Poor Luke Skywalker the Great Dane. He's scared to death of his human's Halloween costume. He's not letting that Stay Puft thing near him, running up and down stairs to avoid its gaze. What else is a pup to do when presented with a Puft? Just keep running, Luke. You have the force on your side. -Via Laughing Squid
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Photographer Zachary Scott shot this series of children transformed into seniors with the help of makeup, prosthetics, and added effects in post processing. Scott's photos were used in a New York Times feature article entitled "What if Age Is Nothing but a Mind-set?" about reverse aging and the mind/body connection. -Via Laughing Squid
(Photo: Kent Blechynden)
It's not a good idea for future business, right? But the managers of the Island Bay Playcentre in Wellington, New Zealand think that auctioning off a vasectomy will help raise money right now.
The operation normally costs about $316 USD. Dr. Shane Dunphy, who has performed about 1,000 vasectomies, will inflict one to the winner of the auction. Matt Stewart writes for Stuff:
The voucher is valid until June but features a caveat - no frozen peas included, which is commonly applied by patients to reduce swelling.
Widely hailed as "hilarious" on the centre's Facebook page, the surgical auction item sparked some lively discussion including this gem from a mum to a dad: "Just saying, 2 c-sections later, now it's your turn."
-via Nothing to Do with Aborath
P.S. My wife comments, "I wonder if they've picked the parent they really want to win."
Queso is a pit bull with some issues. He suffers from phobias. According to his owner, he is afraid of “the kitchen floor, the printer, and doorways” among other things. Oh, he can face his fears; he just can’t face them head first. Speculation is that he ran into a glass door a few too many times in the past. Queso has figured out a workaround for getting through doorways, as you’ll see in this video. -via Tastefully Offensive
The Taiwanese design firm Charm Villa makes tea bags that look like goldfish. Each one is assembled by machine and hand in a 16-step process. Tug on the cotton string and the bag will appear to swim within your cup.
(Photos: Charm Villa)
-via Lustik
(Photo: Lindsey Wilson)
Santa Claus planned to visit a mall in Evansville, Indiana to meet boys and girls who wanted to talk with him. But first, he needed breakfast. So he stopped at a Bob Evans restaurant.
Gracie Lynn, 3, and her mother and grandmother were also there eating breakfast. Gracie was appalled that Santa had to eat with no one to keep him company. So she decided to have breakfast with him. Kimberly Yam writes for the Huffington Post:
"They talked for about 20 minutes," Wilson, who is currently pregnant with a boy, told HuffPost, "and all she wanted to talk about was [her future baby brother]." […]
Wilson told HuffPost that the pair chatted about the North Pole's weather conditions and the movie, "Frozen." Gracie even asked Santa if she could visit him and his toy shop.
We have seen amazing advancements in robotics in the past few years. For example, knife-wielding robots have been programmed to repeatedly stab meat. Other robots are programmed to comfort dying humans. Still other, completely unrelated robots, can process energy from human biomass.
Now ABB's line of industrial robots can fight with katanas.
Which is excellent because it's cool to watch increasingly intelligent and autonomous machines wave around swords with perfect precision and at incredibly fast speeds.
Good work, engineers.
-via Geekologie
In this heartbreaker of a story, Ashley Elizabeth Wood loved helping people. She created a life for herself in the service of others. In the wake of 9/11, Ashley traveled to New York City from her home state of California to volunteer at Ladder 10 Fire Station at Ground Zero, known for its bronze memorial wall in honor of their fallen heroes. There she met another volunteer, Chris Picco. The two fell in love and married.
Eventually, Ashley became pregnant, and the couple were joyous about starting a family. Chris, who plays guitar and sings beautifully, would sing to his child in utero. When she was 24 weeks pregnant, Ashley unexpectedly died at age 30. At that time, an emergency C-section was performed, which resulted in the premature birth of Lennon James Picco.
The baby was placed in the neonatal intensive care unit. Just as he had done before little Lennon was born, Chris played and sang the Beatles' "Blackbird" to his son. This video is footage of Chris playing for Lennon. Tragically, the infant also passed away after clinging to life for three days.
-Via Viral Viral Videos
Ferrets Teun, Yuki, and Spike have it made, with all these toys and each other to play with. But the real fun starts when a remote control car is introduced into the mix at about 2:40. The brave ferrets can hold their own against the mechanical monster, although they seem to be more curious than intimidated. Yeah, they are living the life of Riley, in fast-forward. -via Tastefully Offensive
It’s hard to believe that many of the movies we love the most were considered failures when they were first released. There are plenty of reasons why the box office doesn’t do well, even with a good movie: its initial budget may have made profitability a real risk, it may have been up against stiff competition, or maybe it was just too cerebral for moviegoers who wanted pure escapism when they went to the theater. The first reason was the downfall of The Wizard of Oz.
Believe it or not, The Wizard of Oz was a box office bomb when it was released in 1939. At the time, it was Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's most expensive film ever with giant sets and state-of-the-art special effects. MGM had high expectations for the film, however, audiences weren't keen on making the journey to the Wonderful Land of Oz.
In fact, MGM lost $1.1 million on The Wizard of Oz because of its high production and distribution cost. Despite its middling box office numbers, it garnered four Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and won two Oscars for Best Score and Best Original Song for "Over the Rainbow."
Read the reasons behind the box office failures of Fight Club, Blade Runner, The Shawshank Redemption, Citizen Kane, and more at mental_floss.
Something as cosmic as space travel would have to change your point of view, don’t you think? To see everything and everyone you've ever known as a pretty blue marble suspended in the universe -that woul be humbling. Or maybe not. Once you’ve slipped the surly bonds of earth, you probably think you’re pretty special. This comic is from Zach at Extra Fabulous Comics. -via Geeks Are Sexy
This is Bluey, a parakeet owned by Carli Jeffrey. Bluey loves to imitate sounds, including human voices, laser sound effects, and kissing sounds.
Jeffrey played a video of R2-D2 from Star Wars. After hearing it about 4 or 5 times, Bluey was ready to offer this perfect imitation of the droid.
You can compare Bluey's imitation with the original sounds of the foul-mouthed droid in this clip from Episode III. Bluey is ready to be a voice actor!
-via Twisted Sifter
Memphis-based photographer Haley Morris-Cafiero's series "Wait Watchers," ongoing since 2013, comprises photographs of herself in public places, capturing others' expressions in reaction to looking at her as they pass. She sets up her shots with a visible, self-timed camera, usually on a tripod, and proceeds to do normal activities. Apparent looks of disgust from people while looking at her are frequently seen in the results.
One such example happened in Times Square, New York City. A man standing behind Morris-Cafiero made a face at her from behind her, as a friend of his grabbed a picture of him. That was part of her inspiration for the project.
The photographer said in an article at Salon,
"I do not know what the strangers are thinking when they look at me. But there is a Henri Cartier-Bresson moment when my action aligns with the composition, the shutter and their gaze that has a critical or questioning element. Even though they are in front of a camera, they feel they have anonymity because they are crossing behind me.
And I don’t get hurt when I look at the images. I feel like I am reversing the gaze back on to them to reveal their gaze. I’m fine with who I am and don’t need anyone’s approval to live my life. I only get angry when I hear someone comment about my weight and the image does not reflect the criticism. That’s frustrating: when I didn’t get the shot.
But since the project started getting media attention, I’ve received hundreds of emails from people thanking me. There are so many people in the world who feel they have the right – no, the obligation — to criticize someone for the way they look, and to be that recipient of those insults can feel so lonely. I got an email from a 15-year-old girl in Belgium who said my images made her “feel better and not care about what others think and live my life.” That made me proud. As for what the images mean, viewers may interpret the images as they see fit. I’m just trying to start a conversation."
See more of Morris-Cafiero's images at her website and on Instagram and Twitter.
Via Viral Nova | Images: Haley Morris-Cafiero
The way in which a book begins is important, in that it's indicative of the author's style as well as setting the tone for the entire piece of writing. It's like a walking in a front door; the way it is crafted can lend insight as to the treasures (or lack thereof) within.
Here are a few opening sentences of beloved science fiction books. See if you recognize any of them. Then visit this i09 article to see the books from which they came, as well as to read more examples. If your favorite sci-fi book opening sentences are not included in the article, tell us what they are in comments.
1) "Physicist Leonardo Vetra smelled burning flesh, and he knew it was his own."
2) "The five small craft passed from shadow, emerging with the suddenness of coins thrown into sunlight."
3) "He woke, and remembered dying."
Image: Wikipedia
A bouquet of a dozen Roses card
Thank you for being a friend . . . and for making such clever crafts inspired by The Golden Girls! Jenna Guilliame of BuzzFeed has rounded up 23 crafts that people have made with images and words from one of the greatest American sitcoms. They make me want to eat a cheesecake and slap a friend.
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