3d illusion arts: Oddity Central

Oddity Central

The Real Starry Night – Astronomy Student Recreates Van Gogh’s Painting Using Hubble’s Deep Space Images
Brewery Uses Man’s Beard Yeast as an Ingredient for Beer
Devastated Parents Store Their Dead Son’s Body in Icebox for Six Years
Hong Kong Billionaire Offers $65 Million Reward to Any Man Who Can Marry His Lesbian Daughter

The Real Starry Night – Astronomy Student Recreates Van Gogh’s Painting Using Hubble’s Deep Space Images

Posted: 27 Sep 2012 04:58 AM PDT

Alex Harrison Parker, an American PHD astronomy student, used computer mosaic-making software to re-produce Van Gogh’s famous Starry Night painting from the most beautiful images captured by the Hubble telescope in the last 20 years.

“The idea came up around the time of Hubble's 22nd birthday, when I thought it would be neat to assemble a collage of a bunch of Hubble images from over its history,” Alex told Discovery News. So he went online, downloaded Hubble’s top 100 pictures and used a mosaic software to create this new take on Van Gogh’s work of art. The passionate astronomer who likes to study the asteroids and proto-planets of the early solar system decided to go ahead with his unique project after cloudy weather prevented him from exploring the real starry night at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

via Daily Mail

The Real Starry Night – Astronomy Student Recreates Van Gogh’s Painting Using Hubble’s Deep Space Images was originally posted at OddityCentral.com

Brewery Uses Man’s Beard Yeast as an Ingredient for Beer

Posted: 27 Sep 2012 03:30 AM PDT

Something strange is going on at the Rogue Ales Brewery in Newport, Oregon. Brewers there are developing an ale made from wild yeast harvested from the beard of Rogue’s award-winning brewmaster, John Maier.

He hasn’t shaved since 1978, and that apparently makes his beard the perfect place to harvest yeast. I’m just kidding, it’s far from perfect, but Rogue Ales’ president, Brett Joyce said he was looking for a “different place that might have some magic yeast in it” and decided to try out Maier’s facial hair. The guys at Rogue had tried developing some new yeast strains from some of their own hopyard, but came up empty-handed, so as a joke they had their lab guy take a couple of Q-tip swabs from John Maier’s fluffy beard. Amazingly enough, he found a yeast cell, did some fermentation tests and the unique “beard beer” was born. What started out as a joke turned into something really special, since they never expected to find the new yeast they were looking for right in their brewmaster’s beard. ”This really is the needle in the haystack” John Couchot, Rogue Ales’ self-described mad scientist said.

John Maier understands the initial “eeww” feeling some people might get when they first hear about the beard beer, but says there’s nothing to be disgusted about. ”You’re really not drinking the beard you’re drinking a great beer that happens to have a yeast in it that comes from a beard,” he said, adding that “yeast is everywhere”. Right now the weird ale is being fined tuned, but after taking a sip, Maier said it “tastes like it’s got some spices in it”. That must be the salt and pepper of his personality.

So, will you run out and get yourself some cans of beard beer when it comes out, or is it just too gross for you?

via Huffpost

Brewery Uses Man’s Beard Yeast as an Ingredient for Beer was originally posted at OddityCentral.com

Devastated Parents Store Their Dead Son’s Body in Icebox for Six Years

Posted: 27 Sep 2012 02:25 AM PDT

This is one of those rare stories that’s both creepy and heartbreaking at the same time. Tian Xueming lost both his children in just on decade, and decided to store his son’s remains in an ice chest inside the house for six years, so he could see and talk to him whenever the massive loss became to hard to cope with.

60-year old Tian Xueming, a carpenter from Huangling Village, China’s Chongqing province, got married in 1979, and took his wife to live in a modest home made of mud. At the time they were living with six other relatives, so to provide better living conditions for his family, Tian went to work in the city. Thanks to his carpentry skills and impeccable work ethic, the Tians’ lifestyle gradually improved. In 1982 they had a daughter, and in 1987, his wife Yang Hongying gave birth to a beautiful baby boy. In order to spend more time with his family, Tian decided to quit his job and return to his native village as a stay-at-home dad. He managed to build a three-storey house for his family, the most luxurious in all of Huangling, and he describes those days as the happiest of his entire life. Only the new-found happiness didn’t last long…

It was a hot day when they lost their daughter, Yingying. The 15-year-old had gone to town to buy some vegetables, but when she returned half and hour later she looked pale and tired. Still, she told her parents not to worry. An hour later, they found her collapsed in the yard, barely breathing. By the time the doctor arrived, it was too late for Yingying and to this day Tian blames himself for not taking care of her enough. Just when time was starting to heal the wounds left by this terrible loss, disaster struck again. 9 years after Yingying had passed away, their son, Qinyuan, was diagnosed with leukemia in the final stage. He had just gone to university in 2005, and Tian Xueming remembers he would have given everything to pay his tuition and see him succeed in life, only it wasn’t meant to be. In March of 2006 he received a phone call and was told his son had had a fever for almost a month. He didn’t understand the gravity of the situation at first, but soon he and his wife were by Qinyuan’s bedside in the hospital, praying he would somehow miraculously survive. He died in July, 2006, aged 18.

Qinyuan’s loss tore the Tian’s world apart and they just didn’t know what to do to cope with the unbearable pain. They decided to conceal the circumstances of their son’s death, and somehow keep him around. ”I told his mother that we should not bury him, but rather keep our son around us. She agreed,” Xueming told Chinese media, and that night they emptied the icebox, dressed his body and placed him inside. They kept their son’s burial place a secret for six years, during which time they would pull up chairs around the ice box, lift the lid and talk to him as if he had never left them. Tian says he and his wife know it wasn’t the most normal thing to do, but it was the only way to deal with the pain.

He knows both his relatives and his neighbors mean well when they press him to bury Qinyuan’s body, but he just cannot bring himself to do it. ”I know I was wrong. My decision has had a bad influence on my neighbors’ lives as well, but I have lost both of my children! No one could ever understand my suffering,” Tian Xueming said as he gazed at the freezer in the corner of his house. ”Anyway, I can see my son whenever I miss him.”

Sources: China.org,

Photos via Ifeng

Devastated Parents Store Their Dead Son’s Body in Icebox for Six Years was originally posted at OddityCentral.com

Hong Kong Billionaire Offers $65 Million Reward to Any Man Who Can Marry His Lesbian Daughter

Posted: 27 Sep 2012 01:20 AM PDT

Hong King-based property and shipping tycoon Cecil Chao Sze-tsung has offered up a bizarre $65 million marriage bounty to any man capable of wooing and eventually marrying his lesbian daughter, Gigi. “I don't mind whether he is rich or poor – the important thing is that he is generous and kind-hearted,” the billionaire said.

33-year-old Gigi Chao has recently announced wedding Sean Eav, her partner for seven years, in France. But her powerful father doesn’t even want to hear about it and even publicly dismissed the “false reports” of his daughter’s marriage insisting she was still single. He told the South China Morning Post that he is eager for his daughter to finally marry and even offered a $65 million reward to any MAN capable of winning her heart. “Gigi is a very good woman with both talents and looks. She is devoted to her parents, is generous and does volunteer work,” he said, adding that the financial reward is just “an inducement to attract someone who has the talent, but not the capital, to start his own business”. To sweeten the deal even more, he is willing to start his future son-in-law up in his own business.

Photo: Gigi Chao’s Facebook page

It’s ironic that a man who has never been married and once bragged about having bedded over 10,000 women is going through all this trouble just to see his oldest daughter settled down with a man. The 76-year-old playboy doesn’t seem willing to accept Gigi’s seven-year lesbian relationship, nor her recent nuptials. Hong Kong law doesn’t recognize gay marriages, so technically, he still has a chance to see his dream fulfilled. 33-year-old Gigi Chao, who graduated from the University of Manchester and currently works as a director at her father’s company reportedly said she found his efforts “entertaining” and won’t worry about it too much until a suitor actually turns up. She also mentioned that ever since Cecil Chao Sze-tsung’s offer went public, she has been bombarded with new Facebook Friend requests and new followers on her Twitter account, which she hasn't used since July.