Watercooler Stories

Nashville ranked most macho U.S. city

NASHVILLE, March 24 (UPI) -- More monster truck rallies and fewer minivans helped Nashville earn the title of "Manliest City" in the United States, a research firm says.

Those were just two of the criteria Bert Sperling of Sperling's BestPlaces used in conducting its research for Mars Snackfood US to determine the Tennessee city is more macho than any other in the nation. Nashville also won points for its high number of NASCAR enthusiasts, popularity of hunting and fishing and concentration of BBQ restaurants.

Second place went to Charlotte, N.C., while Oklahoma City came in No. 3, followed by Cincinnati and Denver. Rounding out the first 10 of the Top 50 are St. Louis, Columbus, Ohio, Kansas City, Mo., Indianapolis and Toledo, Ohio.

Other things that make a city more macho, according to the survey, are the number of professional sports teams it has and the popularity of power tools. Cities lost points for having too many home furnishing stores and reading too many beauty magazines.

The snack company says its list is "a fun way to let the men of America know exactly where they stand against their brethren coast-to-coast."

Which major U.S. metropolis came in 50th? New York City, the survey says. It seems New Yorkers aren't big on fishing, home improvement or drag racing, though they did score high in bowling.

Parrot honored for saving toddler

DENVER, March 24 (UPI) -- A pet parrot was honored with the Colorado Red Cross' Animal Lifesaver Award after it alerted a babysitter that a baby was choking.

Willie the parrot, owned by Megan Howard, was given the award at a ceremony Friday that was also attended by Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter, Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper and other Red Cross honorees -- which except for Willie were all human, KCNC-TV, Denver, reported Tuesday.

Howard said she had brought Willie with her while she was babysitting for toddler Hannah Kuusk in November. She said she had went to the bathroom while the child was eating breakfast and heard Willie repeatedly shout: "Mama, baby!"

The babysitter said she found Hannah was choking on her breakfast and had begun to turn blue. She performed the Heimlich maneuver and cleared the toddler's airway.

"He's kind of small and he's just a bird but he's in there with all of these people that have gone above and beyond just to save people's lives and it's an honor to be in there and know he's recognized for what he did," Howard said.

Madoff number yields lottery payout

NEW YORK, March 24 (UPI) -- A New York man who used fraudster Bernie Madoff's prison number to play the lottery said he won $1,500 from the ticket.

Ralph Amendolaro, 50, a construction worker, said he noticed Madoff's prison number -- 61727-054 -- on the front page of a newspaper the day after the Ponzi schemer pleaded guilty, the New York Daily News reported Tuesday.

"I'm going to be a winner with this guy even though everyone lost money with him," Amendolaro recalled thinking when he bought the lottery ticket March 13. "Somebody had to get a little lucky with him."

Amendolaro said he won $1,500 when 054 popped up in the daily drawing.

Lottery officials said 501 people played the winning number on the same day as Amendolaro.

"It's pretty common when you have a number that hits the public," said lottery spokeswoman Jennifer Givner. "A lot of people are very superstitious."

Alleged iPhone thief left photo trail

NEW YORK, March 24 (UPI) -- A New York woman said police tracked down the man who stole her iPhone after he used the device to e-mail pictures of himself.

Sayaka Fukuda, 29, who moved to New York from Tokyo three years ago, said Daquan Mathis, 18, and an accomplice approached her Feb. 21 at 4:30 a.m. on a train platform and took her iPhone and purse, the New York Post reported Tuesday.

Fukuda said she reported the theft to police and returned home to find something unusual in her e-mail.

"I checked my e-mail and saw something in my outbox," she wrote in her blog. "I knew I didn't send anything. I opened the attachment, and there he was with his black and red knitted (Spider-Man) hat. The same hat I described to the police officers."

The woman passed the pictures along to police and Mathis was arrested Thursday and charged with robbery and grand larceny.