The grocery store chain Food Lion, along with the other chains in the Hannaford family, is running The Great Grocery Giveaway contest, which involves shoppers receiving scratch-off cards for purchases they make in the store.
I’m not exactly sure how they determine how many scratch-off cards you’re supposed to get based on any specific dollar amount, because every time I shop there, though my tally is normally in the same general area, I’ve sometimes received two cards at once and sometimes received five.
For the most part, they had been stacking up …

This week, we saw a new hero emerge onto the American scene, a hero whose very appearance trumped two long-held tenets in our culture: first, that the customer is always right; and second, that airlines never get it right.
Former flight attendant Steven Slater, whose now famous (or infamous) exit from a JetBlue airplane after using the intercom to tell a passenger who had possibly assaulted him and probably cursed at him what she could go and do with herself, is now the stuff of t-shirts, buttons and Facebook pages.
And …

Every once in a while, a strange story pops up about a body being discovered belonging to someone who died without anyone taking any notice.
The most recent one I reported was the story of a 50-year-old who told his family he wanted to be left alone, then died in his room without his death (or absence) noticed for up to four years.
Now there’s a story out of Japan, regarding the man believed to be the nation’s oldest-living resident.  Only he was found to be no longer living, and likely never …

Forty-five years after its death, Roy Rogers’ beloved golden Palomino, Trigger, is returning to television.
The remains of the horse were purchased at auction for more than a quarter of a million dollars by RFD-TV, a rural program-oriented cable network.  The net also purchased the remains of cowboy’s dog, Bullet, a German Shepherd.  Bullet fetched a hefty $35,000.
Both animals were stuffed and mounted, and had been on display at the Roy Rogers & Dale Evans Museum before its closure in December of 2009.

A 50-year-old man tells his family he wants to be left alone, then goes into his bedroom and closes the door behind him.
His family apparently took him at his word. And didn’t bother him. For years. Until it was too late.

I’m not sure where this is from, but here’s something you don’t see every day: a dog leaving its mark on an automobile after an impatient driver honked at the canine.
I’m assuming this is genuine; there have been other videos posted that look a little less than authentic. If this is special effects, they did a really good job with them.
If it’s the real thing, it appears that someone needs to call animal control. If not for the dogs’ safety, for the automobiles’.

Most raccoons are content to wade through dumpsters and garbage cans in the endless search for a satisfying meal.
But a certain little raccoon in Flint, Michigan wasn’t content with such an unimportant existence.  He wanted his moment in the spotlight.  Actually, he wanted his moment in a room full of spotlights during a live newscast.

If you’ve got a little extra alimony lying around and have absolutely nothing planned for it, there’s a company hoping you’ll take advantage of the situation by celebrating the end of your marriage at the same time.
A New Jersey company is marketing the Wedding Ring Coffin, a symbolic way to mark the death of a marriage and give you a place to stick that wedding band of yours.
I am not making this up:

If anyone needed proof that our society is getting more and more ridiculous by the day, I present a new survey about the importance of text messages.

I found a hilarious video from 1969, the year I was born, that predicted a major technological advance that would be a normal part of our home.

Which are you?
An Orlando TV news director reportedly issued an unusual homework assignment to his staff, according to Gawker, to prepare them for what an upcoming “newsroom summit:” he wants his employees to vote for both the “battery chargers,” those who are a positive influence in the newsroom and who display signs of having a strong work ethic, and those who are the “battery drainers,” people who have a lousy attitude and poor work ethic.
So if your name appeared in either column, which column would that most likely be?
Okay, now …

I’ve been hearing a lot of news viewers lash out at the media about how much attention Tiger Woods received at the Masters.
Many of them have absolutely no interest in golf, and couldn’t name the past two or three Masters champions, I’d bet. Tiger Woods just happens to be an oh-so-easy excuse to lash out at the media in general.
Their typical complaint is that they’re tired of hearing the name Tiger Woods. Or that there were other golfers besides Woods at Augusta. Or that there were honorable …