House covered with seashells
Don't be shellshocked after reading this unusual news story.
This house on Lingshan Island, off the coast of Qingdao city in
eastern China's Shandong province is completely covered - every nook and
corner - with seashells.
Fifty-four-year-old Xiao Yongsheng, the owner of this spent two years
sticking every inch of his house with seashells.
This was what he did when deciding to renovate it. Without spending
money on expensive designers and architects he decided to save up and do
it for free.
Hence he decided to collect seashells which are free to grab in his
small beach and took effort to stick on the walls of his house.
"I'd always liked shells but it never struck me to use them until I
was walking on a beach one morning and came across a very unusually
coloured clam shell and then it hit me," said Xiao.
"I realised I was sitting next to a huge, free supply of beautiful
building material - so why not use it?" So he began collecting every
kind of shell he could find - right from tiny 3-millimeter ones to giant
conches that weighed over four kilograms.
"I used them for everything," he explained. "For decoration, for roof
tiles, as handles, and even crushed up to make mosaics. They are
everywhere."
"I just did it because I wanted to make my home beautiful for
myself." Xiao is currently using his house as a museum to display the
history of the island and the daily life of local fishermen.
His seashell decorated home has now become one of the most popular
tourist attractions on Lingshan Island.
Vacancy at the Buckingham Palace
If you are interested in doing a job in Britain, there is an opening
at the Buckingham Palace., The job will pay you 16,000 pounds per year.
According to the British Monarchy website this 20-hour per week job
entails mainly removing of chewing gum from the Historic and state
apartments in the Palace.
The advertisement in the website says the job will be split between
Buckingham Palace and Holyroodhouse in Edinburg.
The Sun quoting a palace source says: "It is extraordinary that
guests to the Royal palaces do leave chewing gum. You woudn't expect
people to be chewing gum when they visit, let alone stick it on the
priceless antiques of parquet floor".
The chosen person also will have to change beds, clean out wardrobes
and drawers at royal residencies.He must also man the cloakroom during
Royal parties.
California farmer grows 'pumpkinsteins'
Heart or cube-shaped watermelons were a big hit in Japan during the
Valentine Day celebrations. Inspired by these unusually shaped fruits
and vegetables Tony Dighera, the Californian farmer has come out with a
unique creation for the Halloween festival.
They are called pumpkinsteins and are seen hanging from pumpkin
creepers he had grown.
To save you the mystery, it is a pumpkin which resembles the head of
Victor Frankenstein, the grotesque monster.
The price is kind of justified considering the effort that Dighera
put into creating these fabulous pumpkins.
The California farmer used two special $100,000 tooling machines to
make the pumpkin moulds, which is quite huge in terms of investment. But
he seems confident that his product is going to be a huge hit and that
he will earn back the initial investment within the year.
Dighera designed the entire process from scratch. "There's nobody to
ask questions, you're the pioneer," he said. He had to start by making
the perfect mould with just the right materials, to avoid the risk of
the fruit rotting. The timing of the mould placement was also crucial -
it had to be done when the fruit was small enough to fit inside. But
there was also the risk of the fruit turning during the growing process
and snapping away from its stem.
He does agree that $75 for a pumpkin is quite pricey. "I wouldn't pay
for it," he admitted. "But there's plenty of people with an income of
200k or more who will." And it looks like Dighera's right - the
pumpkinsteins are so popular this season that they're almost flying off
the shelves. He's now planning to develop heart-shaped watermelons for
Valentine's Day and white pumpkin skulls for Halloween next year. |