CHURCH’S GAlACTIC SERVICE TO CElEBRATE STAR WARS RElEASE
Children carried toy lightsabers to a church in Berlin and some of the congregation dressed up as Darth Vader recently to mark the release of the new Star Wars movie with a service on Sunday. At the terracotta-brick Zion Church, an organist played the movie series’ theme and Ulrike Garve, a vicar in training, opened the Protestant service with the words “The wait is over — the Force has awakened!”
A screen set up next to the altar showed a clip from a Star Wars movie in which luke Skywalker fights off Darth Vader and declares to The Emperor that he will never turn to the Dark Side. Garve and fellow vicar in training lucas ludewig, fans of the seven-part epic space movie series, said Skywalker’s actions showed it was important to eschew violence.
Speaking to a packed church with capacity for 500 people, they said this was also a message found in the New Testament of the Christian Bible, in which some passages refer to overcoming evil with good. “The more we talked about it, the more parallels we discovered between Christian traditions and the movies,” said Garve. “We wanted to make churchgoers aware of these analogies.”
(Reuters)
GRANNY lOCKED IN lOO FOR FOUR DAYS KNITS SCARF
A British grandmother locked in a public restroom for four days said she kept warm using a hand dryer and passed the time by knitting a scarf. Gladys Phillips, 82, said she was out shopping in Felixstowe, England, when she made a pit stop in a public restroom that she didn’t realise was not yet open to the public. Phillips said she soon discovered the door had locked behind her, trapping her inside the restroom. “I was not really concerned at first when I couldn’t get out,” Phillips told the Suffolk Gazette. “In fact I was just relieved I’d managed to go to the loo!”
Phillips said she was trapped for four days before workman found her putting the finishing touches on her scarf. “It was a great relief when the nice builder turned up and opened the door. He got quite a shock, I can tell you,” she said.
The grandmother said she lives on her own and doesn’t have a phone, so her family didn’t realise she was missing. “They have now been on at me to get a phone installed at home — and one of these mobile phone things for when I’m out shopping,” she said.
A town official said the incident highlights the hospitable design of the new restrooms. “We’re glad Gladys is none the worse for her ordeal. The fact that she was quite happy in the loo for four days does, however, show how modern and hi-tech it is,” he said.
(UPI)
ANIMAl CONTROl lURES ESCAPED PIG USING DONUTS
Tennessee animal control found a creative way to capture an escaped pig — by luring the animal with donuts. The loose pig made its way to North Germantown Parkway and Cedars Road as local police used donuts to lure the pig to safety.
A photo posted to the Bartlett Police Department’s Facebook page shows an animal control officer luring the pig using the sweet doughy treat. Who doesn’t love a good donutIJ” the post read. The City of Bartlett Animal Shelter arrived soon after to claim the pig and applauded the officer for her wrangling skills, saying this likely won’t be her last encounter with a pig.
(UPI)
NO DOG-EAT-DOG POlITICS: CITY BACKS CAT FOR MAYOR
Tired of the dog-eat-dog politics in their Russian city, the residents of Barnaul say they want a cat to be their next Mayor. The Siberian city of 650,000 people, which lies 2,900 km east of Moscow, is to get a new Mayor soon when a commission comprising the city council and the regional Governor choose from among six candidates. But none of the six appear to spark much affection among Barnaul’s residents. An informal online poll asking residents to express their preferences among the six and a Siamese cat named Barsik showed the feline nabbing more than 90 per cent of the votes.
Barsik has attracted much amused attention in the Russian news media. Still, some local politicians understand there’s a more serious message coming from the people of Barnaul, which like many Russian cities has been riddled with alleged corruption. “Through the image of Barsik, the cat, our people are sending definite wishes to the future head of Barnaul,” says regional Gov Alexander Karlin.
“The conclusion has been made that there’s absolutely no trust among voters for any of the candidates,” said local Communist Party official, Ivan Karpov.
(AP)
PROFESSOR FINDS EVIDENCE HITlER HAD ONE TESTIClE
A German historian found evidence confirming that Adolf Hitler had only one testicle, corroborating speculation it was the result of a congenital abnormality not a war injury. Professor Peter Fleischmann, of Erlangen-Nuremberg University, said he uncovered medical documents from 1923 identifying Hitler with “right-side cryptorchidism,” or an undescended right testicle. The records show Dr Josef Steiner Brin examined Hitler in landsberg prison after his failed Munich putsch attempt. Hitler was described as “healthy and strong” with an undescended testicle. If true, the records contradict previously held beliefs Hitler lost his testicle during the Battle of the Somme in World War I.
(UPI)