Stunning Interesting Facts : May 2013

Sky Burial of Tibet

Sky burial is a funerary practice in China's Tibetan regions, where the dead are laid out in a high flat place and ritually cut up, usually by a monk and rogyapas (body-breakers) and then fed to birds of prey, most commonly the Eurasian Griffon vulture.

SEE ALSO: Preparedness 101: Zombie Apocalypse

Sky burial dates back thousands of years and probably started because above the treeline wood is too scarce for cremation and the ground too hard for burial.

The practice was banned in China in the 1960s, but was allowed again in the 1980s when China started to reform after the Mao Zedong era.

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Iraqi Farmer Addicted to Eating Scorpions Everyday

Ismail Jasim Mohammed, a farmer from Samara, Iraq, claims he consumes at least one live scorpion every day, and experiences symptoms of withdrawal if he goes three days without eating a nasty stinger.

SEE ALSO: Largest Land-Dwelling “Bug” of All Time the Arthropleura

When people like David Gracer started preaching about the benefits of eating bugs, I don’t think they meant potentially deadly live scorpions. But that hasn’t stopped 34-year-old Ismail Jasim Mohammed from feasting on them for the last 15 years. Tired of getting stung by scorpions around the village of Agelam, near the Iraqi city of Samara, the farmer decided to turn the tables and give them a taste of their own medicine. One day, he caught a live scorpion, put it in his mouth and ate it alive. He actually liked the taste and he has been snacking on them ever since. Obviously, he was stung in the mouth a few times throughout the years, but Ismail says that helped him develop an immunity to the scorpion venom. These days, the man is addicted to his unusual diet, and says he eats at least one scorpion a day. If he goes three days without consuming a nasty critter he experiences signs of withdrawal.

SEE ALSO: Tokyo's Bug Eating Club

There is no shortage of scorpions around Agelam in the summer, but they are hard to find in the winter months, so in order to satisfy his bizarre craving all year round, Mohammed stocks up on bugs during the summer, and keeps them alive around the house. His wife and children are scared of the dangerous stingers and loath seeing Ismail eat them but they’ve gotten used to scorpions at the dinner table. Doctor Omar Ibrahim, from the Samarra Hospital examined the farmer and confirmed the scorpion toxin has no effect on him.

Ismail Jasim Mohammed is not the only person who has developed an immunity to venom in a rather unusual way. Steve Ludwin has been injecting snake venom into his bloodstream for over 20 years, to boost up his immune system.

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Anti-zombie perfume is latest survivalist must-have

Because you can never be too prepared for the zombie apocalypse, here's a new product you can give your favorite survivalist friend for their next birthday: Zombie for Him and Zombie for Her.

SEE ALSO: Preparedness 101: Zombie Apocalypse

The new scents by weird perfume shop Demeter Fragrance Library are designed to evade zombie detection (and dismembering) by masking your warm, spring-fresh, undead scent with the aroma of dried leaves, mushrooms, mildew, earth, moss and, for the ladies, dregs from the bottom of the wine barrel.

At $40 for a 4-ounce bottle, which goes quicker than you think, maybe it's better to wait for the apocalypse to start ... and then steal some.

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Man Transforms Plane Into Street-Legal Race Car

What do you do when you have an abandoned airplane and a van? If you’re Officer Jeff Bloch, you get some buddies together and weld them into the a plane that’s also a car, and call it "The Spirit of LeMons." I’m not saying that this street-legal plane/car isn’t cool to look at it, but a car that flies is cooler than a plane that drives. That should be your next project, Officer Bloch.

SEE ALSO: Bio-Bug: Car Run on Human Waste

The Spirit of LeMons was first built to participate in a race called 24 Hours of LeMons. It’s an endurance race for crappy cars, and sometimes people enter things like cars that are also planes. Bloch and his plane/car won the prize for the car that, as Bloch put it, “has no business being on the race track, and yet is really cool and comes out there and does its very best anyway.”

SEE ALSO: Plug-In Hybrid Vehicle Has Wings

More recently, Bloch made The Spirit of LeMons street-legal by adding headlights, turn signals, brake lights and even got it insured. Bloch says the biggest problem now is that he’s concerned about drawing focus from other drivers who should be focusing on the road, not his plane/car or the fact that it should really have been a car/plane.

Bloch wants to enter the vehicle into more races, and even plans to drive it across the country with his brother. What he should be planning to do is to put some wings on it, and make a car that flies.

Watch the video and its creator in action in this video by Barcroft TV:

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Evangelical Pastor convinced followers his penis contained HOLY MILK, arrested

Valdeci Sobrino Picanto (pictured) is a Brazilian Evangelical Pastor who has been arrested for convincing his followers that his penis contains HOLY MILK.

If you’re like me, you are in disbelief and totally disgusted by this, but let me give you more details on this horrible situation…

Picanto told his followers that the Holy Spirit would secrete from his penis in the form of “sacred milk“. This pastor said that his penis was blessed and that “the Lord had consecrated him with divine milk of the “Holy Spirit,” reports Vatican Crimes.

One of Picanto’s followers stated, “He convinced us that only God could come into our lives through our mouth and that’s why he would do what he did. Often, after worship, pastor Valdeci would take us to the where the funds were kept at the back of the Church and asked us to have oral sex with him until the Holy Spirit would come through ejaculation.“

The good news to this story is that Valdeci Sobrino Picanto is in jail!

According to the Vatican Crimes, Picanto said he intends to continue watering his cellmates with his sacred milk.

Valdeci Sobrino Picanto, Brazilian Pastor, arrested for telling his followers his Penis contained ‘Holy Milk’

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Hideaki Kobayashi, The Famous Japanese Man Who Dresses as a Schoolgirl

Ever wondered what Mr. Miyagi would look like dressed as a schoolgirl? No?!? Me neither…Who does that? Anyway, you’ll get to see it anyway, as we take a look at one of Tokyo’s most iconic characters, Hideaki Kobayashi, better known as the “Sailor Suit Old Man” or the weird guy wearing a schoolgirl uniform.

SEE ALSO: In Japan, Women Pay to Make Their Teeth Crooked

As some of you may know, schoolgirl uniforms are very popular in Japan, but mostly it’s the girls who wear them. One man decided to turn the fashion trend on its head and started wearing the outfit himself, in some of Tokyo’s most crowded places. Hideaki Kobayashi is one of Japan’s most experienced cosplay photographers, meaning he’s been attending anime and video game themed events for over a decade, taking pictures of people dressed as their favorite characters.The flashy dress code must have rubbed off on him at some point, as he started making appearances in his now-famous sailor style school uniform. He was a bizarre sight to behold even at cosplay shows, but Hideaki decided to take it one step further and wear his girly uniform wherever he went.

SEE ALSO: Japan's Spectacular Tunnels of Light

In the Western world, most people would probably be shocked and disgusted at the sight of a hairy old man walking around town in a schoolgirl uniform, but not in Japan. Here, the Sailor Suit Old Man became an internet celebrity, sought out by young girls who wanted to take pictures with him and post them online for everyone to see. He even bragged about being mobbed for photos “like a popular celebrity”, on Facebook.

So what makes a grown man put on a schoolgirl outfit and walk around Tokyo with a big smile on his face? Is it about drawing attention, is it a sexual thing, or is Kobayashi plain crazy? Luckily, Japanese site IT Media tracked down the old guy and asked the question on everyone’s minds, and Kotaku East was kind enough to clarify everything for us curious Western folks. Asked why he puts on the uniform, Hideaki said “That’s a difficult question. It’s not really something I’ve thought too deeply about. Hrm. I guess it’s because sailor suits look good on me?” Japanese girls do seem to go crazy about his “nice legs” but I have to say they don’t really go well with that hairy face. ”I want to give society an element of surprise and impact,” he added, ”and I want to cheerfully enliven Japan.” Judging by the public reaction to his unusual dress style, I’d say he’d doing a great job so far.

SEE ALSO: Japanese Women Wear Diapers to Avoid Going to the Toilet

But the ”Sailor Suit Old Man” is not the only Japanese male who loves wearing schoolgirl uniforms. Ever heard the timeless classic “Nice Peace”? Iwon’t spoil the surprise for you, but I will say this: it’s been freaking out YouTube users since 2008. I’ve embedded the video at the bottom of this page. Enjoy! Oh, and lets’s not forget Liu Xianping, the Chinese grandpa who became an internet sensation after modelling women’s clothes for his granddaughter and impressing everyone with his slender silhouette.

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'Dead' man comes back to life at his funeral

Mourners attending a funeral in central Zimbabwe were shocked when the man they had come to bury "returned from the dead."

Family and friends were filing past a coffin with the remains of Brighton Dama Zanthe, 34, when one of them noticed the dead man's legs twitching.

One of the mourners, Lot Gaka, who employs Mr Zanthe at his transport company, said: "I was the first to notice Zanthe's moving legs as I was in the queue to view his body. This shocked me. We called an ambulance immediately. It's a miracle and people are still in disbelief."

SEE ALSO: Walking Corpse Syndrome (Cotard’s Syndrome)

Mr Zanthe had been unwell for some time and was laid to rest inside a coffin last Monday after "dying" at home the day before.

Mr Zanthe told The Chronicle newspaper, that he has no recollection of how he "died" nor how he was "resurrected," as his memory only returned when he woke up in a hospital in Gweru 140 miles southwest of Zimbabwe's capital Harare.

"Everything is history to me. What I can only confirm is that people gathered at my house to mourn but I was given another chance and I am alive. I feel OK now."

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Man with half a head

A bad boy who was left with half a head blaming his astonishing appearance on a drink and drugs binge.

Carlos 'Halfy' Rodriguez, who also goes by the name Sosa, lost a large portion of his brain and skull in a crash after flying through his car's windscreen and landing head-first on the road.

SEE ALSO: The Man with 2 Faces

In a new video he has used his appearance and story to warn others not to drink and take drugs.

Doctors were forced to cut away large amounts of flesh and bone to help him survive and he has since been able to continue his life in Miami, Florida.

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Ball Cutter Fish Kills Fishermen by Biting off Their Testicles

An intrepid British angler today told how he snared a predator which kills men - by biting off their testicles.

Fearless Jeremy Wade, 53, spent weeks hunting for the fish in remote Papua New Guinea after locals reported a mysterious beast which was castrating young fishermen.

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He finally unmasked the perpetrator as the Pacu fish - known locally as ‘The Ball Cutter’ - and managed to catch one in his small wooden fishing boat.

Mr Wade wrestled the 40lb monster on to the floor of his boat and opened its snapping jaws with his naked hands - to discover a jaw-dropping array of human-style teeth.

The Ball Cutter boasts an impressive set of man-like molars, which tear off the testicles of unwitting hunters, leaving them to bleed to death.

Mr Wade, from Bath, Somerset, told how he reeled in the Ball Cutter as part of his new series of River Monsters, aired on ITV next week.

SEE ALSO: Axolotl or Mexican Walking Fish

He said: 'I had heard of a couple of fishermen in Papua New Guinea who had been castrated by something in the water.

'The bleeding was so severe that they died. The locals told me that this thing was like a human in the water, biting at the testicles of fishermen. They didn’t know what it was.

'It is a hot and dirty area so the people would often go to the water with their children to wash but obviously they were very worried about this thing in the water.

'Amazingly, these things are quite elusive so we had to be patient catching one. We put a line into the water and waited for it to bite.

'When I reeled it in, it had this mouth which was surprisingly human-like, it is almost like they have teeth specially made for crushing.

'They are like human molars and the fish have powerful jaw muscles. They are very deep bodied and solid like a carp, with strong muscles.'

At least two fishermen have bled to death after being bitten by the beast although Jeremy believes they were 'pretty unlucky' as it is quite shy.

SEE ALSO: Transparent-Headed Fish

Pacu fish are usually found in the Amazon, where they need their teeth to crack into the tough cases of nuts and seeds.

The previously vegetarian fish were introduced to Papua New Guinea 15 years ago to increase stocks.

They quickly used their special technique to chomp meat due to a lack of suitable vegetation in the waters - making short work of human testicles.

Former biology teacher Jeremy luckily just sustained a small nick to his knuckles during his encounter with the Ball Cutter, despite wearing just shorts and a T-shirt.

The angler of 40 years said: 'It is about going in to these situations with the right information to know what you are dealing with.

'It is all about prevention. But there is this fear running through you. As long as I know what I am about to face and we have all of the precautions then I am happy.

'The fish was remarkably muscular, it was kicking so hard to get away from me but I wasn’t really injured.'

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The Penis Festival in Kawasaki, Japan

The enormous pink penis catches the light as I approach it. There’s no glint of shame as it exposes itself to the crowd. It’s the centre of attention, with throngs of Japanese people pushing to get closer to the engorged phallus. In a country normally so obsessed with decorum, it’s an odd sight.

Well, it would be an odd sight anywhere else in Japan, but this is the annual penis festival – the celebration of manhood that happens under the guise of a religious ceremony at a Shinto shrine. That’s right, blessed be the cocks here in the city of Kawasaki, about half an hour south of Tokyo.

SEE ALSO: Brutal Rituals of Phuket Vegetarian Festival

The shrine has been the place for people with penises in their prayers for more than four centuries. In the 1600s, this area was full of prostitutes and they would come here to ask for protection from sexually-transmitted diseases. Over time, people started coming to pray for fertility, long marriages, healthy births… and then (somehow) the penis symbology got twisted (sounds painful) to also represent a successful business and a prosperous life.

SEE ALSO: Yee Peng: The Festival of Hanging Lanterns, Festival of Light

Gongs and dongs. There’ll be one line of people waiting to pray inside the shrine right next to another line of people waiting to buy a lollipop in the shape of a penis. The traditional carving of the radishes into phallic shapes happens in one corner and in another are large wooden wangs that you can ride like a horse.

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Because of the reputation it has gathered over the years and the proximity to Tokyo, it’s extremely popular with ex-pats as well and foreigners make up a large part of the crowd.

But, in honor of the origins, the festival raises money for HIV research so at least it’s a good cause. For one day these penises get to shine.

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Brutal Rituals of Phuket Vegetarian Festival

This is taking vegetarianism to painful new extremes.

After piercing the cheeks, lips or tongue, religious devotees thrust metal implements, often several at a time, through the holes to purify themselves in a bizarre vegetarian festival in Phuket, Thailand.

Thousands of people travel to the island each year for the festivities while the local ethnic Chinese population, about a third of Phuket’s population, abstain from meat, sex, alcohol and other vices during the ninth lunar month of the Chinese calendar.

SEE ALSO: The Feast of Black Nazarete

They believe that the sacred rituals will banish evil from their community and give them good luck and fortune.

Walking barefooted over hot coals, climbing ladders with bladed rungs and taking baths in hot oil are also part of the rituals done by entranced devotees. They believe being in a trance gives them supernatural powers and the ability to endure these excruciating tortures for the common good.

Their suffering – they hope – draws evil out of the community around them and, in doing so, brings positive luck to their friends and village.

Called Prapheni Kin Jay or Prapheni Kin Phak in Thai meaning the Festival for Eating Vegetables, is on until next Wednesday.

SEE ALSO: The Penis Festival in Kawasaki, Japan

For those who do not wish to put themselves through something that will require heavy reconstructive surgery once the party is over, there are other ways to scare off dark powers.

The firework displays that take place during the festival – including the loudest and biggest, which rounds off matters on the final night – are also deemed to fend off evil spirits through sheer force of noise.

The ten-day self-cleansing festival’s origins are almost as odd as its unusual rituals. It dates back to 1825, and the visit of a traveling Chinese theatre company to the Thai mining town of Get-Hoe.

SEE ALSO: Yee Peng: The Festival of Hanging Lanterns, Festival of Light

When the touring actors succumbed to tropical fever in the jungle-clad region, they opted to keep to a strict vegetarian diet, hoping that this would please the gods – who would then relieve them of the illness.

The plan worked – and whether or not the thespians’ improved health was down to better diet than celestial intervention – the festival was born.

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Meet Ai Hasegawa, the Woman Who Wants to Give Birth to a Shark

“I love a good piece of dolphin meat on my plate, but every time I feel bad for eating an endangered animal,” 32-year-old artist, Ai Hasegawa, told Vice. “We’re soon going to be facing a global food shortage crisis. But I still want to give life, I don’t want 30 years of painful menstruation to have all been in vain. And I want to eat good meat.”

What 30-something woman hasn’t been faced with such dilemmas concerning food and reproduction? While most of us chose to avoid dolphin meat/baby making, hoping the problem would rectify itself, Ai Hasegawa got busy looking for options that were “less costly than raising a human” with “fewer responsibilities.” To reconcile both her desire to give life and her need to eat good meat, she came up with an unconventional solution: the idea of women birthing endangered species and eating them.

SEE ALSO: 2 Headed Shark Found by Fisherman

Hasegawa’s project, “I wanna deliver a Shark…,” tackles “the problem of human reproduction in an age of over-population and environmental crisis” with a literal attempt to birth a shark. And why a shark? Because, her initial research suggests that sharks are the most compatible with the human body and “they’re endangered, their life-span is almost as long as that of a human, and most importantly, they’re delicious.”

Oh yes. It’s very important for your baby to be delicious but my main concern would be how hungry I would get while waiting for my dinner to gestate. That could be a problem. But Hasegawa has more important logistics to address, like the size of our uteruses. She’s been speaking to a gynecologist to figure out how to make hers bigger. “I believe humans could use their uterus as an aquarium or incubator,” she said. As far as the issue of DNA modification, Hasegawa says that wouldn’t be a problem because the placenta comes from the fetus. “I’ve been assured that it should be possible to create ‘dolph-human’ or ‘shark-human’ placentas just by modifying the animal’s DNA,” she explained.The even bigger problem, though, is the matter of stopping menstruation in order to gestate an animal. That requires medicine with many “unpleasant side-effects.” That’s why she thinks an ideal carrier would be a rich, single, menopausal woman.

SEE ALSO: Animals such as Sharks, Alligators and Turtles can Potentially Live Forever

Despite these possible complications to interspecies birth, Hasegawa believes it will be possible in the near future. In that case, I look forward to meeting, I mean tasting, her “shark-human.” I hope she’s willing to share her tasty offspring because I’m not putting a damn shark in my womb. Are you?

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Wine Spa Pool of Tokyo, Japan

Located in Kowakien Yunessun, the biggest, most popular spa center in Japan, the outdoor has opened its gates once again.

Hundreds of gallons of Beaujolais Nouveau, the most popular wine in Japan, are used during the 12 day period the wine spa welcomes its guests. Four the last four years, Japanese wine lovers have had the opportunity to drink and bathe in the liquor they love so much, at the Hakone Kowakien Yunessun.

SEE ALSO: The Glowing Spider-Worms of New Zealand

The red pool is constantly fed wine through the wine-bottle-shaped spring, while a sommelier stands by to fill up the glasses of those craving some more Beaujolais Nouveau.

Apart from a wine pool, the spa center also features a sake spa, green tea spa and coffee spa, where clients can bathe in the drinks mentioned.

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Swedish woman, 37, who ‘had sex with skeletons’

The astonishing photos - released by police - show the unnamed brunette licking and hugging human skulls in her flat in Gothenburg.

The alleged necrophiliac faces up to two years in jail for "disturbing the peace of the dead".

SEE ALSO: The Health Benefits of Sex

Prosecutors say the 37-year-old kept at least six skulls, a spine and "a large number of other bones" in a secret compartment, along with a drill, body bags and pictures from a mortuary.

Cops also allegedly found photos of the woman performing sex acts on a skeleton, as well as two CDs entitled "My necrophilia" and "My first experience" following her arrest in September.
She once reportedly wrote on an internet forum: "My morals set my limits and I'm prepared to take the punishment if something should happen. It's worth it.

SEE ALSO: Six Health Benefits of Kissing

"I want my man like he is, whether he is dead or alive. He allows me to find sexual happiness on the side."

Prosecutor Kristina Ehrenborg-Staffas said the woman had handled the bones in a "shameful" and "unethical" manner.
The defendant, who claims she bought the bones online, admits keeping them but denies any wrongdoing.

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Biggest Crocodile Ever Caught?

Caught alive after a three-week hunt, an allegedly 21-foot-long (6.4-meter-long) saltwater crocodile—the biggest crocodile ever caught in the Philippines—is restrained on September 4, according to the Associated Press.

The 2,369-pound (1,075-kilogram) crocodile is suspected of attacking several people and killing two. The animal, named Lolong, survived capture and is being held in a temporary enclosure in the village of Consuelo, near Bunawan township (map).

Federal wildlife officials are trying to confirm whether the reptile is the largest crocodile ever captured, Theresa Mundita Lim, of the Philippines' Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau, told the AP.

The Guinness Book of World Records lists a 17.97-foot-long (5.48-meter-long),Australian-caught saltwater crocodile as the largest in captivity.

Yet herpetologist Brady Barr, host of the National Geographic Channel show Dangerous Encounters, said such claims rarely check out. (The National Geographic Society part-owns the Channel and wholly owns National Geographic News.)

"I'd be surprised if it was truly six meters," Barr told National Geographic News, adding that a scientist would need to verify the claim.

Alligator biologist Allan Woodward agreed. "There's never been a crocodile longer than approximately 18 feet [5.5 meters]," said Woodward, of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. "That would be an exceptional jump."

As for whether the crocodile is the perpetrator of the attacks, it's impossible to know unless the animal is killed and cut open, Barr said. Officials did induce the animal to vomit, which produced no human remains.

"It's great they didn't kill it," Barr said. "That's commendable [and] very rare."

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Iranian Scientist Claims to Have Built "Time Machine"

An Iranian business mind seems to have brought the much yearned and dreamt of equipment- A time machine, into real time. Ali Razeghi, scientist from Tehran claims to have triumphed over time by building a machine that enables a user to fast track up to eight years in the future. He calls it “The Aryayek Time Travelling Machine” as the machine is registered with the Center for Strategic Inventions run Iran, by this name.
Twenty seven years of age, Razaeghi claims that the machine uses a number of complex algorithms and predicts the future up to 5 (five) to 8 (eight) years with an accuracy of 98 percent. The machine apparently takes readings from the touch of hand and prints it accordingly.

Ali is the managing director of the state’s Center for Strategic Inventions who had been working on this machine for ten years. The brilliant man already has 179 inventions in his name.
The machine is claimed to fit into a PC case and is meant to bring the future to the user. The most vital benefit of this device is that the government of Iran has the capability of predicting a military confrontation or even forecasting rise and fall of the currencies. The new device will also be able to predict the oil prices.

This device is meant to prepare the countries for various challenges that may dawn upon them in future. This device is expected to be marketed among states and individuals upon entering a stage of mass production.

According to Razeghi, this project of his wasn't welcomed by his friends and family as they thought Ali tried to play God with this invention. However, according to him, this device is no where against religious ethics. He says that Americans have been trying to create such a time machine for years wasting millions of dollars while he accomplished it with less than half the cost.
Ali is hesitant in launching the prototype of the device as he suspects China of stealing the idea and producing it in manifold numbers.

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Tokyo Shop Where You Can Sleep With A Stranger

Soineya a "co-sleeping specialty shop" that opened in Tokyo's eccentric Akihabara district in September, lets its patrons sleep with one of a staff of female employees -- for a price.

According to Rocket News, Soineya -- whose name literally means "sleep together shop" -- isn't a brothel, but a cuddle clubwhere after paying an admission of 3,000 yen (about $38), customers select from a menu of sleep durations.

The business also offers a selection of premium services at an additional cost.

For 1,000 yen (about $12) a pop, the customer can give the woman a foot massage, have the woman look at him or her, get petted on the head, or have the woman change clothing, among other things, according to a Rocket News translation of the Soineya Web site. Interestingly, it is more expensive to give a foot massage than to receive a foot massage.

For a full list of "services" at Soineya (in English) visit Rocket News.

Strangely, this isn't the first business to sell cuddles. In July, The Huffington Post featured Jackie Samuels, a Rochester, N.Y., woman whose business, the Snuggery,charged $1 a minute for cuddling. Like Soineya, the Snuggery isn't about sex.

"Hypothetically, if someone were to get aroused, I would just communicate that that's not what we're doing," she told the Penfield Post.

Despite its population's generally conservative social mores, Japan, and especially Tokyo, is no stranger to taboo-busting businesses.

Recently, two former adult film actresses opened Love Joule, Japan's first "love and sex bar devoted to women," according to the Tokyo Reporter. The Shibuya district bar's vibrator-lined setting is meant to encourage discussion of masturbation among women.

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A Pet Drone That Follows You Like A Lost Puppy

Drones can't fetch a taco for you, but they can lift cameras into the sky and return impressive aerial video and photography. Trouble is, today's flying machines require a human pilot to manipulate their complex controls.

Sameer Parekh wants do away with remotes and have intelligent drones simply do his bidding. So he quit his day job as a Wall Street quant and launched an autonomous flying robot company, called Falkor Systems. (Note: It recently merged with I Heart Engineering, a company that builds and sells open-source robotics products.)

Parekh's early Pet AR.Drone prototype uses artificial intelligence algorithms to track a person, follow him or her around from a safe distance, and film the journey.

In the video below, the drone is trained to follow a graphic on a T-shirt. Within the next few years, however, Parekh hopes to refine his intelligent drone software and hardware enough to sell them to extreme athletes, such as BASE jumpers. "They'll be able to track [them] autonomously as they jump off the cliff," he says.
We stepped inside Parekh's Brooklyn, New York workshop to get an early look at the future -- one in which flying drones may be commonplace enough to be pets. And maybe fetch that taco.

watch here: http://www.youtube.com/embed/533a9_dfg4c

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Face-kini, Face Mask Bathing Suit, Is Popular On Chinese Beach

For something less revealing this summer, take a look at the face-kini, the ultimate alternative to slathering on sunblock on trips to the beach.

The full head mask, often worn with an accompanying body suit, is the latest swimwear innovation in the Chinese resort town of Qingdao, The New York Timesreported.

The summer accessory is a must-have for many Chinese women who prefer a fair-skinned complexion over a suntan.

A bronze tone has traditionally been equated with doing physical labor while pale skinindicates a person of status who doesn't work outdoors, NBC News said.

That value of beauty is still alive today with some and can be seen along the shore of Shandong province, where women have been wearing the coverings that haveopenings for their eyes, nose and mouth.

As an added benefit, the masks are credited with protecting against insects and jellyfish, the Daily Mail said.

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GLOBAL WORMING: 19-Inch Earthworm Found In China

Earthworms aren't the cuddliest creatures, but this one has managed to wiggle its way into the affections of a forestry worker in Southwest China.

Do You Stink? This Robot Will Tell You

If you’re headed to an important meeting or big date, it’s probably a good idea to make sure you don’t stink.

Three-Legged Duck In China

Save a drumstick for Todd Ray -- or three for that matter.

This Mask Gives You Superhuman Abilities

Fans of Iron Man, take notice: A group of students at the Royal College of Art

Bee-Wearing Contest In China

This might be your worst nightmare, but in Shaoyang, China, it's just part of an annual tradition.

Plug-In Hybrid Vehicle Has Wings

An American company on a mission to build practical flying cars has begun

African students invent groundbreaking anti-malaria soap

Two African students have created a malaria-repellant soap using local herbs,

Transparent-Headed Fish

With a head like a fighter-plane cockpit, a Pacific barreleye fish shows off its highly sensitive, barrel-like eyes--topped by green, orblike lenses--in a picture released today but taken in 2004.

The fish, discovered alive in the deep water off California's central coast by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI), is the first specimen of its kind to be found with its soft transparent dome intact.

The 6-inch (15-centimeter) barreleye (Macropinna microstoma) had been known since 1939--but only from mangled specimens dragged to the surface by nets.

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