In an effort to make his Buddhist temple more accessible to the wider public and draw younger generations to religion, a former DJ turned Buddhist priest has been holding “techno memorial services” at his temple in Fukui City, Japan.

Attending one of the unconventional memorial services organized at the Shō-onji Buddhist temple by 49-year-old Gyōsen Asakura feels more like a warehouse rave than a traditional religious experience. A kaleidoscope of psychedelic lights bathes the golden decorations of the temple, and electronic music ranging from IDM (Intelligent Dance Music) to breakbeats blends with chantings of Buddhist scripture.

The sight of a Buddhist priest wearing his traditional garb, but also sporting a pair of large headphones while operating a DJ station during his sermon only adds to the psychedelic feel of attending a techno memorial service at Shō-onji. It’s definitely a strange experience, but one that it is fulfilling its purpose of bringing people, especially youths, back to religion.

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You probably already know about bullfighting and the controversy surrounding this ancient tradition, but there’s another less known tradition that claims the lives of tens of thousands of Spanish hunting dogs every year. And worst of all, nobody seems to want to do anything about it.

Galgos, or Spanish greyhounds, are an ancient breed of hunting dog that was once raised only by Spanish noble families. Today, these beautiful animals have been reduced to tools that modern-day hunters dispose of in a variety of gruesome ways as soon as the hunting season ends. The traditional explanation for their cruelty is that if the dogs have shamed their master by not performing to their expectations, this dishonor must be washed away by torturing and killing the animals, but in reality, it’s all about cutting costs. It makes more sense to them to buy new Galgos from a breeder for about 10 euros a piece, than spend money on feeding the ones they already own until the next hunting season. So they just get rid of them in the most appalling ways imaginable.

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Alexander Batyokhtin, a 41-year-old man from the Siberian village of Sosnovka, spent six weeks shaping around 12 cubic meters of fresh snow into a three-meter high church, where his fellow villagers can now to say a prayer and light a candle.

There is no real church in Sosnovka, or in any of the nearby villages, for that matter, and people who want to visit a place of worship have to drive for tens of kilometers to the city of Omsk. This is often an impossible task for the sick and the elderly, and it was this unfortunate situation that inspired Alexander to use the most abundant resource in his village to build a temporary church. He had worked in construction for years, and even though he was forced to retire after being diagnosed with a serious illness, the man was determined to offer Sosnovka a place to celebrate Christmas and Epiphany in properly.

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Looking for an original Valentine’s Day gift? How about a special Kotoka strawberry hand-picked in Japan that comes pre-packed in a special gift box? It’s said to be very tasty, and it only costs $22.

City’super, a supermarket chain in Hong Kong, has come under fire recently for selling what many have called “the most expensive strawberry in the world”. Priced at 168 HK dollars a piece, these Kokota strawberries are apparently hand-picked to ensure that only the finest specimens hit the market, and flown in from Japan. They come individually packaged in plastic-covered paper boxes, complete with a straw nest and Styrofoam “sock”, to emphasize their exclusivity. Photos of the ridiculously expensive “designer fruits” have been doing the rounds on social media in Hong Kong and mainland China, with most people declaring themselves appalled by the display of decadence.

The supermarket, which advertises itself as a “mega lifestyle specialty store”, has responded to the negative feedback by saying that the retail prices of its products are based on a number of factors, including purchase price, transport costs, market conditions and product exclusivity. City’super representatives also added that the supermarket was merely trying to offer “more choices of premium fresh produce to Hong Kong customers”, and that the Kotoka strawberries were intended as special Valentine’s Day Gifts. After all, who doesn’t find a $22 strawberry romantic.

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Goûte is a strange-looking spoon-like product that allegedly enhances the taste of certain foods by emulating the experience of licking your fingers. It was designed to replace regular spoons when enjoying creamy foods like yogurt, chocolate mouse or honey.

Goûte was created by Michel / Fabian, a design company that aims to rethink people’s relationship with food by designing eating utensils inspired by science and art. Founders Dr. Andreas Fabian, of Buckinghamshire New University, and Charles Michel, artist, food scientist and former Michelin-star chef, believe that conventional cutlery is only designed with functional purposes in mind, so they set out to create eating utensils that also “enrich the sensual pleasures of eating.” Goûte, for example, was designed to resemble a human finger, so using it to enjoy  delicious creamy foods enhances their taste by recreating the experience of licking your fingers, without leaving them feeling sticky or greasy.

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After several attempts to remove a cockroach that had crawled into his ear while he was sleeping, a Chinese man decided to kill the intruder by spraying bug spray into his ear canal.

The 60-year-old man from Chengdu told doctors that a cockroach crawled into his ear on February 1st. He could feel it wiggling around inside, so he tried to force it out with various tools. First he tried using his fingers, then he moved on to ear wax scoops, toothpicks and tweezers. None of them proved successful, so he then tried scaring the insect by hitting his head with his hands, but that didn’t work either. After three days the insect seemed to have advanced further into his ear, so he decided it was time for desperate measures. He grabbed a canned on insecticide and sprayed it into his ear, hoping to kill the intruder.

This time, the man, referred to as Liu Qian (a pseudonym) by the media, was successful, but that didn’t actually solve his problem. The cockroach died almost instantly, but it remained stuck in his ear. Doctors say the chemical warfare the man waged on the insect didn’t help very much, as the spray caused his ear canal to swell up, trapping the bug inside. In the end, he had to visit a doctor to have the cockroach removed, an operation that took only a few minutes. It turned out that the insect measured around one centimeter.

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Ever wonder what it would feel like to be thrown around in a giant metal bowl with only a few metal bars keeping you from literally flying out of the bowl or bumping face first into other people? If so, all you have to do is take a ride on a Tagada, one of the most dangerous amusement park rides ever invented.

The Tagada may not be as fast or as steep as a roller-coaster, but it is certainly more dangerous. You may scream in terror when riding on a roller-coaster, but deep in your mind you know that you are safely harnessed to your seat and the chances of something going wrong are very small. With the Tagada, on the other hand, the total lack of restraints makes the danger of physical injury very real, but that’s exactly what makes it so popular with thrill seekers.

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Taiwan recently banned euthanizing abandoned animals in shelters, a law believed to have been prompted by the shocking suicide of a young veterinarian, in May 2016. 31-year-old Chien Chih-cheng injected herself with euthanasia drugs, after becoming extremely disturbed by the large number of animals she had to put down.

Chien Chih-cheng was the director of of an animal shelter in Taoyuan’s Sinwu District. She had chosen to work at the shelter because of her love for animals, and her colleagues remember that she “often worked overtime, rarely took a proper lunch break, and sacrificed her holidays to give the dogs more attention and make their lives better.” After graduating from one of Taiwan’s top university with the highest score in a civil service examination, Chien could have opted for a number of desk jobs, but she chose to dedicate her life to helping abandoned animals and getting them adopted by new families. But her job also required her to euthanize the animals that didn’t get adopted after a certain period of time, and this took a heavy toll on the young animal lover, especially after animal rights activists accused her of killing hundreds of abandoned dogs.

“Some animal welfare activists have unleashed relentless attacks on the Sinwu shelter and Chien was a target of those attacks,” Taoyuan City Councilor Wang Hao-yu wrote on Facebook last year. “She was even described as a ‘butcher.’ For a young woman who chose to work at the shelter because of her love for animals and whose duties involved euthanizing stray animals every day, those abuses were like stabs to the heart.”

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Award-winning architect-turned-farmer Norma Burns has been running her organic farm in Bennet, North Carolina, for the last 18 years, but she’s now looking to turn over a new leaf, so she’s giving the farm away to whoever wins her essay contest.

Norma says that the Bluebird Hill Farm has been “everything” to her during the last 18 years, but she’s come to realize that she just can’t put in the work required to keep everything in order anymore. She has decided to go back to the city, but wants to make sure that she leaves her beloved farm in good hands. Although it’s been appraised at around $450,000, the dedicated farmer doesn’t want to sell her property, but give it away to a couple who can best explain why they would be her best choice, in a 200-word essay. Applicants must turn in their literary work by June 1st, 2017, and pay a $300 contest entry fee.

“To me, there’s no better calling in life than raising organic food,” Norma Burns said. “I’m looking for a like-minded couple who have experience and training in organic farming and are willing and able to put in the long days and hard work that farming requires. The only thing they don’t have is an actual farm. I want to make it possible for these new farmers to get started.”

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Harambe the gorilla was slain at the Cincinnati Zoo last year, during a controversial incident, but his spirit lives on in a seemingly endless number of Internet memes and jokes. A recent eBay auction of a single Flamin’ Hot Cheeto shaped like the famous silverback gorilla proves that Harambe is still as popular as ever.

On January 28, eBay user valuestampsinc listed a Flamin’ Hot Cheeto that resembled an orange, puffy version of Harambe, setting the minimum bid at a decent $11.99. The listing included a photo of the unique Cheeto alongside a photo of the real Harambe climbing a tree, and the resemblance was clearly close enough to justify the asking price. However, after the listing went viral on social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook, the bidding got out of control, and by February 7, at 3:45 am, when the bidding was scheduled to end, the Harambe-shaped Cheeto had been acquired for a whopping $99,900. eBay has confirmed that the item was valid and available for purchase, but has not commented on whether payment has been made.

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Virginia-based  brewery the Veil Brewing Company has taken the dessert beer category to a whole new level with its innovative “Hornswoggler” brew, a a chocolate milk stout aged on hundreds of pounds of Oreo cookies that even has icing chunks in it.

They say Oreos go best with milk, but the guys at the Veil Brewing Company apparently decided prove that beer works too. And they hit it out of the park. After launching the Oreo-flavored brew on January 24, the 64 cases available sold out almost instantly. The company then sold what little they had left as on-draft at the brewery, in Scott’s Addition, Richmond. That didn’t last very long either, and now the brewery is getting bombarded with questions about the next batch.

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Indonesian cinema chain CGV has been forced to shut down their Velvet Class venue in the city of Palembang because the ultra-comfortable seats made local authorities uncomfortable.

CGV Velvet Class cinemas are awesome! Instead of regular seats, or even reclining ones, they feature leather beds complete with pillows and blankets, for a ridiculously comfortable movie experience. They have been operating in Jakarta and around Indonesia for years now, with no problems, but recently a deputy mayor South Sumatran capital of Palembang decided that switching regular movie theater seats with comfortable beds was a very a bad idea.

Deputy mayor Fitrianti Agustinda visited the CGV Velvet Class cinema in Palembang, last week, after reportedly receiving complaints about it from the public. The local official was apparently scandalized upon seeing the beds, arguing that they could promote adultery and sexual misconduct.

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Bryan Ray, a 31-year-old man from Los Angeles, California, is so obsessed with pop superstar Britney Spears that he has spent $80,000 over the last 14 years to look like her.

Ray says he knew there’s was something special about Britney the first time he saw her. The look, her voice and her choreography were “the perfect package” for him and he knew he wanted to be like her. So at age 17, when the dentist designing his veneers asked him which celebrity smile he wanted to base his on, he answered almost instantly. But that was only the beginning of Ray’s transformation, as over the last 14 years, he has had over 90 cosmetic surgeries to make himself look more like his idol.

“So many people refer to me as ‘Britney’ and for a very long time friends have greeted me with the infamous quote ‘It’s Britney, bitch!’ from her song ‘Gimme More’, which I absolutely love,” Bryan proudly says. “Britney will always be one of my biggest inspirations. I love that she was the biggest star in the world, went through an incredibly hard time and came out on top.”

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Most dating services match their users by the things they like, but a new dating app called Hater completely turns this idea on its head, using common disinterests to help people find love.

Hater founder Brendan Alper, who left his job at Goldman Sachs to become a comedian, first came up with the idea for the app as a joke. But the more he thought about it, the more he became convinced that it would actually be an interesting real-life dating app, and after finding some scientific studies that confirmed his intuition, he decided to turn it into a reality. Hater has been in testing since December 2016, and will be officially available for iOS and Android devices on February 8th. So get ready to let the things you hate guide you to true love.

“What we hate is an important part of who we are, but it’s often swept under the rug in our public persona,” Alper says. “We want people to express themselves more honestly. Plus, it’s easy to start a conversation with someone if you know you both hate pickles.” The app utilizes the same swiping function as Tinder or Bumble, but instead of swiping on people, you swap on topics ranging from butt selfies and bad tipping, to sidewalk etiquette and Donald Trump. You simply swipe down to hate, up to love, left to dislike or right to like. Hater than finds potential matches based on the things you hate and your location.

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While most 18-year-olds are getting ready to go to college or get a job, March Tian Boedihardjo, a Hong Kong-born Indonesian Chinese math prodigy has already accomplished both. He has recently completed his doctorate program and is now an associate professor at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

Although he never liked being called a prodigy, saying that it implies that he didn’t have to work very hard for his achievements, March Tian Boedihardjo is definitely very special. he first made international headlines in 2007, when at the tender age of nine, he managed to get an A in both Mathematics and Further Mathematics and a B in Statistics in the General Certificate of Education (GCE) A-levels in the United Kingdom. I should mention that these entrance exams are usually taken by students aged 17 or older.

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