Japanese housing developer Ichijo Komuten recently unveiled a “flood-resistant house” that can not only remain waterproof during floods, but also float off the ground.

Whether you believe in climate change or not, the loss of housing due to floods is an undeniable issue all over the world, and while engineers and architects have been trying to find solutions, few have actually proven effective. Now, a record-setting Japanese housing developer claims to have come up with an answer to keep people’s homes from getting flooded as well as swept away by floods. Their new “flood-resistant house” was recently featured on a popular Japanese TV show and it has been getting a lot of attention online ever since.

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A 30-year-old woman in China has become the face of the Asian country’s obsession with slimness after losing 40 kg in a year despite weighing only 65 kg to begin with.

The unnamed woman, who reportedly hails from China’s Hebei province, is just 165-cm-tall and lost over 40 kilograms over the last year, after extreme dieting caused an eating disorder. She apparently decided to adopt a very restrictive diet after delivering her second baby, as her weight had reached 65 kilograms. Within a year, she lost over half her body weight and started experiencing serious health problems. It was only after feeling unwell that she decided to visit a hospital.

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An Indonesian woman who recently learned that she was part of a same-sex marriage claims that she never realized her husband of 10 months was actually a woman.

A 22-year-old woman from Jambi City, known only by her initials, NA, met her deceitful husband on an online dating app. He was registered as Ahnaf Arrafif and claimed to be a successful doctor who had studied abroad. They hit it off, and after dating for a couple of weeks, Ahnaf came to stay with her for about a week, during which time he behaved impeccably. He even helped the young woman take care of her parents, who were sick at the time, so when he proposed to NA a few weeks later, the parents quickly gave them their blessing.

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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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Ziggy Vamp Co. Ltd., a Tokyo-based company that specializes in products for wannabe vampires, is selling hand-made, customizable coffin furniture.

If you’ve ever dreamed of owning your very own sleeping coffin, you’re in luck! For just 429,000 yen ($3,200), you can now order the essential vampire bed and feel like a true blood-sucker. I know what you’re thinking, $3,200 isn’t cheap, but this isn’t some generic casket you’re spending your money on. Not only is it hand-made from actual wood, by carpenters at established woodworking and upholstering companies Yushin Kensho and Dainichi, but they are highly customizable and have multiple uses.

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Hirata, a small village in Japan’s Fukushima Prefecture, has become famous for challenging tourists to try its ultra-spicy habanero-laced ice cream.

Can soft-serve ice cream be hot? It sounds nonsensical, but if we’re talking about the cold treat served in Hirata Village, Fukushima, the shoe definitely fits. Sprinkled with varying amounts of habanero pepper powder – depending on the person’s spiciness tolerance – this special ice cream is nothing to mess with. It’s so hot, in fact, that people need to sign a waiver clearing the seller of responsibility before trying it.

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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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Kokenawa Inc., a startup based in Nagoya, Japan, produces the Pocketoilet, the world’s smallest portable toilet and a real life-saver when nature calls.

When you gotta go, you gotta go, but what if there’s nowhere to go? We hardly ever give the humble toilet a second thought in our day-to-day lives, but most of us could hardly imagine our lives without it. In war-torn regions and areas affected by natural disasters toilets are among the most sought-after amenities, but apart from insufficient portable toilets and unhygienic latrines, there aren’t too many options. Actually, there is also the Pocketoilet, a packet measuring 7 centimeters tall and 6.5 cm wide that can fit in virtually any pocket or purse.

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Tired of always buying new pairs of gym sneakers, a UK man had his favorite pair of Nikes permanently tattooed onto his feet.

Dean Gunther, a popular tattoo artist from Manchester, in the United Kingdom, recently went viral on Instagram and TikTok after sharing a short video of himself tattooing a pair of sneakers onto a client’s feet. Although drawn exclusively by hand, seen from a certain angle, the design really does create the illusion that the person is wearing a pair Vibram FiveFingers sneakers with built-in toe slots. The man apparently prefers Nikes, but they don’t make that design, so…

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Barbara Humbert, an 82-year-old great-grandmother from Val d’Oise, France, recently set a new world record after running a whopping 125 km (78 miles) in 24 hours.

At the end of last month, during the French Championships held in Brive-la-Gaillarde, 82-year-old Barbara Humbert broke the world record for the longest distance run in 24 hours for her age category. A German woman had run 105 kilometers (65.2 miles) on tarmac a few years back, and Barbara had her sights on improving that record by about 15 kilometers. She exceeded her own expectations, though, smashing through the old world record with a recorded distance of 125 kilometers covered in 24 hours. Not bad for an 82-year-old great-grandmother, is it?

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A North Carolina pest control company is offering to pay homeowners $2,000 if they agree to let it release 100 American cockroaches into their households so it can test a new extermination technique.

If you live in the continental United States and want to make a quick couple of grand, go to The Pest Informer website and sign up for their ongoing experimental program. The pest control company is looking to test a new cockroach extermination technique in real-life conditions, so it wants to release 100 roaches into people’s homes, so it can try to exterminate them all for 30 days. The deal requires the written approval of the homeowner to have 100 cockroaches released on their property and to have the entire experiment filmed by technicians.

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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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Dozens of underprivileged families and families of children with disabilities in the Russian region of Tula recently received bags of Cheetos snacks as food assistance and they were just as happy as you’d imagine…

If this story was posted on April 1st, you’d probably think it a joke. Heck, you’re probably thinking that right now, and you’re right to do so, but, sadly, it’s true. In early May, Russian news media reported that the Rus food fund had recently carried out an operation, distributing 1,100 bags of Cheetos snacks to dozens of impoverished and underprivileged families in ten municipalities of Russia’s Tula region. About 700 messages of gratitude were posted on social media posts about the charity event, but the photos of the recipients with their Cheetos bags told a very different story…

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Mafe Walker, a Colombian influencer and self-described “interdimensional medium”, recently went on a television program and gave a very peculiar interpretation of an extraterrestrial language that made her go viral on social media.

If you’re a fan of sci-fi TV series like Star Trek or Stargate, you’re familiar with quite a few of Hollywood’s made-up alien languages, but if you’re interested in hearing the real deal look no further than Mafe Walker, a Colombian spiritual guide who claims to be able to “open interdimensional portals and interpret them”, as well as speak an alien tongue on a “galactic frequency” that only her vocal cords can reach. Don’t believe me? You can see her in action thanks to her viral interview on TV Azteca’s “Venga La Alegría” show.

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The Mission, a popular restaurant in Scottsdale, Arizona, has been getting a lot of attention for encouraging visitors to literally lick a wall made of pink Himalayan salt.

One of the last things you’d expect to see people doing at a restaurant, at least one that reputedly serves delicious food, is licking the walls, and yet that’s exactly what many patrons of The Mission restaurant have been doing for the past 17 years. And it’s not like the staff and management don’t know about it, on the contrary, they are the ones encouraging people to lick their famous wall made of pink Himalaya salt.

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