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If you don't say 'I do,' you'll wish you did

By TIMES WIRES
Published January 6, 2007

Wouldn't it be funny if, when they got to the part of the wedding where they ask the bride if she takes this man, blah, blah, blah ... if she said "No?" Just as a joke? Ha! Just make sure the official performing the ceremony is in on it, otherwise there could be problems. According to the Austrian newspaper Oberoesterreichischen Nachrichten (really), a woman there was among those that thought it would be hilarious if she did that, and the civil official called off the nuptials as a result. And no amount of crying was going to change his mind. The couple had to wait 2 1/2 months before they were able to try again. This time, everyone was very serious.

Meteorite goes through the roof

A family in Freehold Township, N.J., came home on Tuesday to find a hole in the roof and some weird metallic rock embedded in the wall of the bathroom. The police came out to look at it, and took the 13-ounce, golf-ball sized rock into custody to be studied, or at least to find someone to determine what the heck it was. A team of geologists from Rutgers University decided it was an iron meteorite. Eh, they said, as many as 50 rock-like objects fall every day over the planet. "It's not all that uncommon to have rocks rain down from heaven," said Carlton Pryor, a professor of astronomy. The police are holding on to the rock for now, but promise to give it back.

Robbery victim: not in my house

Marquis Anderson is under arrest in connection with some home robberies outside Dallas. But he isn't talking. Because he can't. Police say that Anderson broke into the home of Prentice McKinney on Wednesday after stealing a gun in a nearby home. McKinney caught him in the act, and the intruder took a shot at him, missing. The Dallas Morning News reports that just made McKinney mad. He jumped Anderson, took the weapon, and began beating him with it. "(McKinney) said ... he just kind of lost it," said Steven Flowers, the neighbor who was robbed. When police got there, they found Anderson bleeding and unconscious. The police plan to give Anderson a place to stay once he gets out of the hospital.

We saved Osama for this year!

You would think constantly fighting terrorism might drag on the morale at the Homeland Security Department. Not so, if Frances Fragos Townsend's attitude is any indication. She's an adviser for the department. On Dec. 28, she was being interviewed on CNN, when she was asked if the fact that Osama bin Laden was still among the free and living is a failure of the Bush administration. Her reaction may be the all-time glass-half-full response in history: "Well, I'm not sure," she said. "It's a success that hasn't occurred yet. I don't know that I view that as a failure."

[Last modified January 6, 2007, 00:20:25]