The black thighed falconet is no larger than a sparrow, but don’t let its size fool you, as this tiny bird is a ruthless predator capable of killing prey its own size.

Falconets are the smallest birds of prey in the world, with the black thighed falconet (Microhierax fringillarius) and the Bornean falconet (Microphierax latifrons) sharing the title of smallest bird of prey in the world. With bodies only 14 to 16 centimeters long, a wingspan of 27 to 32 cm, and only a few grams in weight, the black thighed falconet certainly doesn’t sound like the most efficient predator, but its cute appearance is even more deceiving. The parakeet-like bird is one of the most adorable you’ll ever see, but don’t let that fool you when it comes to hunting, this thing is a tiny killer.

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As the name suggests, anti-climbing paint is a special type of security paint designed to deter criminals from trying to access a property. However, one can’t simply smear a fence with this stuff without legal consequences.

Anti-climbing paint is a non-drying coating that, once applied onto a surface, makes it virtually impossible for someone to climb that said surface. Once coated in anti-climbing paint, a surface remains slippery for a minimum of three years, retaining its protective properties in both hot and cold weather conditions. Anti-climbing paint is usually applied in thick 3mm layers and develops a glossy skin similar to that of regular paint, only beneath this skin, the paint is still wet, so once an intruder tries to climb a surface covered in it, the skin is breached and the wet coating makes scaling virtually any surface impossible.

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A Chinese man has attracted the envy of his entire country after reportedly winning 365 days of paid leave in a generous raffle organized by his company.

In a viral video that has been circulating on Chinese social media for about a week, a young man can be seen sitting on a chair in what looks like a banquet hall and holding a large sign that reads “365 days of paid leave”. It wasn’t long before the footage drew the attention of mainstream news outlets who managed to identify the location shown in the video and thus the event that took place there. It turns out that this was recorded during the annual meeting held by a company in Shenzen whose management wanted to ease the tension of its employees by offering fun and enticing prizes in a raffle.

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Wanessa Moura, a 29-year-old Brazilian model and online influencer, has been getting a lot of attention because of her new perfume, which she claims includes her body sweat as an ingredient.

The Sao Paolo-based model claims that she was inspired to use her sweat to create her signature fragrance, Fresh Goddess, after her boyfriend and her ex-partner both praised her natural body odor as ‘sexy and exciting’. Each bottle of perfume contains 8 milliliters of sweat ‘for a touch of sensuality and femininity’, making it the ideal fragrance for dating and attracting the attention of someone you like. Moura claims that online followers who used Fresh Goddess confirmed its power of attraction with one person allegedly getting invited on a second date by her crush because of the perfume.

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French luxury accessory brand Coperni recently unveiled a limited-edition “meteorite’ handbag that is hand-carved from a meteorite that fell on Earth thousands of years ago. It can be yours for just $40,000 euros ($43,000)

As part of its Fall/Winter 23 fashion collection, Coperni has created a unique handbag that ‘combines archeology, design, as well as classical and primitive art’. The Mini Meteorite Swipe Bag has the general shape of the brand’s iconic swipe bag, but a rougher finish, which makes sense considering that it’s hand-sculpted out of rock. And not just any rock, but a real meteorite, hence the name. The bag showcased on the Coperni online store supposedly contains a piece of meteorite estimated to have fallen on Earth 55,000 years ago, but because each purse is unique, the shape and color may vary slightly.

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SpoGomi, a combination of ‘sport’ and ‘gomi’ (Japanese for rubbish) is a popular competition in which teams of 3-5 people try to pick up the most trash of the highest quality in a set period of time.

Japan recently announced that it would host the first SpoGomi World Cup in November of 2023, with teams from all over the world scouring the streets of Tokyo in search of trash to pick up. Each team of three players will have 60 minutes to gather the most trash from a designated area while trying to sort it correctly into color-coded bags for each type (burnable waste, recyclable plastic, metal cans, etc.). When the time is up, the trash will be weighted and checked for proper sorting, and the team with the most trash wins. In case of a tie, the winner is determined by the quality of the trash, with points awarded by type (cigarette butts win the most points).

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UK-born artist Jonny Hall is famous for being one of the first tattoo artists to introduce UV-reactive ink to the style of black-and-grey realism.

UVealism, a term coined by Hall himself, basically refers to the enhancement of already-impressive black-and-grey realist tattoos with the ethereal glow of UV-reactive ink. In plain light, UV tattoos are semi-invisible, but put them under an ultraviolet black-light bulb and you get to see a whole new dimension of the design. UV-reactive ink is a bit more difficult to work with than normal tattoo ink, because it’s a lot thinner, but when used correctly, the results are awe-inspiring.

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The ancient ruins of Baiae, near the modern city of Bacoli, in Italy are home to a botanical oddity known as the upside-down fig tree.

Looking at the tenacious tree growing out of the ceiling of an ancient Roman archway, it’s easy to see why it’s called the upside-down tree. It is literally inverted, growing toward the ground, which is quite rare. No one knows exactly how the fig tree ended up there, or how long it has been growing for, but one thing is for sure –  despite its bizarre location, the fig tree if Baia is growing stronger every year, and sometimes it even bears fruit.

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A Venezuelan artist and social media influencer recently generated controversy online by letting himself be permanently tattooed by a small monkey.

Funky Matas is no stranger to tattoos. In fact, he holds a Guinness Record for the most signatures tattooed on his back, over 220 of them, but his latest stunt can be described as unusual, even for him. News outlets across South America have been reporting that the Venezuelan-born influencer trained a small monkey to handle a tattoo gun and then let himself be tattooed by the animal in what is considered a first-of-its-kind experiment.

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Nigerian artist Alex Peter Idoko uses fire, razorblades and sandpaper to create stunningly-realistic portraits that look more like sepia-toned photos.

Pyrography, or painting with fire, is an intriguing art form that involves the decoration of a wooden canvas with burn marks resulting from a controlled flame or heated instrument, like a poker. It’s a less forgiving art than traditional painting, as mistakes are much harder to fix or hide due to the destructive nature of fire. However, some artists control the unusual medium so well that they can create photo-quality artworks that are almost indistinguishable to the naked eye.

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Wild Drawing is a talented street artist who specializes in stunning 3D murals that turn transform bland structures into works of art.

Born in Bali, Wild Drawing, or WD for short, first got into street art in the year 2000 during his studies at the School of Fine Arts. He and his colleagues were often protesting school policies with large, intricate banners, and that made him realize that large images visible in the public space can have a big impact on society. A few years back, WD moved to Greece and he has been unleashing his artistic talent on the streets of Athens ever since. Drawing inspiration from nature, art, social phenomena, and even politics, Wild Drawings creates colorful compositions that always catch the eyes of passers-by.

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Ruben Jordan Langsted is a talented tattoo artist who specializes in photo-realistic black & grey tattoos with high contrast and soft shadows.

Born in Norway but currently working out of the Dropout Collective tattoo shop in Copenhagen, Denmark Ruben Jordan Langsted is regarded as one of the world’s best tattooers when it comes to realistic black & grey tattoos. He claims that he only does this style of tattoo simply because he’s “not good at anything else,” but according to other sources, he does it because it is such a technically demanding style that no matter how good you get, there is always room for improvement. Looking at some of his black & grey artworks inspired by classic sculptures and artistic interior design, it’s hard to believe he could do any better.

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A restaurant in Osaka, Japan has built a reputation for serving traditional miso ramen with an unusual twist, like a slice of strawberry shortcake.

Franken, a Japanese restaurant specializing in miso ramen, first made international news headlines last January, when it started selling a unique variant of sweet-and-sour red miso ramen with a cone of soft-serve vanilla ice cream melting in the middle of the bowl. The combination sounds offputting, but the restaurant was so confident that people would love it that it only served its red miso ramen with the ice cream cone. Well, until this month, when Franken started selling another weird dish, a miso ramen with a slice of strawberry shortcake soaking in the hearty soup.

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A UK woman has been issued a restraining order after reportedly sending her ex-boyfriend up to 150 texts per day, trying to rekindle their relationship.

28-year-old Michelle Felton was recently banned from contacting her ex-boyfriend, Ryan Harley, in any way for 18 months, and sentenced to 18 months of community service with 30 days of rehabilitative activity. The young woman from Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, reportedly harassed Mr. Harley by texting and calling him over 1,000 times after being dumped by him. Despite making it clear that he did not want anything to do with her, Harley claims that she continued trying to contact him and rekindling their 21-month romance.

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A new study recently revealed that some Swiss hospitals still rely on a medieval prayer known as ‘The Secret’ to protect patients from excessive bleeding after surgeries.

We live in a time when medical professionals have access to a variety of scientifically-proven tools to prevent excessive bleeding in patients, but according to data presented in a recent study, several hospitals in Switzerland still rely on a “healing formula” dating back to the Middle Ages to keep people from bleeding to death. Known as The Secret, this “blood charm is widely practiced in the French-speaking part of Switzerland,” and reportedly works by mobilizing “superior forces to help cure the patient”. The Secret was recently the subject of a study designed to test the efficacy of the ritual.

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