A Spanish ham producer recently announced that it sold the most expensive piece of traditional Iberian ham to a Japanese buyer for the outrageous price of 12,000 euros ($14,100).

Julio Revilla, president of Sierra Mayor Jabugo, an Iberian ham producer based in Corteconcepción, Spain’s Huelva region, said that the record-breaking piece of ham was prepared following the strict instructions of the buyer. They requested that the ham come from an Iberian pig at least two years old that had been grazing in the mountains of Sierra Mayor for at least 100 days. The animal had to gain at least 100 kilos during the time they spend grazing and that their diet consisted only of acorns and herbs. Finally, the curing period for the ham was five years, double the normal curing period for premium ham.

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A Chinese steel production company recently made international news headlines for offering 4,116 of its employees brand new cars as bonus for surpassing profit targets for the fifth consecutive year.

On October 1st, Jiangxi West Dajiu Iron & Steel Corporation organized an epic event to celebrate its success and reward employees for contributing to its yearly growth. It was reported that the company had reported increasing profits for the last five years, and management wanted to do something special to thank the staff, so they decided to give each one of them a car. A total of 4,116 new vehicles – 2,933 Jiangling Ford Territory and 1,183 FAW-Volkswagen Magotan – were distributed in batches in the weeks prior to the National Day holiday.

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Forget wish-granting goldfish and genies in a bottle, you can now own your very own magical cat and have all your wishes fulfilled for the modest price of 10 million rubles ($127,000).

A Novosibirsk woman recently posted a bizarre ad on Russian classified ad platform Avito, asking people to pay a small fortune for her pet cat, a Scottish Fold named Vincent I, or Vinsik, for short. The woman, known only as Elena, told Russian journalists that she discovered her cat’s wish-granting powers by accident, but has since tested its effectiveness three times, to impressive results. She now wants to share its magic with others, but is asking for a considerable fee as reward for her kindness.

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A 30-year-old Mexican man allegedly reported his own mother to the authorities for kicking him out of the house, because he didn’t want to get a job or at least help with chores.

Last Wednesday, Mexican media reported the case of one Christian Uriel, a 30-year-old man who denounced his own mother and aunt to the before the Mexican Prosecutor’s Office, accusing them of assault and harassments. The young man claimed that he was beaten out of the house by the two women, who also threw water on him. What he failed to tell the authorities was that he had been living at his mother’s house for months, free of charge, without contributing to the family budget or even helping out with chores.

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UK-based supermarket Waitrose has been slammed by social media users for selling bouquets of “autumn seasonal foliage” at £6 ($7.5) apiece.

Photos of various tree leaves packaged in transparent plastic foil and arranged as flower bouquets went viral on social media this week, sparking controversy because of the product’s price, six British pounds, of seven and a half dollars. Considering tree leaves can literally be picked up from the street this time of year, it’s understandable that some people went after Waitrose, accusing the supermarket of trying to make money by selling something that is actually free.

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Italian luxury fashion brand Gucci has sparked controversy with its new line of products for Fall 2020, which includes distressed jeans with what looks like grass stains on them.

Distressed jeans have been around for a long time, but fashion companies have been pushing the envelope in this area for a while now. Back in 2017, fashion retailer Nordstrom made news headlines for selling jeans caked in fake mud for a whopping $425 and the Onomichi Denim Project boutique has long been selling premium jeans that have been pre-worn by someone for at least a year. Now, Italian fashion house Gucci has released a pair of jeans and a pair of jeans overalls “specifically treated for a stained-like, distressed effect” They cost $765 and $1,400 respectively…

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A 7-year-old boy from India’s Uttar Pradesh state has been dubbed ‘Spider Boy’ for his ability to effortlessly scale 10ft walls using nothing but his bare hands and feet.

Yasharth Singh Gaur, a class three student from the Indian city of Kanpur, was inspired by Marvel’s popular Spider-Man to try and scale the walls of his home. It seemed impossible at first, but he kept at it and before long he was able to climb the corners of his room with only his hands and feet. His brother started telling people about Yasharth’s special ability and word about the real-life Spider man started spreading around the city.

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Over the years, we’ve featured some exceptionally talented tattoo artists on Oddity Central, but when it comes to surrealism and face morph tattoos, few can match Arlo DiCristina.

DiCristina, who goes by @ArloTattoos on social media, has been practicing tattooing since he was a teenager, and now runs his own tattoo shop, Elysium Studios, in Grand Junction, Colorado. He rose to fame a few years ago, when one of his projects, a portrait of iconic Batman villain, Joker, with his face interwoven into a skyline of Gotham City, went viral on social media, gaining praise from both tattoo enthusiasts as well as other inking masters. The name Arlo DiCristina has been linked to surrealist and face morph tattoos ever since and he has accepted the association as a badge of honor, specializing in the the two tattooing styles.

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At only 23 years of age, James Cook is already one of the world’s premier typewriter artists, and looking at his works it’s easy to see why.

The young architecture student got into typewriter art about five years ago, after reading about Paul Smith, another famous typewriter artist who couldn’t use a pencil or paintbrush to do drawings, because of his severe cerebral palsy. Cook was inspired by the story and intrigued about typewriter art, so he decided to give it a try. It was love at first sight, and after buying his first typewriter from an elderly couple looking to sell up their heap of antiques, James started using it to create illustrations and portraits.

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A 10-year-old Vietnamese boy has been turning heads on Asian social media after photos of his unusually muscular physique went viral.

Nguyen Hoang Nam’s parents claim that he was always more muscular than other kids his age. Even at birth, doctors noticed that he had more developed muscles than other babies, and by age 6, his body was so unusually toned that his parents took him to a hospital for a checkup. It’s here that Vietnamese media reports get blurry, as they mention “superman syndrome” as the cause of Hoang Nam’s impressive physique, but that is a chromosomal disorder with very different symptoms. The articles also claim that other than muscle stiffness and a general lack of flexibility, the 10-year-old boy is in perfect health.

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Looking at the beautiful bouquets of Ukrainian artist Olesya Galushcenko, it’s hard to believe that all the flowers aren’t actually real but made of hard porcelain.

Olesya Galushcenko is a hydraulics engineer who got into porcelain flower making as a personal challenge. Seven years ago, during maternity leave, she decided to take on an artistic project that involved using her hands, and a decorative flower bouquet caught her eye. The artist was self-taught, so she refused to pay for classes and decided to learn the craft herself using free internet tutorials. But they only served to get her started, because she soon realized that polymer clay wasn’t the right material for the degree of realism she wanted, so she decided to experiment herself and soon discovered that cold porcelain met her requirements.

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It’s safe to say that Toronto-based artist Bashir Sultani isn’t the superstitious type, as he has no problem spilling the salt to create some of the most amazing temporary artworks we’ve ever seen.

Afghan-born Sultani originally rose to internet fame about nine years ago, when photos and videos of his early celebrity salt portraits went viral online. They’re still impressive after all these years, but the talented artist has come a long way since, taking his salt art to a whole new level with a life-like food portrait series. Instead of sticking to pure salt on a black canvas, Bashir Sultani now uses colored salt as well to create convincing representation of various foods solely by sprinkling it on a dark plate.

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Marimo is a rare growth form of the Aegagropila linnaei algae in which the aquatic plant grows into large green balls with a velvet-like texture and appearance. It’s also a natural treasure of Japan, as well as a popular pet.

Aegagropila linnaei algae has long been a mystery in biology, particularly due to its fascinating spherical growth form. The algae can be found in just a handful of aquatic environments located in four countries – Iceland, Scotland, Estonia, and Japan – and exists either as free-floating filaments, flat growths on rocks or green balls that can reach up to 40 cm in diameter. It’s the latter that has fascinated both scientists and algae enthusiasts for centuries.

Marimo (literally “ball water plant”) are particularly popular in Japan. The largest and most impressive-looking ones can be found in  Lake Akan, in east Hokkaido. For some reason, given enough time marimo her grow up to 40 cm in diameter, much larger that the moss balls found anywhere else. The lake is shallow, providing the conditions needed for Aegagropila linnaei to thrive, so the bottom is full of these giant, fluffy balls just waiting to be squeezed. Only you’re not allowed to take those!

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Of the roughly 1,300 known species of bat, very few can be described as cute and cuddly, but the tiny Honduran White Bat is definitely one of these rare exceptions.

Also called the Caribbean White Tent-Making Bat, this adorable flying mammal can be found in the tropical forests of Central-American countries like Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and western parts of Panama. It has a distinctive white fur, which is characteristic of only five other known bat species, and is very small for its genus, with the largest recorded individual being under 5 centimetres in length. Because of its white color and generally cute look, as well as the fact that it doesn’t live in caves and doesn’t suck blood, the Honduran White Bat is considered a living, breathing contradiction of bat stereotypes.

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A trained software engineer, Sachin Sanghe spends most of his free time sculpting sticks of chalk into beautiful artworks, from portraits of celebrities, to depictions of Hindu gods.

As a high-school student, Sachin Sanghe was  always called to the front of the class to write notes on the blackboard, so it’s no surprise that he formed a special connection to the humble chalk. He started carving sticks of chalk with his geometry tools as a hobby, and as time went by, he got better at it. But then he got into an engineering college, and his art had to take a backseat to his academic responsibilities. However, after finishing school and getting a job, Sachin was free to return to his special hobby again. He did so, and became so good at it that the self-taught artist is now being hailed as one of the world’s best chalk sculptors.

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