Watercooler Stories

No more allowance for 61-year-old son

CALTAGIRONE, Italy, Aug. 3 (UPI) -- A 61-year-old man from Caltagirone, Italy, turned up at the local police station with his 81-year-old mother after she cut off his weekly allowance.

The man's mother also took his house keys away after he did not come home when he was supposed to and did not tell her where he was going when he went out, ANSA reported Thursday.

The 81-year-old woman also went to police in an attempt to convince her "hard-headed" son to "behave correctly with his mama."

The son said his mother was the one behaving badly, adding, "My weekly allowance isn't enough ... and she doesn't even cook well."

The mother told police: "My son doesn't respect me, he never tells me where he goes at night and comes home at all hours." She added: "I was forced to punish him by taking away his keys after he yet again came home late at night. And he always complains about my cooking. This just couldn't go on."

A local police officer convinced the mother and son to return home together where the 81-year-old mother gave her son back his keys and allowance.

August is national sandwich month

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, Aug. 3 (UPI) -- A Texas A&M University study, in honor of August being National Sandwich Month, revealed Americans eat more than 45 million sandwiches annually.

The study said that the average U.S. citizen eats about 200 sandwiches a year, and the average child will eat around 1,500 peanut butter-and-jelly sandwiches before graduating from high school, Texas A&M found.

The difference between a healthy and unhealthy sandwich was also brought to question.

"There's nothing wrong with most sandwiches but it all depends on what you put on them and serve with them," said Steven Riechman, assistant professor of health and kinesiology at Texas A&M University.

"You have to start off the right way -- with the bread and meat. The bread should preferably be whole grain, not white. The whites have the highest calories and lowest fiber content," he said. "And the leaner the meat, the better."

Short life for lamb born with 7 legs

CANTERBURY, New Zealand, Aug. 3 (UPI) -- A country known worldwide for its lamb exports, New Zealand has produced a lamb born with seven legs, among other problems.

The lamb was born on the farm of Dave Callaghan on Friday in Canterbury, the Ashburton Guardian reported. He told the newspaper it was one of a set of twins and unlike anything he's ever seen.

The lamb has four front legs, two of which are useless, and three hind legs that all work, the report said.

The animal was taken to Canterbury Vets, where Dr. Steve Williams examined it. He said its a one in several million occurence.

He said there was a "misprint" in embryo formation that caused not only the multi-limbed polydactyl condition, but also made the sheep a hermaphrodite -- having genitals of both sexes.

The final genetic insult is that part of the lamb's bowel is missing, which prevents it from excreting. Williams said the animal would have to be euthanized.

"To keep it alive is probably inhumane really," the veterinarian said.

Iowa cabbies have a heart -- on their desk

IOWA CITY, Iowa, Aug. 3 (UPI) -- The Yellow Cab company of Iowa City can honestly say it's a company with heart after storing a refrigerated human one in their dispatch office.

The heart was harvested in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Monday and packaged in ice for air shipment to a tissue processing company in Atlanta, the Cedar Rapid Gazette reported Thursday.

However, agents with Delta Airlines' Comair division refused to accept it, saying they didn't have "appropriate facilities" to store it overnight and didn't want the liability, the report said.

Yellow Cab's general manager, Sean Genell, told the newspaper he contacted the Atlanta company, and they assured him the heart would keep overnight in the ice, as it wasn't destined for transplant, which has only a 4-hour window of preservation.

Tuesday morning, a cab shuttled the heart to the airport, and it began the trip to Atlanta on schedule, the newspaper said.