This Puppy Is Actually a 2-Year-Old German Shepherd with Dwarfism

You know how some people say they wish their puppies would stay small and cute forever? Well, for one dog owner in Phoenix, Arizona, that turned out to be a reality, as her 2-year-old German Shepherd still looks like a couple-of-months-old pup.

Looking at Ranger, you could never tell he is an adult German Shepherd, but that’s only because he suffers from a rare condition called Pituitary Dwarfism. He was diagnosed after an infection caused by a parasite called Giardia, and even though he has had to deal with several side effects, like shedding fur and flaky skin, he managed to get the right treatment and leads a normal life. Plus, being stuck in puppy-hood forever does have its perks, like thousands of adoring fans on social media and constant attention from passers-by. Ranger captures the hearts of most people that take a look at him, and judging by the photos below, is there any question why?

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World’s Toughest Jacket Is Made from a Fiber 15 Times Stronger Than Steel

Dutch brand Vollebak recently unveiled what it calls the “world’s strongest jacket”. With an exterior made out of 100 percent dyneema, the strongest fiber known to man, the Indestructible Puffer can allegedly withstand whatever abuse you subject it to and last a lifetime.

Adventure clothing brand Vollebak has been creating cutting edge adventure sports clothes for years, and has become known for making some of the toughest garments on the planet. In the past, we’ve featured their virtually indestructible hoodie and a pair of pants designed to last at least 100 years, so we know than when they say their latest creation, the Indestructible Puffer, is the strongest jacket ever made, they mean it! Its outer layer is said to be 15 times stronger than steel and 40% stronger than high-strength aramid fibres, which makes it impervious to shearing, tearing, and blunt-force traumas.

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The Mind-Boggling Optical Illusions of Marcello Barenghi

Italian artist Marcello Barenghi has a very special skill – he can draw hyper-realistic versions of everyday objects, using commons drawing tools to make them look three-dimensional.

Even as a child, Marcello Barenghi had a knack for hyper-realistic drawing, trying his hardest to imitate reality. At just 18 months he was drawing airplanes that had tridimensional moving propellers and vertical stabilizers, and as he grew up his skills only improved, winning him several drawing competitions. By the time he graduated high-school and started art school, Barenghi had developed his own hyper-realistic style and technique, but was advised by his art teachers to try his luck outside of Italy, where hyper-realism was more appreciated as an art form.  However, making a career out of drawing realistic versions of everyday things proved harder than he imagined.

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This Cheese Can Only Be Made in a Small Swedish Village And Nobody Knows Why

Västerbottensost cheese is known as the “Emperor of Cheeses” in Sweden. people there love its complex taste and creamy texture so much  that they use it on everything. When they can get their hands on it that is, because authentic Västerbottensost is only produced at a small factory in the village of Burträsk. People have tried producing it somewhere else several times, but it just doesn’t turn out the same.

The secret to why Västerbottensost cheese can only be produced in Burträsk has been dubbed one of Sweden’s most intriguing mysteries. Over the years, people have tried expanding production of this famous cheese in various parts of the northern country, but to no avail. They tried making it in Falkenberg, a municipality in southern Sweden, in Bollnäs, a settlement in central Sweden, and even in the city of Umeå, close to Burträsk village. but the resulting cheese just didn’t taste like the original. The same recipe and production protocol were respected to the letter, but the Västerbottensost cheese made in Burträsk always tasted better.

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Chef Sues Michelin Guide for Including His Restaurant Against His Wishes

Seoul chef Eo Yun-gwon has shocked the restaurant world after announcing that he is suing Michelin Guide for including his restaurant in their 2019 edition, despite him asking them not to.

Most chefs would kill to have their restaurant included in the famous Michelin Guide, and in fact some waste years of their lives and big money in pursuit of a Michelin star and never get it, so Eo Yun-gwon’s announcement that he not only explicitly asked the authors of the guide to remove his restaurant from this year’s edition, but that he also sued them for not honoring his request, came as a huge shock. Eo described the Michelin Guide as cruel and unfair, and vowed to continue his crusade against the publication.

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Russian Cows Wear VR Headsets to Reduce Their Anxiety, Increase Milk Production

In an attempt to reduce cows’ anxiety and hopefully increase their dairy production, a cattle farm in Moscow’s Ramensky district has equipped its herd with specially-designed virtual reality headsets.

Research has shown that there is a link between a cow’s emotional state and it’s daily milk yield. In the past, we’ve heard of dairy farms playing soothing classical music for their cows in order to lower their stress level and increase productivity, but as technology advances, new mood-altering solutions are introduced. For example, the RusMoloko farm in Moscow recently equipped its cattle with VR systems adapted for the “structural features of cow heads”.

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Man Coughing Non-Stop for Two Months Had Leech Stuck to His Throat

Doctors at a hospital in south-eastern China’s Fujian Province recently reported the unusual case of a man whose non-stop coughing had apparently been caused by a leech attached to his throat.

Last Friday, the unnamed man arrived at the Wuping County Hospital in the city of Longyan complaining of almost non-stop coughing over the past two months. He had become increasingly worried about his condition after coughing up phlegm and blood, so he finally decided to seek medical attention. Doctors at the hospital’s respiratory department initially recommended a CT scan, but when that didn’t reveal anything, they decided to try a more invasive procedure called “bronchoscopy”, which allowed them to inspect the patient’s air passages with a small camera. That’s how they found a leech living in his throat.

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Mysterious Benefactor Settles People’s Debts in Poor Turkish Neighborhoods

Poor families in the Turkish city of Istanbul have been visited by a mysterious patron paying off their debts at grocery stores and leaving envelopes of cash on their doorsteps over the past year.

Last week, many poor people in Tuzla, a shipbuilding district on the Asian side of Istanbul ,were happy to find out that their debts at local grocery stores had been paid by an unknown male benefactor who claimed to be doing the selfless deeds “only to earn God’s blessing”. After the crash of the Turkish lira last year, food prices soared, as did the prices of utilities like electricity, and the unemployment rate. The rising cost of living has been hard to keep up with some people, but this mysterious benefactor is doing his best to help the poorest people in Istanbul.

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This Raw Turkey Is Actually a Delicious Cake

In case the title of this article wasn’t clear enough, the turkey in the picture below ins’t actually raw meat, skin and bones, but an edible cake made of sponge, butter cream and marzipan.

Even knowing that you’re looking at an expertly made optical illusion, it’s still pretty hard to believe that it’s not really a turkey ready to go into the oven. Everything from the pink, plucked skin, to the properly-proportioned wings and drumsticks was perfectly executed by English cake artist Sarah Hardy. Using her experience as a wax sculpture artist, Hardy is able to mold layers of sponge cake, chocolate and sugar or marzipan icing into all kinds of realistic designs, from human organs to birds and frogs.

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Indonesian Restaurant Gives You a Fish Pedicure While You Eat

If the idea of having dozens of fish nibbling at your toes while you enjoy some traditional Indonesian cuisine sounds intriguing, you may want to check out this unique restaurant in Indonesia’s cultural capital of Yogyakarta.

Located far away from the city center, the Soto Cokro Kembang restaurant originally relied on a relaxing flower garden to attract patrons exhausted by the stress of urban life. However, when the owner’s father had the idea of turning the abandoned cow stalls nearby into a unique aquatic eating space, no one imagined that the quaint eatery would end up attracting people from all around the island nation. Owner Imam Nur says that the attention Soto Cokro Kembang is currently getting in the news and on social media is beyond what he ever imagined.

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The Fashion Houses Selling Expensive Dresses That Don’t Really Exist

Earlier this year, San Francisco businessman Richard Ma spent $10,000 on a dress created by The Fabricant, the world’s first digital-only fashion house. The problem is that the dress didn’t really exist outside the digital world.

Digital-only clothes are so new that most people haven’t even heard about them, but some experts believe they will one day be a flourishing industry. But why would anyone be interested in fashionable garments that don’t exist in the physical world? If you can’t put them on and show them off, what’s the point? Well, that’s what makes them so interesting, you can actually put them on (sort of) and show them off on social media, in fact that’s actually their main purpose.

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China’s Real-Life Ace Venture Relies on Technology to Find People’s Lost Pets

He may not have Ace Ventura’s charm or his iconic hairdo, but Sun Jinren is a real-life pet detective in all the ways that matter. When he takes on a lost pet case, he pours all his effort as well as thousands of dollars in expensive equipment in order to find them.

Dubbed China’s first pet detective by the country’s media, Sun Jinren launched his business seven years ago and has since reunited about 1,000 lost pets with their owners. He has a success rate of around 70%, and despite charging a whopping 8,000 yuan ($1,130) per case, clients know his services are worth it. He now has an entire team working for his company and uses all sorts of high-tech gadgets to increase his chances of finding lost pets, including heat detectors, thermal imaging cameras and even an endoscope.

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Property Developer Promises Homebuyers “Park Views”, Delivers “Plastic Lake” Instead

A property developer in the Chinese city of Changsha has been slammed by homebuyers for deceiving them by promising “high vegetation cover” and “park views”, and delivering a public area covered in a blue plastic material to look like a lake.

To say that homeowners in a new residential complex in central China were less than impressed when they picked up their keys earlier this week would be an understatement. Having been drawn in by developer Changsha Shiji Yujing Real Estate with promises of natural vegetation and a “park lifestyle”, they were expecting the public area to look like an idylic paradise. However, all they got was a fake lake made out of a blue, plastic material, complete with a small timber bridge. The pavement decoration does in fact create the illusion of a lake when seen from above, but it’s not exactly what residents were hoping for.

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South Korea Runs Out of Dog Deworming Medicine Because People Think It Cures Cancer

Remember that story we ran a few months ago about a man who claimed he cured his terminal cancer with a cheap dog deworming medicine? Well, apparently it recently went viral in South Korea and stocks of the antiparasitic medicine have been depleted.

Back in May, the story of Joe Tippens, an Oklahoma man who allegedly cured his terminal with the help of a $5 dog deworming drug called fenbendazole, went viral. Doctors said the cancer had spread everywhere in his body and he only had about three months to live, but today he is cured and he credits the veterinary medicine for the miracle. The news made headlines all around the world, but it really made a big impact in South Korea, where stocks of fenbendazole have evaporated due to people buying it as a way to prevent or cure cancer.

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Man Impersonates Airline Pilot So He Can Board Plane Faster

Did you know airplane pilots can skip airport security checks even on flights conducted by other airlines? Well, one Indian businessman certainly did, so he bought himself a pilot uniform so he could board planes faster.

Rajan Mahbubani, a 48-year-old consultancy agency owner from New Delhi, was recently arrested at the Indira Gandhi International Airport, after posing as a pilot for German airline Lufthansa. He was about to board an Air Asia flight to Kolkata, when the airline called Lufthansa offices to confirm the trip of a pilot wearing the German carrier’s uniform. A team of Lufthansa officials was sent to confirm the pilot’s identity, but after they confronted the suspicious pilot he admitted to impersonation.

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