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Among friends
'I've always loved 'Frog and Toad' and 'George and Martha.' Those are the ultimate friendship books. They hold up to a million kinds of reading," says Jon Scieszka, one of two authors who will be in the Triangle in September to sign new books with the theme of friendship. Scieszka's picture book is "Cowboy & Octopus" (Viking, $16.99, ages 4-9), and Deborah Wiles' novel is "The Aurora County All-Stars" (Harcourt, $16.00, ages 9-12).
"Cowboy & Octopus" rivals the classic friendship stories with the humorous twist that Scieszka is known for. The book's initial pages show the matching genius of illustrator Lane Smith as two cardboard characters emerge from disparate worlds, Cowboy cut from a paper doll book and Octopus sheared from a comic book. The two are plunked down in childlike collages, and then comes the mission of the Scieszka and Smith's 16th collaboration: Can they make us believe in this unlikely friendship?
"The challenge was to get the characters out of the stereotypical picture of what they
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Contents may have shifted during flight: Woman gives birth on Southwest
Southwest Airlines employees on a flight between Chicago and Salt Lake City helped bring about the miracle of life Friday morning before the plane could make an emergency landing in Denver, airline officials said.
The flight, Southwest 441, was scheduled to fly to Boise after stopping at Salt Lake City. Southwest officials say it appears the woman and her family were headed to Boise, but it isn't clear if the family lives here or planned a visit.
"Whoa," Captain Gary Jesperson said after the airplane finally made its way to Boise. "We were enjoying a beautiful day and the weather. Then (a flight attendant) said 'We have a woman going into labor.' I'm going, 'OK, that changes things.' "
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Consumers get second chance at TV coupons
Consumers whose government-issued coupons for digital-TV converter boxes expired can reapply for them, federal officials said Tuesday.
Millions of Americans waited too long to redeem the $40 coupons, learning too late that they expired after 90 days and the government wouldn't replace them. In some early cases, consumers couldn't use the coupons because retailers weren't yet stocking the boxes.
The coupons are intended to help defray the cost of the boxes necessary to convert digital television signals to analog. Customers who rely on over-the-air television and do not have newer, digital TVs need the boxes to continue getting signals as stations switch to digital broadcasts by June 12.
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Finding the 'there' in a small town
On the way to and from Indian Beach, we pass through the small towns of Warsaw, Beulaville, Richlands and, sometimes, when we miss the turn on to N.C.24 off Interstate 40, we inadvertently visit Chinquapin.
The more Raleigh grows, the more intense my love affair with small-town America, even though as we cross the flatlands of Eastern North Carolina, I find myself sometimes paraphrasing a once popular song, "What do they do on a rainy night in Richlands?"
I imagine the natives have a good answer to that.
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Her desire turns to 'Mush!'
Most days Linda "Lindy" Franciose can be found at her aromatherapy shop, E'Scentials Therapeutic Skin Care and Massage in Wake Forest, where the sound of New Age music softly plays from unseen speakers.
On Saturday, Franciose will trade the tranquil whiffs of myrrh, lavender, peppermint and eucalyptus oils for the howl of Arctic winds, the scent of dogs and the commands, "Mush! Mush!"
In celebration of her first wedding anniversary, Franciose will ride across the wilds of Alaska during the first leg of the famed 1,150-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.
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