I was trying to determine why mention of the automated dog & cat washing machine only now popped up on News of the Weird when I knew I read about it in December 2001 in Wired News. I discovered that News of the Weird lists its sources in its raw version. This information never makes it into my newspaper’s edited blurbs, and I’m happy to find that it is available. The item on the pet washer lists the following: National Post, 12-27-01, Irish Examiner, 3-30-02. I believe the latter is for the second mention of a Northern Ireland inventor who was awarded a grant to study mobile dog-washing equipment. So the pet washing news is indeed from December, but is making the official Weird News rounds now (kinda like that neato web site that your co-worker always emails out months after you first see it).