EGAD

Weekend Interneting

Yeah, so what did I manage to do with my weekend?

I discovered that Darth Vader had a blog for a while. He even makes veiled political jabs, just like Lucas, that subversive creator of his:

What crystallized the situation for me was something the Duke of Foulbash said, bringing his brown fist down on the table: "Lord Vader, what is at stake here is a millennium of tradition! That is the heart of this matter."

The Duke was right. I told him so. Then I assassinated the entire royal family, down to the last forgotten bastard.

And furthering my suspicion that the entire Internet is one extended Star Wars parody, I also ran across Store Wars, Campbellian sci-fi for the health food set. "You must face the evil Darth Tater ... he's more chemical than vegetable, now." Hillarious, if overly preachy at the conclusion. Note to self: even if you are making a PSA-ish propoganda bit, never, ever end with Master Yogurt saying "No, there is another ... you!" Blowing up the Death Melon is not a good seque into a public service announcement.

Turning my attention to make-believe right here in our own galaxy, NASA is being sued by a Russian astrologer claiming that "destroying a comet" would "barbarically interfer[e] with the natural life of the universe." Never mind that the Deep Impact mission is just droping a block of metal the size of a desk into the path of a rocky snowball the size of Manhattan (which will happen to be moving at about Mach 31 at the time) ... I really, really guarantee that the "life of the universe" cares very little about the fate of some ordinary protoplanetary rubble. Although as an astronomer, I rather with people here on Earth did. Astronomy and dinosaurs -- two best things in the world for getting kids into science.

Finally, this post is a bit old, but since I was Scavhunting at the time, I get a pass for only noticing it recently. Apparently this hip new kind of web programming was noticed and dubbed "Ajax" back in February. I'd just like to toot my own horn a smidgeon and observe that I was using the same techniques in my own projects as early as this January. 'cause, you know, every now and then even I like to brag. Although really, I just copied the idea from Google, same as everybody else.