Oleg Shepelenko, a talented tattoo artist from Rostov-on-Don, Russia, has been getting international recognition thanks to his insanely detailed portrait tattoos.

The self-taught artist who works out of the Lucky Style Tattoo Shop knew he had a talent for art when he began painting in school, but never got any formal training. He got into tattoos naturally, and used YouTube tutorials as inspiration, trying to imitate masters of the art and developing his own techniques along the way. Developing an interest in hyper-realism, Shepelenko channeled his entire ambition into producing photo-realistic portrait tattoos, and is now considered one of the top hyper-realist tattoo artists in the world.

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Here’s another thing to add to your ‘weird things that happened in 2020’ list: a locked safe with a mysterious note attached to it was discovered in the middle of an agricultural field in New York state.

Kirk Mathes was out of town last Thursday, when he got a phone call about a large metal safe that had been found on one of his fields, near the town of Barre. Word spread so fast that deputies had to disperse a crowd that had gathered on the side of the road to see the oddity. The metal safe, which the farmer estimates weighs between 500-600 lbs., had to be transported to the field by heavy machinery, but no one appears to know who or when they put it there. But all everyone wants to know is what’s inside it, especially because of a mysterious note attached to it.

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Photos and videos of a functional Banco del Bienestar branch seemingly located in the middle of nowhere have been getting a lot of attention on Mexican social media this week.

Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador was one of the very first people to get blamed for wasting government money on useless buildings after the photos and videos of a Banco del Bienestar branch located a long way from any human settlement, somewhere in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. The building was used to mock Obrador’s “Fourth Transformation” of Mexico initiative, but a representative of the bank was quick to explain that although bizarre, the location of the branch actually makes sense.

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A Chinese couple has come under fire from both the media and the general public after allegedly filming their young, overweight daughter devouring whole plates of food and streaming the footage online.

Pictures and videos of a three-year-old girl nicknamed Pei Qi stuffing her face from multiple plates full of food have been doing the rounds on Chinese social media and sparking outrage among viewers. The parents are being slammed for abusing their child and using her as a cash cow by not only encouraging her to eat unhealthy amounts of food, but also streaming the eating sessions on the internet. The little girl’s video channel was recently removed from a popular video streaming platform, because of the online uproar surrounding this case. Pei Qi’s parents deny the accusations, saying that their daughter just has an unusual appetite, but is otherwise healthy.

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Bekah Stonefox is a 45-year-old artist from the UK who specializes in creating intricate works of art with hundreds of colorful strips of paper.

The talented artist has been honing her quilling skills for the last five years, and has put together quite the impressive collection of artworks, from detailed portraits of imaginary human characters, to animals like dogs, cats and even gorillas. Bekah’s most remarkable skill is using various quilling techniques to depict various textures, like the fur on mammals, the feathers on birds, or the skin of reptiles. It almost seems like there is nothing she can’t recreate from tiny bits of paper.

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Businesses usually have to pay someone to keep their work spaces clean, but the shops on Sea Street, a popular jewelry hub in Sri Lanka’s capital city, actually require a fee to let people clean their premises.

Hong-Kong based media outlet South China Morning Post recently featured the sad story of a heroin addict from Colombo, in Sri Lanka in a short video documentary that also included a segment on a very peculiar job. Mavin, the 47-year-old protagonist makes a living and sustains his drug addiction by cleaning the bathrooms of jewelry shops on Sea Street, a place he refers to as “the most precious street in Sri Lanka”. The whole street is lined with gold, diamond and jewelry shops, only they don’t pay people like Mavin for cleaning, they actually demand a fee from them…

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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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Chichen Itza, the pre-Colombian archaeological site built by the Mayans in northern Yucatan, Mexico, is home to many architectural and cultural wonders, one of which has baffled acoustics experts for decades.

The Temple of Kukulkan is one of the most visually-striking structures at Chichen Itza, but perhaps its most intriguing characteristic is acoustic, not visual. Clapping at the base of the Mayan pyramid causes an echo that closely resembles a bird’s chirp. Do it repeatedly, or in a group, and the echos will sound like a chorus of ghostly chirps rolling down the steps of the impressive structures. It’s one of those tricks tour guides use to impress visitors, but it’s actually no gimmick. Acoustic experts have been fascinated by the “Chichen Itza Chirp” ever since it was documented by an acoustic engineer in the late 90’s, but so far no one has been able to demonstrate if the architects of the pyramid designed it with the specific echo in mind, or if it was accidental.

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The Euglossines, aka Orchid Bees are often described as the world’s most flamboyant bee tribe, and looking at their brilliant metallic coloration, it’s easy to see why.

Orchid bees are probably the closest thing to real living jewel. Sporting bright metallic colors – with green, blue and gold being the most common – and very few hairs compared to other families of bees, these pollinators really stand out as some of the most visually striking insects on Earth. But it’s not just their bright, shiny exterior that sets them apart from other bees. Euglossines don’t make honey, they don’t build hives, most species of the tribe are solitary, and perhaps most fascinating of all, males collect and mix fragrances which they then use to impress females.

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If you’re looking for a way to add that wow factor to a special event, take a look at the amazing cakes of Los Angeles-based confectioner Julie Simon, they’re really something else.

When it comes to floral-inspired cakes, there’s just no one better out there than Julie Simon, and after looking at all the intricate cakes below, I’m pretty sure you’ll agree with me. Most often than not, her delicious masterpieces look like carefully arranged vases or bouquets with real flowers sticking out of them. Only those vases are actually cakes and the flowers are made of sugar. It’s hard to believe, but only because the LA-based confectioner is so exceptionally good at her job.

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Once every 7 to 10 years, Nevada’s Lake Pyramid experiences an algae boom so significant that its color changes from dark blue to a vibrant turquoise. This phenomenon is known as “whiting”.

Located in a remote desert area of the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribes’ Reservation, about 40 miles northeast of Reno, Lake Pyramid is famous for the whiting events that occur there every decade or so. Over the course of a few weeks, the water turns light blue, turquoise, and, in rare cases, even white. This spontaneous precipitation of calcium carbonate is well documented, but not very well understood. All scientists know is that contributing factors include high water temperatures, algae bloom and increased calcium concentrations. Interestingly, whiting events are not dangerous to the aquatic life. However the same cannot be said for land life, including humans…

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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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They say money does not smell, but a lucrative venture thought up by a German circus is proof that money can actually stink. The Krone Circus in Munich is in the business of selling lion poop.

Circus are forbidden from performing during the pandemic, so many of them have been struggling to stay afloat in the last few months. Animal circuses have it even worse, as they have dozens of creatures to feed every day, so many of them have been forced to think outside the box in order to stay solvent. The Krone Circus, in Munich, Germany, has come up with a stinky yet profitable business idea – selling jars of poop from their 26 lions and tigers for 5 euros ($6) a pop.

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An 83-year-old man was ordered to pay a 166 euro fine after he failed to prevent his pet rooster from crowing at 4:30 in the morning, which some of his neighbors had complained about.

Angelo Boletti, a pensioner from the Italian town of Castiraga Vidardo, in Lombardy, was found to have violated local rules, which state that pets must be kept at a minimum distance of 10 metres from neighboring homes. But the real problem was that the pet in question, a rooster named Carlino, crowed loudly as early as 4:30 in the morning and waking up the neighbors. After receiving several complaints about the bird’s morning routine, police started monitoring Carlino, and after confirming his early crowing decided to fine the retired bricklayer.

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Kek Lapis Sarawak is a traditional Malaysian cake famous both for its intricate kaleidoscopic appearance and the grueling process required to make it.

Inspired by the spit cakes that Dutch colonists used to enjoy, Kek Lapis Sarawak was born in Malaysia’s Sarawak state, sometime in the 1970’s. It’s basically a much more complex version of the layered Kek Lapis Betawi, which Sarawakians pretty much elevated to an art form. While its beige or brown outer layers do a good job or concealing the complicated inner cake, slicing one of these treas reveals a kaleidoscope of colors and geometrical shapes that require both logical thinking and a rich imagination to create.

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