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The Madness of Star Wars Inconsistency
In response to an io9 post about Return of the Jedi facts, user bangishotyou points out the frustrating inconsistency of George Lucas with this thought of how an alternate future would play out:
Also, Lucas clarified that a “Jedi Master” like Yoda is different from a Jedi Knight,” because “he’s a teacher, not a real Jedi.” And Yoda is like a Guru, who “doesn’t go out and fight anybody.” And Yoda wouldn’t be any good in a fight, against someone like Darth Vader.
Fast forward decades later and Lucas, the writing master that he is, goes back on something he previously stated about something he previously created.
More on this breaking news at 11. Now back to Ollie for the weather.
If I ever get serious about my writing and create a universe and fill it with marvelous characters that people love, I’m gonna pull a Lucas. I will change the rules literally at random from book to book. I will give definitive interviews on the characters and universe I’ve created and ended them with, “Everything I just said is set in stone. I won’t change a thing.” Then I’d go and change every single goddamn thing and when called out on it I’d stroke my handlebar mustache (cause I’ll grow one by then just for this next part) and say, “I get what you’re saying, but these are my creations. Those set in stone things I said before, I was high when I said them! Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a lunch with Michael Bay. Those characters you love? Oh yeah. We are gonna do horrible, horrible things to them. Because we can.” And then I’d do a backflip off the interview chair while laughing maniacally and dash off into the night. (Because I also control time at this point and an exit as random as that deserves to be done under the cover of darkness.)
Kasdan responded: “I understand what you’re saying, but I can’t believe it; I am in shock.”
This sounds like a voice of reason. A person who would have fit right in with the rest of us after seeing The Phantom Menace.
Sarah Silverman mourns the death of her dog Doug
Faced with increasing health issues that progressed into Doug refusing food, the 42-year-old comedian made the decision to have her beloved companion euthanized. Silverman wrote a touching obituary on “Duck” and his passing which she shared with her fans:
Duck “Doug” Silverman came into my life about 14 years ago. He was picked up by the State running through South Central with no collar, tags or chip. Nobody claimed or adopted him so a no-kill shelter took him in. That’s where I found him — at that shelter, in Van Nuys. Since then we have slept most every night together (and many lazy afternoons.) When we first met, the vet approximated his age at 5½ so I’d say he was about 19 as of yesterday, September 3, 2013.
He was a happy dog, though serene. And stoic. And he loved love.
Over the past few years he became blind, deaf, and arthritic. But with a great vet, good meds, and a first rate seeing-eye person named me, he truly seemed comfortable.
Recently, however, he stopped eating or drinking. He was skin and bones and so weak. I couldn’t figure out this hunger strike. Duck had never been political before. And then, over the weekend, I knew. It was time to let him go.
My boyfriend Kyle flew in late last night and took the day off from work to be with us. We laid in bed and massaged his tiny body, as we love to do – hearing his little “I’m in heaven” breaths.
The doctor came and Kyle, my sister, Laura and I laid on the bed. I held him close – in our usual spoon position and stroked him. I told him how loved he was, and thanked him for giving me such happiness and for his unwavering companionship and love. The doctor gave him a shot and he fell asleep, and then another that was basically an overdose of sleeping meds. I held him and kissed him and whispered to him well passed his passing. I picked him up and his body was limp – you don’t think about the head – it just falls. I held him so tight. And then finally, when his body lost its heat, and I could sense the doctor thinking about the imminent rush hour traffic, I handed him over.
14 years.
My longest relationship.
My only experience of maternal love.
My constant companion.
My best friend.
Duck.
Homemade Flavored Water Recipes
SPRING CLEANSE ~ YOUR BODY ~ Yes another post abut water lol. But if you really want to cleanse then DRINK, DRINK, DRINK. Here are 8 home made vitamin water recipes to help you keep the water flowing!
As a rule, you should try to avoid as much as possible industrial food and beverages
1) The classical : lemon/cucumber:
Mix in a pitcher: 10 cups of water + 1 cucumber and a lemon, thinly sliced + 1/4 cup fresh finely chopped basil leaf + 1/3 of finely chopped fresh mint leaves. Leave in the refrigerator overnight before serving.
2) The granite : Strawberry/Lime or Raspberry/Lime
Mix in a pitcher : 10 cups of water + 6 strawberries / 0r Raspberries and one thinly sliced lime + 12 finely chopped fresh mint leaves. Leave in the refrigerator overnight before serving.
3) The digestive : Fennel/citrus
First: infuse 1 to 3 grams of dried and crushed fennel in 150 ml of boiling water for 5-10 minutes. Allow to cool.
Mix in a pitcher: 10 cups of water + lemon juice (put the leftover lemon in the mix) + a small thinly sliced orange + 12 fresh chopped mint leaves + the infusion of fennel seeds. Leave in refrigerator overnight before serving.
4) The antiOX : Blackberry/Sage
Note that a part from the berries, sage leafs is the herb that has the highest antioxidant content.
Mix in a pitcher : 10 cups of water + 1 cup of blackberries that have been very slightly crushed + 3-4 sage leaves. Leave in refrigerator overnight before serving.
5) WATERmelon : watermelon/Rosemary
Mix in a pitcher : 10 cups of water + 1 cup of watermelon cut into cubes + 2 rosemary stems. Leave in refrigerator overnight before serving.
6) The exotic : Pineapple/Mint
Mix in a pitcher : 10 cups of water + 1 cup of pineapple cut into cubes + 12 fresh mint leaves finely chopped. Leave in the refrigerator overnight before serving.
7) The traditional : Appel/cinnamon
Mix in a pitcher : 10 cups of water + 1 cup of apple cut into cubes + 2 cinnamon sticks + 2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon. Leave in the refrigerator overnight before serving.
8.) The zingibir : Ginger/tea
In advance: heat 1 teaspoon of ginger in two cups of tea, let it cool down.
Mix in a pitcher: 10 cups of water with two cups of the ginger tea + 4-5 pieces of fresh ginger cut into cubes. Leave in the refrigerator overnight before serving.
Han Shot First
“Han shot first” is a phrase used by Star Wars fans to refer to a controversial change made to a scene in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. In the scene, Han Solo meets the bounty hunter Greedo at the Mos Eisley Cantina. Han owes money to galactic crime lord Jabba the Hutt for dumping some cargo that he was supposed to smuggle for Jabba, and Greedo has come to take Han’s money, rather than bring him to Jabba. Han and Greedo sit opposite each other at a table and hold an ominous conversation while Greedo aims his blaster at Han. During their conversation and unbeknownst to Greedo, Han stealthily readies his own blaster beneath the table.
Greedo tells Han “I’ve been looking forward to this for a long time.” and Han replies “Yes, I’ll bet you have.” In the original theatrical version of the film, Han shoots Greedo and Greedo dies without firing a shot. The scene was modified for the 1997 re-release to feature Han using his weapon in retaliation after Greedo fires at him; the latter missing Han at point-blank range (<2 meters away). Thus, the phrase "Han shot first" is a retort to director George Lucas' explicit cinematographic assertion that "Greedo shot first."
Star Wars creator George Lucas explained the change by stating that he wanted to make clear to children that Han had “no choice” but to shoot Greedo. This justification was unsatisfactory to many long-time and adult fans of the series. The ire of some fans led to an online petition demanding that the changes be retracted. The primary objection to the revision is that it alters Han’s initially morally ambiguous character, making his later transition from anti-hero to hero less meaningful; others claim that shooting Greedo first was justified, since Han was likely to be killed by Greedo or Jabba the Hutt, making Han’s preemptive action both prudent and necessary. The plausibility of Greedo missing from such a short distance is also considered questionable, and criticized as being depicted in an awkward manner.[citation needed]
Since the Special Editions, there have been two DVD releases. In the 2004 DVD release, the disputed scene was altered again. In this version, Greedo still shoots before Han does, and he still misses at close range, but the timing is altered (so the shots are fired at almost the same time) and Han “dodges” the shot (digital manipulation is used to “lean” the character to one side).
The 2006 DVD had two versions—the 2004 changes and the original theatrical version. The theatrical version features no changes, including Han shooting first. When announcing the dual-version DVDs, Lucasfilm noted that the scene was included by saying: “…and yes, [viewers] see Han Solo shot first.”
For the 2011 Blu-ray release, the shot of Han and Greedo firing at each other from the 2004 DVD has been tightened up by several frames.
In a 2012 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Lucas altered his previous statements by announcing that Greedo had always shot first – stating that a combination of bad close-up shots and the audiences’ inaccurate perception of the Han Solo character was what actually caused all the confusion: “The controversy over who shot first, Greedo or Han Solo, in Episode IV, what I did was try to clean up the confusion, but obviously it upset people because they wanted Solo [who seemed to be the one who shot first in the original] to be a cold-blooded killer, but he actually isn’t. It had been done in all close-ups and it was confusing about who did what to whom. I put a little wider shot in there that made it clear that Greedo is the one who shot first, but everyone wanted to think that Han shot first, because they wanted to think that he actually just gunned him down.
Black swallower
The black swallower is a species of deep sea fish in the family Chiasmodontidae, notable for its ability to swallow fish larger than itself
The black swallower feeds on bony fishes, which are swallowed whole. With its greatly distensible stomach, it is capable of swallowing prey over twice its length and ten times its mass. Its upper jaws are articulated with the skull at the front via the suspensorium, which allows the jaws to swing down and encompass objects larger than the swallower’s head. Theodore Gill speculated that the swallower seizes prey fishes by the tail, and then “walks” its jaws over the prey until it is fully coiled inside the stomach.
Black swallowers have been found that had swallowed fish so large that they could not be digested before decomposition set in, and the resulting release of gases forced the swallower to the ocean surface. This is, in fact, how most known specimens came to be collected. In 2007, a black swallower measuring 19 cm (7.4 in) long was found dead off Grand Cayman. The stomach of the swallower contained a snake mackerel (Gempylus serpens) 86 cm (34 in) long, or four times its length. It is unclear how the swallower managed to avoid being eaten by the larger snake mackerel, itself an aggressive predator
Post-mortem photography
Post-mortem photography (also known as memorial portraiture or memento mori) is the practice of photographing the recently deceased.
The invention of the daguerreotype in 1839 made portraiture much more commonplace, as many of those who were unable to afford the commission of a painted portrait could afford to sit for a photography session. This cheaper and quicker method also provided the middle class with a means for memorializing dead loved ones.
Parents posing with their deceased daughter.
These photographs served less as a reminder of mortality than as a keepsake to remember the deceased. This was especially common with infants and young children; Victorian era childhood mortality rates were extremely high, and a post-mortem photograph might be the only image of the child the family ever had. The later invention of the carte de visite, which allowed multiple prints to be made from a single negative, meant that copies of the image could be mailed to relatives.
The practice eventually peaked in popularity around the end of the 19th century and died out as “snapshot” photography became more commonplace, although a few examples of formal memorial portraits were still being produced well into the 20th century.
A post-mortem photograph of a middle-aged man. The body is arranged so as to appear lifelike (circa 1860).
The earliest post-mortem photographs are usually close-ups of the face or shots of the full body and rarely include the coffin. The subject is usually depicted so as to seem in a deep sleep, or else arranged to appear more lifelike. Children were often shown in repose on a couch or in a crib, sometimes posed with a favorite toy or other plaything. It was not uncommon to photograph very young children with a family member, most frequently the mother. Adults were more commonly posed in chairs or even braced on specially-designed frames. Flowers were also a common prop in post-mortem photography of all types.
The effect of life was sometimes enhanced by either propping the subject’s eyes open or painting pupils onto the photographic print, and many early images (especially tintypes and ambrotypes) have a rosy tint added to the cheeks of the corpse.
Later examples show less effort at a lifelike appearance, and often show the subject in a coffin. Some very late examples show the deceased in a coffin with a large group of funeral attendees; this type of photograph was especially popular in Europe and less common in the United States.
Post-mortem photography is still practiced in some areas of the world, such as Eastern Europe. Photographs, especially depicting persons who were considered to be very holy lying in their coffins are still circulated among faithful Eastern Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Christians.
Tiger Mom: My kids are PIGS
Happens all the time:
The Sriracha Tiger Zoo, an hour’s drive from Bangkok, has been accused of causing its exhibits unnecessary suffering, and of using stunts to gain publicity.
These pictures must have been part of such a set-up, say experts, because it was unnecessary to wrap the piglets in their cute little tiger-skin coats.
It is apparently common practice in Thailand for tigers to suckle pigs, and for pigs to adopt orphaned cubs.
The tigress in these pictures was herself brought up by a sow, and sees pigs as family.
Though she had been given these babies to bring up, it is unclear whether she had lost a litter of her own, as the story claimed.In another twist, the zoo has been investigated for allegedly breeding tigers for export to China – where tiger parts command high prices for use in traditional medicines.
Sommai Temsiripong, one of the zoo’s owners, was charged with breeding tigers without a licence. On another occasion 23 tigers died of bird flu after being fed infected raw chickens.Critics say that behind the scenes tigers are bred in poor conditions and the the London Zoological Society has been critical of Sriracha’s animal husbandry.
This home video also reveals the zoo mixed a dog a tiger and a pig in one viewing area:
McDonalds: The McDLT
The Big N’ Tasty is the latest in a series of sandwiches that were designed to compete against the Whopper sandwich from Burger King. The first sandwich in this line of products was the McDLT sandwich. The McDLT was sold in a novel form of packaging where the meat and bottom half of the bun was prepared separately from the lettuce, tomato, American cheese, pickles, sauces, and top half of the bun and both were then packaged into a specially designed two-sided container.
The consumer was then expected to finalize preparation of the sandwich by combining the hot and cool sides just prior to eating. The company discontinued the sandwich in 1990 to appear more environmentally friendly as it moved away from polystyrene packaging which was integral to the McDLT “experience”.
The McDLT’s marketing focused on variations of the theme “Keep the hot side hot, and the cool side cool.” A 1985 commercial released to market the new sandwich featured Jason Alexander.
The McDLT was eventually succeeded by the McLean Deluxe in 1991. The McLean deluxe was a lower fat sandwich that included carrageenan to replace the beef fat in the patty and a low calorie mayonnaise. While the sandwich tested well, it failed to catch on after the national roll-out and was discontinued in 1994 in favor of the new Arch Deluxe, an adult oriented sandwich that featured a higher quality roll and a dijon mustard based mayonnaise. This sandwich was also unsuccessful and was discontinued in 1996.
The Big N’ Tasty was introduced in 1997 and was originally tested in the California market, while the Big Xtra was test marketed in the Northeastern United States as the MBX; during the simultaneous testing phase, either one could be sold depending upon the test market. The Big N’ Tasty sandwich was phased in nationally in 2000, displacing the Big Xtra in the United States. The Big Xtra became the basis for the Big Tasty sandwich in some international markets.
Patriotic Cake
Red velvet cake with white cake and frosting