Lest you focus solely on the more serious stories in the financial press -- how Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE:AMD) is striking back at Intel (NASDAQ:INTC), or how Target's (NYSE:TGT) credit card revenue is flagging -- here's a brief recap of some of the more unusual financial news out there:

  • Home Depot (NYSE:HD) and Lowe's (NYSE:LOW) might want to keep an eye on toilet prices, because they appear rather volatile lately. The city of Seattle paid $1 million apiece for five self-cleaning public toilets, only to change its mind about keeping them. The city last week ended up auctioning off its $5 million purchase for $12,549.
  • Makers of maps and signs might be able to boost profits if they can come up with products that turtles can understand. In Italy, 60 just-hatched sea turtles recently got lost while looking for the sea, and ended up marching into an Italian restaurant, catching diners off guard.
  • Stungun-maker TASER (NASDAQ:TASR) has struggled lately, but it might be able to juice sales if it starts marketing its products as wedding favors. A Chicago couple got so raucous at their own wedding reception that they ended up zapped by police stun guns and spent their wedding night in jail.
  • The International Robbers Guild might want to lobby carmakers to make more automobiles with keyless locks. A drugstore burglar in Texas recently ended up getting arrested after fleeing the scene of his crime on foot, having locked his keys in the car. (At stressful times like that, just before you rob a store,  you're rather likely to have trouble dealing with keys.) The gun he had used to rob the store was a caulking gun.
  • The folks at Harley-Davidson (NYSE:HOG) might want to add more storage capacity to their motorcycles. A rider near Los Angeles lost some money when his computer bag ripped, releasing lots of cash. Traffic on the interstate highway suddenly stopped while motorists rushed to grab bills.

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. Here's one I'd recommend: How to Become an Accidental Billionaire.