3d illusion arts: Oddity Central

Oddity Central

Dad Agrees to Pay Daughter $200 if She Stops Using Facebook for Five Months
Self-Taught Amateur Artist Paints with Ground Coffee and a Pinch of Sand
Chinese Grandma Spends All Her Life Savings Taking Care of Stray Dogs and Cats

Dad Agrees to Pay Daughter $200 if She Stops Using Facebook for Five Months

Posted: 08 Feb 2013 07:15 AM PST

A Boston father and his 14-year-old daughter have recently made the headlines after the man posted a photo of a Facebook Deactivation Agreement that states the girl will receive 200$ if she doesn’t log into her Facebook account for the next five months.

Facebook addiction is one of the most talked-about issues of the moment, and when it comes to teens, the problem is even bigger. But one Boston parent may have found the perfect way to convince his daughter to take a nice long break from the popular social media platform – he’s paying her $200. The enterprising young girl has managed to strike a deal with her father, Paul Baier, that involves him paying her $50 in April and an extra $150 in June, if she respects her part of the agreement. "It was her idea, which I fully support," Paul told the Daily Dot. "She wants to earn money and also finds Facebook a distraction and a waste of time sometimes."

Photo: Paul Baier

Initially, the girl came up with a payout of $70 in exchange for a much shorter hiatus from Facebook, but her father countered with the $200 for 5 months offer, which she ultimately accepted. The two even drew up and filled out a Facebook Deactivation Agreement to make it official. It states that Baier can take full control of his daughter’s account by changing the password and deactivating it, to make sure she doesn’t sneak a peak online when he’s not paying attention. She will get access back to her Facebook account on June 26, by which time will have been over.

Paul Baier’s agreement with his young daughter has received mixed reactions. In a comment on his blog, someone goes as far as to call him an “idiot”. ”Why not try something called ‘parenting’. It’s more difficult than bribery but will more beneficial to your daughter in the long run,” the person writes, while another thinks “999 to 1 odds she already has an alternate account and probably more risqué accounts on other sites if she’s already showing this kind of ‘guy will pay me’ mentality. At the same time another reader thinks it’s a “great idea. I just read an online story about it. Perhaps, this will inspire other parents to do the same.”

One thing is for sure, Paul’s daughter isn’t the only one who plans to cut down on Facebook time. A recent study shows one in four US users plan to reduce their time spent on the popular social site this year.

Dad Agrees to Pay Daughter $200 if She Stops Using Facebook for Five Months was originally posted at OddityCentral.com

Self-Taught Amateur Artist Paints with Ground Coffee and a Pinch of Sand

Posted: 08 Feb 2013 03:48 AM PST

Alexander Wald works as a plumber in the Ukrainian city of Lviv, but in his spare time he likes to exercise his artistic talents by painting with unusual mediums like ground coffee and sand.

Painting with coffee is not exactly unheard of. Artists like Karen Eland and Steven Mikel have been doing it for years, and even coffee beans have been used as an artistic material in an impressive mosaic by Saimir Strati. But until I came across Alexander Wald’s works, I had never heard of anyone using ground coffee. The Ukrainian amateur artist makes a living working as a plumber at the Lviv Circus, but most of his free time is spent creating unique works of art from dried coffee residue and sand. He drinks 2-3 cups of coffee a day, and instead of throwing away the coffee grounds on the bottom of his cup, he dries them and uses them as an art medium. His colleagues pitch in as well, otherwise Alexander would actually have to buy fresh ground coffee. This way, he enjoys his morning cups of java and has plenty of free material to work with. The self-taught artist says any kind of coffee will do, except for instant coffee, which doesn’t produce any leftover grounds.

Alexander starts the artistic process by drawing an outline of his artwork on the canvas, and then visualizing where the grains of coffee and sand should be added. For darker tones he uses ground coffee, and for lighter ones fine sand is added. It’s a really painstaking process, and it often takes the Ukrainian artist several weeks to finish a single piece. Although he has a few large-scale works, most of his creations are just a few centimeters in size, so to get the placement of the materials just right, he uses a jeweler’s monocle. He covers the canvas in paint glue, to make sure the coffee and sand grains are fixed in place, and when the work is completed, he adds a layer of varnish.

Most of Wald’s customers ask for portraits and religious icons, for which he charges around 100 hryvna ($12). He could probably sell them for a lot more, but he gives many of the paintings away for free anyway, and the little money he makes on commissions usually go to buying supplies for his art. Alexander Wald says he has made over 500 coffee and sand paintings so far, some of which have been exhibited in galleries abroad.

Photos: Olga Swede

Source: Gazeta.ua

Self-Taught Amateur Artist Paints with Ground Coffee and a Pinch of Sand was originally posted at OddityCentral.com

Chinese Grandma Spends All Her Life Savings Taking Care of Stray Dogs and Cats

Posted: 08 Feb 2013 01:52 AM PST

Grandma Bai, a 64-year-old animal lover from Chongqing, China, has spent the last 15 years taking care of stray dogs and cats, and has exhausted all her life savings in the process.

American humorists Josh Billings once said “A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than he loves himself”, and we’ve featured a few heartbreaking stories that prove this to be right. Remember Capitan, the German Shepherd who refused to leave his owner’s grave six years after he died, or Ciccio, the faithful dog who attends the daily Mass at the church where his master used to go? I’ve written a lot of impressive stories about dogs’ loyalty and love even beyond the grave, so it’s always nice to see some humans showing them some kindness in return. Case in point, Grandma Bai, a native of Leshan, China, who has spent all her savings and the last 15 years of her life taking care of over 100 stray dogs and 30 cats. Her love for these abandoned creatures and the sacrifices she has had to make have melted the hearts of millions, since the story broke out in China.

Grandma Bai used to live in the urban area of Chongqing, but as the number of animals she took in off the streets of China’s largest city grew, she realized she had to relocate to a nearby village, where the animals wouldn’t bother people so much. So, against the wishes of her family, she took all her adopted pets and moved to the country. Here, she built a home for them and continued gathering new strays from the surrounding area. Now the number of animals in her care approaches 150 (over 100 dogs and about 30 cats), and despite financial difficulties she’s still bringing in new members. According to the kind woman, the animals’ food alone costs 200 yuan ($32), and she has spent both her life savings and the money the Government paid her for demolishing her old home.

There haven’t been any updates to this story yet, but hopefully more animal lovers will come to her aid and support her efforts. Although Grandma Bai’s animal family doesn’t come close to the 1,500 dogs and 200 cats adopted by another Chinese animal lover, Ha Wenjin, her willingness to sacrifice material gains to provide shelter to helpless animals is to be applauded.