Bringing new meaning and intensity to the phrase, “starting over” Australian Ian Usher says, “I have had enough of my life! I don’t want it any more! You can have it if you like! No, I’m not contemplating suicide, I am going to sell my life!!” Watch the video and read the rest of this fascinating story on Ian Usher’s Web site.

Watch the live event, Groundhog Day 2008 with Punxsutawney Phil, in Punxsutawney, PA right here. And don’t store your winter gear yet.

Brace yourself for more wintry weather. Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow Saturday, leading the groundhog to forecast six more weeks of winter.

The rodent was pulled from his stump by members of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club Inner Circle, top-hat- and tuxedo-wearing businessmen who carry out the tradition.

Each Feb. 2, thousands of people descend on Punxsutawney, a town of about 6,100 people some 65 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, to celebrate what had essentially been a German superstition.

The tradition is that if a hibernating animal sees a shadow on Feb. 2 — the Christian holiday of Candlemas — winter will last another six weeks. If no shadow is seen, legend says spring will come early.

That was the forecast from Gen. Beauregard Lee, Punxsutawney Phil’s counterpart in Lilburn, Ga. Beau did not see his shadow Saturday morning at the Yellow River Game Ranch.

It was the third year in a row the two groundhogs’ predictions differed.

The Daytona Beach news-journalonline.com’s, Mark I. Johnson suggests the nation needs a different prognosticator.

For 122 years, Americans have depended on a furry grayish brown rodent to determine the severity of the last six weeks of winter.

Maybe it is time for a change. Instead of Punxsutawney Phil, the venerable groundhog of Western Pennsylvania, the nation should look to Sammie the Smyrna Seagull for its weather predictions.Phil has a long and distinguished history of seeing his shadow and saddling the country with another month and a half of winter — 96 times — during his tenure, according to Groundhog.org. This fur ball has only predicted good weather 14 times in more than a century of prognostication.

Why count on a creature that obviously prefers rain, snow and cold to sunshine and palm trees? It could be believed Phil just wants another six weeks of hibernation.

Sammie, on the other hand, spends his days in blue skies buoyed by balmy breezes, mooching handouts from tourists. Besides, he has the added talent of being able to hit the windshield of a moving car, or a person’s bare shoulder, from 100 feet up.

Gloomy predictions are not Phil’s fault, according to Mike Johnston, vice president of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club’s Inner Circle.

“We have never claimed Phil is site specific,” he said.

Virginia Tech’s original and moving expression of gratitude.

Several thousands people gathered on Virginia Tech’s Drillfield this morning to form a giant message of thanks to the world for its support after the April 16 massacre.

Photos of the event are posted on hokiesthanktheworld.org.

Dressed in the school colors of maroon and orange, and surrounded by fall foliage of the same hues along the Blue Ridge Mountains, the crowd was arranged to form Tech’s “VT” logo, and under it, “THANKS YOU.”

At 11:10 a.m., a satellite aimed to capture the image as the thousands waved up at the sky.

“We’re very pleased with how it went,” said Peter Sforza, geography department faculty member and coordinator of the event.

Visit the Web site for photographs.