Lifestyles

	Two Hoke residents win Iron Mike Award Hoke County residents, Jackie Flowers (left) and Carleen Meckenstock (right) have won Fort Bragg's Iron Mike Award for outstanding volunteers. Carleen Meckenstock is also shown below with her two sons Cody and Hunter.

Durham man wins 1st in cooking contest Victor Friedmann of Durham is getting some statewide recognition after winning first place in the Turkey Festival Cooking Contest. Michael Hastings, Food Editor with the Winston-Salem Journal (www.journalnow.com), provides an excellent report on the contest winners. Hasting's explains how Friedmann’s One Awesome Burger! combined turkey and turkey sausage with Cajun spices. Jean Hart of New Bern won 2nd place with her Elegant Turkey Crepes with broccoli and cheese in the filling and a white-wine sauce on top. (link to www.journalnow.com)

	iTunes now sell without copy protection Apple's iTunes Store recently began selling songs without copy protection in a strategy that may become a model for others. The iTunes Plus songs, priced at $1.29 per track, will now work on portable players other than Apple's iPod, including Microsoft's Zune. May Wong with The Seattle Times reports on this new development. (link to www.seattletimes.com)

Laura Snyder's "Laura on Life" "Encouragement Leads to Idiocy" by Laura Snyder.

Ask Sally: Online advice column Husband gets heat for not sharing all information and saying wife overreacts.

	Yahoo Music offers free lyrics Yahoo and Gracenote have signed a deal that allows Yahoo Music to offer free lyrics for more than 400,000 songs. This development has resulted in speculation that Apple will eventually make a similar deal with Gracenote to transfer song lyrics to iPods. (link to www.itwire.com.au)

	Kiss in India sparks public outrage Actor Richard Gere kissed Indian actress Shilpa Shetty which triggered anger and protests in several cities in India. The kissing, which took place at an AIDS awareness rally in New Delhi, was played on TV and reported in newspapers. Protesters said that Mr. Gere had insulted Indian culture by kissing the hand and face of the actress. (link to www.bbcnews.com)