There is a downside to pushing out older workers, in favor of younger ones.
Less gray hair in an organization can sharply reduce its innovation potential, which over the long term can greatly outweigh the short-term benefits of younger workers needing lower salaries and costing less in health care. If an organization wants innovation to flourish, the conversation needs to change from severance packages to retention bonuses.
Hundreds gathered in New York City yesterday to witness the unveiling of the world’s largest LEGO model, a life-sized replica of the Star Wars X-Wing fighter, in Times Square.
32 master builders employed by LEGO required more than five million bricks and four months to complete the massive replica. The model weighs 45,000 pounds (21K kilograms) has a wingspan of 44 feet. The stunt is a promotion for the upcoming premiere of The Yoda Chronicles on Cartoon Network on Wednesday, May 29.
“Just as kids love to test and hone their LEGO building skills and imaginative storytelling, our LEGO Master Builders are always testing their creative skills to top their last larger-than-life sized creations,” said Michael McNally, Brand Relations Director for LEGO Systems. “The size and structural complexity of a freestanding model 42 times the size of one our retail sets was a challenge they could not resist.”
LEGO Star Wars is the original and most successful licensed product collection in The LEGO Group’s history.
The “Yoda Chronicles” miniseries is a collaboration with Lucasfilm to build new stories, characters and vehicles.
The giant X-wing plane, built in the LEGO Model Shop in the Czech Republic, will soon head for its summer destination at LEGOLAND® California Resort where it will be installed through the remainder of the year. It will be in New York through Saturday.
Fun Facts – The X-Wing Model:
Katie Jones set up a big white board in her kitchen, numbering 1 to 34, she listed ways to make people happy in celebration of her 34th birthday.
She placed a bag of quarters in a Laundromat. She left five dollars on the floor in the dollar store. She gave a Subway sandwich gift card to a homeless man.
Accompanying each kindness was a note saying it was her birthday and asking people to “pay it forward”, in the hopes of creating a better community.
“She’s shelled out about $300 on her kindness campaign since her birthday on May 16,” according to Yahoo News, which reported that Jones was is a medical support assistant at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Des Moines, Iowa.
In the wake of the Oklahoma tornado tragedy, Google — along with Verizon and Acer — has set up three Chromebook stations with free Internet for victims of the Oklahoma tornado.
According to Google, three locations have been set up at Red Cross stations, a local church and the Moore Community Center.
Dozens of international companies have made a legal commitment to improve safety in Bangladesh’s garment factories, in the wake of last month’s building collapse that killed more than 1,100 people.
The decision by major retailers in Europe such as Inditex, Carrefour and H&M, to sign the fire-and-safety agreement ten days ago was in many ways unprecedented, said the spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Rupert Colville.
An infant who needed CPR every day often stopped breathing. Finally Kaiba’s mother learned that her son had a rare obstruction in his lungs called bronchial malacia.
“I didn’t think he was going to leave the hospital alive.”
Seven months after being devastated by the worst storm in New Jersey history, most of the beaches and boardwalks of the Jersey Shore are back and open for business in time for the start of the summer season — Memorial Day weekend.
While much of the residential area of Seaside Heights is still in rebuilding mode, the famed mile-long boardwalk has been restored.
When the real Queen said she would not be able to meet ten-year-old Oliver Burton, a limo was arranged so the youngster could meet Dame Helen instead.
The very ill boy’s wish came true because Mirren’s West End show features the actress playing the Queen. Oliver and his mother were given tickets and afterward invited backstage to visit her for tea. There was even a pair of corgi dogs and a butler who served them while Mirren remained in character the entire time.
Not only did a Japanese man become the oldest climber to read the summit of Mount Everest today, but he did it after undergoing four different heart surgeries, the most recent one in January.
80 year-old Yuichiro Miura said “This is the world’s best feeling, although I’m totally exhausted.”
(READ the story in the Telegraph)
Today’s Google homepage features young Sabrina Brady’s winning artwork submit to the annual Doodle 4 Google contest.
The competition invites K-12 students in the United States to use their artistic talents to think big and redesign the Google logo for millions to see.
This year, students were given the theme, “My Best Day Ever…”
A ‘hail mary’ pass from professional basketball to the Oklahoma tornado victims has resulted in four million-dollar donations, beginning with Kevin Durant, a player with the Oklahoma City Thunder, who donated $1 million to Red Cross relief efforts through his foundation yesterday.
Apple will build Macs in Texas using some parts made elsewhere in the U.S., CEO Tim Cook said Tuesday.
“We’re investing $100 million to build a Mac product line here in the U.S.,” said Cook. “The product will include components made in Illinois and Florida, and rely on equipment produced in Kentucky and Michigan.”
A gallant young man working at a burger joint saved a heartbroken teen from one of the most humiliating nights of her life as she was stood up on prom night.
All dressed up in a gorgeous orange gown, Kelsey Baker would have stayed home after getting the dreaded last-minute text message, but her mom dragged her to Jim’s Hot Dogs and Hamburgers to show-off how she looked to her aunt.
Bryan Hayes, 18, was working that Saturday night.
Project Night Night has begun delivering its comforting “Night Night bags” to children in Oklahoma, detouring from its regular work of providing them to kids in homeless shelters.
Each Night Night Package holds a stuffed animal, a security blanket, and a bedtime story in a canvas bag.
“We’ve already begun shipping hundreds of Night Night Packages to the children in Moore to bring them a measure of comfort,” says Kendra Stitt Robins, Founder & Executive Director of Project Night Night. “We hope it will allow (them) to feel safe again after this disaster.”
The non-profit charity says they are always in need of keeping their shelves stocked so they can act quickly in times like these.
You can sponsor a Night Night Package at their website or help defray delivery costs to Oklahoma with any donation at www.projectnightnight.org.
Software giant SAP yesterday announced a new employment push to hire more people with autism after a successful pilot program showed increases in office productivity and cohesiveness.
Six workers on the autism spectrum hired as software testers in India had a positive impact in those key areas, and also provided empowerment for the employees to excel in their areas of strength.
Sensing a potential competitive advantage to leveraging the unique talents of people with autism, SAP will also be placing them as programmers and data quality assurance specialists.
The Small Business Administration said today it has lined up pledges from more than 120 banks to increase lending for an additional 2,000 veterans with loans totaling $475 million.
The new program, SBA Veteran Pledge Initiative, will increase lending to veteran-owned businesses by 5 percent per year for the next five years.
They volunteered for Iraq and Afghanistan. Now they are volunteering to help people in Oklahoma dig out from utter devastation.
These veterans have answered the call for duty because their drive toward service and helping their country did not end just because they hung up their uniform.
They are Team Rubicon, the vision of a former Marine sniper whose vision took flight first in Haiti, following the massive 2010 earthquake. Those eight veterans lifted tons of debris as well as their own spirits — healing their hearts through service to others.
Now, 8000 U.S. veterans are signed up and stand ready to be deployed, as yesterday brought an urgent reminder of why their heavy-lifting is so valuable.
An EF-4 category tornado touched down outside of Oklahoma City, destroying thousands of homes, schools and businesses with a swath of destruction reaching three miles across, especially hitting the town of Moore.
Team Rubicon already has initial assessment teams on the ground in Oklahoma, readying to mobilize a full response to help the people there.
They are launching a massive operation and need your help. “Strike teams will work in the community, going home to home, providing damage assessments and expedient home repair.”
The Good News Network has set up a fundraising page for Team Rubicon in Oklahoma. Please donate right now, whatever you can, to help these vets help others — and heal themselves in the process.
Also, you can set up your own page, and send it to friends, as a team member of the Good News Network. Our goal is to collect $2,000 toward the Organizations’s goal of $75,000. You can set up your own page, or simply donate whatever you can. Just visit: TeamRubiconusa.org/goodnewsnetwork
(WATCH the new video below)
An elderly woman being interviewed by a television crew was literally counting her blessings after her beloved schnauzer peaked out from beneath the rubble in Moore, OK and was spotted by a producer.
“Bless your little bitty heart!” cooed Barbara Garcia, who stooped down surrounded by the debris of her flattened neighborhood.
An 18-year-old girl from California may have solved the most annoying problem confronting her fellow teens and she earned an Intel Foundation Young Scientist Award for her work.
Eesha Khare from Lynbrook High School in San Jose will receive college grants worth $50,000 for her super-capacitor design that can charge a phone in less than a minute.
As 91-year-old John “Jack” Potter faced eviction from the house he built and lived in for 56 years, his granddaughter decided to act. She set up a donation campaign on the website, Go Fund Me, and her story about the WWII combat vet losing his home attracted more than 5000 people who gave $138,000.
“Grandpa is amazed at all of the love and support,” said his granddaughter Jaclyn. “He told me, ‘I never knew people could love an old man so much.'”
In addition to having fought in The Aleutian Islands campaign, Jack is also a former Sheriff of Vinton County, a 65-year Master Freemason and Mayor of Zaleski, Ohio, where he has lived for a more than half a century.
There are other saviors too, like an attorney who helped guide Jaclyn through the maze of paperwork, and a neighbor, Linda Webb, who has been like a second daughter to the Potters.
“When (his daughter) tried to force him into a nursing home over two and a half years ago, Linda closed up her home and moved in with him to help him and still lives with him today,” says the donation page. “She is a rare person so caring, giving, selfless and amazing.”
(WATCH the video below or visit the GoFundMe page)
