Let’s take a look back at 12 of the favorite posts from 2012! Starting with Last January and working our way to December, this year we had a number of amazing stories on our blog. Did your favorite make the list?

A NEW WAY TO LOSE YOUR WEDDING RING

After searching for her diamond wedding ring Swedish couple Lena and Ola Paahlsson gave up hope. It wash’t until 16 years later that she notice a carrot that had an unusual bit of luster sprouting from within its top. When she pulled the carrot out of the ground she found her white-gold band with seven small diamonds, it was her lost wedding ring! Read more Here

IT’S A BIRD… IT’S A PLANE… IT’S A SKYDIVING DOG!

Meet Otis, the ultimate skydiving dog. This 10 year old pug has joined his master on dozens of skydiving expeditions, of course they go tandem. Otis has been skydiving for 9 years and he, with his owner Will DeSilva, have had over 60 jumps together. Check out the video!

UNBELIEVABLE BACKFLIPS ON A WHEELCHAIR!

Aaron Fotheringham is a world-renowned extreme wheelchair athlete. Fortheringham has Spina Bifida and has used a wheelchair since he was three years old. But Aaron never let anything stop him. He has performed on a fifty-foot ramp-to-ramp jump, doing double backflips. In New Zealand he performed the world’s first wheelchair frontflip! We find his talents and passion pretty unbelievable! See More Here!

WORLD’S BIGGEST BUNNY

Darius is the world’s largest bunny. At only 2 years old he is 49 lbs and stretching to a length of 4 feet, 3 inches from nose to puffy tail! His owner, Annette Edwards, plans to bulk the bunny up another lbs! He has a pretty good diet with 12 carrots a day, and hay, cabbage, apples, and of course rabbit mix. Darius is now on tour all over the world, he is even bringing out a book for children! Check out more cute pictures.

VACCUUM-SEALED LOVE

“Flesh Love”. Tokyo artist Haruhiko Kawaguchi vacuum packs couples in a 100x150x74 cm plastic bag! The idea is to keep love fresh forever…. how, um… romantic? Kawaguchi has the couples get into the bag and after the air is sucked out of the bag by a vacuum cleaner, he has 10-20 seconds to take his pictures. Anything longer could be dangerous. So far 80 couples have participated and the photographs are quite amazing. Here are more unbelievable pictures!

FORE!

How’s your golf game? If you are anything like me, your ball manages to find it’s water to the water every time. This is normally fine, but at the Carbrook Golf Club in Brisbane, Australia it takes on a new meaning to the term “water hazard”. The water on their 15th hole is full of sharks! There are currently six 10-foot bull sharks that call this course home. You better master your land game before you play this course! But first, watch the video

KABANG, THE HERO DOG

Arguably the most heroic story from this year was about Kabang the dog who saved the lives of two girls. Dina, age 9, and Princess, age 3, were crossing a busy street in Zamboanga City, Phillipines their family dog saw a motorcycle barreling down toward them. Kabang leaped in front of the motorcycle and saved the girls! Kabang knocked the motorist off the bike, but her upper snout got caught in the wheel. Thankfully she survived and is currently being treated at UC Davis in California. If you would like to donate to Kabang you can here www.careforkabang.com, and follow her progress at the UC Davis Veterinary Hospital. You can also read more on our blog! Click Here.

FEARLESS SPACE JUMP

Felix Baumgartner successful completed what many would consider the most unbelievable stunt ever. Baumgartner AKA “Fearless Felix” became the world’s first super sonic skydiver. That’s right, He jumped from space! He had a 24 mile free fall, broke the sound barrier, reached 833.9 mph, was the first person to go faster than the speed of sound without the assistant of an aircraft, and had over 8 million people watch live on YouTube! Watch the clip now!

BODY BAKERY

Kittiwat Unarrom creates some pretty gruesome pieces. But don’t worry – these severed body parts are made out of bread! Unarrom is a Thai artist whose family runs a bakers. Even though they look scary, they are pretty tasty to eat! Think of the dinner talk if you served some of these at your next party. More pictures here.

FLOWER POWER

The first Sunday of September in Zundert, Netherlands is the annual Bloemencorso Flower Parade. This spectacular parade has been held every year since 1936. But these aren’t normal floats, these are amazing works of art! Only dahlia flowers are allowed in the parade, which decorate each giant float. It takes hundreds of workers and thousands of flowers to complete each one. More amazing floats here.

HUMAN MOTORCYCLES

Look closely, because this is not your average motorcycle picture. The woman on the motorcycle is body painted head to toe. But that bike she is sitting on, isn’t a bike, it is more people body painted! They used professional yoga instructors to contort into the motorcycles and with the help of Tina Merry, professional Bodypaint Artist, they created some spectacular pieces! Check out the video and more pictures!

THE AMAZING AMBIDEXTROUS SIYUAN

Talk about right brain, left brain! 24-year-old Siyuan Checn from China is not only able to write with both hands simultaneously, she cane write in TWO SEPARATE LANGUAGES AT THE SAME TIME! Wow! When Chen was learning English she found the only was to finish all of her homework in time was to double her efforts! Watch the video to see for yourself!

In 1971 a Soviet rig was drilling in Derweze, Turkmenistan when the geologists tapped into a cavern filled with natural gas.  Before they could further drill, they needed to clear the cavern.  The next logical step was to burn off the gas.

Real Life Silent Hill

The experts thought the fire would burn for a few days max, but the fire has been BURNING FOR OVER 40 YEARS!

The locals call the 230-foot diameter hole “The Door to Hell.”   If you visit the site, you see locals throwing cigarettes to create spectacular bursts of flames.

No one has any idea how much gas is left to burn off, but it appears that there is no shortage!

The Drina River runs the border between Bosnia Harzegovina and Serbia.  The Drina is the main kayaking and rafting attraction of the Balkans.  When you go on a river trip, you expect to see beautiful pastoral countryside. What you don’t expect to see is an oddly placed house in the middle of the river!

Is anyone home?

It doesn’t appear that anyone lives in the Drina River House.  It would make it kinda tough to get to the grocery store.  But that doesn’t answer the question who built it and why?

I’ve scoured the internet trying to find out the answers to my questions, with no luck.  So I pose the question to you: why would someone build a house in the middle of a river?

Update

Last I night I posed the question on Facebook. I promised whoever posted the correct answer first, (with backup link for proof) will get their name cited in the blog.

Congrats Eddie Ortiz on San Antonio, Texas!  He found the right answer. Turns out the house was built in 1968 by kids who needed a place to sunbathe. The website where Eddie found the answer is written in Serbian, but click this link to read the English translation. There is also a pretty cool video that I posted at the top of the blog that shows the house during the flood season.

Andres Amador is an amazing American artist who uses the earth as his canvas.  His amazing sand paintings have graced beaches around the world.

Andres creates his masterpieces with a
modified rake.  He
says the beach tells
him what to draw

Grownup Sandbox

 Aerial View

Andres’ art cannot be truly appreciated until viewed up high.  His grand vision is lost when looked at closeup.  To get a really good shot, photographers have used mountains, hills, and helicopters to take photos of his work.

For more Andres Amador Sand Paintings, visit his website at www.andresamadorarts.com

A 70mph gust of wind is nothing to sneeze at, particularly if you are 6lb pound pup.  Little Tinker Bell joined her pet parents for a lovely Saturday morning of flea market shopping and was standing on a platform trailer when a 70mph wind whisked her away!

Dorothy and Lavern Utley with Tinker Bell.

Pay Attention to the Man Behind the Curtain

Dorothy and Lavern Utley freaked out when they couldn’t find their cuddly companion, so they did the next logical thing—hired a Pet Psychic. The clairvoyant led them into the woods where they found Tinker Bell…ONE MILE FROM WHERE SHE WAS BLOWN AWAY!  

There’s No Place Like Home

Tinker Bell was hungry and dirty, but otherwise okay.  Ms. Utley said little Tink “just went wild” upon seeing her. Glad this family is reunited.

[Source]

Jean-Yves Blondeau is a rolling daredevil.  He is the creator of the 32-wheel roller suit known as the Buggy Rollin.  Blondeau rides his wheel suit down some of the most treacherous streets in the world.  His most recent stunt took him down Tianmen Mountain, in Zhangjiajie, China— a steep 6-mile road that consists of no less than 99 hairpin turns! Check out a video of his amazing feat.

Rollerman has catapulted down some of the world’s most treacherous mountain roads like Tianmen Mountain, and the French and Swiss Alps, and he has narrowly navigated the traffic-packed streets of South Korea.  Check out the main video for incredible footage!

Evolution of the Suit

The roller suit has gone through several iterations.  He is on suit six, which places wheels similar to ones on rollerblades all over the body- particularly the joints, torso back, arms and legs.  The 32 carefully placed wheels allows Rollerman to ride in multiple positions and reach speeds of up to 70 mph.

Can’t get enough Rollerman?

View our image gallery below, visit his website www.buggy-rollin.com, or his Buggy Rollin YouTube Channel.

The Carbrook Golf Club, in Brisbane, Australia, has a water hazard full of sharks.  A few years ago a local river flooded and broke its banks.  The sharks left their home and found new lodging at the 15th hole. Currently six, 10-foot bull sharks call the course their home. Don’t believe it?  Play the course yourself.  Once you see the shark fins poking out of the water, you’ll be a believer!  If you can’t make it Down Under, check out the video of the golf course sharks. This is one course where you need to be on your game!

[Source: Sky News]

Mr. & Mrs Baxter

Sixteen-year-old Misaki Murakami’s name was written on the ball that was swept out to sea in March 2011. He lives in the town of Rikuzen-takata, which was very badly hit by the tsunami. On the day of the disaster Misaki was at home sick, but fled to higher ground when the earthquake struck, Kyodo. His home was then swept away.

David Baxter found it more than a year later on Alaska’s Middleton Island, 70 miles (112km) from the mainland.

From Japan to Middleton, Alsaka

“I’m very grateful as I’ve so far found nothing that I’d owned,” he told broadcaster TBS on Sunday.

According to NOAA (the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), Mr Baxter’s Japanese wife translated the writing on the ball, which included a school name and a “good luck” message. NOAA has been monitoring floating debris from the tsunami over the past year.

“This may be one of the first opportunities since the March 2011 tsunami that a remnant washed away from Japan has been identified and could actually be returned to its previous owner.”

Unbelievable? Believe it!

[source]

This giant claims the title of the plant with the largest unbranched flower in the world. Believe It or Not! Its huge flowering structure (inflorescence) rises over 8.2 feet above the ground!

The Largest and the Smelliest

Due to its odor, which is similar to the smell of a decomposing animal, this behemoth of the plant world is also known as the “corpse flower”.

It is not completely certain why they release the foul smells, but it could have something to do with attracting possible pollinators.

Worth the Wait

These rare plants, while in the wild, only bloom every 30 to 40 years! Every time there is a “scheduled” flowering, huge crowds of people gather to witness the amazing event.

As gorgeous and amazing as they look, we recommend you bring a hankie, or a mask if you are planning on witnessing one of these rare flowers blooming. Unless you happen to enjoy the smell of rotting flesh. Unbelievable? Believe It!

It’s too bad the ring no longer fits Lena’s finger. But plans are in place to re-size it.

Have you lost anything valuable and later found it in a bizarre place? Share your stories with us by leaving a comment…!