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Brett Kennedy is a roboticist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He's worked on the Mars Exploration Rover the LEMUR-class robots, among many other projects. He has not worked on Star Wars, however, because otherwise he might have improved the droid designs.

In this video from Wired, Kennedy uses his professional knowledge to critique the designs of the most well-known droids in Star Wars. He rejects the adorable BB-8 as a poor choice of locomotion. A single rolling ball can't handle obstacles well. He's impressed with R2-D2, though, and says that it could probably be built today. What about C-3PO? Kennedy really likes Threepio's flexible spine, which is a challenge for modern robotics.

-via The Mary Sue

Krispy Kreme's iconic glazing machines are a wondrous sight. You can stare and drool at them for hours.

So the company is putting your devoted attention to good use. It modified those drips to form a barcode. You can scan it with your smartphone and pull up a coupon for a dozen free donuts. Read more about this clever promotion at Ad Week.

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-via Foodbeast

A long time ago in Westeros, an old master taught a young and impatient student how to control feelings and impulses. This is Star Thrones.

Robin Edds and Tom Phillips of BuzzFeed paired 14 scenes from Game of Thrones with dialogue from the original Star Wars trilogy. They work perfectly! And although both franchises have limb chopping and needless slaughter, only one--thankfully--has nudity.*

Question: does the Star Wars universe contain a Hodor equivalent?

*Except, of course, for Jabba the Hutt, who is nude throughout Return of the Jedi.

Trina Merry proves that body painting is truly a high artform. In the past, we've seen her present the zodiac signs and build a temple with painted human bodies. We've also seen her camouflage models into landscapes with her work, such as these landmark photos of New York City.

It is in this latter vein that her latest series, titled Lost in Wonder, takes shape. She painted models to blend into landmarks of the ancient world, including the pyramids of Giza, Stonehenge, Machu Picchu, and the Great Wall of China.

Imgur member EddardStawk posted a simple photo of a cat sitting on a plain white floor. He then invited the good people of the internet to add doodles to send the cat on wild and amazing adventures. Now he's an acrobat, a movie star, a toupee, and more!

Bored Panda has an open invitation for anyone who wants to contribute to a rapidly growing gallery of doodles. So far, there are 188.

(Images: Blue Buddies)

He calls himself Lucky Smurf, but that won't help him when Mob Enforcer Smurf breaks his kneecaps because he can't pay up when the wrong horse wins.

Rob Bricken of io9 has done the research and come up with a list of the 14 most horrible Smurfs. Not everyone can be Handy Smurf or Tailor Smurf. Some Smurfs are not only not useful, but an outright menace to themselves and everysmurf in the whole village. Lucky Smurf is one of them:

Lucky Smurf is not, in fact, lucky. He merely likes to bet and gamble, and is in fact very unlucky. The Smurfs have given him the ironic name of Lucky, because they are jerks, but also because it’s shorter than Degenerative Gambling Addiction Smurf.

It's like those sliced cheese-looking objects that are a staple of lunchtime sandwiches. But better! Rocket News 24 informs us that the Japanese company Bourbon sells slices of chocolate which, like slices of cheese, can and should be added to sandwiches. You can also use them to fill crêpes, make s'mores, or slip onto pancakes. They come in packages of 60 with thin plastic dividers between the slices.

But I won't lie to you: I'm just going to eat the entire package in one sitting, slice by slice.

Appropriately, it's called You Light Me Up. Ji Won Jun, a Korean designer, made this romantic design for a graduate school project. It's modeled on her own right hand. She made a mold of her hand, ran it through a 3d scanner, then used a 3d printer to produce the body of the lamp. A touch sensor mounted in the index finger tip activates the power.

-via BuzzFeed

(Image: Jonathan Corum/New York Times)

Between 2001 and 2013, 1,367 American servicemen suffered genital trauma while serving their country in Iraq and Afghanistan. Most lost part or all of their penises and testicles due to improvised explosive devices.

It's a horrible way to be hurt that, unlike missing arms or legs, isn't discussed much. Many of the victims feel embarrassment at their ordeals.

Now there may be a new option for these men. Penis transplants are highly experimental and have only been performed by other nations.  The process is finally coming to the United States. Doctors at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore are preparing to conduct the first penis transplant in the country. The New York Times describes the procedure:

The project has been years in the making, the doctors said, with extensive research and practice surgery on cadavers. Some of the work involved injecting brightly colored food dyes into the cadavers to map out the circulatory system in the penis. Dr. Lee said the research had found previously unknown aspects of its blood supply, which will be critical to the transplant’s success.

The operation should take about 12 hours, Dr. Lee said. The surgeons will connect two to six nerves, and six or seven veins and arteries, stitching them together under a microscope.

For the first few weeks after the surgery, a catheter will be left in place to drain urine. Sexual function will take longer to develop — probably a few months, Dr. Lee said. He said nerves would grow from the recipient into the transplant at a rate of about one inch per month, so the timing will depend in part on the extent of the recipient’s injuries and how far the nerves need to go.

-via Uproxx

(Photo: Courtney Solstad)

"I'm going to wet my pants!"

"Don't do that!" says the mom.

Santa Claus came early for the Solstad family of McKinney, Texas. The little girls asked him for a baby brother. And they got one! The family adoped baby Nathan, who arrived as an early Christmas gift.

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The Daily Telegraph reports:

They all jumped around and screamed with excitement about the new baby boy. […]

The mother wrote that welcoming Nathan into the family was “one of the most magical experiences in our lives.”

“We prayed big things and God answered in big ways,” she wrote. “Our little guy is so incredibly perfect.”

(Photo: Caleb Kerr)

The beer mile is the world's greatest athletic challenge. The task is a demanding one for legs, lungs, and liver. The participant chugs a beer, then runs a quarter of a mile, then repeats the process. That's 4 beers in a full mile.

Elvira Montes, 81, prefers to drink scotch. But to prove her physical prowess, she made an exception and ran a beer mile in Austin, Texas, completing the feat in 20 minutes and 24 seconds.

Her daughter and son-in-law joined her. She whupped them both. Montes's daughter finished 50 seconds behind her. Her son-in-law didn't even finish the race! I must wonder: was it the running or the alcohol which did him in?

Montes told Runner's World that she hopes to beat the 20-minute mark on her next attempt. For now, she's just enjoying her victory:

Montes promised to make a return appearance next year and hopes to break 20 minutes. To train, she plans to drink a beer while on the treadmill.

But, after crossing the finish line with a mile in her legs and four beers in her stomach, Montes was not thinking about her next race. She was ready to celebrate. So, she took her daughter to Hooters. They had chicken wings and Scotch.

-via VA Viper

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Blah, blah, blah. Sure, it's only 1 minute and 3 seconds, but it can feel like an eternity. Amirite guys?

New York magazine noticed that aside from Leia, the original Star Wars trilogy contains very little dialogue by women. Only 63 seconds out of a total 23,160 seconds has a woman other than Leia speaking.

Is that too little, too much, or just the right amount? I don't know, but Han is losing patience with Mon Motha's PowerPoint presentation, as you can see by his expression at the 0:46 mark in the video.

-via Joe Carter

Hillary Waters Fayle uses ordinary leaves in fresh ways to create appealing sculptures. Sometimes she stitches them together, such as these delicately embroidered ginkgo leaves. When coated with preservative agents, they stay locked in time.

On other occasions, Fayle cuts precise and elaborate patterns into leaves, such as this butterfly framed inside a butterfly-shaped leaf:

(Image: CBS)

Do you have doubts about the attractiveness of your own body? Then it may be helpful for you to attend a life drawing class and sketch a nude art model. That's the conclusion of a new study conducted by Dr. Viren Swami of Anglia Ruskin University in the UK. The Daily Telegraph reports:

Anglia Ruskin University asked 138 men and women to take part in life drawing classes and found that happiness with their appearance rose by more than 25 per cent.

Dr. Swami says that's because seeing actual human bodies may set a more realistic point of comparison than photoshopped bodies presented in mass media:

Life drawing sessions may also provide spaces for people to explore relationships with their own bodies and critically appraise media depictions of ‘idealised’ bodies.”

Amongst women, greater attendance at classes was significantly associated with higher body appreciation and a lower drive for thinness and social physique anxiety. For men, greater attendance was significantly associated with higher body appreciation.

In the beginning, he was awed by the meaning and the power of the Force. He used it carefully and reverently.

Then, about 5 years after completing his training, Max Goodrich, without realizing it, began taking his powers for granted. Why not use them to, say, bring the TV remote control to him without getting up off the sofa?

Did he forget his girlfriend's birthday? After a hand wave, so did she--at least long enough for him to run to the store and pick up flowers and chocolate.

What Goodrich didn't realize was that once you turn to the lazy side of the Force, forever will it dominate your destiny.

-via Tastefully Offensive