Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe Woman swallows butter knife ATLANTA, Aug. 4 (UPI) -- A 30-year-old Atlanta woman is OK after accidentally swallowing a butter knife, doctors said. Advertisement The woman was apparently demonstrating to a friend that she no longer had a gag reflex because of her history with bulimia, the New York Daily News reported. During her exhibition, she laughed and accidentally swallowed the knife, New England Journal of Medicine said. She was rushed to the hospital where doctors performed a surgery to remove the knife from her body. Drs. Aida Venado and Sarah Prebil said doctors were able to remove the knife without damaging the woman's throat or stomach. However, her husband later revealed the woman had swallowed a knife four years ago and she was then transferred to a psychiatric unit, the doctors said. The Los Angeles Times reported that most instances of people swallowing foreign objects are not life-threatening, citing an Emedicine.com article. Advertisement "After reaching the stomach, a foreign body has greater than a 90 percent chance of passage," the article states. Although, the article said there are about 1,500 deaths a year from ingesting foreign bodies. Jeweler loses 11 stones in 15 months PALM BEACH, Fla., Aug. 5 (UPI) -- A Florida jeweler says 11 diamonds have vanished from his store in Palm Beach over the past 15 months. Christopher Kaufmann, owner of Le Salon, made five reports to Palm Beach police concerning either the theft or loss of the 11 diamonds at his store between September 2010 and the end of December, The Palm Beach Post reported Sunday. The missing diamonds had an estimated total worth of $127,875. Kaufmann downplayed the losses. "These things happen from time to time. Mysterious disappearance happens to every jewelry store. Sometimes things get lost. It's just amazing," he said, adding that they were "insignificant losses. Our business is a $25 million-a-year business. It's insignificant." Some industry officials said Kaufmann's losses were suspicious. "You might find there's a wives' tale out there, maybe somebody dropped it down a garbage disposal, but it's not something that there's any substantiation to," Adam Graham, spokesman for the Dallas-based American Gem Trade Association, said. "And if it happens, it's a once in a lifetime thing." Advertisement Brit sets out on treasure hunt LIMA, Aug. 5 (UPI) -- A British fortune hunter is heading to a Pacific island in search of more than $250 million worth of treasure supposedly buried there by 19th century pirates. Shaun Whitehead is leading an expedition to Cocos Island in hopes of discovering treasure allegedly buried there by a British trader, Capt. William Thompson, in 1820, The Daily Telegraph reported Sunday. The British newspaper said as the story goes, Thompson stole gold, silver and jewelry amassed by Spanish authorities in Lima, Peru, that he was entrusted to transport to Mexico. Thompson and his crew allegedly killed Spanish sailors on their ship and headed for Cocos Island, off the coast of Costa Rica, to bury their loot, which included 113 gold religious statues, 200 chests of jewels, 273 swords with jeweled hilts, 1,000 diamonds, solid gold crowns, 150 chalices, and hundreds of gold and silver bars. Whitehead and a team of about 15 will scour the island over the 10-day expedition using non-invasive technology not used in previous expeditions to the island. "This is a scientific survey, including archaeological, geological and biodiversity aspects," Whitehead said. "Unlike previous trips, we are not going to dig vast holes or do anything destructive at all. The real treasure of the island is its natural beauty. Anything else we find there is simply a bonus." Advertisement Booze swapping scandalizes N.Y. golf club BROOKVILLE, N.Y., Aug. 4 (UPI) -- A new scandal is brewing at a Long Island country club where an ex-bartender claimed he was ordered to refill top-shelf liquor bottles with the cheap stuff. The claim was the latest to roil the Tam O'Shanter Country Club in Brookville, N.Y., where other employees recently said members were sometimes accompanied on the course by prostitutes and bikini-clad strippers. "The premium bottles would be used over and over, to the point the writing would be worn off the labels," former employee Justin Williams wrote in a complaint the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. "I didn't realize what was going on until the end of my first year." The New York Post said the alleged shell game irked the membership more than the tales about the ladies of the links. "Hookers and strippers don't really surprise me, but I'm furious to hear they've been serving me cheap booze," one incensed member told the newspaper. Not everyone was ready to revolt, however. Another member doubted the veracity of Williams' claim. "I know my Grey Goose," he said.
