Modern-Day Gladiators Battle in Croatia

The largest city of the Istrian Peninsula and an ancient Roman port, Croatia’s Pula takes tourists back to the days when Romans ruled the lands.

During the Antiquity festival, at the start of summer’s traveling season, people gather in the Forum and Small Roman theater, demanding “bread and games”. This year, on My 23rd, the members of the Hungarian Collegium Cladiatorium fighting club were only happy to oblige. They entertained the crowds just like the gladiators of old used to…minus the hurting and killing each other, of course.

Photos by Xianhua/Reuters

via big5.cri.cn

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Auto-Close – The High-Tech Toilet Seat Cover

I had no idea there could be something high-tech about a toilet, but Pressalit’s Auto-Close Toilet Seat Cover proves how little I know about toilets and technology.

So what makes this toilet seat cover so high-tech? The Auto-Close features a built-in sensor that lifts the toilet lid when someone enters its range and gently lowers it when it is unused. No more touching the bacteria-infected toilet cover with your hands and, more importantly, no more airborne germs released in the bathroom.

Pretty high-tech for a toilet and it actually looks cool too.

via Trendir

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Damnation Custom Steampunk PC

You know what the best thing about this mean-machine is? IT CAN BE YOURS!

That’s right, created by artist Jake Hildebrandt, for the release of Damnation (a video-game from Codemasters), this Steampunk PC is now the prize of a competition initiated by Destructoid. All you have to do is show your love for Steampunk design. The most original comment gets to take home this cool rig. Unfortunately the contest is only available to people in Canada and the US. You have until June 19 to enter.

The Damnation Steampunk PC sports an Intel Core i7 965 processor, 12 gigabytes of DD3 RAM, an X57 chipset motherboard, dual Radeon 4870X2 graphics-card and 1 terabyte of hard-drive. So it’s not just a “pretty face”, this baby can handle just about anything you throw at it.

I like Datamancer’s Steampunk Laptop a bit more, but Jake Hildebrandt’s work of art isn’t bad either.

photos via Jack of All Trades on Flickr

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The World’s Hairiest Competition

The World Beard and Mustache Competition was held in Anchorage, Alaska, and crowned its winner from one of the locals.

Contestants from as far as Turkey or Switzerland traveled to Alaska to compete for the title of hairiest man…sorry, for having the most beautiful facial hair. That doesn’t sound very nice either, but you know what I mean. There were 300 facial-hair enthusiasts, from eleven countries, fighting for this coveted title.

David Traver, a local boy, won the competition with his 20-inch beard, grown for a period of two and a half years, before being braided into the shape of a snowshoe.

Photos by AP and

via Daily Mail

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Charlie the One-Winged Drake

Charlie is a lucky British drake who had one of his wings amputated, but managed to recover and is now looking forward to a peaceful life.

The drake was found near the Download Open Air Museum, in West Essex, after he had been shot while swimming peacefully on a pond. His injuries were to severe and one of his wings had to be amputated. If he were a wild drake he wouldn’t have been able to survive, but lucky Charlie has fuly recovered and will go on to live a happy life.

via Daily Mail

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The Giant Coconut Crab

I know what you’re thinking, but no, these are not stils from Starship Troopers, these giant crabs live right here, on Earth.

The Coconut Crab is the largest land-crab in the world, with a diameter of around three feet and weight of over nine lbs. As you might have guessed, this giant crustacean loves coconuts. It climbs coconut-trees, crushes their fruit with its powerful pinchers and scrap out the inside.

They are sold as pets in markets like Tokyo, but I find it hard to believe people would want such a creature in their houses. It’s not only their appearance and size, but also their strength. If you’re not careful, a Coconut Crab could easily crush one of your limbs. Just think, if it can crush a coconut, what could it do to your arm.

Coconut Crabs live on the islands of the Indo-Pacific region, but, unfortunately, their numbers are declining, due to loss of habitat and poaching. They are considered a delicacy by some people and it is said their flesh resembles the taste of lobsters.

via Scienceray

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Dirndl Dresses for Horses

Pet fashion really took off in recent years, so I wasn’t that surpised to see these horses dressed in traditional Bavarian dresses.

Dirndl dresses are famous all around the world for being Bavaria’s traditional outfits, thousands of Bavarian women wear them, and now, apparently even horses. German designer Hildegard Bergbauer used to create drindl dresses only for women, but has recenlty began taking orders for house pets and even horses.

The horses do look elegant in their brand-new drindl dresses, but I do believe the young Bavarian beauties holding them look even better.

Photos by Alexandra Beier/REUTERS

via Sina

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The Retirement of Billy the Goat

Having a goat as a member of the Royal Army might seem funny to most people, but it has been a British tradition for more than 200 years.

Lance Corporal William Windsor has served in the army for the last eight years, traveling overseas, meeting royalty and leading military parades. His comrades from the 1st Battalion of the Royal Welsh said goodbye to their loyal colleague as he walked by to the trailer that took him to the zoo, where he will spend his retirement.

Billy the Goat is a Kashmir goat and was offered as a gift to the Royal Army, by the Queen herself. Billy’s replacement will be announced in June, when another kid goat will be picked from a heard in Great Orme, North Wales.

Photos by PA and REUTERS

via Daily Mail

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Wall-E PC-Case Mod

Animation can have a weird effect on people. For example, this guy built a custom Wall-E pc case after watching the famous animation movie.

This Russian fellow spent 18 days building this awesome pc case mod from scratch, after watching Wall-E. He just fely had to have Wall-E hold his computer components and because there was no such case on the market, he decided to build it himself. I have to say the result is nothing less than mind-blowing, and watching the entire building process on Casemods.ru, made me admire his work even more.

I’m sure many of you would kill to have such a thing of beauty sitting on your desk, and, to be honest, I would too.

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The Sand-Eating Woman

I’ve heard about a lot of weird things that people take pleasure in eating, but sand?

Apparently there is someone out there who not only eats sand, but considers it a delicacy. Not much is known about this woman, other than she lives in a Russian village and every day she goes out, fills her bucket with sand and…eats it. You can see from the pics that she likes her sand very much.

via English Russia

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Asics Presents the Hamburger Sneakers

They look delicious, but no, they’re not edible.

Before you run down to your nearest sports shop, asking for a pair of Asics Gettry Procourt AR sneakers, you should know they have only been released in Japan. This fast-food-inspired line of footwear is a collaboration between Asics and Japanese retailer Gettry. It comes in all the colors associated with hamburger ingredients (meat, cheese, ketchup, lettuce, mustard), has french-fries printed on the insoles, and the perforated front resembles a fresh bun.

The Asics Hamburger Sneakers retail at 14,700 Yen ($155).

via Eat Me Daily

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Mister Plastic Fingers

This dude would make a great escape artist. I bet he could break out of a pair of handcuffs with ease.

Sure, he’s no Rubberboy, but I tried bending my fingers like that, and I almost broke one of them. Looking at some of the photos, I thought to myself ‘this doesn’t look too difficult’, but turns out I was seriously wrong. Either that or I have the stiffest hands on Earth.

Take a look at mister flexible here and let me know if you can pull of his hand-tricks. Don’t over-do it though, I take no personal responsibility for your injuries.

via DooDoo

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Goat on a Wire

Balancing on a wire is a tough job for a human, let alone for a goat. Still, the animal trainers at a Chinese circus managed to teach this goat how to keep its balance while having a small monkey perform stunts on its head.

And I thought Eskil Ronningsbakken’s balancing stunts were impressive. What this goat does is ten times cooler.

via bbs.163.com

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Paper-made Clothing

Ever imagined wearing something as plain as paper? Well, with House-Wear Clothing, now you can.

Founded by Lisa Sansone, this environment-friendly clothing line is made out of a material called Tyvec, commonly used to make mailing envelopes.  That makes the clothes very recyclable after you’re done wearing them, so you can just dump them at the nearest Tyvec recycling center.

If you’re wondering, yes, House-Wear Clothing is reusable. That means you don’t have to throw your dress away if you get it dirty. You can pop it into the washing machine without worries. In fact, every time you wash them, the clothes become softer, smoother.

Every piece of clothing is hand printed with non-toxic dyes, so no two pieces are exactly alike.

via Inhabitat

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FIT-PC2 – World’s Smallest PC

CompuLab has just introduced its new PC. It’s fast, quiet and most importantly, it’s tiny.

Designed around the Intel Atom Z530 1.6 Ghz processor, the smallish Fit-pc2 is a real power-saver too. It manages to run Microsoft Windows or Ubuntu Linux, using just 6W and can render full HD 1080p videos with just 7W.

The Fit-pc2 is fan and blower free, managing to stay cool thanks to its smart aluminum casing that dissipates heat. It may be just 4”x4.5”x1.05” (smaller that a CD), but it’s a pretty mean machine for its size. Here’s what u can find inside:
* 1.6GHz x86 CPU
* 1GB RAM
* SATA hard disk
* DVI with graphics acceleration
* High definition audio
* LAN and WLAN
* 6 USB ports

via fit-pc2.com

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