StrangeSights

• A prized 19th century fresco depicting Jesus Christ at a church in Spain has reportedly been all but destroyed after a grandmother, apparently with the very best of intentions, decided to carry out her own restoration project. The 120-year-old fresco - Ecce Homo (Behold the Man) by Elijah Garcia Martinez, is located at the Sanctuary of Mercy Church near Zaragoza. It had been damaged by water but was still relatively intact before the woman, aged in her 80s, decided to fix it by carrying out her own touch-up job, since labelled by some as the worst art restoration of all time.

• Dog-shaming has become the latest internet craze thanks to a Tumblr site in which users submit pictures of their dogs looking appropriately guilty as they stand or sit next to a sign stating their crimes. The Dog Shaming site has garnered attention from media around the world and gained a strong following on Facebook as owners apparently eagerly dob in their pooches. Among the more palatable entries we’ve seen: “I ate the remote control”, “Soccerballs terrify me!”, and the rather painful “Porcupines are NOT chew toys”.

• It’s not a swimming pool for the faint-hearted. A hotel in Shanghai has opened which comes complete with a swimming pool which partly projects out of the building 24 stories above the ground and comes complete with a glass bottom so you can watch those so, so far below while you have a swim. The glass-bottomed pool, at the Holiday Inn Shanghai Pudong Kangqiao, is apparently not the only pool of its kind. Take a look here to see some further examples.

• Nothing like having a back-up plan. Authorities in Japan are taking the Scouts’ motto of ‘Be Prepared’ to the next level - they’ve reportedly proposed building an entire back-up city for Tokyo should it be hit by an earthquake or natural disaster again. To be called the IRTBBC (Integrated Resort, Tourism, Business and Backup City), it’s been proposed that the city will be built on a 1,236 acre site 300 kilometres west of Tokyo and will provide accommodation for 50,000 residents and 200,000 workers who will commute from nearby Osaka.

• The “world scariest bridge” has reportedly opened on the top of Tianmen Mountain in China. The bridge, a narrow, 200 foot long glass-bottomed walkway, is suspended from the side of a cliff 1,220 metres above sea level. Opened last month, it’s creation comes in the wake of a similar glass-bottomed walkway known as the Skywalk, which projects over the Grand Canyon (and the Eureka Skydeck, of course!).

• It’s an unusual crime prevention measure. A priest in Lodz, Poland, has been blessing manhole covers after town authorities asked him to do so to stop them being stolen by scrap metal thieves. All 4,000 of the town’s manhole covers were blessed at a church service.