I remember seeing a tree that had flowers on most of its trunk, but I’ve never even heard of a tree that laid fruit directly on its trunk. Have you?

Jabuticaba, also known as the Grape Tree, is a unique tree found around South-American countries like Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina. Unlike other trees, its fruit can be plucked and eaten right off the trunk. In order to survive, Jabuticaba has evolved in order to make its fruit more accessible to animals who can’t climb. This way they can reach the fruit, eat it and expel the seeds far away from the parent tree.

Jabuticaba fruits are purple, juicy, and can be either eaten fresh, used in jellies, or left to ferment and made into wine and strong liquor. Dried Jabuticaba fruit peels can be used to treat asthma and diarrhea, and scientists hope it will prove useful in the fight against cancer, as several anti-cancer compounds have been identified in the fruit.

It may look like these tree have been infected by some sort of plant disease, but it’s just evolution at work.

via Kuriositas

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Santisuk a 5-year-old pig-tailed macaque is a proud member of the Thai police, doing his best to keep the streets crime-free.

Well, maybe I’m exaggerating a little bit, since Santisuk is really just a mascot for the police force of Saliburi district, Thailand. He was found injured, a while back, and has since then been adopted by local policemen. Every day he puts on his “Monkey Police” uniform and accompanies his colleagues on patrols. He doesn’t do arrests or stakeouts, but he does sit on top of the police car drawing attention and improving police image, in locals’ eyes.

You could say Santisuk is the best PR guy police could ever hire. And he enjoys every minute of his job, especially when he receives tasty treats.

Photos by Damir Sagolj/REUTERS via Daylife

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Ms Liu, a 90-years-old woman from China is the current record holder for the smallest feet in the world.

Foot binding was an important tradition in China until the early 20th century. There are several theories regarding how a gruesome custom like foot binding became so popular, but regardless of which one is true, the outcome is still the same: women suffer excruciating pain, infections and disabilities.

Basically, young girls’ toes and foot arches were brutally broken, without any pain relief, and then bound in tiny shoes that prevented the feet from growing normally. Women with bound feet were actually considered “intensely erotic”. One of these women was Ms. Liu, a 90-year old woman, from Yunnan province, China. Her feet were bound when she was just 5 years old, and she has been living like this for the past 85 years.

Although foot binding was banned in China, and she doesn’t need to wear her tiny shoes anymore, Ms. Liu finds it makes her feet aesthetically pleasing. She may be 90-years-old, but her feet are the size of a 10-year-old girl.

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Danish artist Nina Maria Kleivan replaced her new-born daughter’s baby clothes with uniforms of known dictators .

No, Ms. Kleivan is not a fan of dictatorship, she just used this opportunity to show that evil is present in all of us, no matter how innocent we may look. The idea for this unusual art project came to Nina after she suffered some complications from her pregnancy,and was forced to spend some time at home.

Away from her art studio, the artist chose her young daughter, Faustina, as a canvas. Looking at her, Nina started contemplating on the idea that each human being starts with a clean slate and has the opportunity to do good or bad, in life. “Even my daughter could end up ruling Denmark with an iron fist. The possibility is still there,” she says.

Like the Childzilla series, Potency may be comical, but it’s meant to have people ponder on where evil comes from. Read More »

Modern pole-dancing may be attractive to look-at, but in terms of difficulty, it’s nothing to the old Indian sport of Mallakhamb.

Mallakhamb originated in Maharastra, India, during the 12th century, as a form of training for wrestlers. The word “Malla” means wrestler, while “khamb” translates as pole. This old art had almost been lost throughout the centuries, but it’s become increasingly popular, in recent years, mainly due to the efforts of coaches like Uday Deshpande.

The sport of Mallkhamb has athletes climb up a wooden pole, 55 cm in diameter,at the base, and 35, at the top, and perform various poses and feats. The pole is most often made of teak, because of its sturdiness, and before exercises begin, it’s rubbed with castor oil, to prevent friction.

Even though Mallakhamb is yet to be recognized as an official sport, in India, it has been embraced by visually-impaired boys. This art is about feeling and understanding the strength and balance of one’s body, and that’s why blind Mallakhamb athletes are just as good as those with perfect eyesight.

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Phillip Levine began noticing a receding hairline, in his early twenties, and instead of wearing a wig or getting implants, he decided to use his head in the name of art.

With the help of talented body-painter, Kat Sinclair, the British artist immortalizes his designs, on the top of his bald head. “Unlike a wig where you are hiding what maybe seen as a deformity what I do is tell people feel special, original and embrace what could be looked at as a weakness and turn it into a strength.”

28-year-old Phillip Levine and Kat Sinclair often spend up to 4 hours working on a single head painting. One of the most memorable pieces had Phillip carry 1,000 Swarowski crystals glued to his head.

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The small town of Cape West May, New Jersey is currently being “terrorized” by a group of “despicable” people who wrap trees, stop signs and even lamp posts in knitted covers.

You can clearly understand why the local authorities want them brought to justice, right? Of course you can’t, but they do offer a useful explanation: “It’s bright, it’s pretty … but in a community and in law your rules have to be consistent.” In other words, they want the people behind the Mystery Knitter project to come clean. But without the mystery, would something like this even be worth mentioning?

Signs of the Midnight Knitter first appeared in Cape West May, a few months ago, and since then more and more knitted covers keep showing up, over the cover of darkness. No one know who’s responsible for all this, but pretty much everyone loves their work (except authorities, of course).

One of the Midnight Knitter members told the Daily News a trio of knitters is knitting donated yarn and placing their work around the city, at night. He described their work as a form of graffiti, without the destructive effect. And everyone agrees it’s a lot better than someone spray-painting their walls.

via PressOfAtlanticCity

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Made by the guys at RoboSteel, an Irish company specialized in creating artistic sculptures out of scrap metal, this Optimus Prime replica is the best I’ve ever seen.

Characterized as “the most amazing steel sculpture ever created by RoboSteel” this Optimus Prime sculpture is made of over 5,000 recycled steel parts, collected from a car, a boat, a motorbike, a dishwasher, a television and others. It’s 2.5 meters tall and weighs an impressive 550 kilograms.

Recycled Optimus Prime has been coated with several layers of strong, protective lacquer, and all the sharp edges were removed. Now it’s ready to guard your home against Decepticons, provided you’re willing to fork out 5,500 euro for it. It may not be as big as the Transformer drying laundry in Taiwan, but it definitely looks better.

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Named “A Noiva”, which translates as The Bride, the 5-meter-high tampon chandelier is one of the main exhibits at Joana Vasconcelos’ “Netless” exhibition, in Lisbon.

If you’re unfamiliar with Joana Vasconcelos, she’s the artist behind the amazing stainless pot shoes installation that we featured a while back. “The Bride” is one of her most original artworks, made up of over 14,000 tampons, wire and cotton thread.

There’s nothing peculiar about Joana Vasconcelos’ chandelier, if seen from a distance, but as you approach you begin to make out the strange materials she used. Right now, the tampon chandelier is only soaking up the gazes of art lovers, and will continue to do so until the Belem Cultural Center exhibition ends, on May 18, 2010.

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Actually, Vijay has earned the nickname “Rubber Man” in his native country of India, for performing incredible flexibility stunts.

Vijay is able to wrap his legs over his head, wind his arms around his back, crawl his body through a tennis racket and even drink from a coke bottle held between his toes. The 27-year-old shop assistant says his passion for extreme flexibility tricks comes from watching Jackie Chan movies when he was a kid.

Vijay Sharma discovered his unusual talents when he began taking martial arts lessons, so he could follow in the footsteps of his idol. He started crawling into tight spaces, curling up in boxes, and before he knew it, he was earning the title of  “Rubber Man” in the Limca Book of records. That’s India’s version of the Guinness Book of Records.

Te ambitious young man has made appearances on national TV shows and won the silver medal in a body flexibility tournament, and says he will stop at nothing to reach the international fame he deserves. Maybe he could learn a thing or two from Rubberboy

Photos by BARCROFT INDIA via Daily Mail

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Hello Clarice…Actually it’s ‘Good evening, Clarice’, but heck, most people are familiar with just the first one. Anyway, here’s a very cool Silence of the Lambs themed cake.

Created by Celebration Generaton Cakes, for the Czar of Cakes Challenge at the Minnesota Monthly Food & Wine Experience, the Victim of Hannibal Lecter Cake is one of the most original I’ve seen. And as you may know, I’ve recently posted quite a number of cool cakes, lately.

Made with fondant, sugarpaste, gumpaste, cocoa and other sweet ingredients, the Silence of the Lambs theme was chosen because there was no way someone else ‘would think of, much less actually use it’.

via SuperPunch

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Jim Jablon used the skin of a dead alligator to create one of the strangest bikes ever seen on the roads of Florida.

Ironically enough, Jim Jablon’s ‘Gator Bike‘ was created using the skin of an alligator killed by authorities, but it’s now used to raise funds for a wildlife foundation. Alligator are constantly culled, in order to keep their numbers under control, and most of the skins end up pinned up in people’s yards. So Jim thought to put one to good use and get some exposure for his Wildlife Rehabilitation of Hernando (WROH) foundation. That’s basically how the Gator Bike was born.

The Gator Bike took Swedish leather expert Benny Ohrman a full year to complete. The skin and tail come of the bike, but the alligator head is fixed in place and has the speedometer and the rest of the gauges in the back of the head.

Jim Jablon decided to raise money for his foundation by organizing a raffle with the Gator Bike as the prize. A raffle ticket costs $100 and only 1,000 will be sold. The winner of the bike will be selected in May, in Fort Lauderdale.

It’s worth mentioning the Gator Bike comes with a powerful Ultima engine, and over $86,000 to make.

via Daily Mail

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No, it’s not a typewriting robot, it’s an artistic sculpture made by Jeremy Mayer, out of 50 different typewriter parts.

Inspired by friend Brent Clifford’s paintings of female robots in sexy poses, Mayer decided to take some vintage typewriters apart and reassemble its parts as a the sexy Nude IV aka Delilah. The name comes both from the story of Samson and Delilah and from the women who posed for the artwork, Delilah Brown.

The sexy typewriter robot took Jeremy Mayer 1,400 hours to make, during the past year and it’s now on display at various museums, including Ripley’s  Believe It or Not and Nevada Museum of Art, in Reno. Sexy Delilah can be yours for the modest price of $20,000. Come on guys, it’s art and it’s sexy!

via GizmoWatch

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The appropriately-named Love Valley is a part of Cappadocia that features some rather excited exciting natural structures.

Before you ask, no this is not where the annual Phallic Festival is celebrated, it’s one of Turkey’s most interesting tourist destinations. Apart from its breathtaking beauty and one of the best trekking places in Asia, Love Valley is famous for hosting a relatively large number of literally rock hard…willies. That’s right, the eroded volcanic ash monuments resemble phalli proudly reaching for the sky.

Like the inspired dude who post this story on Neatorama said: “If God created Love Valley, he most likely did it when he was a school boy.” Brilliant!

via Trifter

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Yup, leave it to the Japanese to invent something completely useless, yet totally cool. This time it’s a grabbing device for potato chips.

Potato chips may be delicious, but you can’t really enjoy them without getting grease all over your fingers and then the keyboard. Well the Japanese have finally come up with a solution to this pressing problem. Potechi ( a Japanese neologism derived from the English “potato chip”) is an ingenious device manufactured by Takara Tomi, that grabs potato chips, so you don’t have to.

Featuring groundbreaking technologies like NBCS (No Broken Clutch System), NTTS (No Touch Table System) and FECS (Finger Easy Cleaning System) allows you to gently pick up potato chips without breaking them. Simply press the button and let Potechi do the rest of the job for you.

The ingenious Potechi chip grabbing tool is available in japan, for just $7. Come on, a clean keyboard is worth at least that much.

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