These lovely old ladies have spent a long time knitting their classic British village of Mersham.

It all started 23 years ago when the 12 women were reading an article in Women’s Weekly about another group of women who had accomplished a similar feat. They said to themselves ‘we should give it a whirl’, but had no idea it would become such an important part of their lives.

These knitted masterpieces might not look like much to the untrained eye, but all the buildings are knitted to scale and took thousand of hours to complete. When it was finished, the knitted village was presented at craft fairs and raised 10,000 pounds for the Mersham village hall fund. This Saturday, it will be up for sale in the Mersham Hall. With the media coverage this fabric work of art has received so far, I’m pretty sure there will be plenty of buyers present in the Kent village.

I dare say the knitted village looks even better than the very original knitted bike

via Daily Mail

Japanese lingerie maker Triumph seeks to raise awareness to Japan’s failing marriage rate, with its ‘husband-hunting bra‘.

Yes, I know it’s the ugliest bra you’ve ever seen, but don’t worry, you’ll never get to see your girlfriend/wife wearing one, since it will never hit the stores. This bizarre piece of underwear, presented by lingerie model Hiromi Nishiuchi, features a timer between the cups. This represents the wearer’s biological clock, and should be set to count down to the deadline set for marriage. When the woman finds that special someone and is proposed to, she should take the ring and insert it into the slot above the clock. The countdown stops and a wedding march tune begins.

Don’t worry, it’s not like you blow up if you don’t get married until the set time runs out, the husband-hunting bra is just a nice way to pressure you into getting married until it’s too late. Statistics say the age of the average Japanese bride is 28 or over.

Photos by Getty Images

via Zimbio

The popular micro-blogging site just got its first cake. Baked by Twitter user @wildflourbakery, the Fail Wail is a home-made chocolate hazelnut cake with a delicious butter-cream frosting. The Fail Wail Cake was created for a Lawrence, Kansas tweetup.

via Geekologie

With 250 registered pairs of twins, the Indian village of Kodinhi, in Kerala, has six times more twins born than the world average.

Dr. Krishnan Sribiju has been studying the odd twin phenomenon in Kodhini, for the last six years and says that although 250 pairs have been registered, there may be up to 300-350 sets of twins. Villagers say an unusually high number of twins started being born three generations ago, and it’s been rising ever since.

Because the twins don’t present any deformities, Dr. Sribiju says the twin phenomenon isn’t caused by some pollutant, but by something the villagers of Kodinhi eat and drink. If that proves to be true, this magic element could turn into the next treatment for infertile couples.

via Telegraph.co.uk

Photos by Niklas Halle’n/BARCROFT MEDIA

The world’s most popular doll just turned 50 and celebrated her birthday by getting a few trendy tattoos.

Little by little Barbie is turning into Trash Talkin’ Turleen, one of the trashiest dolls ever. Mattel launched the newest Barbie with a tattoo gun and a collection of about 40 temporary tattoos, for girls to apply on their doll. Soon, we’re bound to see piercing Barbie, or pot-smoking Barbie sitting on retailer shelves.

via Daily Mail

Sure, rabbits hop all the time, but not many do it over miniature fences, like showjumping horses.

15-year-old Matthew and Thomas Haslam are the proud owners and trainers of some of the smartest pets in Britain. Bubbles and Lilac are two of the twenty rabbits that like to jump over small fences, in the boys’ backyard. These two have shown particular skill and have participated in the Ultimate Pet Show, between the 2nd-4th May.

The two boys suffer from Asperger’s Syndrome, a sort of Autism and spending up to seven hours a day, for the last nine years, playing with rabbits has really helped them a greatr deal.

via Daily Mail

Everybody knows the popular animation movie Shrek has a large fan-base, but some of those fans go as far as to get married dressed as their favorite characters.

British nurse Christine England and her fiance Keith got married last month, wearing the costumes of Fiona and Shrek. They spent over three hours putting on the costumes and green make-up, but it was worth it, since it was a wedding neither of them will forget.

Christine tried to get her 18 years old son to dress-up like Donkey, but “he wasn’t having any of it”. The 100 guests attending the wedding were also dressed in funky, fairytale costumes.

via Daily Mail

The Germans have done it again. I really thought they were a really serious people, focused only on their work, but it turns out they know how to have fun as well.

After they organized the Ice Swimming Festival in Neuburg, early this year, the Germans strike again with the 2009 Office-Chair Racing Championship. The rather unusual racing competition was held on April 25, in Bad Koening Zell, in western Germany. Competitors raced on a 200-meter-long course, in basic or modded office-chairs.

The Office-Chair Racing Championship was first held in 2008, but it’s already growing in popularity and, who knows, it could become an Olympic sport pretty soon.

Photos by Reuters

83-years-old Bette Calman is living proof that the ancient art of yoga can do wonders on the human body.

Bette Calman has been practicing and teaching yoga for the last 40 years and, although other people her age can hardly move anymore, she can pool of difficult yoga moves that put teenagers to shame. She can execute the “peacock” a difficult position in which the body is held horizontally, using only the power of the arms,  the “bridge”, “lotus” and can stand on her head with unnatural ease.

Asked when she is going to retire, Calman said

‘You’re never too old. The body is a remarkable instrument.

‘It can stretch and stretch, and get better all the time. Forget age’

Ms Bette Calman teaches up to 11 classes every week, in Williamstown, Australia, teaching others the remarkable effects of yoga.

via Daily Mail

photos by Barcroft Media

Are you addicted to chocolate? Do you want to stop eating the sweet treat, but can’t live without its taste? Now you don’t have to, Le Whif lets you taste chocolate without putting-on extra weight.

Harvard professor David Edwards and his students have created the revolutionary inhaling device as a conclusion to our eating habits. Over the years people have started eating in smaller quantities but more frequently, much like breathing.

Sure you will have to live without that wonderful sensation of chocolate melting on your tongue, but that keeps the extra kilograms off your body, I’d say it’s worth a try. Le Whif contains chocolate particles big enough not to reach the lungs, and small enough to have virtually no calories.

Le Whif chocolate inhaler comes in 4 different flavors: raspberry, mint, mango and simple chocolate, and it goes on sale on April 29, at a price of 1.50 English pounds.

Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility Project, or P.U.M.A., is a revolutionary vehicle designed by GM and Segway.

The self-balancing P.U.M.A.  reaches a top-speed of 35 mph and has a lithium batery that makes it run for 35 miles, on a single charge. It also features a vehicle to vehicle (V2V) system said that will prevent many accidents from happening. Like the Segway, P.U.M.A. will basically drive itself, allowing the driver and passenger to enjoy the experience more.

It’s not exactly certain whether P.U.M.A. will ever go into production, but don’t expect to see it on the streets anytime before 2012. I have to admit, coming from GM, this is an impressive vehicle.

via Cnet Asia

Are you worried your PC could be more environment-friendly? You’re right, but don’t worry, thanks to Recompute you don’t have to give up web-surfing.

Recompute is a green concept that means to completely revolutionize the computer industry. Instead of a plastic, aluminum or iron case, Recompute uses a recyclable and renewable case, made out of corrugated cardboard.

Recompute uses only 3 electronic components, a motherboarde with processor and memory, a power-source and a hard-drive. It’s designed to allow the user to take parts like the keyboard or mouse from an old comuter. The electronic parts can be recycled easily, without having to use tools.

via core77

Believe it or not the same Russian Greenpeace activist got busted by the police again, just days after the first incident.

If there’s one think I admire about the poor environmental activist who faced the Russian police a few days back, it’s his persistence. The man actually got released by the police andreturned in front of Moscow’s City Hall, tocontinue his protest to Russia building incineration plants.

Sadly for the Greenpeace guy he wasn’t more successful than the first time. The police came and picked him up again, this time in a smaller car, so they made him take out his trash-can costume to fit. Third time’s a charm maybe?

Known as the toughest competition in the world, the Tough Guy Race asked its question again in 2009, “Are you strong enough?”

More than 5,000 people gathered at the start line of the Tough Guy Race this year, only to face the torture of a 13 km endurance course, designed by a former Grenadier Guardsman named Billy Wilson, in 1986. Competitors had to run and crawl through mud and flames, while dodging smoke bombs, barbed wire and electric charges.

The Tough Guy course is so dangerous the competitors had to sign a disclaimer saying “It’s my own bloody fault for being here”. Accordingto the official site of the Tough Guy Race, there were many broken arms and legs tis year, but luckily no one lost their lives.

This year’s competition looks even worse than Tough Guy Race 2008.

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Japan opens ice hotel, tourists rush to book rooms.

Following the model of norththern-European countries like Sweden, Japan opened an ice hotel in Alpha Resort Tomamu’s ice village, on Hokkaido Island. The living-rooms, bath-rooms and bed-rooms are all made out of ice, and it costs two people 80,000 yen ($696) to spend the night.

Dinner is served on an ice plate while drinks come in ice glasses, so you have to sip them quickly, before they freeze.

Japan’s ice hotel is not for everyone of course, if you can’t handle the cold, you better not pack your bags just yet. Guests sleep dressed appropriately , in layers and thick winter jackets. If you think you can handle freezing cold, the hotel closes on February 15, so hurry up.

The ice hotel of Hokkaido looks good but it still doesn’t come close to Sweden’s ice hotel.

Photo credits: Xinhua/Reuters