Ian Chant, Author at The Mary Sue

Ian Chant

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Artist Who Painted Vladimir Putin In Women’s Underwear Has To Flee Russia

Artist Konstantin Altunin is seeking asylum in France today, after being forced to flee his native Russia following the removal of several of his paintings from a gallery by Russian police officers. Among those removed was a painting of Russian President Vladmir Putin in a negligee, doing the hair of former Prseident Dmitri Medvedyev.

Researchers Grow Tiny Human Brains In Lab

Researchers at the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology of the Austrian Academy of Sciences have done the impossible -- or at least the creepy and ill-advised -- and grown tiny miniature models of the human brain in a lab from stem cells. Don't worry, though. They haven't been networked together into a terrifying living computer. Y'know, yet.

Man Fined $500 For Drinking A Severed Human Toe In A Shot

You read that headline right -- a man was served a human toe in a shot, and instead of suing everyone in a 10-block radius, he is being fined $500. That's what happens when you botch Dawson City's famous Sourtoe Shot -- a shot of Yukon Jack served with a preserved human toe in it. But your not supposed to drink the toe! Come on, that's just silly.

Geekolinks: 8/29

What's more dangerous -- watching a video of The Ring's Sadako throwing out the first pitch of a baseball game, or listening to Pat Robertson say anything on television ever? There's only one way to find out, and that's to get yourself some fresh Geekolinks and find out what's going on in the world this morning.

Watch A Teddy Bear Break Felix Baumgartner’s Skydiving Record

Felix Baumgartner spent months preparing for his record-breaking skydive last year, which considering he leapt from nearly 24 miles over the Earth, is pretty reasonable. Baumgartner's feat, though, has already been eclipsed by another jump this week. Even worse news? The jumper, Babbage the Teddy Bear, is cuter than Baumgartner, too.

Geekolinks: 8/28

Jean-Pierre Jeunet weighs in on an Amelie musical, see the world's most expensive toilet paper, and find out why a self-professed "hermit" in Maine is being charged with 1,000 counts of burglary. Total world knowledge -- at least of things happening this morning -- is at your fingertips today in Geekolinks.

Welcome to the Periodic Table! Existence of Element 115 Confirmed

New experiments reported today in the journal Physical Review Letters confirm that researchers have created atoms of a new element. The super heavy element, with an atomic number of 115, has been a subject of interest since Russian researchers saw signs of it a decade ago, though new evidence all but guarantees it a place on the periodic table.

You Can Buy A Tiny Drone You Control From Your Smartphone, Get It In Time For The Holidays

You know what's going to be weird in 5 years? trying to remember a time that the air around you was not swarming with tiny drones. We've seen inexpensive DIY drones before, but Hex -- a fully customizable, hackable nanocopter you can control with your smartphone -- takes the cake. It also takes pictures, so privacy lawyers, start your engines!

Fox Sneaks Into Man’s Bed, Apparently Just Wants To Snuggle

A British IT worker who thought he was cuddling with his girlfriend in the early morning got a rude awakening when it turned out his partner in bed was actually a fox that had snuck in overnight and made itself at home. Personally, though, I don't see what so wrong here -- I'm betting that fox is way cuddlier than his girlfriend.

Geekolinks: 8/27

Who is driving boat? Bear is driving boat?! Oh no! Also on tap this morning, John Scalzi drops the mic on a dudebro, The Onion explains why every major news outlet led with Miley Cyrus twerking yesterday, and it's a bad day to be a British badger. Check out these stories and more in this morning's Geekolinks.