Jenofur Lopez, right, and Suede Kitty Penny Lane, a five month old Sphynx, rest Oct. 8 at New York's Madison Square Garden. Over 40 breeds will compete with this weekend during a cat competition for ribbons, trophies and best-in-show honors.
A gloved hand holds one of the largest diamonds ever to come up for auction, in London's Sotheby's auctioneers, Oct. 7. The gem will go under the hammer in Geneva, Switzerland, on Oct. 20. It is graded a D Color and is internally flawless - making it one of the most valuable types of diamond. Weighing 103.83 carats, it is expected to fetch up to $6 million.
A hot air balloon made in the shape of a Smurf is inflated at Balloon Fiesta Park in Albuquerque, N.M., Oct. 9, during the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. Thursday was Special Shapes Mass Ascension Day but high winds kept a lot of the balloons on the ground.
Daniel Morton, 21, with his 1994 Honda Accord in Oak Park, Mich., Sept. 15. The front-end damage is real but the bullet holes are not -- they're stickers he bought at an Auto Zone store. But he's not trying to play gangsta. "It's just something different,'' he says.
A cutout of Babe Ruth among fans during Game 2 of the American League Championship Series between the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox in New York, Oct. 9. Hoping to break the infamous 'Curse of the Bambino,' that some claim has kept the Sox from winning since 1920, fans have been flocking to Ruth's New York gravesite with offerings.
Dr. John Rawlins stands in front of an image of a firefly at Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh on Oct. 10. Rawlins says the Pennsylvania's state insect, the firefly, may have never lived in the state.
A researcher from the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission opens the mouth of a tranquilized bear to show tooth decay. State wildlife authorities are cracking down on hunters who use massive blocks of candy to lure bears and turn them into lethargic sugar addicts. Many of the bears that feed on the sugar suffer from tooth decay.
Hunter York, 10, of Owensboro, Ky., holds a two-headed snake Sunday, Oct. 12 at his father's home in Centertown, Ky. York was visiting his dad when he found the snake in the backyard. Ed Zimmerer, a Murray State University biology professor and herpetologist, estimated the occurrence of a two-headed snake at 1 in 10,000.
Illusionist David Blaine lies slumped in his plastic box Oct. 17, suspended near Tower Bridge in central London. Blaine's 44-day fast-cum-vigil near the banks of the River Thames will come to an end on Oct. 19.
A stump, shown here on Oct. 20 after crews cleared an area of brush in Passaic, N.J. Some say it bears an image of the Virgin Mary and dozens have visited the site, discovered on Saturday, which is now decorated with candles, flowers, and a ring of stones.
Bridget Maasland, host of "This Is How You Screw," is seen in this undated publicity photo. Teen-oriented public broadcaster BNN has stopped running the sex education series. According to the Netherlands' Institute for Classifying Audiovisual Media, sex programs are losing their audience.
Artist Spencer Tunick directs 450 women posing in New York's Grand Central Terminal as part of a human art installation early Oct. 26. The women - all volunteers - arrived at Grand Central at about 3 a.m., stripped off their clothes, and composed their bodies into sculptural shapes and formations meant to imitate streets, buildings and cityscapes.
Scuba diver and pumpkin farmer Mike Frantz prepares to carve a 1,028 pound pumpkin in a quarry near Maquoketa, Iowa, Sunday, in an attempt to break a Guinness world record for underwater pumpkin carving.
A white pumpkin is shot from the muzzle of the Second Amendment, an 18,000-pound compressed air cannon in Howell, Mich., Oct. 25. Bruce Bradford built the cannon for the Punkin Chunkin competition in Delaware's Sussex County. Though firing at only a quarter of its potential power Saturday, the gun still hurled its ammunition nearly 8/10th of a mile.
Jack-o-lanterns are displayed Saturday, Oct. 25 in Deering Oaks Park in Portland, Maine, as Camp Sunshine and "Life is Good," try to break the Guinness World Record for the most lit jack-o-lanterns in one place. The current record is 27,727 and is held by Keene, N.H.
An assortment of candy is displayed Oct. 17, in a Cleveland candy store. Nostalgic candy has become a niche in the $24 billion U.S. candy business, in part because the biggest candy makers have concentrated on fewer items, especially chocolate. That means wax lips and Atomic Fireballs can be hard to find on store shelves.
Miss Afghanistan, Vida Samadzai, 23, at the 2003 Miss Earth Beauty Pageant, Oct. 23, ahead of the Nov. 9 judging in Manila, Philippines. The Afghan Supreme Court condemned Samadzai saying such a display of the female body goes against Islamic law and Afghan culture.
A package of peanuts commonly given to airline passengers rests next to an identical package containing cocaine during a news conference announcing the seizure by U.S. Customs of 2.6 pounds of cocaine aboard a Colombian airliner which had been hidden inside 51 packages of peanuts, Oct. 30 in Miami.
This Vampire Killing Kit complete with a wooden stake and 10 silver bullets sold for $12,000 as part of Sotheby's sale of 19th century furniture and decorative works of art in New York, Oct. 30. The kit, a walnut box that also contained a crucifix, a pistol, a rosary and vessels for garlic powder and various serums, was bought by an anonymous phone bidder.