Russia is home to a number of unique and wonderful things, and apparently, the list also includes bioluminescent snow that glows blue.

Last month, Russian biologist Vera Emelianenko went for a walk to the White Sea coast, high in the Russian Arctic, and noticed something very unusual in the snow – a blue glow that looked like Christmas lights. With Emelianenko were Mikhail Neretin, the son of a molecular biologist working at the same remote field station, and two dogs. It was Neretin wh first noticed the strange blue glow, and as they walked to investigate, they noticed that their footsteps created streaks of ethereal blue “like blue Christmas lights in the snow”. Even the dogs left a glowing trail as they raced ahead, and squeezing the glowing snow in the hand only made it glow stronger.

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An ambitious mother who wanted to set a unique Guinness World Record gave her daughter a 1,019-letter name which resulted in her getting a two-foot-long birth certificate.

Over the years, we’ve featured some pretty unconventional baby names here on OC, but most of them at least made some kind of sense. The world’s longest name recorded on a birth certificate, on the other hand, is just that, long, and pretty much impossible to pronounce, but then again, that was basically the point. The mother who gave her daughter this incredibly long name told Oprah Winfrey that she just wanted to set a Guinness record and at the same time make sure that her girl had a unique name.

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An Australian man who has given up on finding a human partner claims to have found the next best thing – a humanoid robot named Emma.

Ever since his mother died a decade ago, Geoff Gallagher from Queensland, Australia, had only his dog, Penny, to soothe his loneliness. But then, a couple of years ago, he read an article about robots powered by artificial intelligence and decided to look into them. He found some intriguing commercially-available models, but at $AUD 6,000 ($4,350) each, they weren’t exactly cheap. Still, they looked so lifelike, could move their head and neck, smile, and even talk, so he decided they were worth the shot. He was not disappointed…

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The number of Japanese men who admit to sitting on the toilet seat while peeing has been growing steadily since the late 90s, and today over 60 percent of men reportedly urinate sitting down.

Japan is home to the world’s most advanced toilet systems, with several manufacturers competing to deliver all sorts of outrageous features such as built-in wireless internet, or the capacity to remotely collect and analyze urine samples, and then send the results to a pre-selected hospital. To find out what people want and thus remain competitive, toilet seat manufacturers like Toto or Matsushita Electric Works routinely carry out surveys that reveal some weird, albeit interesting information. For example, the results of one survey recently revealed that most Japanese men urinate seating on the toilet seat.

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A 37-year-old man from Henan Province, in Eastern China, recently found his biological mother 33-years after being abducted, thanks to a map of his home village that he drew from memory.

Li Jingwei was only four years old when he was abducted outside his family home in Yunan and sold to another family thousands of kilometers away. It was a neighbor who lured him with a toy and then drove him 2,000 kilometers to Henan Province, where he sold him to a family that raised him as his own. It’s unclear if he ever tried to run away, but what is known is that he spent many nights remembering what his parents and his home looked like, which ended up helping him reunite with his mother 33 years after his abduction. Li used his childhood memories to draw a crude yet detailed map of his home village and then turned to social media for help, asking people where they thought it could be.

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Lola, a 3-year-old cocker spaniel from Leeds, in the UK, has a head full of stunning blonde hair that often stops people in their tracks asking themselves if she’s wearing a wig.

Cocker spaniels are known for their beautiful curly locks, but Lola’s hair is special, even for this breed. Her lucky owner, 22-year-old Rebecca Dobson, says that because the hair on the dog’s head is so long and such a different color to the hair on her body, people assume it’s either fake or that it’s dyed. But it’s actually all-natural, which many are shocked to hear. Not only does Lola’s hair get a lot of attention from dog lovers every time Rebecca takes her out on walks, but some people apparently ask to take photos of her just so they can show their hairdresser how they’d like their own hair done.

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Harold Lloyd is known as both one of Hollywood’s legendary stars of early 1900s silent comedy, and as the owner of a year-long Christmas tree adorned with over 5,000 colorful decorations.

If you think yourself the kind of person that goes over the top when decorating the family Christmas tree, don’t beat yourself up too hard, as you’ll probably never be as obsessed with Christmas decorations as Harold Lloyd. The Hollywood legend, who starred in such films as Safety Last! (1923) and High and Dizzy (1920), is said to have had a collection of over 8,000 decorations collected from all over the world. But what he is most famous for is using most of these eye-catching baubles to decorate an impressive Christmas tree that is now regarded by many as the most adorned Christmas tree that ever was.

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The famous Trembling Rock of Huelgoat forest, in northeastern France, is a 7-meter-long, 137-tonne block of granite that anyone can move with their own hands, as long as they know how to push it.

The forest of Huelgoat is home to numerous large boulders and geological wonders, but Trembling Rock is by far the most popular of them all. The oblong boulder is so large and heavy that no human could ever hope to move it by themselves, and yet anyone, regardless of how skinny or weak they are, can gently rock it up and down just by pushing on the right spot. Left perched atop a much wider rock base in a unique position, Trembling Rock can make even the most feeble person on Earth look like the strongest person in the world.

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An octagon-shaped Illinois home listed on Zillow for $250,000 went viral online a few days ago, not for its shape or asking price, but for its all-black exterior and interior.

The now-famous “goth house” of Illinois shot to internet fame after being featured on the Instagram account “Zillow Gone Wild” where people quickly noticed its unusual dark exterior. Upon closer inspection, they realized that the interior decor was not much different. There were some white floor and wall tiles and some grey furniture here and there, but everything else stuck to the black theme of the place, which isn’t something you see every day.

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Chiyomi Sawa, a 72-year-old woman from Japan has been the undisputed World Masters Women’s Bench Press Champion for the last 19 years, and she doesn’t plan to stop dominating anytime soon.

Walking past Chiyomi Sawa on the street, you’d be forgiven for mistaking her for just a petite, slightly overweight pensioner, but in reality, she is a natural-born athlete with her sights set on her 20th consecutive world bench press champion title. Ever since she started competing at the highest level, in 2006, Sawa has dominated the world championship, winning first place at every edition, in different weight classes. The 72-year-old is now eyeing champion title number 20, and judging by her track record, she’ll most likely claim it.

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Dmitry Bragin is a Ukrainian artist who specializes in steampunk masks that make the wearer look more machine than man.

While most of Dmitry Bragin’s stunning-looking masks aren’t technically steampunk, as they contain no moving parts, it’s clear that the sci-fi genre served as the main inspiration for them. The talented artist starts off with a flimsy plastic mask that’s easy to shape as his base and adds all sorts of decorative elements to it in order to transform it into the wearable wonders you see below. The materials in his arsenal range from motorcycle parts and discarded camera lenses to metallic children’s toys, although you couldn’t really tell by looking at the finished product.

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A 20-year-old Turkish woman recently sparked a heated online debate after marrying the man who disfigured and almost blinded her with acid after a breakup.

Earlier this month, Berfin Ozek tied the knot with 23-year-old Casim Ozan Celtik, the same man who threw acid in her face two years ago, after they broke up. The two had been dating for some time, but, following a heated argument, they separated, and Casim allegedly decided that if he couldn’t have her, no other man would either, so he attacked her with acid. The substance left the poor woman disfigured, almost completely blind in one eye, and in considerable pain. Still, she somehow found the power to not only forgive her assailant but also fall back in love with him and accept his marriage proposal.

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For most people, Christmas is a time of joy and love, but to the members of Japan’s Revolutionary Alliance of Unpopular Men, the winter holidays represent everything they stand against.

For the past 15 years, the Revolutionary Alliance of Unpopular Men has been protesting all celebrations associated with romance, and this year’s Christmas was no exception. Dozens of members went out into the streets of Tokyo armed with banners and loudspeakers to make their disdain for everything romantic, including Christmas, known to the world. The alliance, which allegedly fights for the unpopular men of the world who can’t find a romantic date and are disappointed by romantic holidays, is on a mission to “crush” Christmas, Valentine’s Day and all other similar celebrations.

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The Man That Rescues Dogs, an animal shelter in Chonburi, Thailand, cares for over a thousand stray dogs, including a few paralyzed animals that get to run with the pack again, thanks to the care and attention of the staff.

Michael J. Baines is the man behind The Man That Rescues Dogs. The Swedish national moved to Chonburi in 2002 to open his own restaurant, but quickly noticed the large number of stray dogs roaming through the city, many of which could barely survive on the scraps they found every day. In 2011, Baines became attached to one special stray that started coming to his restaurant every day, and soon noticed that his “patron” wasn’t the only one in need of help. Michael started caring for a handful of strays, then for a few dozen, and before he knew it, he was providing food for almost a hundred canines. In 2017, The Man That Rescues Dogs animal shelter was founded, and in the four years since, the staff there not only rescued over 1,000 dogs, but gave a few paralyzed ones their mobility back.

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McDonald’s restaurants in China are replacing regular table seats with stationary bikes in an apparent effort to promote exercise.

Viral TikTok videos that have been doing the rounds online over the past week show stationary bikes being used as seats at McDonald’s eateries in Gunagdong . Made out of recycled plastic, the bikes not only encourage patrons to start burning calories as they eat, but they also allow people to recharge their smartphones with the generated energy. According to McDonald’s China, there are currently 10 such “Green Charging Bikes” at two restaurants in Guangdong and Shanghai.

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