Huang Xin, a hairdresser from Beijing has created replicas of monuments and famous buildings around Tiananmen Square, using discarded human hair.

I’ve seen some pretty impressive models throughout the years, including a plywood helicopter, a matchstick Minas Tirith or a toothpick city, but never anything made from human hair. But, they say there’s a first time for everything, so today I stumbled over some photos of famous Chinese buildings made entirely from human hair.

Huang Xin, a young Chinese hairdresser wanted to celebrate the 60th anniversary of People’s Republic of China in a unique manner and used his talent to do it. Using discarded human hair, mostly from women, he spent almost an entire year creating some very impressive models of Tiananmen Square.

photos via ImagineChina

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George Reiger considers himself Disney’s number one fan and to prove it, he has covered most of his body with over 1,900 Disney tattoos.

When people ask George Reiger why he has almost 2,000 tattoos relating to Disney, his answers that Disney practically raised him when he was a child and he wanted to have Mickey and the entire Magical Kingdom with him everywhere he went. George had his first tattoo, Fantasia Mickey, when he was just 18 years old. By the time he turned 20, he already had 80 Disney tattoos.

That’s when he went to the company’s owners and asked them for permission to have even more characters permanently inked on his skin. Disney agreed to let him become a walking Disney canvas, as long as he used just one tattoo artist for every one of his tattoos and didn’t make any money from them. He agreed and went one to cover about 85% of his body with Disney characters and settings. He has 4-5 new tattoos done every week.

To George Reiger, nothing is more important than Disney. That’s probably why he’s currently at wife number 6, with all six honeymoons spent at Walt Disney World. He lives in a Disney-themed house, full of over 24,000 Disney collector’s items.

He admits that it’s pretty bizarre for a 50-year-old man to be covered in tattoos of children’s characters, but this is what makes him happy. He spends around $50,000 on Disney every year and when he dies, he wants his ashes spread over the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, so he can live in Wald Disney World forever.

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I know, being the hairiest man in China is not how you’d want to be known, and neither does Yu Zenhuan, whose hair covers 96% of his body.

Yu was diagnosed with a rare condition that causes hair to grow in places it normally shouldn’t. he was born in a family of farmers and, when he was only 2 years old, his parents noticed he had hair coming out of his auditory canals. His situation worsened as he grew up and now almost his entire body is covered with long thick hair.

But Yu might have the chance of living a normal life, he is now undertaking a laser treatment to have his hair removed. Basically, every hair on his body will have to be zapped with laser. That can’t be pleasant, but for Yu Zenhuan it’s nowhere as painful as looking in the mirror.

Photos by BARCROFT MEDIA

via Telegraph.co.uk

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Apart from the breathtaking Iguazu Falls, one of the most important tourist attractions in the Iguazu area is the House of Plastic Bottles, built out of plastic bottles and other recyclable materials.

Alfredo Alberto Santa Cruz got the idea of building a house from plastic bottles while he was creating a playhouse for his little daughter. After he finished it, he noticed the plastic the structure was pretty sturdy and realized he was on to something. That’s when he decided to build a one-bedroom cottage out of plastic bottles, for him and his family.

Mr. Santa Cruz’s bottle house features a bed, chairs, shelves and even a fake hanging plant, all made out of PET bottles. Practically everything inside the house is recyclable, apart from the wood framing and a few metal bolts. The walls are made from 2-liter plastic bottles, while the roof consists of hundreds of tetrapak cartons (the boxes you drink juice from). Alfredo has flattened them into shingles and turn them aluminum side up, to reflect the sun and keep the place cool. They would only last for 4-5 years, due to rains, but he covered them up with a layer of plastic, cut from bottles and says this combo could last even 20 years.

I’ve seen glass bottle houses before, even a temple built out of glass bottles, but this is my first plastic bottle house.

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The world’s largest flag was unfurled over Teddy Football Stadium, Jerusalem, during an event attended by officials from the Guinness Book of Records.

The creation of the flag was initiated by Grace Galindez Gupana, a 48-year-old Filipino business woman and founder of Halleluyah Kingdom of Jerusalem Foundation. Mrs Gupana holds nine other Guinness records, including the largest stone tablets with the ten commandments and says her projects are ways of emphasizing her love for the God of Israel.

The flag presented on September 17, in the capital of Israel, features the largest emblem of lion, ever soon and measures 44,404 square meters (that’s over 4.3 hectares)  and weighs 9.5 tons. A team of six people produced the world’s largest flag over a period of 120 days. It cost $120,000 to make.

Photos by Xinhua/Yin Bogu

via Xinhua

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Stan Munro has spent the last six years of his life recreating some of the world’s most important landmarks out of nothing else but toothpicks.

Most people use them to get rid of food scraps from between their teeth, but 38-year-old Stan Munro, a former television host, uses them to create wooden works of art. Stan takes between one day and six months to glue together 1:164 scale models of some of the most impressive structures on Earth.

In order to create his amazing Toothpick City, Stan Munro has so far used six million toothpicks and 172 liters of glue, but his work is far from over. Right now he is working on a toothpick replica of Angkor Wat, the most complex structure he has ever had to build. All his models are on display at the Museum of Science and Technology, in Syracuse, New York.

Photos by SOLENT NEWS & PHOTO AGENCY

via Telegraph.co.uk

Here are some of his most incredible-looking toothpick creations:

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Milan Karki, an 18-year-old from Nepal, may have solved the world’s increasing energy problems, by inventing a solar panel that uses human hair instead of expensive wiring.

The young Nepalese, together with 4 classmates, has been trying to come up with a way of producing cheap, renewable energy for his home village ever since he went to school in Kathmandu, but now he dreams of powering up the whole world with his invention.

Milan has discovered hair not only makes us look good, but is also light sensitive and a great energy conductor, because of the melanin it contains. So he replaced the silicon in normal solar panels with human hair and thus invented a new type of solar panel, four times cheaper than the ones on the market today.

The inventor says he has already sent out a couple of his prototypes to districts in Nepal, to be tested for feasibility, but is confident he has found an answer to his country’s energy issues. He says buying half a kilo of human hair is not only cheaper than a set of batteries, but also produces energy for much longer period of time. And anyone can replace the hair, so the solar panel doesn’t require a lot of servicing.

Photos by Tom van Cakenberge/BARCROFT MEDIA

via Daily Mail

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Dan Phillips has become a regular celebrity in his home town of Huntsville, Texas, for building 14 fully functional recycled houses out of construction waste and scraps.

The 64-year-old constructor has lived a varied life, working as an intelligence officer in the army, a college dance instructor, antique dealer and even as a puzzle maker. He has spent the last 12 years building affordable houses for the poor, using discarded materials.

Anything durable people throw away is a potentially useful building material for Dan Phillips. He runs down to construction sites and landfills and takes away almost everything they throw away. His houses are not all the same, he builds each one with the materials at hand, but he views that as a good thing. After “repetition creates pattern”.

Dan Phillips’ recycling philosophy has changed the way the entire community sees the recycling process and he has even been contacted by companies who wanted advice on how to build recycled warehouses.

Dan uses his very own construction company to build the houses, but always asks the beneficiary to take part in the building process. This way, if something ever breaks, they’ll know where everything is and how to fix it.

via New York Times

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The “Day of the Geese” is a Spanish Fiesta in which “brave” contestants have to wrench the head off a goose while being plunged into the water.

In the Basque fishing-town of Lekeitio, near Bilbao, people have a rather unusual way of keeping themselves entertained. Every year, during the Day of the Geese, young men try to prove their skill at tearing the head off a goose.

Geese are strung up on a wire, above the town’s harbor, as young men approach in boats and try to grab them. They are then lifted up into the air and plunged into the water repeatedly, until they pull the head off the goose or fall into the water.

Quite a challenge but at least the winner gets a worthy price: he gets to keep the goose…I can’t say I’m surprised to see this kind of display in a country fascinated by archaic traditions like Corrida or the Shearing of the Beasts, but at least here they kill the goose beforehand (if that can be considered a positive aspect). The Day of the Geese used to be celebrated with live geese. Read More »

Wang Guohua has his sight set on entering the Guinness Book of Records for his impressive cigarette pack collection.

The Chinese collector began his search for cigarette packs 6 years ago and now he is the proud owner of 30,000 packs of cigarettes from over 100 production areas of more than 10 countries. He has prepared an application for the Guinness Book of Records, as the man with the biggest cigarette pack collection on Earth.

As you can see in the photos, he’s even used some of them to cover up an entire room inside his house.

Photos by ImagineChina

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Zhang Tingting, a popular kung-fu artist from China, managed to tow eight cars using only the incredible power of her hair. This was her last performance before becoming a Buddhist nun.

52-year-old Zhang Tingting has been touring China for decades, mesmerizing people with her unique kung-fu talents. Using the power of her braided hair, Zhang is able to pull cars and even cut paper. She has been practicing the ancient art of kung-fu ever since she was 17 years old, but has now decided to quit and become a Buddhist nun.

The talented artist has been living the life of a nun for the last two years, but decided to give one last performance, for the people in her native town of Kaifeng, before shaving her precious hair. On August 25, Zhang Tingting pulled off one of the most amazing stunts ever, towing eight cars for a length of 20 meters.

She has shaved her unusually strong hair, but it has not been lost. Authorities chose to preserve it and are considering sending it on a pilgrimage to Buddhist temples in Tibet, or displaying it in a museum.

Photos by ImagineChina

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Gao Xianzhang has managed to create what some would call the holiest fruits ever, pears shaped like Buddha.

Gao has been working on his pear-growing technique for six years and this season he managed to grow 10,000 Buddha-shaped baby pears. Each fruit is grown in an intricate Buddha mould and ends up looking like a juicy figurine. The ingenious farmer says the locals in his home village of Hexia, norther China, have been buying his Buddha pears as soon as he picks them from the trees. Most of them think they are cute and that they bring good luck.

Gao Xianzhang pears aren’t cheap, roughly $1.8 each, but their success in China convinced him to start exporting them into Europe.

Photos by Central European News

via Daily Mail

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Suang Puangsri, a 38-year-old man from Thailand lives in perfect harmony with his 4,600 pet scorpions.

Scorpions, grasshoppers, locusts and other insects are considered delicacies in Thailand and Suang Puangsri has been eating them for the last 10 years. To atone for this “crime” he has adapted his home in Uttaradit province, 600 km north of Bangkok, to live with 4,600 dangerous scorpions.

He feeds them and cares to their every need and ultimately releases them in their natural habitat, in the forests of Uttaradit. As you can see in the images, he has no problem with his creepy pets crawling all over his body and even in his mouth.

Inspired by his scorpion pets, Suang makes insect figurines out of seeds and branches.

Photos by Reuters

via Yahoo

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Over 200,000 blue rubber-ducks took part in the 2009 Great British Duck Race, on September 6, on the Thames, in London.

Last year the tradition of the blue ducks began and this year they returned in even greater numbers, literally covering up Molesey Lock, on the River Thames. As we’ve mentioned in our coverage of the 2008 Great British Duck Race, the duckies are blue because, in 2007, when they were yellow, people threw their own ducks in the water, without paying the entrance fee.

The Great British Duck Race is a contest between rubber ducks, to determine which is the fastest floating one. People have to pay 2 pounds to “adopt” a blue rubber duck and enter it in the competition. The winner’s prize is 10,000 pounds and the rest of the earnings go to the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC).

Last year’s record of 200,000 blue rubber ducks on the Thames was beaten this year, with over 205,000 “contestants” registered for the race.

Photos by Xinhua/Reuters

via Xinhua

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At least that’s what over 5,000 followers of Viassarion the Teacher would have you believe.

Sergei Torop is a 48-year-old spiritual leader who believes he is the reincarnation of Jesus. A former traffic policeman, Torop was laid-off in 1991 and suddenly realized he was the Second Coming of Jesus, 2,000 years after he was crucified. That’s when he became Viassarion.

Of course, he’s not the only man on Earth claiming to be the Son of God, but unlike most of them, Viassarion the Teacher actually managed to gain a significant following, including artists and intellectuals who actually moved to and around the small Siberian town of Petropavlovka, just to be close to their Messiah.

Sergei Torop has been traveling to other countries to convert followers and, although he has been accused he’s been doing it for personal gain, Viassarion says his church makes no money whatsoever.

via Daily Mail

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