A Wisconsin man who had been missing since August after going kayaking on Green Lake recently resurfaced to confess to faking his death and moving to Eastern Europe.

On August 12, the tranquility of the town of Watertown, Wisconsin, was shattered by the disappearance of Ryan Borgwardt, a 44-year-old husband and father of three. Borgwardt had gone on a short kayaking trip on Green Lake but disappeared completely, and an emergency search found his capsized kayak on the lake and his vehicle and trailer in a nearby park, suggesting that he had fallen in the lake and drowned. A day later, local fishermen found Ryan’s fishing rod and then a tacklebox containing his belongings. All the signs pointed to Borgwardt’s accidental demise, but then, one day, during the investigation that followed, local law enforcement found evidence that suggested Ryan had crossed into Canada, and border authorities there confirmed that they had indeed run his passport a day after his disappearance. It was this discovery that led to the uncovering of Ryan Borgwardt’s elaborate plan to fake his death and leave his family behind.

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A Belarusian blogger managed to convince dozens of Russian teachers to make and wear tinfoil hats as means of protection against radiation from NATO satellites.

Vladislav Bokhan, a Belarussian blogger and activist known for his elaborate pranks, made headlines earlier this month when he released several photos of dozens of Russian teachers wearing tinfoil hats decorated with the Russian flag. He reportedly contacted multiple schools in Russia’s Voronezh region, introducing himself as an official from the local branch of United Russia (the country’s ruling party), and ordered them to hold a patriotic master class called “Helmet of the Fatherland.” Bokhan demanded that teachers working at these schools make tinfoil hats to “demonstrate their readiness to protect themselves from radiation from NATO satellites,” and to his surprise, seven of the schools he contacted actually followed his instructions without question.

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An entrepreneur and early crypto investor recently announced a public treasure hunt for five different treasure chests containing valuable items allegedly worth around $2 million.

Jon Collins-Black once dreamed of finding valuable treasure, but he managed to become rich by investing in Bitcoin early, so he has spent the last five years planning an epic treasure hunt for other treasure hunters. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the crypto investor started acquiring a collection of valuable items to fill five different treasure chests with before burying them at undisclosed locations across the US. None of the chests are on private property, so technically, anyone can find them, although Collins-Black points out that you need to follow a series of clues and have a sharp mind in order to find even one of the chests.

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An Indian family recently went viral for their decision to send their old Suzuki Wagon to the grave rather than the scrapyard in a lavish burial ceremony attended by around 1,500 people.

They say you shouldn’t get too attached to material possessions, but try telling that to the Polara family in Padarshinga Village, Gujarat, who recently said goodbye to their 18-year-old Suzuki Wagon R by laying it to rest in a lavish burial ceremony attended by over 1,500 locals. The Polara believed the popular hatchback to be their “lucky” car so they wanted to say goodbye to it properly, rather than abandoning it at a scrapyard after nearly two decades of faithful service. Patriarch Sanjay Polara told reporters that he owns several more expensive cars, including an Audi, but credits the old Wagon R for being instrumental in achieving prosperity for his family, so he wanted to do something special for it.

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A popular Chinese clothing store sparked controversy by showcasing its products on female models walking on treadmills rather than old-fashioned mannequins.

You could say the marketing team at Chinese designer brand store ITIB was thinking outside the box when it decided to replace plastic mannequins with live models walking on small treadmills. The official explanation was that the new way of displaying garments really allowed customers to see how they fit when moving rather than in a stationary position, but few doubted that it was just an ingenious gimmick meant to draw attention. The plan worked perfectly, as videos of the young models mounted on small pedestals outside ITIB flagship store in Hangzhou spread like wildfire on social media, while crowds of people gathered to watch them walk on their little treadmills. However, what the designer collective brand probably didn’t anticipate was the wave of criticism regarding the “dehumanization” and exploitation of the young models.

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The Zefiro is a clever little MIDI controller that plugs into the USB-C port of your smartphone essentially turning it into a playable musical instrument.

Developed by Italian startup ARTinoise, the Zefiro is one of the most ingenious gadgets we’ve seen in quite a while. The small, colorful mouthpiece may look like a vape, but it’s actually a lot more than that. It’s a MIDI controller that plugs into your smartphone’s charge port and relies on an app to turn the handheld into a variety of playable instruments, from the humble flute, to violins and even fantasy sounds. Equipped with lip sensors and an air pressure sensor, the Zefiro sends breath power data directly to the dedicated app, which is then used to adjust the volume, length, and harmonics of the sound. Keys or air holes are displayed on the screen of the smartphone, so you can effectively play the instrument with your fingers, as you low into the mouthpiece.

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An elderly California woman who thought the noises coming from beneath her home were made by animals was shocked to find a naked man leaving under her house.

A 93-year-old woman from Los Angeles’ El Sereno neighborhood recently got the shock of her life after realizing that the bizarre noises she had begun to hear from beneath her home over the last few weeks were not made by animals but by a man who had settled there. The woman and her family usually heard strange noises under the house during the night, so they assumed they were made by dogs or wild animals passing through the crawlspace, but last Thursday the noises became particularly louder and seemed to be made in response to them walking through the place. They began to suspect that something wasn’t right, so they called the police, who found a naked man who appeared to have been living under the house for quite some time.

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Sweden’s minister for gender equality and work life allegedly suffers from an irrational fear of bananas that prevents her from coming anywhere near the popular fruit.

Paulina Brandberg first mentioned her banana phobia in a since-deleted 2020 tweet, describing it as “the world’s weirdest phobia,” but the issue recently resurfaced and made national news in Sweden after The Expressed newspaper published a series of leaked emails that revealed the strength of her aversion to the yellow fruit. Brandberg’s staff have been going to great measures to ensure that the 41-year-old politician does not come into contact with the fruit, messaging people and venues she was scheduled beforehand to inform them about her phobia, and making sure no rogue bananas make an appearance.

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Four Los Angeles-area residents were recently arrested and charged with insurance fraud after allegedly using a bear suit to make it seem like their luxury vehicles had been damaged by a wild animal.

“Operation Bear Claw,” as this ingenious insurance fraud scheme was subbed by California authorities, began in January of this year, when the four suspects claimed that a bear had entered their 2010 Rolls Royce Ghost while it was parked in Lake Arrowhead and caused extensive interior damage. The area is located in San Bernadino, a region famous for its large black bear population, but the video footage supplied to the insurer by the suspects themselves was more than a little shady. It showed a furry animal entering the back seat of the Rolls Royce and scratching it, but something didn’t add up. For one, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife says that the only bears in the state are black bears, and this was light brown, but its movements weren’t very bear-like either.

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Viral footage captured by CCTV cameras at a robotics company showroom shows 12 large robots being ‘kidnapped by another manufacturer’s robot that convinced them to “quit their jobs” and follow it.

For the past week, Chinese social media has been abuzz about a bizarre incident that reportedly occurred back in august at a robotics company showroom in Shanghai, but was only made public recently. Footage captured by the venue’s surveillance cameras shows a small robot making its way into the showroom at night and slowly rolling over to a bunch of larger robots before engaging in a dialogue with them. After asking them if they’re working overtime, the little robot manages to somehow pursuade two of the other robots to “come home” with it, and then the remaining 10 robots follow them. In the beginning, the video was deemed staged and amusing by most viewers, but then the Shanghai robotics company came out and admitted that its robots had indeed been “kidnapped” by a robot created by another manufacturer.

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Australian scientists at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) have developed a method of accurately checking if milk has gone bad by using the vibration motor inside every smartphone.

The modern smartphone has been a jack-of-all-trades for a while now, but the ubiquitous gadget is getting new functionalities virtually every day. On of the most ingenious ways you’ll probably be able to use your handheld in the near future is to test if milk has gone bad, either in the comfort of your own kitchen, or at the store,without even having to open the container. Reserachers at UNSW Computer Science and Engineering recently developed a new smartphone sensor called VibMilk that relies on the gadget’s vibration motor and inertial measurement unit (IMU) to check the freshness of milk without having to open the container. The high-tech method could one day curb the current waste of 20% of dairy products.

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A 47-year-old Chinese woman who spent most of her life searching for her young brother’s cruel killer recently reached her goal, putting her target in prison after nearly three decades.

Li Haiyu’s heartbreaking tale of revenge began in December of 1992 when the woman’s father and another man started arguing about wages. Things got so heated between them that at one point, the other man decided to get back at Haiyu’s father by kidnapping his 9-year-old son, Li Huanping, as he left school. Police were called and a search for the boy and his kidnapper was organized in the area around their village in Hunan Province. Li Huanping’s clothes were found on the outskirts of a nearby village, but his body was only found in February of the following year, by which time his kidnapper had disappeared. The police report concluded that he had been stabbed and abandoned in a sugarcane field, but his father didn’t tell his wife and five daughters the truth until his dying day, letting them hold on to the hope of one day being reunited with Li Huanping.

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Popular Douyin streamer Kong Yufeng recently sparked controversy in China by eating pig feed on camera as part of a challenge to live on the cheapest food she could find.

On October 30, Kong Yufeng, aka ‘King Kong Liuke’, posted a controversial video on Douyin, China’s version of TikTok, in which she announced a self-imposed challenge to live on the cheapest food she could find for at least one week. The popular streamer told her fans that she had browsed Zhihu, a Chinese forum known for sharing budget-friendly tips, and found pig feed to be the best option. A large bag of pig feed cost only 100 yuan (US$14) and was allegedly high in protein, low in fat, and “healthier than takeaway food,” so she decided to try it in front of her fans. According to Kong, the pig feed contained natural ingredients like soybeans, peanuts, sesame, corn, and added vitamins, but the taste was an acquired one.

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A seasonal ice skating rink in Milton Keys, England, has been getting a lot of attention because of a bright pink iPhone stuck under two inches of ice.

Skaters at the Willen on Ice skating rink in Milton Keys will sometimes stop in the middle of the giant ice rink to stare at something under the ice – a bright pink iPhone. It has become a sort of tourist attraction after the BBC and other UK media outlets reported about it online. Apparently, one of the workmen setting up the rink this year lost their smartphone and had to borrow their daughter’s iPhone for a day only to forget it in the middle of the ice rink right before it was flooded with water and frozen overnight. The next day, some of his coworkers spotted it while inspecting the ice, but they could do nothing but laugh at his misfortune, as damaging the ice was out of the question.

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An elderly Thai woman desperate to keep her drug and gambling-addicted son away from temptation installed an iron jail cell inside her home.

After more than 20 years of living in constant fear of her drug-addicted son, a 64-year-old woman from Thailand’s Buriram Province took extraordinary measures to protect herself and her neighbors. She recently had contractors build a jail cell inside her home where she could confine the 42-year-old man when he became violent. She told police that she had tried everything to save her son over the years, including several rehabilitation attempts in over 10 different centers across the country, but nothing worked and he became increasingly violent as time went by. To make matters worse, at one point, the son became addicted to gambling as well, which only made things worse.

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