How much is shoe much?

Doogie Lish Sandtiger, also known as the ‘Crocs King’, has 2,131 pairs of Crocs, which he has been collecting for over 15 years now. Pics/Instagram

Connecticut resident Doogie Lish Sandtiger, 32, has a strange obsession - collecting Crocs. The self-proclaimed ‘Croc King' has collected the iconic rubber shoes since he was 16 years old, spending thousands of dollars to amass 2,131 pairs of Crocs. "There's so many things I could say about them - they're so stylish, they're fun, they're comfortable and to me, it's always like each pair is an empty canvas," he told media. According to Sandtiger, "Each [pair] has its own personality [and] individuality".He now hopes to impress the folks at Guinness World Records with his assemblage.

Growing up in foster care, Sandtiger never learned how to tie his shoes, so even though he first thought that Crocs "were really ugly and silly," he was enticed by the slip-on ease of the footwear. "By the time I was in high school, it's kind of embarrassing to ask, ‘Hey, do you want to teach me how to tie my shoes?' So that's where Crocs came into the picture," he said. Sandtiger was also a shy, quiet kid, but credits the wild and funky shoes with helping him to embrace the more outgoing parts of his personality. "It's weird to say that a pair of footwear or clogs gave me confidence but it kind of did," he confessed. "It helped me break out of my shell."

Sandtiger wears several pairs a day to make use of most, but some of the Crocs are too novel to wear; instead, he uses them as decor around his house. Some of these are rare pieces that are meant to be displayed and not worn, like the fried chicken-scented KFC Crocs and the limited edition Peanuts Crocs. Utilising his large collection and Croc knowledge, Sandtiger hopes to open a "Crocseum" one day to display not only the history of the famed footwear, but also part of his acquisitions and some Crocs swag.

Boozy bow wow

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Dr Pratik Desai, a Silicon Valley computer scientist, said that a human being's "consciousness" could be uploaded on digital devices by the end of the year. Videos, voice recordings, and photos of the person will be used to create a digital avatar. This means that you could have a conversation with them onscreen, even after they die.

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This smells sweaty

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