Adult Adoption – The Secret to Preserving Centuries-Old Japanese Family Businesses
Japan has one of the highest adoption rates in the world, with over 80,000 legal adoptions recorded every year. Yet when it comes to adopting children, the Asian country is lagging way behind most developed countries. That’s because around 98% of Japanese adoptees are bright young men in their 20s and 30s. At the same […]
Body Marbling Turns Your Arms into Temporary Psychedelic Works of Art
Body Marbling stations have been popping up at festivals across the United States and people are already calling it the future of body art. It’s based on a centuries-old technique called marbling, which involves applying colors to the surface of water and imprinting the designs on various surfaces, from paper and fabric to metal. But […]
Singapore Woman Has Spent the Last 8 Years Living in an Airport While Renting Out Her Own Apartment
A 50-year-old woman has apparently been living in Changi Airport, Singapore, for the last eight years, despite owning her own three-room apartment, which she rents out for about $1,000 a month. The woman, who asked to remain anonymous, told Singapore newspaper Lianhe Wanbao that she moved into Changi Airport in 2008, after being hit hard […]
Man Has Spent the Last 40 Years Living Alone in Colorado Ghost Town Recording All Kinds of Useful Data
For the past four decades, billy barr – he insists his name be written with lower case letters only – has been living by himself in Gothic, Colorado, a ghost town deserted since the 1920s, passing the time by recording all sorts of data, from daily snowfalls, temperatures, snow melting, animal sightings, etc.. He never imagined […]
Woman Unknowingly Prays to ‘Lord of the Rings’ Figurine for Years
A great-grandmother from Brazil has accidentally been praying to a figurine of Elrond, and elf from J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, after mistaking it for Saint Anthony, the late Portuguese priest and patron saint of lost things. Gabriela Brandão, a make-up artist from Florianópolis, Brazil, made this hilarious discovery last week, posting a series of […]
Scammer Makes Seven Figures Buying Luxury Bags Online and Returning Chinese Fakes for Full Refunds
A Thai woman living in Virgina was recently convicted for masterminding an elaborate designer purse scheme that involved buying hundreds of authentic accessories online and returning Chinese knock-offs for full refunds. She would then sell the originals on sites like eBay, for about $2,000 each. Over a number of years, 41-year-old Praepitcha Smatsorabudh, a preschool teacher […]
China’s Increasing “Bride Price” Makes Marriage Virtually Impossible for Poor Bachelors
The shortage of women caused by China’s one-child policy, combined with the country’s economic boom over the last two decades have made marriage a grim prospect for poor men in rural regions. These two factors have bumped up the “bride price” to hundreds of thousands of yuan, sometimes even millions, obscene amounts that most men can’t […]
This “Shower Beer” Is Actually Designed to Be Consumed in the Shower
If you’re looking to get a head start before a wild night out with your friends, this Shower Beer created by Swedish brewery PangPang in collaboration with creative agency Snask will probably do the trick. The shower hardly seems like the best place to enjoy a nice, cold brewsky, yet some people have been doing it […]
This American Couple Are the World’s Most Tattooed Senior Citizens
At age 67, Charlotte Guttenberg holds the Guinness record for the world’s most tattooed female senior citizen, with 91.5% of her body covered in artistic inking. Her life partner, 75-year-old Charles “Chuck” Helmke, holds the same record for the male category, with 93.75% of his body covered in colorful tattoos. Charlotte only started getting tattoos 11 years ago, […]
Indian Woman Returns Home 40 Years After Being Laid to Rest
Two Indian sisters recently got the shock of their lives after their 82-year-old mother showed up at their doorstep 40 years after they had laid her body to rest on the Ganges river, following a cobra bite. It all started on a summer day in 1976, when 42-year-old Vilasa, a woman from Bidhoo village, India’s Kanpur […]
Stray Dog Accompanies Indian Pilgrim on Epic 600 Km Walk
Naveen, a 38-year-old a Sabarimala pilgrim claims he has found a friend for life in Malu, a stray dog who accompanied him on a 600-km walk from the Mookambika temple in Kollur,to the Sabarimala shrine in Pathanamthitta, India. Apart from keeping him company, the dog also protected his belongings and even woke him up when he overslept. […]
BionicGym – A Leg Muscle Stimulator That Claims to Burn 1000 Calories/Hour while You Lie on the Couch
How does running a marathon and burning over 1000 calories per hour without even getting off your couch sound? That’s exactly what the BionicGym, an advanced wearable neuro-stimulator, claim to help you achieve by delivering sophisticated electric pulse patterns to your muscles. Let’s be honest, we’ve all seen commercial electrical muscle stimulation (EMS) devices before, but […]
Pay as You Flush – Landlord Allegedly Installs Coin-Operated Toilet in Rented Apartment
An apartment tenant in Melbourne, Australia, has recently taken to Reddit to complain about his landlord installing a system that allegedly requires him to insert one dollar every time he wants to flush the toilet. “Is it legal for my landlord to have installed a coin-operated flusher on my toilet?” the title of the tenants […]
Japanese Man Hasn’t Spoken to His Wife in 20 Years, Despite Living in the Same House
Despite living under the same roof and raising their three children together, a Japanese husband hasn’t spoken a single word to his wife in the last 20 years. No marriage is perfect, and spouses sometimes give each other the silent treatment when they’re upset. But either they go their separate ways or try to patch […]
San Francisco Restaurant Serves Food on iPads instead of Plates
Technology is seeping into everything, even restaurant tableware. Quince, a Michelin-starred restaurant in San Francisco has recently swapped ol’ fashioned porcelain plates with Apple iPads for a couple of its most popular dishes. Restaurants have been using tablets instead of classic menus for years now, and some have even introduced app-powered ordering and payment options, but […]