The Odd Truth: Santa Shot!

The Odd Truth is a collection of strange but factual news stories from around the world compiled by CBSNews.com's Joey Arak.

You'll Shoot Your Eye Out, Kid

SHAMOKIN, Pa. - Santa definitely knows one boy was not nice this year.

A 17-year-old is accused of firing a pellet gun from a second-story window, hitting a man dressed as Santa Claus on Monday night. Police said the boy confessed.

Scott Slodysko, a volunteer fireman, was riding atop a fire truck when he heard a popping sound at an intersection.

"It felt like a bee stung me - like a very bad bee sting."

Slodysko said he knew immediately that somebody with a pellet gun was to blame.

He described the wound as "a black-and-blue mark about the size of a silver dollar" and said the attack won't stop him from portraying Santa next year.

"We do this for the kids," Slodysko said. "I just can't believe someone would do something like that."

Silent But Deadly

HONG KONG - Some "Fart Bomb" toys are producing more than a bad smell.

Officials are pulling the toys from shelves because the gag gift - a metallic bag that gives off a stench - produces a dangerous chemical reaction, the government said.

Customs officers have seized 263 bags and are urging parents to hand in any of the unused toys to a consumer protection bureau, a government statement said Tuesday.

The toy includes a silver-colored bag labeled "Fart Bomb." The bag contains sulfur compound powder and an inner plastic bag of diluted acid, the government said.

"When players press the package to break the inner plastic bag, the sulfur compound powder will then come in contact with the acid," the statement said.

"The package will be inflated and then burst, giving off a disgusting smell," it said. The sulfur-acid mixture produces hydrogen sulfide, which can cause nausea, headaches and eye irritation, the government said.

What's In A Name?

MADRID, Spain - Tickets bought in a town whose name means "Luck" shared the top prize Wednesday in Spain's El Gordo Christmas lottery, the biggest pot in the world.

The winning coupon number, known as El Gordo, or the "Fat One," was 54600 and was picked from the golden drums by school children who sang it out in a time-honored cadence.

The Gordo uses a complex system of shared numbers that divides wealth among millions of people holding numbers that go from 00001 to 66,000. Complicating matters further, each of those 66,000 numbers is repeated 195 times with different serial numbers.

All 195 tickets bearing this year's winning number were sold in the Catalan town of Sort, whose name means luck in the northeastern region's language.

The tickets, carrying a total of $2.8 million in prize money, were sold in the town's single lottery outlet, named the "The Golden Witch."

The standard coupon costs $28 and can earn its holder a maximum $280,000.

Sort has sold many winning tickets over the years, including many of the top-prize tickets in last year's Gordo. As a result, thousands of people from all over Spain flock each year to the town to try their luck.

Billed as the world's richest, the Dec. 22 lottery gives out $2.4 billion in winnings.

Will Moo For Brew

NORWAY, Iowa - This brewski's for Bessie. Eastern Iowa farmers are spiking their cattle feed with beer. Cattleman Robert Miller says the cows like the beer so much, they don't want to eat their feed dry. Outdated beer is used for the cattle feed. Researchers say it has vitamins, minerals and proteins which are good for the cows. Of course, giving beer to cattle could give a new meaning to cow-tipping.

JLK Doesn't Sound Nearly As Impressive

WASHINGTON - Thanks to a typo, Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kerry has gotten even fewer electoral votes than he'd thought.

That's because an error posted New York state's 31 electoral votes over to somebody named "John L. Kerry."

Sheepish state officials say they're rushing out corrected copies of New York's electoral documents. They admitted the mistake, after the official "certificate of vote" appeared on the National Archives Web site.

A New York state official says the ballots themselves are correct. But nobody noticed the document error.

Massachusetts Senator John F. Kerry carried New York as the Democratic nominee for president, but lost the national election to President Bush.