The Water Cooler

From the Water Cooler: Odd headlines from around the globe

A daily section in my local newspaper, The Northwest Herald. You'll see it here from time to time.

"God is gr8"

ADELAIDE, Australia -- "in da Bginnin God cre8d da heavens & da earth."

That's according to a new version of the Bible translated into the text-message language of cell-phone users.

The Bible Society in Australia on Thursday launched its translation of all 31, 173 verses of the Bilbe in the modern, abbreviated language of text messages.

The verses can be accessed over the internet for free so that they can be spread by cell phone to family and friends, society spokesman Michael Chant said.

The society used the International Contemporary English Version of the Bible and remained faithful to the grammar, changinig just the spelling of words, Chant said.

Sending the entire Bible by text message would take more than 30,000 dispatches, he said.

--The Associated Press