The Muppets are making a comeback, thanks to a “top secret video pitch” they made to ABC network executives, according to this entertaining new video trailer.
Fan favorites like Kermit, Miss Piggy and Fozzie will return to prime time in “The Muppets 2015,” a show that will explore the puppets’ personal and professional relationships as they work together backstage to produce a late-night talk show.
This modern day reboot of the classic show is billed as a more adult, contemporary, documentary-style program, versus the old format of a variety show.
Animal claims he has been doing ‘Cross Fit’ to get in shape for certain scenes.
The iconic Jim Henson franchise “The Muppet Show” originally aired on television from 1976-1981. Several feature films were also released.
The new show won’t debut until this fall on ABC, but the ‘secret trailer’ below should tide you over until then.
Planet hunters at NASA have found what they’re calling Earth’s “older, bigger cousin,” and believe it’s our strongest lead yet to finding advanced life somewhere else in the universe.
The new planet, Kepler 452b, is about 60% bigger than Earth, and orbits a sun similar to our own every 385 days.
That orbit puts it in what scientists call the “Goldilocks zone” — neither too hot, nor too cold, but just right for life.
And since the planet’s star has been around a billion years longer than ours, there’s been more time for life to take root and evolve.
“It’s awe-inspiring to consider that this planet has spent six billion years in the habitable zone of its star, longer than Earth,” Jon Jenkins of NASA’s Ames Research Center said at the announcement Thursday. “That’s substantial opportunity for life to arise, should all the necessary ingredients and conditions for life exist on this planet.”
Named after the Kepler spacecraft that spotted it, Kepler 452b is the 4,696th planet the space probe has discovered.
Don’t expect to head to Kepler 452b anytime soon: this new world is 1,400 light years away. The fastest spacecraft ever launched from Earth would take 266 million years to get there.
(WATCH the IGN video and READ more at the New York Times) – Illustration: NASA
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Being stopped by a cop can normally induce panic—but a number of lucky people were all smiles when this officer approached them.
As he walked the streets of his 14-year patrol route one final time, Commander Brian Peters, a retiring Minnesota policeman, sought out citizens who could use some extra money for groceries or school supplies and handed them gift cards.
He says the people he stopped were apprehensive – then appreciative – when he gave them $50 gift cards to Target and Cub Foods.
Shaundra Lindsay told KARE-TV she was nervous at first when the officer approached her and her three children at a metro transit stop.
“I got a little scared, but he came to me with some good news,” she said. “I didn’t know what he was coming over here to me for. It was a surprise. He blessed us and I am really happy about that.”
Peters gave out the equivalent of his last paycheck, saying, “The citizens and city have been wonderful to me. I am very blessed, so it feels good to give back.”
He says he will look for other opportunities to serve the community in his new position as manager of the crisis center at Target’s Minnesota headquarters.
(WATCH video below or READ more at KARE) Photo: KARE video – Story tip from S Ghent
Lucas Hobbs absolutely loves food—he’s a 12-year-old, self-professed foodie.
He couldn’t eat much while undergoing treatment for Hodgkin’s lymphoma, but now that he’s feeling better, he decided to express his gratitude by using his “Make-A-Wish” to feed others.
“When I was sick, people brought me food from our church, and it was really nice of them,” Lucas told WCCO-TV.
That’s why he asked for his very own food truck—ChefLucasFood— and the chance to feed a number of different people with it.
His truck stops included a homeless shelter, senior center, church, and the Minneapolis Police Department, which shot some video of the Lucas’s visit.
Lucas, who lives in Eagan, Minnesota, told WCCO News that he was first inspired to start a food truck after watching the movie “Chef,” a movie about a father and son who run a food truck together.
Ontario Mom Is Thankful For The Kindness Of Strangers; Encourages Us All To Pay It Forward
Fellow moms on social media came to the rescue of a mother stuck in a hospital–and it only took a handful of quarters to save the day.
When Kaylee Goeman’s 6-week-old baby started screaming and she took him to the hospital, the last thing she needed to worry about was paying for parking.
The mother of three couldn’t afford the Canadian hospital’s $15 parking fee, so she paid a parking meter for four hours.
When it became clear they’d be in the hospital far longer, Goeman didn’t want to leave her infant, but worried about getting ticketed or towed. She turned to a local mother’s group on Facebook for help.
Over the next several hours, five different women in her hometown of Barrie, Ontario, went to Goeman’s car to feed her meter – while another 100 people wrote in with encouraging words or other offers to help the family.
“Knowing I had all these ladies there for me, to help me with parking, meals, and even hugs made me able to focus just on my son and his needs,” she told Today.
Photo: Facebook – Story Tip: Gina Maria Littlebird
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When a group of 20-somethings hit the streets of Montreal to hand out roses and strawberries, they asked for only a smile and transformed everyone’s Monday blues—including their own.
The group collectively said they were amazed by how many smiles they conjured this week among the people–we counted 54. Even more amazing was how very simple it was.
“All of the people laughed so much that it was contagious. We got to interact with so many random people. Project 30 has grown bigger than all of us,” said group member Andrea Pecatikov.
This was Day 21 of Project 30’s month-long spree of doing 30 things they’ve “always wanted to do.” They are posting a video for each event on their YouTube Channel.
Thomas Brag, the leader of Project 30, says the initiative has always been about inspiring others and getting his team out of their comfort zones.
So far, those daring adventures have included eating insects and meeting with the mayor. Their videos have tallied over 200,000 views.
(WATCH to see everyone’s reaction to the Random Acts of Kindness…)
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Summers are full of blockbuster films and even Moscow’s homeless are getting to enjoy movie nights this year.
Friends of the Streets, a Russian charity, has set up a makeshift movie theater in a tent next to a homeless center. They’re letting the city’s homeless decide which movies they feature this summer.
Around 100 people showed up for the first screening, a popular 1965 slapstick comedy called “Operation Y and Shurik’s Other Adventures.”
As volunteers served hot meals and tea outside the cinema in a tent on opening night, Armen Veprev snapped a photo inside and proudly tweeted, “In Moscow, the first theater for the homeless,” as the show got underway.
В Москве появился первый кинотеатр для бездомных. Он теперь располагается на улице Краснопрудная на площадке пункта… pic.twitter.com/2rBSDQv1PA
In an effort to help the homeless have more mainstream lives, Friends of the Streets plans to show at least one movie a month. The group has also opened a hair salon for the homeless and is organizing a soccer match for them this weekend.
“More than anything we have a dream to change attitudes towards homeless people, because they are often abused and mistreated, and it is very hard for them to live,” Natalia Markova, a volunteer with the charity told RT News.
(READ more at RT News) Photo: (top) Kevitivity, (homepage) Sam Javanrouh, CC – Story tip from Jesse James
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High winds and water cold enough to kill were no match for a Coast Guardsman who swam out into high seas to answer a distress call.
During the wee hours of Tuesday morning, a Coast Guard helicopter was called to save the crew of a floundering 52-foot commercial shrimp fishing boat.
The vessel had lost power and was taking on water, and the four-person crew had abandoned ship; they were bobbing aboard a life raft in 5-foot waves off the Oregon coast when the helicopter arrived.
The copter lowered Petty Officer 2nd Class Darren Harrity into the 57-degree water. Normally, he would have attached a harness to each of the castaways to lift them back to the helicopter, but the hoist broke – the chopper couldn’t pick up any of the survivors.
So the petty officer had to go with Plan-B, swimming each survivor to shore 250 yards away. one at a time. In total, he swam more than a mile back and forth. The helicopter stayed overhead, but all its crew could do was watch as Petty Officer Harrity made those four trips between life raft and shore until he got all the fishermen to safety.
Harrity told KOIN News that he talked to each one and calmed them down before beginning his four trips to shore. Paramedics were waiting on the beach and all four survivors are doing well.
His Coast Guard Commander, Robert Workman, praised the rescue swimmer for a “fantastic job” getting the crew to shore “through waves, surf and darkness.”
(WATCH the video and READ more at KOIN News) – Photo: U.S. Coast Guard
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A bus driver gave a sweet surprise to his thirsty passengers—and a thrill to some local young beverage entrepreneurs.
On a hot summer day last week, Boston bus driver John Lohan asked his riders if they’d mind making a short stop at a roadside lemonade stand – his treat.
So the 19-year veteran driver for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority pulled over on his West Roxbury neighborhood route and hopped off—then on—then off again, to bring each of his passengers a cold glass of lemonade.
The refreshing gesture took all of 90 seconds – about the time Lohan says he typically spends at a red light.
“The biggest thing I thought was that the children have a story they can tell for the rest of their lives. And then afterwards, I thought, ‘Well, so do the passengers,’” Lohan told WBZ-TV.
Lohan gave the kids $10 – a hefty tip for 7 glasses of 50-cent lemonade.
He says it’s still the cheapest round he’s ever sprung for.
(WATCH video below from WBZ or READ more at Boston.com) – Photo: WBZ video
During the entire distance and duration of a 2700-mile off-road cycling race, she never showered, never slept indoors, and only sat down to a meal once. Instead, with bloody knee and bruised shoulder, she pushed to the finish line and kept ahead of her nearest competitors.
Though it was her first attempt on the mountainous Tour Divide trail race, Lael Wilcox beat all but five male competitors, and set a new course record for women.
The 28-year-old cyclist – who rode the 2,745-mile event with a respiratory infection – shaved more than two days off the previous women’s record, finishing in just over 17 days.
In June, before arriving at the starting line in Banff, Alberta, she rode 2,000 miles solo from her home in Anchorage– quite a warm-up, with just a week’s rest, for the longest mountain bike race in the world.
The race route uses trails that run along the Continental Divide from Alberta, Canada to Antelope Wells, New Mexico, on the border of Mexico–challenging riders with 200,000 feet of elevation changes (60,000 meters).
Unlike the Tour de France, cyclists have no support teams and have to rely on themselves for food, water and bike maintenance. One of 150 riders in the race, Wilcox finished sixth, and says she’s happy to be an inspiration to other cyclists starting out.
“They look at me, and they’re like ‘If this little girl can do this, maybe I can do something,” she told Outside magazine. “And that’s good. I want to empower people, to inspire them. I mean stop making excuses. At least try.”
Also among the endurance riders, Josh Kato, a 40-year-old nurse from Washington State, shredded the men’s course record, finishing in 14 days, a full day quicker than the previous record.
(WATCH her interview below from KTUU or READ more at Outside Online) Photos: Nicholas Carman Gypsy By Trade – Story Tip from Andrew Norris
For years, doctors dismissed her complaints that she was dizzy, tired, weak.
Elli Thatcher was 15 years old when she first got dizzy during basketball practice, a feeling that reoccurred often, no matter how many iron pills she took. Several medical professionals told her it was “just hormones.” Even her family thought she was being dramatic when she said she had to sit down repeatedly on trips to the mall.
But she knew something was wrong and continued enlisting the help of another doctor, then another.
“Everyone thought I was crazy, because I was having this feeling, but every doctor said nothing was wrong,” Thatcher, now 19, told Good News Network. “Even my parents thought I was being dramatic.”
Even after a lump had grown on her neck, nobody could give her answers.
Last year, as a freshman studying pre-med at Ohio State University, she took a part-time job as a Student Assistant at Ohio State’s James Cancer Hospital, acting as a liaison between patients and their families and the hospital staff.
“I went up to one of the doctors, knowing what he specialized in, and asked him if he would look at the bump on my neck. I told him I had tried everything.”
Two days later, they found a tumor the size of a baseball.
The lump itself wasn’t the tumor–the tumor was pushing the walls of her throat outward. Dr. Matthew Old, the head and neck cancer surgeon at the hospital, at Ohio State’s Wexner Medical Center, was the first doctor to look down her throat and notice that it was asymmetrical.
Elli Thatcher with nurses (All photos courtesy of Ohio Wexner Medical Center)
“It took being in the right place in the right time and going up to someone who had seen something like this before and would know what to look for,” she said.
As it turned out, she had a condition called paraganglioma, and it required a 17 hour surgery to treat last April.
Though the surgery and the condition has caused her some setbacks, she hopes to become a doctor and help others who are experiencing lesser-known symptoms.
She is using her time at the hospital where she still interns, to encourage everyone to be their own best advocate, and listen to their heart, when it comes to their health.
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This preschool is all about snacks, naps and rock and roll.
The kids are learning everything from geography to shapes through the head-bobbing music videos they churn out with their teacher.
“We’re like if Bill Nye the Science Guy joined Blink-182 and started singing about trapezoids,” Jarred Geller told MTV News.
Geller came up with the idea because he believes the four-year-olds in his Oklahoma City classes are smarter than people give them credit for. He says most preschools rely on teaching through memorization, but he says the kids “can learn anything that you throw in front of them.”
He’s written eight songs and created videos, like the one below about shapes — all with the typical preschoolers topics, but with fist-pumping refrains.
Geller has a rolled all his videos into program for other teachers to follow called Punk Rock Preschool.
The program also exposes kids to a variety of career fields beyond being a firefighter or cowboy. The music curriculum provides glimpses into 50 potential careers of interest— including rock star.
(WATCH the HooplaHa video and READ more at MTV News) — Photo: Punk Rock Preschool, Video
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Donate cash and get Greek goods in return – that’s the idea behind one Englishman’s effort to help Greece during its economic crisis.
More than a quarter million Euros were raised in 14 days with donations from 14,000 people around the world.
The campaign was started by Thom Feeney, a 29-year-old from London, who just wanted to help the embattled people of Greece.
He set up an Indiegogo crowdfunding page while the world waited for any action by the EU on a second bailout. Feeney wrote, “This is a humanitarian crisis, not just an economic crisis and it’s about bloody time someone did something.”
Everyone who donated to the now-closed campaign will receive Greek-made products, like postcards, and bottles of Greek wine or Ouzo.
Feeney says he wanted to offer the donation incentives to help stimulate trade and investment, and says all profits will go to Desmos – a non-profit foundation aimed to help fight youth unemployment in Greece.
This is Feeney’s second bailout crowdfunding effort. His first campaign was set up to raise a fixed amount, rather than collecting whatever funds were donated – which he now admits was a mistake. Because he chose the former option and set the goal too high, all 2 million Euros in donated cash had to be refunded.
A pair of firemen in Bolingbrook, Illinois had a hard time getting their grocery shopping in the bag last week when duty called not once, but twice, in the middle of their errand.
Firefighters usually shop for their fire station’s food while on duty, taking along their truck or ambulance in case they need to respond quickly to a call.
After having to abandon their cart mid-store so they could respond to one call, Ryan Klavohn and his partner returned and got as far as the register when they had to drop everything once again to respond to yet another ambulance call.
When they returned a third time, they found that everything had been paid for, and a note was waiting for them.
The handwritten message from the anonymous stranger said, “It was my pleasure to pick up your grocery tab today,” and expressed thanks to all the firefighters at the station for their service.
The local union posted the note on its Facebook page.
“It’s not only surprising and humbling, but the fact that someone took their hard-earned money and spent it on us is inspiring,” Klavohn told ABC News. “It’s just a testament to the great people in our community that we have the privilege to serve.”
(READ more at ABC News) – Photo Credit: Bolingbrook Fire Fighters Association IAFF Local 3005, Facebook
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Aside from being adorable, this photo may have actually saved the lives of the two adorable pups pictured in it.
An Atlanta-based animal rescue organization posted the photo of the shelter pups, Kiera and Kala, along with a pleading message, saying the two dogs would soon be separated—and headed for death row.
The folks at Angels Among Us Pet Rescue hoped that the picture would help Kiera and Kala find a home in the nick of time.
The photo was shared thousands of times, and, as a result, the furry pals were claimed just two hours later by the man pictured below and brought home—together.
Makes me cry happy tears!! What rescue is all about.. You are truly saving a life!!
Sometimes the smallest acts of kindness come with the greatest rewards, even if you think nobody is watching.
17-year-old Kailen Young was washing windows at the Knoxville, Tennessee, Hardee’s where he works, when he stopped to offer an elderly woman a hand getting to her car in the parking lot.
Sounds simple enough, but not everyone would have left their post to hold her hand and take the slow stroll.
A passerby who was moved by the gesture snapped a photo, which was instantly shared almost 4,000 times on Facebook.
In response, the fast food chain gave Young a $1,000 check to reward him for his kindness – which Young said is just a “normal thing for me.”
Bobbi Clare, the woman he assisted, told WBIR-TV, “I felt a little touch of heaven, that kindness and goodness in the world. We need that so much, don’t we?”
Young plans to put the money towards college, where he hopes to get an engineering degree.
(WATCH video below from WBIR) – Photo: David Yardley Facebook, Story tip from Sarah
My son Brock was diagnosed in 2014 with Autism-SPD-impulsivity control issues. He has severe anxiety which makes it difficult to communicate with strangers. This past school year, he has overcame so many challenges, however this left him exhausted and angry at the start of the summer.
But everything changed when we go to meet a few officers from the police department.
The first time I saw him truly smile was when I made a stop at the Osceola Police Station and one of the officers stopped to show him around the station while I was taking care of a past parking ticket. He answered all of his questions with a patience that is hard to come by anymore, even ones as silly as “Why do cops have refrigerators?” He spent almost 20 minutes answering my sons repetitive questions, all with a smile. When we left that day, my son told the officer he was his hero, and it really reinforced his dream of becoming an officer as an adult.
What he really wanted was to get his picture taken with an officer so he could hang it on his wall. About three weeks later, there was an officer responding to a call in my neighborhood, and Brock waited patiently for about an hour until the officer was done.
He worked through his nerves and started approaching the officer. His anxiety got the best of him a few times, but he finally got up the courage and kept saying “Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! I’m really doing this, Mom!”
And he did!
He asked the officer and was able to get a picture with Officer Morgel and his K9 Officer Riko as well. The officer was incredibly patient, and truly listened to my son which doesn’t happen very often (he tends to get brushed off by people sometimes.) He made my child feel special, and Brock has smiled more in the last few days then I’ve seen in a very long time.
Sometimes the smallest things can make a huge difference in our children’s lives. I’m incredibly grateful to these Wisconsin officers for taking time out of their busy schedules (while on duty) to put a smile on a boy’s face.
What would you do if you saw an injured shark swimming a few feet away from you?
These two brothers decided to pull it to shore in order to save its life.
Marcus and Logan Lakos were relaxing on a beach in Destin, Florida, when they noticed the hammerhead shark nearby, tangled in fishing gear. Logan immediately swam out and dragged the shark to shore.
“Logan, he’s the brave one,” Marcus told WJHG News. “I’m sitting there, and out of nowhere, he’s dragging this thing onto shore.”
Logan said people were “freaking out” when he first pulled the shark to shore, but joined in once they realized he was trying to help it.
It took two attempts — the shark got away once and they had to chase it along the beach. But the teens and their impromptu rescue team removed two fish hooks and a lure from the shark’s mouth before releasing it back into the Gulf of Mexico.
(WATCH the video below from WJHG News) — Photo: Marcus Lakos, WJHG video
Some of Roger Federer’s biggest—and youngest—fans are probably too tiny to know about his victories on the tennis court–and too touched by poverty to care much.
They just know he’s the man behind the creation of preschools across southern Africa where now are learning and growing healthy, with a hearty meal every day.
They were thrilled this year when the tennis great came to visit them for the first time, in celebration of the tenth anniversary of his Roger Federer Foundation.
The 34 year-old Swiss athlete has funded the building of schools for years, like this one in the video located in Malawi. He spent the day at the preschool visiting, sitting in classes, helping cook and serve lunch, and hanging out with the kids on their playground.
The early childhood centers are scattered throughout six countries, with more than 50 preschools in Malawi alone.
“I’m so happy and emotional that I can see a preschool of this quality here–it’s quite extraordinary,” said Federer during his visit. ”The community is so committed to helping the kids, its so important (as) the foundation for learning.”
To date, the Roger Federer Foundation has spent $13 million over the past decade, touching the lives of more than 285,000 children. With renewed focus and the involvement of local teachers and NGOs, it plans to be feeding and teaching one million kids by 2018.
A simple request was enough to rally a group of Minnesota motorcycle riders to hit the highway searching for a keepsake of love.
Rhonda Thill lost her husband, Randy, in a motorcycle crash last month and sometime during the tragedy his wedding ring had also flown off.
After word spread that she was hoping to recover that symbol of her 18-year-marriage, more than a dozen bikers – some she didn’t even know – headed out to Highway 61 to find it.
It took less than an hour for one of the men – on their hands and knees in waist-high grass – to spot the gold ring glimmering in the dirt and deliver it to Rhonda.
“It just kind of feels like I’ve got a piece of us back together,” Rhonda told KARE-TV.
Rhonda says she’s grateful for the kindness of strangers who banded together to bring her husband’s ring home.
