Manhattan's New York Sushi Ko is only the most recent sophisticated restaurant to feature creative dishes made with Hormel Spam, and foodies and hipsters in fashionable neighborhoods have flocked to the foods. Spam is a well-known delicacy in Hawaii, and the New York facilities offer the island's musubi (fried Spam, rice, seaweed) and other Spam fried rice bowls with seared ahi and flourishes of fresh pineapple, according to an April report on Gothamist.com. Sushi Ko's chef playfully acknowledges that his contents are fresh — "fresh from the can" and sourced locally — "from the nearest bodega."
A hoops enthusiast
Larry Ellison, the CEO of Oracle Corp. (and the world's fifth-richest person, according to Forbes magazine) is a big basketball fan and was reported in April to have an interest in purchasing the Los Angeles Clippers NBA team. An Ellison associate told the Wall Street Journal, for example, that Ellison has basketball courts on at least two of his yachts and shoots hoops for relaxation. To retrieve his errant shots that go overboard, Ellison hires a ballboy in a powerboat to trail the yachts.
Latest religious messages
Speaking on a popular Christian Internet podcast in March (reported by Houston's KHOU-TV), Pastor John Benefiel of Oklahoma City's Church on the Rock described how, in a 2007 blessing, he might have prayed "too hard." He was attempting to help drought-stricken Texas and Oklahoma by using a specific prayer message (the "Baal divorce decree"), but that inadvertently resulted, he said, in "every lake" in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri rising above flood stage, causing thousands of people to lose their homes and 22 to lose their lives.
In his March 23 sermon (according to Huffington Post), Phoenix pastor Steven Anderson of the Faithful World Baptist Church explained in detail why women in the congregation must refrain from speaking during services. Citing 1 Timothy 2:11 and 1 Corinthians 14, Anderson said the women should learn only "in silence." "Now obviously, before the service begins," he conceded, "there's chatting and talking going on that's perfectly legitimate. (And when) we all sing praises to God, of course the ladies should also lift up their voices. But when it's learning time, it's silence time (for females)." (Also, he said, since the comment "Amen" means "That's true," it would be inappropriate for females to utter it.)
An unnamed British inmate published a letter in a prison newspaper in April alleging religious discrimination against him by guards and officials. The man claims he is a practicing Jedi and complains that Jedi-ism, though officially recognized as a religion in the UK (the seventh-most popular, according to the census, with more than 175,000 adherents) is nonetheless unacknowledged by the National Offender Management Service.
Unclear on the concept
Britain's most-tattooed man (the former Mathew Whelan, 34, now "King of Ink Land Body Art The Extreme Ink-Ite"), whose body is 90-percent ink-covered, finally acknowledged in March that he needed to undergo laser removal to clear up his skin. However, "Body Art," as he is known, then explained that he was spending the equivalent of about $10,000 on removal just so he could start over with new tattoos.
Least competent criminals
Houston police announced in April they were investigating a break-in at Katz's lingerie boutique. Surveillance video showed two armed men cautiously creeping through the store until one accidentally bumped the other, apparently startling the bumped man, who turned and fired — causing the first man to fire back. Officers counted nearly a dozen bullet holes in the store. Said the Houston media liaison, these are "by far some of the clumsiest crooks that I've seen in a long time."
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