Watercooler Stories

Police: Woman stabbed for asking roomie to dress?

BATON ROUGE, La., July 15 (UPI) -- Police in Louisiana said a woman allegedly stabbed her female roommate for requesting she not walk around their apartment in the nude.

The victim, whose name was not released, told Baton Rouge police Tanya McKnight became enraged after she was asked not to walk around naked and stabbed the victim in her face, neck and chest with a knife, the Baton Rouge Advocate reported Wednesday.

McKnight allegedly told the victim during the attack she was going to kill her.

Police said they recovered a knife matching the description given by the victim, the newspaper reported.

McKnight was charged with attempted second-degree murder and was being held at East Baton Rouge Parish Prison on $50,000 bond. The report gave no details on the alleged victim's condition.

Jobless man protests atop Rome fountain

ROME, July 15 (UPI) -- A man who made headlines by stealing coins from Rome's famous Trevi Fountain has been arrested three times for climbing the landmark and threatening suicide.

The fountain was closed to tourists Monday after Roberto Cancelletto, 57, who was nicknamed D'Artagnan by newspapers during his 30-year career of taking coins from the fountain with a sword-like magnet, climbed to the top of the landmark, cut his stomach with a razor blade and threatened suicide while lamenting his lack of employment, ANSA reported Wednesday.

He agreed to come down from the fountain and receive medical attention at a hospital after about an hour of negotiations with police.

Police said the incident marked the third time this year Cancelletto has climbed the fountain to complain about not having a job and threaten suicide. They said the second incident took place earlier this week.

Authorities said he may be fined $366 or officials may decide to ban him from the fountain area to prevent him from repeating the stunt a fourth time.

Shop offers bacon, jalapeno ice cream

BAKERSFIELD, Calif., July 15 (UPI) -- A California ice cream shop said customers are praising its experimental flavors for frozen treats, including beer, bacon and jalapeno.

Jessica Pounds, co-owner of the Moo Creamery in Bakersfield, said the key to success with unconventional ice cream flavors is a simple willingness to experiment, KERO-TV, Bakersfield, reported Wednesday.

"Playing around in the kitchen or when we're making pastries, coming up with different flavor combinations and turning (them) into ice cream" is how they come up with the new treats, she said.

Pounds said a suggestion from a friend led to the creation of bacon ice cream.

"A friend of mine loves bacon on everything, so she had asked me to make bacon ice cream. So I had a home ice cream maker and I made it and thought it was a terrible idea. So she had me try it and after three days of tasting it I finally thought it was good," Pounds said.

Richard Yoshimura, who co-owns the shop, said there's one important ingredient that goes into every ice cream flavor.

"We give it a little love and a gourmet twist to it," he said.

Doe and fawn make swimming pool mistake

SAANICH, British Columbia, July 15 (UPI) -- Trying to walk on a plastic swimming pool cover gave a doe and her fawn on Canada's Vancouver Island a wet and near-fatal experience.

Homeowner Jim Smith called for animal rescue help Tuesday when he spotted the two deer thrashing around in his pool with the plastic solar heating cover in disarray in the town of Saanich, the Victoria Times-Colonist reported.

While waiting for the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals staff to arrive, Smith fashioned a lasso out of a garden hose and managed to loop it around the doe's neck, the report said.

The fawn managed to find the shallow end and climb out, but its mother was in distress when SPCA employee Donna Wilson arrived.

"She was panicking because the hose was tightening around her neck," Wilson said. "At one point, I thought, 'This deer is going to choke and drown,' so I jumped in."

Wilson said she was able to loosen the hose and then stood still while the deer raced to the shallow end.

Still, it was unable to climb out, so Wilson said she started pushing the deer's hind end up and out, and both doe and fawn bolted into nearby woods, the report said.