This is placeholder so I don't forget...
I've been using Wordpress since 2005 and - up until recently - I had been using TimThumb and/or custom fields to generate thumbnails.
With the "new" Wordpress, I switched all my themes to show "Featured Images" and - of course - all my thumbnails disappeared.
I have a script/function that will pull any image from any post and display it as a featured image or thumbnail on your homepage (if the post has an image, that is). It also has bootstrap capability that pulls images and posts to your front page like Facebook ot Pinterest and makes your homepage an never ending wall of posts.
I have been meaning to seperate the funcionalitly for awile. Maybe I will give it a shot this weekend.
It works like this theme (Ipin?), but a lot better:
http://www.feedmeamateurs.com/