Results tagged “unusual” from The official blog of Vat19.com

By just looking at the photo above, you're probably wondering what the heck that is. You might be thinking it is something made out of wood. Wrong! It's a really awesome floor mat made out of vintage leather belts. Very cool and very unique. And at $688.00 it's also very expensive.

Each one is made-to-order and is one-of-a-kind. Assuming desk chairs could roll easily on it, this would be really neat for an office. Heck, it'd be neat anywhere you use it!

High heels sure have come a long way from when they were worn simply to prevent a horse rider's foot from slipping through the stirrups. Yep, high heels (shoes with raised heels...not stilettos) date all the way back to the 1500s. Eventually, shoes with high heels and pointed toes became a status symbol and more about fashion than practicality.

Clearly, these high heels are not exactly practical. Some are ridiculous, some are weird, some are absurd. All of them are unique.

Figurine High Heels

While these Christian Dior high heels don't look terribly uncomfortable, a figurine as the heel is pretty weird. It's unique, but I think it leans towards weird unique instead of cool unique. Too artsy.

Lamborghini High Heels

These Lamborghini high heels are just a concept product. The design by Tim Cooper is pretty neat, but I can't see anyone actually wearing these unless you are a model working a Lamborghini event. They remind me of those beds for little kids that are shaped like race cars. Except those beds weren't made of carbon fiber!

Brass Knuckle High Heels

I'm not sure who these crazy high heels were made for. A stripper that is about to beat the hell out of you? The metal plating on the outside is probably appealing to truckers.

While most of us are thrilled with a simple pillow-top mattress or memory foam slab on a basic frame, there are always those who feel the need to be a little different. Below, we've found a variety of unusual beds for those who crave a unique sleeping experience.

The Private Cloud Bed: Without the stabilizers, this would definitely make an interesting sleeping experience.

The Feel Sofa / Bed: This unusual bed looks like it has the potential to be extremely comfortable.

The Atman Spiritual Bed: If I were another bed, I would definitely not be attracted to this bed. The loud and garish colors make me wonder why anyone considers this a "spiritual" place of rest.

Just as we humans have freaks in our ranks, the plant kingdom has plenty of plants that are incredibly strange. Below, we've profiled a few of our favorites:

1. Wolffia plants, aka watermeal - These tiny flowers look like floating specks, but they're actually the tiniest flowering plants in the world. They'd make adorable bouquets and corsages for little ants and bees.

2. Welwitschia mirabilis, a plant whose nicknames sound just as foreign as its scientific name (and thus, are not listed here) - The welwitschia is an incredibly strange desert plant that can live for hundreds and possibly even thousands of years. Each one has two leaves, a stem, and roots. That's it. As they get old, they just get more and more tattered.

3. Makahiya, the bashful mimosa - These mimosas are much like all the other mimosas, with one key difference. They fold up their leaves when you touch them.

4. Amorphophallus Bulbifer - These strange plants get their name from the greek amorphos, "without form, misshapen" and phallos, "penis". It's also said to smell like dirty socks.

5. Solanum Mammosum, aka "Cow's Udder Fruit" - Just because people refer to them as fruit, that doesn't mean you should eat them. They're poisonous.

Ask any two people what constitutes tacky behavior and you'll likely get very different answers. For some, tacky means excessive lawn ornaments, a dozen cats, and farm animal-themed toaster cozies. For others, it's driving a car with bumper stickers or letting your bra straps peek out from underneath a tank top. And then there are those types who think you're tacky if you wear white after Labor Day or butcher the pronunciation of "foie gras" in a restaurant.

Regardless of your standards, I think most of us will agree on the tackiness of the candidates below.

10. Richard Simmons - I think he's awesome, but look at the man - the shiny (waxed?) legs, the hot pants, the spirit fingers?? That's enough to earn the #10 spot on the list.

9. Bret Michaels - As the lead vocalist of Poison and star of the reality show "Rock of Love", there's no denying that this guy is exactly what fathers fear most when raising daughters.

I have seen my fair share of crazy piercings and strategically placed tattoos, but this is a whole new level of body modification. The Eyeball Piercing.

Nearly everyone has encountered at least one cloud that looked like something entirely different. Bears, kittens, and bunnies are common, but what about the less conventional clouds...

Toilet Cloud: This cloud looks exactly like a toilet as seen mid-flush. The real question, then, is whether or not the clouds flush in the same direction in both the northern and southern hemispheres.

The Van Halen Cloud: The photographer, Dave Coustick, says it's an eagle, but I'm seeing Van Halen.

Spartan Cloud - In this case, the photographer (Flaminia Grubacki) saw this cloud as a person running away from something. Why not running to something? I don't know. Maybe she's just a glass-half-empty kind of woman. Either way, I thought it looked like a Spartan warrior.

Macedonian Architectural Mosaic Cloud - Credit for the original cloud picture goes to Bruce Burkman. I'll agree that they look like waves, but instead of looking like real waves, they actually look more like the wave portrayals of ancient mosaics in places like Pella and Pompeii.

Jabba the Cloud - This cloud picture by Allison Summey looks an awful lot like an angry Jabba the Hutt.

The Star Trek Cloud - Some people may say this cloud looks like a boomerang, but those people just haven't spent enough time watching Star Trek re-runs. It's very clear that this cloud is a Starfleet emblem.

And because a post on clouds just wouldn't be complete without it, here's Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides Now".

Some people find a pregnant woman to be one of the most beautiful sights. It is no surprise that there are lots of options for women to preserve memories of their pregnancy. Just a few ways that a woman can remember her pregnancy include photos with artistic flair and intriguing lighting, belly casts, journals, and belly paintings.

Yes, your pregnant belly can serve as a canvas. It might sound weird, but it's definitely unique and would make for some pretty neat photos. Hang one of these up in your hallway, and it'll get your guests talking.

While humans certainly have some odd courtship and mating behaviors, that's a much larger topic than I care to tackle. Animals, on the other hand, are a lot easier to figure out Below, I've highlighted some of the more entertaining courtship behaviors from the animal kingdom.

Bowerbirds - Male Bowerbirds in New Zealand and Australia spend the majority of their time building impressive abodes for the purpose of attracting as many lady friends as possible. Below, you can see how one male bowerbird has created a place worthy of an HGTV special. He's assembled moss, berries, and even snail shells to create this earthy little love shack.

Seahorses - Seahorses get things started in the same way that a lot of humans do - by dancing. The pair will wrap their tails together, swimming and dancing for as long as 8 hours until the female deposits her eggs into the male's pouch. From there, the male seahorse will complete the process, carrying as many as 2000 baby seahorses until their birth. 10 to 25 days later.

Pond Turtles - Some male pond turtles flaunt their "fingernails" in hopes of attracting a female. If the lady isn't taking notice, he'll swim in front of her and wave his nails in her face. Imagine if human men did that...

It's also interesting to note that female Spotted Pond Turtles are able to save the male's sperm for up to 5 years and use it later to lay eggs. That sounds like a paternity suit waiting to happen.

Prairie Voles - Male prairie voles are, without a doubt, great husband material (assuming you're a vole, anyway). When the male vole finds a hot, single female vole, he hangs around for a few days until the female is ready to proceed. Once they have mated, they are nearly always monogamous until one partner dies. Researchers who set traps in the wild to catch prairie voles frequently find pairs in the same trap, due to the fact that they spend so much time together.

Elephant Seals - If the male elephant seal could talk, he'd probably say something like, "Dem's mah hoes!" while referencing a small herd of lady seals. Some of these prolific lovers claim seal harems of as many as 50 females, and they defend their territory viciously.

When approached by a male on his territory, he barks out the seal equivalent of, "I'll cut you, fool," and proceeds to launch into a fierce and bloody battle for the ladies in question.

If you're a reptile fan, you probably know that it's not all that uncommon for animals like lizards, snakes, and tortoises to be kept in a refrigerator for hibernation purposes. The cool, consistent temperature is perfect for a nice long nap.

What is a little unusual, though, is the British woman who keeps 75 tortoises in her refrigerators, right alongside her wine and bell peppers. Shirley Neely has tiny tortoises in biscuit tins, big tortoises that line the inner shelves in their makeshift towel sleeping bags, and a few mid-sized strays that line the door.

Although she has removed their bedding for photos, the picture below gives you a pretty good idea of what her guests see when they reach for a drink. You can read the full story over at the UK's Daily Mail.

Also, just a note for those of you who may want a few fridge tortoises of your own - there are a number of safety precautions that you must take to ensure the animal's safety. Check out this article on refrigerated tortoise hibernation for more details.

In the course of your own banking experiences, you've probably noticed a variety of promotions and activities designed to earn your business. Some banks offers candy to kids, some hold generous customer appreciation days, a few have saltwater fish tanks in the lobby, and still others give you free money if you sign up for a checking account.

Until recently, though, I had never seen otters used as a promotional tactic. The Union Federal Bank in Kewanee, Illinois has done exactly that, though, and we applaud their creativity. Now, before the animal activists go crazy, rest assured that the otters are housed in a safe and humane habitat (much safer than the wild, I might add). Oscar and Andy the otters enjoy a climate-controlled two-story home with waterfalls, slides, and even a solarium.

So, if you ever find yourself driving through Kewanee, Illinois, check it out. You'll find it at 104 North Tremont Street, right in the heart of the downtown.

Nearly everyone has, at some point, considered the possibility that their body is the way it is because of powers beyond their control. Too thin, too fat, too underdeveloped, too short, too tall...if we can't seem to change it, we tend to assume that there's something else at work.

In the case of muscle development, that something is myostatin. In normal people, it inhibits excessive muscle growth. If you have too little...you get people and animals like you see below. These images come from this fascinating post over on Who-Sucks.com.

You know the old saying – “If you want to find a prince, you have to kiss a lot of frogs.” The same holds true for products. In order to find plenty of curiously awesome products to bring to our customers, we look at hundreds of potential items every week. Most of them are pretty boring – candles, country kitchen oven mitts, mystical oils with labels that talk about chakras – and then there are companies like Likkit.

Likkit makes the most disgusting product we’ve seen in a long time – a line of tongue necklaces. Unless you work in a very liberal atmosphere, their site probably isn’t safe for work.

According to Likkit’s page, they’ve been in the tongue business for 35 years now. Even Salvador Dali has gotten in on the tongue action, wearing one of their bear tongue necklaces to a premiere event back in the 70s. Tongues range in price from around $50 for the “Lady in Waiting Mini Likk” to almost $250 for their beefy giant “Big Snarl”. We’re sure it’s a great product for someone, but that someone isn’t us.