50 cent painting turns out to be worth USD 10,000
Washington: A century old painting of seven men playing pool which was bought at a yard sale in the US for 50 cents could fetch a whopping $ 10,000 at an auction. Jesse Ronnebaum from Batesville, Indiana picked up the early 1900s painting at a yard sale ten years ago for a mere 50 cents. He is now hoping to sell the painting at an auction for around USD 10,000.
Earlier this month, Ronnebaum noticed the words “Palette and Chisel Club 1910” on the bottom of the artwork. He began researching the painting online, and soon discovered it had roots in Chicago’s famed Palette and Chisel Academy of Fine Arts, ‘Fox 59’ reported.
The seven men in the painting are all well-known artists who took turns painting each other in the unusual work. The primary artist was William Victor Higgins. When Ronnebaum started researching the painting he started getting offers. After discovering the potential significance of his find, Ronnebaum reached out to Curt Churchman in Indianapolis, the owner of Fine Estate Art, Rugs and Gallery. Together, they came up with a plan to restore the painting and put it up for auction through Leslie Hindman Auctioneers in Chicago. “On a good day I think it would bring USD 10,000; maybe more if we saw some excitement. The media exposure certainly helps,” said Churchman. (PTI)
Chinses man compensated over panda bite
Beijing: A Chinese man has been awarded USD 83,000 in compensation over an attack by a wild panda last year that left him with serious injuries.
Guan Zhiquan was compensated after he sued the local government officials over the attack on March 1, 2014 The animal wandered into Liziba village, in the northwestern province of Gansu, where local officials trying to capture it chased it onto Guan’s land, Global Times reported. Panda bit Guan in the leg and only released its grip when another villager covered its head with a coat.
However, Guan is still unable to walk on his right leg despite undergoing eight rounds of surgery to repair the bone and tissue damage. Doctors may be forced to amputate, the report said. The mounting medical bills drove Guan’s son to begin the family’s extensive battle for compensation from the local wildlife bureau.
Ji Hong, a lawyer handling Guan’s case, argued that officials from the Baishuijiang National Nature Reserve were at fault for the injury because they had ordered the panda to be captured. According to the wildlife conservation law, local and provincial forestry bureaus are responsible for the management of wild pandas, Ji explained. Following “negotiations”, officials agreed to pay compensation of 520,000 yuan (USD 83,000). (PTI)
Maine teacher wins $ 1 million Global Teacher Prize in Dubai
Dubai: A teacher from rural Maine has won the USD 1 million Global Teacher Prize in Dubai. Nancie Atwell of Southport, Maine, won the prize during a ceremony today. Atwell has been teaching since 1973 and founded the Centre for Teaching and Learning in Southport, which is a nonprofit demonstration school created for the purpose of developing and disseminating teaching methods. The school says 97 per cent of its graduates have gone onto university. The Global Teacher Prize is an annual, USD 1 million prize awarded by the Varkey Foundation, which focuses on education issues. (AP)
British navy sailors spell out unique Mother’s Day message
London: Over 200 sailors on board a British warship today sent a special Mother’s Day message back home from the Gulf. Crew members lined up on the flight deck of destroyer HMS Dauntless to form the word “Mum” and two kisses. The photo was taken from the ship’s helicopter which was on a training flight. The greeting was sent on behalf of the 210-strong crew of the Portsmouth-based warship, which is in the Gulf to deter piracy and keep sea lanes open. For many of the service personnel on board the destroyer, it is their first time on a major deployment away from the UK where Mothers Day is celebrated on March 15.
Commander Adrian Fryer, the ship’s commanding officer, said: “When we are away from home the support of our families and loved ones is incredibly important in helping us to carry out our tasks to the best of our abilities.
“We are all so grateful for the amazing support we have received from home in the last few months and it is great to be able to send a rather different Mother’s Day e-card while we are deployed.” HMS Dauntless left Portsmouth port in January for a five-month routine deployment. (PTI)
South African woman celebrates 100th birthday with a skydive
Cape Town: Celebrating her 100th birthday with a parachute jump is not enough for South African Georgina Harwood. She plans to make her centenary even more exciting by doing a shark cage dive tomorrow. Her birthday skydive was a tandem jump in which she was in harness with another person. The jump took place yesterday near the Melkbosstrand area north of Cape Town. Wearing a red jumpsuit, Harwood was joined in the air by 15 family members and friends who participated in groups of three. Harwood said it was wonderful seeing all the others around her. Harwood said this was her third skydive. She did her first when she was 92 years old in 2007. In a shark cage dive the participant goes underwater in a cage in an area where sharks are fed chum, bits of cut up fish meat, by tour operators. (AP)
Noted Nepal poet’s works to be translated into Hindi
Kathmandu: The literary works of Nepal’s national poet, Madhav Prasad Ghimire, will be translated into Hindi, the Indian envoy here has said. Speaking at a book release function organised by Embassy of India on Friday, Ambassador to Nepal Ranjit Rae shed light on efforts of the embassy and B P Koirala India-Nepal Foundation, especially in culture, literary and academic areas. He also stressed on the need for exchanging literary works from Nepal to India and vice versa. The embassy and the foundation organised book release ceremony of Samvedana Ke Swar, a collection of poems translated into Hindi at Nepal-Bharat Library in Kathmandu. The book was jointly released by Nepal’s national poet Ghimire and Rae.
On the occasion Secretary General of SAARC, Arjun Bahadur Thapa and other dignitaries were also present. Ghimire shared his experiences of writing poems and also recited some of them in Hindi.
The translation and publication of Laxmi Prasad Devkota ke Nibandh, a collection by Nepal poet Devkota, in Hindi and, of Tagore’s ‘Gitanjali’ into Nepali has also been done. The translation of Sitayan from Maithili into Hindi and English is also being carried out with the support of the foundation. (PTI)
World’s oldest living cat turns 27
Washington: The world’s oldest living cat in the US has reached the grand old age of 27 – the equivalent of 125 human years, Guinness World Records has said. Born on March 13, 1988 in San Diego, California, Tiffany Two, was bought by her owner Sharon Voorhees from a local pet shop when the record breaking kitty was just six weeks old. Despite her incredible age, the short-haired black and orange tortoiseshell has good sight and hearing, according to its owner. Besides very small ailments such as high blood pressure from time to time, Sharon describes the cat as “not feeble and still able to go up and downstairs”. Tiffany Two has a sweet demeanour and loves to be petted, Sharon said. The feline eats a varied diet with both wet food and dry food and resides indoors but also goes outdoors frequently. (PTI)
Aus man finds gold nugget worth 141,000 dollars
Melbourne: In a once-in-a-lifetime discovery, a man in Australia has unearthed a 2.7 kg gold nugget which could be worth a whopping 141,000 dollars. Mick Brown, a gold prospector from Kerang in northern Victoria, had recently quit smoking and was getting grumpy so his wife told him to leave the house for some air. Brown, 42, went prospecting near Wedderburn, Victoria, in an area he had been before. He started moving across with his detector when the machine went off loudly over a particular spot. Only 15 cm beneath the surface, Brown hit the top of a gold nugget. At first, he thought it was a “big molten blob of copper” but realised it was gold after digging up “87 ounces of the good stuff.” Brown said the nugget was worth about 141,000 dollars but he hoped a private collector would offer more, ‘stuff.co.nz’ reported. “Sometimes they do say gold is worth twice its weight in gold if it’s a really nice looking nugget,” Brown said. (PTI)