A Japanese restaurant in Thailand isn’t something to get overly excited about, but if that restaurant has robot samurais as waiters, it’s a whole other matter.

Lapassarad Thanaphant, a Thai entrepreneur, decided to open a new Japanese restaurant, and found the perfect way to make it stand out from the competition: robot waiters. But not just any robots, samurai-shaped machines that slide all the way to your table, bring you your order, clean tables, and even do an adorable dance routine, to entertain guests.

So, just days after the robot kitchen chef was presented, we already have an almost complete automated restaurant system. According to the owner of Hajime Restaurant, the cool samurai robot waiters cost $930,000, but with the popularity this place is enjoying this days, he’s sure to get his money back very soon.

Be sure to check out the Hajime samurai robot waiters in action, in the video, at the bottom.

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True talent and artistic calling can’t be contained even by the most severe physical handicaps, and Doug Landis is the perfect example. Using only his mouth, Doug creates some really extraordinary artworks.

Doug Landis was paralyzed from the neck down, after an awful accident, during a high-school wrestling match. The before over-active kid, too busy to pick up a pen and draw, discovered his talent when he saw the drawing of a house, on a Christmas card, and thought he could do it himself. He redid the drawing a few times, until he developed his own style.

Using his neck to guide the pen across a sheet of paper, Doug has created a series of drawings that earned him a number of awards, at the shows and exhibits he attended. Each artwork takes the artist between 40 and 200 hours of work, depending on the size of the project. For his famous “Vanishing Breeds”, the artist imagined his work drawn by hand, then watched photos and videos of the animals, in order to see the fur and muscles, and only then began the actual drawing. Just like Peter Longstaff , the foot painter, he is a member of the Mouth and Foot Painting Artists Association.

To learn more about Doug Landis’ amazing mouth art, and purchase some of his artworks, check out his official site, www.mouthart.com.

Photos are copyright of DOUG LANDIS

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Santisuk a 5-year-old pig-tailed macaque is a proud member of the Thai police, doing his best to keep the streets crime-free.

Well, maybe I’m exaggerating a little bit, since Santisuk is really just a mascot for the police force of Saliburi district, Thailand. He was found injured, a while back, and has since then been adopted by local policemen. Every day he puts on his “Monkey Police” uniform and accompanies his colleagues on patrols. He doesn’t do arrests or stakeouts, but he does sit on top of the police car drawing attention and improving police image, in locals’ eyes.

You could say Santisuk is the best PR guy police could ever hire. And he enjoys every minute of his job, especially when he receives tasty treats.

Photos by Damir Sagolj/REUTERS via Daylife

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You have probably seen taxidermy and steampunk art before, but have you ever seen them combined?

Lisa Black, a talented young artist from New Zealand, creates the most amazing works of art, by adding cool steampunk elements, like gears, screws, and other metal pieces, to taxidermy animals. This unusual combination creates unique art pieces that are absolutely amazing.

Check out her portfolio at Behance.net

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Nothing says “I love my puppies to death” like spending a ton of cash on a small Victorian mansion, the pooches can call home.

Chelsea, Darla and Coco Puff can definitely brag to their barking friends, about having the most luxurious doghouse in the world. Featuring hardwood floors, vaulted ceilings, central heating and air-conditioning, this mini-mansion is literally fit for royalty. In terms of design, it has hand-made curtains, mini blinds, expensive wallpaper and ceiling fans.

And they all have to thank their owner, 42-year-old Tammy Kassis, who lavishly spent around $20,000 on this over-the-top dog mansion. She loves her two Yorkies and one Pomeranian to death, and she decided to give them a home of their own, when an owl almost snatched one of them up.

She asked deluxe kennel builder, and owner of La Petite Maison, Alan Mower, to create a small replica of her own home, a beautiful Victorian mansion, for her adorable fur balls. Next on her shopping list is a small plasma TV, because the spoiled trio loves to watch Animal Planet.

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Inspired by the rocky beach front of Combe Martin, a British couple decided to get married in a Flintstones-themed wedding.

Ed Martin and Gayla Robinson moved to Combe Martin in September of last year, and inspired by their rocky surroundings, decided to opt for something more original than a white wedding. They plastered the stage of the Landmark Theater to look like a cave, had their 100 guests dress like cavemen, and even built a replica of the Flintstones car.

As you can imagine, the best man and maid of honor were dressed like Barney and Betty Rubble, and the page girl and boy, as Pebbles and Bam Bam. Just like the Star-Wars wedding, the Peter-Pan wedding, or pretty much any themed wedding, it was a fun event that everyone enjoyed.

Photos by GUY HARROP

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In Tuban, a village in the East Java  province of Indonesia, earth is used to make “ampo” a creamy snack believed to have medicinal properties.

According to Rasima, the ampo cook of Tuban, there is no real recipe to making this bizarre snack. All she does is look for clean, gravel-free soil, in the village’s rice paddies, pound it into a solid block, using a stick, and scrape rolls out of it,with a bamboo dagger. The rolls of soils are then baked and smoked for an hour. Rasima then takes the earthy snacks to the village market, where she earns about $2, to supplement her family’s income.

Tuban is the only earth-eating village on the planet. There are people, around the world, who enjoy eating sand, or kaolin, but not baked soil. Villagers believe ampo is a natural pain-killer, and that it makes babies’ skin softer, if eaten by their pregnant mothers.

As for the taste of ampo, “it’s nothing special, it feels cold in my stomach” says one of the Tuban locals, who has been eating ampo, ever since she was a child.

via REUTERS

Photos by REUTERS via Daylife

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The “most talked-about landmark” of San Luis Obispo, California, the Bubblegum Alley is a 21 meter-long alley lined with chewed-up pieces of bubblegum.

The exact history of the Bubblegum Alley is unknown, but there are a few theories about how this sticky tradition began. Some say it started during World War II, as a graduating class event, while others are convinced it dates back to the 1950s, as the result of the rivalry between San Luis Obispo High-School and Cal Poly. Whatever its beginnings, by the 70s, Bubblegum Alley was already covered with plenty of gooey material.

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Dolphins are smart, talented creatures,no doubt about that, but I had no ides painting was one of their skills.

Xiaoqiang, a dolphin from Qingdao, in China’s Shandong Province has learned to paint, under the guidance of his trainer. Looking at his work, I’d say he still has a long way to go before becoming the second Rembrandt, but he’s well on his way. Surprisingly enough, Xiaoqiang is not the world’s first painting mammal, the painting elephants of Thailand and Cholla the painting horse have been doing it for years.

Photos by Xinhua/REUTERS via Xinhua

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In an event organized by Odor-Eaters, 11-year-old Trinette Robinson proved she had the stinkiest sneakers, and took home the $2,500 prize.

The 35th edition of the Annual National Odor-Eaters Rotten Sneaker Contest had nine kids, aged six to sixteen, battle it out for the title of “wearer of the stinkiest sneakers”. It was a hard contest to judge, considering all participants had already proven their stinky valor, at regional level. To make sure the winner was decided fairly, organizers brought in members of the jury with some serious sniffing abilities. Among them were George Aldrich, chemical specialist for NASA space missions, and Rachel Herz, author of the Scent of Desire, and professor at Brown University.

Pungent sneakers were judged on the condition of the sole, tongue, heel, toe, laces, overall condition, but especially odor. This year’s winner of the Rotten Sneaker Contest was Trinette Robinson, an 11-year-old girl from Bristol, Connecticut. She confessed she played hard in Girl Scout Camp, did a lot of community walks for charity, and took part in the “no-child left inside” program, in order to get her sneakers to smell as bad as they do.

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It makes sense doesn’t it? Easter is a major Christian holiday too, so it should have its own version of the popular Christmas Tree.

Strangely enough, such a thing as an Easter tree already exists, and it can be found in Germany. Around 1945, when he was just a young boy, Volker Kraft saw his very first Easter Tree (Eierbaum, Osterbaum or Ostereirbaum, in German), and decided he would have one of his very own, when he grew up. Time passed and young Volker became a married man, with a family and everything. But his childhood dream stuck with him and he decorated his first Easter Tree, in 1965. He used 18 colored plastic eggs.

But the tree was growing fast and he and his wife, Christa couldn’t afford to waste so many Easter eggs. So they began drilling holes into the eggs, using the contents in the kitchen, and the painted shells as decorations. When their children grew up, they started helping with the decorating,and the Easter Tree became a family tradition, known not only in their home town of Saalfeld, but all of Germany.

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I’m mad about cool looking cakes, and if you’ve been here before, you already know that. Now, I know I said stuff like “I wouldn’t eat this!” about other disgusting-looking cakes, but compared to this Alien facehugger cake, they all look mighty delicious.

Presented at the “That Takes The Cake 2010” sci-fi themed cake show, in Austin, the edible Alien facehugger looks like it crawled right off the set of an Alien movie. I’m sure it’s tasty and everything, but just looking at it, instantly kills my appetite.

I know many of you wouldn’t mind having this particular facehugger grab a hold of your face, but their are much nicer looking cakes out there. Hat’s off to the artist that made this, though.

via GreatWhiteSnark

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Blasphemy, I say! This is blasphemy! Why someone thought making Star-Wars characters, that transform into vehicles, would be a good idea, is beyond me.

I stumbled across some photos from the Toy Fair 2010 event, and my eyes almost went blind when I saw Master Yoda looking all robotic, and ready to transform into an Attack Shuttle. Apparently, someone has tun out of ideas, and decided to capitalize on both Star-Wars and Transformers in one go. Brilliant idea Einstein, but I don’t think fanboys will go for it.

Scroll down to see even more Star-Wars meets Transformers abominations.

via ToyArk

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An old lady, in her 70s, has taken China by storm, after some photos of her appeared on a Chinese forum.

It might seem unusual for a lady of her age to act all goofy like that, but according to Sun Linchong, the woman’s grandson, and the man behind the camera, this adorable granny is very open and cool with new things. Together they set up some props and take funny photos, just for laughs.

When he uploaded the first set of photos, Sun Linchong had no idea his grandmother would become a Chinese internet sensation, but people who’ve seen were instantly mesmerized. Now the duo regularly upload funny photos that apparently remind viewers of their beloved grannies. Take a look at this cool gal:

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Using the power of no less than 500 LEDs, this dude created a home-made flashlight that can easily be mistaken for a high-powered light projector.

Before you think about the amount of power this thing needs to actually work, you should know LEDs are much more effective than old-fashioned light bulbs, have a longer life span, and lower heat dissipation. The LED bazooka flashlight features several brightness adjustment switches, and compared to two Maglite flashlights, is infinitely powerful.

If you want to fry someone’s eyes or even signal an airplane in flight, the 500 LED Bazooka flashlight is just what you need. Check the video at the bottom, for the making-of and to see this light beast in action.

via Gadgetonian

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