Vincent Van Gogh's Starry Night is intoxicatingly beautiful--and now literally intoxicating. Rajendra Limbu, a bartender at the Artesian Lounge, a bar in the luxurious Langham hotel in Hong Kong, recreated it and other famous paintings in mixed drinks. They're painted on egg foam on the surface and accented by the base colors of the drinks themselves.
Blouin Art Info reports that they'll be on display at the Art Basel show in Hong Kong this weekend.
In the traditional version of the Easter story, Jabba the Hutt emerges from his tomb on Easter morning to give treats to boys and girls who have been good that year. And Jenn Fujikawa has the perfect breakfast treat for the occasion.
She shaped liquid marshmallow into Jabba's body as it cooled, then coated it with green sanding sugar. Then she added his face with brown and yellow icing. You can find her full recipe here.
-via Laughing Squid
(Photo: Badge of Heart)
On the left is Officer Kristina Tudor of the Los Angeles Police Department. She just ran a marathon. And, yes, she was dressed just like that. She weighs 115 pounds. Her full kit weighs 35 pounds. But she lugged it for the complete 26.2 miles. It took her 6 hours, 14 minutes, and 15 seconds.
Officer Tudor took up this staggering challenge in order to raise money for Badge of Heart, a charity that permits first responders to offer immediate financial assistance to people in need that they meet in the line of duty. In January, while she was training, Tudor explained to ABC 7 News:
"I think it's worthwhile to hopefully raise some attention and hopefully money for that organization," Tudor said.
Last year, Tudor competed in the same marathon for a different cause and wore her police uniform.
But this year, she hopes to raise $25,000 for Badge of Heart through a GoFundMe account.
"An officer comes across a needy family or crime victim, we want to be first responders for those officers. So we want those officers to have the ability to come to us and hopefully we can provide some assistance to those needy families and crime victims," LAPD officer Ken Lew with Badge of Heart explained.
-via Twisted Sifter
Deorick Williams got a text message with some great news: Lindsey Lashley's baby had been born!
But he had no idea who Lindsey was. He had been sent the text message by accident. Nonetheless, he continued the conversation . . .
(Photo: JvL)
If you're going to have a national criminal justice problem, this is a great outcome!
The Netherlands has 13,500 prison cells. Only a third of them are occupied and the government anticipates that crime will drop 0.9% per year for the next five years. So it's decided to shut down some unused prisons. The Telegraph reports:
“More than a third of cells are not used, and the predictions are that it is going to get worse,” said Jaap Oosterveer, a spokesman for the ministry of justice. “Obviously, from a social perspective, it is better because crime is down, but if you work in jails, it is not good news.”
This is not the first attempt at a solution to the problem. Another has been importing convicts from other countries:
The Netherlands has been innovative in trying to solve its jail problem. It has “leased” spots in jail to Belgium and Norway, so around 300 Belgian criminals have been held at His Dutch Majesty’s pleasure in Tilberg prison.
Meanwhile, the country signed a new three-year deal with Norway last September, with 240 Norwegian convicts taking up residence at Norgerhaven jail in the prison village of Veenhuizen in Drenthe.
Karl Hillesland, Dutch prisons' director, told the country's broadcaster RTV Drenthe last month that there is even a “small waiting list”, partly due to the success of promotional films shown in Norway.
Occy the dog and Biggie the duck met when they were just puppies/ducklings. Now they're inseparable friends at their home in Atlantic Beach, North Carolina. Frances Marsh, their human, told WITN 7 News two years ago that it's because Biggie is convinced that he's a dog himself:
Marsh says, "He definitely thinks he's a dog. He wont even eat duck food, he eats the dog's food and drinks out of the dog's bowl."
And now Biggie is just part of the family.
Marsh says, "I thought he would just join the other ducks behind the shop in the creek, but once he became part of the family, he became like a dog and didn't want to join the ducks and now he just lives with us and he's just part of our crew."
And she says, "Once they're worn out, you can come back here and Biggie will be sitting on top of Occy. They'll just be hanging out."
-via Gifsboom
There's another cat in the house!
And he's a handsome fella. Kinda weird, though. He scrunches his body up in odd ways. Still, it's worth examining him closely.
So he is a permanent resident, or just passing through? Because I've got dibs on the couch.
-via Laughing Squid
What's the context? Perhaps it's for the best that we don't know. These single comic narrative elements are perfect just by themselves.
Katharine Trendacosta of io9 asked her readers to submit the funniest comic book panels that they had ever seen. She compiled a list of the best, including the Hulk's toilet paper supply, Iron Man rejoicing in his money, and unintentional obscenities.
Some snooty know-it-all may correct you when you mention Frankenstein. "No, no--that's Frankenstein's monster. His creator is named Frankenstein. You should read the book instead of some lame horror movie."
That just shows you that he doesn't know what he's talking about. Chip Zdarsky, a comic artist, found the original manuscript to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. If you read to the very end, you'll see that the monster is also named Frankenstein.
-via Tor
(Unrelated photo by Lachlan Hardy)
These days, it can be really hard for young people to break into their careers. Many have to endure long, unpaid internships to get the necessary skills and contacts for a paid entry-level position.
But not the interns at the World of Beer. This restaurant chain based in Tampa, Florida is offering to pay its interns. There's just one catch: those 3 interns must travel around the world attending beer festivals and drinking beer.
So it's a task for only the hardy. UPI reports:
The interns, who would each be paid $12,000 in addition to their food, lodging and travel expenses, would be required to write about their beer-tasting adventures for the company's website.
"Whether you're a photographer or writer, social media maverick or beer blog surfer, we are looking for you. Adventure seekers and storytellers, beer experts or novices, brewery nerds and foodie fans all open to apply. So if you want to live, drink and tell the tale to the world, get ready to apply for the chance to share your experience as a Drink It Intern," World of Beer said on its website.
It's not just meat. It's art! Keiran Gormley is the meat department manager at the Uwajimaya grocery store in Seattle. He's the Michelangelo of the meat grinder. Gormley takes beef and pork and turns them into vivid sculptures that are almost too good to eat. Most recently, he sculpted Robin, Starfire, and Beast Boy from Teen Titans Go!
Tori of Gringalicious is ready for Easter breakfast. She's wrapped miniature Cadbury Creme Eggs in donut dough, deep fried them, then dusted them with sugar.
And because that doesn't go far enough, she also prepared chocolate and vanilla-flavored marshmallow fluff. It's a perfect dip for these donut holes, as well as pretty much anything else in the kitchen. You can find her full recipe here.
-via Tasteologie
(Photo: unknown)
Tattoo needles don't come with built-in spellcheckers, so sometimes some corrective work is necessary. In this case, the creative solution was to treat the original like an assignment handed in to an English teacher. He's a bit a sloppy with his coffee cup, but his command of spelling is perfect.
-via Geekologie
(Photo: Rocket News 24)
The shoplifter entered a Tesco supermarket in Burkit Mertajam, Malaysia. He was unemployed and his wife was comatose due to complications from childbirth. He was, in short, desperate.
He grabbed $6.68 worth of food and tried to slip out the door. But a manager caught him. Remarkably, the manager decided not to press charges. Instead, he offered the man a job. The Star reports:
The store’s general manager Radzuan Ma’asan, who interrogated the man, decided to take a different approach in dealing with the crime.
Warning him never to steal again, he offered the man a job at the store.
“The man’s situation really touched our hearts. We visited his relative’s house. It was so empty and poor,” he said yesterday.
Radzuan said his staff visited the man’s wife who is now out of coma. The baby however did not survive the birth complication.
Radzuan said the store had yet to decide what type of job to offer the man. “He was not a regular thief. When we questioned him, he immediately confessed, saying that he stole the fruits and drinks because his son was hungry.
“In my 23 years of experience in the retail line, I had never come across thieves who admitted their act so easily. Most would give all kinds of reasons. He also told us that he was unable to work as he has to look after his three children, aged two to seven.
“So, we decided not to lodge a police report as this was a genuine case of extreme poverty.
“For now, our priority is to ensure that he enrols his seven-year-old son in a school,” said Radzuan, who handed the man cash to cover his current expenses.
When I was 6 years old and grocery shopping with my mother, I saw a man slip a can of tuna into his pocket. I pointed him out to my mom and said that we should turn him in. "No, John. If he's stealing a can of tuna, then he really needs it." That was an important lesson.
-via Rocket News 24
(Image: Jasper Ruben)
Jasper Ruben did more than build an exercise wheel for his cats. That's fun for the cats, but fun does not equal data. And if it's not data, it doesn't exist.
So Ruben programmed a Raspberry Pi to track his cat's exercise performance. Hack A Day explains:
The wheel now features a Raspberry Pi which can track speed, calculate distance traveled, and determine the equivalent running speed of [Jasper’s] feline companions.
To calculate the speed of the wheel, [Jasper] is using a small coil sensor (similar to how bicycle speedometers work). Six nails in the wheel trigger the sensor. Once the data is on-board the Pi, some simple calculations allow [Jasper] to provide a few different metrics on how effective the cat exercise is. A webcam sends a live stream of the wheel online with a data overlay for your viewing pleasure.
