Prince William Getting Busy Online at Facebook
Prince William may be looking for a match made in cyberspace.
The second in line to the British throne has signed up for Facebook and boasts 44 friends, the U.K. Telegraph reports.
Under the name William Wales, the recently single son of Princess Diana has reconnected with university pals, among them a bevy of British beauties — including ex Kate Middleton, the newspaper reports.
Sporting sunglasses and a ski hat, the prince has made cyber-ties with a couple of polo buds as well as pal Edward Blunt, who's posted a pic of the prince playing pool.
"Think that's more like it, although I didn't pot it," the Prince writes, according to the paper.
"Right arm needs to be straightened," his friend retorts. "You will never beat me till you work on your technique."
Guess the royal got a thrashing.
Prank, Eh ... You Don't Say?
GAHANNA, Ohio (AP) — Students arriving at Gahanna Lincoln High School on Monday morning were greeted by a 7-foot statue of a rosy-cheeked lad that was pilfered from a Frisch's Big Boy restaurant.
The 200-pound fiberglass figure of the chubby boy in red and white suspenders was reporting missing Saturday morning from its concrete base, only to turn up on the roof of the school in the Columbus suburb, police said.
Officers believe it may have been a prank by seniors, Gahanna police Lt. Jeffrey Spence said. No arrests had been made.
A school maintenance crew removed the statue with a forklift and returned it to the restaurant, Spence said. The statue, valued at $7,000, was not damaged.
"We're just glad to have it back," said Karen Maier, a vice president with Cincinnati-based Frisch's Restaurants Inc.
The company operates 88 Frisch's Big Boy restaurants in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana. Big Boy restaurants operate in other states under different franchisee names.
Court Deals With Fact, Not Feng Shui
BEIJING (AP) — A court in southern China, where several corrupt judges have been arrested, has denied hiring a feng Shui master to change its luck, a state-run newspaper said Tuesday.
The China Daily quoted an official from the Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court in southern Guangdong province as saying there was no truth to the allegation even though there has been some remodeling at the court.
Meaning wind and water, feng shui is the ancient Chinese art of trying to place things to achieve harmony with the environment.
It is common for Chinese businesses and households to change furniture and even placements of doors according to feng shui principles to overcome bad luck.
A Beijing News report last weekend, which was picked up by other Chinese media, said several changes had been made to the court following recommendations from a Hong Kong feng shui master.
The report "is nonsense and a malicious slander to a people's court," court spokesman Li Ruijian was quoted as saying by the newspaper.
Calls to the court rang unanswered on Tuesday.
The weekend report said the number of stairs on the court's eastern entrance had been reduced to nine from 11, as nine reflects longevity. Also, stone lions were placed at one entrance.
The newspaper said Li confirmed the changes but said the stairs were replaced because they were slippery and the lions were added "to maintain design integrity."
State media have reported that five of the court's senior judges were arrested last year for accepting bribes. Three were jailed in March.
CSI: Utah Puzzled by the Case of the Missing Shoe Quilt
DELTA, Utah (AP) — Millard County investigators want to put the wraps on a cold case: Who took the pastor's quilt?
The heirloom was stolen from the Rev. Dennis Cason's house, shortly before he returned home Dec. 12 and found a couple in their 20s seeking directions to Nevada. They were driving a blue Buick with Pennsylvania license plates.
"The pastor and his wife went inside and found a camera gone, the quilt gone," sheriff's Lt. Roger Young said.
Cason, pastor of Grace Baptist Church, said the quilt was made by his mother, Ellamay, before she died in 2004 at age 87.
"My wife worked on it also," he said.
The quilt has 25 high-heeled shoes from the 1920s in different colors. Antique buttons were used to adorn the shoes.
"We appreciated having it around," Cason said. "Of course, the whole family feels bad because it was going to be passed on to the others as time goes on."
Millard County sheriff's deputies added the quilt to the "unsolved cases" section of their Web site.
"In case somebody happens to see something unique at a pawn shop, flea market — you never know," Young said. "It's just a shot in the dark. It doesn't hurt."
Sharpen Your Pencils! This Farm Is Yours for $100 and an Essay
ORWELL, Ohio (AP) — Get literary and get lucky and you might win a farm in the rural hinterlands of far northeast Ohio.
A couple will award their three-bedroom, two-bath ranch home and 43 1/2-acre farm in Ashtabula County to the winner of an essay contest on why the writer would like to win the farm. An independent judge will pick the winner.
The volunteer judge, whose name will be kept secret during the contest, has a master's degree and is studying to become a teacher, owner Rose Wallace said Monday.
To qualify, a contestant must submit an essay and a $100 entry fee by nonrefundable certified check or money order. The contest will be limited to 3,000 entries, which would mean $300,000 for Rose and Dennis Wallace, who plan to retire to Tennessee.
The property is assessed at $170,000 and real-estate agents value it at about $250,000, which means the Wallaces could net $50,000 more from the contest than the sale value.
Rose Wallace, 54, said the contest fees would be enough to pay off their mortgage and provide a down payment on a retirement home in the Pulaski, Tenn., area.
"People are leery when they hear about it," she said. "But this is for real."
The couple hopes a young family wins the farm. They raised three children on the farm after buying it 14 years ago and had previously lived in Cleveland and Sheffield Lake west of Cleveland.
"Somebody is going to get this farm for $100," said Dennis Wallace, 59.
The Wallaces had worried that they would struggle to sell the farm in the traditional manner given the area's slow-moving real estate market. A house up the street from them has sat vacant for two years.
Cordie Stevenson of Howard Hanna Price Real Estate in Andover estimated that the average property in eastern Ashtabula County spends at least six months on the market. She said sales prices seem lower of late, too.
Given the economic climate, Dennis said he and Rose "figured we'd take our chances."
They printed up hundreds of fliers promoting their "Win a Farm Essay Contest" and started tacking them up on public bulletin boards around the region.
The farm includes a six-stall barn, two pole barns, a stocked pond, fenced pastures and a small apple orchard.
Mark Samwick of Allentown, Pa., who runs Essaycontests.com, estimated that only about 5 percent of the win-a-home essay contests launched by private citizens end with the keys being passed. Most offers die out from lack of interest, he said.
The contest began in late March and more than 350 entries have been submitted, Rose Wallace said Monday, plus another 75 that were disqualified for reasons including failure to include the fee. The pace has been slower than the couple expected, she said.
With entries running about six or seven per day, it could take more than a year to reach the 3,000 threshold.
Public Just Loves the Courteous Bandit
TROY, Mich. (AP) — A bank robber released from the Oakland County Jail is considering job offers, plus several free housing options as he gets back on his feet.
On Monday, Lawrence Lawson recounted how broke and desperate he was leading up to the holdup. The 61-year-old laid-off automotive designer said he started looking for lesser-paying jobs and even considered trying to sell health care products door to door before deciding that being in jail was better than living on the streets.
Lawson said he faked passing out in the vestibule of a LaSalle Bank branch in the Detroit suburb of Troy to avoid a police struggle. His intent, he told police, was to get arrested and be placed in jail.
"It was a dumb thing to do," he said after his release Sunday. "It's horrible to be separated from your family and friends. I've apologized in court and to everyone else and the only thing I can add is that I was looking for food and lodging — in the wrong way."
Lawson said he should have turned to emergency public assistance but didn't know what his options were.
The Madison Heights resident made headlines when Oakland County Prosecutor David Gorcyca agreed to a plea bargain that allowed him to serve less than a year for bank robbery. He could have faced life in prison.
Gorcyca, who dubbed Lawson the "courteous bandit," said the robber was not dangerous or a habitual felon and argued Lawson was caught up in Michigan's economic climate.
Gorcyca made a public plea for employment and housing for Lawson.
Compiled by FOXNews.com's Sara Bonisteel.
The second in line to the British throne has signed up for Facebook and boasts 44 friends, the U.K. Telegraph reports.
Under the name William Wales, the recently single son of Princess Diana has reconnected with university pals, among them a bevy of British beauties — including ex Kate Middleton, the newspaper reports.
Sporting sunglasses and a ski hat, the prince has made cyber-ties with a couple of polo buds as well as pal Edward Blunt, who's posted a pic of the prince playing pool.
"Think that's more like it, although I didn't pot it," the Prince writes, according to the paper.
"Right arm needs to be straightened," his friend retorts. "You will never beat me till you work on your technique."
Guess the royal got a thrashing.
Prank, Eh ... You Don't Say?
GAHANNA, Ohio (AP) — Students arriving at Gahanna Lincoln High School on Monday morning were greeted by a 7-foot statue of a rosy-cheeked lad that was pilfered from a Frisch's Big Boy restaurant.
The 200-pound fiberglass figure of the chubby boy in red and white suspenders was reporting missing Saturday morning from its concrete base, only to turn up on the roof of the school in the Columbus suburb, police said.
Officers believe it may have been a prank by seniors, Gahanna police Lt. Jeffrey Spence said. No arrests had been made.
A school maintenance crew removed the statue with a forklift and returned it to the restaurant, Spence said. The statue, valued at $7,000, was not damaged.
"We're just glad to have it back," said Karen Maier, a vice president with Cincinnati-based Frisch's Restaurants Inc.
The company operates 88 Frisch's Big Boy restaurants in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana. Big Boy restaurants operate in other states under different franchisee names.
Court Deals With Fact, Not Feng Shui
BEIJING (AP) — A court in southern China, where several corrupt judges have been arrested, has denied hiring a feng Shui master to change its luck, a state-run newspaper said Tuesday.
The China Daily quoted an official from the Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court in southern Guangdong province as saying there was no truth to the allegation even though there has been some remodeling at the court.
Meaning wind and water, feng shui is the ancient Chinese art of trying to place things to achieve harmony with the environment.
It is common for Chinese businesses and households to change furniture and even placements of doors according to feng shui principles to overcome bad luck.
A Beijing News report last weekend, which was picked up by other Chinese media, said several changes had been made to the court following recommendations from a Hong Kong feng shui master.
The report "is nonsense and a malicious slander to a people's court," court spokesman Li Ruijian was quoted as saying by the newspaper.
Calls to the court rang unanswered on Tuesday.
The weekend report said the number of stairs on the court's eastern entrance had been reduced to nine from 11, as nine reflects longevity. Also, stone lions were placed at one entrance.
The newspaper said Li confirmed the changes but said the stairs were replaced because they were slippery and the lions were added "to maintain design integrity."
State media have reported that five of the court's senior judges were arrested last year for accepting bribes. Three were jailed in March.
CSI: Utah Puzzled by the Case of the Missing Shoe Quilt
DELTA, Utah (AP) — Millard County investigators want to put the wraps on a cold case: Who took the pastor's quilt?
The heirloom was stolen from the Rev. Dennis Cason's house, shortly before he returned home Dec. 12 and found a couple in their 20s seeking directions to Nevada. They were driving a blue Buick with Pennsylvania license plates.
"The pastor and his wife went inside and found a camera gone, the quilt gone," sheriff's Lt. Roger Young said.
Cason, pastor of Grace Baptist Church, said the quilt was made by his mother, Ellamay, before she died in 2004 at age 87.
"My wife worked on it also," he said.
The quilt has 25 high-heeled shoes from the 1920s in different colors. Antique buttons were used to adorn the shoes.
"We appreciated having it around," Cason said. "Of course, the whole family feels bad because it was going to be passed on to the others as time goes on."
Millard County sheriff's deputies added the quilt to the "unsolved cases" section of their Web site.
"In case somebody happens to see something unique at a pawn shop, flea market — you never know," Young said. "It's just a shot in the dark. It doesn't hurt."
Sharpen Your Pencils! This Farm Is Yours for $100 and an Essay
ORWELL, Ohio (AP) — Get literary and get lucky and you might win a farm in the rural hinterlands of far northeast Ohio.
A couple will award their three-bedroom, two-bath ranch home and 43 1/2-acre farm in Ashtabula County to the winner of an essay contest on why the writer would like to win the farm. An independent judge will pick the winner.
The volunteer judge, whose name will be kept secret during the contest, has a master's degree and is studying to become a teacher, owner Rose Wallace said Monday.
To qualify, a contestant must submit an essay and a $100 entry fee by nonrefundable certified check or money order. The contest will be limited to 3,000 entries, which would mean $300,000 for Rose and Dennis Wallace, who plan to retire to Tennessee.
The property is assessed at $170,000 and real-estate agents value it at about $250,000, which means the Wallaces could net $50,000 more from the contest than the sale value.
Rose Wallace, 54, said the contest fees would be enough to pay off their mortgage and provide a down payment on a retirement home in the Pulaski, Tenn., area.
"People are leery when they hear about it," she said. "But this is for real."
The couple hopes a young family wins the farm. They raised three children on the farm after buying it 14 years ago and had previously lived in Cleveland and Sheffield Lake west of Cleveland.
"Somebody is going to get this farm for $100," said Dennis Wallace, 59.
The Wallaces had worried that they would struggle to sell the farm in the traditional manner given the area's slow-moving real estate market. A house up the street from them has sat vacant for two years.
Cordie Stevenson of Howard Hanna Price Real Estate in Andover estimated that the average property in eastern Ashtabula County spends at least six months on the market. She said sales prices seem lower of late, too.
Given the economic climate, Dennis said he and Rose "figured we'd take our chances."
They printed up hundreds of fliers promoting their "Win a Farm Essay Contest" and started tacking them up on public bulletin boards around the region.
The farm includes a six-stall barn, two pole barns, a stocked pond, fenced pastures and a small apple orchard.
Mark Samwick of Allentown, Pa., who runs Essaycontests.com, estimated that only about 5 percent of the win-a-home essay contests launched by private citizens end with the keys being passed. Most offers die out from lack of interest, he said.
The contest began in late March and more than 350 entries have been submitted, Rose Wallace said Monday, plus another 75 that were disqualified for reasons including failure to include the fee. The pace has been slower than the couple expected, she said.
With entries running about six or seven per day, it could take more than a year to reach the 3,000 threshold.
Public Just Loves the Courteous Bandit
TROY, Mich. (AP) — A bank robber released from the Oakland County Jail is considering job offers, plus several free housing options as he gets back on his feet.
On Monday, Lawrence Lawson recounted how broke and desperate he was leading up to the holdup. The 61-year-old laid-off automotive designer said he started looking for lesser-paying jobs and even considered trying to sell health care products door to door before deciding that being in jail was better than living on the streets.
Lawson said he faked passing out in the vestibule of a LaSalle Bank branch in the Detroit suburb of Troy to avoid a police struggle. His intent, he told police, was to get arrested and be placed in jail.
"It was a dumb thing to do," he said after his release Sunday. "It's horrible to be separated from your family and friends. I've apologized in court and to everyone else and the only thing I can add is that I was looking for food and lodging — in the wrong way."
Lawson said he should have turned to emergency public assistance but didn't know what his options were.
The Madison Heights resident made headlines when Oakland County Prosecutor David Gorcyca agreed to a plea bargain that allowed him to serve less than a year for bank robbery. He could have faced life in prison.
Gorcyca, who dubbed Lawson the "courteous bandit," said the robber was not dangerous or a habitual felon and argued Lawson was caught up in Michigan's economic climate.
Gorcyca made a public plea for employment and housing for Lawson.
Compiled by FOXNews.com's Sara Bonisteel.
