Kathy and her boyfriend went to a wedding in Hamilton, Ontario. Not knowing the wedding couple that well, they presented a basket of food items as a gift. After the wedding, the bride texted Kathy to ask for a receipt because one of the couple was gluten-intolerant. Then it got weird.

“I want to thank you for coming to the wedding Friday,” it begins.

“I’m not sure if it’s the first wedding you have been to, but for your next wedding … people give envelopes. I lost out on $200 covering you and your dates plate . … and got fluffy whip and sour patch kids in return. Just a heads-up for the future.”

Kathy was shocked but then made the mistake of engaging in an email exchange about the incident.  

Gift-givers: “… to ask for a receipt is unfathomable. In fact it was incredibly disrespectful. It was the rudest gesture I have encountered, or even heard of.”

Newlyweds: “Weddings are to make money for your future … not to pay for peoples meals. Do more research. People haven’t gave gifts since like 50 years ago! You ate steak, chicken, booze, and a beautiful venue.”

Gift-givers: “It’s obvious you have the etiquette of a twig, I couldn’t care less of what you think about the gift you received, “normal” people would welcome anything given, you wanna have a party, you pay for it, DON’T expect me to.”

Newlyweds: “You should have been cut from the list … I knew we were gunna get a bag of peanuts. I was right.”

Kathy then turned to a local Facebook group to see who was in the wrong. The consensus they received was that the gift was lame, but the bride was unbelievably rude for complaining about it. The bride maintains that she was shafted as Kathy and her boyfriend were one of only two guests that didn't give them at least $150 in cash, as was expected in their culture. Oh, there's more to the story you can read in the Hamilton Spectator. What do you think? I was raised to believe that gifts are never expected, required, or requested, but always appreciated, no matter how small. Link -via Fark

(Imzage credit: Barry Gray/The Hamilton Spectator)

If a dalek once thought it was a soufle-baking girl, then it's totally possible that one might one day believe it is The Doctor. When that day comes, Megan Murphy knows exactly how the impersonator will dress -no matter which incarnation the dalek decides to impersonate.

Link Via The Mary Sue

Tis more serious than the fashion police! Fashion designers Dolce and Gabbana have just been found guilty of tax evasion by an Italian court and sentenced to more than a year in jail:

Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana were accused of having transferred control of their brands to a shell company in Luxembourg in 2004 and 2005 to avoid paying Italian taxes.

Prosecutors had argued that setting up the Luxembourg company Gado -- an acronym of the surnames of the two designers -- while the company was operating out of Italy was a bid to defraud the state.

In her closing speech, prosecutor Laura Pedio said there was "rock-solid proof" that the duo had committed "sophisticated tax fraud".

Well, perhaps they'll come up with a new and chic line of prisonwear: Link

Ice cold Coke in a bottle is wonderful, but the Colombia division of the ad agency Ogilvy & Mather has gone even further. It made and served bottles of Coke made of solid ice. I'd love to try that!

You can watch a promotional video at the link.

Link -via Unconsumption

The creators of Sesame Street have always kept up with modern issues facing today's children. They've tackled hunger, divorce, military deployment, and even loss of a friend. Now, the lesson turns to incarceration.

Meet Alex, the muppet whose dad is in jail:

According to a Pew Charitable Trusts report, one in 28 children in the United States now has a parent behind bars -- more than the number of kids with a parent who is deployed -- so it’s a real issue, but it’s talked about far less because of the stigma.

That’s why the Sesame Workshop says it created the “Little Children, Big Challenges: Incarceration” initiative, an online tool kit intended to help kids with a parent in prison find support and comfort, and provide families with strategies and tips to talk to their children about incarceration.

Alex is blue-haired and green-nosed and he wears a hoodie – you might think he’s just another carefree inhabitant of Sesame Street. But there’s sorrow in Alex’s voice when he talks about his father.

“I just miss him so much,” he tells a friend. “I usually don’t want people to know about my Dad.”

It’s easier for kids to hear such things from a Muppet than an adult, creators of the initiative noted.

A. Pawlowski of TODAY has more: Link

Theo, a part-Siamese cat in Ipswich, England, is a kleptomaniac, although he would probably describe himself as a "collector." Paul Edwards and girlfriend Rachael Drouet began noticing things around the house that they did not recognize. First it was cat toys.

Mr Edwards said things "escalated" after that.

"We've had things like muslin cloths, fluffy pens, a USB phone charger cable, a child's piece of art which they'd obviously spent most of the morning making - a glorious thing with lots of different colour feathers and leaves stuck to it, lots of things.

"We've got some other neighbours who have young children and quite like the cat so [they] had encouraged him into the house.

"He started stealing things from them and it kind of went downhill from there."

Edwards says his neighbors are mostly understanding, and has set up a Facebook page to post the stolen items and reunite them with their owners. Link -via Arbroath

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My sister once had a cat that hated cat food, loved dog food and tried to steal steaks off of the plate -he was the most dog-like cat I think I've ever seen and I'm pretty sure he would even make Shorty and Kodi look more cat-like. Even then, these two are still pretty darn doggish.

Via Pets Lady

The best thing about this happy Harry Potter family is that the adults told the kids they would be going as Professor McGonagall and Dumbledore only to shock the kids by showing up as two of the most evil characters in the series.

Link

Dorothy Baker-Flugence of Baytown, Texas and two of her children were in her van when a carjacker appeared in the backseat. He threatened them with a knife. Mrs. Baker-Flugence said, "You messed with the wrong witch*" and went into action:

"She got the knife," Flugence said. "She got a cut that goes across her chest. She grabbed the knife and he bit her hand."

Police say the woman ran her van intentionally off the road trying to disorient the attacker. She was hoping that a 911 dispatcher would hear what was going on, and find a way to sent help. But when she saw a telephone pole, she sped up and targeted it, feeling it was a risk she had to take.

"I thought, 'If you swerve and hit the pole, he's not wearing a seatbelt, he'll go through the windshield or at least hit his head, and you can stop him. You can do something to make sure that he doesn't hurt your kids,'" Dorothy Baker-Flugence said. "That's all I was thinking of really, was just to get him away from my kids."

Police add that Baker-Flugence punched the man in the face and when she stopped, he jumped out of the vehicle. That's when she reportedly turned the tables and ran over him.

That's the way we do it in Texas.

Link -via Gawker | Image: KTRK

*She probably used a different word.

It seems like a silly question, as we tend to think of spaghetti and meatballs as an Italian feast. But like many Chinese-American recipes, what we eat in the U.S. is quite different from what you'll find in the old country.

If you go to Italy, you will not find a dish called spaghetti and meatballs. And if you do, it is probably to satisfy the palate of the American tourist. So if not Italy, where does this dish come from? Meatballs in general have multiple creation stories all across the world from köttbullars in Sweden to the various köftes in Turkey. Yes, Italy has its version of meatballs called polpettes, but they differ from their American counterpart in multiple ways. They are primarily eaten as a meal itself (plain) or in soups and made with any meat from turkey to fish. Often, they are no bigger in size than golf balls; in the region of Abruzzo, they can be no bigger in size than marbles and called polpettines.

So there are meatballs in Italy. And marinara sauce. And spaghetti noodles. But combining them was a process made in America. Read about how Italians immigrants in the U.S. developed the spaghetti and meatballs we grew up on. Link

(Image credit: Flickr user Roger Ferrer Ibáñez)

Maybe a better question would be, "Are YOU a Geek Dad?" This chart is spot on, but quite age-specific. My dad was real geek, but predated most of the references. He certainly played a mean game of chess. Link -via Bits and Pieces

Want to practice your tags but don't want to commit a felony by vandalizing property? Then head to the forest with a few rolls of cellophane. Bam -instant disposable walls you can spray paint as much as you want.

Link

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If you're enjoying a barbecue for Father's Day, hopefully you will enjoy your steaks, corn, hamburgers or other grilled treats at least half as much as little Peanut here enjoys his tasty corn.

Via Cute Overload

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Twin babies play with rubber bands. Doesn't sound all that exciting on the surface, but their joy and laughter make you smile and watch the whole thing. (via Daily Picks and Flicks) 

This little boy began his adventures at only five days old. He's already seen and done more than many adults! For her series "Blackboard Adventures," Anna Eftimie used a chalkboard to add excitement and variety to this baby's life. You can view more photos in the series at the link.

Link -via Twisted Sifter | Photographer's Website