Forbes magazine has a slideshow of the 15 most expensive whiskeys in the world. Coming in at #3 is a batch of 50 year old Chivas Royal Salute, which costs about $10,000 a bottle.

Released in 2003 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II's coronation, its lead malt is the superb Strathisla, which accounts for the exceptionally rich and creamy character. Only 255 bottles of the Scottish whisky were released worldwide, which helps account for the high price.

Link via Ace of Spades HQ | Photo: Forbes

Previously on Neatorama: World's Largest Bottle of Whiskey

It didn't occur to Tasha Lee Cantrell of Florida that she shouldn't drink a beer while a police officer drove her home from her friend's DUI arrest:

The 19-year-old Floridian was riding in a car early Monday morning when the vehicle's driver was pulled over and arrested for DUI. As a tow truck arrived to remove her friend's car, a stranded Cantrell asked Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office Deputy Mitchell Landis for a ride home to her Fort Walton Beach residence. Landis agreed, but only after checking Cantrell's purse for any contraband, according to an offense report. While chauffeuring Cantrell, Landis heard the teenager "open a can of some sort" in the back of the cruiser. "As I looked at my in car video I observed Cantrell drinking out of an unknown can." Landis stopped his car and, upon further investigation, determined that Cantrell had popped open a can of Steel Reserve, a malt liquor known for its high alcohol content.

Link via reddit | Photo: The Smoking Gun

This clock concept by Russian art collective Art Lebedev shoots a laser at sixty rotating mirrors to tell the time. Other clocks by this group that we've featured at Neatorama include the Verbarius Clock and the TaskWatch.

Link via technabob | Photo: Art Lebedev

Hulk late for work again! Zany Pickle presents an assortment of color book pages that have been altered with a dark sense of humor.

Link via Popped Culture

Previously on Neatorama:
Incredible Hulk Case Mod
Hulk's Blog

Workers at the Carlsberg brewery in Denmark are on strike after management handed down new rules about drinking on the job. Now, employees are allowed to drink beer only while at lunch:

The strike in Denmark followed the company's April 1 decision to introduce new rules for employees on beer drinking at work, said Jens Bekke, spokesman at the world no.4 brewer.

"There has been free beer, water and soft drinks everywhere," he said. "Yesterday, beers were removed from all refrigerators. The only place you can get a beer in future is in the canteen, at lunch."

Bekke said drivers retained an old right to three beers per day outside lunch hours, and warehouse workers claimed the same right.

"Because of that, the warehouse staff went on strike yesterday, with other staff striking in sympathy," he said.

Link | Previously on Neatorama: Carlsberg Beer and Mentos | Photo: US Department of State

The US Navy and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory are developing a engine that can efficiently generate energy from heat in the water. This engine could propel a ship indefinitely:

SOLO-TREC is outfitted with a series of tubes full of waxy phase-change materials. As the float encounters warm temperatures near the ocean's surface, the materials expand; when it dives and the waters grow cooler, the materials contract. The expansion and contraction pressurizes oil, which drives a hydraulic motor. The motor generates electricity and recharges the batteries, which power a pump. The pump can change the float's buoyancy, allowing it to move up and down the water column.

"In theory what you have now is unlimited endurance for something that has this type of engine," said Thomas Swean Jr., team leader for ocean engineering and marine systems at the Office of Naval Research, which funded the project. "Other things can break, but as far as the energy source, it will only stop working if the ocean ran out of energy, which is unlikely to happen ... One of the Navy's goals is to have a persistent presence in the world's oceans. This is the type of technology that leads you to that."

http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2010-04/submarine-runs-eternally-thermal-power-ocean-currents | Photo: NASA/JPL/U.S. Navy/Scripps Institution of Oceanography

(YouTube Link)

Some American colleges and universities now allow prospective students to submit videos instead of or in addition to written essays. The above video is one that Amelia Downs sent with her application to Tufts University. In it, she demonstrates dances that she invented that reflect mathematical functions. The New York Times wrote about this trend:

Even without prompting, admissions officials say, a growing number of students submit videos. Maria Laskaris, the dean of admissions at Dartmouth, noticed the trend last year, and said this year had brought even more videos, mostly showcasing music, theater or dance talents.

For Tufts, the videos have been a delightful way to get to know the applicants.

“At heart, this is all about a conversation between a kid and an admissions officer,” Mr. Coffin said. “You see their floppy hair and their messy bedrooms, and you get a sense of who they are. We have a lot of information about applicants, but the videos let them share their voice.”

Link via Urlesque

(YouTube Link)

Epsilon Aurigae is about 2,000 light years from earth. Every 27 years, it darkens for two years. With the use of advanced thermal imaging technology, astronomers now think that this event is a solar eclipse:

The eclipse was first observed by the German astrologer Johann Fritsch in 1821.

Dr Ettore Pedretti and Dr Nathalie Thureau, from St Andrews, took part in the research, which was led by Brian Kloppenborg from the University of Denver.

Dr Pedretti said: "From the image, we can confirm that the eclipse of Epsilon Aurigae is caused by a thin disc of opaque dust trailed by a massive and unseen companion.

"Like David, tiny particles of dust are able to kill the light of this 'Goliath' star."

Link via io9

Illustrator Russell Walks created a periodic table of imaginary elements that appeared in science fiction movies, television shows, and books. Among them is Wonderflonium, the rare element that Dr. Horrible needed to complete his freeze ray.

http://russellwalks.com/PTOIE.html via Urlesque

Information about this place is still sketchy, but there appears to be a tea house in Anhui Province, China, that is only accessible after rappelling up a mountain. You can view amazing pictures of people ascending the mountain at the link.

Link via Radley Balko | Photo: Just Ask Shirley, gxnews

A few months ago, we featured Bruce and Melanie Rosenbaum's amazing steampunk house. The Rosenbaums have continued to steam up their residence, most recently with this fully-functional desk:

Everything decked in for the Command Desk compilation is authentic Victorian antique. Then be it the inverted Chapel organ pipes mounted on the wall behind the setup, or the all-in-one workstation desk completed in 3 monitors, printer, scanner and webcam, of course the keyboard and other peripherals included. The Victorian Organ Command Desk besides the aforementioned, has a iPhone doc, horn speakers on either side, USB and card media readers, a scanner under the keyboard, a clock face flanked in 6 LCD digital picture frame displays and a pair of coach lamps with neon flicker bulbs for all that ambience required.

More pictures at the link.

http://www.gizmowatch.com/entry/steampunk-home-owner-s-all-in-one-workstation-is-latest-to-fall-for/ via Geekologie | Photo: Steampunk Workshop

Ukrainian artist Elena Emelyanova re-imagined Sandro Botticelli's 15th Century painting The Birth of Venus with SpongeBob SquarePants characters. This image is a digital version of a gouache original.

Link | Previously on Neatorama: 10 Neat Facts about SpongeBob SquarePants

(YouTube Link)

Christiaan Van Vuuren created a viral video two months about about his experiences in quarantine for drug-resistant tuberculosis. He's still there, and has had plenty of time to hone his video editing skills:

It has now been 102 days that I’ve been here in the hospital all up, isolated with a case of Multi-Drug Resistant TB. I am here under a strict regiment of 6 different antibiotics, and a couple of other medications to help with the side effects of those. Over this time I have been lucky enough to have access to a computer with music and video production capability!!! So far I have really enjoyed making videos and connecting with people around the world through the internet, as it’s been a great way for me to keep my mind off all the treatment, and make me feel as if I’m actually achieving something in here, rather than wasting the time away staring at the walls!….. For this most recent music video, I really wanted to do something that was out of control – so I enlisted the help of my brother. He is only able to come in for short visits here and there, for which he has to get masked up and wear protective gloves, but it was enough for us to be able to go silly with his digital handycam.

via Nerdist

Would you like to get course credit for reading Anne Rice? The University of Hertfordshire is offering a new master's program that focuses on vampires in fiction:

In a bid to make the most of that interest, George is launching, in September, what seems to be the world's first master's degree in vampire literature. "In the months I've been planning the conference I've fielded a huge number of inquiries from people all over the world who are interested in studying vampires, zombies and the undead at a higher level," she says. "I had the idea of offering the master's as a direct follow-up from the conference. I thought it was crucial to have a way of extending this burst of awareness." The best papers from the conference will be collected in a book, which will become a textbook for the MA students.

Link via io9 | Image: Warner Bros.

It took LEGO artist Matija Grguric 7 months and 15,000 bricks to recreate Frank Lloyd Wright's masterpiece Fallingwater. It's currently on display at a museum in Zageb, Croatia. Grguric writes:

Scale of the building is minifig, or approximate 1:40. One of the issues was how to make the stone walls of the building. The result here is made out of 4 different shades of grey (old grey and bley). Other was the terrain and vegetation. In the end I decided to make it in winter atmosphere. Snow is something I always enjoy, and I was always more of a winter type of person, so here it is - my first snowy MOC. :)

Building process spread over total of almost 7 months, and the structure is made out of more than 15000 bricks (just an approximate guess). It is placed on 6 48*48 baseplates, and measures 115 x 80 x 50 cm. It weights more than 20 kg.

Link via DVICE

Previously on Neatorama:
Fallingwater: The Movie
Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater Recreated with Half Life