Love it or hate it, there is no contesting that Wal-Mart is America’s biggest retail chain. This time lapse video proves it by documenting the spread of the chain (along with its sister store Sam’s Club) from 1962 -2010. It looks like that map they show in every horror movie of the growing number of infected areas during a zombie outbreak (Just saying). Link
Love it or hate it, there is no contesting that Wal-Mart is America’s biggest retail chain. This time lapse video proves it by documenting the spread of the chain (along with its sister store Sam’s Club) from 1962 -2010. It looks like that map they show in every horror movie of the growing number of infected areas during a zombie outbreak (Just saying). Link
And you thought your place was a dump. What if you actually lived in a dump truck? This industrious person has utilized every bit of a small living space inside of an old garbage truck. See link for full gallery.
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You know when it's the devil. A truly frightening advertisement. -Thanks, Andre Price!
The Galactic Empire Times, which looks suspiciously like the New York Times, has a breaking story.
CORUSCANT — Obi-Wan Kenobi, the mastermind of some of the most devastating attacks on the Galactic Empire and the most hunted man in the galaxy, was killed in a firefight with Imperial forces near Alderaan, Darth Vader announced on Sunday.
In a late-night appearance in the East Room of the Imperial Palace, Lord Vader declared that “justice has been done” as he disclosed that agents of the Imperial Army and stormtroopers of the 501st Legion had finally cornered Kenobi, one of the leaders of the Jedi rebellion, who had eluded the Empire for nearly two decades. Imperial officials said Kenobi resisted and was cut down by Lord Vader's own lightsaber. He was later dumped out of an airlock.
There's much more. The ads and comments are priceless. http://www.galacticempiretimes.com/2011/05/09/galaxy/outer-rim/obi-wan-kenobi-is-killed.html -via reddit
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"Per Aspera Ad Astra" (through hardships to the stars), part four of The Sagan Series, is a promotion for NASA. Creator Reid Gower, is admired by NASA, but they have no funding for public relations whatsoever. Link
The design called PIT IN uses a desk or table as a bike rack. The bicycle seat then serves as a chair while you work or take a break. That is, if you are OK with sitting on a bicycle seat while you're not riding. This could only be comfortable if my bicycle had a tractor seat. Link -via Laughing Squid
Among hundreds of women who acted as spies during the Civil War, Elizabeth Van Lew stands out as one of the most effective. She was a prominent member of Richmond society who opposed both slavery and secession, but kept quiet among the fervent Confederates around her. Van Lew and her mother volunteered to care for Union prisoners at Libby Prison, where they gained many contacts. Word got back to Gen. Benjamin Butler, who recruited her as a Union spy.
Despite her bravery and the Union victory, Van Lew was regarded as a traitor by her neighbors and found it hard to support herself after the war. Read her story at Smithsonian. Link
(Image credit: The Granger Collection, NYC)
By June 1864, Van Lew’s spy network had grown to more than a dozen people. Along with the agents in government service, she relied on an informal network of men and women, black and white—including her African-American servant Mary Elizabeth Bowser. The group relayed hidden messages between five stations, including the Van Lew family farm outside the city, to get key information to the Union. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant later told Van Lew, “You have sent me the most valuable information received from Richmond during the war.”
Despite her bravery and the Union victory, Van Lew was regarded as a traitor by her neighbors and found it hard to support herself after the war. Read her story at Smithsonian. Link
(Image credit: The Granger Collection, NYC)
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Christian Schallert has a 258 square foot apartment in Barcelona. With some imagination and design help, he remodeled it into a transformable space. Everything is stored away. He opens doors to use the kitchen, and moves things around to have a dining area or bedroom. Link -via Buzzfeed
Hello Kitty I Heart Nerds Clutch - $27.95
Are you a nerdy girl who loves Hello Kitty? You need the Hello Kitty I Heart Nerds Clutch from the NeatoShop. Show the world that you can be cute and smart. Everyone knows nerds have more fun.
Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more fabulous Hello Kitty & Sanrio items!
According to police, Mark C. Sirben of Spring Hill, Florida, was so drunk that he went home, made himself a snack, and passed out on the couch. But it wasn't his home. It wasn't even in Spring Hill -the home was in Palm Harbor! The sleeping woman who actually lived there heard someone coughing in the middle of the night.
They found food in a frying pan they had not prepared. Sirben, who has a record of DUI convictions, was jailed for trespassing and criminal mischief. Link -via Arbroath
(Image credit: Florida Mugshots)
The woman went to investigate and found Sirben asleep on her couch. She woke up her husband, who went to the living room and confronted Sirben. Sirben argued with the husband, telling him that he lived there, before he passed out again.
"They had no idea who this guy was," said Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Cecilia Barreda.
When a deputy arrived, Sirben was still asleep on the couch with a plate of food at his side. The couple said Sirben must have cooked something for himself before he fell asleep.
They found food in a frying pan they had not prepared. Sirben, who has a record of DUI convictions, was jailed for trespassing and criminal mischief. Link -via Arbroath
(Image credit: Florida Mugshots)
Sam Q. Kim, a guy with a lot of time on his hands (and great willpower to not just om nom all of those gummies) made a stop motion video of the little bears representing Tetris, Pac-Man, Breakout and more. It's really cute, but now I have a sugar craving.
Link via Geekologie
Class assignment: “Explain something modern/internet based to someone who lived and died before 1900”
Cardiff School of Art & Design student Rachel Walsh decided she would explain the Amazon Kindle to author Charles Dickens and submitted this project. She designed 40 miniature books and placed them inside of a hardcover book, a Victorian age metaphor for a portable reader.
“I made the book start to finish over five days, and it took about 35 hours to make I reckon. It was pretty painstaking cutting out all the gaps in the book itself, and making the books to go inside. They’re all bound like actual books, so as I waited for them to glue and dry I would design the covers for them. All the covers are copies of real book covers. They include many of Dickens’s novels, his favorite childhood books, and some of my own.”
Link - Via Gamma Squad and My Rusty Sieve
By now, alternate endings on movies are rarely shocking. After all, practically every DVD special feature area seems to have at least one, if not multiple story endings and they usually are at least a little predictable. That’s why it’s up to the fans, or enemies, of a particular picture to make their own alternate endings to really give us something to think about.
Yogi Bear
The best thing about this 3D animated ending is how amazingly perfect it looks. If I was hiring animators, the creator of this one would be up there on my list. It actually looks like it could be part of the movie, which is what throws you so hard when the loveable characters turn so dark so fast. In case you’re wondering, yes, the scene is from another movie, The Assassination of Jessie James. If you’re interested, you can watch the original scene here.
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The Truman Show
Yes, Jim Carrey has been in two movies about the possible effects of our current media over-saturation. Never has that been more obvious than when you take scenes from The Cable Guy and cut them in to the ending of The Truman Show to make a much, much darker alternate ending.
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Wall-E
I’ll admit it…I cried at the end of Wall-E, even tough I knew that as a Pixar movie they’d never let it end that depressingly. If this really was the ending, EVE wouldn’t be the only one blowing her brains out because she couldn’t deal with the pain.
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According to Steve Spangler, the tiny amount of water in Ivory's famous air bubbles heat up and expand. The end product is a "soap souffle"! -via The Daily What
Shove a 1943 Beechcraft body onto a 1979 Jeep Cherokee chassis, and this beauty is the result. The Beech Car was built by Bob A. Pfeiffer in 1984 and is now up for sale. The custom-built interior still looks much like an airplane, especially the driver's seat. It was used, among other promotional purposes, to transport a hockey team's cheerleaders onto the ice.
Link | Photo: Craigslist
