Fred Crzybowski, a 20-year-old from Los Angeles, is known as “the Tony Hawk of the pogo world” for the extreme pogo-stick jumps he can perform.

Fred, who started using a pogo-stick at the age of eight, is the current record holder for the most consecutive backflips, which stands at nine. He has appeared in motion pictures like Mister Magorium’s Wonder Emporium and hopes he will get new gigs in television and movies.

This young pogo-stick master‘s dream is to bring pogo-stick jumping at the same level as other extreme sports like skateboarding or rollerblading. He says technology has made significant improvements and pogo-sticks are no longer just toys, but powerful tools that can help jumpers perform serious stunts. He uses a Flybar pogo-stick, designed by SBI Enterprises, that can lift a 250-pound man five feet in the air, but he gets way more out of it.

Like all extreme performers he has had his share of accidents, including a split lip that took 30 stitches to repair. But that won’t stop him from jumping over cars, staircases or other obstacles, any time soon.

Photos by AUSTIN HARGRAVE/BARCROFT MEDIA

via Telegraph.co.uk

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If you’re a runner, you probably already know about the issue of nipple bleeding, but for people like me, who only run when they’re being chased, this is new.

I stumbled across this set of photos on Unknown Highway, one of  my favorite sites, and thought I’d investigate further to find out what exactly makes men’s nipples bleed during marathons. After a bit of reading I learned not to ever run for miles, dressed in a cotton shirt.

Apparently, cotton and sweat just don’t make a good team. After you run a few miles, you start to sweat a lot and the cotton absorbs the sweat and gets heavier and heavier. That’s when it starts to act like sandpaper against your sensitive nipples. So, if you want to run in a marathon make sure you’re wearing something made out of light-weight material, like a CoolMax t-shirt.

If you don’t have anything else but cotton t-shirts, run shirtless. It’s better for people to see your belly wiggling that to see your nipples bleeding, trust me. Also, I know this sounds a bit kinky, but you might want to rub a bit of Vaseline or other lubricant on your nipples, before a race.

Also known as “The Queen of Beads”, Liza Lou is considered one of the most original artists of our time. She has created unique artworks by covering common surfaces with thousands, even millions of glass beads.

Liza Lou first shocked the world in 1996, when she presented her first major work, “Kitchen”. It took the artist five years to cover every inch of a normal kitchen with glass beads, including the water in the sink and the dirty dishes. In 1999 she went even further, creating “Backyard”, a masterpiece for which she used over thirty million beads. Most of  them have been used to create the 250,000 blades of grass making up the lawn.

She has often been criticized, called “obsessive”, “second-hand jeweler” and some went as far as to say her beading work isn’t real art. But the genius grant she received from The MacArthur Foundation, in 2002, silenced most of her critics.

Liza Lou‘s art may look amazing, but it came with a high price for the artist. She was diagnosed with acute tendinitis while she was working on “Kitchen”, because she applied every glass bead individually, using tweezers. She uses only beads brought in from the Czech Republic and considers them the most beautiful beads in the world.

Photos via Pamrubert

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Heather Jansch is a very talented artists who specializes in creating amazing sculptures of horses and other animals from driftwood.

As long as she can remember, Heather Jansch has always been fascinated by horses and dreamed of living in the middle of nature, surrounded by grazing horses. Thanks to her drawing and sculpting talents, she has fulfilled that dream and can truly say she does what she loves for a living, sculpting horses.

Her amazing driftwood horses are made from driftwood, gathered from estuaries and the local woodland, and oak provided by neighboring estates. Asked how she fits the pieces so well, Heather said “By whatever method works. Each sculpture is different and can sometimes call for innovative means of construction, it is part of the fascination and why my interest in this way of working continues.”

via bookofjoe

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KidZania is a chain of theme-parks where children can decide what they want to be when they grow up, by actually doing the job.

Do you remember, as a kid, when someone asked you “what do you want to be when you grow up”? And you would say things like astronaut, fireman, doctor without actually knowing what those jobs actually implied. Well, at KidZania, children have the opportunity to experience all kinds of jobs and decide if they really like them.

Luis Javier Laresgoiti, a true theme-park innovator, was the one who came up with the concept of Kidzania and was further developed by Xavier López Ancona, a Mexican entrepreneur. The first career-building theme park was opened in 1999, in Mexico City and there are now 6 Kidzania parks around the world (Tokyo, Monterrey, Jakarta, Koshien and Lisbon).

At Kidzania, children can try popular jobs like firefighting, driving planes, being a doctor, as well as well as being a mechanic or flipping burgers at a diner. The point is for kids to have fun and learn the value of money and work, at a young age. Parents are allowed to watch the kids as they perform the jobs, but they are not allowed to help them.

At the end of the day, the young workers are paid in KidZos (official currency of KidZania).

Photos by GETTY IMAGES via Telegraph.co.uk

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Discovered near one of Florida’s shorelines, this sea-faerie mummy is as real as these things get in the real world and it could have been yours.

This extremely rare creature has just been auctioned off on eBay and sold for $305. Had more people known about it, I’m sure the price would have went even higher. I mean, how many times do you get the opportunity to buy a sea faerie. Although it didn’t actually live in the sea, its parts did.

eBay member aquatica_art created the faerie by draping once organic fish skin around a short human skeleton. The wings are made from fish fins, and the lips, teeth and jaw-bone also come from fish. The long antennae were borrowed from the tail of a stingray. So you see, this IS a real sea-faerie!

And the best part about this unusual mummy is it has no fish odor at all.

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Some people say Obama isn’t as popular as he was when he became president of the US, but I still see Obama action-figures and celebrities making fools of themselves by wearing hideous Obama-ware. Why is that?

Don’t get me wrong, I think Obama is a nice guy, especially after he called Kanye West a jackass for his stunt at the 2009 VMAs, but people have to stop wearing clothes with his face stamped on them. Take this Obamanation for example: Victoria Rowell (your mom probably recognizes her as Drucilla, from The Young and the Restless, don’t ask me how I know that) came to the Emmy Awards dressed in what appears to be an Obama tablecloth.

Now I’m no fashion critic, far from it, but that thing has no business covering anything else but a kitchen table, let alone a hot body like that. Obama should take her to court for trashing his image, literally.

via If it’s hip, it’s here

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One of the most beautiful natural wonders of Russia, Lena’s Stone Forest is also one of the most difficult to reach, by tourists.

Known also as Lena’s Stone Pillars, this incredible rock formation is not only beautiful to look at, it’s also holds important information on the formation of the organic world. Fossils from various organisms dating back to the Cambrian era could supply invaluable insight on life evolved on planet Earth.

Lena’s Stone Forest offers tourists a unique sight. Colossal stone statues rise up from the earth and pierce the sky, like giants frozen in time. The pillars are grouped together and stretch for tens of kilometers, along the river banks.

Unfortunately reaching this wondrous place is no easy feat. It lies in a part of Siberia not yet touched by civilization and it will take you roughly four days to reach it, from Moscow. After a long flight, you’ll encounter armed locals more than glad to take you to Lena’s Stone Pillars, in their boats, for a “small” $500 fee. The boat ride lasts about 3 days, but once/if you reach your destination, it will all have been worth it.

via English Russia

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Skull artists Quinn Gregory decided to take a break from designing bling-skulls and created a 5’3″ sculpture of Jesus, covered by nearly 250,000 Swarovski crystals.

Entitled “Infinite Hope” this statue of Jesus took the artist 14 and a half months to complete, 10 of which he pent just encrusting the crystals. To him “the brilliance  of the crystalized Jesus symbolizes all of the hope religion and my faith bring to me.”

He has entered his “Infinite Hope” in the Grand Rapids Michigan ART PRIZE contest, for a chance to win a considerable prize. $500,000 is awarded to the top 10 artists in the competition.

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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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Located in Fafe, Portugal, this unusual stone house bears a remarkable resemblance to The Flintstones House. Man, I loved that show!

I know what you’re thinking and you’re not the only one, but as fake as these photos may look, the stone house of Fafe is very real. I mean it’s even been featured in the Daily Mail. Ok, you’re right, that’s not a valid argument, but this house does exist.

The photos taken by Jsome1 have been causing quite stir on the internet, partly because he decided to improve the photos a little and make them look fake-ish. But other curious web-surfers have been digging around and found the stone house exists and it’s actually a local landmark of the Fafe region.

The last two photos were used to promote the Fafe biking marathon and feature the Flintstones-like house as background. That’s the best proof I could find, hope it’s enough.

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One of the most fun events of September took place in the village of Benissalem, on the island of Majorca, during Fiesta of La Vermada.

Over one thousand people, both locals and tourists, gathered in Binissalem, a village known for the quality of its wines, for what may have been the biggest grape fight in the world. Every year, at the end of September, the people of Binissalem organize a fiesta, to  celebrate a successful grape harvest. The highlight of Fiesta of La Vermada is the  grape fight that attracts people from all over the world, just like La Tomatina festival, held in Bunol, Spain.

The grape fighters gather in Plaza de l’Esglesia, in the center of the village and wait for a rocket to be fired. Once that happens everyone stampedes into a field outside Binissalem and a human circle is formed around a huge pile of grapes. When the whistle blows, the madness begins and grapes start flying.

Photos by Reuters, via Chinadaily

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The Buffalo-Riding Ceremony is held every year, in the Cambodian village of Virhear Sour, Kandal province. The tradition of this even goes back 70 years and it marks the end of the Festival of the Dead. It is also a way to honor the Neakta Preah Srok pagoda spirit.

After the race is over, the buffaloes are auctioned off to the highest bidders.

Photos by Reuters

via People.com.cn

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The Holiday Inn Key Card Hotel was built by card-stacking master Bryan Berg, from 200,000 discarded hotel key cards.

To mark the relaunch of their hotel chain, numbering 1,200 establishments, Holiday Inn inaugurated the world’s first key card hotel, in Manhattan, New York. It’s made up of a guestroom, bathroom and lobby, featuring life size furniture made-out of key cards.

Bryan Berg, who built his first record-breaking house of cards when he was only 17, back in 1992, said this was his toughest challenge yet, because he has never created human scale structures before. The Key Card Hotel was opened on September 17 and will be in business until September 21. During the five day event, Bryan Berg will build a replica of the Empire State Building, inside the lobby of the strange hotel.

via Daily Mail and Xinhua

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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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