Drinks on the house

A bottle of Macallan's finest single malt

An enterprising man came up with an ingenious plan to raise funds for his first home. Matthew Robinson decided to auction an expensive Scotch collection he inherited from his dad, Pete. "I never anticipated the potential it could have for me in my life," Matthew admitted. The 28-year-old from Birmingham is a beef plant employee, who plans to use the proceeds to place a deposit on a house. "I think it's been one of the best things he could have done," Matthew added.

Matthew Robinson with his father and the man responsible for collecting the Scotch, Pete Robinson

The said collection consists of vintage Macallan whiskey that Pete collected for 18 years, one for every year since Matthew was born in 1992. Pete used to work for a company that manufactured the raw materials required by the alcoholic beverage brand. "I liked the idea that the materials I made would eventually be used in the making of the Scotch," Pete told SWNS, speaking about the custom. Over the years, he noticed that his collection was appreciating by a large margin. Even though he spent only R4.8 lakh on the hooch, Macallan's soaring success caused its value to reach R37 lakh. Pete's family tradition turned into a fortune. All his kids ended up with an 18-year consecutive run of vintages, known as a "vertical."

Booze brokers Mark Littler LTD explained, "Normally it would take a lot of time and effort to amass a vertical like this. However, this is the opportunity for a collector to purchase them all instantly." They have listed the scotch stash for over R37 lakh online.

Take it easy, Urvashi

A German university is offering a grant of about R1.4 lakh to people for staying idle

Friedrich von Borries

The University of Fine Arts in Hamburg has an exciting, new proposition for those who don't like doing a lot. It is offering "idleness grants" worth $1,900 (R1.4 lakh approx.) to three, lucky people. The "grant for doing nothing" will be for "active inactivity" as the project studies lack of ambition for an exhibition on sustainability called The School of Inconsequentiality: Towards A Better Life.

"Doing nothing isn't very easy," said Friedrich von Borries, the architect who designed the programme. "We want to focus on active inactivity. If you say you are not going to move for a week, then that's impressive. If you propose you are not going to move or think, that might be even better," added von Borries. He wants to find out how one can turn a society structured around achievements on its head.

Songbirds can serenade

It's not just rock stars who do drugs to give you their best on stage, a new study has found that Starlings, when dosed with tiny amounts of fentanyl, can belt out musical numbers similar to jazz. "Here we've shown that opioids cause singing behaviour," said Lauren Riters, a biologist at the University of Wisconsin, to the Daily Mail. While it is common knowledge that many birds sing either to attract a mate or to mark their territory, the research team that Riters was a part of, theorised that they also chirp for joy. For instance, when they are together, in a flock. These warbles sound a lot like "free form songs," observed Riters, who spearheaded the study.

Wife wants to divorce 'sweet as honey' hubby

Representation pic

A Muslim woman from Uttar Pradesh approached a Sharia court to end her marriage of 18 months, because she is fed up of her husband who loves her too much. "Whenever I make a mistake, he always forgives me. I do not need a life where the husband agrees to just about everything," she said.

Bank builds branch in the middle of nowhere

Pic/Noticia Central, Facebook

Photos and videos of a branch of the Banco del Bienestar have been doing the rounds on Mexican social media, for being located in the middle of nowhere. It is situated somewhere in the state of Chihuahua, a long way from any human settlement by the looks of it.

Scots taken for a ride by ignorant American

Representation pic

A news site reported that much of the Scottish version of Wikipedia is actually written by an American, who goes by the handle AmaryllisGardener and doesn't even speak the language. They have composed more than 23,000 articles. This has resulted in several tragically-comic entries.

Touch like a tusker

An image shared by the Halle Zoo has been melting hearts on the Internet. It shows the moving reunion of Pori the elephant and her daughter Tana. They touched trunks after being separated for 12 long years. Daily Mail reported that the reunion took place in the German city of Halle, after 39-year-old Pori was moved there from Berlin. Pori also got to meet her granddaughters, Tamika and Elani. Pic/Zoo Halle, Facebook

A paper tiger

Pic/Rebekah Jenkins, Facebook

UK-based Rebekah Jenkins is an artist who uses paper as her canvas and as her material. Jenkins specialises in creating intricate artworks with colourful strips of paper. She uses a technique known as quilling to create impressive portraits of humans and animals, among other things. Her USP is using quilling to depict various textures, like the fur on mammals.

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