Car Boot Pickings!!

Renoir masterpiece discovered in £5 box of trinkets

A painting discovered two years ago in a £5 box of trinkets at a West Virginia flea market has been confirmed as an original by French impressionist Pierre-Auguste Renoir.

The woman considered discarding the painting to salvage its frame, but instead made an appointment to have it evaluated in July by the Potomack Co auction house in Alexandria, Va, said its fine arts director Anne Norton Craner.
When the woman pulled the painting out of a garbage bag she carried it in, Ms Craner was nearly certain the painting was a Renoir with its distinct colours, light and brushwork. A plaque on the front labelled it "Renoir."
"My gut said that it was right, but you have to then check," Ms Craner said.
French handwriting on the back of the canvass included a label and number. Craner turned to the catalogue by French gallery Bernheim-Jeune that's published all of Renoir's work.
"Low and behold, it was in volume one," she said.
An image of the painting was published in black and white, and the gallery's stock number matched the flea market find. So Craner made a digital image of the flea market painting, converted it to black and white for a closer look, and the brush strokes also matched, she said.
"It's not a painting you would fake," Ms Craner said. "If you're going to fake something, you'd fake something easier."
Painting No 24349 turns out to be Renoir's painting "Paysage Bords de Seine," which translates to Banks of the River Seine, Ms Craner determined. It dates to about 1879 and measures 6 inches by 10 inches.
The painting is set for auction Sept 29. It could fetch $75,000 or more, Ms Craner added.
Elizabeth Wainstein, owner of the Potomack Co. said there's no doubt about the painting's authenticity.
The Shenandoah Valley woman found the painting and kept it in storage for nearly two years has declined to publicly disclose her name.
After weeks of research, Ms Craner believes Renoir gave the painting to a woman who modelled for him. The painting was then sold to the Bernheim-Jeune art gallery for 5,000 francs in 1925, according to gallery records. The following year, the gallery sold the painting to American lawyer Herbert L. May who kept homes in New York and Geneva and also worked for the government in Washington.
As far as Ms Craner can tell, May kept the painting in his personal collection until his death in 1966. It's a mystery, though, as to how the painting ended up in West Virginia. Still, its provenance is fairly short as the painting has not traded hands many times.
"It just did what paintings do sometimes – they kind of disappear out of circulation," Ms Craner said. "That's what is so fantastic. This painting's been unseen since 1926."

Dr Who Award Censured!

Censorship Bot Made Mistakes

The entertainment industry has been using malware to seek out the copyrighted material and delete it. This fact became known after one of the bots accidentally closed down a legal live broadcast of one of science fiction’ most famous award ceremonies.
During the annual Hugo Awards event at Worldcon, which several thousands of people were watching through video streaming service called Ustream, the audience found the stream switched off when Neil Gaiman was delivering an acceptance speech for his Doctor Who script, "The Doctor's Wife". Instead of the speech, thousands of people saw the words “Worldcon banned due to copyright infringement”.

Honestly, you could hardly find worse place for the use of copyright bots to come out of shadow. Ironically enough, the entertainment industry’s use of anti-piracy malware bots was made public in the middle of a bunch of writers who earn money writing tales of heroes fighting against high tech corporates who barely acknowledge the law. As you can understand, such a crowd will hardly let something like this lie.

Tobias Buckell, the bestselling science fiction author, was first to break the news on his twitter feed, saying that the censorship bot of the studios appeared to get in a tizzy over the fact that the award ceremony demonstrated clips from the BBC show. So, it is now clear that whatever the entertainment industry is using, it isn’t able to recognize fair use.

By the way, the videos were provided by the studios themselves, and the Hugo Awards had explicit permission to broadcast them. However, the digital restriction management robot on Ustream wasn’t programmed to recognize such basic contours of copyright legislation. To make things worse, the robots completely closed down the live broadcast of the Hugo Awards.

In response, Ustream’s CEO has made a public apology and promised that the company would never use Vobile robot again until they make sure it could tame its bots. He admitted that the broadcaster was using the bots in order to support a large volume of broadcasters using the free platform. However, he didn’t say why they had given so much power to the robot in the first place. The fact that Ustream couldn’t restore the feed quickly indicates that the bots had much power.

Fell Off The Perch!!

Tarbu, the 55-year-old parrot, dies after signing off with a 'cheerio'

A 55-year-old domestic parrot has died - after squawking his last word: "Cheerio."

The African Grey parrot Tarbu, believed to be one of the world's oldest domestic parrots, uttered his final farewell to Nina Morgan, 89, as she made her way to bed.
He was so weak the next morning that he couldn't manage his usual greeting of "Hello, my darling" and dropped dead from his perch.
Mrs Morgan believes his longevity was down to a life of "being spoilt" - from munching his favourite Kit Kats to watching Emmerdale and Coronation Street every night.
He lived an eventful life having been rescued from an animal trader in Tanzania in 1957 and was once taken into police custody after going missing.
The parrot was known for being vocal and would shout "Cheerio, bye, see you soon" to Mrs Morgan every time she left the house.
He squawked "woof, woof" at dogs, as well as calling "miaow, miaow" at cats that passed his window.
Tarbu even alerted partially-deaf Mrs Morgan to the doorbell by shouting "cooeee" and her name "Nina", as she could not hear it ring.
Widow Mrs Morgan, who lives alone, said she was very upset by the death of her pet, who had been her companion for 55 years.
She said: "He was a very intelligent bird and very clever. We never taught him to talk, he picked everything up.
"The night before he died I went up to bed and he said 'cheerio' to me from his cage. It was the last thing that he said.
"He sounded very weak and I did think 'oh dear, he is not well' and had this feeling about it.
"The next morning he was on the top perch of his cage with both of his wings hanging down. I talked to him as usual and he gave me one or two little squeaks.
"I went to make a cup of tea and when I came back he was dead at the bottom of the cage. I cried for two days and I just miss him so much."
Tarbu was taken from his nest as a chick by an African trader in Da es Salam in Tanganyika, now Tanzania.
Mrs Morgan, a former flight engineer, was living in the country with her husband Peter, who was a pilot for the country's president Julius Nyerere.
The couple bought Tarbu for their son Christopher, then aged eight, in 1955.
Mrs Morgan added: "He was a very young chick, he had not yet fully feathered. He adored my son and would shout 'Christopher' at him."
Christopher died in a car crash in the 1970s and Mr and Mrs Morgan returned to England with Tarbu in 1985.
Tarbu became Mrs Morgan's sole companion when her husband, a former RAF pilot, died of emphysema.
She said: "We did so much together. He would say 'Hello, my darling' to me every morning when I gave him a digestive biscuit for breakfast.
"I would let him out every afternoon for what I called his 'fly past' and he'd fly around the living room and come and sit by me on the sofa.
"We used to watch the news, Emmerdale and Coronation Street together. If an animal programme came on he used to squawk at the other creatures.
"Every night before I went to bed I used to say 'cheerio Tarbu' and he would reply 'cheerio'.
"Everyone who met him thought he was the most wonderful bird. He was so intelligent and always doing something.
"If he saw a dog in the house he would dive bomb on it and should "woof, woof" because he was guarding our home. I used to stroke him like he was a dog.
"He also used to shout "miaow, miaow" and "puss, puss" at cats when they went past the window. He has given me and my friends years of laughter."
Mrs Morgan buried Tarbu in her garden, underneath an RAF flag, after his death three weeks ago.

Paying For It….Mel??

Mel Gibson's wife 'entitled to pension share'

Mel Gibson may be paying for his divorce well after his retirement, according to reports in the US.

TMZ website said that the actor-director’s ex-wife, Robyn Moore, will receive a large portion of his retirement benefits from the Screen Actors’ Guild, the Directors’ Guild and private pension benefits accumulated through a production company they ran.
The couple, who had seven children together, separated in 2006 after 26 years of marriage. They finally divorced in December 2011. It was earlier reported
The news comes after reports that Moore will walk away with half of Gibson's estimated $800 million fortune because the pair had no prenuptial agreement.

Affordable Housing??

UFO house ridiculed after six years of building... and counting

A futuristic house which won the Royal Academy of Arts' prestigious architecture prize has been ridiculed by neighbours who claim it looks like a UFO and is still not finished after six years.

Residents living in Wood Lane in Highgate, north London, say work on the house has been going on since 2006 and that it still looks like a 'scrapyard'.
They are fed up that the house - which they say looks like a 'giant spaceship.....complete with UFO-style elevated gangway' - is making the street 'a mess' and forcing property prices down.
The house, which is in a conservation area surrounded by homes built in the late 18th century, was designed by architects Birds Portchmouth Russum (BPR) and is owned by partner in the firm Mike Russum.
Last year the design won the Architecture Prize at the Royal Academy's Summer Exhibition, which described the posh pad as a 'four-storey house (which) maximises the potential of a narrow infill site'.
It adds: "The traditional relationship of living and sleeping accommodation is inverted with the bedroom and bathrooms at garden level and the living area above to enjoy the south aspect and views over London.
"The high-level living element (is) prefabricated and craned into position."
But neighbours have this week slammed the house - saying it makes the prestigious road look a 'total and utter mess' with its fenced off entrance, scattered traffic cones and blue tarpaulin.
They are now demanding to know when the house - which is wedged between two existing homes - will be finished, six years since construction work began.
Neighbour Judith Steiner, who has lived on Wood Lane since 1970, said this week: "I originally supported the idea of having a home for the 21st century on the street.
"But work has been going on for years and now it just looks like a scrapyard surrounded by a chain link fence - it looks like something from War of the Worlds."
Another neighbour, who has lived in the street for the past 10 years but who did not want to be named, said: "It looks like a giant UFO just about to land.
"The gangway makes it look even more alien and you half expect martians to waddle down it at any second.
"To be honest though, everyone would just like it if the place was finished - it's been a bombsite for six years now and it's about time it was completed."
Owner Mike Russum blamed planning laws, which he says delayed the completion of the house.
"Certainly there has been fierce opposition by a few neighbours," he said.
"We understand the concerns about the delay to its completion, which has been painfully experienced by us.
"The house is not conventional and explores various architectural ideas about creating a joyful home appropriate to this age.
"It is unashamedly modern and we accept that it will not be everybody's cup of tea.
"However, the design won the Architecture Prize at the Royal Academy Exhibition last year and we consider that to be a cultured endorsement." ……BRAINDEAD?

Spuds You Pinch!

Potato pilferers perturb B.C. farmer
A posse of bootleggers or fast-food fanatics could be behind the theft of a football field’s worth of potatoes from a Richmond, B.C., farm, according to RCMP.
Richmond Sgt. Cam Kowalski speculated a group of people targeted a Steveston-area farm sometime between Aug. 17-22 to “plant their own field, or for making vodka or french fries.”
He said fellow Richmond officers are baffled by the theft of about 2,300 kilograms worth of tubers, adding he’s never seen a crop caper of this scale in his entire career.
“Is there a commercial underground potato network that we’re not aware of? I don’t know.”
Richmond Mounties boosted patrols in the city’s agricultural areas following the theft and even deployed ATVs to guard fields.
Kowalski said most likely a group of at least three people carried out the heist, noting only an individual “with a lot of time on their hands” would have been able to pull it off solo.


Farmer Bill Zylmans, who has worked the recently robbed field since he was a child, said the theft will have a long-term impact on his business.
Although of $2,000 to $3,000 in spuds were stolen, the 55-year-old pointed out the potatoes had not grown to their full size when they were plucked and would have been worth much more in the coming weeks.
He’s also experienced thefts at his other fields, where people have snatched blueberries or poached pumpkins. The farmer, however, is at a loss to explain why people would devote so much energy to swiping these vegetables.
“Potato is actually a very cheap commodity,” Zylmans said, adding whoever stole the crop must have little respect for agriculture.
“This is my livelihood. You’re not just helping yourself — farming is a hard business today.”

Just A Bit Late!

Skipper finds bottle with message nearly a century old

A Scottish skipper has hauled in what could be his most unusual catch - a bottle containing a message written 98 years ago.
Andrew Leaper was pulling in his nets when the bottle appeared.
To his amazement, he discovered on opening it that it contained a message asking the finder to record the date and location of where it was found and return it to director of the Scotland Fishery Board to collect a sixpence reward, Britain's Daily Mail newspaper reported.
Further investigation revealed that the bottle - 646B - had been set adrift as part of 1,890 by Captain CH Brown of the Glasgow School of Navigation.
It was designed to sink and float close to the seabed to monitor currents.
Only 315 of the bottles have ever been found.
Mr Leaper said: "As we hauled in the nets I spotted the bottle neck sticking out and I quickly grabbed it before it fell back in the sea. I couldn't wait to open it.
"It was an amazing coincidence that the same Shetland fishing boat that found the previous record-breaking bottle six years ago also found this one.
Dr Bill Turrell, Head of Marine Ecosystems with Marine Scotland Science told the Daily Mail: "Drift bottles gave oceanographers at the start of the last century important information that allowed them to create pictures of the patterns of water circulation in the seas around Scotland."
Mr Leaper now qualifies for a finder's fee after plucking the bottle from the ocean - one sixpence.

More Money Then Sense?

223-year-old cognac bought for £19,000

A 223-year-old bottle of cognac has been bought for £19,000.

An anonymous collector purchased the bottle today from The Old Liquors Collection owned by Bay van der Bunt.
It was an extremely rare half-bottle of 1789 A.C Meukow & Co. cognac.

Bay revealed: "In the same shopping spree a 182-year-old Remy Martin from 1830 was traded for £12.900."

Bay owns the world's largest collection of vintage cognacs and rare liquors and is based in Breda, Netherlands. His collection is estimated to be worth £6 million.

The 64-year-old has spent the last 40 years collecting the liquors and admitted that not everyone understands his passion.
"My father said, 'You are out of your mind to collect liquor. Why don't you invest in something worthwhile?' Well, I didn't listen."

Bay did want to sell the collection in its entirety but said that the offer he received for the cognac was simply too good to turn down.

Although many do not understand his hobbie, he is now pleased to prove that it wasn't such a waste of time after all.

"Collecting cognacs and old liquors was very time-consuming and cost a fortune, but it proves to be the best financial investment I have ever made," added Bay.

People Should Get Out More??

Anger over pink pens designed for women

Stationery company BIC has been mocked for its new range of pens for women.

The successful company has stated that the new implements are "designed to fit comfortably in a woman's hand".

The pens are on sale in an "attractive barrel design available in pink and purple".
Amazon has been saturated with hundreds of sarcastic posts from women.

One customer, Mrs S Rose, said: "Oh at last, I feel all woman. I have used other pens in the past but have always been left feeling lost, alone and on the edge of accepted society."

Bookfiend added: "Before these pens, I was nothing. I was a mere inconsequential woman, stumbling around writing nonsense with big pens that made me look ridiculous.

"But now... the whole world looks different. I cannot recommend this pen enough. It won't just change your handwriting. It will change your life."

A spokesperson for BIC issued this statement: "It is great to see people having fun with the product and we're delighted to have brought a bit of much-needed glamour to stationery cupboards everywhere."