UPI NewsTrack Quirks in the News

Mouse in bun claim disputed by bakers

CHARLOTTE, N.C., Nov. 4 (UPI) -- Bakery executives are insisting that what appeared to be a mouse baked into a hot dog bun bought by a North Carolina man was actually a quirky chunk of dough.

Bruce Van Dyne told WCNC-TV in Charlotte, N.C., the official explanation from Arnold's Breads about the unnerving shape was a phenomenon known as "pan accumulation," an industry term for hardened dough accumulated in a pan.

Van Dyne was shocked when he pulled out a bun recently and found one of them with an imperfection that sure looked like what was left of some hapless rodent that took a wrong turn while scurrying around Arnold's Florida production line.

But Van Dyne told WCNC Arnold's master baker personally inspected the item and declared it just an oddball illusion.

Van Dyne says he isn't so sure about the baker's conclusion due to the amount of detail in the shape, and North Carolina state inspectors have opened their own investigation.

Burglary suspect stuck in duct

DES PLAINES, Ill., Nov. 4 (UPI) -- A burglary suspect spent nearly 26 hours hanging face down in a narrow exhaust duct, said the Des Plaines, Ill., restaurant owner who found him.

"The guy was really lucky I went for the mail today. If I'd have waited until tomorrow, he never would've made it," Scott Hodlmair told the Chicago Tribune in a story published Tuesday.

The suspect, who apparently broke several ribs, allegedly tried to enter Hodlmair's closed restaurant through a roof vent Sunday and then became stuck upside down hanging over the kitchen stove, said Hodlmair, who intends to press charges for what he said was $20,000 worth of damage.

The Des Plaines police could not be reached for comment.

Calif. company developing flying car

SACRAMENTO, Nov. 4 (UPI) -- A California company says it's working on a flying car that would lift drivers above idling rush-hour traffic with the flick of a switch.

Moller International of Sacramento, Calif., is modifying a Ferrari 599 GTB, outfitting it with retractable wings, eight mounted engines and a battery-powered booster that would enable it to soar as high as 2,500 feet in the air, the New York Daily News reported Tuesday.

Called the Autovolantor, the idea was suggested by a wealthy Russian investor and is being developed into a $3 million prototype, said Bruce Calkins, general manager of the company.

"At first, we were very skeptical," Paul Moller, the company's chairman, told the Daily News, but added that after initial testing, "We were surprised by how practical it became."

Moller has a background developing vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, the newspaper said.

Ky. scouts overcome bottle cap hoax

HIGHLAND HILLS, Ky., Nov. 4 (UPI) -- Kentucky girl scouts who were tricked into collecting 15,000 bottle caps as part of a hoax say they are thrilled they've found a real use for them.

The Girl Scouts of America Kentucky Wilderness Council Troop 1050 from Highland Heights, Ky., like other local residents, believed they were helping to pay for a boy's cancer treatment by collecting bottle caps. But the disappointment that came from learning the boy didn't exist turned to happiness when the girls found out a Minnesota hair products maker could really use the caps to help the environment, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported Tuesday.

Aveda Corp. of Blaine, Minn., operates a bottle cap recycling program to make new metal caps rather than plastic caps for its shampoo and other products, company officials told the newspaper.

"We realized there was a lot of plastic pollution in our waterways and oceans that causes a lot of death of marine life," said Evan Miller, director of new and environmental media for the Aveda.

"We were so excited that something good came out of something that was so bad," Troop 1050 leader Melissa Wulfeck of Cold Spring, Ky., told the Enquirer.