PSA’s from a galaxy far far away

Annual Conference 2008

One of the more lively discussions from the floor of Annual Conference concerned the assignment of mandatory email addresses for all clergy. (A pretty good indicator of just how exciting this year’s sessions were.) Being an IT guy myself, I was interested in most of this discussion, especially when the conversation turned toward the subjects of spam & virus protection – two very time-consuming processes for all Systems Administrators. I was getting into it when the question was raised that our Conference office only has a one-man IT staff, and with these added responsibilities, what were we going to do if something went wrong when he was on vacation? Before an answer could be given however, my cell phone rang. It was a call from my office – where I am a one-man IT staff. Immediately my brain said, “I think I know the answer to that question!”

MOM – Darth Dork Hit Me!

Okay, so the story goes like this; this dude drinks nearly a whole box of wine, dresses up like Darth Vader, then attacks the leader of a Jedi Church with a metal crutch. But the Jedi dudes just happened to catch the whole thing on the running video camera that they had set up to film themselves fighting with fake lightsabers. Then the judge found Vader guilty, but evidently not too guilty, and gave him a suspended sentence… Did I mention that it’s a true story?

Click HERE to read all about it!

There are just too many things to say… So much that I’m just speechless!

This isn’t the first time the Jedi Church has made it into the news though.
Nope; Here are a few more links so that you can read up on these… enthusiasts!

May the Force be with Pew

Jedi Church Announces Plans for Moon Colony

Maybe I’m not as big of a Star Wars geek as I thought…

What’s That Supposed to Mean?

I have fielded many questions about the vinyl decal on the back of my truck that reads, “HAN SHOT FIRST”. Like many of the items I put on my truck, in my cubicle or most anything else I own, it mostly just announces to the world my own inherent geekiness.

It refers to a scene in Star Wars, Episode IV: A New Hope that was altered by George Lucas in the 1997 Special Edition release in which Han Solo and first-time bounty hunter Greedo engage in a confrontation in the Mos Eisley cantina on Tatooine. There is a bounty on Han’s head because he owes Jabba the Hutt a large sum of money due to a smuggling job gone wrong. And the reptilian humanoid has him dead-to-rights. In the original version Solo decides to escape his inevitable capture by firing a single shot under the table and killing the poor green guy. Greedo never even gets to fire his blaster before falling forward lifelessly to the table.

However, in the Special Edition, Greedo shoots first, at point-blank range, and inexplicably misses. Thereby making Solo’s shot look more like self-defense, as if he had no other choice but retaliation in order to escape. Lucas did this very much on purpose in order to minimize the senseless violence for the kiddies. But the fan-boys like me didn’t buy it. It felt wrong, looked fake, and made Solo’s character more vanilla and less of the scoundrel he was supposed to be in the beginning; which totally threw off his character development from anti-hero to hero. Geeks around the world demanded a retraction!

Finally, in 2006 a third release of the DVD was announced which included two versions of the movie; the newly re-mastered special edition, and a second disk featuring the unaltered, untouched original theatrical release! He didn’t change it back, but at least we were able to purchase the movie the way we remembered it on DVD for the very first time! It made many of us as happy as the heroes when R2 shut the compactor down! (FYI: they were really happy!)

Here’s how the scene was meant to be seen:

Click here to read more about “Han Shot First”.

This American Life – LIVE

Tomorrow night This American Life, public radio show turned Showtime series, is hosting a live event that will be simulcast into movie theaters across the country – much like the Metropolitan Opera broadcasts their Live in HD series. I’m not 100% sure of what to expect, but I know it will be entertaining!

I realize I may be one of the few people in this area that is actually excited about this event. My wonderful wife, who has never even listened to the program, surprisingly agreed to go with me without so much as a flinch. I bought our tickets in advance over a week ago. But I still fear a repeat of our U23D experience – being the only two people in the theater…

I guess you know where I will be tomorrow!

Games for Non-Gamers

This game has been kicking my butt for three days so far this week! It’s just a simple on-line flash game where you have to move a small shape, usually a circle, across the screen to a flag by drawing 2-D shapes which obey the laws of physics in the fewest number of shapes. It is problem solving at its most frustrating – yet somehow fist-pumpingly gratifying when it works. It’s a lot like Crayon Physics if you’ve ever played that. But I like the fact that this is just a little flash game – nothing to install that will bog your computer down, just a cookie that remembers your scores.

Three lunch periods and five breaks later, I’ve finally got each level down to single-digits, most in 4 or less. Now my mouse-hand hurts…

Warning: if you enjoy problem solving, this thing is like on-line crack! Instantly addictive. Play at your own risk.

http://www.bubblebox.com/play/puzzle/975.htm

Slow Sleepy Day

On days like this that just seem to go on forever & ever with no discernible end in sight. Not much brings a smile to my face & a giggle to my gut quite as quickly as re-watching TROGDOR! I don’t know why…

Death By Blogging

Yes – this is a blog post directing you to an on-line newspaper article which directs you to another blog post about how bloggers are blogging themselves to death, which in turn directs you back to the article!

Oh blog it!

Featured Product of the Week

The ZapCam – YouTube Taser! 

Comedy, Self-Defense & Evidence… all at once!

More Bizarre News

The killer robots are coming… to help you kill yourself!

(click on the picture for full story)