Free Republic

A McDonald’s customer has been charged with robbery after he emptied a cup of water and filled it up with soda from a machine in a restaurant in Arkansas. Cody Morris, 18, and two pals went to a drive-thru in Springdale and and asked for large cups of water. But they then parked their car and dumped their cups before filling them up with soda. [snip] But Morris reversed his car and drove off, allegedly hitting the manager as he made his getaway. Police arrested Morris at a nearby bowling alley. It is unclear if he will face any charges...

If you lived in parts of the Mid-Atlantic, South, or Midwest in the ’80s or ’90s, you were probably familiar with the discount department store chain Hills. (If you aren’t from that area, when you read this story, substitute your favorite now-defunct local or regional department or discount store for Hills.) This week, a local YouTube channel and a candle company teamed up to create a scented candle, and created a frenzy. Hills stores had snack bars in the lobby, which were nothing unique: popcorn, fossilized hot dogs, soda, and Icees were all available. The stores also had housewares, clothes,...

The Arby's manager told police Anderson jumped on the front counter and demanded food. The man then jumped off the counter and allegedly grabbed the manager and forced her towards a wall. The manager told police the man then grabbed a hand full of bacon and chicken and walked out of the business. "He was possibly under the influence of some sort of narcotic or intoxicant or suffering from some type of break with reality. He did mention that he is from four years in the future and that is how people will get food during that period of time,"...

I was walking across the parking lot at the grocery store when I noticed two of the employees having a discussion by one of the traffic islands. I don't know why they call them traffic islands. You really can't take a good vacation on one. I tried once. I put up my lawn chair and grabbed a beer out of the cooler. The policeman told me that only Hobos and girls car wash employees could camp out on traffic islands. I didn't have a beard and wasn't wearing a bikini top, so he ran me off. I'll leave you to...

Not many substances are as widely studied as tea. Now, the verdict is in. The bottom line: if you're not drinking tea on a regular basis, it might be a habit worth starting. That's because when it comes to your health, tea packs a powerful punch. Combined studies examining literally hundreds of thousands of tea drinkers led a vast array of scientists to conclude that a consistent dose of tea is good for the body. Most of the research was conducted in Asian countries, on people drinking hot, green tea. The amount mattered. Usually people only experienced health benefits if...

ST. JOSEPH, MO (WJHL) – One of the most popular menu items at a well-known fast food restaurant is undergoing a test of sorts. McDonald’s is about to test a new business model in Saint Joseph, Missouri – with a new twist: All-you-can-eat fries.

When I was a kid, the milkman came right to our back door. He brought us bright glass bottles of rich whole milk and thick sweet cream. We drank a lot of milk. Nobody had heard of skim. On weekends my dad cooked up breakfasts of eggs fried in butter, piles of bacon, delicious German sausages. For dinner, we had big chunks of fatty meat every night. That was in the 1950s. Nobody was fat, except for one lone girl at school who everybody picked on. Most kids ate like horses and were skinny as rakes. Then the experts came...

PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi said Monday the company is reshaping its product lineup to better reflect the growing interest in healthy eating and noted it has reduced its reliance on colas for sales. The maker of Frito-Lay snacks, Mountain Dew, Naked juices and Quaker Oats now gets less than 25 percent of its global sales from soda, Nooyi said. And she said just 12 percent of global sales comes from its namesake soda. Representatives for PepsiCo were unable to provide how those figures have changed in recent the years.The remarks underscore PepsiCo’s recent shift in tone as the world’s biggest...

A trial of ‘grooming traps’ is aiming to eradicate one of the biggest threats to Australian wildlife – feral felines. Robotic killers that detect feral cats, spray their fur with poison and rely on them to essentially lick themselves to death have been deployed in the Australian desert for the first time. Australian night parrot legend lives on but bird remains as elusive as ever Read more Feral cats are one of the biggest threats to many of Australia’s endangered species, killing millions of animals every day throughout the country – and controlling them has proved difficult. It took John...

The most famous, and most popular, after dinner drink in Northeastern Italy is grappa. We introduce it in many ways to our guests on our walking tours and private cycling adventures – served as a digestivo, to aid in the digestion of a wonderful meal, or added to espresso as a caffe corretto, an ammazzacaffe, where a few ounces of grappa are served after you finish your espresso, or a resentin (little rinser), where you rinse out your espresso cup with a few drops of grappa. However you choose to enjoy it, you will find a vast variety of grappa...

First, don't be intimidated, because it's easy! Easy Method:1 4-5lb Corned Beef Brisket from the market in the Cryo bag1/4 cup black pepper corns1/4 cup Coriander Seeds2 Tbsp Mustard Seed1 Tbsp Garlic PowderDirections:1. Unwrap brisket, rinse and soak in large pan of fresh cold water for 1 hour2. Combine all seeds and pepper corns into a coffee grinder and grind courseAdd to little bowl with other ingredients and stir. That's your rub.3. Remove brisket, dry thoroughly and cover in the rub. Let sit in fridge for 1-2 hours...dry4. Start you smoker during this time. Smoke at 250deg (I use mesquite,...

A young British Muslim best known for winning a popular baking show has said she will bake the official cake for the queen’s 90th birthday. Nadiya Hussain, whose parents are from Bangladesh, said that she would be making an orange drizzle cake and orange curd and orange buttercream. “When I told the kids [that I was making a cake for the Queen,] the boys were great at keeping it a secret,” Hussain said on the TV show Loose Women, where she is a panelist. The 31-year-old added that the cake would be “very citrusy.” “I was like, yep, yep, I’m...

Many societies, especially those of the Americas and China, have a history of using cayenne pepper therapeutically. A powerful compound with many uses, cayenne pepper is currently gaining buzz for cleansing and detoxifying regimes such as the Master Cleanse, which uses the spice to stimulate circulation and neutralize acidity. Cayenne pepper has been used for a variety of ailments including heartburn, delirium, tremors, gout, paralysis, fever, dyspepsia, flatulence, sore throat, atonic dyspepsia, hemorrhoids, menorrhagia in women, nausea, tonsillitis, scarlet fever and diphtheria. 1. Anti-Irritant Properties Cayenne has the ability to ease upset stomach, ulcers, sore throats, spasmodic and irritating coughs,...

<p>FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — Salmon caught off the Pacific Coast may be harder to find in stores this summer and cost more with tight restrictions imposed on fishermen who anticipate pulling fewer of the prized catch into their boats, officials said Friday.</p>

Stories of Churchill's special relationship with alcohol are legendary. Eleanor Roosevelt, who was his host at the White House during World War II, was astonished "that anyone could smoke so much and drink so much and keep perfectly well." ... Churchill drank several brands of champagne such as Giesler, Moet et Chandon, and Pommery, but Pol Roger was his clear favorite. Every year on Churchill's birthday, the charming and shrewd Odette Pol Roger sent him a case of champagne. (His other great friend, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, sent him caviar — until they fell out over Churchill's Iron Curtain speech.)

Long before we had 'The Pioneer Woman', we had a Pioneer Lady: Jane Watson Hopping, who published many cookbooks featuring old-fashioned recipes and reminiscences of country life. Last weekend, while Liz was posting those beautiful, fresh, Spring-like salads, we were having weather that was very bitter for April - biting winds, low temps, and even some snow. At the thrift store I found Hopping's book, 'The Pioneer Lady's Hearty Winter Cookbook', and it seemed perfect for the strange April day that we were experiencing. The book is full of recipes; but remarkable for how the recipes are framed by old...

A woman lost in an Arizona forest for nine days survived by drinking pond water, eating plants and spelling out “help” on the ground with sticks, authorities said Tuesday. The sign helped lead rescuers to Ann Rodgers, 72, in the White Mountains of eastern Arizona earlier this month, the state Department of Public Safety said. Rodgers declined to comment when reached by The Associated Press. However, Rodgers told a Tucson TV station on Tuesday that she had food and water in her car but ran out after several days and turned to survival mode.

A curry house chef prepared food after wiping his bottom with his hands - because he doesn't use toilet paper for 'cultural reasons', a court heard . Mahbub Chowdhury, 46, had an empty bottle in his kitchen which inspectors discovered was covered in fecal matter. He said he filled the bottle with water from the kitchen taps and used it to clean his bottom after visiting the toilet - and did not use paper for cultural reasons. Chowdhury then prepared dishes including meat and fish curries at his Yeahya Flavour of Asia in Swindon, Wilts. He pleaded guilty to 10...

"As we slowly moved down to the bottom of the seafloor, all of the sudden we saw these things," Pineda said. "At first, we thought they were biogenic rocks or structures. Once we saw them moving—swarming like insects—we couldn't believe it." The crabs are Pleuroncodes planipes, or tuna crabs, and are usually found around Baja California. The Panamanian coast is a long way from home. "No one had ever found this species that far south," Pineda said. "To find a species at the extreme of their range and to be so abundant is very unusual."

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Sedgwick County commissioners are being warned by the state not to ask participants in the federal Women, Infants and Children program about their citizenship. The Wichita Eagle reports the Kansas Department of Health and Environment says asking about immigration status before the state changes eligibility requirements could result in termination of the county's contract to operate WIC.