A red afterlife

Bosnia's Red Riding Hood imports granite from India to make tombstone in her favourite colour

A 67-year-old Bosnian woman has spent her life in red and plans to keep it that way—even after she dies. For four decades, Zorica Rebernik has been dressing in red from head to toe.

Rebernik is planning to make a red tombstone for husband Zoran too

Now, she has tombstones made for herself and husband Zoran—whom she married wearing a red gown—from a special red granite imported from India.

Rebernik at a birthday celebration

The retired schoolteacher lives in a red house, where she and Zoran eat from red plates, drink from red glasses and sleep in red bedding. Even her hair is dyed red. "When I turned 18 or 19 there came a sudden, strong urge to wear red," Rebernik told Reuters. "There must not be a single dot of any other colour on my home decorations or clothes."

Rebernik says that wearing shades like scarlet and vermillion gives her "the feeling of strength and power." Her obsession with the colour has made her a local celebrity in Breze, close to Tuzla in northern Bosnia.

"Everybody knows me. As soon as people see me, they offer me different red things," she said. She even goes to funerals dressed in red, ditching the traditional black. The only problem is that her husband does not notice when she wears something new. "I can't tell the difference. Everything is the same," he said.

Toddler's Up costume is melting hearts

A two-year-old with cerebral palsy is winning hearts on the Internet with his uplifting Halloween costume. For his first-ever trick-or-treating attire, toddler Brantley Morse of Ohio was dressed as Carl from the Pixar movie Up, complete with a bowtie and balloons. Brantley's mother said she wanted to incorporate his medical equipment in the costume—his walker resembles the cane Carl used in the movie—to tell the world that her son "is making the best out of his disability".

Sleepless in China

Woman unable to close her eyes even when she sleeps, after botched up cosmetic surgery

A chinese woman who spent 13,000 yuan (R1.3 lakh) on cosmetic double eyelid surgery is now unable to fully close her eyes, even when she sleeps. According to Oriental Daily, the woman, reportedly named Li, asked for the procedure in order to make her eyes seem larger.

She wasn't too happy with the results, and asked the clinic to perform another intervention. Doctors operated on her again, but the results were a disaster. As the second operation was carried out close to the first one, the scars from both stuck together, which made the patient unable to fully close her eyes. While the clinic offered to perform a third procedure, Li settled for a compensation of 30,000 yuan (Rs 3 lakh).

Briefs

2.5kg clothes to avoid baggage fee

An airline passenger went to extreme lengths to avoid paying fee for extra baggage. When Gel Rodriguez of Philippines was informed that her carry-on luggage exceeded the maximum weight of 7kg, she decided to wear about 2.5kg of clothes to lighten the load.

Restaurant serves toilet recycled water

A restaurant in Belgium, has started serving free drinking water recycled from its sinks and toilets. The water has no smell, taste or colour, so it's impossible to tell that it's source is actually the restaurant's toilets. The sewage water goes through a five-step purification system.

Lady living with 300 rats gets rid of them

A woman living in a van in San Diego with her 300 pet rats has agreed to give them all up. Authorities found that her rats had clawed into upholstery, burrowed into the seats and gnawed the engine wiring. The woman said that she had started with two, but they gave birth every four weeks and produced a dozen in a litter.

Over-thinking will kill you

If a new study is to be believed, the idle-minded will live longer than those who over-think. A report in the journal, Nature, reveals that too much brain activity as we age may lead to a shorter life span, contrary to the widely held belief that staying mentally active into old age helps keep the brain spry.

Ranthambore tigers fight over love of their life

A video going viral has captured two tigers embroiled in a furious fight. The video, shared by Indian Forest Service officer Parveen Kaswan, features tiger T57 and T58 of Rajasthan's Ranthambore National Park. Kaswan said that the tigers were fighting over tigress T39 or Noor.

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