Believe it or not, financial news can be amusing. Sure, there are the serious stories, covering things like Google's (Nasdaq: GOOG) plan to store medical records and Garmin's (Nasdaq: GRMN) competitive pressures. But don't overlook the quirky nuggets. Here's a recap of some of the more unusual financial news out there:

  • It's a financial transaction guaranteed to make you shout out, "Hey, Mabel. Listen to this." In Colorado, a couple paid for Girl Scout cookies with a fake $100 bill. They got the goodies and $93.50 in (non-fake) change.
  • If Smithfield Foods (NYSE: SFD), the world's largest pork processor and hog producer, wants to boost support of pork in America, it might take a page from England's pork industry, which is calling attention to rising costs and plunging profits via a song floated on the Internet: "Stand by Your Ham." Heck, struggling American carmakers such as Ford (NYSE: F) might save their own bacon via a well-chosen hit song. Maybe a Springsteen-inspired "Made in the U.S.A."?
  • Companies such as Sony (NYSE: SNE) and Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) that make money from DVDs might consider drumming up even more interest by promoting alternate uses of the discs. Consider, for example, the South Carolina man who walked away with just a bruise after being shot in the stomach at a Waffle House -- thanks to a DVD in his pocket. (The DVD's ending was not so happy.) And, by the way, if you're looking for companies with innovative ideas, check out our Motley Fool Rule Breakers newsletter.
  • Can you imagine auctioning off your record collection on eBay (Nasdaq: EBAY) and being disappointed with a winning bid of $3 million? Well, that's how Paul Mawhinney, owner of a record store called Record Rama, feels. The bid turned out to have been fraudulently submitted. It would have brought Mawhinney about $1 per item, as he has roughly 3 million LPs, 45s, CDs, cassettes, and eight-tracks. This is a good reminder to us all that the things we "invest" in and treasure, that seem so valuable to us, may not seem so valuable to others.

Enough silliness, though. We at the Fool aim "to educate, amuse, and enrich." I invite you to read any other article in Fooldom for at least a little education and perhaps some enrichment, as well.