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Obi-Wan Kenobi Official Trailer
Here’s the official trailer for Obi-Wan Kenobi.
This continues to look amazing. May 27 can’t get her fast enough.
The Story Behind Star Wars Day
A simple pun somehow turned into a worldwide celebration of all things Star Wars. It’s futile to try to pinpoint who first made the joke, but Zaron Burnett at Mel Magazine tries to pin it down.
With Burnett’s investigation, it seems to me the real culprit is Randy Thom.
It was further popularized by Randy Thom, the director of sound design at George Lucas’ Skywalker Sound. On May 4, 1982, he was working on Return of the Jedi when his brain kicked over the pun, and he just started telling his co-workers, “May the Fourth be with you.” The bit was good for morale and well-received, so he brought it back year after year after year, spreading the pun around the company.
I’m rather partial to “Revenge of the Sixth” to indicate May 6.
The Quality of your Questions Matter
Shawn Blanc reminds us the quality of our questions matter.
Perhaps, like me, you grew up being taught that there are no stupid questions, only stupid answers. But that doesn’t mean all questions are equal.
A great question will go much further in getting you to a great answer.
Three of my favorite smarter questions are:
What should I start doing?
What should I stop doing?
What should I keep doing?
I wrestle with these three all the time.
How to Plan Your Week
Every Monday I start with this template:
• Top 3 projects
• Events or themes each day
• Any misc tasks
• How I want to celebrate at the end of the week
Even a simple plan like this will eliminate dozens of redundant decisions.
I think I can implement something like this in my life.
You Don’t Have to Clap
Warren Ellis pointed me to this breakdown by Robin Sloan of recent developments with Twitter. It’s a good read, but this bit is the kicker:
Wishful descriptions of Twitter as “the de facto public town square” or “the closest thing we have to a global consciousness” sound, to me, like Peter Pan begging the audience to clap and raise a swooning Tinkerbell.
You don’t have to clap.
I like Sloan’s prediction of “an overdue MySpace-ification.” Seems spot on.
Mystery Incorporated
Mystery Incorporated is the gritty live-action reboot of a beloved children’s animated show that we all deserve.
Instapaper Triage
In a post about a lot of different things, Alan Jacobs slips in a bit about how he uses Instapaper.
Whenever I see something online that I think I want to read, I put it in Instapaper — and then I try to leave it for a while. Often when I visit Instapaper the chief thing I do is delete the pieces I only had thought I needed to read. So for me it’s not just a read-later service, it’s a don’t-read-later service. But that only works if I don’t go there too often. I try to catch up with my Instapaper queue once a week at most.
Oh, this is such a cool idea. I need to go through all of my saved pieces and start deleting.
Kyle Schwarber Explodes And Gets Ejected
Kyle Schwarber, the Phillies, and the Brewers are fed up with Angel Hernandez.
This is a really bad call.
For a long time, my hot baseball take was bringing the DH to the National League. It’s happened and no one has blinked an eye. The next take? bring on the robot umpires.
Non-Zero Every Day
Matt Gemmell has some good advice for writers. It’s a three-step process to eliminate zero days.
I have yet to implement it, but I think I’m going to have to do something to get back on track with my own writing.
Corrective Measures Trailer
I can’t wait for everyone to meet Payback, Warden Devlin, Officer Brody, and the rest of the inhabitants of San Tiburon.
The Onion Has Been Permanently Banned from Twitter
This is an elite level of satire from The Onion as first reported by Metafilter. I laughed and laughed…
Just hours ago, in a sudden, inexplicable, and chilling act of censorship, The Onion has been permanently banned from Twitter. Read all about it on their Twitter page. This is a dark day for journalism and sets a grim precedent for the freedom of expression in America. The truth perishes in the night.
It’s Been 11 Minutes Since The Onion Was Banned From Twitter. So Why Isn’t The Mainstream Media Covering This?
SILENCED: Harrowing Photos From The Onion Office 3 Long Hours Into Our Twitter Ban
The Onion Store Now Selling ‘Thin Green Line’ Flags To Support Their Efforts
‘Je Suis The Onion’: Tributes From Around The World
Twitter, Enemy Of First Amendment Rights, Permanently Bans The Onion
BREAKING: Our Intern Is Being Forced Into A Hunger Strike Until Twitter Lifts Our Ban
You might ask yourself: if they’ve really been banned, how are they tweeting about it constantly? I mean, aren’t those literally their tweets right there?
That’s just twitter brainwashing you, pal. The only way to get around The Onion’s Twitter ban is to go to their fucking website.
Twitter brainwashing…
Holoportation
According to a recent release from NASA, a NASA doctor appeared as a hologram at the International Space Station for a telemedicine visit with an astronaut in Oct. 8, 2021. NASA called this experience a holoportation, combining hologram and transportation.
Dr. Josef Schmid and his crew were holoported to the ISS using the Microsoft Hololens Kinect camera and a personal computer with custom software Aexa, according to an April 8 release from NASA. Schmid had a virtual conversation with astronaut Thomas Pesquet as part of a 3D telemedicine visit.
“We’ll use this for our private medical conferences, private psychiatric conferences, private family conferences and to bring VIPs onto the space station to visit with astronauts,” Schmid said.
The technology allows users to interact with remote participants in 3D as if they were physically in the same space.
This feels very Star Wars-y to me.
Thor: Love and Thunder - Official Teaser
Here’s the official teaser for Thor: Love and Thunder.
Cool reveal at the end.
Slap bass with Synth Pedal
The very talented musician Charles Berthoud hooked up his bass guitar to a synth pedal and proceeded to perform a slap bass-forward heavy metal instrumental.
The pedal gave the instrument’s usually rich, baritone sound an excellent, intriguing electronic tone.
And then I found Liquid Tension Experiment…
The Strange (but True) History of Easter
Stephen Johnson, writing for Lifehacker, has an amusing look into the origins of Easter.
Easter is weird.
To religious people, it’s the most sacred day of the year, a time for reflecting on the central miracle upon which Christianity is based. And, for children, a side of “a magical bunny stopped by last night and left a basket full of painted eggs and candy for you.”
The modern celebration of Easter is rooted so many sources—the Catholic Church, paganism, Judaism, the spring equinox—over so many centuries, it makes sense that it’s a little disjointed.
It’s pretty fun and entertaining.
Corrective Measures on Tubi April 29
It's official!!! The @Tubi original Arcana production film "Corrective Measures is releasing on April 29th! 🌟 Who's ready to watch?
— Arcana Studio (@arcanastudio) April 14, 2022
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•#correctivemeasures #tubi #arcanastudio #arcanacomics #newmovie #brucewillis #michaelrooker #tubioriginal pic.twitter.com/W31Y30S2d9
Soon.
Elon Musk Offers to Buy Twitter
According to a report from Reuters, Elon Musk has offered to buy Twitter for $41.39 billion.
Musk, who calls himself a free-speech absolutist, has been critical of the social media platform and its policies, and recently ran a poll on Twitter asking users if they believed the platform adheres to the principle of free speech.
“My offer is my best and final offer and if it is not accepted, I would need to reconsider my position as a shareholder,” Musk added. Twitter will review Musk’s offer with advice from Goldman Sachs & Co and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, a source told Reuters. The company’s shares jumped 12% in premarket trading, while those of Tesla fell about 1%. The total deal value was calculated based on 763.58 million shares outstanding, according to Refinitiv data.
Obviously, this would be tantamount to completely gutting the application and starting over. Twitter has no obligation to free speech as it stands now.
Even better, I look forward to the idea that Twitter should be something people pay to use. Of course, if it costs money to use, most of its users would decide they’d rather spend their money on just about anything else. Even if Musk just turns it into a private company, I think many users may move on.
Twitter, unfortunately, must take Musk at least semi-seriously. He’s worth an estimated $273 billion, so it could happen. I just don’t really expect it to happen. I expect investors to decide the offer isn’t good enough, and that will be that.
Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Animated Series
What if Star Trek: The Next Generation was animated in the 70s instead of produced as live-action a decade later?
How fun is this? The attention to detail is astounding, from the lack of whites and shifting of their eyes to the strange angles of the shots and the weird pacing.
It’s the music that gets me, though. The Borg’s mauve cube also made me laugh out loud.
Also, the double colons made me smile.