Oddity Central

Oddity Central

Prepare to Be Owned as Japanese Man Auctions Off Planet Earth

Posted: 02 Nov 2012 04:24 AM PDT


We see crazy and bizarre items auctioned off on sites like eBay or Yahoo Auctions, every day, but this is the first time someone actually thought about selling our planet. The starting price was a measly ¥69 ($0.86), but since the auction went viral, the price has surged to ¥9,889,899,888 ($123,000,000). I still think it’s a bargain.

I know, this might seem like a joke to you, but it’s apparently no laughing matter to the seller. In the product description, it’s mentioned the Earth was bestowed upon the seller by God, who appeared to him in a dream. And since these are tough times, he decided to sell it to the highest bidder and improve his financial status. He lists our planet as “authentic” and warns bidders there is a “no return” policy on the item. So if you end up placing a bid and wind up owning the Earth and its inhabitants, you’re kind of stuck with us. You might feel tempted to post a prank bid on this, but the seller instructs all potential buyers to include a message expressing there serious intention to buy planet Earth, otherwise he will consider it a prank bid. And if there are too many prank bids he threatens to close the auction and start over at ¥69. In fact, he already did that once already, so please, be careful.

Here is part of the Q & A section on the auction for The Earth, on Yahoo Auctions, courtesy of RocketNews24:

Q: "I love cigars. Is it possible to sell off just Cuba as a special package item?"
A: "Thank you for your question! After placing the winning bid, I think Havana can be moved to Saitama, Japan. Thank you for your interest."

Q: "Is it possible to ship this via Altair? Thank you for your time."
A: "Thank you for your question! Because it would take 17 light years just for the bank transaction to complete, I think you should forget shipping. Thank you for your interest."

Q: "I'm curious why there's no photo of the item's backside. Are there any countries recklessly wasting resources or waging wars that we should know about?"
A: "Thank you for your question! Unfortunately there are many countries doing that.  God is also quite upset about it. After a successful bid, I think I can talk to someone about crushing those countries like worms. Thank you for your interest."

Q: "Hello.  This is a really interesting item! If I buy the Earth will I become a god?
A: Thank you for your question! This item can't make you a god. Are you alright in the head? Thank you for your interest."

Two years ago, we had a Spanish woman who claimed she owned the Sun and wanted to collect taxes on it, so I see no reason why this man can’t do the same with our planet. Still, with a possible apocalypse just around the corner, according to the Mayan calendar, is such an investment really worth it? You’d be better off investing in an Armageddon-proof survival pod. Just in case you’re interested, you have until Nobember 6 to place a bid.

Prepare to Be Owned as Japanese Man Auctions Off Planet Earth was originally posted at OddityCentral.com

Conrad Engelhardt’s Stained Wine Cork Paintings

Posted: 02 Nov 2012 03:34 AM PDT


London-based artist F. Conrad Engelhrdt has set up an ingenious recycling scheme by collecting discarded wine corks from various restaurants around the English capital and using them to create unique paintings.

This isn’t the first time wine and corks have been used as art mediums. In the past we’ve featured artists who paint with wine, and other who turn simple corks into miniature masterpieces. F. Conrad Engelhardt uses both of them to create his wonderful paintings. He has partnered with a series of restaurants in Shoreditch, London, to collect their discarded wine corks and recycle them into beautiful pictures. Looking at his works, you’d be tempted to think Engelhardt uses paints to achieve certain color tones, but in reality he uses only the different shades of the corks and the wine stains on them. The secret lies in choosing the perfect corks and arranging them in the best possible way.

Here’s what Conrad says about his art on the Cork by Cork website:

My background in chemistry has always given me a deep appreciation for the complexity of wine – the interactions of hundreds of individual chemical compounds. Together with diverse colors and aromas, these components in wine work together to achieve a unique and characteristic taste sensation.With regards to art I wanted to find a medium of expression which incorporated a natural media.  Wine corks seemed a perfect blend of the two worlds. The wine cork, typically discarded after a bottle is opened, through this art is instead given a second lease on life and recycled for the viewer’s enjoyment. Wine corks offer a unique media that capture the essence of their parent wines and as they are natural materials they also mirror nature’s imperfections.  I have been inspired by the Impressionist Movement.  Transferring their techniques to nudes and other images and doing so with a color palate that is limited and defined by the chemical interactions between the cork bark and the base wines has proven exciting.  The magical allure is that up close the image is merely suggestive, but as the observer backs away the artwork takes advantage of the human eye’s narrow focal point and the corks begin to blend together until the moment when the image appears sharp and unmistakable.

 

 

Thanks for getting in touch, Conrad!

Conrad Engelhardt’s Stained Wine Cork Paintings was originally posted at OddityCentral.com

Professional Mattress Jumper Is an Actual Job

Posted: 02 Nov 2012 02:31 AM PDT


You probably thought those high-end mattresses people pay thousands of dollars for are hand-made. As it turns out, they’re also foot made, as someone is actually getting paid to jump on them hundreds of times in order to compress no fewer than 28 layers of cotton batting.

Growing up, you probably dreamed you would one day find a job that would require nothing else than jumping on beds. Well, it turns out such a job actually exists, only those doing it insist it’s not child’s play. “It’s work,” professional mattress jumper Reuben Reynoso says. ”It’s not for everybody. There is a right way and a wrong way to do it.” It’s not about achieving a great height or doing back flips and somersaults, but using his soles to compress the mattress layers and detecting any pea-size lumps in the filling. To do that, Reynolds uses a very precise, grid jumping pattern, making sure he covers the entire surface. ”This is not a game,” he says. ”Not to me.” And I’m inclined to believe him. After all, we’re talking about $2,700 mattresses, here, not trampolines.

Siana Hristova, The Chronicle

Working at the McRoskey mattress factory on San Francisco’s Potrero Hill, Reuben Reynoso  starts his job by placing a thick protective mat goes over the mattress, to prevent the scent of his feet from being absorbed into the fabric. Then he steps onto the middle of one edge and jumps five steps forward and five steps back. He has set up a jumping pattern that allows hims to cover the entire mattress and at the same time make sure he doesn’t jump on it too much. Moderation is key in a job like this, as too many jumps will either puncture the mattress or make it too compressed, while too few will cause it not to fit in the giant stitching machine for the final sewing. So although he enjoys his job more than anything he’s been involved in the past, Reuben tries not to go overboard with the jumping. Because the jumper has to be careful and thorough with his jumps, he can only prepare three mattresses per day.

 

It might seem like a job fit for an energetic child, but Reuben Reynoso says it suits him just fine. “It just feels good to make one of these,” he said. “Sleep is so important. Everybody in the world has to do it. I like being a part of that.”

Source: San Francisco Chronicle

Professional Mattress Jumper Is an Actual Job was originally posted at OddityCentral.com

Comments system

Disqus Shortname