You're right, Jar Jar. We need you back, if for no other reason than to kill these other characters.
So The Joy of Tech calls these characters rejected? I think that all it has done has given J.J. Abrams several terrible ideas.
But we can be reasonably sure that Abrams would have eventually come up with Glinty on his own.
17-year old Desi will graduate from her high school in Michigan in June. Her service dog, Walton, doesn't have enough credits to graduate yet, but perhaps he will by the time of the ceremony.
Desi has cerebral palsy and relies on Walton to assist her in daily tasks. So he'll walk with her to pick up her diploma. He already has his academic regalia. He and Desi donned theirs in the photo above when it was time to take class pictures. Note that he has correctly kept his tassel on the right side.
(Photo: Austin Dennison)
Delores Dennison, 89, of Hartville, Ohio, didn't get to go to her own school prom when she was a teenager. Now decades later, her great-grandson, Austin Dennison, has rectified that problem. He took her to the prom at his high school.
To make sure that she felt cherished, Austin also took her to dinner, gave her a pearl necklace, and serenaded her, accompanied by his guitar. He understands how precious older relatives can be:
“I asked Grandma if she would be my date to the prom and she said that she would be honored. I told her that it would be my privilege.
“I’ve been blessed with grandparents and great grandparents that know as much as they do,” continued Dennison. “They have so many stories to tell. All I have to do is ask.”
-via 22 Words
The famous movie producer steps into the elevator. The intern sees his chance to pitch his brilliant movie idea. He makes elevator pitch--or so it appears. In this award-winning short film by Simon Ryninks, Zak Klein, and Tibo Travers, what appears to be reality isn't. The narrative set falls over, again and again.
-via Geek Art Gallery
Photo: Alan Gibson
Jamie Harkins is an artist in Mount Maunganui, New Zealand. As you can see from his Facebook gallery, he's a fine painter who creates canvases with vivid colors. But after seeing three dimensional chalk drawings on pavement, he felt inspired to try a different medium.
With the help of other artists David Rendu and Constanza Nightingale, he created enormous sand images on local beaches. When viewed from certain angles, they appear to pop out of the surface of the beach. Harkins explained his goals to the New Zealand Herald:
"We've seen other people doing stuff on beaches, but it's always been geometric, flat shapes, like a pattern, so we thought we'd get into the whole 3D thing," he said. "And I kind of like the fact that it disappears at the end of the day when the tide comes in. It makes it impermanent."
You can view more of their work here.
Photo: Constanza Nightingale
Photo: Constanza Nightingale
Photo: Constanza Nightingale
Photo: Constanza Nightingale
-via Twisted Sifter
The Awkward Yeti's archnemesis is his own brain--especially when he's trying to sleep.
Listen, Lars: your brain is going to keep doing that until you punish it. May I suggest alcohol? Or a hammer?
(Photo: College Hunks Hauling Junk)
College Hunks Hauling Junk is a moving company based in Tampa, Florida. While on the job, employee Cesar Larios found himself in a stuck elevator. This caused great concern to an elderly woman on that elevator. She couldn't stand for a long period of time.
So Larios, a true gentleman, kneeled down so that he could be a human chair for her. Nick Friedman, the president of the company, writes:
A lot of people say the younger generation has lost certain values. But one small picture shows that chivalry and hard work are still very much alive in our youth.
-via 22 Words
(Photo: US Department of Defense)
John J. Pershing (1860-1948) was one of America’s greatest military leaders. He began in humble conditions in Missouri. Pershing was commissioned as a lieutenant in 1886 after graduating from West Point. His first commands were in the west in the final years of the Indian Wars. In 1896, he was given command of the Tenth Cavalry, an all-black unit in America’s racially segregated military. Pershing led that regiment into battle in Cuba during the Spanish-American War. He was unflinching in his praise and respect for his men. Some white officers nicknamed him “Black Jack” in reference to his defense of his black troops. Others used a somewhat different nickname that rhymes with “jigger.”
Pershing led the American Expeditionary Forces during World War I. It was a monumental task, for Pershing had to organize, train, and equip an army of 4 million men almost from scratch, then lead it into battle on the other side of the planet.
Pershing was successful, for which was rightfully promoted to the rank of General of the Armies of the United States in 1919. This is an honor held by only one other person: George Washington.
(Photo: Troop A, Tenth Cavalry Regiment, c. 1902)
But “Black Jack” Pershing is not often remembered for one of his most practical, everyday innovations. While he was a senior cadet at West Point, he invented an exercise used by people around the world to this day: the jumping jack. It was a means that Pershing used to haze a cadet named Charles D. Rhodes. Frank Everson Vandiver writes about it in Black Jack: The Life and Times of John J. Pershing:
Worst of all, Pershing invented an almost foolproof method of hazing, and Rhodes suffered directly. The scheme got the name “jumping Jack” for obvious reasons, and few treatments seem to have affected plebes more lastingly. Origins of the technique are obscure, but Pershing’s plan had simplicity and adaptability. He would line up a group of plebes, order them to count off to identify odds and evens, and when he pulled on an imaginary string, all the odds threw their arms stiffly out at right angles to their bodies; then Jack pulled the string in the opposite direction, and the odds dropped their arms and evens jumped their legs out to make a V. Back and forth went the string, arms flapped, legs splayed, while upperclassmen howled at the marionettes in action.
And since that time more than a century ago, gym teachers and trainers have hazed people with General Pershing’s invention.
So it is appropriate that on May 1, Pershing’s home state of Missouri declared the jumping jack the official state exercise.
A wildfire is raging near Los Angeles. The sky near your home is filled with smoke. Firefighters are trying to prevent your neighborhood from burning down. There are news crews on the scene shooting footage of what they regard as a disaster area. What time is it?
Yep. It's time to go pick up some girls.
This man saw an opportunity. There was a lovely young lady down by the curb. So he slipped off his shirt (gotta show off those muscles), picked up his puppy (chick bait), and went in search of some action.
Courtney Friel, a reporter with KTLA, turned him down. Alas, his game was not up to snuff.
Clearly he didn't see my ring Hubs RT "carterevans: Can I go too? "courtneyfriel: ShirtlessDudeAsksMeOutOnLiveTV http://t.co/D4nVPgFdnV
— Courtney Friel (@courtneyfriel) May 1, 2014I wouldn't be so sure, Mrs. Friel. To some men, that's actually attractive.
-via Dave Barry
If you live in Oregon, Maine, New Hampshire, Montana, Hawaii, or (naturally) Texas, it's not likely that you want to move out of state. But if you live in Illinois, Maryland, or Connecticut, there's a good chance that you're trying to escape.
From June to December of last year, Gallup asked at least 600 people in each state, "Regardless of whether you will move, if you had the opportunity, would you like to move to another state, or would you rather remain in your current state?"
After compiling responses, Gallup created the map and charts that you see above. The dark green areas indicate a more intense desire to relocate out of state. Fully 50% of respondents in Illinois wanted out.
-via Popular Science
This is brilliant! Etsy seller Laurie Marin makes geeky gourds, especially ones with anime themes. She found a gourd that looks just like the body of Totoro--especially after she scrubbed, finished, burned, and dyed it. Her Totoro sculpture is a built-in electric clock which is powered by a single AA battery. It's beautiful.
-via That's Nerdalicious!
Gavin Aung Than is the cartoonist behind Zen Pencils. He illustrates inspirational speeches and writings of famous people. We've previously seen him show the meditations of Neil Gaiman and Taylor Mali.
Recently, Than has been reading a biography of Jim Henson (1936-1990), the man who created the Muppets. Than writes:
Henson realised he was in control of his life at an early age. There was only one industry Henson wanted a career in and that was television. Puppeteering was just a means to an end for Henson, a way to get his foot in the television door. It was only after a trip to Europe where Henson discovered the rich history of puppeteering did he recognise the potential of the artform and decide to dedicate his life to it.
You can read Than's complete comic here.
It makes a lot of sense. I learned later than I should have that what other people think of me isn't really important. I don't have to be what someone else wants me to be.
That said, quitting your job with GlobalCorp before you have another job lined up may not be a prudent idea.
Photo: Alan Light
(Photo: Elliott Brown)
You're standing on a footbridge overlooking a train track. A train is coming down that track. It is about to hit and kill five people.
A very heavy man is also on the bridge. If you push him off the bridge, his body will stop the train, but it will also kill him.
Would you push him?
How you answer this ethical dilemma may be affected by the language in which you hear it. Researchers at the University of Chicago and Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona found that when people encountered this dilemma in a foriegn language, they were more likely to take the utilitarian option: pushing the man off the footbridge. Science 2.0 reports:
The researchers collected data from people in the U.S., Spain, Korea, France and Israel. Across all populations, more participants selected the utilitarian choice — to save five by killing one — when the dilemmas were presented in the foreign language than when they did the problem in their native tongue.
Even with randomizing the participants' language groups, "those using a foreign language were twice as likely to respond with the utilitarian approach that is more in the service of the common good of saving more people," said lead author Albert Costa from the Center of Brain and Cognition, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona. Costa is currently a visiting professor at the University of Chicago.
-via Marilyn Terrell
Photographer Juan Sánchez Castillo calls his new series "Making It Up." He used specialized makeup and human miniatures to create active landscapes on a model. With the right staging, her face became a world inhabited by children, landscapers, painters, and mountain climbers.
Castillo has helpfully provided a lengthy, detailed description of how he staged and shot every image in the series. As you might expect, the snowy scene was particularly challenging:
When everything was ready for the shoot, we glued the figures in their positions and spread an even layer of snow powder with a strainer. And while I was shooting, the makeup artist continued sifting the snow powder from above the frame. It was quite difficult to work with the powder. The model had to keep her eyes shut because of it, and we had to pause between shots to allow her to take a breath of some clean air.
We also had to cover the entire place with bedding sheets in order to avoid my wife killing me after the shoot!
-via Khool
In Russia, motorcyclists, like car drivers, have to drive with cameras. This rider had a helmet-mounted camera turned on when he saw an old man trying to cross a very busy street. He stopped and shielded the pedestrian from traffic with his bike. How kind of him!
It's similar to this charming encounter in Canada that we posted several months ago.
-via Jalopnik
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