StrangeSights

• It takes the idea of life on the road to whole new level. When authorities announced plans to build a four lane highway running through where a five storey apartment building stands, the families - with the law on their side - refused to leave. So they simply built the freeway around it - leaving the multi-storey property on a small island in its midst. One of the residents at the property, located in eastern China, was reported as saying that the government didn’t offer enough compensation for them to move. To see the house, which is known as a Nail House (and for link to the full story), follow this link to our Pinterest page…

• Want a multi-tasking baby? Then the ‘Baby Mop’ might be just what you’ve been looking for. Essentially a romper suit (or ‘onesie’) with mop fringes attached, the baby mop enables your baby to clean the floor while crawling about it. The idea reportedly came from a Japanese spoof ad, according to the company that produces it - US website BetterThanPants - and since it’s release, sales have gone through the roof. They say not only will the baby mop teach your baby a strong work ethic and give them a good workout, it will also save you “lots of money on house cleaning costs”.

• It’s the low cost hotel that takes pride in a bad reputation. A low priced hostel in Amsterdam - the Hans Brinker Budget Hotel -says it has been “proudly disappointing travellers for forty years”. Its website boasts that levels of comfort in the hotel are “comparable to a minimum-security prison”, noting that the “Hans Brinker also offers some plumbing and an intermittently open canteen serving a wide range of dishes based on runny eggs”. Other features at the hotel include “a basement bar with limited light and no fresh air”, “an elevator that almost never breaks down between floors” and “the Hans Brinker Budget Hotel, Amsterdam Luxury Ambassadorial Suite (featuring the Hans Brinker’s one and only bath-tub).” The self-critical marketing campaign has reportedly proved something of a hit with its rather brave clientele.

• Scientists have reportedly said they are 95 per cent sure that the mythical snow-monster, the yeti, is living in Siberia in Russia. A recent two day expedition in the region found “irrefutable evidence” of the existence of the yeti, it was claimed by the Kemerovo government which oversees the region. This included footprints and hairs. The conference had attracted scientists and enthusiasts from as far afield as Canada and the US, Sweden and Estonia. The yeti, also known as the abominable snowman and sasquatch, are also said to exist in the Himalayas and in North America.

• Don’t worry about trying to get the ball back. News has swept around the world of a golf course in Brisbane which has a rather unusual hazard - half a dozen bull sharks in the course’s 21 hectare lake. The shark’s, then juveniles, reportedly moved into the lake at the Carbrook Golf Course when the nearby Logan River flooded in the 1990s. The golfers are apparently unfazed - the club now hosts a monthly competition called the Shark Lake Challenge.

• Getting the silent treatment for your local traffic director? It could be because, like in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas, they’ve reportedly employed 120 professional mimes to take on the job. Wearing clown outfits, the mimes were charged with reprimanding bad drivers in a bid to encourage politeness on the road. And they’re apparently not alone with mimes being put to good use in controlling traffic and pedestrians in Brazil and Colombia.

• Fans of Japanese girl band AKB 48 got a shock this week when they were informed that the band’s newest member, 16-year-old Aimi Eguchi, wasn’t in fact a person at all. Turns out Aimi is a virtual creation, her features a composite of the other band members, manufactured as part of a marketing campaign the band is undertaking with sweet company Glico.

• As far as wrong turns go, it was a big one. An Emperor Penguin was found on Peka Peka Beach on New Zealand’s North Island last week, apparently having made a wrong turn when swimming in Antarctica. The bird, which was eating sand in the mistaken belief it was snow, was taken to Wellington Zoo where it is undergoing treatment before its future is decided. And it’s name? Yep, Happy Feet.

• We all know (or should) that it can be unwise to advertise the fact you’re on a holiday miles from home on a social networking site like Facebook. Ah, hello, burglars. Now a London-based security company, Precreate Solutions, has gone a step further - they’re reportedly offering to update your Facebook or Twitter page while you’re away with comments that make it look as if you’re still, in fact, at home. Don’t they have internet all around the world now?

• Still in the UK, and parents at a Plymouth school have reportedly criticised a proposal to put up child-shaped bollards outside the school as a traffic calming measure, saying the bollards were “too scary” and looked like something out of Dr Who. Surely a Dalek would be just as effective?

• There was no trouble finding Wally in Dublin, Ireland, this week. More than 3,500 people (3,657 to be exact) reportedly turned out in Merrion Square on Saturday dressed up in the stripey shirt and hat typically worn by Wally, the key character from the Where’s Wally? books. The event was aimed at setting a new Guinness World Record for having the most Where’s Wally’s in the one place. Known as Waldo in the US, the character was created by British illustrator Martin Handford and the first book was published in 1987.

• The world’s largest sculpted human form is being created in the north of England. Artist Charles Jencks has designed the figure, named Northumberlandia, which will be 400 metres long and up to 34 metres high and use 1.5 million tonnes of soil and clay taken from a nearby mine. He has been commissioned by the mine operators and the landowners to create the landform which will sit within a 14.5 hectare public park near the town of Cramlington in south-east Northumberland.

• It’s certainly irritating when you order takeaway only to find that when your orders arrives it’s wrong. But calling the police is probably going a step too far. That’s what reportedly happened in the US city of Savannah, Georgia, when an apparently irate woman dialed 911 after a Chinese restaurant mucked her order up and requested police force the business owners to give her a refund. Police were, understandly, not amused.

• The heart symbol (meaning to love) has entered the Oxford English Dictionary as one of more than 45,000 new words and meanings added to the latest version of what is considered by many to be the most authoritative English language dictionary in the world. Among the other new entries are “Tinfoil hat” (used with allusion to the belief that such a hat will protect the wearer from mind control or surveillance); the 10 or five or one “second rule” (allowing for the eating of a delicious morsel that has fallen to the floor, provided that it is retrieved within the specified period of time), and “IMHO” (in my humble opinion) as well as Australianisms “flat white” (a style of espresso drink with finely textured foamed milk) and “tragic” (a ‘boring or socially inept person, especially one with an obsessive interest or hobby).

• Finding the walk between golf holes a bit hard lately? Forget the buggy, a course in Germany has introduced a 150 metre travelator to take golfers up an admittedly rather steep hill from the first green to the second tee. Known as the “magic carpet”, the travelator at the course in Schloss Auel Golf Club near Cologne reportedly works in all weather and starts automatically when a player - and buggy - hop on board. The introduction of the travelator has apparently met with the approval of the (one imagines, rather tired) club’s members.

• It’s a busy life being a member of the police SWAT team in Beijing so there’s little time to find that someone special. To give officers a helping hand, police chiefs reportedly launched a match-making service at an annual Police Open Day recently, posting pictures of 54 unmarried recruits on large boards in a police station in the hope of catching the eye of some of the visitors. Such was the interest, police have already vowed to repeat the service in the future.

• Regular visitors might recall reading about Seattle’s Guardian and the existence of ‘Real Life Super Heroes’ in the US some weeks ago. It seems the trend is catching - now comes news of self-appointed ’superheroes’ in the UK. Foremost among them is The Statesman (aka bank worker Scott Cooke), who hits the streets of Birmingham with justice on his mind (and, reportedly, a mobile phone in case things turn nasty). But there are apparently others - as many as 16 according to one report - bearing names such as Black Arrow, Lionheart and the even-more-oddly-monikered, Vague. No word yet on any arch villains.

• Priests were seen hitting the slopes in Poland earlier this month to take part in an annual ski championship for the clergy. With many dressed in clerical robes and collars, they were competing in the Pope John Paul II Cup. The annual event, which includes several different skiing disciplines, was held at the ski resort of Wisla. The former pope was apparently a keen skier and a regular visitor to ski slopes in Italy.

• A selection of some of the oddest spying devices you’ve ever seen has gone on display in an online gallery posted by the CIA Museum on photo-sharing website Flickr. The weird devices developed by the US organisation include everything from a robot fish and a mosquito-like “unmanned aerial vehicle” to a lady’s compact which, if viewed from a certain angle, reveals a hidden code, and a camera designed to be carried by a pigeon.

• A self-styled superhero in the US city of Seattle has reportedly had his nose broken while trying to break up a fight. Phoenix Jones, part of a group of at least nine called the Rain City Superhero Movement, wears a superhero outfit including a mask and body armour when he patrols the streets of the city. Others in the group include Gemini, Catastrophe and Thunder 88. Jones, who goes by the moniker ‘Guardian of Seattle’, was apparently injured when he saw the makings of a brawl and intervened. The group is apparently part of a growing movement in the US called the Real Life Super Heroes (or RLSH).

• When the local council said it was considering closing down the Stony Stratford Library near Milton Keynes in the UK, locals took umbrage and launched a somewhat unusual protest. They reportedly borrowed out all 16,000 of the library’s books. The Friends of Stony Stratford Library have also launched a Facebook page in their protest to keep it open.

• A cat has been ordered to sit on a jury in the US. Tabby Sal’s owners reportedly told Boston authorities that a mistake had been made when the cat was summoned for jury service but were apparently told it still had to attend. The cat had been listed as household resident on a recent census.

• The promises contained in the song the Twelve Days of Christmas cost more than they used to. The annual Christmas Price Index shows that buying all of the items mentioned in the song - everything from a partridge in a pear tree to seven swans-a-swimming and 12 drummers drumming - will set you back $US23,439, up 9.2 per cent or $US1,974 on the previous year. The jump is the second highest in the index’s history and is largely attributed to the rising cost of gold which rose 30 per cent over the year. Created by financial company PNC Wealth Management, the index has been running for 27 years.

• We know how it goes. You see the parking ticket on your window and open it with trepidation to see how much you owe…only to find that “you’ve parked beautifully”. Londoner Will Sandy has launched what he calls the Fine Parking Company which aims to bring a smile to people’s faces - a reversal of the usual emotional response people have when opening a ticket.

• Still in the UK, and a Cornish village soccer team, Madron, had been given the label of ‘worst in the UK’ after losing 11 games in a row including a 55-0 thrashing. Manager Alan Davenport has reportedly said that despite only kicking two goals during their 11 games (and conceding 227), morale in the team remained high.