Robert Lewis, who has Down Syndrome, is the team manager for the basketball team of Franklin Road Academy in Nashville, Tennessee. In the final minutes of a game against the University School of Nashville, he stepped onto the court to play.
The Art Institute of Chicago is conducting an exhibit of Vincent Van Gogh paintings that depict bedrooms. They include The Bedroom, an 1899 painting of Van Gogh's own room in Arles, France.
To promote the event, the museum has created a nearly perfect replica of the room that Van Gogh rented--or how Van Gogh saw it in his mind and painted it on his canvas. You can rent it on Airbnb for $10.
What historical painting would you like to spend a day in if it was recreated like this?
On a side note, I learned something interesting about this painting while writing this post. It was owned by Japan, but ceded to France as a war reparation under the Treaty of San Francisco, which formally ended the Pacific War.
It’s sometimes called a Swedish torch. To make a cook stove, cut a log and stand it upright. Use a chainsaw to cut a cross pattern into the wood. Stuff kindling inside, then start the fire. The wood helps protect the embers from being blown out by the wind.
Once the fire is burning strongly, set a pan on top and fry up your favorite foods.
Everyone is a winner at this year’s Academy Awards! Every person who is nominated will walk away with a “swag bag” of goodies worth over $200,000. The party favors include a 15-day walking tour of Japan, a roll of luxury toilet paper worth $275, a year’s worth of Audi car rentals, and a vampire breast lift.
What’s a vampire breast lift? That’s when doctors extract blood from you, process it in a centrifuge, then inject it into your breasts to make them look plumper.
So even if Leonardo DiCaprio doesn't get an Oscar, but he does has a vampire breast lift going for him, which is nice.
Audrey Stone, 62, is legally blind. Figo, her Golden Retriever, is her guide dog. In June, they tried to cross a street. A bus almost rammed into them. Figo blocked her, then leaped at the bus in a desperate attempt to knock it out of the way. CBS New York reports:
As Stone lay injured on the ground, Brewster Police Chief John Del Gardo said despite having a severe leg injury, Figo would not leave Stone’s side.
Amazingly, Figo didn’t yelp in pain but calmly struggled to stay with Stone.
Stone avoided the full force of the impact and survived with only a broken elbow, ankle, and 3 ribs. Figo broke his right front leg. After Stone spent a few months in a rehabilitation home, they reunited in October.
Little Lane loves to dress up as Disney characters and meet her professional counterparts at Disney theme parks. In the past, we’ve seen her enchant Gaston, Tarzan, and Jack Skellington. More recently, dressed as Padmé Amidala and met her husband, Anakin Skywalker.
Vader has completely given himself over to the dark side of the Force. But there hides within him a twinkling of goodness. The actor in the Vader suit struggled to stay in character. But the dark side cannot prevail.
Witnesses in Australia have seen black kites and brown falcons carrying burning twigs to dry areas, then dropping them, spreading wildfires in the Australian bush.
Mr Gosford told the IFL Science website: 'Reptiles, frogs and insects rush out from the fire, and there are birds that wait in front, right at the foot of the fire, waiting to catch them.
'Small fires often attract so many birds that there is insufficient fleeing prey for all, so a bird that was being beaten to its food might benefit from starting a new fire with less competition.'
The researchers found numerous accounts from Aborigines, several firefighters as well as 14 Bush rangers who reported birds carrying burning sticks.
Scientists are a bit more skeptical:
Steve Debus, from the University of New England, an expert in predatory birds said he believed it would be difficult for researchers to distinguish between birds incidentally grasping burning twigs with prey and those deliberately picking them up.
'However, I think black kites and brown falcons are sufficiently intelligent to intentionally spread fires by dropping burning embers, because black kites have been seen to drop bread scraps from picnic areas into nearby waterholes to bait fish within striking range.' Dr Debus said.
The build platform of the 3d printer rests over a speaker. As music plays, it shakes the build in progress so that the imperfections in the laying of material match the sounds. You can see and feel the music in the finished ceramic pots.
What animal lays the Cadbury creme egg? I don't want to know. I am satisfied that it is a wonderful animal.
You can do anything with a Cadbury creme egg, including deep frying it, making a Scotch egg, a toad-in-a-hole, or eggs Benedict. It's Nature's perfect food, so I'm glad that Cadbury has chosen to open a restaurant in London that serves it in everything.
The ground floor is designed for those busy egg-ophiles who are short on time, and will serve Creme Egg toasties to go. Yes, you read right, that’s: Creme. Egg. Toasties. They’ll sell for just £2 a pop.
Up on the first floor there’ll be more of a restaurant vibe, with four Creme Egg dishes on offer to eat in. As well as the toasties, these will include: egg and soldiers, Creme Egg tray bake, and strawberries and creme (egg).
All dishes on the first floor will cost £4, which we'd say is well worth shelling out for the novelty alone. Tea, coffee and water will be available — no Creme Egg cocktails, alas.
On the second floor there will be an interactive ball pool — which, as far as we’re aware, won’t contain any actual Creme Eggs. It's a good opportunity for adults to splash around in a ball pool without scaring little kids and alarming their parents, though.
Nicholas Amiard adds unexpected touches to familiar sights. In the past, we've seen his Star Wars ships crashed into Earth. Most recently, touched up famous figures from European paintings with tattoos. Now the lady from Manet's Le Déjeuner sur l'Herbe attends her picnic graced with vividly rendered tattoos.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Salford, UK built the Mercy Bus--a vehicle capable of carrying the diocese's will across Britain's roads. After receiving an official blessing by Pope Francis during his visit to the UK, it's ready to roll out. It includes a built-in confession booth to offer the sacrament of reconciliation to those in need of it. Father Frankie Mulgrew (right), a priest and comedian, is taking it out on tour. The Irish Post reports:
A spokesperson for the Salford diocese said: “Father Frank presented images of the Mercy Bus to Pope Francis in Rome, much to the Holy Father’s interest and delight!”
Father Mulgrew said: “We were inspired by the Pope who, when he was as cardinal in Argentina, would celebrate open-air Masses in the poorest areas of his diocese.”
It's not entirely clear what other features the Mercy Bus contains or what it looks like after transforming into robot mode.
Amazon.com, a company which was founded as an online retailer, recently built its first brick-and-mortar store. The company sees a market for traditional in-person experiences. What if other online companies made similar choices? The Very Near Future makes proposals for Netflix, Dropbox, Spotify, and Imgur.
And what would we do at the world-famous Neatorama? The good news is that we have some institutional memory. Back in 1887, when Alex's great-great-grandfather founded Neatorama, we delivered cat .gifs by telegram. And except for that brief experiment with carrier pigeons in 1915, we kept that model running through 1953, when we made the switch to radio--a move that was far more successful than that costly 1978 foray into mail-order View-Master slides.
In short: we could do it. Should we is a different question.
Rani the goat from Karachi, Pakistan seems to defy gravity as he climbs up on one platform stacked upon another. When you think that he's done, his handler, Osman Ali, adds another. Now, let's see them trade places. That would be a great act.
(Photo: Cookie and his human by Nicole Bengiveno/New York Times)
In rapid succession, you’ve lost your job, incurred high medical expenses, and suffered a house fire. You’re out of money, but need food. So you head to the local food bank. That’s good for you, but what about your cat?
Now some food banks and animal care centers are offering food services to pets in need. They’re called pet pantries. Owners can go there to get cheap, healthy food until they can get back on their feed and support their pets themselves. The New York Times reports:
Cookie, a snow-white pit bull with light gray spots, knows the hand that feeds her. She has become a regular visitor at a new pet food pantry in the Bronx that sends free Costco-size bags of kibble home with owners who may not have enough money to feed themselves, let alone their animals.
Animal Care Centers of NYC, a nonprofit that runs the city’s animal shelters, opened this pet food pantry in December, and in the first month alone, the pantry gave out more than 2,000 pounds of food for 71 dogs and 50 cats.
Miss Insomnia Tulip of the internet-famous Lou Lou P’s Delights bakery makes amazing pastries that look like real objects, such as naked Burt Reynolds and naked David Hasselhoff. But she can do more than just show aging male celebrities undressed with cake. Her most recent project is a chocolate orange. She reveals hidden in its form an armadillo curled up to protect itself from your appetite.
_(9).jpg){kind=link}