Leilah Poulain's mom isn't super-handy with Facebook. In an attempt to showcase her daughter's painting of a penguin (above), she mistakenly uploaded the file to a public folder meant for entrants to a contest. The winner of that contest would have their artwork showcased in the Saatchi Gallery, a world-famous contemporary art gallery.

‘A year later I’d forgotten about it, and then I got an email saying Leilah was a Saatchi winner,’ said Rebekah.

I called them and said, “Thank you, but I don’t know what you’re on about”.

Apparently there were 1,700 applicants – but Leilah wasn’t actually one of them. Not on purpose.

‘It was quite funny really. I told my brother, who’s a graphic designer, and he couldn’t believe it. He said he’d love to exhibit at the Saatchi Gallery.’

Yesterday, Leilah’s painting was hanging on the wall of a gallery which features work from the likes of Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin.

Rebekah added: ‘It seems it all happened because I’m such an idiot. I didn’t know what I was doing when I uploaded Leilah’s picture.

‘When I told her the picture was going to be in a gallery, she thought it was brilliant.

‘Leilah said, “Does this mean I’m a famous artist?”. She wants to go to see it in London now.’

Link | Image credit: SWNS

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Sigh. Why are people so weird? This woman got a massive tattoo of 152 of her nearest and dearest Facebook BFFs' faces tattooed on her arm. As in, permanently etched onto her body. I hope none of these people are fair-weather friends; how does one unfollow a face inked into their skin?

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This model of San Francisco was built using nothing more than toothpicks and Elmer's glue. Scott Weaver used over 100,000 toothpicks and spent around 3000 hours over 34 years building the piece, which includes lots of famous landmarks and a few surprises. For a video and more details, read more at Geeks Are Sexy. Link

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This morning, a massive solar flare was caught live by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory. Though the flare is quite large (a M2.5, or medium-sized flare, in terms of energy), it isn't expected to alter the weather here on Earth.

"I've never seen material released like this before, such a huge amount that falls back down in such a spectacular way," says Goddard Spaceflight Center's Dr. C. Alex Young. "It looks like someone just kicked a giant clod of dirt into the air and it fell back down."

For a video with close-up footage of the flare, check out the post at PopSci. http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2011-06/video-mornings-massive-solar-explosion

I recently read an NPR piece about the book Annoying: The Science of What Bugs Us, in which researchers determined that the most universally annoying thing ever is listening to someone talk on a phone. When I came across this reprint on The Atlantic from Mark Twain in 1880, I realized that this has been the situation since the advent of telephonic communication.

What does your state do best? What are you collectively worst at? Apparently we Oklahomans have the best license plate but the most female criminals; if this were still a time in which inmates stamped plates during their incarceration, I'd say it was obvious. As it stands, I think the rest of you states are just really slacking in the cool license plate department.

From environmental achievements to singular distinctions of badness, Big Think has more. Link

I'd expect to see the image above if I were watching, say, Transformers 4, and I would remark on its unrealistic quality. Red skies with burning lightning and a massive volcanic plume? Please. But the scene near Puyehue volcano in southern Chile played out exactly like this Monday afternoon; 3500 residents were evacuated following earthquakes and falling ash earlier in the week.

Link | Image credit: AP Photo/Francisco Negroni, AgenciaUno

That dashing lady above is Martyn Crute, a UK Oil and Gas Ltd. director who was charged with trading for 15 months without being registered to gas safety body Corgi. In a massive fail at attempting to leave court unnoticed by photographers, Crute dressed as a woman, disguised in a long, curly wig and heels. The effect was less than impressive--within seconds of leaving Lincoln Crown Court, waiting cameramen spotted him.

Link | Image: Caters

If you're not really into camping but would like the experience of staying in a caravan for a few days, you might consider a stay at the Hütten Palast in Berlin. The Huts at the Palace is a luxury hotel, the first to replace suites with indoor caravans.

Based in a converted vacuum cleaner factory, the hotel is the brainchild of Silke Lorenzen and Sarah Vollmer.

Ms Lorenzen said: ‘We wanted to preserve the integrity of the building but at the same time create a  communal atmosphere for guests.

‘Where people actually meet each other and not only get a key at  reception and disappear in their rooms forever.

‘We thought about a room-in-room concept and decided to build  little wooden cabins in the hall.

‘But we wanted more flexibility  inside the place so it could be used for events of all kind as well so decided to put wheels under the cabins.

‘It was then we realised there are already cabins with wheels – caravans.’

Link | Image: Caters

No trip to the zoo is complete without a souvenir, but Prague Zoo is giving its patrons a bit more variety than most. The gift shop now features 1-kilo tubs of elephant dung; initially, the product was only available on weekends, but because of its brisk sales, is now for purchase all week long.

It's the latest fad among Czech gardeners who are buying out the manure pails to use as fertilizer. The brain behind the project is zoo director Miroslav Bobek, whose surname literally means dung.

The one-kilo tub of elephant poop goes for about $3.90. The zoo sells 200 or more each week.

Link | Image: Tomáš Adamec

If you've always wanted to step inside a painting--or better yet, have on leap out at you--then you'll enjoy the highlighted pieces in a recent 4D art show held in China. Visitors to the exhibit had lots of fun taking pictures of themselves interacting with the artwork.

The collection of paintings, on display at a contemporary art exhibition in the Jilin province, uses techniques similar to the 'stand-up' advertising hoardings that are sometimes painted on the edges of sports pitches.

With cunning use of shadow they trick the eye into believing that the images are leaping off the canvas, that arrows are firing towards the viewers gaze from the bows of cherubs, or that Pinocchio's nose is protruding wildly from the frame.


The pieces are a huge hit with spectators who have already shown a talent for interacting with the works to become part of the art themselves.

See more of the cool 4D artwork in the Daily Mail gallery. Link

Image credit: STR/AFP/Getty Images

When regular old earbuds won't do, there are options. Headphones with antlers, for instance, or maybe a crazy steampunked earpiece. There's a zippered pair that have me impressed with their simplicity and the obvious benefit of a clean, untangled set of cords. Check out the rest of these designs on Crescent Electronics. http://www.crescentelectronics.co.uk/blog/worlds-most-unique-headphones/

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A macaroni penguin chick is being trained to recognize a black rubber glove as its mother. The egg was abandoned after one of the parents became ill; because it takes two to incubate a penguin egg, it was left unattended until keepers at Living Coasts in Torquay, Devon, decided to raise it themselves. So, naturally, they fashioned a mother penguin out of a glove, some red paint and yellow cord.

In order to hand rear the chick, keepers are wearing a home-made penguin glove puppet during its feeds to stop it from becoming used to humans.

The puppet is made from a black rubber industrial glove decorated with red eyes and yellow plumes to mimic an adult macaroni penguin.

Exhibit manager Clare Rugg said: ''This way contact is kept to a minimum - yes, the chick will hear and see keepers, but it will also see the glove which has the shape and colour of an adult penguin.''

Senior keeper Lois Rowell said: ''We don't mind the chick becoming familiar with us so long as it knows it's a macaroni penguin and recognises what one looks like, hence the glove.''

The chick is fed through a syringe by a handler wearing the glove, and a recording of macaroni penguins plays to familiarize the chick with others in its group.

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Twenty-one rows of 21 drops of water are dispensed through an automated pipette onto a specially-textured omniphobic material to create a grid of tiny water spheres. When the water evaporates, the process begins again. Designed by Pe Lang, "Positioning Systems I - Falling Objects" is on display at Galerie Mario Mazzoli in Berlin.

Link via Reddit

(Watch on YouTube)

The best way to make something more awesome is to add fire, I think. The flame reaches 21 feet and the trombone--which still plays--can be heard from two blocks away. The only thing that could have made this video better is a little bit of "Smoke on the Water". And more cowbell.

Link via Gizmodo