StrangeSights

• Need Fluffy or Spot to take a plane trip but don’t want them sitting in a dimly-lit, cold cargo hold? Pet Airways may be just what you’re looking for. Your beloved pets will travel in their own pet carrier in the main cabin instead of with the cargo; they’ll be constantly monitored by a trained pet attendant; and you can monitor the trip remotely with the company’s “pet tracker”. At this stage sadly, it only operates in US cities.

• The Church of England is asking clergy to make sure that overweight and bald people feel welcome in their congregations, with the realse of a book which says they should be regarded like other ’special needs’ people such as the blind and deaf. The UK’s Daily Telegraph reports that the book, Everybody Welcome, claims that only one in 10 visitors to church return because congregations are so unwelcoming. The book suggests clergy may want to consider whether overhead heaters are a problem for bald people and whether the size of their pews are big enough for larger people.

• The 8th World Games - which sees competitions in sports ranging from billiards and petanque to artistic roller-skating, canoe-polo and flying disc - have just finished in the Taiwanese port of Kaohsiung. More than 3,000 athletes from 91 countries, including Australia, were scheduled to take part in the games which provide the opportunity for people to compete in more than 30 sports, many of which you won’t see at the Olympics. (Korfball, anyone?) Russia finished with the highest medal tally - 18 gold - while Australia, which retained it’s lifesaving title, finished in 10th place with five gold, 10 silver and five bronze.

Welcome to StrangeSight’s special on the moonlanding where we take a look at the odder side of one of history’s great events - the 1969 moon landing of Apollo 11:

• Misquoted? They’re some of the most famous words ever said - “That’s one small step for man; one giant leap for mankind” - yet for years the debate raged as to whether the man who uttered them - Neil Armstrong - made a mistake when he left out an ‘a’ and made the phrase somewhat tautological (even he was said to be somewhat worried, reportedly asking officials soon after his moonwalk whether he “blew” the first words ever said on the moon). Back in 2006, however, an Australian computer expert, Peter Shann Ford, analysed the tape and found Armstrong had in fact said “That’s one small step for a man; one giant leap for mankind”. He’d apparently just spoken too fast for it to be audible to the human ear.

• The lost original. It might be hard to believe but NASA officials have apparently admitted that the original high resolution film of Neil Armstrong walking on the moon was probably taped over with data from a satellite or a later manned space mission. To mark the 40th anniversary of the moon landing, NASA has now released remastered digital footage of the original moon walk.

• Conspiracy theories abound that the moon landing was faked. For a review of some of the ‘evidence’ people point to when claiming a hoax - and the reasons they have been debunked - see a special report in the UK’s Daily Telegraph newspaper. LATE ADDITION: More myth debunking at National Geographic.

• Is the flag planted by the first moon visitors - Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin - still in place? Researchers hope that a project to photograph historic moon sites - such as the site of the first landing - with NASA’s new Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter will answer the question. Images of the site of Apollo 11’s landing have already been photographed - they show where the landing structure of Apollo 11 still stands - but officials say that higher resolution pictures are yet to be taken which may well reveal where the flag stands.

• Cost benefit? While many debate whether the space program is worth the cost - including some US astronauts at a recent press conference celebrating the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11 - in 2007 CNN published a list of some of the inventions the space program has given us, including cordless tools, smoke detectors and scratch resistant glasses.

• Take a load off. It’s the latest Facebook craze - take a picture of yourself lying down somewhere - on a park bench, rooftop, even over a basketball ring - and then post it online. There are special rules for how to lie down - arms by the side and toes pointing at the ground - and should be as public as possible. It was apparently started by a couple of friends in the UK after a trip to Majorca where thought it would make for more interesting holiday snapshots.

• Fancy yourself with a pea-shooter? Sign up for next year’s World Peashooting Championships. Held on 11th July in the Cambridgeshire village of Witcham, the competition was apparently started by school headmaster John Tyson in 1970 when he thought it would be a good way to raise money for the village hall. This year’s victory went to novice Jim Collins, who used a traditional peashooter to beat reigning superstar George Hollis and his laser-sighted peashooter.

• Meanwhile, while we’re on competitions, a 15-year-old woman from Iowa, Kate Moore, last month became the LG US National Texting Championship winner after beating 20 other finalists over two days of challenges which included texting blindfolded and through an obstacle course. It was worth the effort - Ms Moore went home with $50,000. Her training ground? The 14,000 texts she sends every month.

• The escalating war against ATM bandits in South Africa has led to the creation of a cash machine which sprays those tampering with card slots with pepper spray. Unfortunately the first victims were reportedly three maintenance technicians.

• If you thought you’d seen it all when it comes to game shows, think again. Turkish TV station Kanal T is reportedly launching a new gameshow in which representatives of the Christian, Muslim, Jewish and Buddhist faiths will each attempt to convert a group of 10 non-believers. Converts will win a pilgrimage to a holy site. Not surprisingly, the idea has already attracted criticism from religious authorities both in Turkey and abroad with one American rabbi calling the idea “tasteless”.

• Superman and his fellow American heroes such as Wonder Woman and Batman are reportedly joining forces with Middle Eastern comic heroes, known as The 99, including such heroes as the burqa-wearing Batina the Hidden, Darr the Afflicter and Bari the Healer. The joint venture is the result of a collaboration between US-based DC Comics and Kuwait-based Teshkeel Comics.

• Looking for a home close to the water? How about on the water? The Seasteading Institute has announced the winners of its inaugural design contest in which people were invited to design the “floating city of their dreams” using a base platform as a starting point. Winning designs include a pod-like structure with a sail at either end known as SESU (SElf-SUstained) Seastead, a town known as ‘The Swimming City’ which looks as if it’s been ripped up from the ground and placed out on the water, and a curvaceous community resembling foam called ‘Oasis of the Sea’.