A 53-year-old Russian woman sparked outrage in her home republic of Tatarstan by tying the knot with a 22-year-old man whom she had raised for the last eight years.

Aisylu Chizhevskaya-Mingalim, a well-known musician in Tatarstan and the niece of famous singer Renata Ibragimov, found herself at the center of a massive scandal after reportedly marrying her adopted son. Eight years ago, while teaching music in the orphanages of Kazan, Aisylu met Daniil, a 13-year-old boy who shared her passion for music, and after a few lessons, the two became a duet. The boy also participated in various reality talent shows, such as the “You’re Super!” project, and sang with popular Russian singer Filip Kirkorov. When he was 14, Daniil became the singer’s foster child, and they have lived together ever since. However, on October 20, the two shocked the world when they legally became married.

Read More »

As part of its ongoing efforts to integrate robotics into its gigantic warehouse operations, Amazon recently began experimenting with a bipedal robot called Digit that should be able the most repetitive tasks.

Amazon warehouse employees have long gotten used to working alongside robots, but staff at the company’s BFI1 experimental facility in Sumner are now getting familiarized with Digit, a new type of humanoid robot developed by Agility Robotics, a startup based in Corvallis, Oregon. Standing 5ft 9in (175cm) tall and weighing 143lb (65kg), Digit can walk forwards, backward, and sideways, and can also crouch if it needs to. Amazon’s new robot worker has two arms, two legs, a blue chest, and two square lights for eyes, and is currently tasked only with recycling the iconic yellow boxes once they have been emptied of inventory.

Read More »

High-resolution digital windows like the ones sold by LiquidView give users the chance to wake up to virtually any view imaginable, even if they have no conventional windows.

Modern problems require modern solutions, and when it comes to the lack of windows or desirable views, American company LiquidViews has an intriguing proposition – a virtual window. Consisting primarily of a series of high-resolution digital panels and a kit to make them blend seamlessly into any space, like a normal window, the virtual window also offers users access to a subscription-based content library featuring beautiful locations all over the world. Accessible via a dedicated smartphone app, the library syncs with your local time to offer an immersive experience.

Read More »

A Ukrainian man was caught trying to take a practical driving test on his neighbor’s behalf. When asked why his face didn’t match the one on the ID at all, he claimed his appearance had merely changed since the photo was taken.

We’ve heard of people trying to impersonate others in order to help them pass their driving test, but they usually put a bit of effort into it. We’ve written about someone who paid a body double to take the test on their behalf, and about a man who disguised himself as an old woman to take the driving test in his mother’s place. But then we have the protagonist of today’s news story, a man from Ukraine’s Rivne region who decided to help his neighbor by simply turning up to take the practical test, even though they looked nothing alike.

Read More »

An American man has been going viral on Ukrainian social media after being spotted wearing an attire similar to that of Jesus Christ and carrying a large wooden cross on his shoulders on his way to Kyiv.

Identified only as Jimmy from Virginia, the young American has been drawing a lot of attention while walking through Poland and Ukraine because of his unusual attire and the large wooden cross on his shoulder. He told a number of Ukrainian news outlets whose reporters interviewed him that he doesn’t really have a goal. He left the Polish capital of Warsaw and he hopes to eventually reach the Ukrainian city of Kyiv on foot, but he leaves that plan in God’s hands. The 33-year-old man claims he is just doing what his heart is telling him to because that is the best way to honor God.

Read More »

Pterocarpus angolensis, commonly known as wild teak or bloodwood, is a species of tree native to Southern Africa known primarily for the dark red sap it secretes which looks like blood when the tree is cut.

Well-known in tropical Africa, where it is used to make high-quality furniture and musical instruments, wild teak is resistant to termites and has a nice, spicy fragrance. It is also resistant to fire so trees are sometimes planted around structures that need to be protected from flames. But outside of southern Africa, bloodwood is most known for its unique dark red sap. Its resemblance to blood has made some people speculate about the tree’s magical healing powers in blood illnesses, none of which have been proven by conventional medicine.

Read More »

A wooden chair perched on the edge of an exposed attic in Dennis Township, New Jersey, has become an obsession for thousands of people and even spawned its own dedicated social media groups.

A dilapidated house with a collapsed roof located on Route 47 in the unincorporated Dennisville community of Dennis Township has become somewhat of a tourist attraction thanks to a small wooden chair perched right at the edge of its exposed attic. Many of those driving past the house on their way to and from work have become fascinated with this chair that doesn’t really move but is destined to fall at some point. Some want to know how it wound up on the edge, others whether it is nailed to the floor to keep it from falling, and a few are interested in the home’s history and why it is in its current condition. But most are just interested in watching the chair until the day it inevitably falls to the ground.

Read More »

A Lithuanian man has been arrested in Spain after allegedly faking heart attacks at 20 restaurants around the country in order to avoid paying the bill.

The unnamed 50-year-old man reportedly scammed at least 20 eateries, the majority of them in Spain’s Costa Blanca region, by theatrically faking a heart attack. After ordering food and drinks, he would put on an outrageous theatrical performance, clutching his chest and pretending to faint on the floor. The scam worked like a charm until one establishment owner saw right through the man’s act and started other local restaurants photos of him warning them not to fall for his heart-attack routine.

Read More »

A Kenyan man was recently arrested after it was revealed that he had impersonated an attorney and represented various clients in 26 different cases – all of which he won – despite lacking any formal training.

Brian Mwenda Njagi has been dubbed the ‘real-life Mike Ross’, in reference to the popular character from the TV series ‘Suits’, a bright young man who manages to work at a high-profile law firm and represent clients despite lacking any kind of formal law school education. The comparison is justified, considering that Mwenda managed to represent clients in front of Court of Appeal judges and High Court judges in 26 different cases, winning every one of them. The young man had managed to portray himself as a qualified attorney and none of the judges he had ever pleaded before suspects that he was not really a lawyer. The Law Society of Kenya (LSK) only began suspecting him after receiving complaints from an actual lawyer also named Brian Mwenda who complained that he couldn’t access his account.

Read More »

A 71-year-old African man has been living in an isolated house surrounded by a 15-foot fence for over half a century because being close to women terrifies him.

Callitxe Nzamwita was only 16 when he decided that his fear of women was too much to bear. He couldn’t stand being around members of the opposite sex, let alone talk to them, so he built a wooden fence around his modest home and hasn’t stepped outside the property since. Instead of shunning him, the women of Nzamwita’s community have always looked after him, throwing all sorts of things like food and clothes into his locked yard. Although he never opens the door for them, he does use the things they give him.

Read More »

Chicago’s McCormick Place, the largest convention center in North America, was recently responsible for the deaths of at least 1,000 small birds that crashed into its thick glass walls.

According to the Chicago Bird Collision Monitors (CBCM), a volunteer conservation project dedicated to the protection of migratory birds, on October 5, the carcasses of at least 1,000 small birds, including  Tennessee warblers, hermit thrush, and American woodcocks were found around McCormick Place. They all died after colliding with the iconic building’s transparent glass walls, which birds simply cannot detect. The CBCM said that this was the highest number of crash-caused bird deaths that the group recorded from the grounds of one building in a single day. Unfortunately, the number of deaths may actually be much higher, because many birds continue to fly after suffering serious injuries only to die hours later.

Read More »

Rubiel Mosquera, a.k.a. ‘Neckzilla’, is an IFBB Elite Pro bodybuilder from Colombia known primarily for the size of his muscular neck, which reportedly measures 20 inches in circumference.

Rubiel Mosquera has a pretty impressive physique, but just one look at his neck is enough to explain his popular nickname, Neckzilla. It really is something to behold, and while he doesn’t hold the official title of the thickest neck in bodybuilding, there are many who believe he truly has the most muscular neck in the sport. Seen from some angles, it seems like his traps stretch all the way up to his jawline, but it’s actually his neck that is simply a lot more muscular than most. It is so muscular, in fact, that some bodybuilding fans have expressed concerns that the size of Neckzilla’s neck distracts judges at bodybuilding competitions causing them to miss some of his other assets.

Read More »

After undergoing a CT scan, an 80-year-old woman from Russia’s Sakhalin region discovered that she had a 3cm metal needle lodged in the left side of her brain.

Photos of the woman’s CT scan results were recently released by the Sakhalin Ministry of Health, along with a shocking explanation. Taking into consideration the woman’s age, doctors believe that the needle was inserted into her brain by her own parents, soon after her birth. As shocking as that sounds, such practices were not uncommon in war-torn Russia. Parents who could not afford to take care of their babies in difficult wartime conditions inserted thin needles into their brain through the fontanelle – the gap in the skull that gradually closes as the baby grows – to kill them. This method left no trace, as the fontanelle quickly closed, leaving no evidence of the murder weapon.

Read More »

Speed skydiving is an extreme sport that requires practicians to jump out of an airplane and try to reach and maintain the highest possible terminal velocity.

Invented in the late 1990s, speed skydiving is recognized as the fastest non-motorized sport on Earth. Competitions begin with skydivers jumping out of an airplane between 13,000ft and 14,000ft (3,962m to 4,267m), then turning 90° from the direction in which the aircraft is traveling, alternately left and right. Next, competitors go into free fall head-first towards the earth, while trying to be as aerodynamic as possible. It is within this stage that they reach the highest speeds. Depending on a variety of factors, including body mass, orientation, and weather conditions, competitors can reach speeds of over 500 km/h (310 mph).

Read More »

Mark Boyle, aka The Moneyless Man, gave up on using money in 2008 and has been living a money-free lifestyle ever since. Along the way, he also shunned technology and adopted a more ‘natural’ life.

Having graduated college with a degree in business and economics, Mark Boyle quickly found a good-paying job at an organic food company in Bristol, UK. That had been his plan for years – get a good job and buy all the material things that society (himself included) associated with success. But everything changed one night in 2007, during a friendly philosophizing session with a friend over a glass of Merlot on his houseboat. They were discussing world problems and how to best tackle them to actually make a difference. That’s when he realized that money was at the root of most problems, and remembered Gandhi’s famous quote: ‘Be the change you want to see in the world’.

Read More »