The Odd Truth, Oct. 19, 2004
The Odd Truth is a collection of strange but factual news stories from around the world compiled by CBSNews.com's Brian Bernbaum.
Godzilla, As Symbol
LAWRENCE, Kan. - Professors at the University of Kansas want people to take "Godzilla" more seriously.
They've organized a major scholarly conference on the giant lizard-like movie monster that terrorized Tokyo. It's their way of marking the 50th anniversary of the first "Godzilla" film that many feel evoked the fears of the atomic age.
Godzilla's debut came less than a year after the U.S. tested a hydrogen bomb in the South Pacific. In the film, similar testing disturbs Godzilla's peaceful undersea habitat - transforming him into a rampaging, fire-breathing killer.
Campiness aside, organizers of the conference, which begins later this month, want to provoke discussion of globalization, Japanese pop culture and Japanese-U.S. relations after World War Two.
TV Sends Distress Signal
CORVALLIS, Ore. - An Oregon man's flat-screen TV is loaded with all the bells and whistles – including one option that has authorities scratching their heads.
A couple of weeks ago Chris van Rossman's Toshiba with built-in VCR, DVD and CD player starting emitting the international distress signal.
An orbiting search and rescue satellite picked up the signal and relayed it to the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center in Virginia.
Van Rossman had no idea until airmen, deputies and Corvallis, Oregon, police were knocking on the door of his apartment.
The errant signal was traced to his TV set. Van Rossman was warned to keep the TV off or face a $10,000 fine for sending a false distress signal.
A spokeswoman for Toshiba says they've never heard of this sort of problem before. But the company is promising to give van Rossman a new TV.
Man Sets Fire To Home Following 'Day After Tomorrow'
CORDELE, Ga. - The disaster wasn't just on Charles Alton Adams' TV. Crisp County, Georgia, authorities report Adams set fire to his mobile home after watching the disaster flick "The Day After Tomorrow." In the movie about global warming and a resulting ice age, the characters set fire to just about anything they can find to keep warm. According to Crisp County Sheriff Donnie Haralson, Adams said he drank nine or ten beers and decided to set fire to the pillows on his bed. If that sounds kind of strange to you - you're not alone. Sheriff Haralson says the whole thing doesn't make much sense. Adams has been charged with arson and is being held on bond.
Burglar Accidentally Hangs Himself
DUBLIN, Ireland - A suspected burglar accidentally strangled himself while trying to break into a house in the southwest Irish town of Tralee, police said Monday.
Police said the homeowner discovered the body of a man Sunday afternoon hanging from the outside frame of a bathroom window. The victim appeared, they said, to have been standing on a lawnmower while trying to break in when he slipped off - and his sweater caught on a hook, choking him.
Police declined to name the victim but confirmed he was from the nearby city of Limerick and was on their list of local criminal suspects.
Chinese Satellite Part Crashes Into Apartment
BEIJING - There are some things you just can't prepare for - like having part of a Chinese satellite crash through your apartment building.
A published report says a capsule crashed into a four-story building Friday, in southwestern China. No one was hurt, but the woman who lived on the top floor where it hit had just left five minutes earlier.
A photo in the Tianfu Morning News shows the kettle-shaped capsule, which appeared to be about six feet long, lying amid broken bricks, beams and roof tiles.
The incident was a minor embarrassment for a fledgling Chinese space program. But one resident saw it differently, saying "Maybe this means we'll have good luck this year."
Unwitting Taxi Hired For Cross-Country Pot Run
RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. - A California man has been sentenced to six years in prison after admitting he hired a taxi driver to drive him and his concealed stash of more than 100 pounds of marijuana cross-country.
Brandon Coy Hill, 29, of Compton, pleaded guilty Tuesday in Pope County Circuit Court to possessing a controlled substance with intent to deliver.
According to court records, Hill hired the cab driver to take him from California to Jackson, Tenn., under the guise of needing to attend a college function. Amaral's lawyer said Amaral was offered more than $2,000 to make the trip.
Twenty hours into the trip, Amaral was stopped Oct. 25, 2003, by Pope County sheriff's Lt. Scott Rentfro on I-40. Rentfro said he was trying to get on I-40, and initially stopped Amaral because the taxi driver would not allow him to merge, staying in the right-hand lane. The officer said he also noticed Amaral was driving slowly and erratically, according to court documents.
When Rentfro stopped the taxi, Amaral gave him consent to search the vehicle, although Hill appeared nervous and fled on foot, according to the police report. Rentfro then discovered 109 pounds of marijuana in Hill's suitcase in the back seat of the cab.
Under the plea agreement, charges were dropped against the taxi driver, Erasmo Amaral, who helped authorities find Hill after Hill fled when the taxi was stopped on Interstate 40.
"This is a classic case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time," said Amaral's attorney, Jeff Phillips of Russellville.
An Award-Winning Performance
OSLO, Norway - An amateur film crew might deserve acclaim for the authenticity of their robbery scene, although it won't be coming from their unwilling extras, the Oslo police.
The filmmakers rented a downtown Oslo bar, set up their lighting and sent in the actors - their faces covered in balaclavas and wielding realistic but fake weapons on Sunday.
It didn't take long before the actors found themselves facing real police officers with real weapons, making national news on Monday.
"I called the police earlier in the week, but I should have called the operations leader (Sunday)," the film director, Sarzad Samsamim, told newspapers. "It's my fault."
The team from K-film, Norway's oldest amateur film club, was making a short movie called "Uncertain," which included the robbery scene.
A passer-by saw the filming, but didn't realize it was fake and called the police, who raced to the scene in five cars and with weapons, even though Norwegian police are typically unarmed.
"One of the police officers came toward me, aiming his pistol," one of the actors, Irasj Asanti, told the Oslo newspaper Dagbladet. "I dropped everything and shouted 'this is nothing. It's a film scene."'