For the past 12 years, Robert Darling, a 58-year old unemployed man from New jersey, has been traveling to Manhattan in search of a life companion. To make it easier for women to notice him, he carries a sandwich board which reads “Looking for a rich lady to be my wife”, along with his phone number and email. Robert Darling has never had much luck with the ladies. He has never been in a serious relationship, and never realized he wanted someone to spend the rest of his life with until his middle age. And because he got such a late start in his quest for love, he decided extreme measures were necessary to find a suitable companion. Ever since 2001, Robert has been traveling to Manhattan twice a week to advertise himself to potential wives using a sandwich board. It might sound like a joke o a lot of people, but the lonely bachelor says that every time he leaves home he tells himself that could be the day he finally meets the woman he will settle down with. The sign is pretty clear about his intentions, but so far it hasn’t worked quite as well as he would have hoped. Many women have stopped to have a talk with Darling or have their picture taken with him, but he has been on a single date, and that was with a woman who actually wanted him to marry a friend of hers so she could get a green card. Read More »

Remember Bart Jansen, the Dutch artist who stuffed his pet cat and attached rotors to each of his paws to create the Orvillecopter? Well, Bart did it again, only this time he used a large ostrich as a medium for his bizarre art. Last year, visual artist Bart Jansen and technical engineer Arjen Beltman shocked the world with the Orvillecopter, a unique flying machine that was part cat part helicopter. Apparently, their first invention wasn’t shocking enough, so they’ve decided to kick it up a notch by building an even more bizarre radio-controlled device they aptly named the OstrichCopter. This time they took a male ostrich that had died at an ostrich farm and turned it into a quadcopter by adding four rotors and a pair of wooden skids. The crazy duo describe their invention as “the world’s flying ostrich”, adding that the experience of flying “must be it’s wildest dream, to able to fly and finally escape them untrustworthy Wildebeests”. I didn’t know wildebeests attacked ostriches, but they probably just meant wild beasts. Anyway, Jansen and Beltman recently posted two videos of the OstrichCopter’s test flights on YouTube, and it seems to work pretty well. Read More »

As shocking as it may sound the practice of hiring body doubles to serve jail time in the place of rich and powerful individuals is well-documented in China. So if you thought your country’s legal system was corrupt, think again. Just two days ago I wrote a post about another bizarre job available in China – hiring white guys to pose as employees or business partners – but that’s nothing compared to the “profession” you’re about to discover. Apparently, China’s wealthy can get away with just about anything, even serving jail time, as long as they’re willing to part with a small fraction of their fortune. Sure, that’s not very surprising, considering even in some Western countries where the legal system is considered impartial, the rich and famous are often shown leniency. Only in China, the so-called “1%” has a different way of dealing with unpleasant situations, like serving time in prison. Instead of wasting their time behind bars, they just pay stand-ins who, for the right sum are willing to take their place. Yes, apparently that’s possible. Read More »

China is the most populated country in the world, probably the most hard working country in the world and well on its way toward becoming the richest one as well. Considering how they’ve managed to achieve such a feat is considerably less fun than making snide remarks at their legendary knockoff business. Millions of brands around the world saw their products replicated cheaply and brands like Mike, Abidas, iFone appeared from nowhere. Though still considerably involved in the replica production China has since come a long way. Just about every manufacturer on Earth has plants there and, more importantly, most of their products are being sold there as well. You’d imagine that once the Asian country got a real taste of proper products, started making some real money and was looking for what to spend it on, they’d forget about the cheap fakes right?Well, sort of, rather unusually, the Chinese have now acquired a taste for expensive fakes. A prime example would be the country’s richest village.

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The 27-storey, billion-dollar tower home in Mumbai, called Antilia, was completed a year ago but India’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani, and his family refuse to move in for fear of bad-luck curse. Dubbed the most expensive home in the world, Antilia has been dominating the Mumbai skyline ever since it was completed last October, but Mukesh Ambani, who is ranked by Forbes as the ninth wealthiest person in the world with a fortune of $27billion, has been reluctant to move in. There’s been a lot of speculation around the subject, considering the chairman of Reliance Industries spent around $1 billion building the impressive tower home for him and his family, but according to reports cited by the Daily Mail, the reason is the building fails to conform with the ancient Indian architectural principles of vastu shastra.

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Chinese bachelors (with enough cash in their bank accounts) who wanted to find a nice hot girlfriend, had a chance to pick from 60 beautiful women parading in swimsuits, during a rich-only matchmaking event, in Wuhan.

Beautiful girls dressed in sexy swimsuits parading on a small stage set up on a beach – that sounds a lot like a beauty pageant or a fashion show, except for the audience made-up almost exclusively of men who couldn’t take their eyes off the beautiful contestants. It was actually a special matchmaking event addressed to China’s rich bachelors. The 60 girls who paraded in front of their potential boyfriends had qualified from a previous round, and tried their best to prove they made suitable arm-candy.

In order to gain admittance to the event, the men had to pay a 99,999 ($15,425) fee and provide proof they owned assets of over 30 million yuan ($4,627,000) or had an annual income of at least 1 million yuan ($154,237). So the next time you’re in China and you see a hot  chick, check your pockets before making your move, you may have to qualify for a date.

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Yes, he’s human… He’s also in the Guinness Book of Records as the most tattooed man on the planet. He only has one tattoo (his own words) but it covers his entire body (including the inside of his mouth and ears) and it has multiple layers. He had thoughts about the most tattooed men and women ever since he was a child but he didn’t think about becoming one of them until he got his first tattoo, a small juggling club on his hip. Lucky Diamond Rich was born in New Zealand but currently performs as a chainsaw juggling, sword swallowing entertainer in Australia. he has spent more than 1000 hours getting his body tattooed around the world, but he was not satisfied, so he opted for a black ink covering his entire body. He is now getting white designs on top of the black and colored designs on top of the white. I guess he really a work in progress, just like he says. Did I mention he replaced all his natural teeth with silver ones? Read More »

The Namib Desert in Namibia is said to be the oldest and driest desert on Earth, so the last thing you would expect to find right in the middle of it is a working pink refrigerator.

Imagine walking through an African desert, nothing but rocks and barren mountains as far as the eye can see, and all of a sudden stumbling on a pink refrigerator and a metal table with two small chairs next to it. Sounds like one of those infamous desert mirages, but not only is this Barbie-inspired fridge real, it also works, and it is constantly restocked with refreshing drinks.  Located about a 20-minute drive from the main road traversing the Namib Desert from north to south, the pink refrigerator was installed by the Namibian government’s tourist board and has become one of the most popular attractions in the African country. It was designed as a modern take on the desert oasis for weary travelers looking to quench their thirst. Read More »

A bizarre trend sweeping through China has unemployed youths paying fees to pretend to work in rented offices for absolutely no financial gain.

Millions of Chinese people report to their office jobs every day, but while the overwhelming majority get paid to do so, some actually pay fake companies to allow them to pretend to work there. In exchange for a daily fee of between 30 and 50 yuan ($4-$7), these specialized companies offer anyone the chance to experience various working environments, complete with desks, lunch facilities, and free Wi-Fi. While most simply allow clients to chill in their facilities, those looking for an extra layer of realism can pay extra for fictitious tasks, fake managers, and even staged employee rebellions. These so-called “pretend-to-work companies” have been growing in popularity this year to meet a growing demand among unemployed youths. Read More »

Towering above the rooftops of Mulegns, a picturesque village in the Swiss Alps, the recently unveiled Tor Alva (White Tower) is the world’s tallest 3D-printed building. Mulegns, a tiny village of only 12 permanent residents nestled at the foot of the Swiss Alps, hardly seems like the perfect place to install the world’s tallest 3D-printed building, but local authorities decided that the unique installation could help revitalize the slowly fading community. Tor Alva stands 30 meters high and has a modular design featuring a total of 32 individually printed columns connected by giant screws and steel cables rather than glued with cement. No steel frame was used when printing the tower’s pieces, but its creators claim that the technological innovations showcased by the tower make it both extremely safe and easy to dismantle and move, if necessary. Read More »

A Texas rheumatologist was sentenced to 10 years in prison for a cruel health care fraud scheme that involved diagnosing hundreds of healthy people with chronic diseases that required expensive and dangerous treatments. Jorge Zamora-Quezada M.D. of Mission, Texas, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud, several counts of healthcare fraud, and conspiracy to obstruct justice and received a sentence of 10 years behind bars and three years of supervised release. For years, the 68-year-old rheumatologist falsely diagnosed patients with chronic illnesses to bill for tests and treatments that they didn’t need, for his own enrichment. Evidence presented by prosecutors showed that his fraud scheme involved over $118 million in false claims and the payment of over $28 million by insurers, which allowed him to fund an incredibly lavish lifestyle. By profiting off of innocent victims, Zamora-Quezada was able to amass a sizeable fortune, including 13 real estate properties, a jet, and a Maserati GranTurismo. Read More »

Caterpillars aren’t the most appetizing meal for humans, but for the people of Vietnam’s Central Highlands, they are the main ingredient of a regional stir-fried dish. Every year, in the months of March and April, cassia trees in the central highlands of Vietnam are invaded by an army of yellowish caterpillars that love nothing more than to feed on their leaves. Once fully developed, the larvae leave the tree tops and crawl down the leaves to form cocoons, before turning into butterflies and flying away. But before this final transformation occurs, cassia caterpillar gatherers pick the caterpillars and pupae one by one to use in a simple stir-fried dish that can be a little hard to stomach. Read More »

A 68-year-old Swiss woman was taken to Court by her neighbor, who claims that the pensioner systematically fed her pet cat for months, despite being notified in writing to stop. This unusual story takes place in Zurich, where a woman stands accused of luring her neighbor’s cat with food for a period of 10 months with the intention of stealing it away. The plaintiff claims to have notified the woman repeatedly, even in writing, to stop feeding her pet, Leo, but to no avail. Not only did the accused continue to feed Leo, but she also installed a cat flap on her door so the feline could come and go as it pleased. As a result, after a while, the cat stopped returning to its original owner, and they were left preparing meals for it in vain. The pensioner’s neighbor filed a criminal complaint against the woman, and the public prosecutor’s office ordered the accused to pay a fine of 800 Swiss francs ($950) and also issued a suspended fine of 3600 francs ($4,273) for unlawful appropriation. But the 68-year-old woman refused to pay, so the case ended up in Court. Read More »

Christiano Wennmann was making pizza at a trendy New York pizzeria when he was first noticed by a famous fashion designer’s assistant. Now’s he’s walking the runway at big fashion events and posing for magazines. 24-year-old Christiano Wennmann became an overnight sensation in the fashion modelling world after owning the catwalk at this year’s Paris Fashion Week for New York designer Willy Chavarria. He was making pizza at Scarr’s, in New York’s Lower East Side, when he was noticed by one of Chavarria’s assistants, just weeks before the big fashion event, and asked to model the designer’s underwear collection. Things only got crazier from there, as Chavarria and his team loved him from the very start and immediately asked him to come to Paris. Obviously overwhelmed, the young pizzaiolo realized this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and accepted. Now, he’s one of the hottest male models in the business. Read More »

After being spotted by a Russian photographer in Bangkok, a young street sweeper became an overnight sensation in her native country and landed various modelling gigs with established brands. The movie-worthy rags-to-riches story of Noppajit “Meen” Somboonsate began last month when the 28-year-old single mother of two was noticed on the streets of Bangkok by Russian photographer Semyon Rezchikov. Meen was out doing her job as a street sweeper and didn’t even notice when Rezchikov, mesmerized by her natural beauty, took a photo of her from a distance. He later approached her to show her the photo and commend her on her beauty. He filmed the whole encounter with his phone and later posted it on his TikTok where it quickly went viral. People were blown away by the beauty of the young street sweeper and wanted to know more about her. Before long, she was being approached by media outlets and modelling agencies. Read More »