Jockstrip: The world as we know it.

Baby shares birthday, minute with sister

BUFFALO, N.Y., Dec. 31 (UPI) -- When Claire Wargo was born Friday in Buffalo, N.Y., she came into the world at precisely the same minute as her sister did exactly one year earlier.

Claire was delivered by Caesarean section at 8:33 a.m. Dec. 28, but doctors said the timing was the result of the hospital's schedule, and not a desire for Claire and her sister Natalie to share a birthday moment, The Buffalo (N.Y.) News reported Sunday.

A baby sister is "a wonderful birthday present for Natalie," the girls' grandmother, Trudy Wargo, told the newspaper.

The sisters' grandfather joked it would be a good day to buy a lottery ticket, but their parents, John and Eileen Wargo, said they already feel lucky because their daughters were born after 11 years of fertility treatment.

Diamond, found in fudge, back with owner

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind., Dec. 31 (UPI) -- An Indiana woman has recovered a diamond ring she accidentally sold in a batch of fudge.

Linda Vancel took off the white gold and diamond ring her mother left her 15 years ago to make the fudge, but after a bake sale at the West Lafayette State Farm Insurance where she works, she could not find it anywhere, The Lafayette (Ind.) Journal & Courier reported.

Finally, she sent a desperate e-mail to Linda Rhoades, a casual work acquaintance who bought the fudge.

Rhoades' sister-in-law's father discovered the ring, she said, when he bit into something hard in his dessert.

After she received the e-mail, Rhoades returned the ring.

"It renews your faith in people," Vancel told the newspaper. "Sometimes there's so much negative in the world, to hear a story like this is reassuring."

Confetti's 'air worthiness' tested in N.Y.

NEW YORK, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- New York officials prepared for the annual New Year's Eve celebration in Times Square by testing confetti to ensure it falls "in the proper, happy way."

New York's WABC-TV reported that Times Square Alliance members tested confetti this weekend as part of their efforts to ensure a safe and successful New Year's Eve bash.

"Part of it is serious. We have to make sure that it is fire retardant and flame retardant, which it is," alliance member Tim Tompkins said of Saturday's testing. "But part of it is also, you know, throwing it out the window, and making sure that it falls in the proper, happy way."

For tourists in the area during the testing, the shower of confetti was icing on their visit to the Big Apple.

"Today we're down here for circus," tourist Jim Shackelton told WABC-TV. "And we got this, so we're all happy."

Grease used in eatery parking battle

CHICAGO, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- Chicago police say an eatery owner took out his frustration on unwanted cars in his parking lot by coating the vehicles with cooking grease.

Police allege Southfork Family Restaurant owner Dimitrios Arvanitis poured cooking grease over four cars last week after repeatedly attempting to discourage another eatery's patrons from parking in his lot, The (Chicago) Daily Southtown reported.

When one of the vehicles' owners confronted Arvanitis, police said he admitted to the administering the grease bath.

"I dump grease on your car so next time you don't park there," he was quoted as saying.

The 61-year-old reportedly was intoxicated when police tried to question him about the Christmas Eve incident and on Friday his story apparently had changed.

The Daily Southtown reported Arvanitis told police a motorist had thrown motor oil at the vehicles after becoming frustrated with traffic in the parking lot.