor Fred Thompson looks like he is getting closer to considering a run for the Presidency on the Republican side. If you want to know more about the “Law and Order” actor’s political views, you can check out the transcript of Chris Wallace’s interview with Thompson from March 11, 2007. Whether you agree with his positions or not, you have to admit that he is a straight shooter.

Related posts:

• Still Leaning Towards Fred
• Mike Huckabee’s Sunday Sermon at Prestonwood
• The Cluster Approach to the GOP Nomination
• The MPR Select a Candidate Quiz
• Memo to Evangelical Leaders on Romney
• Rasmussen Reports Daily Presidential Tracking Poll
• Ravi Zacharias on Electing the Next President
• Should Christians Call Mormonism a Cult?

Speedy delivery. This husband helped deliver his wife’s baby in the car while simultaneously driving 100 mph to the hospital.

Super-size me. McDonald’s is currently testing its new Angus Third Pounder in California markets. This is McD’s biggest burger yet with 50% more calories than a Big Mac.

Grizzly news. Grizzly bears at Yellowstone Park have made a comeback and will no longer be listed as a threatened species. Must be all those picnic baskets Yogi and his pals raided over the last thirty years.