Thanks to John for the tip on this: An ice skating bear in Russia (not pictured) killed one of its trainers and wounded another during a circus rehearsal in Kyrgyzstan. This is why it kicks ass to be a bear. When you reach middle age as a human, all you can do is buy a more expensive car. But if you’re a bear, you can eat people!

Workers had to drag the bear away during the attack, according to the director of the arena, Kurmangazy Isanayev.

The exits were closed off as staff waited for the emergency services.

Police shot the bear dead at the scene. –Fox News.

Sky News reports that over 3,000 animals work in Russian circuses. Leave it to a former communist regime to eradicate animal unemployment within 20 years. If they ever teach those bears how to shoot guns, the fall of the Western world will be eminent. Let’s hope they learn how to roll joints and illegally download music first.

The Russian Rugby team's shoes disappeared before their Six Nations B Cup match with Romania, forcing them to practice in their socks:

The Russia players put their boots in the (Bucharest) hotel lobby but they disappeared during a power shortage." The report added that police had launched an investigation ahead of Sunday's game in Bucharest. "The FRR [Romanian Rugby Federation] regrets the incident and will offer boots to the visiting players if they ask for them," it added.

A power shortage in Bucharest?  I don't believe it.  This is surely just the first in a long line of impending pranks that Russia will suffer at the hands of former Eastern Bloc countries.  "Ha, ha, we took your shoes, and you can't occupy our country so easily anymore."  Even Stalin would have laughed . . .before killing hundreds of thousands of people as retaliation.  In fact he probably would have laughed then too – he was a crazy bastard.  Anyway, wouldn't it be charming if the press dubbed one of the players, say Viachaslev Grachev, "Shoeless"?  And we wouldn't have to worry about Shoeless Viachaslev throwing any games on behalf of the Russian Mob.  They would never think of sinking to depths of Arnold Rothstein.  From all accounts, they're a classy bunch. -KD