Horses, crocodiles and lions!The post Watch ReDefines VFX breakdown for Those About To Die appeared first on befores & afters.

Betty Whiteis making her mark on the nations snail mail.The beloved actor of The Golden Girls fame was celebrated with a new U.S. Postal Service stamp at a first-day-of-issue ceremony at the Los Angeles Zoo on Thursday.Fans that were crowded behind barricades cheered as a blue curtain dropped to reveal the stamp featuring a portrait of White against a violet-colored background with lighter shades of bubbly spots in a nod to her sparkling personality. She wears a blue polka-dot blouse and peeking out of her blond curls is an earring shaped like a pawprint.When I was working on the stamp surrounding myself with Betty White videos and pictures, I felt like I was working on a portrait of a family member, Boston-based artist Dale Stephanos said. I wanted Bettys huge personality to take center stage.The illustration is based on a photo taken by Kwaku Alston in 2010.At the celebration, singer-songwriter Ellis Hall performed a snippet of Thank You for Being a Friend, the theme song to The Golden Girls.A laughing kookaburra and other squawking birds occasionally interrupted the speakers, which surely would have delighted the animal-loving White.Animals were her kids and she loved them all any shape, size and kind, said Richard Lichtenstein, a board member of the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association.White had worked with the zoo since its opening in 1966 untilher deathin December 2021, a couple weeks shy of her 100th birthday.Who didnt love Betty White? Lichtenstein said. Her smile, her sense of humor, her basic decency. Our country, our city and yes, even our Los Angeles Zoo, would be much better if more people followed her example. Betty White put her stamp on everyone and anyone she came in contact with.He said Whites financial support and advocacy helped make possible exhibits featuring chimps, gorillas and elephants, among others.Lichtenstein said White set up a private foundation before her death that funds various zoo programs.This zoo, its inhabitants and this community meant so much to Betty White just as she meant so much to all of us, said Amber McReynolds, chair of the USPS board of governors. Betty White was an American treasure.People lined up to purchase panes of 20 forever stamps, pins and notecards before getting first-day cancellations near a churro snack stand while schoolchildren walked by.This stamp is special because lets face it, everybody loves Betty White, Stephanos said.Beth Harris, Associated Press

The U.S. Naval Academy has changed its policy and will no longer consider race as a factor when evaluating candidates to attend the elite military school, a practice it maintained even after the U.S. Supreme Court barred civilian colleges from employing similar affirmative action policies.Republican President Donald Trumps administration detailed the policy change in a filing on Friday, asking a court to suspend an appeal lodged by a group opposed to affirmative action against a judges decision last year upholding the Annapolis, Maryland-based Naval Academys race-conscious admissions program.Days after returning to office, Trump signed an executive order on January 27 that eliminated diversity, equity and inclusion programs from the military.Defense Secretary Peter Hegseth two days later issued guidance barring the military from establishing sex-based, race-based, or ethnicity-based goals for organizational composition, academic admission, or career fields.The U.S. Department of Justice said that in light of those directives, Vice Admiral Yvette Davids, the Naval Academys superintendent, issued guidance barring the consideration of race, ethnicity or sex as a factor in its admissions process.The Justice Department said that policy change could affect the lawsuit filed by Students for Fair Admissions, a group founded by affirmative action opponent Edward Blum, which has also been challenging race-conscious admissions practices at other military academies.Blums group had been seeking to build on its June 2023 victory at the Supreme Court, when the courts 6-3 conservative majority sided with it by barring policies used by colleges and universities for decades to increase the number of Black, Hispanic and other minority students on U.S. campuses.That ruling invalidated race-conscious admissions policies used by Harvard and the University of North Carolina. But it explicitly did not address the consideration of race as a factor in admissions at military academies, which conservative Chief Justice John Roberts said had potentially distinct interests.After the ruling, Blums group filed three lawsuits seeking to knock out the carve-out for military schools. The case the group filed against the Naval Academy case was the first to go to trial.But U.S. District Judge Richard Bennett in Baltimore sided with Democratic President Joe Bidens administration in finding that the Naval Academys policy was constitutional.Nate Raymond, Reuters

Sometime in mid-March, LEGO and The Pokmon Company teased an upcoming official collaboration. Although LEGOs worked extensively with Nintendo to create some incredible franchise-focused builds, the brick company has never launched an official Pokemon kit but you dont need to wait for LEGO to drop their Pokmon collection because a YouTuber has been working on one for years.Going by the name of Brickmill, this talented LEGO builder has created an entire Pokmon universe out of LEGO bricks, building almost every possible animal you could think of. From tiny starter Pokmon to larger legendary creatures like Snorlax, Lapras, and Mewtwo, Brickmills built brick-based versions of them all. Theyre adorable, detailed, and almost all of them are to scale, which means the Pikachu is smaller than a Charizard. The best part? You can build them too!Designer: BrickmillBrickmills Pokmon universe is extensive. It features all the iconic Pokmon including the Kanto starters Squirtle, Charmander, and Bulbazaur, along with Pikachu and Eevee, as well as the other starter Pokmon from Johto and Hoenn games too.Every pockemon is built with a fair level of detail (theyre minimalist but not to the point of being abstract). Bulbasaur has his bulb, Charmander has the fire tail, Squirtle the shell. The best part is that evolved variants of these Pokmon have their own brick forms too, with just as much detail from the large flower above Venusaur, to the dragon-like wings of Charizard, and those water-cannons on Blastoise.The Johto and Hoenn starters are for kids who grew up without the Kanto series. Youve got Chicorita, Cyndaquil, and Totodile for the Johto island, and Treecko, Torchic, and Mudkip for the Hoenn variant.When I say extensive, I mean it. Brickmills been working on this collection presumably for years at this point, and his YouTube page has every single build hes made. Perhaps his magnum opus is the creation of every single Eevee evolution out there, one for each category. Whether Jolteon, Vaporeon, Leafeon, or Espeon, every single evolution is the same size and scale, which makes Brickmills LEGO Pokmon universe feel rather well-planned.You cant buy these LEGO Pokmon yet, but Brickmill is selling DIY plans for you to build your own at home. Build instructions cost anywhere between $5 CAD ($3.5 USD) to $20 CAD ($13.9) based on Pokmon size, complexity, or even bundles like the entire Charmander bundle which includes all three evolution forms (not counting the different Charizard variants that exist).You can even build your own Ash Ketchum to really add that final touch of magic to the entire Pokmon universe. I mean, why wait months (or possibly even years) for the LEGO x Pokmon official collab to drop when youve got a veritable ecosystem right here?!The post DIY LEGO Pokmon Universe Lets You Catch and Build Them All Right Now first appeared on Yanko Design.

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The Natal Conference, which costs up to $10,000 to attend, features multiple matchmaking strategy sessions and onsite ministers so attendees can get married, WIRED has learned.

F.C.C. chairman Brendan Carr sent a letter to Disney accusing it of violating equal employment opportunity regulations.

Mr. Musk said the deal valued xAI, his artificial intelligence start-up, at $80 billion, and X at $30 billion.

A unique rural residential design created by Virginia Tech University professor Ben Pennell as a speculative project and aspirational nod to internet-driven 'DIY' culture has taken off after being completed last fall with help from several students.Photo by Ben PennellKnown simply by its address300 John Lemley Lanethe design was realized in the rural town of Christiansburg and occupies three levels, containing simultaneous metaphors of an 18th-century London church, an American World War II bomber, and the watertight, planular-shifting multi-roof effect typical of a Japanese temple.Photo by Ben PennellLayers of 'mega shingles' made from Hardie board add to an extended plywood frame to distort and enlarge its perceived mass in a palimpsest-like effect that obfuscates the building envelope deliberately, mixing 'pseudo-Oriental' motifs with its aberrant style and architectonics.Photo by Ben PennellPennell says these elements combine to issue a challenge to normative design concept...

Australian architecture studio Edition Office designed a home that displays a striking contrast to its natural surroundings, while also maintaining a deep immersion in them.Image: Ben HoskingLocated in Federal, New South Wales, Australia, Federal House stands out through its black pigmented concrete and black timber battens amidst the green, hinterland location. The home is positioned on the slope of its hillside site.Image: Ben HoskingIt draws on Australias colonial homestead and verandah typology, which is reflected in the projects living and bedroom spaces that extend into a covered outdoor space. This expansion allows for a variety of different interactions with the surrounding landscape.Image: Ben HoskingFederal Houses design was driven by the clients desire to have a home-as-sanctuary, that functions as a space of respite. The homes shared living spaces are located in both the north and south sides of a central garden, allowing for layered social opportunities, whi...