One day, every year, getting down and dirty in mud is a good thing.

On July 7, hundreds of kids gathered in Westland, Michigan for the annual Mud Day. For once parents actually encouraged their children to jump in a pool of mud and just have some good, clean fun.

Just like Mud Day 2008, this year’s event was sponsored by Westland Country Parks and Recreation and consisted of several muddy events, including a wheelbarrow race. The dirty rascals had a mud hole filled with 200 tons of mud-soil and 20,000 gallons of water.

Photos by CFP

via CCTV

Animal rights activists gathered in the Spanish town on Las Ventas, for a very original protest against the famous bull fights held there.

Organized by Equanimal, the protest had the participants strip to their underwear, lie down and cover themselves with fake blood, and corrida spears. It took place at the end of May and hoped to convince authorities that the Spanish people no longer support such a cruel and barbaric tradition as bullfighting.

The anti-bullfighting protest took place in Las Ventas because that’s where a large number of bulffighting events take place. Most bull fights are not even profitable anymore, they are sustain themselves through public grants.
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The smartest autonomous robots in the world prepare for one of the most important robot competitions in the world, the World Cup of RoboCup.

Brilliant minds from all round the globe build soccer-playing-robots and compete in the RoboCup, to promote the development of artificial intelligence. This year, the weekend-long contest was held in the Austrian city of Graz and the protagonists tried to put on a show worth watching.

The Soccer World Cup for robots is not as young an event as you might think. It dates back to 1993 and, across the years, it took place in countries like Japan, Italy and USA. There are different league matches, from the standard to the smaller than 180 mm league.

In one of the leagues, teams use identical robots, and have the task of developing a software that can allow the machines to move autonomously. The dream of the developers is to one day create an entire team of autonomous robots that can defeat the human winners of the Soccer World Cup.

Photos by Reuters

via Telegraph.co.uk

Spanish people really have a thing for bulls, don’t they. Bullfighting, the festival of Pamplona, they’re all centered around the bull.

During the Bous a la Mar Festival, in Denia, near the city of Alicante, people get chased by bulls through the streets and into the Mediterranean Sea. The brave participants plunge into the waters just before the bulls are about to catch them. The animals often fall into the sea as well, where they are taunted some more. Eventually, the bulls are caught with a lasso and towed back to shore by a boat.

via Telegraph.co.uk

One thing is for sure, the Chinese know how to relax.

I mean, what’s more relaxing than an old fashioned pillow fight? It makes you laugh, lets you take release the pressure without hurting anyone, it’s perfect. Looking at the photos, I can say this outdoor pillow fight, staged by the authorities of Nanning, China, was a great success. People are laughing, having a good time, like they have no care in the world.

via China.org.cn

The Chinese know how to have fun and make money at the same time.

During a contest that took place in Nanning, competing teams had to squeeze as many members as they could into a car. They had 3 minutes to get into the car and had to last 10 seconds with all the car doors shut. Not an easy task, but with all that Yoga, I’m sure they managed pretty well. We don’t know how many people fit into that car for the win, but what we do know is the winning team got a prize of 500 yuan. That’s about $73. But who are we kidding, it was never about the money.

via people.com.cn

Some of the ugliest dogs in the world gathered at the Sonoma-Marin Fair, California to compete for the title of World’s Ugliest Pedigree Dog.

Just like last year. the contest was dominated by a pure breed Chinese crested hairless. 15-year-old Miss Ellie has only a few of her back teeth left, cataracts in both eyes and her hairless body is covered with moles and pimples. Her dream is to travel the world and prove that ‘ugly’ is just a word and says nothing about her great personality.

Having been rescued herself, Miss Ellie hopes she can be a spokesmodel for not-so-cute rescue dogs. Along with the title of World’s Ugliest Pedigree Dog, Miss Ellie also received a big trophy and $1,000.

I wonder if, Gus, World’s Ugliest Dog 2008 competed this year, he was a great deal uglier than Miss Ellie.

via Daily Mail

Chinese man stages what could be considered as the most romantic wedding proposal of all time.

Mr. Tian, from the city of Jinan, China used 9,999 roses to propose to his girlfriend, Ms. Liu. Don’t laugh, we only know their surnames. Anyway, Mr. Tian really planned this special marriage proposal to the smallest detail. He had a big rose-heart set-up in front of the hotel him and Ms. Liu were staying and had all of his friends and hotel staff waiting for his girlfriend with a big bouquet of roses on every floor.

Meanwhile, back in their room, Tian got down on one knee and popped the question to his girlfriend. You can imagine what Ms. Liu’s answer was, right? But with so many people in on this, could she really have said no?

via People.com.cn

Dogs show-off surfing skills at the 4th Annual Loews Coronado Bay Resort Surf Dog Competion in Imperial Beach, California.

Well after seeing the surfing mice, these photos of dogs mastering the surfboard just don’t seem that impressive anymore. But, I guess they deserve some credit, after all, surfing’s certainly not an easy sport. Still…surfing mice, now that’s impressive.

via Telegraph.co.uk

Times Square is one of the most crowded places on Earth, but that didn’t stop 200+ people from practicing yoga right in the middle of it.

On the morning of the Summer Solstice, on June 21, 2009 more than 200 yoga enthusiasts gathered in the “Crossroads of the World” for the seventh annual free yoga classes. Participants probably thought it would be  a challenge to achieve total peace and calmness in the center of Time Square.

I wonder if yoga granny took part in this unusual yoga session.

Photos by REUTERS/XINHUA

via People.com.cn

The bride and groom, both sci-fi fans, decided they didn’t want a conventional wedding so they opted for one in total weightlessness.

Noah Fulmore and Erin Finnegan, two love-birds from New York City, spent nearly $20,000 on a 90-minute-long zero-gravity wedding. The ceremony was performed in a modified Boeing 727 jet that takes roller-coaster-style dives, used to simulate the zero-gravity experienced by astronauts in space.

The couple also exchanged wedding rings made out of precious metal from a meteorite that crashed in Namibia 30,000 years ago. They said the experience was everything they hoped for.

Photos by REUTERS

via Daily Mail

Competitors went toe to toe last weekend, for the title of World Toe-Wrestling Champion.

Who knew something as silly as toe-wrestling was an actual sport, right? Well, turns out it really is and people have been clashing their toes in the World Toe-Wrestling Championship for the last 14 years.

This year’s competition was held in Ashbourne, England. The rules were pretty simple. After a basic check for foot hygiene, two competitors “toed-it-out”, trying to push each other off the “toedium”. Toe-wrestling has become more and more popular lately and, this year, the championship drew-in contestants from all around the world, including Australia and the US.

The final toe-down was between two locals, last year’s champion Paul “Toeminator” Beech and Alan “Nasty” Nash. After a tough match, the judge decided “Nasty” had the stronger toes and awarded him his fifth World Toe-Wrestling Championship trophy.

via People’s Daily

What started as La Tomatina of Bunol, Spain, is now also a popular celebration in Sutamarchan, Colombia and even Dongguan, China.

On June 14, locals of Sutamarchan and many tourists gathered on an old football field to stage Colombia’s biggest food fight of the year. Around 15 tons of tomatoes were sacrificed in La Tomatina this year. The food fight, inspired by the much more famous Tomatina of Bunol, is part of a three day tomato celebration. A tomato-eating contest and a competition for the largest tomato, are also part of the celebration.

via Telegraph.co.uk

‘Surprisingly’ the US Texting Champ is a 15-year-old girl.

Kate Moore, a young girl from Des Moines, Iowa, took home the title of 2009 US Texting Champion and a prize of $50,000. But she had to work hard for every cent. LG, the contest organizer, made this year’s competition a very difficult one.

Contestants had to type tough messages while blindfolded, text acronyms, run an obstacle-course and text at the same time, and even text tongue-twisters while being taunted by actors dressed as emoticons. Moore made it to the final tie-breaker with runner up Dynda Morgan, and won the championship by typing “Zippity Dooo Dahh Zippity Ayy…MY oh MY, what a wonderful day! Plenty of sunshine Comin’ my way….Zippitty Do Dah Zippity Aay! WondeRful Feeling Wonderful day!” faster than her opponent.

15-year-old Kate Moore stated she texts between 400-500 times a day and an average of 12,041 times a month.

CNN via Switched

Why journey to Vulcan in a spaceship when you can just drive there?

The Canadian town of Vulcan, Alberta has become a true pilgrimage site for Star-Trek fans because of its coincidental link to the sci-fi series. Vulcan received its name in 1915, from a surveyor of the Canadian Pacific Railway who named it after the Roman God of Fire. It has no connection to Mister Spock’s home planet, but do trekkies care?

Of course not, anything that relates to the Star-Trek universe, accidentally or not, is worth a visit. So the people of Vulcan decided to capitalize on this great tourism opportunity and built a 5-ton replica of the USS Enterprise. And it paid out. This year trekkies gathered in Vulcan, Alberta for a celebration called Spock Days.

Photos show Klingons, Romulans, Tholians, Vulcans and even good old Captain Kirk had a great time in Vulcan this year.

via Telegraph.co.uk