Minimalist poet, minimalist lifestyle

COBRA is an acronym used to denote the meeting of the UK government's co-ordinated crisis committee - it's been meeting regularly during the recent flooding crisis.

The name might seem a bit dramatic; but it's not really. The initials stand for 'Cabinet Office Briefing Room A' - not very exciting.

(From the Newseum)
1. 1945: U.S. drops atomic bombs on Hiroshima, Nagasaki: Japan surrenders to end World War II
2. 1969: American astronaut Neil Armstrong becomes the first human to walk on the moon
3. 1941: Japan bombs Pearl Harbor: U.S. enters World War II
4. 1903: Wilbur and Orville Wright fly the first powered airplane
5. 1920: Women win the vote
6. 1963: President John F. Kennedy assassinated in Dallas
7. 1945: Horrors of Nazi Holocaust, concentration camps exposed
8. 1914: World War I begins in Europe
9. 1954: Brown v. Board of Education ends "separate but equal" school segregation
10. 1929: U.S. stock market crashes: depression sets in

A US woman has told how she "recovered" hundreds of dollars eaten by her pet dog.

Debbie Hulleman's dog Pepper had wolfed down $750, the equivalent of £365, reports Metro News.

Pepper had previously eaten lipstick canisters, shampoo bottles, ball point pens, and toothpaste.

"This is probably the worst," said Ms Hulleman as she told how she recovering most of the money from dog droppings and vomit.

Pepper got into a purse belonging to a friend of her mother's and chewed the cash from an envelope while Mrs Hulleman and her husband were on holiday.

Her mother recovered some of the money after Pepper spat it out - and thought she had recovered it all.

But when Hulleman returned from the trip and went to clean up her dogs' mess outside, she noticed a $50 bill in one pile.

The family gradually recovered $647 and swapped it for fresh currency at a bank.

"It wasn't that bad. I soaked it and strained it and rinsed it. I just kept rinsing it and rinsing it. I had rubber gloves on of course," she said.

"Everyone said, "I can't believe you did that." Well, for $400, yeah, I would do that."