On Yom Kippur, The Day of Atonement, ultra-Orthodox Jews use white chickens to perform the Kaparot ritual and get rid of all their sins.

The holiest of Jewish days, celebrated with 25 hours of fasting and intense prayer, offers ultra-Orthodox Jews the chance to make a year’s worth of sins vanish. All they need is a chicken, preferably white, and a simple blessing. The live chicken is waved above the sinner’s head as the blessing is recited and it is believed all his of the previous year are transferred into the chicken.

The new host of the sins is then quickly beheaded and its blood drained as young ultra-Orthodox boys watch. Pretty cool isn’t it? Just sin a way for an entire year and let a brainless chicken take the fall. These are the times that make me wish I was a Jew.

via Telegraph.co.uk

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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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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 world’s largest flag was unfurled over Teddy Football Stadium, Jerusalem, during an event attended by officials from the Guinness Book of Records.

The creation of the flag was initiated by Grace Galindez Gupana, a 48-year-old Filipino business woman and founder of Halleluyah Kingdom of Jerusalem Foundation. Mrs Gupana holds nine other Guinness records, including the largest stone tablets with the ten commandments and says her projects are ways of emphasizing her love for the God of Israel.

The flag presented on September 17, in the capital of Israel, features the largest emblem of lion, ever soon and measures 44,404 square meters (that’s over 4.3 hectares)  and weighs 9.5 tons. A team of six people produced the world’s largest flag over a period of 120 days. It cost $120,000 to make.

Photos by Xinhua/Yin Bogu

via Xinhua

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Dozens of pigs wearing make-up and funny costumes are displayed through the streets of Malolos, during the Hog Parade.

Highlighting a week-long food festival in the Philippines, the Hog Parade took place on September 12, in the town of Malolos, Bulacan province. The tasty protagonists were dressed as Superman, Popeye, clowns, queens and even brides.

After the fun Hog Parade, the people of Malolos feasted on some free roasted pig, offered by the local authorities. Malolos is the main supplier of pigs in the Philippines.

Photos by Erik de Castro/REUTERS

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The “Day of the Geese” is a Spanish Fiesta in which “brave” contestants have to wrench the head off a goose while being plunged into the water.

In the Basque fishing-town of Lekeitio, near Bilbao, people have a rather unusual way of keeping themselves entertained. Every year, during the Day of the Geese, young men try to prove their skill at tearing the head off a goose.

Geese are strung up on a wire, above the town’s harbor, as young men approach in boats and try to grab them. They are then lifted up into the air and plunged into the water repeatedly, until they pull the head off the goose or fall into the water.

Quite a challenge but at least the winner gets a worthy price: he gets to keep the goose…I can’t say I’m surprised to see this kind of display in a country fascinated by archaic traditions like Corrida or the Shearing of the Beasts, but at least here they kill the goose beforehand (if that can be considered a positive aspect). The Day of the Geese used to be celebrated with live geese. Read More »

Zhang Tingting, a popular kung-fu artist from China, managed to tow eight cars using only the incredible power of her hair. This was her last performance before becoming a Buddhist nun.

52-year-old Zhang Tingting has been touring China for decades, mesmerizing people with her unique kung-fu talents. Using the power of her braided hair, Zhang is able to pull cars and even cut paper. She has been practicing the ancient art of kung-fu ever since she was 17 years old, but has now decided to quit and become a Buddhist nun.

The talented artist has been living the life of a nun for the last two years, but decided to give one last performance, for the people in her native town of Kaifeng, before shaving her precious hair. On August 25, Zhang Tingting pulled off one of the most amazing stunts ever, towing eight cars for a length of 20 meters.

She has shaved her unusually strong hair, but it has not been lost. Authorities chose to preserve it and are considering sending it on a pilgrimage to Buddhist temples in Tibet, or displaying it in a museum.

Photos by ImagineChina

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Over 200,000 blue rubber-ducks took part in the 2009 Great British Duck Race, on September 6, on the Thames, in London.

Last year the tradition of the blue ducks began and this year they returned in even greater numbers, literally covering up Molesey Lock, on the River Thames. As we’ve mentioned in our coverage of the 2008 Great British Duck Race, the duckies are blue because, in 2007, when they were yellow, people threw their own ducks in the water, without paying the entrance fee.

The Great British Duck Race is a contest between rubber ducks, to determine which is the fastest floating one. People have to pay 2 pounds to “adopt” a blue rubber duck and enter it in the competition. The winner’s prize is 10,000 pounds and the rest of the earnings go to the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC).

Last year’s record of 200,000 blue rubber ducks on the Thames was beaten this year, with over 205,000 “contestants” registered for the race.

Photos by Xinhua/Reuters

via Xinhua

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More than one hundred belly surfers from all over the world gathered in Cornwall, Britain, for the annual World Belly Board Championships.

You might be surprised to know surfing wasn’t always about standing up on the board and riding the waves. British surfers practiced the sport on their bellies, using short wooden planks, over one century ago. On September 6, 2009 belly surfers from as far as Australia and America gathered in Cornwall for the annual charity event for the National Trust and the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI). The World Belly Board Championships began back in 2002 as a way to commemorate the beginnings of British surfing.

Cornwall has been the main surfing area in Britain and it’s recognized as the first place where a British surfer actually stood up on a surf board. The first photographic evidence of this dates back to 1929.

Photos by Matt Cardy/Getty Images Europe

via Zimbio

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Yes, believe it or not, there is such a competition as Sauna World Championship.

Held in Heinola, Finland, the Sauna World Championship brings together around 200 competitors from all around the world. These hot heads can withstand sauna temperatures of 100 degrees Celsius.

Inaugurated in 1999, this crazy competition has both a men’s and women’s challenge. The Finish men have proven unbeatable every year since the 1999, while women from Belarus and Russia managed to steal the trophy on a number of occasions.

The rules of the Sauna World Championship are simple. Contestants, dressed in just their bathing suits, go inside a steaming sauna and have to stay there for as long as they can. As water is thrown over the stove, temperatures reach 110 degrees Celsius. The last contestant to leave the sauna, on his own two feet, is declared the winner.

This year the men’s title went to veteran Timo Kaukonen, and the women’s trophy was snatched by Russian Tatyana Arkhipenko.

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Raising awareness on the issue of global warming is not easy this days, but artists come up with all sorts of original ways to make the news.

Take Brazilian artists Nele Azevedo,  who created 2,000 ice-sculptures and placed them on the steps of the Berlin Opera Hall, to melt. That’s a lot of work to watch melt away in one hot afternoon, but at least her message made the newspapers. And if one more person knows about the melting Arctic ice, than her effort was not in vain.

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PETA activists finds original way to promote vegetarianism in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Ashley Fruno, an old PETA activist from Canada, who in the past even went nude to promote vegetarianism, now found an even more ingenious way to attract attention. On September 2, 2009, miss Fruno showed up in front of a mall in Malaysia’s capital of Kuala Lumpur, dressed in a beautiful green dress, made only out of vegetables leaves.

She was holding up a sign that said “Let Vegetarianism Grow on You“. Well, she did and it looks amazing on her.

Photos by Xinhua/Chong Voon Chung

via Xinhua

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The Chinese Government knows how stressful work can be and decided to help the people release the pressure through Destructotherapy.

This is not the first time we’ve posted a piece on Destructotherapy, but it is the first time I’ve heard of it in China. Authorities in Changsha have set up a destruction therapy course in a park, where people could smash the hell out of used cars and all sorts of broken home appliances like TVs, refrigerators or washing machines.

I think more and more people should embrace Destructotherapy, after all, there’s nothing more relaxing than smashing stuff to bits.

Photos by Xinhua/Li Ga

via Xinhua

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67-year-old Frank Evans, Britain’s oldest and only bullfighter, returns to the bullfighting arena and slays 2 unlucky horned beasts.

After a knee replacement and a quadruple bypass, ageless matador Frank Evans performed once again in the Plaza de Toros, in Benalmadena, on the Costa del Sol. A grandfather of five, Evans looked cool as ice, though he had to best two big bulls that could have ended his career in just one second.

El Ingles admits it’s not the most pleasant way to spend an afternoon, but, although he got a cut on his face, a few bruises and grazes, he only remembers the good bits of the fight.

Now one of the most popular bullfighters in Spain, Frank Evans started at the bottom, taking bullfighting lessons in his spare time. He got his first bullfighting contract in France, by pure luck, when he was mistaken for another bullfighter. He later gave up, because of lack of gigs, but decided to return to follow his dream when his fathered died. He decided life was too short not to do what you really love.

Now, El Ingles has dozens of scheduled bullfights and the crowds love him.

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I’ve seen rubber dolls used in many ways, most of them for adult eyes only, but using them as flotation devices makes much more sense.

Hundreds of crazy Russian swimmers gathered in Novosibirsk, Russia’s third largest city, for the annual Bubble Baba Challenge (Bubble Woman Chalenge). They plunged into the cold waters of the Ob River and had to swim for 100 meters with a rubber doll. The dolls helped keep them afloat, but were quite difficult to maneuver.

The first five swimmers to complete the Bubble Baba Challenge received prizes and diplomas.But what’s important is, everybody, including the 1,000 spectators, had fun. Read More »