DAVID ADAMS provides a round-up of some stories on the odder side of life…
‘Double Ducks’ in Hong Kong. PICTURE: Screenshot via Reuters/Courtesy of the Hong Kong Tourism Board
• Ten years after the giant Rubber Duck made its debut in Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour, the Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman’s art installation returned to the city last week – and this time he brought a friend. Hofman’s floating installation made its debut in Hong Kong in 2013 as part of the artwork’s world tour and brought droves of vistors to the harbour. The duck has now returned with a second duck in an installation named Double Ducks. Explaining the return, SK Lam, the founder of curator AllRightsReserved, said that during the pandemic, “many people want to do something after the city opened up”. “And we thought why not invite the giant rubber duck back as a tourist to come back to Hong Kong to visit us and to [create] another interesting memory?” The 18 metre tall PVC ducks did suffer a mishap shortly after the installation was unveiled on the weekend much to the disppointment of those who had come to see it with one of the ducks deflating. Organisers reportedly said it would be repaired. – With Reuters TV
• A US university professor who spent 100 days living underwater resurfaced on Friday having set a new world record. Dr Joseph Dituri, known as “Dr Deep Sea“, set a new record for the longest time living underwater without depressurisation while staying at Jules’ Undersea Lodge under almost 10 metres of water in a Key Largo lagoon. The previous record of 73 days, two hours and 34 minutes had been set by two Tennessee professors at the same lodge in 2014. “It was never about the record,” Dituri, a retired naval officer and University of South Florida educator who holds a doctorate in biomedical engineering, told CBS News. “It was about extending human tolerance for the underwater world and for an isolated, confined, extreme environment.” The new record holder was listed on the Guinness World Records website immediately after he broke the previous record in May.
• The Ecuadorian Government has launched an investigation after a woman who was declared dead was rescued after she started knocking on the inside of the coffin during her wake. A 76-year-old former nurse, Bella Montoya, had been declared dead after a suspected stroke and was taken to a funeral parlour where relatives held a vigil before her funeral. But after five hours they heard her knocking on the inside of the coffin. Her shocked son Gilberto Barbera was reported by AP as saying: “It gave us all a fright.” Montoya was lifted from the coffin and rushed to hospital after the incident where her situation reportedly remains grave. The government is investigating the circumstances surrounding the issuing of her death certificate.
