Shutterstock
An artist who was given $84K returned blank canvases titled “Take the Money and Run,” Amazon introduces new home robot; lottery winner drowns with ticket in pocket; Jason Aldean political clothing controversy.
The Kunsten Museum of Modern Art in Aalborg, Denmark gave artist Jens Haaning $84,000 to use in a work of art. But when the museum received the artwork, they were given two blank canvases entitled: “Take the Money and Run.”
Haaning had been commissioned to re-create two of his previous works first exhibited in 2007 entitled “An Average Danish Annual Income” and “An Average Austrian Annual Income.” Those two works used actual cash as a way of showing the average incomes of the two countries, CBS reported.
“He stirred up my curatorial staff and he also stirred me up a bit, but I also had a laugh because it was really humoristic,” Lasse Andersson, director of the museum said. “It’s the museum’s money and we have a contract saying that the money will be back on 16 January.”
Haaning, 56, has vowed to keep the cash, the BBC reported.
“The work is that I have taken their money,” Haaning said.
Amazon has introduced its first household robot named “Astro,” powered by its Alexa smart home technology, the BBC reported. The robot can patrol a home automatically, as well as be remote-controlled when away from home, and can be used to check on pets, people, or home security, sending owners and notification if it detects anything unusual. It also has an extendable “periscope” camera that extends from its head.
Amazon stressed that the robot was more than “Alexa with wheels.” Amazon says Astro has a wide range of expressions and movements to give it a personality and it can even “beatbox” while playing hip-hop beats.
Addressing privacy concerns, Amazon said Astro can be set with “out of bounds sounds” to stay away from certain areas, and also has a “do not disturb” feature. The robot has buttons to turn off its microphones and cameras, although it loses its ability to move around when these are disabled.
A 57-year-old Michigan man named Gregory Jarvis won $45,000 in a lottery game. However, he wasn’t able to cash it because he didn’t possess a Social Security card. Michigan requires that winners of prizes over $600 have to present a photo ID and Social Security card to collect their winnings. Jarvis applied for a new one and was waiting for it to come in, the New York Post reported.
Then Jarvis failed to show up for work. A resident walking along a private beach called police and reported a body had washed up on shore near a boat. Authorities determined it was Jarvis, and determined he had drowned after striking his head. There was no foul play suspected. Inside his pocket, they found the winning lottery ticket, which they turned over to his relatives.
Brittany Aldean, wife of country superstar Jason Aldean, created a social media controversy after sharing photos of their children, aged 3 and 2, to promote her anti-president Biden T-shirts and other apparel. The children were wearing black T-shirts displaying: “HIDIN’ FROM BIDEN.” In another photo, Brittany was wearing a T-shirt that read “Anti-Biden Social Club.”
Most users were upset that the Aldeans were using their young kids to send political messages, the Blaze and the Hill reported.
