The! Biggest! News! of! the! Day! - Not EMC Corp, VMware, 3M, Countrywide Financial, or Eli Lilly

Here are some of the contenders for today's biggest...news...of...the...day...

• Earnings from EMC Corp (EMC)...
• Earnings from VMware Inc. (WMV)
• Earnings from 3M Co (MMM)...
• Earnings from Countrywide Financial Corp. (CFC)...
• Earnings from Eli Lilly & Co. (LLY)...
• Price cuts at Wal-Mart Stores (WMT)...
• A summary of President Bush's State of the Union speech...
• A concern that the Fed "may push interest rates below the pace of inflation" which could lead "to asset booms and busts that have to be dealt with later"...
• An increase in durable goods orders which is "suggesting business investment is holding up even as other parts of the economy weaken"...
• The battle between Barry Diller, of IAC/InterActiveCorp (IACI), and John Malone, of Liberty Media Corp...

While those are all stories worth watching, I think it is obviously clear that the biggest story is this - Angus Steer Escapes Slaughterhouse, On Loose in Cincinnati...this article details the search for a runaway cow that was able to outsmart its captors and make a run for freedom...glorious freedom...

As I am sure some of you may have already noted, Cincinnati is my hometown. And those who read the story will have undoubtedly noted the end of the article - "It's not the first time a steer has been on the loose in the Cincinnati area. In September 2006, a steer named Little Red ran from a fair and eluded capture for three days."

Regular readers of this space will immediately recognize this as just another data point in the pattern of animals outsmarting us. However, I also wonder if this will feed into another "theme" I have been tracking. As recently discussed, my home state of Ohio is apparently known for two things - Bigfoot sightings and drinking cheap vodka.

I wonder if there might be another round of "four-legged Bigfoot" sightings?