Mikkele.bringard

Want to get your hands on the new iPad Air, but don’t have the cash? Well Wal-Mart is launching a special campaign that will pay customers up to $300 for their old iPads so that they can buy the new iPad Air (which they’ll be selling for $479) when it hits shelves on Nov. 1. Starting this week, you can bring in your old iPad for an in-store appraisal and receive a gift card that can be used to the purchase of the new gadget. Of course, there’s nothing preventing you from using the store credit to buy another, equally awesome Walmart product …

Nick Offerman (who plays Ron Swanson on Parks & Rec) is a national treasure. Every time he opens his burly, mustachioed mouth, beautiful gems just seem to tumble out. That's as true in his frequently hilarious book, Paddle Your Own Canoe, as it is in a recent podcast he did with Chris Hardwick of Nerdist fame. The whole interview is full of delightful quips, but most telling is this exchange about Offerman's thoughts on Dos Equis' so-called "Most Interesting Man in the World."

I try not to take umbrage when I hear this sort of thin tapestry they’re trying to weave in that ad campaign. But I do like to think that the Dos Equis guy maybe would shine my shoes. Or I would drop my car off for him to detail. He’d do a fine job. He’d look into my rear-view mirror and mutter things to himself like, “Someday, you will drive a car like this. If you can step up into a more delicious cerveza.”

That's right, NBC. This is the sort of genius you've sidelined till next year. Hope you're happy ...

The people who tried to make a "I Love Kate Spade New York' bag maybe should have run their design by one or two more test audiences, because this Kate Spade bag sure looks like it says something else ...

After a sudden departure from the Dave Ramsey organization back in September, best-selling author, Twitter-extraordinaire, speaker and popular blogger Jon Acuff is back with a new website—Acuff.me. The home to his former content, JonAcuff.com, including the Stuff Christians Like blog that propelled him into Internet notoriety and spawned his first book, still redirects to a page on DaveRamsey.com that reads, “Regrettably, Jon Acuff has resigned from the Dave Ramsey team. This takes us as much by surprise as it does you. We wish Jon all the best.” Acuff’s first post on the new site, “Day Zero,” reads:

The only thing harder than beginning is beginning again. And trying to get someone to eat at a fondue restaurant a second time. That’s very hard in its own unique way. The truth is that as scary as the blank page might be, the harder thing to deal with is the one you’ve already drawn on. That page is covered with marks and mistakes. There is history there. There are scribbles and lines and cross outs.

Evidently the new launch has been pretty popular. Acuff posted on Twitter, “It's 9:11AM and we've already had to upgrade to a better server because traffic took the blog down. It's good to be back!” …

Mike Myers, he of eternal Shrek and Austin Powers fame, announced that he was expecting a baby with his wife, and that inspired a very obvious, very lazy joke amongst an astonishing amount of local news broadcasters. Conan rounded them up, and the resulting compilation is unreal ...

If you own a dog, then there is literally no good reason why it should not have this costume. Even if you’re not celebrating Halloween or have no party to attend with your dog, the costume still seems like a sensible investment in hilarity ...

The Tampa Bay Times has posted this sad, but also inspiring story, of a 15-year-old orphan named Davion, who was born into the foster care system. By his own admission, he wasn't the easiest kid to handle, but all that changed when he did a little research and found his birth mother—a woman who had gone to jail for petty theft and passed away just a few weeks before Davion found her. The discovery turned his life around. He got his grades up, lost a lot of weight and last month, made the most difficult choice of all.

Last month, the brave teen asked his caseworker if he could speak at a local church, and ask if there was a family who would adopt him. Currently, Davion lives in a special boys home with 12 other teens. In the story, Davion said, “I'll take anyone. Old or young, dad or mom, black, white, purple. I don't care. And I would be really appreciative. The best I could be." Following the sermon, the pastor invited Davion to the stage, where he told the congregation, "My name is Davion and I've been in foster care since I was born ... I know God hasn't given up on me. So I'm not giving up either." At the time the story was published following the church appearance, though two families asked about Davion, no one has yet volunteered to adopt him. On the Tampa Bay Times website, there is a phone number for anyone to call who may be interested in helping Davion …

Meet Claire, the heart demolishingly adorable daughter of photographer Dan Konkel, who was in a rush to put together a birthday video for his wife. The father and daughter collaborated on this video, uploaded it on her iPad, labeled it "hey, watch me," and the result is a birthday present for all of us, because just look at this kid ...

You don’t have to be a kid to appreciate a good Pixar story. If the ending to the Toy Story trilogy left you in tears wanting to see more from everyone's favorite talking toys (because there’s no shame in crying during an animated movie), than we’ve got some good news. ABC is airing a special Toy Story Halloween special that revisits Buzz, Woody and the gang as they embark on a spooky adventure to find the missing Mr. Potato Head. Toy Story of Terror airs on Wednesday 8 p.m. EST …

Oh my. This video is about a year old, but has finally started getting some much deserved buzz. In it, you'll meet Hernán, a young Argentinian boy with Down Syndrome, who doesn't particularly like being touched by people or animals. You'll also meet Himalaya, the family dog, who gently nuzzles Hernán, demonstrating a patience and tenderness that will inspire you to be just a bit more like a dog from now on ...

Mashup gurus Isosine have created this strange combination of Miley Cyrus’ “Wrecking Ball” and Mumford & Sons’ “Little Lion Man”, that’s actually surprisingly catchy. Thankfully, they’ve also edited out all of the original video’s sleaziness, and replaced it with clips of modern dance taken from the Sigur Ros film "Valtari" …

Here’s a new extended trailer for Ben Stiller’s upcoming comedic epic, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. Since the film’s first teaser released—and caused a stir online with its surreal visuals—it’s debuted as several film festivals, to extremely polarizing results. After early screenings, the Stiller-directed literary adaptation was called everything from a “Garden State for middle-aged office drones” to an Oscar contender. The one thing any critic can agree on, however, is how great the cast is. Stiller stars alongside Kristin Wiig, Adam Scott and Patton Oswalt …

Google has posted this short film that tells the story of Saroo Brierley, who was separated from his family in India as a very young child and was eventually adopted by a family in Australia. This three-minute film about Saroo using Google Maps to find his birth-mother decades later is a must-see …

The comedy group Improv Everywhere has unveiled their latest prank—a “running of the bulls” re-creation on the Venice Beach boardwalk. The results are pretty great …

The Atlantic has posted this slideshow featuring the photography of Bradley Garrett, an urban explorer who documents his journeys through stunning photographs. His new book, Explore Everything, contains photos from more than 300 locations around the globe, where he has captured breathtaking images of real-world “hacking.” Bradley, who has a background in both anthropology and archeology, walks bridge cables, climbs skyscrapers, descends into tunnels and finds his way into abandoned buildings in his exploration of forgotten places and unseen perspectives. "I see the access to secret spatial information available to those willing to dive through the loopholes in the system as akin to virtual hacking" …

Well, we've covered this a few times around here, but it always bears repeating. You all have to stop going into the water. Just don't do it. It's not safe. There's nothing in there for you except for danger. Just look at the people below, whose bright smiles scarcely mask the abject horror to which they've been subjected. Do you honestly think any of them will be able to look out over the Toyon Bay in Santa Catalina without thinking of the 18-foot "oarfish" (read: nightmare water dragon) they found? Do you want that fate? Then stay out of the water ...

Last week, the organization Answers in Genesis made national headlines after unveiling a new digital billboard in Times Square that reads, “To all of our atheists friends: Thank God you’re wrong” (along with a URL to their website). Answers founder Ken Ham said that the billboard was a response to another billboard placed by atheists last Christmas that featured Santa and Jesus, encouraging passers by to “keep the merry, dump the myth.”

Now, the group, the Freedom From Religion Foundation has purchased the same Time Square space, and placed an ad that adds this thought-provoking nugget to the already meaningful, nuanced dialogue taking place on billboards that costs thousands of dollars a day: “OMG, there is no god!” Clearly, the thoughtful exchange through sarcastic billboards is converting hearts and minds by answering the deep intellectual and spiritual questions of those searching for faith, and is not just the equivalent of an expensive, high profile Twitter shouting match …

Filmmaker Wes Anderson has evidently found a new font. The writer and director of hyper-stylized films including Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums and Fantastic Mr. Fox is a well known advocate of Futura—he’s prominently used it in all of his films except for Moonrise Kingdom (in which he used a similar, customized font). But if the just-released poster for his upcoming film The Grand Budapest Hotel is any indication, the filmmaker is now using a total new font. As Slate points out (with the custom image below, created by Slate designer Natalie Matthews-Ramo), the Hotel promo is utilizing the slightly Western-looking, Archer. This may be the geekiest slice we’ve ever written …

It's so interesting that something like, say, the ancient choral piece Spem in Alium and Alison Gold's "Chinese Food" are both technically classified as music even though one is one of the most beautiful things ever put together by a human and the other ...well, the other is this ...

Bob Filner is the former Mayor of San Diego but has more recently been in the news for some truly despicable charges of sexual harassment, including inappropriately touching co-workers, lewd comments, "forced kisses" and even overpowering a woman and refusing to let her leave. At least seventeen women (including one great-grandmother) have come forward to accuse Filner of disgusting misconduct. The charges led to his resignation, and Filner is expected to serve time under home confinement ...