Photos and videos of unmanned vending machines selling live animals like cats, small dogs, and rodents installed in various Chinese cities have been going viral and sparking outrage among the general public.

The significant technological developments of the last decade have created a fast-growing “unmanned economy” that continues to spread into almost every sector of the global economy. However, there are still some industries that are incompatible with unmanned, self-service devices. The pet-selling sector has so far been considered incompatible, but things are apparently very different in China, as more and more unmanned vending machines selling live pets are being spotted all around the country. One such video showing a pet vending machine in a busy part of Beijing recently went viral on Chinese social media, sparking a heated debate around the ethics of this controversial business model.

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A UK man was recently arrested in Thailand for allegedly causing damage to a Phuket restaurant by posting a number of 1-star reviews online following an altercation with the restaurant owner.

The 21-year-old British national was arrested in Thailand earlier this month when police showed up at his apartment in Bangkok, but the incident that led to his arrest dates back to 2022 when he was staying in a rented property in Phuket. According to Thai media, the easiest way for the man, known only as Alexander, to reach his abode passed through an Italian restaurant and he didn’t hesitate to use it. Noticing that the man passed through his restaurant several times per day, the owner confronted him and asked that he use the public road instead because he wasn’t a paying customer and he was disturbing his guests. Shortly after the heated exchange, the restaurant owner noticed that the Google rating of his business had dropped from 4.8/5 to 3.1/5 because of a number of allegedly fake 1-star reviews. Suspecting Alexander was behind this online defamation campaign, he filed a complaint against him.

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A Japanese food restaurant in Singapore recently attracted criticism online for serving a bizarre-looking dish consisting of a raw octopus egg sack.

Known as tako tamago, the strange dish that landed Singapore restaurant Koji in hot water with social media users isn’t the most appetizing food we’ve ever featured on Oddity Central. It’s basically a large white sack with a very flexible membrane that conceals hundreds of oblong octopus eggs swimming in a viscous fluid. The sack is served raw and melted with a blow torch to release the eggs inside onto the plate. The eggs are usually served with soy sauce and have a taste similar to that of salmon roe.

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A Chinese woman who had an affair with a married businessman who died in a car accident used frozen embryos to conceive a child she claimed was his and then sued his family for inheritance.

In a case that sparked a heated debate in China, a Guangdong woman surnamed Leng sued her deceased lover’s wife for part of his fortune as inheritance for her baby boy, who she claimed was her lover’s heir. The unusual dispute began in 2021, soon after the tragic death of the man, surnamed Wen, in a car accident. Leng claimed to have frozen some of her eggs prior to the accident which were later fertilised using Wen’s sperm at a private fertility clinic. In December of 2021, she gave birth to a healthy son she named Xiaowen, and in August of last year, she sued her former lover’s family, asking for a part of their estate as an inheritance for her son.

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A young Moscow resident was recently fined and prosecuted by police for dyeing his hair yellow and blue, the colors of the Ukrainian flag.

On the night of April 27, Stanislav Netesov was attacked by unknown assailants at a bus stop in the center of Moscow as he was returning from work. He had his phone stolen and a tooth knocked out, but when he went to the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the Tverskoy district the next day to report the crime he was shocked to learn that, instead of providing him assistance, the authorities were more interested in the color of his hair. Netesov had his hair dyed yellow, blue, and green which the police considered a symbol of Ukraine and an offense to the Russian army, which is punishable by law.

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A Japanese man who enjoys living as a dog recently unveiled a brand new hyperrealistic dog costume that not only looks cute, but also allows him to wag his furry tail.

A couple of years ago, a Japanese man writing under the username ‘Taco’ on Twitter announced his unusual dream to the world – to live as a canine, experiencing the simple pleasures that man’s best friend enjoys on a daily basis – walking on all fours in the park, playing with plastic balls and frisbees, and rolling around on the floor. The man didn’t disclose his real identity, as he was embarrassed that his friends and family might find his passion a little weird, but he didn’t shy away from showcasing his life as a dog both on YouTube and Twitter. He recently got a new dog suit and one can easily pot the improvements over the old one – more realistic aesthetics and even a functional moving tail.

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Arshia Goswami, a 9-year-old girl from India’s Haryana state, has been dubbed the female version of Hercules after deadlifting a whopping 165 pounds (75 kg).

Arshia first started attracting attention a couple of years ago when she set a national record as India’s youngest deadlifter, with a personal best of 45 kilograms. She has been training ever since, though, and she recently went viral once again by deadlifting 75 kilograms, more than two times her own body weight. The impressive feat was captured on video and shared on the young weightlifter’s Instagram page, where it went viral. But although most of the feedback was positive, with people praising her strength and form, some comments also expressed concern for her wellbeing, claiming that lifting such heavy weights at her age could have serious health consequences.

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Chinese runner He Jie’s victory at last week’s Beijing Half-Marathon has been overshadowed by a scandal involving three Kenyan runners who appear to let the Chinese competitor win the race.

Sunday’s Beijing Half-Marathon saw 25-year-old He Jie crossed the finish line first, in 1:03:44, under a second ahead of an African trio of runners who collectively claimed second place. It was an impressive achievement for the Chinese runner, especially since one of the runners-up was former 5km world record-holder Robert Keter of Kenya, but his win was quickly called into question on social media after suspicious videos recorded during the race made their way online. The fact that He seemed to be the only one sprinting as he approached the finish line was bizarre enough, but one clip shows Kenya’s Willy Mnangat signaling his countryman Keter and Ethiopian runner Dejene Hailu Bikila to hang back and waving He Jie to overtake them.

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A Nigerian woman is facing up to seven years in prison for allegedly breaking her country’s cyber crime laws by posting a negative online review for a can of tomato puree.

In September of last year, 39-year-old Chioma Okoli took to Facebook to voice her opinion about a can of tomato puree she had recently bought, claiming that it contained too much sugar and asking her friends and followers to express their opinions as well. Somehow, Okoli’s post went viral on Meta’s social network, generating over 3,000 comments, including one from a person claiming to be the sister of the founder of Erisco Foods Limited, the company that made the canned tomato puree. They asked Okoli to stop bashing the product and just try something else, but the woman doubled down on her claims, asking the person to ask their brother to”stop ki***ing people with his product”. That ended up costing her, as she was arrested just days later and she is now facing up to seven years in prison.

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Filipino online influencer Abby Domer Salle has come under fire for alleged animal cruelty after being spotted wearing a live chick in a small metal cage on her head on the streets of Manila.

Inspired by Japanese Kawaii culture, the so-called ‘duckling fashion’ has become very popular in Southeast Asia in the last few years. The exact origins of this fashion trend are unclear, but it has been linked to anime series or characters. There are multiple variations of this trend all over the world, but in its simplest form it involves wearing decorative plastic or plush ducklings on one’s head. However, one Filipino influencer recently took this already unusual fashion trend and took it to an all-new level of weirdness by caging a live chick and wearing it in public as a bizarre hat.

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Friends and family of Class 10 students taking an important exam at a school in Haryana, India were filmed climbing the back wall of the building to pass cheat sheets to their loved ones.

The Chandrawati School in Haryana’s Nuh district recently found itself at the center of a massive exam cheating scandal after viral videos of people scaling the wall of the school in order to pass cheat sheets to students found their way on social media. School officials insisted that no cheating occurred during the  Class 10 board exam on Wednesday and that people merely attempted to help their friends and relatives, but some sources claim that these real-life Spider Men only started climbing the school after being given the exact questions on the test and looking up the right answers to them.

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A 70-year-old retiree from Bahia, Brazil, claims that he has drunk a drop of water in the last 50 years, relying solely on Coca-Cola for hydration, despite suffering from diabetes and heart problems.

Roberto Pedreira, probably the world’s no. 1 Coca-Cola fan, recently went viral online for his love of the popular fizzy drink. While hospitalized with Covid-19, the Brazilian pensioner wrote in his care chart that he did not drink liquid medicine or water, only Coca-Cola Zero. A photo of the chart somehow made its way onto social networks like Facebook and X (Twitter) and eventually went viral. Initially, people thought it was a joke, but the man’s 27-year-old grandson confirmed that for as long as he could remember, Pereira had never drunk anything but Coke.

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A Quebec art teacher is being accused of selling his high school students’ artworks on his website without their consent for personal profit.

An art teacher at the Westwood Junior High School in Saint Lazare has landed in hot water with the parents of several of his students for allegedly selling their drawings and paintings online without their knowledge and permission. The discovery was made by accident when one of the students searched his name on Google only to discover one of his art class drawings listed for sale on his teacher’s website. Word spread around the school, and before long, other students reported their own artworks had been listed online by the teacher. Some of the kids told their parents about the bizarre practice, and they appealed to the high school board for clarification. Now, some parents are asking for moral and punitive damages from both the art teacher and the high school.

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A young tattoo artist from St. Petersburg, Russia, was recently detained for insulting religious believers with controversial tattoos featuring Jesus Christ, the cross and other Christian symbols.

Daria Krichker is facing up to one year in jail for her crimes. According to the Orthodox activist group that filed a complaint against her, she has committed “repeated gross blasphemous acts against Christ, the Mother of God, and the saints of the Church,” which “cannot be tolerated on Russian soil. It all started earlier this month when photos of a tattoo reportedly inked on Krichker’s own calf went viral on social media. It showed Jesus on the cross having an orgasm, which isn’t the kind of creative work that religious people would appreciate. It’s weird, many would describe it as disgusting, but in Russia, such a tattoo can literally land you behind bars.

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Diaper-wearing adults looking for a safe space to role-play as babies can now head to the new Diaper Spa in Atkinson, New Hampshire, that caters to the needs of all diaper lovers.

Set up by physician Dr. Colleen Murphy, the Diaper Spa seeks to serve all diaper-wearing individuals above the age of 21 looking for acceptance and care, or simply for a safe space to engage in ‘richly immersive experiences’ that involve adult diapers. Activities listed on the venue’s website include playtime, story time, nap time, cuddle time, changing time, coloring, nursery rhymes, and sing-a-longs. Prices start at $100 per hour and go all the way up to $1,500 for a 24-hour stay at its bed & breakfast. The recently opened Diaper Spa has sparked controversy in Atkinson because of its unusual services, but Dr. Murphy claims that her brainchild is not about weird fetishes, but about dealing with trauma.

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