If your favorite doll suffered serious damaged that you can’t fix yourself, jump on a plane to Lisbon and take it to the Doll Hospital. They’ll fix it right up.

Located in Figueira Square, Lisbon, the Doll Hospital has been “treating” dolls since 1830 and it’s not going to go out of business anytime soon. Equipped with an emergency and operating rooms, this bizarre establishment has experienced doll doctors and a wide range of spare parts, in case you’re doll needs something replaced.

If people ever stop having their dolls repaired, the Doll Hospital of Lisbon will donate its entire collection of abandoned dolls and spare parts to a local museum. I’m sure they’d fit better on The Island of the Dolls, but…

Photos by REUTERS

via Xinhua

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Using only a plasma-cutter, Cal Lane turns ordinary steel objects into intricate works of art.

She started out as a a hairdresser,toying with people’s hair, but she always felt more comfortable holding a blowtorch in her hand, rather than scissors, so she decided to mix her two vocations into her art. Now Cal Lane is an established artist who’s art reflects the contrast between the industrial and the fancy.

Miss Lane specializes in cutting intricate patterns in steel objects like barrels, wheelbarrows and shovels.  She says she enjoys making art-pieces out of objects people normally ignore. Visit her official website for more of her amazing work.

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You didn’t think these adorable purring fur-balls were going to stand by and let dogs show off their yoga moves without proving their own flexibility, did you?

Two months ago Dan and Alejandra Borris presented the amazing Yoga Dogs Calendar and now they’re blowing the minds of animal lovers everywhere, with the 2010 Yoga Cats Calendar. Alejandra, a former yoga teacher, borrowed her neighbors’ cats and coaxed them in yoga-like positions while her husband took the photos.

Because they didn’t want to force the cats into anatomically-impossible positions, the couple got them as close as they could get to the desired positions and then Dan used his Photoshop skills to get the right effect.

Have a look at the entire Yoga Cats and Yoga Dogs Calendars on their official site.

via Daily Mail

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Guido Mocafico, a Swiss artist of Italian descent, uses one of the most feared creatures on Earth to create beautiful art.

Out of 2,700 species of snakes, just few are dangerous to man and Guido Mocafico used them in his art to show there is a less frightening side to snakes. Take a look at his amazing coiled-snakes artworks and know they can be purchased from Steidlville.com

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Heineken has unveiled its original Christmas tree, made out of 1,100 FULL beer bottles, in Shanghai, China.

Created by stacking Heineken beer bottles on a custom-made armature, the beer-bottle Christmas tree has Nanjing Street passers-by drooling when they look it. It may not look like a traditional Christmas tree and beer is definitely not as tasty in winter as it is on a hot summer day, but Heineken’s Christmas tree is definitely my favorite for 2009.

via Inhabitat

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Meet Oscar, the luckiest dog in the world. This year he and his master traveled across 5 continents and 29 countries.

Five years ago, Joanne Lefson found Oscar in a South-African kennel and took him in. In May of this year, Joanne sold her house and went on a trip around the world, accompanied, of course, by her beloved pooch. Their incredible journey was meant to inspire people everywhere to take stray dogs of the streets and offer them a home.

Here are some amazing photos of Oscar taken in some of the most amazing locations in the world. Oh, and check out the full of list of countries he visited, at the bottom.

Photos by CATERS NEWS AGENCY

via Daily Mail

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Every year, the people of Singapore celebrate the coming of the New Year by launching wishing spheres in the Singapore River.

The tradition of the wishing spheres was launched years ago by Singapore’s authorities as a way to bring people together and now it’s become an international event. People travel from all over the world to write their wishes for the new year on a giant white sphere and throw it in the Singapore River.

This year, a record 10,000 wishing spheres were available for inking, but they still weren’t enough to cover demand. The wishing-sphere-covered Singapore River is quite a sight to behold this time of year, especially at night, when the spheres are lit.

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Using thousands of permanent solar panels to harvest energy, the Solar Valley Micro-E Hotel is the largest solar-power hotel on Earth.

Built by Himin Group, China’s leading solar products manufacturer, the Solar Valley Micro-E Hotel opened its gates Dezhou City, eastern China. It covers 75,000 square-meters and features thousands of solar panels and solar heat pipe collectors that harvest and store enough energy to sustain 70% of the hotel’s needs.

The solar energy is used for a variety of functions, including air-conditioning and water heating.

via ImagineChina

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No need to buy a Christmas tree this year, just get yourself a Tesla coil and you’re all set for an electrifying experience.

Tesla-coil-enthusiast Peter Terren, from TeslaDownUnder.com, has posted some breathtaking photos of his 2009 Christmas tree, built using, you guessed it, a Tesla coil. This is Peter’s second Tesla Christmas tree. The one he built in 2007 has been featured on the Discovery Channel and in the Metro newspaper, but he says his newest version is even more impressive.

I have to say I’m not very familiar with Tesla coils myself, so I didn’t get all the details Peter Terren posted on his site, but I know beauty when I see it.

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Invented by a Frenchman who used to make a living fitting kitchens, Snail Caviar is France’s newest gastronomical sensation.

Dominique Pierru, the genius behind Snail Caviar, spent three years perfecting his invention, after abandoning his career as a kitchen fitter. He had to find a way to “convince” his 180,000 snails to lay a large enough quantity of eggs, then soften and condition them. It was a tough-enough task, but now his De Jaeger caviar is one of the most coveted treats in French restaurants.

After selling 200 kg of Snail Caviar in 2008, Pierru estimates he’ll ship 300 kg by the end of the year. And that’s not because it’s cheap, a 30 gram-jar sells for 39 euros, while the 50 gram-one has an 82 euros price tag.

Dominique and his wife decided to invent the bizarre delicacy after reaching the conclusion that traditional snail farming is not a viable business. Now they import snails from Eastern European countries and watch them lay eggs. How’s that for viable?

Snail Caviar is best served on toast or sage leaf, accompanied by a glass of champagne.

via Arbroath

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I’m all for originality, but replacing a wedding cake with a smelly tuna seems a bit too much. But in a country like Japan, where people fight each other with neon lamps, anything goes.

A wedding-planning company in Kanagawa has been offering tuna fish instead of traditional wedding cakes for over ten years now. The couple you see below has opted for a 100 kg-heavy BigEye Tuna as treat for their guests, but clients have a wide range of packages to choose from, depending on the number of guests.

I don’t know about you, but I always look forward to the cake when attending a wedding, and this tuna doesn’t look very delicious.

via Japan Probe

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Run for your lives, Godz…Childzillas are coming!!!

A charity organization in the Ukraine had the brilliant idea to create posters of giant children terrorizing various major cities around the world. It hopes the offbeat images will draw attention t children’s issues, not only in the Ukraine, but at an international level.

As a tribute to Godzilla, the original havoc-wreaking monster, most of the images show Childzillas in Tokyo.

Photos by CATERS NEWS

via Telegraph.co.uk

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If you want to make sure you’re watched over by heavenly angels, I suggest you go straight to the Holy Cross Church, in Munich.

German artist Ottmar Hoerl set up a divine exhibition inside the Holy Cross church, by attaching 300 golden angels on a scaffolding. Entitled “Guardian Angels over Munich“, Hoerl’s artwork allows people to actually experience what it’s like to have not one, but hundreds of angels watching over you. Not a bad idea…

Photos by REUTERS via EastDay

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I love a good omelet and I’ve been known to gobble down boiled eggs from tme to time, but Century Eggs? No freaking way!

Known also as preserved egg, hundred-year egg, thousand-year egg or thousand-year-old egg, the Century Egg is a Chinese delicacy used in many traditional dishes. Fresh duck, chicken or quail eggs become Century Eggs after weeks, sometimes months of preservation in a mixture of clay, ash, lime, salt and rice. The process of “cooking” Century Eggs is believed to date back 600 years, when someone apparently found some old eggs preserved in a pool of slaked lime. Upon tasting them, he decided to produce some more, but this time with some added salt.

After the preservation is complete, the hull mixture and egg shell are removed to reveal the now dark-brown egg-white and a dark-green, creamy and pungent yolk.  It’s the alkaline that raises the ph of the egg from 9 to 12 or more and gives it a strong smell of ammonia and sulfur.

Century Eggs are consumed either raw, or as ingredients in other Chinese foods. There are those who associate them with smelly cheese, pungent but really delicious. Sadly there are others (myself included) who just can’t get past the disgusting colors and smell.

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What can you do with an old Ford Capri bought on eBay? Cover it in small toy cars and turn it into an art project, of course.

Young James Ford has spent the last two years working on General Carbunkle, a homage to General Lee, the legendary race car from The Dukes of Hazard. He thought of an original way to pay tribute to this popular ride and decided he was going to cover it in red and orange toy cars.

Ford relied on toy donations from all over the world, in order to complete his project, but did impersonate a toy-shop owner to get his hands on 2,000 toy cars. In the end he estimates he used between 3,500 and 4,500 cars, mostly T-birds and Double Decker buses.

Ford intends to auction the General Carbunkle on eBay, so his project can come full circle.

via Creative Review

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