Hello hello to all, and welcome to yet another edition of the ever-popular....

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Neko's

Offbeat News Clips!

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"The Truth Will Make You Fret!"

Crispy Critters!

A man in Havre, Montana claims to have found a crispy fried mouse in his bag of Frito-Lay's Barbecue chips. Jack Hines, a 66-year old retiree, was snacking on the chips when he pulled out the toasty rodent.

"Good thing I seen it, I got it all the way up to my mouth. I felt the fur. I brought it back down and looked at it and threw it behind my back."

A spokesman for the company said he felt "very skeptical" after seeing a photo of the not-so-munchy mouse, and stated that items of this nature usually occur after the product was shipped from their plant. He cited a similar case earlier in the year that occured in Colorado, in which a mouse had chewed its way into a bag. He also notes that Hines had the bag for two weeks, and had opened it a week before discovering the mouse.

A representative from the company was dispatched to collect the rodent remains and the chip bag from Hines, which will then be taken to the company headquarters for an autopsy...er, examination.

NekoNote: I don't think I could eat even just one....

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Sam, The Shoplifting Seagull

It seems that cheese-flavored chips are the favorite for at least one seagull in Aberdeen, Scotland. For the last three weeks the seagull, nicknamed "Sam", walks into a local convenience store, quickly grabs a bag of chips, and walks out toting the snack in his beak. Once outside, Sam tears the bag open and shares his ill-gained munchies with other birds.

The owner was able to capture on his cell phone a video of the rascally bird, who always seems to target the same brand and flavor.

NekoNote: Um, maybe he's trying to find his mouse?

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I Can't Put My Finger On It, But This Seems Dumb....

In Neilsville, Wisconsin a masked would-be robber attempted to hold up a drugstore using the tried-and-true method of pointing his finger as if holding a gun in his pocket.

Problem was, his hand wasn't in his pocket....

When the pharmacist laughed at him and asked him if this was a robbery, the masked man said "YES, this is a robbery!" and tackled the pharmacist. During the scuffle, the mask was pulled from the man's head, revealing his identity as 30-year-old Joel D. Peterson, who had been banned from the store earlier for trying to fill forged prescriptions.

NekoNote: Sounds like his brain had had enough drugs, already. Guess his Mom never told him pointing at people is rude.

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Some REALLY Dirty Money

Debbie Hulleman's dog Pepper really enjoys munching on things that aren't good for dogs, like lipstick, ball-point pens, and shampoo bottles. So it probably shouldn't have come as a surprise when Pepper decided to eat an envelope containing $750 while Debbie was on vacation.

Pepper was staying with Ms. Hulleman's mother, and somehow got the envelope out of a purse belonging to a friend. The mother was able to recover some when the dog spat it up, and they thought they had found all that was retrievable - until Debbie returned from vacation and went to clean her mom's yard. That's when she noticed a $50 bill sticking out of a pile of...well, you know...

[spoiler] [/spoiler]

"It wasn't that bad, I soaked and strained it, and rinsed it. I just kept rinsing and rinsing it. I had rubber gloves on, of course," she said. After a little more excavation, the family was able to recover an additional $400, bringing the recovered amount up to $647. The "laundered" money was then exchanged at a bank.

Ms. Hulleman said about the incident, "Everyone said, "I can't believe you did that." Well, for $400, well, yeah, I did do that."

NekoNote: That's it...I'm never touching cash again...it's electronic banking, or else I'm carrying Lysol in my purse....

Big Mac Messes Up Economist Index

Due to a slight misunderstanding, The Economist magazine overvalued the New Zealand dollar by 68% because of an error in calculating the price of a Big Mac.

The Economist's widely-followed Big Mac Index, a guide to how far currencies are trading at fair value, is based on the theoury of purchasing power parity. In this case, that means exchange rates shoud make the cost of a Big Mac the same in every country. "The correct price should have been $3.59 (1.74 punds), representing a 5% overvaluation of the New Zealand Currency against the dollar. Sorry," the magazine said on its Web site.

NekoNote: You mean somebody thought that using a place with a clown as a spokesperson was a good idea?

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Scary Pop Singers Scare Off Punks

According to management sources at Carter's Steam Fair (a carnival in London, England) the best way to get rid of the local hoodlums that like to stir up trouble is to start playing some Clff Richards tunes. It seems the musical croonings of the 66-year old pop singer hath charms to run off even the wildest punks who like to make the fun-fair their local hangout.

After the man that handles the sound booth decided to play such old-time hits as "Living Doll" and "Be Bop A Lua", the rather pleasantly surprised management discovered the rowdy element would disperse to parts that were a bit quieter.

"It was amazing, it was just like a scene in the movie Mars Attacks when the aliens were driven away by the
sounds of Slim Whitman," said manager Seth Carter.

NekoNote: Hah! Cower in the face of TRUE evil, mere mortals! :twisted:

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It'll Get Better If You Pick It

At least one Austrailian doctor encourages us not only to pick our noses, but to be sure to swallow the spoils!

Dr. Friedrich Bischinger, a lung specialist, believes that people that pick their nose with their fingers are generally healthier, happier, and in better tune with their bodies. "With that finger, you can get to places you just can't reach with a handkerchief, keeping your nose far cleaner. And eating the dry remains of what you pull out is a great way of strenghtening the bodie's immune system," Ananova quotes Dr. Bischinger as saying.

"Medically, it makes great sense, and it's a perfectly natural thing to do. In terms of the immune system, the nose is a filter in which a great deal of bacteria is collected and when the mixture arrives in the intestine it works just like a medicine." he added. He pointed out that kids happily pick their noses, yet by teh time they become adults they have stopped, under pressure from a society that has branded it disgusting and anti-social. He says society should adopt a new stance on the habit, and encourage kids to take up the habit.

"I would recommend a new approach where children are encouraged to pick their noses. It is a completely natural response and medically a good idea as well."

NekoNote: So from now on, don't flick 'em, lick 'em!

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9-Year Old Steals Car Back

Police in China were pretty surprised when they got a report of a young boy who crashed a car into a truck. But once they had taken the child into custody, the story got a bit stranger.

The unidentified boy was riding in the car earlier that day when two men hijacked the car, pulled the boy's mother from the vehicle and took off...without realizing they had an extra passenger. At some point the theives stopped and got out of the vehicle while the engine was running, and the 9-year old was able to slip undetected into the driver's seat and drive off with the car.

Hands shaking, he told the officers, "Some people stole my mom's car, and I drove it away when they weren't paying attention."

NekoNote: Why, yes, officer....as a matter of fact, I DID get my licence out of a box of CrackerJacks....

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Police in Hanau, Germany are holding a man in custody that they say used his underpants as a weapon. The man was accused of hiding on a train without a ticket. He had hidden in the train's restroom to avoid the ticket controllers. When the train stopped in Hanau, he ran off, but police pursued and quickly caught the sneaky hitcher. Once he got to the police station, however, he suddenly ripped off his pants and underwear, and began hitting the officers in the face with the undergarmant. He also threatened them with a beer bottle, but they managed to disarm him of that. A small quantity of marijuana was found in one pocket of his pants. He faces charges of bodily harm and obstructing the police.

NekoNote: So remember, everyone - always wear clean underwear when you go out, you never know when you may have to attack someone! (Unless you're SinkO, then you'd just better run....:D :D :D)

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And that wraps up another edition of Neko's Offbeat News...until next post, keep it real! (And don't forget to comment! ^_^)