angelm's Blog

Man in wheelchair robs Texas 7-Eleven of condoms

DALLAS - A robber rolled into a Dallas convenience store came armed with a bat and a knife. He left with a lot of condoms and an energy drink.

Dallas police Cpl. Kevin Janse said Friday that a man in a wheelchair entered a Dallas 7-Eleven Wednesday afternoon, rolled straight toward the cash register and beat it with a baseball bat until it opened.

But he didn't grab any cash. Instead, police say he stole 10 boxes of condoms and an energy drink before making his getaway Wednesday afternoon.

Janse says the suspect may have been homeless and was likely intoxicated at the time of the robbery.

White Chocolate Berry Pie

1.  (1 ounce) squares white baking chocolate, divided
2 tablespoons milk
1 (3 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon grated orange peel
1 cup heavy whipping cream, whipped
1 (9 inch) graham cracker crust
2 cups sliced fresh strawberries

Cooking Directions
In a microwave or double boiler, melt four squares of chocolate with milk. Cool to room temperature.
Meanwhile, in a large mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Beat in orange peel and melted chocolate. Fold in whipped cream.
Spread into crust. Arrange strawberries on top. Melt remaining chocolate; drizzle over berries. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Store in the refrigerator.

16 CHIPS AHOY! Real Chocolate Chip Cookies
1/3 cup butter, melted
1 1/2 cups cold milk
1 pkg. (4 serving size) JELL-O Chocolate Flavor Instant Pudding & Pie Filling
2 cups thawed COOL WHIP LITE Whipped Topping

Cooking Directions
Crush cookies in resealable plastic bag until fine crumbs form. Mix 1-1/2 cups of the crumbs with butter; press firmly onto bottom and up side of 9-in. pie plate to form crust. Reserve remaining crumbs for later use.
Add milk to pudding mix in a medium bowl; beat with wire whisk 2 min. Gently stir in whipped topping.
Spoon into crust. Refrigerate 30 min. or until set. Top with reserved cookie crumbs just before serving.

Greek rural postmen top odd book title list

LONDON - It may not be a best-seller, but "Greek Rural Postmen and Their Cancellation Numbers" has won a literary accolade: oddest book title of the past 30 years.

The book topped a poll to find the weirdest-ever winner of Britain's Diagram Prize for unusually monickered volumes.

It beat previous winners including "Proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Nude Mice" and "How Green Were the Nazis?" in an online vote. The results were announced Friday by trade magazine The Bookseller, which organizes the prize.

The runner-up was "People Who Don't Know They're Dead." Third place went to "How To Avoid Huge Ships."

The Bookseller's charts editor, Philip Stone, said � possibly with tongue in cheek � that the winning book may have benefited from Britons' concern about the closure of rural post offices across the country.

"I sincerely believe that this title provides further proof to the current government that the British public are passionate about the maintenance and continuation of local mail delivery services," he said. "And not just nationally, but internationally."

Rules for the prize, launched in 1978, say the books must be serious and their titles not merely a gimmick. "Greek Rural Postmen" was published in 1994 by a British stamp-collecting organization.

Its co-author, Derek Willan, said he didn't consider the title odd.

"It purely describes what's in the book," Willan, 91, told the British Broadcasting Corp. "This book was issued by the Hellenic Philatelic Society of Great Britain and it is of interest to Greek philatelists."

Cry For The Children
by V.J. Lower
Cry for all of the innocent children,
let us band together to stop the violence.
We have to change this evil world,
so that it is a good influence.
Now let us pray for the parents,
and all that day who were hurt.
God�s children, received by the Father,
no more with life will they flirt.
Never more to feel the warmth of the sun,
their lifeless bodies spilled on the floor.
Battle torn, cold and all alone,
where they had fallen the day before.
In America sixteen kids a day are killed,
let�s come together to get rid of the guns.
Pack them in boxes and bury them all,
instead of our precious daughters and sons.

Neb. man sues prosecutor to get his leg back

ALLIANCE, Neb. - After being shot five times, a western Nebraska man had to go to court to get his prosthetic leg back from prosecutors.

The Box Butte County Attorney's office gave Val McCabe's leg back Wednesday after a judge ordered it returned.

McCabe's prosthetic left leg had been held since Friday's shooting because prosecutors wanted to run tests on it and a bullet lodged inside.

The 58-year-old McCabe, who lost his leg below the knee in a railroad accident roughly 30 years ago, filed his lawsuit Tuesday.

McCabe lawyer argued it wasn't practical for him to replace the specially built, $28,000 prosthesis.

Police removed the bullet from the leg before returning it. No arrests had been made by Wednesday.

Pickled Onions, New Orleans Style
Ingredients
3 pounds TINY YELLOW ONIONS (UP TO 1
INCH IN DIAMETER)
1 gallon COOL WATER
1/4 cup SALT
2 tablespoons CRUSHED RED PEPPER
2 teaspoons SWEET BASIL
6 small BAY LEAVES
1 quart DISTILLED WHITE VINEGAR
1 cup WATER
2 tablespoons LIQUID CRAB BOIL
2 dr RED FOOD COLORING (OPTIONAL)

Method
PEEL THE ONIONS AND PLACE IN A GLASS OR PLASTIC CONTAINER - NOT METAL!!! MIX THE WATER AND SALT, POUR OVER THE ONIONS AND LET SOAK OVERNIGHT. THE NEXT DAY, TAKE CLEAN CANNING JARS AND SPRINKLE SOME OF THE RED PEPPER, BASIL AND ONE BAYLEAF ON THE BOTTOM. PACK THE ONIONS TO THE 1/3 LEVEL, THEN REPEAT IN LAYERS TILL FULL. WHEN ALL JARS ARE PACKED, MIX THE VINEGAR, WATER, CRAB BOIL AND FOOD COLORING (IF DESIRED) AND POUR OVER ONIONS. CAP THE JARS AND REFRIGERATE FOR AT LEAST ONE WEEK BEFORE USING. IF YOU INCREASE THE AMOUNT YOURRE MAKING, JUST MAINTAIN A 3:1 RATION VINEGAR TO WATER. FANTASTIC WITH RED BEANS AND RICE!!!!

:
2 tablespoons bacon drippings or butter
1/3 cup chopped onion
8 ounces fresh chopped spinach
1/2 cup sour cream
3 slices bacon, fried and crumbled
a few dashes Tabasco sauce or other hot pepper sauce
4 medium firm ripe tomatoes
salt, to taste
1/2 cup shredded Mozzarella cheese
Preparation:
In a heavy skillet, cook onion in baking drippings or butter until tender. Stir in spinach; cover and continue to cook for about 4 minutes, until tender. Remove from heat and stir in sour cream.
Cut off tops of tomatoes; scoop out centers, leaving shell intact. Sprinkle tomato shells lightly with salt and fill with spinach mixture. Place tomatoes in a lightly greased baking dish; bake at 375� for 20 minutes. Top each tomato with Mozzarella cheese and continue baking just until cheese is melted.
Makes 4 servings.

Disposable diaper breaks fall, saves child's life

SAO PAULO, Brazil - A disposable diaper has saved the life of an 18-month-old boy, breaking his fall from a third-floor apartment window, officials said Thursday.

Caua Felipe Massaneiro survived a 30-foot (10-meter) fall because his diaper snagged on a security spike embedded in the concrete wall around his apartment building in the northeastern Brazilian city of Recife.

The boy dangled from the spike for a moment, then "the diaper opened and the baby fell to the ground, but at a much slower speed," a police officer said. "The diaper obviously lessened the impact of the fall and saved the baby's life."

"It was a miracle," said the officer who declined to be identified because she was not authorized to speak to the press. "He could also have been killed by one of the spikes."

The child was treated for minor fractures at the Hospital Memorial Sao Jose, where spokesman Gilberto Tenorio said he was in stable condition.

Police have opened an investigation to determine how the toddler fell out the window and "if parental negligence was one of the causes," the police officer said.

The Folha de S. Paulo newspaper quoted Caua's father, 23-year-old Alexandre Cesar Massaneiro as saying that his son climbed onto a sofa underneath the window he fell from - "something he had never done before."

"It wasn't the diaper that saved him," Massaneiro told the newspaper. "It was God."

Woman wearing veil told to leave Italian museum

ROME (Reuters) - The head of one of Venice's most prestigious museums apologized on Wednesday to a Muslim woman asked to leave the building by a guard because she was wearing a veil over her face.

The episode, which has kindled controversy in the Italian media and arguments between centre-left and centre-right politicians, occurred on Sunday in Venice's Ca' Rezzonico museum, which houses 18th-century Venetian art.

"I'm sorry for what happened and if she ever wants to return to our museum, she will be more than welcome," director Filippo Pedrocco told Reuters by telephone from Venice.

The woman, visiting the museum with her husband and children, had cleared security when she entered the building.

When she reached the second floor, a room guard told her she must remove her "niqab," which leaves only the eyes visible, or leave.

"The room guard was over-zealous. He should not have done it. She already passed security and his only duty was to guarantee the safety of the artwork in his room," Pedrocco said.

The woman was believed to have been a member of a well-off family visiting Venice from Saudi Arabia or a Gulf state.

She refused to take off the veil and left the building, which faces Venice's Grand Canal and houses works by such 18th century Venetian masters as Giandomenico Tiepolo.

Italian anti-terrorism laws dating from the 1970s ban the wearing of face coverings in public but they are rarely enforced in cases of Islamic veils.

Italian media reported that the guard, who Pedrocco said worked part-time and was employed by an outside security firm, would be disciplined and risked being fired.

Charge dismissed in case of dog registered to vote

FEDERAL WAY, Wash. - A judge has decided that a suburban Seattle woman who registered her Australian shepherd-terrier mix to vote has spent enough time in the legal doghouse.

Jane Balogh (BAY'-loh) had been charged with making a false statement but entered into a plea agreement last year. A King County judge dismissed the charge Monday after Balogh showed that she had paid $240 in court costs and completed community service.

Balogh says she registered her dog Duncan to protest a loophole in the law that she says makes voter registration so easy a nonexistent person could be added to the voter rolls.

She says she made no secret of her action after the fact, telling a number of elected officials she had registered her dog.

And she says Duncan never voted.

Bollywood's 'Hari Puttar' film sparks lawsuit
Published: 8/26/08, 5:25 AM EDT
By RAMOLA TALWAR BADAM
MUMBAI, India (AP) - Let's see Hari Puttar get out of this one.

Bollywood producers set to release a film called "Hari Puttar: A Comedy of Terrors" are working to fend off a lawsuit filed by Warner Bros. that claims the movie title hews too closely to their mega-famous boy wizard franchise.

While Bollywood films often borrow liberally from Western movies, producers of "Hari Puttar: A Comedy of Terrors" say their movie bears no resemblance to any film in the "Harry Potter" series.

"There is absolutely nothing to link 'Hari Puttar' with 'Harry Potter,'" said Munish Purii, chief executive officer of Mumbai-based producer Mirchi Movies. Hari is a common name in India and "puttar" is Punabji for son, he said.

Italian priest organizes beauty contest for nuns

ROME - An Italian priest and theologian said Sunday he is organizing an online beauty pageant for nuns to give them more visibility within the Catholic Church and to fight the stereotype that they are all old and dour.

The "Miss Sister 2008" contest will start in September on a blog run by the Rev. Antonio Rungi and will give nuns from around the world a chance to showcase their work and their image.

"Nuns are a bit excluded, they are a bit marginalized in ecclesiastical life," Rungi told The Associated Press after Italian media carried reports of the idea. "This will be an occasion to make their contribution more visible."

Rungi, a theologian and schoolteacher from the Naples area, said that visitors to his site will have a month to "vote for the nun they consider a model."

Nuns will fill out a profile including information about their life and vocation as well as a photograph. It will be up to them to choose whether to pose with the traditional veil or with their heads uncovered.

"We are not going to parade nuns in bathing suits," Rungi said by telephone from his town of Mondragone. "But being ugly is not a requirement for becoming a nun. External beauty is gift from God, and we mustn't hide it."

Rungi said the idea was first suggested to him by nuns with whom he regularly prays and works. He hopes there will be dozens of submissions once the Web site is started.

The contest drew criticism from the association of Catholic teachers.

"It's an initiative that belittles the role of nuns who have dedicated themselves to God," the group's president, Alberto Giannino, told Italy's ANSA news agency on Sunday.

Man uses Barbie fishing rod to make record catch

ELKIN, N.C. - David Hayes' granddaughter just asked him to hold her Barbie rod and reel while she went to the bathroom. He did. And seconds later he landed the state record channel catfish at 21 pounds, 1 ounce.

Alyssa's father had bought the pink Barbie fishing rod for Christmas and she had caught a few bluegill before her grandfather hauled in the catfish.

The Winston-Salem Journal reported the catch Aug. 5 in eastern Wilkes County has been certified as a record by the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission.

Hayes and his granddaughter have been fishing in the pond behind his house since she was big enough to hold a pole.

Hayes said his granddaughter worried he would break her rod. He landed the 21-pound fish on a 6-pound test line. It was 32 inches long, 2 inches longer than the rod.

on the Hallmark aisle: Gay marriage cards

PORTLAND, Ore. - Most states don't recognize gay marriage � but now Hallmark does.

The nation's largest greeting card company is rolling out same-sex wedding cards � featuring two tuxedos, overlapping hearts or intertwined flowers, with best wishes inside. "Two hearts. One promise," one says.

Hallmark added the cards after California joined Massachusetts as the only U.S. states with legal gay marriage. A handful of other states have recognized same-sex civil unions.

The language inside the cards is neutral, with no mention of wedding or marriage, making them also suitable for a commitment ceremony. Hallmark says the move is a response to consumer demand, not any political pressure.

"It's our goal to be as relevant as possible to as many people as we can," Hallmark spokeswoman Sarah Gronberg Kolell said.

Hallmark's largest competitor, American Greetings Corp., has no plans to enter the market, saying its current offerings are general enough to speak to a lot of different relationships.

Hallmark started offering "coming out" cards last year, and the four designs of same-sex marriage cards are being gradually released this summer and will be widely available by next year. No sales figures were available yet.

"When I have shopped for situations like babies or weddings for gay friends I have good luck in quirky stores," said Kathryn Hamm, president of the Web site gayweddings.com.

"But if you are just in a generic store ... the bride and groom symbol or words are in most cards," she said. "It becomes difficult to find some that are neutral but have some style."

The Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law estimates that more than 85,000 same-sex couples in the United States have entered into a legal relationship since 1997, when Hawaii started offering some legal benefits to same-sex partners.

It estimates nearly 120,000 more couples will marry in California during the next three years � and that means millions of potential dollars for all sorts of wedding-industry businesses.

Hallmark, known more for its Midwest mores than progressive greetings, has added a wider variety lately. It now offers cards for difficulty getting pregnant or going through rehab.

It pulled a controversial card that featured the word "queer" in the punch line after it was criticized by some customers and gay magazine The Advocate last year. At any given time, Hallmark has 200 different wedding cards on the market, including some catering to interracial or inter-religious marriages and blended families.

The Greeting Card Association, a trade group, says it does not track how many companies provide same-sex cards but believes the number is expanding.

"The fact that you have someone like Hallmark going into that niche shows it's growing and signals a trend," said Barbara Miller, a spokeswoman for the association.

Rob Fortier, an independent card maker who runs his company, Paper Words, out of New York, added same-sex wedding cards to his mix after thinking about what he would want to receive.

"A lot of people think a gay greeting card needs a rainbow on it," Fortier said. "I don't want that."

But for some time, it was difficult to even find the words for what anyone wanted to say, he said.

His first card poked fun at the challenge. On the outside it featured lines that had been scratched out: "Congratulations on being committed!", "Congratulations on being unionized!" and, finally, "Congratulations on being domestically partnered!" The inside wished the couple congratulations on choosing to be together forever.

"It really comes down to language," he said.

John Stark, one of the three founders of Three Way Design in Boston, which makes gay-themed cards for occasions from adoption to weddings, has several new designs sketched out and ready.