Transgender model and musician Jessica Cortez reacts as she is prepared before walking in the CHULO underwear show during New York Fashion Week, which raised money for transgender and cisgender young women victims of violence, in New York, U.S., February 7, 2019. (Photo by Andrew Kelly/Reuters)

While many of us would pay good money for a spa mud bath, these fortunate hippos in South Luangwa National Park, Zambia, have nature to thank as they take a plunge in a lagoon in the second decade of February 2024. (Photo by Dimitar Nedelchev/Solent News)

Though finger painting is normally associated with tempera paint and messy classroom art projects, Iris Scott is quickly changing what "finger painting" brings to mind. Wearing surgical gloves and painting with high grade oils, Iris achieves a whirlwind of crisscrossing color strokes and a vibrant impressionistic style. Since 2009, when Iris first began finger painting in Taiwan, her artistic career has caught her by surprise. Grateful for a new global market of online art collectors, Iris has shipped to Dubai, Ireland, and all over the USA.

With more than 40,000 followers on Twitter and 26,400 fans on Vine, it looks like Marutaro the hedgehog from Japan is one of the most popular hedgehogs on the Internet. And as his owner keeps on posting Marutaro’s pictures online daily, Marutaro’s popularity continues to grow. There are hundreds of cute photographs and videos of this little fellow, but the ones with little paper cut-out faces are probably the cutest. As Marutaro lies on his back, his owner gives him a variety of silly expressions and smiles. The 20 best of them will definitely boost your mood!

“The popularity of the Internet in China has driven the explosive growth of profitable Web companies and made fortunes for some Chinese entrepreneurs despite government controls on what the public can see online. The number of mainland Internet users rose to 513 million in December, up 12 percent from a year earlier, the government-sanctioned China Internet Network Information Center said”. – AP Business Writer

Photo: Shi Yongxin, abbot of the Shaolin Temple, works on the computer April 8, 2005 in Dengfeng, Henan Province, China. (Photo by Cancan Chu/Getty Images)

A Hindu woman gives money to an elephant outside the Lord Jagannath temple ahead of the annual Rath Yatra, or chariot procession, in Ahmedabad, India, July 16, 2015. The annual religious procession commemorates a journey by Hindu god Jagannath, his brother Balabhadra and sister Subhadra, in specially made chariots. The annual Rath Yatra is celebrated on July 18. (Photo by Amit Dave/Reuters)

Chad Rowley and his wife Susan race during the 22nd North American Wife Carrying Championship at Sunday River Resort in Newry, Maine, on October 9, 2021. Couples compete on a 278-yard (254-meter) obstacle course for a prize of wife's weight in beer and five times her weight in money. Winners are invited to the world championship in Finland where the sport originated. (Photo by Joseph Prezioso/AFP Photo)

Clowns Perlita and Tapetito, wearing protective gear amid the new coronavirus pandemic, speak with resident Enrique Zeballos as they arrive to disinfect his home free of charge, in El Alto, Bolivia, Friday, September 11, 2020. The lack of traditional employment for the clowns due to the pandemic has led them towards other avenues of making money. But for people with limited income they provide their disinfection services free of charge. (Photo by Juan Karita/AP Photo)