Month: August 2022

Japanese Convenience Stores Introduce AI-Powered Shelf-Stocking Robots

Family Mart, Japan’s second-largest convenience store chain, recently started using AI-powered robots to restock shelves, as a way to deal with the country’s fast-shrinking workforce. The decline in labor population is one of the biggest threats to businesses operating in Japan, and some have already started looking for ways to replace human workers. Case in […]

Potato Chip Maker Launches Hilarious Finger Washing Machine

Lays, the world’s bestselling potato chip brand, recently launched a limited edition miniature washing machine for oily fingertips. Let’s face it, there are few things in the world more addictive than potato chips, but if there’s one thing everyone hates about them – apart from getting us fat – it’s the grease they leave on […]

Man Praised as ‘Hero’ for Holding Bank Staff Hostage to Access Own Savings

Unable to access his own savings, a Lebanese man recently decided to hold bank staff at gunpoint until management agreed to at least give him enough money to pay his father’s medical bills. Lebanon’s devastating financial crisis was brought into focus this month by a very unusual story. Bassam al-Sheikh Hussein, a 41-year-old man from […]

Couple Sue Neighbors Over Rooster That Crows 200 Times Per Day

An elderly couple in Germany has taken their next-door neighbors to court over a very active rooster that allegedly crows about 200 times a day, making it impossible for them to rest. 76-year-old Friedrich-Wilhelm and his wife Jutta, a couple from Bad Salzuflen, in Western Germany, claim that they haven’t had a quiet day at […]

Woman Quits Job After Just 1 of 70 Coworkers Attend Her Wedding

A young Chinese woman allegedly quit her job of five years after being disappointed that only one of the seventy coworkers she invited to her wedding actually attended. Chinese news outlet ETtoday recently featured the unusual story of a young woman who took to social media to complain about being humiliated by her coworkers on […]

Man Ordered to Pay Ex-Girlfriend $1,150 After Urinating in Her Louis Vuitton Handbag

A South Korean civil court recently ordered a 31-year-old man to pay his ex-girlfriend 1.5 million won ($1,150) as damages for urinating in her designer handbag. This bizarre story dates back to last October, when the defendant in this case, a 31-year-old man from Seoul, South Korea, whose identity has not been revealed, for privacy […]

Couple in Their 70s Have First Baby After 54 Years of Marriage

A couple of septuagenarians from India’s Rajasthan state recently welcomed their first baby after 54 years of marriage, which makes them one of the oldest couples in history to ever have a baby. 75-year-old Gopichand and his 70-year-old wife Chandravati, had long been trying to have a baby, but their dream never came true. For […]

Innovative Myopia-Curing Glasses Go On Sale for a Mere $5,700

Kubota Glass, an allegedly revolutionary pair of glasses capable of curing people of myopia, aka nearsightedness, has recently gone on sale in Japan for a whopping $5,700. We originally wrote about Kubota Glass in January of 2021, when Kubota Pharmaceutical first announced that it had come up with a non-invasive way of reversing the effects […]

Woman Sues Co-Worker for Breaking Her Ribs by Hugging Her Too Hard

A Chinese woman recently took a work colleague to court, after they allegedly broke three of her ribs by hugging her too hard. This bizarre story started back in May of 2021, when the plaintiff, a woman from Yueyang city, in China’s Hunan province, was chatting with a colleague at her workplace. At one point, […]

Insidious Parasite Causes the Tongues of Fish to Fall Off And Then Replaces Them

Cymothoa exigua, popularly known as the tongue-eating louse, is a parasitic isopod that attaches itself to the tongue of its fish host, severs circulation, causing the organ to necrose and fall off, and then becomes the new tongue. We’ve covered a bunch of terrifying parasites on Oddity Central, but few can hold a candle to […]

“Heavy-Fired” Bread Buns Sold at English Market Spark Heated Debate

Photos of charred-looking bread buns being sold at a market in Manchester have been going viral online, with some calling them a delicacy and others billing them as inedible. The “heavy fired” roll has apparently been a staple of Scottish bakeries for several decades. They are supposed to have an overcooked, black crust and be […]

You Can Buy a Husband at India’s 700-Year-Old Groom Market

For over 700 years, the Indian state of Bihar has been hosting a unique groom market where women and their families come to shop for husbands. Every year, thousands of men gather under the Pipal trees in the local market area of Madhubani district, India’s Bihar state, and wait to be chosen by prospective brides. […]