“When scientists saw a pure white six-foot fin breaking the surface of the water near Russia’s Kammchatka Peninsula, they knew a unique creature was hunting below the waves. The fully grown orca bull they detected is the first ever discovered. He hunts in a ‘pod’ of 12 (normally colored) orcas – and must be at least 16 years old. The creatures can live to up to 60. He seems to have been accepted by the other killer whales… The scientists called this unique orca ‘Iceberg’ after they saw his towering six feet white dorsal fin breaking the surface.” w/ photos

“He remains one of the world’s most important scientists. But despite his innumerable professional successes, Einstein found it impossible to sustain a successful personal life. In his book, Einstein: His Life and Universe, Walter Isaacson describes how Albert Einstein found maintaining a harmonious love life a battle he would never win. In fact, so pragmatic was Einstein’s approach to love, that when he found his 11 year marriage to fellow scientist Mileva Maric was floundering, he issued a list of outrageous rules that he believed would allow the two to remain together for the sake of the children.” w/ photos

“New South China Mall was built in 2005 by Hu Guirong, who made his millions making instant noodles. He started the project with great enthusiasm, sending teams all over the world in search of ideas for his dream mall. And most of these ideas were even translated into reality. Where else in the world would be able to see a gondola on a mock Venetian canal inside a mall? But then something went horribly wrong, because when the place was completed in 2005, it simply failed to take off. It wasn’t even a dead mall, where tenants simply depart and business winds down slowly. No, Guirong’s mall never attracted merchants in the first place, as they felt it wasn’t a realistic place to set up shop.” w/ photos

“It took months to find the right tree to build on, and when he did the spot was on public land looking down on a row of multi-million dollar homes. But that didn’t stop Joel Allen – he just built this incredible egg-shaped treehouse in Canada anyway, without telling anyone. The computer technician-turned-carpenter started off by creating a scale model of his design to test its strength and durability, before beginning the months-long quest to find the perfect tree. Without the money to buy property, he decided to do it on Crown land in the forests of Whistler. ‘Finding that perfect spot on Crown land wasn’t so easy,’ he said. ‘I had an informal checklist of requirements, the most important ones being that it within a reasonable distance to a road, yet out of sight and out of earshot of human traffic.” w/ photos

“Manuel da Silva Oliveira, a Portuguese immigrant, worked for years at large ice cream companies, before he realized the potential that exotic and unusual flavors held. He then proceeded to perfect an avocado – flavored ice cream, after wasting about 50 kg in his attempts. In 1980, he opened the Heladeria Coromoto, where the Avocado ice cream is now one of the most popular, and is paired with sweet corn, black bean, mango or coconut flavors. The shop sells the largest number of flavors in the world, holding a Guinness World Record for it. There are around 900 flavors to choose from, with 60 of them being served on any given day. Changes are made according to the season.” w/ photos

“Zhang is the owner of a couple of supermarkets and a few other properties in China. As a rich person, he had taken to gambling and soon got addicted to it, losing up to $12,700 on some nights. On one such night, after losing a huge amount of money, he realized that he needed to do something to save himself from destruction. So in 2008, the millionaire decided to put gambling behind him, and took up a job as a miner. Initially, he did it just to keep away from the nasty habit, but soon he fell so much in love with the work that it became his full-time job. His wife and parents are quite supportive and help by operating the supermarkets while he is at work.” w/ photos

“Meow can’t help but waddle. He’s one super-sized cat. The 2-year-old orange and white tabby tips the scale at nearly 40 pounds, and the Santa Fe Animal Shelter is on a mission to get the feline back into shape. Meow’s 87-year-old owner could no longer take care of him, so the pet was turned over to a shelter in southeastern New Mexico that called the Santa Fe shelter for help. “The thing with this cat is when you look at it, certainly it’s obese. You see that. But it’s a sweet looking cat. His face is very sweet. It’s just incredibly fat,” shelter spokesman Ben Swan. Meow has been placed with a foster family. He’ll be on a special diet so he can start shedding some pounds. The goal is for him to lose at least 10 pounds so he can be put up for adoption.” w/ photos

“Mulai, as Jadav is known among locals, started work on the land in 1980. A scheme was launched at that time by the social forestry division of the district, involving the planting of trees on only 200 hectares. The project was completed after 5 years and all the laborers left, except Mulai. Dedicated to the forest, he stayed on and single-handedly looked after the trees, continuing to plant more of them. Eventually, the forest expanded to 550 hectares. According to Assistant Conservator of Forest, Gunin Saikia, this is perhaps the world’s biggest forest in the middle of a river. Mulai says there’s potential to extend this even further to 1000 hectares. Inspired, the department has planned to launch another plantation program this year.” w/ photos

“The largest structure made by 33-year-old Derek is Gypsy Junker – 24 square feet in size and 5ft 10 inches high. The smallest one is just 4ft tall. But then the interiors of these houses are so pretty that anyone would be interested to spend at least one night in them. Everyday junk is used in the building process, like the glass from the front of a washing machine that becomes a porthole-like window and a sheet of metal is used as a flipdown counter. Castoff storm windows, shipping pallets and discarded cabinets are used as well. Stained glass windows and the likes are used for that decorative touch. Some of the houses built by Derek are also portable, ranging from 4 to 24 square feet in size.” w/ photos

“Her only mission in life is to have ‘the most carrots in the world.” But it’s not just the tattoos, carrots flood almost every part of her life. Every item in the Californian woman’s house is modeled after the root vegetable. Fridge magnets, tea-pots, storage boxes, dressers, soft toys, they’re all themed after carrots. She even has carrot paper-towel-holders and carrot slippers. Her home has over 1,000 pieces of carrot memorabilia, and she spends five hours a day organizing them. And at night, she’d rather use carrots as curlers for her hair. The only music Zizi listens to is by Carrot Top, a punk metal musician. At concerts, she wears belts that strap about 600 carrots to her chest.” w/ photos