Looking at Toshihiko Hosaka’s incredibly detailed sculptures, it’s hard to believe that they are made from grainy beach sand, and not some sort of clay. But he only uses sand, his talent and 20-years of experience.

43-year-old Hosaka has been making sand sculptures ever since he was in school, and has been honing his skills for over two decades. Today, he is able to create large-scale masterpieces without any molds or adhesives, only simple sand and a handful of metal sculpting tools. He spends hours, sometimes several days sculpting away at mounds of moist sand, but the result is always breathtaking.

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A property owner in Tiverton, Rhode Island used several tonnes of clams to pave an access road, but he apparently forgot to wash them first, and now the smell emanating from the decaying road is reportedly unbearable.

A few days ago, David Rose unloaded several truckloads of unwashed clam shells onto the access road to his property, as a cheaper alternative to gravel. As soon as they saw what was going on, Rose’s neighbors told him to use washed shells instead, as the ones he was unloading still had visible clam meat on them that would start to rot. He apparently declined and carried on with his original plan. After three rainy days, the sun came out over Tiverton, and with it came maggots, flies and a stench that neighbors describe as unbearable.

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Located in the Swiss Alps, near the famous resort of St. Moritz, the commune of Bergün/Bravuogn is one of the most beautiful mountain villages in Europe. So beautiful, in fact, that photos of it shared on social media may make people feel depresses that they can’t visit, so local authorities banned tourist from taking photos.

It may sound like a joke, but it’s actually a new law adopted by the Bergün village council and approved by its mayor. And yes, their justification for the photo ban is that photos of their beautiful home with the stunning mountain peaks in the background could make people seeing them on social media jealous and depressed. To deter visitors from taking photos in Bergün, they plant to implement a symbolic €5 fine for those caught breaking the new rules.

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A small dog’s loyalty recently melted the hearts of millions of Koreans, after the media reported that it had been waiting for his owner to return home for three years, not knowing that she never would.

A few years ago, an old lady from Busan, South Korea, adopted a cute little stray dog that she named Fu Shi. The two lived happily for a while, but tragedy struck three years ago, when the old lady suffered brain hemorrhage which eventually led to dementia. She had to be taken to a nursing home to be under constant special care, and the small pooch found itself all alone again. But he had no idea that the old lady was never coming back, so he spent the last three years waiting for her.

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As man’s best friends, dogs deserve the best in life, and when it comes to housing, a UK company is ready to offer them just that. Hecate Verona is all set to launch the world’s first line of luxury dog mansions, with the most expensive models costing up to $200,000.

Hardwood floors made from beech, oak and larch, walls, columns and balconies carved from marble and dolomite, indoor and outdoor lighting, automated food and water systems, treat dispensers, TV and sound system, these are just some of the things you can expect when paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for a luxury dog house for your beloved, pampered pet. They are the best pet homes money can buy, but with prices starting at around $40,000 and reaching up to $200,000 for the high-end models, you’re going to have to spend a lot of it.

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Eduardo Donato is one of the many pig farmers in Spain who specialize in “jamón”, a traditional cured ham recognized for its delicious taste and nutritional value. However, his jamón is special. It is widely recognized as the most delicious ham in the world, and, at €4,100 ($4,600) per leg, also the most expensive.

Up until 1989, Eduardo Donato owned a profitable construction company in the city of Tarragona, and specialized in the restoration of 15th and 16th century buildings. Everything was great, he had a good, comfortable life and business was booming. But then, one of his closest colleagues succumbed to cancer, and, soon after, another one died of a heart-attack. He realized that, with all the stress of life in the big city and managing his business, he could be next. To make matters worse, his beautiful city had been “disfigured” by petrochemical and nuclear plants built nearby. Donato realized he didn’t want to live there anymore, so he sold his business and his home, and went looking for paradise.

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Zhang Jian, the controversial owner of a multi-level marketing company and self-proclaimed “future richest man in the world” recently made headlines in Asia for throwing a lavish banquet in Malaysia. The entrance fee was 200 ringgit per person, but Jian offered to let those sporting “the right look” eat for free. Over 1,000 people showed up with their hair dyed gold.

On Sunday, June 4th, Chai Leng Park in Butterworth, Penang, looked like the scene of a blondies convention. Over 1,000 people, both men and women, dyed their hair gold just to be able to attend Zhang Jian’s epic banquet for free. The Chinese businessman had also announced that a lucky few who sported the right look for the event stood to win a 1,000 ringgit  cash prize. The temptation was apparently too hard to resist for a lot of people who didn’t let a thing like looking silly stand between them and a free meal. Some even sported tattoos of Zhang, to show their support.

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People usually visit cafes for a dose of energy-boosting caffeine to alleviate tiredness and keep themselves from falling asleep, but Mr. Healing, a popular cafe chain in South Korea actually encourages people to lie down, take a break, and even get some shut-eye.

Mr. Healing bills itself as a relaxation cafe, a place where people can come in, order a drink and lie down a comfortable massage chair, where they can even take a short nap to the soothing sound of ambient or classical music, with pleasant and relaxing scents inundating their senses. The experience is so popular among Koreans that the chain has expanded to 47 different venues throughout the Asian country.

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Bioquark, a biotechnolgy company from Philadelphia believes brain death is not as irreversible as most people think, and claims to have come up with a series of injections capable of “resetting” the brain, essentially bringing patients back to life.

Up until a few years ago, a person was declared dead when their heart stopped beating and they were no longer breathing. But then we came up with advanced medical technology capable of pumping oxygen into the body and keeping major organs in working condition. All but one, the brain. Today, most countries define death as the permanent loss of brain stem function. Once someone suffers complete and irreversible loss of brain function, they are officially declared dead. But one company wants to prove that brain death isn’t the end.

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Alex Honnold, a 31-year-old mountain climber from Northern California, recently became the first person ever to climb the 3,000-foot high El Capitan granite wall in Yosemite National Park, without any ropes or other safety equipment.

Hannold pulled-off the historic, death-defying “free solo” climb on Saturday, June 4th, reaching the top of El Capitan in just 3 hours and 56 minutes. All he used as gear was a bag of chalk powder to improve his grip on the slippery granite. To make his job a little easier, the young climber climbed the wall several times before, using ropes, and marked every toe and finger-hold he would use during his free climb, with chalk. Even so, the challenge was monumental, and his success prompted Alpinist Magazine to write “This is indisputably the greatest free solo of all time.”

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Summer is here, and if you’re a guy looking for a light attire that is sure to turn heads, these see-through lace shorts and shirts created by Los Angeles fashion brand Hologram City are sure to do the trick.

Originally created for a music video, these pastel lace shirts and shorts for men have recently become available for pre-order on the Hologram City website. Photos of male models sporting the unusual-looking clothes have been doing the rounds online for a few days now, leaving most people wondering if they are actual products or just a fashion hoax. It turns out they’re for real.

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Anthony Howard-Crow, a 32-year-old stunt dieter and YouTuber from Loveland, Colorado, recently underwent an unusual diet in order to prove that you can eat pretty much anything and still lose weight as long as you keep an eye on your calorie intake. For 100 days straight, he ate only ice cream, drank a small protein shake and some alcohol, and still managed to drop 32 pounds.

Ever since starting his Abs & Ice Cream YouTube Channel, back in 2011, Howard-Crow has been trying to prove that weight loss ultimately comes down to how many calories you put into your body and how many you burn. It doesn’t matter if you eat chicken breast and brown rice, or only fast food, as long as you consume less calories than you burn, you’re going to lose weight.

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Thumb sucking is a perfectly normal habit for babies and young children, but while most grow out of it by age five, some never do. You’ve probably never seen an adult suck their thumb, but that’s only because the vast majority of adult thumb-suckers avoid doing it in public for fear of being laughed at or labeled as “weirdos”. Some experts believe that adult thumb sucking is quite common, with around 1 in 10 adults secretly engaging in the habit for comfort.

Thumb sucking is said to start in the uterus, even before we come into this world. It is considered a comforting gesture that mimics the endorphin rush babies get when breastfeeding, and is most common in children coping with mild anxiety. The same is true for adult thumb-suckers. While they are no longer breastfed, sucking their thumb is an effective way of dealing with anxiety or just completely relaxing at bedtime. Some have relied on their thumb to sooth them for as long as they can remember, and it has just become a normal part of everyday life.

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So, you’re wearing a pair of fly Yeezy sneakers that you paid over $350 for, when it suddenly starts to rain, what do you do? You can take shelter and wait for the rain to stop, which still leaves you at risk of stepping in a puddle or mud, or you can just put on a pair of plastic bags for protection. Neither of those solutions is very elegant, which is why someone created Dry Steppers, a pair of raincoats for your feet.

Dry Steppers are high-quality plastic sheaths designed for sneaker heads who don’t mind paying $20 to keep their cool footwear looking fresh and pristine in any weather. They are both rain and snow-resistant and can also protect your expensive sneakers from gravel and dust. They are basically an upgraded version of the old plastic shopping bag trick, where people will tie bags around their feet to protect their shoes. They are made from tear-resistant plastic, feature non-slip rubber soles, as well as an adjustable draw-string and zipper system that insulates the shoe area perfectly. You can even get them printed with a variety of popular sneaker models, like Yeezy 350 V2’s, a Yeezy 750’s, or Jordan Air 11’s, to show off what you have on underneath.

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A sommelier is usually defined as a wine expert who makes recommendations on what wine goes best with certain meals, at a restaurant. But Martin Riese doesn’t know a lot about wines. He is a professional water sommelier, the only one in the the United States.

German-born Riese has been fascinated with the different tastes of water since he was 4-years-old. His parents, who worked in the hospitality industry, would take him vacationing all over Europe, and the first thing he always did was try the tap water. To him, it tasted different everywhere he went, so he couldn’t understand why everyone always called it the same thing. Later, he would learn that he had been blessed with a very special palette that allows him to detect the subtle differences in the taste of different mineral waters. Luckily for him, there was actually a job that required just the kind of unique talent he had – water sommelier.

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