Man sells life on eBay

Gopher-exterminating device sparks prairie blaze

CALGARY – A new gopher-killing tool called the Rodenator is behind a massive grass fire that threatened several homes just west of Calgary on the Easter weekend.

In his 25 years of firefighting, assistant deputy fire Chief Jim Pendergast of the Municipal District of Rocky View said he’s never encountered a fire sparked during a gopher hunt.

The Saturday blaze spread rapidly through tinder-dry prairie grasses. Several residents fled their homes as fire crews managed to stop the flames from devouring houses, although some out buildings were lost.

Dextre stands on guard for thee outside space station

Canada’s “way cool space bot” is now standing on guard for thee, bolted to the outside of the International Space Station.

This week Dextre, the space robot, passed all of its installation tests – the power flows, the arms and wrists bend, and more importantly, they stop when they’re told to.

Astronauts from the Shuttle Endeavour installed the $209 million robot, whose official name is Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator, this week on three spacewalks. They even gave the mechanical handyman a tool belt with space gadgets, mostly equipment for changing batteries and video cameras on the outside of the station.