The “Inuden” (Dog Den), a $150,000 architectural wonder built exclusively by hand by a Japanese palace carpenter, is probably the ultimate dog house money can buy.

Cultural Property Structural Plan Co., Ltd. is an Osaka-based company that specializes in the preservation and repair of cultural property buildings and seismic reinforcement design. It employs experts in traditional architecture who use centuries-old shrine and temple-building techniques. Recently, the Japanese company announced a new project, codename ‘Inuden’, which involves building an exclusive dog house out of high-quality natural materials, using the same traditional techniques used on Japanese shrines, temples and castles.

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Thailand’s “loneliest tree”, a solitary tree growing on a rocky islet only a few meters in diameter, is being seriously threatened by hoards of tourists desperate to get a selfie with it.

The small patch of land located just off the country’s eastern coast, in Trat Province, has been dubbed ‘Koh Khai Hua Roh’ because it looks similar to the island featured in drawings of funny scenes involving a man and a woman trapped on an island in the popular Khai Hua Roh (Selling Laughter) comic. The uninhabited islet is quite a sight to behold, as it is home to a solitary taban tree (Xylocarpus rumphii) that clings to life despite being surrounded by salt water. Unfortunately, the tree’s popularity might just be the death of it…

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Randresson Vieira, a talented makeup artist from Brazil, can turn into virtually any cartoon and anime character using his insane bodypainting skills.

30-year-old Randresson Vieira, an architect and urban planner by training, puts his passion for fine arts to good use by turning himself into real-world versions of popular characters from beloved anime series like One Piece, Dragon Ball and Naruto. The young self-taught artist uses his insane bodypainting abilities to expertly apply layers of paint on his face and torso and completes the impressive transformations with hand-drawn paper cutouts of the characters’ hair.

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Chinese social media was recently rocked by the controversial story of a man who sued his stepson after divorcing his mother, asking for compensation for raising him.

Only a few months after divorcing his wife, a Chongqing man surnamed Tang reportedly took his stepson Liu to court, asking for 35,200 yuan (approximately $5,285) as compensation for the money spent on raising him during the marriage. Tang reportedly married Liu’s mother in 2009 when the boy was 10 years old and helped raise him until 2021, when the woman filed for divorce. About three months after the separation, Tang filed a lawsuit against his stepson, asking for over 30,000 yuan as compensation for living expenses.

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Ever wish you could turn rock-hard ice cream from the freezer into soft-serve ice cream without having to wait for it to melt? Well, now you can, thanks to this bizarre-looking utensil from Japan.

Is it a fork? Is it a spoon? Is it a mixer whisking attachment? Well, it’s a little bit of all of those things. This is the アイホイスプーン (Aihoi Spoon), a special tool designed by a soft-serve ice cream lover for the sole purpose of turning hard tub ice cream into velvety-smooth soft-serve as quickly as possible. And while it may look like just a modified fork, after reading the inventor’s description, you’ll be surprised how much thought went into making the Aihoi Spoon.

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Arjan Boeve, aka ‘Above’, is a talented artist credited for bringing the old craft of stained glass-making into the 21st century by incorporating modern themes that the general public resonates with.

Stained glass is usually associated with religion, particularly with old churches and cathedrals, but through his project, Stained-Glass Geek, Dutch artist Arjan Boeve is showing younger generations that stained glass has a place in the modern world. Boeve’s stained glass stands out both because of its exquisite quality and crisp lines, but also because of its modern themes, including iconic video game, cartoon and anime characters like Mickey Mouse, Super Mario or Dragon Ball’s Vegeta.

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Over the past couple of days, news headlines in the South American country of Paraguay have been dominated by “Gordito lindo” (Cute fatty), an inmate who managed to walk out of prison by dressing as a woman.

On Sunday, César Ortiz, a supposed leader of the Rotela crime gang, escaped Tacumbú National Penitentiary by simply walking out through the front gate. Along with his freedom, he also earned the nickname “Gordito Lindo” or “Cute fatty”, because he disguised himself as a woman in order to fool the guards. Photos and video footage released by Paraguayan authorities show the convicted criminal wearing a long hair wig, fake eyelashes, lipstick, fake fingernails and women’s clothing. His disguise made such an impression on the public that the “Gordito Lindo” nickname stuck.

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A team of scientists recently announced that a giant meadow of seagrass covering an area three times the size of Manhattan consists of clones of the same exact plant, making it the world’s largest plant.

Elizabeth Sinclair, a senior research fellow at the School of Biological Sciences and Oceans Institute at The University of Western Australia, and her team had been studying cool water seagrasses in southern Australia for a while, hoping to understand more about their genetic diversity. They took samples from 10 locations across a giant seagrass meadow in Shark Bay in 2012 and 2019, but when they sequenced DNA from the samples, they were shocked to find that it was the same plant.

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A Brazilian man has been accused of kidnapping his ex-girlfriend and tattooing his name on the side of her face, as revenge for breaking up with him.

Tayane Caldas, an 18-year-old woman from the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo, was on her way to school last Friday, when she was approached by her ex-boyfriend, Gabriel Coelho, who forced her to get into his car. Afraid she would be attacked if she didn’t comply, the young woman got into the vehicle and was taken to her ex’s home in the municipality of Taubaté. There, the 20-year-old Coelho tattooed his full name on the girl’s right side of the face, from her ear, down to her chin. Although he doesn’t deny doing the tattoo, Gabriel Coelho claims that Tayane was more than happy to let him do it.

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A number of Taiwan sushi fans who legally changed their name to include the characters for the word ‘salmon’, as part of a restaurant promotional stunt, have now become stuck with it.

Taiwanese legislators are currently debating the possibility to change a law that only allows citizens to legally change their names a maximum of three times as a way to mitigate the aftermath of an event known as “Salmon Chaos”. In March of 2021, international news outlets covered the bizarre promotion of Taiwanese restaurant chain Sushiro, which offered sushi at discounted prices or totally free to people who legally changed their names to include the characters for ‘salmon’. Over 300 people reportedly took Sushiro up on their offer, and while most managed to switch back their old names days after taking advantage of the promotion, some have been stuck with hilarious names like ‘Handsom Salmon’, ‘Dancing Salmon’ or ‘Salmon Dream’.

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A trio of origami and paper plane building enthusiasts recently obliterated the world record for the farthest paper plane flight by achieving a jaw-dropping distance of 77.134 m (252 ft 7 in).

On April 16, 2022, at an indoor sports venue in Daegu, South Korea, Kim Kyu Tae managed to shatter the world record for the longest paper plane flight with each one of his eight throws. The previous record of 69.14 m (226 ft 10 in) set by Joe Ayoob and John M. Collins had been standing for a decade, but Kim managed to break it on all of his eight measured attempts (71.813 m being the shortest and 77.134 m being the farthest). But Kim was just one part of a trio who worked hard on designing and building this simple-looking but remarkable paper plane.

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A single dad in the Philippines recently made international news headlines after it was revealed that he named his only son after popular anime protagonist Naruto and his parents.

Jamesey Bolivar Maribojo, a 29-year-old anime buff from Davao City in the Philippines, is a big fan of Naruto, the mischievous teen ninja whose adventures have fascinated several generations of anime enthusiasts. He loves Naruto so much that when his girlfriend became pregnant he worked hard to convince her to name their son after the popular character. She agreed, but Jamesey did not stop there. Once he got his foot through the proverbial door, he pushed hard to have the surnames of Naruto’s parents written on the boy’s birth certificate. His son’s full name is Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze Maribojo.

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A dog owner in Eastern China’s Jiangsu province spent the last three years and a whopping 340,000 yuan ($51,156) building a miniature mansion for his 10 pooches.

Mr. Zhou, a 33-year-old businessman who made his money in the crayfish trade, started his pet project in 2019, soon after finishing another, much more modest abode for his dogs. Proud of his achievement at the time, he decided to share a video tour of it on Chinese streaming platform Douyin, hoping to get some positive feedback. However, most of the comments from viewers turned out to be negative, which only motivated the young businessman to start over and this time give the internet and his pets something special. After three years of hard work and hundreds of changes, Zhou finally completed his masterpiece, and this time people were indeed impressed.

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Bera, a small town in the Indian state of Rajasthan is famous for being the only place on Earth where humans and leopards live in perfect harmony.

India is one of the most densely-populated countries on Earth, and as humanity continues to encroach on the still-uninhabited woodlands and mountains, conflicts between leopards and humans are inevitable. In fact, with human expansion at peak levels and the number of leopards higher than they’ve been in decades, tensions between the two species are growing. But there’s one place where humans and leopards have allegedly been living in peace and harmony for at least a century. Known as “leopard country”, the town of Bera is said to contain the highest concentration of leopards on the planet.

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If you’re a millennial who misses the old rotary phone that was such a big part of your life growing up, the Rotary Un-Smartphone Kit may be just what you’ve been looking for.

Smartphones are cool if you like carrying a miniature computer everywhere with you, but if you only care about making calls and all the other stuff is just getting in the way, the mobile rotary phone designed by space engineer and brilliant inventor Justine Haupt is just perfect. Featuring the familiar plastic dial that most of us 90s kids grew up with, the Rotary Un-Smartphone is basically a barebone smartphone that only includes the absolute essentials that the average anti-smartphone user might like, but with a cool, retro look.

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