OFFBEAT NEWS:

Fancy Public Bathroom Opens In New York City

Next time you have to pee in New York City, you might want to make a trip up to the New York Public Library. A nearby public bathroom has opened after two months of renovations costing a whopping $300-thousand.

The john features delivered flowers, imported titles, classical music and artwork and is open to any and everyone.

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Firefighters Have To Deal With A Pet Alligator And A Massive Fire

Only in Australia! As if being a firefighter is dangerous enough, those responding to a call in Darwin had to deal with the blaze all while under the watchful eye of a pet alligator.

Fortunately for the firefighters, Albert, the 13-foot-long croc, was kept in a backyard enclosure and wasn’t injured by the two story fire. “Thankfully the crocodile didn’t affect our operations at all,” firefighter Bill Gleeson says. “It’s well contained and clearly unaffected by fire. He seemed quite happy to look at me as I was protecting the premises.”

Homeowner Helen Haritos explains she inherited Albert from her crocodile hunter father back in 1992. It’s unclear whether Albert will be removed from the home or not.

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Man Catches Rat In His House, Puts It In Shackles

Most people understand the frustration, and gross out factor, of having a rat or mouse in your house. For one man in Taiwan, he decided to publicly shame the animal.

Lee Wei-chin was finally able to catch the pesky intruder inside his Taichung City home. He then shackled the animal and put its arms inside inside mini stocks, the Medieval-era punishment device.

Wei-chin posted photos of the captured animal on social media and they went viral. The reaction has been mixed. While some think the stunt is funny, others are calling for Wei-chin to either kill the rat or let it go.

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Police in Oregon Get a Call About a Cat With an Assault Rifle in a Tree

The cops in Newport, Oregon got a call earlier this week from someone who was worried because they saw a CAT in a tree . . . holding an assault rifle.

When the cops got there, they took a photo . . . and it really DID look like the cat was holding a little miniature gun.

Fortunately, it turns out the gun was actually just a branch, so the cops determined the cat wasn’t a threat and they left.

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STUPID CRIMINALS:

A Couple on a First Date Get Into a Brawl Over Splitting the Bill

One of the results of all the progress toward gender equality is more women are offering to pay . . . or at least split the bill . . . on first dates.  Here’s a RIDICULOUS case of that going horribly wrong.

A 37-year-old man and a 38-year-old woman in Hong Kong went on a first date to a Japanese barbecue restaurant on Sunday night.  And clearly, the date went pretty well, since they stayed for three hours and drank three bottles of sake together.

Then the bill came, and it was high:  $274, about $150 of which was the alcohol.

The guy still insisted on paying, but the woman REALLY wanted to throw in because it was so expensive, so she gave him about $65 in cash.

But he TORE up the cash she gave him.  The argument escalated, it wound up getting PHYSICAL . . . and the two of them started brawling in the restaurant.

They both ended up in the hospital. The guy DID wind up paying the full bill, by the way.  And the cops are still investigating so criminal charges could be coming.

A Guy Crashes Into an Auto Parts Store . . . Where He Was Going to Get Brake Parts

A guy named Leonard Owens was driving to an Advanced Auto Parts store in Dry Ridge, Kentucky on Tuesday morning because he needed to fix his brake lines.

And apparently he REALLY needed those parts, because as he was pulling into a parking space, his brakes failed . . . and he SMASHED right through the front of the store.

Fortunately, no one was hurt.  The police haven’t said whether he’ll be cited.

Man asks police to bring a drug dog to his house…because someone stole his heroin:

This happened in January but the report was just released.  A 20-year-old guy named Joseph Murphy from Bath Township, Ohio called 911 and told them he needed a drug-sniffing police dog.

Why?  He said a woman had stolen his HEROIN, and he wanted the dog to help him find it.

The cops came and Joseph repeated all of that to them.  And then, I guess, he realized the woman HADN’T stolen his heroin . . . because he pulled it out of his pants.