Believe it or not, the United Arab Emirates' total GDP stood at $50.7 billion in 1990, but fast forward to present day, and its GDP is more than $360 billion. The United Arab Emirate's continued status as a tax-free haven brought even more ex-pats to settle in Dubai and in 1999, one of the tallest hotels in the world opened, cementing the city's reputation as a tourist destination. The top image above shows what the main road in Dubai, the E-11, looked like in 1990, and below, what it looked like in 2013. Continue reading for twenty strange, yet real, things you might only see in Dubai.
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Brothers Admir and Ibi Adili own the Valentino ice cream shop in Tisnom, on Croatia's Murter island. Admir's 15-year-old daughter Bibi spends quite a bit of time on the social network, so he decided to create a flavor commemorating it. The secret ingredient? There is no secret, as all he did was use plain bubblegum ice cream, add some blue syrup, and then slap "Facebook" on the flavor. So far, it's been a big hit with tourists this summer. Continue reading for more.
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Brothers Admir and Ibi Adili own the Valentino ice cream shop in Tisnom, on Croatia's Murter island. Admir's 15-year-old daughter Bibi spends quite a bit of time on the social network, so he decided to create a flavor commemorating it. The secret ingredient? There is no secret, as all he did was use plain bubblegum ice cream, add some blue syrup, and then slap "Facebook" on the flavor. So far, it's been a big hit with tourists this summer. Continue reading for more.
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An enormous crater has appeared suddenly in a small Siberian village whose name roughly translates as "the end of the world". There are currently teams of scientists rushing there to fathom the cause of this unusual - and rare - geographical occurrence, baffling those who have already viewed it. One bizarre theory speculates this hole was caused by a UFO landing. Continue reading for the video and more information.
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Joel Zwicky isn't your average cop, as a former photographer and musician, he likes to get creative while working as a patrol officer at the Green Bay Police Department, in Wisconsin. To accomplish this, he patrols the streets on a skateboard. This all came about when the department's chief was looking for new initiatives to engage more with the community, so Joel suggested the idea: "You know chief, I had this crazy idea in the back of my head what would you do if I brought my board to work and started skating it?" Continue reading for a video and more information.
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What if there was a lottery catered specifically to the homeless that awarded winners with small homes that rival even the most luxurious 5-star hotels? Slovakia-based architectural design firm DesignDevelop has just the solution: two-room apartments built around the triangular shaped billboards that come complete with a kitchen, an office space, a bed with some storage underneath, and a functional bathroom. Continue reading for more pictures and information.
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How about some strange and creepy Japanese urban legends to start off your holiday weekend? First up, we have the Okiku doll, which can be found at the Mannenji temple in Iwamizawa, Hokkaido prefecture. The doll originally had cropped hair, but over the years the hair has mysteriously grown to 25 centimeters (10 inches), despite being trimmed annually. The legend has it that a teenage boy bought the doll for his two-year-old sister, Okiku. She played with it every day until her tragic and sudden death. Her family refused to get rid of the doll and noticed that its hair was growing, so they concluded that the spirit of their daughter resided within the doll. The doll was given to the temple in 1938 where it can be seen today. Continue reading for more.
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