Did You Know Cheetahs Ride Shotgun?

The Cincinnati Zoo has a traveling version of its Cat Ambassador Program where zoo trainers bring a cheetah and several "smaller" cats to local schools. And that means road trips. But not in a cage. Nope. When these cheetahs go out on the town, they ride shotgun.

This is Sara, who became the fastest animal on earth back in 2009, breaking the 100 meter sprint record at 6.13 seconds. To put that in perspective, Usain Bolt's official human record is a languid 9.58 seconds.

World record holders aren't the only ones who get to ride in the zoo's Subaru Forester. Below, find a photo of another cheetah named Nia — who was just a year old when the picture was taken — as she looks out at Cincinnati. Are we the only ones who think it's weird that a program requiring the disclaimer of "Due to the nature of wild cats, students will not be permitted to touch animals" probably shouldn't be running said wild cats around town in the front seat of a car? Sure, we've seen this type of thing before, but that was Dubai — not Ohio.

What if there's an accident? Or what if someone sees the cat in the front seat and, you know, flips the hell out?

So is this legal? Although we know Ohio has pretty lax laws on exotic animals we know that it may be illegal to do so on the Ohio Turnpike thanks to Section 5537-3-01 of the pay-for-use road's rules. The section concerns limitations on use of the turnpike and clearly states: "Vehicles transporting animals or poultry not properly secured or confined." We're assuming that could mean the front seat.

Of course, Cincinnati is nowhere near the turnpike and otherwise it appears Ohio's statutes are silent on the subject. But this is Ohio we're talking about — so we're just impressed they have laws of any sort.

Facts About Year of the Dragon

The Lunar New Year is celebrated in China, Taiwan, Korea, Vietnam, Mongolia, and Tibet, as well is in countries such as Singapore that have large Chinese populations. Christopher Livaccari of the Asia Society explains toYahoo! Shine that it used to be celebrated widely in Japan, but now most Japanese people consider January 1st to be the main New Year's holiday.

Year of the Dragon

This year's Lunar New Year begins on January 23, which is the first day of the first new moon of the year. It ends 15 days later on the full moon. The Chinese calendar is divided into 12 cycles each represented by a special animal. According to Chinese Astrology, this year is the year of the Dragon, the only mythical animal in the zodiac. People born in the year of the Dragon are said to be energetic, charismatic, and natural born leaders. Some famous "Dragons" include Joan of Arc, Vladimir Putin, and John Lennon.

Lunar New Year Traditions

Celebrations of the coming year commence on the eve of the first new moon with a feast and fireworks. Families clean their homes to symbolize a fresh start and buy flowers and plants, which represent rebirth. Often, gifts of new money or money in red and gold envelopes are exchanged to bring good fortune. Livaccari told Shine, "I think some people tend to think of these holidays and celebrations as something very exotic, but most people in contemporary East Asia see this time as an opportunity to take a break from school and work and reconnect with family, much like we would on Thanksgiving or Christmas."

Lucky foods include dumplings and other stuffed delicacies which symbolize little packages of good fortune, oranges which in Chinese sound like the word for "auspicious," and apples which sound like "peace." Fireworks are detonated to ward off evil spirits. Boisterous dragon dances are also performed to scare spirits away.

A tradition that kids will like is that parents aren't supposed to scold their children during the Lunar New Year. Livaccari also points out that, just like in the West, "Your average 14 year-old in Beijing, Shanghai, or Seoul is probably more focused on this as a chance to get some more time to play video games or interact with friends online."

Marriage Proposal Gone Wrong

The most memorable rejection of the UCLA basketball season happened in the stands rather than on the court.

Midway through a 71-63 victory over Richmond Dec. 23 at the Los Angeles Sports Arena, UCLA's "Mistletoe Cam" cut to a couple seated courtside. The man reaches into his pocket, pulls out a ring and says, "I knew that I was going to do this since the first day that I met you, and I figured now was as good a time as any." His girlfriend's response when he gets down on one knee and pops the question? Well, let's just say it involved an awkward pause and running in the other direction.

 

Video of the proposal gone wrong didn't surface on YouTube until Monday evening, but Los Angeles Times reporter Baxter Holmes asked several UCLA players about it following the game. "That's cold," Jerime Anderson said. "Tough break," added David Wear.


Indeed the rejection was cringeworthy to watch because it's every man's nightmare when he prepares to ask for his girlfriend's hand in marriage. Maybe this will be a lesson to men in the future that a college basketball game is not the ideal romantic spot for a proposal, especially when there are cell phone cameras poised to capture your humiliation should something go wrong.

There have been some instances of attention-seeking fake marriage proposals at sporting events in the past, but this doesn't seem like one of them.

The emotions of the couple and the awkwardness of the emcee looked legit, plus a UCLA spokesman told Holmes the proposal wasn't staged. And lastly, if you were going to seek attention this winter in Los Angeles, a sparsely attended game in the midst of UCLA's train wreck of a basketball season definitely wouldn't be the ideal spot.

Worst Fashion of 2011

Top Viral Photos of 2011

The Mayor of Agusan del Sur Province in Philippines poses with a huge crocodile that was captured by residents and crocodile farm staff on Sunday, September 4, 2011. It took a three-week hunt by dozens of villagers and experts to ensnare the 21-foot male creature, one of the largest crocs to be captured alive in the Philippines in recent years. (AP Photo)

This unbelievable (yet real) photo shows a one-eyed albino shark that was found off the coast of Isla Cerralvo near La Paz, Mexico, in June 2011. The image went viral after being posted on the blog of a local sportfishing company, which was forced to defend the photo after skeptics questioned its integrity. The company later published more pictures of the unique albino baby and discovered that a commercial fisherman had extracted it after catching a dead female bull shark with ten pups inside her. (Photo byPisces Fleet Sportfishing)

A young couple chose to make love, not war, as riot police struggled to control the violence that erupted after the Vancouver Canucks lost game seven of the Stanley Cup Finals on June 15, 2011. When the image went viral on the Web, the kissing couple was identified as Scott Jones of Perth, Australia, and Alexandra Thomas, a recent graduate of the University of Guelph in Ontario. Jones later revealed that the couple had been knocked down by riot police and he was merely trying to calm down his girlfriend amid the chaos. (Photo by Rich Lam/Getty Images)

The coolest photo of the space shuttle Atlantis launch wasn't taken by NASA but by high school graduate Ryan Graff, who snapped this pic from his window seat on a flight from Baltimore to Miami on July 8, 2011. The image quickly went viral once Ryan's brother, Chad, uploaded it to his Twitpic account, where it has received over 177,000 views. (Photo by Ryan Graff)

Now better known as the Earthquake Bride, Valeriya Shevchenko was snapped running from a courthouse in lower Manhattan, New York, on August 23, 2011. Clutching her cell phone and a bouquet, the bride-to-be was frantically searching for her fiance after a 5.9 magnitude earthquake rattled Virginia and surrounding regions. Thankfully, the happy couple were reunited and married the same day. (Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images)

Landscape photographer Emmanuel Coupe was named 2011 National Geographic Traveler Photographer of the Year for this photo of a frozen lake in Canada. (Photo by Emmanuel Coupe)

Public outrage emerged when police officers at University of California, Davis, used pepper spray to control Occupy UC Davis protesters who were seated in the school's quad on November 18, 2011. Video and photos of the controversial incident were quickly beamed around the Internet. In a comedic twist on a disturbing event, the man behind the pepper spray trigger, Lieutenant John Pike, became the face of an Internet meme that saw his image pasted into various famous scenes. (AP Photo/The Enterprise, Wayne Tilcock)

This amazing photo, taken from an apartment window in 2010, surfaced this year and won the Office du Tourisme de Paris competition. "I quickly grabbed my camera and put it on a tripod by the window," said the 31-year-old photographer who caught the moment the Eiffel Tower appeared to be struck by lightning. (Photo by Caters News)

President Obama waved himself into ridicule at the Open Government Partnership Event at the United Nations on September 20, 2011, in New York. During a group photograph of several world leaders, President Obama offered a solitary wave that accidentally covered the face of the president of Mongolia. Next time, just say "cheese." (Photo by Allan Tannenbaum-Pool/Getty Images)

This jaw-dropping image shows a diver almost being swallowed by a whale shark during a feeding frenzy (thankfully, only plankton was on the menu). The photo was taken in Isla Mujeres, Mexico, where more than 600 of the 40-foot creatures converged to feed on tuna spawn. (Photo by Mauricio Handler)