All funerals are sad and creepy, but they’re way better than feeding the corpse to a bunch of hungry eagles.

Sky burials are often practiced in the mountains of Tibet, both for religious and practical reasons. Basically, the corpse is placed on a mountain top and sliced open in various places, to attract the birds of prey circling above. They’d probably feast on it anyway, but an invitation like that doesn’t hurt.

Most Tibetans are Buddhists and believe in rebirth. Once a person dies, their body is considered nothing more than an empty vessels that needs to disposed of. Since the ground is often as hard as rock and wood and fire are precious resources, feeding nature’s creatures is a practical choice. I know it looks grotesque, but to Buddhists this is a last sign of generosity by the deceased, offering his body as nourishment for other living creatures.

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Over 650 unicyclists from 23 countries, and even more spectators gathered in Wellington, New Zealand, for the 15th 15th International Unicycle World Championships and Convention (UNICON XV).

UNICON is held every two years and welcomes anyone who can ride a one wheeled-bicycle. This year, the 10 day event took place between December 27, 2009 and January 7 2010 and hosted  all sorts of fun competition, performed on unicycles, of course. There were 30 different events, of which the most interesting were MUni (mountain-uni-cycling), Road Racing, Track and Field, Unicycle Hockey and Unicycle Basketball.

Yup, basketball and hockey played while riding a unicycle. Maybe you’ve seen this kind of display before, but it’s definitely new to me. I found some photos from UNICON 2010 and added a couple of videos, so you can better understand the game.

I guess these fall in the same weird category as underwater rugby.

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The first time I laid eyes on Maciej Drwiega’s LEGO trucks, I thought they were life-size, that’s how real they look. Of course the photo angle helped a lot, too.

Maciej Drwiega (let’s see you pronounce that) is a big LEGO fan who likes to build replicas of trucks, using the popular bricks. His 1:13 scale creations look as good as the real vehicles and even have detailed interiors and detachable hoods that reveal the engine. How cool is that? I wonder how long it takes the Polish LEGO master to build one of these babies.

Kenworth K100 Aerodyne

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Ah, these knitted artworks take me back to my high-school biology classes. Come to think of it, these memories are kind of gross…

The Crafty Hedgehog,  a skilled knitting artist, decided to immortalize one of the most exciting moments in the life of a high-school student, the dissection of a frog or rat. Entitled “Knitting in Biology 101”, his project depicts dissected animals, made out of wool and pinned to a dissecting tray of a cork frame. They’re not glued,so you can pick them up and examine the work on both sides.

You’ll be glad to know The Crafty Hedgehog has taken his knitting art even further and is now making “dissecting” fetal pigs and even…the Easter Bunny. If you like this sort of thing, you can order one via The Crafty Hedgehog’s profile on Etsy.

via worldfamousdesignjunkies

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If you think of yourself as a real-life superhero than you need to have an action-figure. Thanks to doll-crafting artist Cyndi Safstrom, now you can.

Cyndi at Be-a-Doll.com offers anyone the chance to own an action-figure of themselves, for just $180 plus shipping fees. All you need to do is send out two photos, one taken from the front and a profile shot, then wait 2-3 weeks for your doll to arrive.

The artist sculpts the head onto a vinyl doll and dresses it according to your desires. Some clients like to have the dolls outfitted just like them, while others prefer to be wear superhero clothes. Anyway you dress it, the doll will be unique, just like you.

Thanks Cyndi!

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Around 3,000 people stripped down to their underwear, on Sunday, for the 9th annual No Pants Subway Ride.

Started in 2002, with just seven participants, the No Pants Subway Ride has turned into an international tradition. This year, people from 43 cities, in 16 countries joined their New York peers and boarded the subway in their undies.

Some participants to the New York event were met by protesters carrying banners and asking people not to strip, but the joy of the strippers quickly convinced the protesters to take of their pants and join the party. Wearing all kinds of underpants, from bikinis to male thongs, commuters braved the cold and spent No Pants Subway Ride 2010 talking or reading magazines, like they normally do.

No Pants Subway Ride was initiated by Improv Everywhere, an organization that made it its mission to create “scenes of chaos and joy in public places.”

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[Photo Credits]

[Photo Credits]

Every year, South Korean special-forces undergo serious winter training to strengthen their minds and bodies and to make sure the cold doesn’t affect them on live missions.

More than 200 rangers take part in the grueling winter training session, in Pyeonghang, 180 km east of Seoul. They do gymnastics, swim in icy water, hurl snow at their bare chests, build snow shelters and sprint, all at temperatures of under -30 degrees Celsius. The extreme training lasts for nine days.

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It’s nice to see people coming up with original ways of earning a buck or two, and it doesn’t get much more original that Sergei’s mobile sauna business.

In Sergei’s Russian village, saunas (traditionally called “banya”) were a must in every villager’s backyard. However, many locals still don’t have their own banyas, so our Russian businessman decided to bring the steamy fun to them.

Using an old “Belarus” tractor, Sergei carries a wooden sauna wherever it’s needed. Customers can either use the banya in their yards or have Sergei drive them around the village and jump out of the sauna and into the cold snow, on the outskirts of the village.

via EnglishRussia

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Each winter, Hwacheon county, in South-Korea, draws-in over one million people to the Hwacheon Sancheoneo ice festival, held on a frozen river.

Hwacheon Festival hosts sledding, ice-soccer and snowman-building events, but the highlight of the event is the ice-fishing for fresh mountain trout. Under the thick ice, abundant quantities of fish are waiting for skilled fishermen. Anyone can try their luck at catching trout, at one of the nine thousand holes drilled in the icy surface of the river.

You might want to change your seat regularly, as the fish tend to move from one place to another, quite frequently. Once you catch a fish, you can take it to one of the mane cooking centers scattered on the festival grounds. There you can have it prepare raw or grilled. Any way you choose to prepare it, the Sancheoneo fish will melt in your mouth.

Another fun event at the Hwacheon Festival is catching the trout with your bare hands. Just slip in a pool of ice-cold water and try to grab the slippery critters.

Photos by Reuters via Drugoi

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Just months after Lebanon set the record for the world’s biggest hummus dish, chefs from the Arab-Israeli village of Abu-Gosh snatched it away with an even greater achievement.

On Friday, fifty cooks mashed up ridiculous quantities of chickpeas, sesame paste, olive oil, lemon juice and garlic and created the world’s largest hummus dish ever, weighing over 4 tons (4,087,5 kg). It was put on display outside the Abu-Gosh Restaurant, on a 20-meter satellite dish, provided by sponsors.

When Guinness official Jack Brookbank acknowledged the new world record and applauded the chefs for not sacrificing quality over quantity,  Jawadat Ibrahim, organizer of the event and owner of the Abu-Gosh Restaurant, shouted that Abu-Gosh is the hummus capital of the world. Clearly taunting words meant for Lebanese chefs, who will most certainly respond with an even bigger hummus dish.

The hummus wars have been raging on between Middle-Eastern countries for a while now, with many of them claiming the tasty dish as a national delicacy. The origins of one of the world’s oldest culinary treats are lost in time, but when has that stopped people from fighting over stuff…

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Chinese designer Daizhi Zheng has created a mobile phone that uses sweet drinks like Coca Cola instead of lithium batteries.

Zheng has been working on this revolutionary device for Finnish cellphone giant Nokia, and claims he has come up with a way of using sugar-based drinks to power mobiles. Any sweet drink, even sugar-sweetened water would be enough to keep the phone running much longer than lithium batteries.

The bio-battery invented by Daishi Zheng generates electricity from carbohydrates, using special enzymes as catalysts. In the process, the device generates oxygen and water. The designer claims his sugar-based bio-battery lasts up to four times longer than a fully charged lithium battery and is much easier to recharge: just pour some more sweet fuel.

Lithium batteries are very expensive and harmful for the environment, so if Zheng’s Coke-powered cellphone turns out to be real, it would be a significant breakthrough.

via Dezeen

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A German company created  a series of sausage-inspired rugs that you can actually place around your house.

Flachbild decide to spice up the carpet industry a little and came up with four cold-cuts inspired rugs. These are just the first out of an entire series and represent salami, mortadella, blood sausage and ham (pimento loaf).

The edible-looking rugs are made entirely from wool, range from one to five meters in diameter and have a thickness of approximately 1.8 centimeters. If you want one of these for your home and can speak some “Deutsch”, check out Flachbild’s official site. Just make sure you keep an eye on your kids, they might try to munch on the rugs.

via If It’s Hip, It’s Here

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The Bulgarian men of Kalofer celebrate Epiphany, an important Orthodox holiday, by performing a traditional dance in the freezing waters of Tundzha river.

On January 6, the small town of Kalofer, located 200 km east of the Bulgarian capital of Sofia, was the scene of an unique event. The men dressed in traditional costumes and, carrying national flags, headed for the neighboring Tundzha river. Here they entered its freezing waters and performed the customary Horo dance.

During the Epiphany ceremony, an Orthodox priest throws a metal cross in the water and young men plunge in to retrieve it. Whoever finds it first is said to stay in perfect health throughout the entire year. After a swim like this, I have my doubts…

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Her name is Jana Danae Groller and her love for baking, challenges and giving to people creates true edible masterpieces.

With help from her husband Matt, Jana comes up with all kinds of cake concepts and together think up different ways of actually bringing them to life. Their collaborative work so far is pretty impressive, especially the Jesus Cake and the Elvis Cake. But according to Jana, this is only the beginning, so we can expect a lot more delicious artworks.

If you want an edible Elvis for yourself, you’ll be glad to know Jana takes orders. Just drop by Jana’s Fun Cakes and check out her work.

via UnusualLife

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That’s right, at Ansan military camp for children it doesn’t matter if you’re a boy or a girl, they’ll make a manly man out of you.

Located about 25 miles from the capital of Seoul, the Ansan military camp gives civilians the chance to strengthen their minds and bodies, by training in extreme conditions. The camp is ran by retired Korean marines who don’t care if you’re in primary school or in college, they’ll have you carrying logs and exercising half naked in the snow.

You can choose to withstand the torture training at Ansan camp for periods ranging between three and fourteen days, depending on how tough you think you are. Check out some more photos of children training at Ansan, we posted a while back.

Photos by REUTERS via Telegraph.co.uk

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