The Odd Truth, Nov. 17, 2003
The Odd Truth is a collection of strange but factual news stories from around the world compiled by CBSNews.com's Brian Bernbaum. A new collection of stories is published each weekday. On weekends, you can read a week's worth of The Odd Truth.
Chopstick Removed From Eye
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - Malaysian surgeons treating a man for an eye infection said they were surprised to find part of a chopstick embedded in his face - the result of an assault five years ago.
Doctors at a government hospital in the northern city of Ipoh said they found the section of a wooden chopstick lodged in tissue between his eyes during exploratory surgery to remove an unknown foreign object, the national new agency, Bernama, reported.
Dr. Gurdeep Singh Mann, the hospital's senior eye, nose and throat specialist, said the man, Ng Keng Choon, was lucky to be alive because the chopstick had been nudging against his brain.
Ng, 30, a parking lot attendant, was beaten up five years ago by attackers who threw a shroud over his head. But he didn't seek medical attention until recently, when he developed an eye infection that left him unable to move his right eye, Gurdeep said.
"Someone stabbed him with the chopstick after covering his face with a gunny sack," Bernama quoted Gurdeep as telling reporters in Ipoh. "A portion of the chopstick broke and was stuck across from his right eye to the left eye near the nose, and touched the brain."
"If the stick had gone another half-centimeter deeper, he could be dead," he said.
Ng said that after the initial attack, he had no pain or other clue that there was a lasting injury, until the infection developed.
"I really didn't know there was a chopstick in my eye," Ng said. "I am feeling better now."
Niagara Faller Joins Circus
HIDALGO, Texas - The only person to survive a plunge over Niagara Falls without a safety device has run off and joined the circus.
Kirk Jones, 40, planned to make his debut as the "world's greatest stunt man" during a Friday night gig with the Toby Tyler Circus, now touring Texas' Mexican border towns.
Last month, the former auto parts salesman from Canton, Michigan, jumped over the Canadian side of the falls and somehow emerged from the rushing foam with only a few broken ribs.
Jones said circus promoters called him a few days ago and promised him something "spectacular." He would not say what his act would involve.
Jones said that after going over the falls, he has a new appreciation for life, and plans on writing a book with his brother called "You're Kidding Me: A Knucklehead's Guide to Surviving Niagara Falls."
He still faces charges of mischief and unlawfully performing a stunt in Canada.
People who lined up Friday to buy tickets for the circus were unimpressed with Jones' career change.
"So he's a celebrity now?" said David Saenz, 36. "I really think he's taking it a little too far. I'm glad that he made it alive, that's a miracle. But to brag about it?"
Mongolia Hosts Camel Beauty Contest
BEIJING - Shiny hair. Upright humps. Sharp outfits. And definitely no swimsuit competition.
If you're in the market for a beautiful camel, those are apparently the things you might want to consider. And in northern China, they're doing just that - holding a dromedary beauty contest as part of what is billed as "the first international camel festival."
The beauty competition in the Inner Mongolia region attracted nearly 100 dressed-up camels "as well as more than 2,000 fans," the official Xinhua News Agency said Saturday. It didn't specify who the "fans" were or where they came from.
The judges, mostly experienced camel herders, described the criteria for victory to Xinhua: The camels, they said, "should have good appearance - shiny hair and upright humps - and should be good dressers wearing beautiful halters and saddles in a proper way."
The contest was held in a community called Alxa League, known as the "camel hometown." It has one-third of China's camels and is the main habitat for the double-humped Bactrian camel, Xinhua said. The two-humped Bactrian is indigenous to Mongolia and was domesticated some 3,000 years ago.
Dry weather in recent years has hurt the area's environment, though, and Xinhua said the number of camels has dropped to 68,000 from 250,000 in the 1980s.
Festival sponsors said they wanted the camel beauty competition to generate more attention for the beasts.
"We hope the government can set up a natural reserve and a genetic database for Bactrian camels to keep a stable population of the species while promoting the development of camel product enterprises," said an Alxa League official, quoted by Xinhua.
Ahh, The Smell Of Progress
LYON, France - The sidewalks of the French city of Lyon were littered Friday with more than 10,000 dog droppings. Luckily for pedestrians, most of them were plastic.
The phony poops were the work of Lyon metropolitan area municipal officials trying to get people to do something that's never been done in France: obey the pooper-scooper law.
The bright red plastic excrements were meant to raise awareness about the law and remind violators that they face a $45 fine for letting their dogs soil the sidewalks.
Hinting at the difficulties of getting police to actually impose the penalties, the fake dog-doo had little messages inside that read, "Is fine enforcement the answer?"
So far, the effort to get the French to clean up after their dogs is long-standing - and an abysmal failure. Despite new laws, the sidewalks of France's major cities remain pungent minefields of canine excrement.
Other cities have also turned to scatological messages to get pet owners to pick up their messes. Paris recently put up full-sized posters of dog excrement as a graphic reminder.
Hong Kong Croc Continues To Elude Capture
HONG KONG - A small crocodile that has gained fame by thwarting numerous attempts at capture has done it again - slipping into murky creek waters early Monday as an Australian hunter got almost close enough to bag it with a harpoon.
The croc became a local celebrity by skillfully eluding Hong Kong officials for almost two weeks, and Australian croc expert John Lever, who flew in to finish the task, also has been coming up empty-handed since Friday.
Lever reportedly learned his craft from indigenous crocodile-worshiping people in Papua New Guinea. He spotted the croc three times in the pre-dawn hours of Monday and once got close, but not close enough.
The croc was hiding in some grass but was tipped off to the impending danger when Lever's small boat bumped the grass. The croc sensed the vibrations and plunged to safety.
"I was just about to thrust the harpoon when the boat touches the grass and he feels that," said Lever, a croc farmer from Queensland state.
The 4-foot crocodile has shown up repeatedly in local newspapers and TV broadcasts - with jaws wide open - and it has attracted big crowds in the suburban New Territories. It is the first crocodile ever seen in the wild in Hong Kong and may be a former pet or an escapee from a mainland Chinese croc farm.
Lever told reporters he'll try again Tuesday night when the tide seems right.
Pitchfork Through The Windshield
ALEXANDRIA, Va. - A pitchfork may seem like an odd choice for a good luck charm - until you hear Stuart Roy's story. He was driving across the Woodrow Wilson Bridge just outside Washington D.C. yesterday, when a pitchfork came crashing through his windshield. Roy says the farm tool came loose from a vehicle heading the opposite way. He says the only thing he could do was hang onto the steering wheel - and duck when the pitchfork hit his SUV. The prongs were just inches from his face. One snagged on the driver's side door, which may have saved his life. Some might consider getting hit by a pitchfork bad luck. But not Roy. The northern Virginia man says he's saving the flying tool - as his good luck charm.
When Politics Gets Dicey
WASHINGTON TERRACE, Utah - Mark Allen has won his third term as mayor of Washington Terrace, Utah, thanks to a roll of the dice.
He and challenger Robert Garside tied in a November fourth election with 724 votes each.
Utah law says tie votes must be decided by drawing lots. Usually that means anything from flipping a coin to drawing a name out of a hat.
But the city recorder says they felt that rolling dice was a more fair way to make a choice.
So with a quick flick of their wrists, Allen rolled a four and a one Friday - beating Garside's roll of a pair of two's.
Both candidates says they consider the outcome of the race fair.
Washington Terrace is about 33 miles north of Salt Lake City.
New World Pillow-Fighting Record Set
CORVALLIS, Oregon - Knocking the stuffing out of each other may also set a record if Oregon State University students are recognized for what they hope was the largest pillow fight in history.
Unofficially, 766 people showed up at Oregon State on Friday to take part in the jumbo pillow fight in hopes of topping the Guinness Book of Records mark set by 645 people who staged a mass pillow brawl in Garnett, Kansas, last June.
"It's awesome to see part of OSU's community come down and do this," said Lige Armstrong, a 21-year-old liberal studies major from Hawaii who organized the event as part of a class project.
Armstrong and five classmates in Communications 322 - a class also known as Small-Group Problem Solving - got an assignment a couple of weeks ago to "do a project with no parameters."
They simply had to organize a group event, said their professor, Michael Beachley, who watched Friday's chaos in front of OSU's Memorial Union building.
The class divided into 10 groups to stage the fight, which had to last at least one minute for each participant. Past class projects have included bungee jumping, skydiving or something as simple as a dinner party.
Pillow fight sign-up sheets with the 766 names will have to be sent to Guinness, based in London, and it will take six to eight weeks to verify the record, Armstrong said.