A Malaysian man is protesting what he claims was an unjust termination from oil giant Chevron Malaysia Limited (Caltex) by supergluing his hand to their headquarters floor.

Fadzilah Abdul Hamid worked as a Caltex petrol station operator for the past 17 years at two sites in Kelana Jaya and Kampung Subang, Selangor, until being served an unexpected notice in May ordering him to vacate both locations within 30 days. The letter claimed that his termination was due to unpaid charges outlined on a circular regarding the Implementation of Self-Service at Petrol Stations.

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In the Blue Mountains of eastern Oregon lurks one of the strangest and oldest known organisms on planet Earth- a giant fungus that has been around for over 2,400 years. Armillaria ostoyae, also known as the “shoestring fungus” or “honey mushrooms”, covers an area of 2200 acres, or 3 square miles, making it the largest organism ever discovered. It began its life cycle as a single spore, too small to be seen by the naked eye, and is estimated to have been slowly spreading for at least the past two and a half millennia, although some experts estimate that it is around 8000-years-old.

The giant fungus spreads through the root system of the forest under which it resides and slowly kills whatever is in its path, making it not only the largest organism on the planet but also one of the most deadly. For a few weeks each autumn, the honey mushroom erupts in yellowish clusters with caps, gills and spores, but the rest of the year it takes the shape of a thin white layer, similar to latex paint. It is in this less conspicuous form, however, that the fungus is most lethal, as it can spread more easily through the trees.

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The untimely death of a 20-year-old video game streamer from China who used to play an insanely popular online game for 9 hours straight every night recently brought the addictive nature of video games into debate.

“Lonely King” was one of the most successful streamers of “King of Glory”, an incredibly successful mobile game with 200 million monthly active players. The 20-year-old reportedly had over 170,000 fans on his streaming platform, and used to showcase his gaming sessions for many hours on end, every single day. Lonely King’s last live playing session occurred on November 2nd, after which he simply disappeared. Used to watching his live streams at least once every 24 hours, Lonely King’s fans started speculating about his well-being several days after noticing his continued absence. Many of them anticipated that he might have succumbed to exhaustion, seeing as he had drastically altered his video game playing schedule – streaming from midnight to 9 in the morning, every night – since July.

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Manabu Kosaka, an artist from Saitama, Japan, has a very special skill – he can recreate virtually any wristwatch model exclusively out of high-quality Kent paper. The results of his painstaking labor are so utterly incredible that the saying “seeing is believing” doesn’t really apply.

So how does one go about recreating a seemingly perfect replica of a Rolex or Casio wristwatch out of nothing but paper? You could probably use a special 3D printer or some other advanced device, but Manabu Kosaka does it all by hand, first drawing the design on a sheet of Kent paper, and then using rudimentary tools like glue, dremels, an Xacto knife to cut tiny characters as small as 1 mm in size, and tweezers to place them at just the right place. I still can’t understand how he can mould the paper dials and the wristbands of the watches in such great detail, but they are certainly impressive to look at.

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An extraordinary new restaurant in Semarang, Indonesia is on a mission to support locals trapped in poverty, many of whome are earning less than $25 (USD) a month, by providing them with an alternative way to pay for their food.

The Methane Gas Canteen, run by husband and wife team Sarimin and Suyatmi, is located in an unexpected place for an eatery – Jatibarang Landfill in Semarang, Central Java. The landfill is a mountain of putrifying waste, where poor locals spend their days scavenging plastic and glass to sell. Meanwhile, the couple, who spent 40 years collecting waste before opening the restaurant, is busy cooking.

What makes the restaurant unusual, aside from its location, is that no cash is required to pay for meals. Poor scavengers have the option to pay for their food with recyclable waste instead of hard currency. Saramin, 56, weighs the plastic customers bring in, calculates its worth, and then deducts that value from the cost of the meal, refunding any surplus value to the patron. The scheme is part of the community’s solution to reduce waste in the landfill and recycle non-degradable plastics.

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A parasitic fungus, of the genus Ophiocordyceps, uses carpenter ants to complete its life cycle by turning them into zombies. The ant encounters the fungal spores while foraging and the fungus quickly infects and spreads throughout its body, hijacking the insect’s nervous system. It then forces the ant to climb vegetation, where it will clamp onto the underside of a leaf or twig, and then slowly die. The parasite then produces a spore-releasing stalk that sprouts from the cadaver’s head to discharge spores to the ground below, where more hapless ants can get infected.

Until recently scientists were uncertain as to the exact mechanisms or reasons behind this gruesome phenomenon. New research from Penn State University, however, has shed some light on the mystery. The researchers have suggested that the fungus invades muscles fibers throughout the insect’s body, which allows it to control the host’s behavior, but stays away from its brain.

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The ghost of a child is supposedly haunting a man’s flat, and he now has photos to prove it. Adam Ellis, who lives in New York, achieved viral fame when he started documenting the paranormal activities allegedly occurring in his apartment, on social media. He claims that the ghost initially appeared in his dreams, but has somehow crossed over to the real world.

Adam’s bizarre expereinces began last month when he started documenting his vivid dreams featuring a deformed child, on Twitter. He claimed the child, called David, had a misshapen head and would sit in a green rocking chair at the foot of his bed while he experienced sleep paralysis. The horrifying story quickly captivated the masses and amassed a following of thousands on Twitter, with the initial thread already shared over 50,000 times.

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Joe Cohen, the young CEO of a California based company called SelfHacked, is looking for a suitable girlfriend, and he is offering $10,000 to whoever points him in the right direction. He is also offering $2,000 to anyone who can introduce him to someone else who can connect him with a woman.

30-year-old Cohen has created a very complex dating advert on his blog, in which he explains why he opted for this unusual way of finding a romantic partner, what he looks for in a woman, as well as details about himself. He also mentions that he will only pay out the reward if he successfully dates the woman for at least four months. That is apparently the amount of time it takes Cohen to get to know someone, and will also protect him against women just looking to earn some money.

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A 44-year-old Thai man reportedly died of hypothermia after going to bed on a cold floor with three electric fans flowing air at him all through the night.

Sobthawee Boonkua, from Tambon Nai Muang, in Thailand’s Chaiyaphum province, had gone to look after his 86-year-old mother, at a relative’s house, and decided to spend the night. Fearing that he wouldn’t be able to get a good night’s sleep due to the heat in the poorly ventilated room, the 44-year-old decided to sleep on the floor and plug in no less than three electric fans to keep cool. Unfortunately, he didn’t take into consideration Chaiyaphum’s drastic drop in temperature at night, and the problems his body would have adjusting to it.

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In a remote region of the western Pacific, just north of the equator, lies the ruins of the ancient and enigmatic city of Nan Madol. The magnificent ruin, built in a lagoon on the east side of Micronesian island Pohnpei, consists of 92 artificial islets constructed on coral reefs which are linked by a network of canals, giving it the nickname Venice of the Pacific.

Nan Madol is an engineering wonder, with massive basalt walls reaching 16 meters high in some places. Carbon dating indicates the structures are around 900 years old, but the islets themselves date even further back to the 8th and 9th centuries AD. The basalt stones originated on the opposite side of Pohnpei from a volcanic plug, where magma had hardened within the vent of an active volcano. What has modern archeologists mystified is how these massive stones were moved from one side of Pohnpei to the other using what primitive technology would have been available at the time. Furthermore, once the basalt had been successfully transported, it would have then been hoisted to heights of 16 meters. The effort required to build the megalithic structures would have rivaled that of the Egyptian pyramids, with a total area of 75 hectares, and an estimated total weight of 750,000 metric tons.

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“Praise the Lord and pass the libation” is the motto of an unorthodox church located near Johannesburg, South Africa. Gabola Church of International Ministries takes its name from the Tswana word for “drinking”, and it both allows and encourages members of the congregation to drink during service.

The African continent is home to lots of unconventional churches and colorful preachers who employ all kinds of outlandish rituals to attract parishioners. In the past we’ve written about ministers spraying congregates with “holy” bug spray, making them drink motor oil or talking to God on the phone. However, Johannesburg’s Gabola Church is apparently the first to choose alcohol as its main theme.

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Her name is Santa Muerte, the folk Saint of Death, and she is the skeletal figurehead of one of the fastest growing religions in Mexico and Central America with an estimated 10-12 million followers. Devotees have begun incorporating the controversial saint into Day of the Dead celebrations in recent years, as both are thought to originate from the Aztec goddess Mictecacihuat, or Lady of the Dead, who reigned over a festival of death every year in August.

Santa Muerte, the personification of death, is typically portrayed as a skeletal figure draped in robes and veils similar to those of the Virgin Mary. She is often depicted carrying a scythe. Her appeal, according to devotees, lies in her non-judgemental nature, as death brings a fundamental equality to all people. It is also widely believed that she will grant favors and wishes in return for vows or offerings. She is most often associated with protection, healing, and financial well being, and is the only female saint of death in the Americas.

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Mass hysteria has broken out in the small southeast African nation of Malawi, where rumors of real-life blood-sucking vampires have become so widespread that groups of vigilante vampire hunters resort to murder to protect their communities.

At least 9 suspected vampires have been brutally murdered in Malawi since mid-September, including two men in the country’s second-largest city, Blantyre. According to police, both were stoned, and one was set on fire. Police have arrested over 140 people in connection with a vigilante group that has been targeting individuals accused of being vampires and sucking the blood of the innocents.

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Meet Mahdi Gilbert, the 25-year-old Canadian magician making waves in the world of magic. He practices card manipulation and sleight of hand, a common skill set for a magician, but what sets him apart is his lack of hands.

Standing at four-feet-six inches, Gilbert’s left arm stops at the elbow, and he has an articulated appendage on his right arm. Gilbert was forced to reinvent magic for himself, individually recreating all of the techniques used in his illusions. “I had to become self-sufficient from an early age; there’s (sic) no magic books written for me,” Gilbert said in an interview for the documentary Our Magic.

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Pisonia Brunoniana is a species of small flowering trees native to tropical regions from Hawaii to New Zealand, and as far west as India. The pisonia tree has soft brittle wood with large glossy leaves and a dark secret. If you search among its roots and branches, you’re likely to find thousands of delicate bones and tiny mummified corpses. It is this macabre feature that gives the tree its creepy nickname – “the birdcatcher tree”.

The pisonia tree produces long seed pods coated with a thick sticky mucus that entraps insects and the birds tempted to feast on them. The ensnared insects look like easy pickings to unsuspecting birds, but if they’re not careful, they can easily get entangled in the sticky seedpods themselves. Too many seeds caught among their feathers can weigh the birds down and prevent them from flying off the tree. If they’re not picked off by a passing scavenger, the birds are doomed to a slow death by starvation. Often, the birds die without ever escaping the pisonia’s branches, which means their withered corpses are left dangling like some strange fruit or a creepy Christmas ornament. In what can only be described as a vicious cycle, birds of prey tempted by the trapped birds sometimes also get entangled in sticky seeds and become trapped themselves.

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