Shema1993

Heartwarming Human Interest Story of the Day: A 15-year-old girl from Indonesia was reunited with her family seven years after she was swept away from her mothers arms by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.

The girl, who said she was “adopted” by a stranger and given the name “Wati,” has spent the better part of the last decade begging in the streets until late at night.

She was eventually kicked out and told to go find her parents “in Meulaboh.”

After arriving in the Aceh province town this week, Wati asked after the only relative whose name she could remember: Her grandfather Ibrahim. A local pedicab driver brought her to a man by that name, who called her parents.

“When I saw my mother, I knew it was her,” said the teen, whose real name is Meri Yuranda. “I just knew.”

Though reunions of this sort are rare — tens of thousands remain missing — and similar stories have proven untrue, Meri’s mother, Yusniar binti Ibrahim Nur told AP that a scar and a mole and certain facial features indicate that this is in fact her daughter.

Either way, an abused beggar girl now has a home and loving family, and that’s really all that matters.

Charitable Torture of the Day: Two seniors at Evanston Township High School in Illinois had a rather novel — if patently inhumane — idea for raising $1,000 to help a popular student hangout spot that was going under: Play Justin Bieber’s “Baby” over the PA system over and over until students coughed up the dough.

After administrators approved the Geneva Convention-flouting fundraiser for the Boocoo café & art studio, Charlotte Runzel and Jesse Chatz assaulted their classmate’s ear-drums with “Baby” after each class period — over twenty times between Monday and Wednesday.

The Saved By The Bell-esque scheme proved successful: Despite having a whole week to raise the money, it took Runzel and Chatz only three days to reach their goal.

“It made me smile to look at what we can do and look at the money we are raising,” said Chatz.

But some students and staff members on the receiving end were not as enthused.

“There were certainly people who disagreed that it was a fun thing,” said the school’s assistant director of student support and racial equity, Ali Hart. “Some people were truly annoyed, but that’s kind of the incentive. If it wasn’t going to be slightly annoying, then you wouldn’t be motivated to stop the music.”

[suntimes.]

thedailywhat:

Cracked Da Vinci Code of the Day: An American artist claims to have cracked the code of Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa — for real, this time.

Ron Piccirillo, a 37-year-old oil painter and graphic designer, says he used “an old artist’s trick” to gain a fresh perspective on the famous painting by turning it on its side. He claims that in doing so, images of various animals hidden in the portrait’s background began to emerge.

First, a lion’s head came into focus above the subject’s head. “Then I noticed the buffalo and I thought: ‘Oh my god’,” he says. “Then I realised I was really onto something.”

Piccirillo believes the veiled menagerie — he later discovered an ape and a crocodile-snake creature as well — suggests da Vinci meant the Mona Lisa to depict envy. Piccirillo points to a passage in da Vinci’s journals which he says confirms his theory.

In the passage, da Vinci writes that the artist who wishes to paint envy must “give her a leopard’s skin, because this creature kills the lion out of envy and by deceit.” Piccirillo claims other passages on envy in da Vinci’s notes also indicate that he is referring to the Mona Lisa.

“It is beyond coincidence to have identified these hidden images after finding references to them in Leonardo’s own writings,” Piccirillo said.

[telegraph / image: mirror.]

thedailywhat:

RIP: Pusuke, a 26-year-old mixed-breed male officially recognized by the Guinness Book of Records as the world’s oldest dog, passed away this afternoon at his home in Sakura, Japan.

According to his owner, Yumiko Shinohara, Pusuke had shown no signs of distress until this morning, when he abruptly began refusing food and developed a breathing problem.

He passed away shortly after Ms. Shinohara returned home from a stroll. “I think (Pusuke) waited for me to come home,” she is quoted as saying.

[abc / msn.]

shumbodynamedharry:

I didn’t think this moment was documented but thank you to the man who took this picture. The moment where Jon, Chris and I met Steve Jobs at the Oscars in 2010. Priceless.

Just bought the @galaxiemag December issue from 7 Elevan & my brother’s name listed as Cowboys & Aliens Contest Winner.Wow!!!

If you think your salary is low,what about her?