The holiday season is when most businesses tend to rake in the big bucks, thanks to promotional offers and discounts. A gun club in Arizona has apparently decided to make use of the season too, by offering its customers the chance of posing for photographs with Santa while holding military-style rifles and pistols.

According to Ron Kennedy, the general manager of the Scottsdale Gun Club, this is a fun way for people to express their holiday spirit, and also their passion for firearms. The photo event was held last weekend and about 500 people attended. He says that the photos are being uploaded to Facebook and also being used on Christmas holiday cards. It is interesting to note that kids were allowed to pose for the photographs too.

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Where there is a will there is a way, they say, and this definitely seems to hold good for teens these days. Especially the ones on drugs. While it is no secret that a vast number of teenagers choose to use illegal substances these days, it is shocking to see the lengths to which they would go, in order to pass a drug test.

Drug testing is common in almost all schools across America. Testing positive could be devastating for kids, because it could mean getting kicked off a sports team or other important events. Students have always devised new methods to pass the test, and the latest according to the Sheriff’s Office of Mobile County, Alabama, is bleach. Yes, teens are actually ingesting bleach in the hope that it will purge any traces of drugs that they have consumed. While there are several products advertised on the internet that claim to help wash away drugs from the system in the form of drinks, chewable tablets, etc., teenagers seem to be throwing caution and common sense to the wind, looking no further than the kitchen sink. According to Sergeant Joe Mahoney, the Sheriff’s office has seen cases where kids have ingested straight bleach that caused significant damage to the body.

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If you felt that Sex Ed classes in school were rather inadequate, we have some good news for you. There is now a school that provides courses related exclusively to sexual education, and includes practical instructions as well.

The Austrian International School of Sex (AISOS) will soon be open to students near Vienna. The opening was announced by the headmistress of the school, Ylva Maria Thompson. The vision of the school, according to Thompson, is to teach people how to be better lovers. She goes on to say that people spend time and money on training their mind, muscles, and fitness, but do not spend enough effort on developing their love-making skills. This is precisely what the sex school hopes to address. Read More »

The human race has long been fascinated by superpowers. So much so, that many superheroes have been created for our entertainment, with every conceivable type of power. But, what about the power of a super memory? Would that be considered a gift, or a curse? And what if there was a real person born with this gift?

Well, it turns out there is. 42-year old Jill Price, from California, can remember every single event in her life, in chronological order, from the time she was 12. She remembers literally everything that has ever happened to her, and around her, everything that was on television and major world events. Just give her a date from, say, 10 years ago, and she’ll tell you what day of the week it was and everything that happened that day. As remarkable as it may sound, I wonder if this gift of ‘super memory’ is really a gift at all. I mean, there doesn’t seem to be much use it could be put to, not right now anyway. And imagine going through your life remembering everything that ever happened in it. Wouldn’t you agree that there are some things best forgotten?

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Argentinian art collective Mondongo creates incredibly detailed portraits by using dripped and molded Plasticine. I can’t imagine how much time they spend getting the skin tones just right.

We’ve posted our share of impressive portraits here on OC, made from the most unusual materials (from pancakes and chewing gum to written words), but few more detailed than the masterpieces created by Mondongo. The art collective, which consists of  Juliana Laffitte, Manuel Mendanha and Agustina Picasso, was founded in 1999 and has worked with  a huge variety of materials, from food to plasticine, depending on what best reinforces the concept of the work. Mondongo, which is the name of a traditional Argentinian tripe stew, was chosen precisely becomes the art collective creates its work from a cauldron of ingredients.

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Saimir Stari, one of the world’s most famous mosaic artists, is working on yet another mind-blowing masterpiece, this time using approximately one million coffee beans.

The Albanian artist known for creating large-scale art pieces made with the most unusual art mediums (from cork screws and toothpicks to paintbrushes) has recently started work on another massive mosaic, this time mad of coffee beans. Entitled “One World, One Family, One Coffee”, the original mosaic features five characters, each representing a different continent. As you might have guessed, the objective of Strati’s work is to inspire of sense of unit across the world. The patient artist is painstakingly working on his one million coffee beans mosaic in Tirana, Albania, and plans on completing the project on December 12. When finished, his unique artwork will measure 25 square meters and weigh 140 kilograms. As with his other impressive mosaic, Saimir Strati will most likely set a new Guinness record with his coffee bean project.

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We’ve all heard of and probably even known people who snore, smile, talk and even walk in their sleep. But creating art while sleeping? Now, that’s something!

This is exactly the curious case of Lee Hadwin, a 37 year old artist from London, who has been drawing in his sleep since the age of four. When he first started out, he would walk around in his sleep, scribbling on the walls of his house. He once carved on an old bureau, a family heirloom. His mother wasn’t too pleased with this. But soon, Hadwin’s scribblings turned into serious forms of art. As his artwork began to get more beautiful and intricate, he started to gain attention. His “sleep-art” has become so popular now that each piece fetches him a handsome six-figure price. He has produced around 200 pieces of art so far. He now goes to bed every night prepared, with his sketch books and art materials scattered around his flat.

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The Wieliczka Salt Mines in Poland have been used for several centuries to extract salt, but are now in the news for a different reason. Through their excavations and adventures, Polish miners have left behind something unique in these underground spaces, little known to the world until recently. 

It has been over ten years since any salt has been extracted from the Wieliczka Mines, and yet, people still pay a visit. Though an ordinary-looking mine from the outside, just 200 meters down below, lies an astonishing spectacle to behold. The salt mine has actually been converted into a cathedral, art gallery and it also contains a lake.

What’s all the more beautiful and intriguing about this place is that it has been built over the years by miners themselves. During the course of a few centuries, generations of miners left behind pieces of art, religious and historical figures, and even built their own cathedral down under there, to be able to pray. The huge cathedral is perhaps the most astonishing of the wonders that lie below the ground. Remarkable religious carvings can be found, of scenes such as the Last Supper and Jesus appearing to the apostles after crucifixion.

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If I told you about a group of adult males, who are fans of a children’s cartoon series about ponies, called the “Bronies“, you’d probably tell me to stop kidding. But I’m not. It’s really true.

Ever since “My Little Pony”, an animated TV show from the 80s, was remade in October 2010, the number of geeky, tech savvy guys interested in the show have been on a steady rise. Now titled “My Little Pony:Friendship is Magic,” the show in its new avatar is actually targeted towards preadolescent girls and features pretty, candy-colored ponies. The first sign was the appearance of videos from the show on the website 4chan, which a lot of tech savvy guys tend to visit frequently. Soon, the number of hits on these videos was on the rise, and a community of Pony-lovers was formed. They call themselves the “Bronies” which combines “Bro” and “Ponies”. Bronies hold regular meetings and get-togethers in various cities, supporting each other, watching the cartoons, displaying and exchanging Pony collectibles and merchandise.

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They can turn your body into a living masterpiece, but tattoo artists also have the power to make your life hell, every time you look in the mirror. Case in point, Rosie Brovent, who got more than she bargained for when she let her boyfriend tattoo her back.

Just to be clear from the start, this really isn’t verified news, since it first appeared on a rather obscure blog, with no link to any established media outlet. Still, I thought it was simply too cool not to feature on OC. Tattoo artist, Ryan L. Fitzjerald and his now ex-girlfriend Rosie Brovent, both residents of a trailer park in Dayton, Ohio, are the main protagonists one of the weirdest/funniest stories I’ve read in a while. Brovent is accusing her ex of tattooing a huge steaming pile of crap with flies buzzing around it, instead of a scene from Narnia. Read More »

It’s strange and funny to see how far people would go to achieve the kind of appearance they deem perfect. Case in point is Kristina Rei, a 22-year old nail technician from St. Petersburg, Russia, who has an obsession with the size of her lips. An obsession, that has today, earned her the status of the woman with the biggest lips in the world.

It’s really not uncommon to find women these days resorting to the knife or syringe to enhance their beauty. But what Kristina has done goes beyond the definition of regular beauty enhancements. She has endured over 100 silicone injections on her lips, spending around £4,000 ($6,200) on them.

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Reports of visually impaired people performing regular activities with finesse are not new. However, such stories never cease to amaze us. The resilience and confidence displayed by some of the blind leave us awestruck, and sometimes the blind are even able to do things that people with normal vision are not.

Dance is one such activity. While it is almost inconceivable to think of a blind person being able to perceive and enact the dance moves of a beautiful and classical form like ballet, a Brazilian ballet school has managed to do just that – train blind dancers. And how they dance!

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When marketing ideas are merged with eco-friendly ones, some truly unique solutions are bound to emerge. One such idea is that of the Seattle Sperm Bank, where workers pick up and deliver sperm samples, on bikes that are literally shaped like sperm.

The Sperm Bike, as it is called, has turned out to be quite a head-turner around the city. The size as well as the design tend to grab attention. At 120 pounds and 10 foot long, it is actually quite a big bike. A rather bulbous container placed in front of the rider is the main cooling and storage system for the sperm being transported. The container is filled with  liquid nitrogen and can fit up to 25 or 30 vials containing sperm.

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Crashed Ferrari Coffee Table (Laughing Squid)

Nigeria’s Breakdancing Traffic Warden (YouTube)

10 Incredible Tales of Interspecies Nursing (Environmental Graffiti)

Farmer Couple Marry in Cow-Themed Wedding (Metro)

105-Pound Petite Woman Wins Turkey Eating Contest (Third Age)

Super-Cold Ice Finger Kills Everything in Its Path (BBC)

Cutely Named Classic Chinese Torture Methods (Asia Obscura)

Chinese Couple Caught Getting It On in a Coffin (Weird Asia News)

Reebok Sets New Record for World’s Larges 3D Street Art (Asylum)

15 Incredible Examples of Early Spirit Photography (Environmental Graffiti)

We bring to you the curious case of a real-life Benjamin Button, with a twist. A Brazilian woman, who has neither aged, nor is getting any younger. Born on May 7, 1981, Maria Audete do Nascimento still has the body of a baby.

Maria belongs to a poor family, living in a mud house in Ceara, Brazil. Her family consists of her father and his second wife, who has been caring for her ever since her own mother died, 13 years ago. The family cannot afford to provide any form of treatment for Maria, whose condition could have been reversed if treated at birth. For now, she continues to live like a baby, unable to tend to her own needs, and unable, even to speak. The home in which Maria lives, however poor, does not seem short of love. Her step-mother, Dora, has taken care of the woman-child since the day she was married. Dora believes that it is the passion of her life, and that the child was sent to her as a gift of God, to take care of.

Experts from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Ceara believe that what Maria suffers from is a severe deficiency of the thyroid hormone. As a result of hypothyroidism, her body was never able to develop physically or mentally. They also went on to say that if the case had been identified early on, Maria may have grown up as a normal child. The University has agreed to provide free treatment to Maria, to enable her to be a little more independent – to walk, eat and say a few words. But for now she is, in some ways, what every parent wishes for – a child that never grows up. Read More »