Utter Oddness

Via WIBC:

Officials with a child advocacy group are trying to retrieve some 1,000 plastic ducks that remain on the loose following a Fort Wayne duck race last month.

Stop Child Abuse & Neglect says 17,000 ducks were placed in the St. Joseph River for the annual fundraiser duck race on June 19, but were swept away by the current and only 15,000 were retrieved the same day.

Spokeswoman Jennifer Boen says about 1,000 of the rogue ducks have been recovered and some have been spotted as far away as Ohio.

The group says it’s working with the city water department to catch the remaining ducks. Officials also are taking boats downstream to search the riverbanks for runaways.

The group’s website says it doesn’t want to do anything to jeopardize the beauty of the river.

I’m thinking to only be missing 1,000 out of 17,000 isn’t too bad…those are numbers I can live with.

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God Bless Hardee’s…

USA Today – A cheeseburger sold as a foot-long sandwich, with three burgers and three cheese slices, is being tested at 50 Carl’s Jr. restaurants in Southern California and 50 Hardee’s units in Indiana. That’s the same chain that introduced the world to the 1,400-calorie Monster Burger and the Monster Breakfast Sandwich, with 47 grams of fat.

“We live in a society that’s fascinated with all things big,” says Scott Hume, editor of BurgerBusiness.com, an industry trade site. “It’s inherently American to push for something bigger and better than anyone else has.”

The foot-long burger idea was hatched two months ago from a product development chef at Carl’s, says Brad Haley, marketing chief. The chain is especially eager to create products that appeal to its core customers: young men ages 18 to 24. “Obviously, the foot-long sandwich has been very successful at Subway. But we decided to do it the Carl’s way.”

That means big — and controversial. The sandwich has 850 calories with 20 grams of saturated fat. It’s served on a white sub roll, sliced in half and wrapped in butcher paper.

If it’s a hit in testing, it could be sold at all Carl’s and Hardee’s — sister chains in different regions of the country — within three to six months, Haley says.

Responds Haley, “I’d rather have a charbroiled, foot-long cheeseburger than a cold, foot-long deli sandwich any day.”

Say what you will, but I love the fact that Hardee’s is up front about their food not being the most healthy option out there.  But boy, is it tasty.  I love that Indiana is a Hardee’s test market as there is always some sort of odd creation that they’re touting.  I may have to give the footlong burger a whirl…I only wish they had a Mushroom & Swiss option.

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Via WTHR:

Goshen, Ind. – The Indiana Department of Natural Resources believes a hybrid of a rare tropical jungle cat is living in a vacant lot in Goshen.

DNR spokesman Phil Bloom says an Indiana conservation officer went to investigate Wednesday after a neighbor spotted an unusually large cat living there. Bloom says experts looked at photos of the cat and believe it is a hybrid of an ocelot, which are native to South America.

Bloom says there is an online market for ocelot hybrids, which is an ocelot crossed with another kind of cat.

More crazy people with exotic pets are trying to kill us all.

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The Broad Ripple Condom Thief

by Brian Groce on July 18, 2010

in Brian's Blogs,Utter Oddness

Via WISH TV:

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – Metro Police are looking for a man who gave a Broad Ripple security guard a hard time while stealing several boxes of condoms from grocery store.

Officers were called around 9:30 p.m. Tuesday to the Marsh supermarket located at 2350 Broad Ripple Avenue. The security guard told investigators he witnessed a man shoving several boxes of condoms down his pants.

The guard told police he initially followed the man to the prophylactic aisle because the man matched the description of the suspect in a previous condom theft at the Marsh.

Wow. Is a 45-year old man is either embarrassed to buy condoms or find himself a place that gives them away for free?

View this post at Blue Shotgun » Odd News

The Naked Cooking Burglar

by Brian Groce on October 7, 2009

in Brian's Blogs,Utter Oddness

Via Fox News:

SLIDELL, La. — Police say a naked man who appeared to be drunk or on drugs broke into a Louisiana home, cooked himself a meal and took a shower before leaving, wrapped only in a sheet.

Slidell Police Capt. Kevin Foltz says a video surveillance system at the home captured the naked man using a garden hose to shower outside the house around 1 a.m.

The in-the-buff burglar then tried knocking on the front door, police said. When there was no response, he went to the back of the house and wrapped himself in a trash bag, according to FOX 8.

The man allegedly broke several windows, entered the house and ransacked it before cooking himself a meal, having several drinks and showering again.

After all these years this sort of thing just doesn’t surprise me any more.  My hunch is that the man was drunk & high and might have some other “friends” talking to him as well.  From the outside this might seem funny, but in actuality it’s really sad and scary.  This guy is really lucky that he didn’t break into the wrong house.

View this post at Blue Shotgun » Odd News

No More Naked Pizza Deliveries

by Brian Groce on October 7, 2009

in Brian's Blogs,Utter Oddness

Via SeaCoastOnline:

PORTSMOUTH — A pizza delivery person bringing an order to a city residence on Saturday was met by a naked man for the fourth time, say police.

According to the city’s public police log, at 5:42 p.m. on Sept. 26, police were called to a Holiday Drive residence where the delivery person said “when they deliver pizza there the resident comes to the door naked.” Police Lt. Rodney McQuate said the delivery person has encountered the naked resident during four different pizza deliveries, but did not wish to press charges.

So it’s apparently 4 strikes are you’re out in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.  After the first time I’d be wary of showing up again. And after the second time I’d definitely not be coming back again. But maybe that’s just me.

View this post at Blue Shotgun » Odd News

October Oddness 2009

by Brian Groce on October 5, 2009

in Brian's Blogs,Utter Oddness

October Oddness is here once again and this time we’ve launched a new website to keep everything in order in one place since they were scattered all over the place. We have begun rolling out podcasts and blog posts and are adding Halloween themed Haiku’s, costume ideas as well as listing fall festivals &  haunted houses. Check it out and send in your own contributions.

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Snake with foot found in China

by Brian Groce on September 24, 2009

in Brian's Blogs,Utter Oddness

Via Telegraph:

“I woke up and heard a strange scratching sound. I turned on the light and saw this monster working its way along the wall using his claw,” said Mrs Duan of Suining, southwest China.

You’ve got to go to their site to see the picture. This is a bit out there even for me.

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Terre Haute Outlaws Feeding Cats

by Brian Groce on September 12, 2009

in Brian's Blogs,Utter Oddness

Via the Indy Star:

Giving food or water to feral cats that have not been spayed or neutered is now illegal in Terre Haute.

The new ordinance also increases the city license fee for an unsterilized cat or dog to $100, up from the current $25. Licenses for pets that have been spayed or neutered will cost $5.

So let me get this right. You’re supposed to know if a feral cat has been spayed or neutered just by looking at it? And they really desire to eliminate all cats and dogs? I’m not fond of cats and dogs, but that sounds outright crazy to me.

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Piranha Caught in the Wabash

by Brian Groce on August 25, 2009

in Brian's Blogs,Utter Oddness

Via the Indy Star:

Dean Asbury was fishing with his father Sunday night near the Harrison Bridge in Lafayette (Indiana), looking for catfish, when Asbury pulled a piranha from the fishing hole.

The 21-year-old Lafayette man said he had no idea what kind of fish it was at first.

“My dad actually stuck his thumb in its mouth, because we didn’t know what it was,” Asbury said. “It bit down on him and he said, ‘It’s got teeth.’ ”

Maybe piranha’s are attracted by the stench of the Wabash River? Or maybe it was a prank on Purdue by those pesky IU kids?

View this post at Utter Oddness » Brian