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smhalltheurlsaretaken · 3 years

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First I gotta say that I love you and your work, it's incredible and I enjoy every post✨

My brother said that Qui-Gon and Luke are grey jedi and that Luke has a red lightsaber as backup or something like that. And I'm looking at him with mad side eye and just wanted to ask your opinion on it?

❤️❤️❤️ Aaaaaw, so sweet!!!!

... Wait, Luke has a red lightsaber? *furious typing* Ah, yes. It’s in like three Legends books, and therefore worthless.

Just kidding - but here lies the first problem. What continuity is your brother even working with? Because you cannot - and I will die on this hill even though it’s just basic common sense, cannot - attempt to reconcile the Legends EU and Lucas’ vision for Star Wars into one cohesive universe. The characters don’t work, the themes don’t work, the timelines don’t work, the ideas don’t work.

Here is a bit of an explanation on why I believe that to be the case, and the quotes backing it up, but basically, Lucas, Filoni and LucasFilms all confirmed that the extended universe was not to be considered on par with the movies and TCW in any way. I’m not saying this to criticize the EU itself, or to say people don’t have a right to find it immensely entertaining/meaningful. I’m saying this to explain why you cannot take pieces of the EU (yes, even the old EU) to try and contextualize the movies - unless Lucas/somebody on the creative team of a piece of ‘higher’ canon expressly admitted to having taken something directly out of Legends.

Now, is there such a thing as a “Grey Jedi” in the movies, or TCW? No, there isn’t, but we’ll come back to that.

The second problem is the very definition of Grey Jedi. Depending on who you ask, what decades-old Legends book you go on from, Grey Jedi are either individuals capable of using both the Dark and the Light, or simply rogue Jedi.

Breaking it down case by case: I - Are Luke or Qui-Gon rogue Jedi? II - Do Luke or Qui-Gon use both the Light and the Dark?

I (A) - Qui-Gon is characterized as a bit of maverick, but he is by no means a complete outlier to the Jedi. I’ll just drop these two very interesting posts here and here that are a bit off-topic but make some great points about Qui-Gon loving the Order and definitely identifying as part of it. We get many, many instances of the Council itself approving of him. They overrule Yoda’s vote to not have Anakin trained, they still assign Qui-Gon very important missions like the one to Naboo, and they don’t pull him out of said missions when Qui-Gon shows up with a random kid he claims to be the incarnation of the Force itself. That is indicative of a high degree of trust, to say the least - so you can say that he is ‘rogue’ in the sense that he used to eff off to wherever to do his own stuff, but he never claimed to be anything other than a Jedi, he never left the Jedi, and he never criticized the Order in the movies or TCW (yes, you can check - he never once directly says anything about them being wrong for not doing things his way; just that he will do what he feels he must.)

"Tu-Anh was something of a maverick. Much like my own master, Qui-Gon Jinn. She would disappear for long periods, conducting rogue investigations. Her activities often unknown to even the Council." ―Obi-Wan Kenobi, to Jen June on Tu-Ahn[src]

So yeah, rogue somewhat, but still a Jedi Master, trusted to the point that they would have had him on the Council had he chilled a bit.

He also never does anything in the movies that sets him apart as oh-so-different from his fellow Jedi. Arguing with the Council? Everybody does that. Anakin does, Obi-Wan does, Yoda does, Ahsoka does, the younglings do - they argue with Obi-Wan in the Ilum arc. Being compassionate/nice to people? Check out the Disappeared, two entire episodes that have Mace befriending Jar Jar Binks. Here’s a list of instances of the Council being incredibly nice. Here, here and here is Mace being kind and compassionate. Qui-Gon liking Anakin? Here’s the Council and Anakin bantering. Here’s Yoda caring about Anakin.

Again, Qui-Gon wanted Anakin trained as a Jedi, and trusted his straight(er)-laced Jedi Padawan with it in the end. There is nothing in the movies or the show saying Qui-Gon was completely separate from the Order, or in radical opposition to them.

I (B) - Luke is the Order reborn, so he cannot be rogue, as the only thing he can measure himself against is himself. There is no longer a standard to be rogue in comparison to. Considering the state of the galaxy when he becomes a Jedi, Luke simply cannot function in the same way the Jedi who came before him did, but that doesn’t say anything about a rejection of the values of the PT Order. What it means to be a Jedi - being kind and compassionate, being in control of yourself, seeking peace before violence - is embodied by Luke. Furthermore, Luke loves Yoda and Obi-Wan - the quintessential Jedi characters - deeply, and finds much of his identity in being a Jedi.

“I am a Jedi, like my father before me” would be a really weird line if Luke actually meant “but like, not a Jedi like those Jedi. I’m a me-Jedi. A not-like-them-Jedi.”

I can’t make this into a Luke meta, because it’d be too long, but I don’t get the idea that Luke could represent a rogue Jedi when, at the time of his creation, he was the one and only embodiment of an active Jedi Knight we got to see. Like, what were we supposed to compare him to to determine he was rogue/doing things ‘better’?

Luke’s story is about becoming a Jedi and getting his father to become a Jedi again as well. That story makes little narrative sense if he’s supposed to be defined in opposition to the rest of the Jedi (that, at this point in time, we didn’t know) as instead of being defined as one.

And again, the Jedi of old display just as much compassion and kindness as Qui-Gon or Luke.

II - No, Luke and Qui-Gon don’t use both the Dark Side and the Light, because that’s literally not how the Force works - and don’t take my word for it: here’s Lucas explaining it in details. You don’t get to do both. The Dark is selfishness. You can’t be selfish and selfless and the same time. You can’t crave power and holding innocent people’s lives as more important than even your own.

The words “light side” were never uttered in the movies and only really appear in the Mortis arc, and I dare anyone to claim they truly understand everything about it beyond “it’s a microcosm of the Galaxy/the whole Star Wars saga.” The Jedi never claim adherence to a “light side,” they say they seek balance. The idea that balance is 50% evil and 50% good is baffling to me and I blame the SWTOR video games and their in-game mechanics. (Look, if I pour 50% poison into my sugar when I’m making a cake, everybody is still dead in the end. And if I slaughter only half of the people I’ve got it for and forgive the other half, I’m still creating that many circles of hatred and revenge.)

Finally - if Luke or Qui-Gon were meant to be “Grey Jedi” Lucas would have called them that. It’s not the case. It’s not anywhere in the movies or TCW, hence, it’s not what he intended. They can be interpreted this way, but it’s still not what the movies where trying to say.

#ask #heckadopelady #qui-gon jinn #luke skywalker #grey jedi #meta #my meta #long post

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annychristine831 · 4 years

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John Boyega Wants To Play Steve McQueen’s Version of James Bond

John Boyega shared his interest in the upcoming James Bond film as long as director Steve McQueen is involved with the project. McQueen and Boyega are from London, and both have tasted immense Hollywood success over the last decade.

John Adedayo Bamidele Adegboyega, professionally known as John Boyega, is a British producer and actor. He is known for his role as Finn in the Star Wars sequel trilogy: The Last Jedi, The Rise of Skywalker, and The Force Awakens. He later featured in many films including, the science fiction film Pacific Rim: Uprising, the drama film Imperial Dreams, the historical drama film Detroit, and four episodes of the television series 24: Live Another Day. Boyega was awarded by the Trophée Chopard at the Cannes Film Festival in 2016 and the BAFTA Rising Star Award in 2016.

Whereas Steve McQueen is a British director and a video artist. He is known for his historical adaptation of a slave memoir, 12 Years a Slave. The director also won an Academy Award for the Best Picture, the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture-Drama, and the BAFTA Award for Best Film. McQueen is the first black director who has received the Oscar for Best Picture.

The Oscar-winning director also received the Turner Prize for his artwork in 2006. McQueen was featured in the top 100 most influential people in the world for Time magazine.

The director and actor duo has collaborated to work on a period anthology Small Axe. The miniseries are based on discrimination and racism lived through London’s West Indian community from the ’60s to ’80s. The series premiered on 15 November 2020 in the United Kingdom on BBC and on 20 November 2020 on Amazon Prime Video. The series title refers to a proverb that reads, “If you are the big tree, then we are the small ax.”

The series featured John Boyega as Leroy Logan alongside Black Panther actress Letitia Wright as Altheia Jones-LeCointe, Shaun Parkes as Frank Crichlow, Malachi Kirby as Darcus Howe, Alex Jennings as Judge Edward Clarke, and Rochenda Sandall as Barbara Beese.

Critics praised Boyega’s performance and McQueen’s direction. The connection between the two is so strong that now Boyega is interested in another iconic British history piece. In a recent interview with MTV News, Boyega shared that he would love to be part of the upcoming James Bond if his favorite director, Steve McQueen, was on the team. He added that Steve could bring a unique spin on the secret agent movie while maintaining the film’s essence that has grabbed the audience’s attention for over 50 years. Actress Letitia Wright suggested Boyega’s name, knowing that he would love to take on 007. Boyega said in an interview, “Ooh! Hey, listen, if McQueen is directing the movie, then let’s do it!” He added that they both could bring something different to the film keeping the franchise’s sophistication. James Bond has to be James Bond, but they could do something better with that.

MTV News also pitched Daniel Kaluuya to Letitia Wright for the choice as Bond, as both the actor Kaluuya and Boyega are young enough to endure the required physical stunt for Bond’s character. According to Letitia, Boyega would be perfect for the role as he has a big personality, and that would be perfect for playing the character of an iconic British spy.

Boyega has received substantial critical praises for his previous work, which makes his willingness to jump into the popular franchise of James Bond. However, it could be risky to appoint a director like Steve McQueen, who infuses his work with personal beliefs and background. Still, it would be fun to watch Boyega in the iconic role of James Bond.

Source: John Boyega Wants To Play Steve McQueen’s Version of James Bond

#john Boyega

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mike5579-t3a · 5 years

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You have all read my observations and opinions on Frozen and Frozen 2 and yes there, have been times I've put my foot in my mouth! So please allow me to say this about myself.

I am passionately a fan of Frozen since I first saw the movie and the shorts in late 2018. Mostly because of a lady and her granddaughter who used to live in mine and my sister's house until recently. You can guess what happened next. I connected and fell in love with Anna and Elsa and felt the connections with my own life's journey with it's issues. I joined Pinterest and Tumblr to see all of the great fanart and fiction as well as keep tabs on F2's progress.

Recently, I got caught up with the controversy with ending spoilers here. I have since blocked those individuals so their toxic BS can go elsewhere, not pison me and drag my name in the slime pit of their own making.

That aside, I first want to recommend a read from another Tumblr member that sums up the first part I was going to say, yet sums it up better than could say;

Now, second. I have been told that if I open letter tweet Jennifer Lee, creator of the Frozen stories with an objection with the ending, I'm a bully. I have had my own experience with bullies, even before the internet. It seems like we have those who throw labels like "bully, misogynist, racist, sexist,etc.," around willy-nilly just to bully those who don't agree with our own opinions. For the record, I will be seeing Frozen 2 when it comes out and I will have an open mind. I will also have a guarded optimism. I was trying to find the YouTube channel's video on the history of Star Wars Fans' "The Fandom Menace," which was born out of the last 2 movies, "The Last Jedi' and "Solo," which enraged fans with third wave WOKE feminism and other political, man-hating messages, which totally wrecked the franchise and bombed the latter movie.

So is my fear with Frozen 2. I would love to see that if either this is the end or a new chapter, that in one way or another, the things from Frozen 1 will carry over, even as the characters of Elsa, Anna, and Kristoff, grow to that next level, without having Elsa all-of-a-sudden, just plain bail out on Anna totally. Apart or together in Arendelle, their deep, deep love, forged from the fires of the 13 years prior and Anna's Sacrifial and forgiving love fir her sister, Elsa, is just thrown to the scrapyard for the sake of Elsa becoming the selfush, self-centered "Snow Queen" wher the magic's allure has run her over to shallow narcissism. No, not acceptable.

I do reserve the right to open letter/tweet my opinion to Jen and the rest on my thoughts, good or bad, about Frozen 2, once I have seen the film. If good, then kudos and praise is what I'll give overwhelmingly. If it ends like Ralph Breaks The Internet, then i will say my peace, and also sever with anything Disney and encourage others to do likewise. As long as I have lived, the brand "Disney" meant lovable characters and quality family entertainment. But I also know that Disney has changed, some of it, not for the better. (Long-short, I don't drink the pixie dust flavored Kool-aid. I call BS when I see it)

So, those are my thoughts. What do you think?

#frozen #frozen2 #disney #snow queen elsa #elsa and anna #elsa of arendelle #anna of arendelle #princess anna #queen anna

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legosaurus · 5 years

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Looking Back on 20 Years of Lego Star Wars

Twenty years ago, on the eve of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace — the start of an all-new Star Wars trilogy chronicling the fall of the Jedi and the rise of the Empire — two worlds collided. Lucasfilm’s licensing division sought a whole new universe of colorful merchandise to delight fans and drum up excitement for Episode I, and there was one toymaker that presented an especially awesome opportunity: the Lego Group. The multi-colored bricks, minifigures, and playsets of Lego Group’s unique world were, after all, an entire galaxy of their own. Here was a brand that empowered children to create and tell stories on a canvas that combined the act of building with the raw power of imagination.

Now, two decades later, Lego Star Wars is one of the most recognizable toy lines to ever exist. There have been full-length films and TV series featuring Star Wars characters in Lego form; there’s an entire video-game franchise based on the partnership; there have been Lego kits depicting events from nearly every canonical Star Wars movie and show to date. Several models and playsets were recently released to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Lego Star Wars.

To mark the occasion, StarWars.com spoke with Design Director Jens Kronvold Frederiksen, who’s been a part of the legendary collaboration since 1998.

Check out the full interview below.

StarWars.com: Looking back, what can you recall about the very beginning of the partnership?

Jens Kronvold Frederiksen: When I started at LEGO in 1998, one of the first things that I saw were some draft models of LEGO Star Wars. And I have to say, I was totally surprised, and very, very curious what that was about. There wasn’t a contract yet, but it was in negotiations. So, obviously, all the designers at LEGO were working on sketch models to see what this could look like from a product point of view.

StarWars.com: Did things start with the sets for The Phantom Menace, or were you focused on doing the X-wing and such at first?

Jens Kronvold Frederiksen: It was before The Phantom Menace, and that was a big part of it. It was really good timing. From the beginning, the intention was that LEGO would launch products related to that new movie. And there were several other models that we launched around the same time — the X-wing and so on — that kind of just had to be made. At the time, it was a bit of a controversial thing at LEGO, because of having a new product line with “wars” in the title; we hadn’t been making anything related to war. Models had to be either realistic, very historic, or fantasy, so it was still controversial when it came up. When the first sets were made, we didn’t even make implements for the blasters. It was just a megaphone turned backwards, with a colored stud on the end.

StarWars.com: These days, we’re seeing things like The LEGO Batman Movie and The LEGO Movie 2, which sort of owe their existence to those late-’90s Phantom Menace sets. When you first saw LEGO getting involved in the licensing world, what were your hopes for the idea?

Jens Kronvold Frederiksen: Like many other people, for me it was a dream come true. Because two of my favorite things were being joined together. But if you asked me at the time, I would never have imagined that it was something that would become an evergreen LEGO line and it would exist for 10 or 20 years continuously. It’s become one of the longest-living LEGO product lines.

StarWars.com: In designing how these toys would ultimately look, was there a certain trick to making sure that they were authentic and recognizable?

Jens Kronvold Frederiksen: There were a lot of discussions about how to do this with the models. Of course, we wanted them to look as authentic as possible, but the main concern is always to make a good toy. And that means thinking about what a child can put together, so there are some natural limitations. You have to adjust and sometimes simplify the design a little bit. Another thing was that we also had to teach Lucas Licensing about how LEGO models are put together.

If you have, say, an Imperial shuttle that’s all white — well, it’s not all white in LEGO. There’ll be lighter-colored pieces, gray-colored pieces, and so on. And that’s something we’re doing to ensure that it’s also a good building experience; if a child opens a box full of just white pieces, it’ll be impossible to put together. So that’s one example of how we make small compromises to a design, and we have a super good relationship with Lucasfilm, so they have a very good understanding of what a LEGO model should look like.

StarWars.com: Do you have any favorite stories about those earliest offerings?

Jens Kronvold Frederiksen: Humor’s a big part of LEGO Star Wars, and that was actually something we were thinking about, but it also happened automatically. Because, in a way, the minifigures are funny to look at. Especially the bad guys. If you look at Darth Vader as a minifigure — honestly, he looks a little bit funny. I think that’s such an important part of LEGO Star Wars, and it came almost as a coincidence. But we’ve kept building on that all these years later.

StarWars.com: Over the course of 20 years, what are some of your favorites?

Jens Kronvold Frederiksen: One of them is the Heavy Assault Walker from Episode VIII — set number 75189, which is basically an AT-AT on steroids. I think it’s an awesome-looking walker, and I think the LEGO product came out quite well. Another one is from the same launch: 75190, the First Order Star Destroyer. I like the Star Destroyers because they’re really a combination of a model and a playset. On the outside, it looks like the ship does in the movie, and then you can open it up and play on the inside of it.

One of my favorite stories is about a product that’s very special to me, and that’s the Ultimate Collector’s Series Millennium Falcon, 10179, which came out in 2007. That was, at that time, the biggest LEGO model ever — not just LEGO Star Wars. And the way it all started was very unusual, because we’d already done a Millennium Falcon, and some fans had reacted by complaining that it was not at minifigure scale. You could only fit two minifigures in the cockpit, and there should’ve been space for four. So I was walking around thinking about how to solve that, and I decided I was gonna make a new, minifigure-scale Millennium Falcon, and it was quite obvious that it was gonna be very big.

But I started working on it in my spare time, and some other LEGO people came by, and they asked: “What’s that about?” And I said, “That’s just for fun.” But they said, “Could we make it as a product?” Suddenly, we decided we were gonna do it as a product. Normally, the brief is that you’re designing a model for a certain price point. Here, the brief was, “Make the ultimate Millennium Falcon, and then we’re gonna price it afterwards.” So that was the dream scenario.

StarWars.com: Were you building with physical pieces, then, or were you doing it digitally?

Jens Kronvold Frederiksen: No, it was done with bricks. There are designers today that are working digitally, but in most cases, they’re still building with physical bricks. And there are many reasons for that. If you have a model, it’s good to know that it won’t fall apart in your hands when handling it, or whether it’s balanced. There are so many things you won’t know if you’re building digitally. So most of the time, we’re still working with physical bricks. We have testing periods where we bring kids in to see our designs, and they’re playing with our models. And that happens all the way from the earliest designs until you finalize the products. That’s always super exciting to see.

#Jens Kronvold Frederiksen #lego #lego star wars #history #toys #star wars

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jeneyrecosplay · 4 years

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Continuing with today’s #shepropchallenge ... my most recent cosplay! I finished Jedi Training Flashback Leia from The Rise of Skywalker in April. This is another one where I could have picked a couple of different things based on how I defined cosplay… My closet suffragette or closet Jen from the IT crowd could’ve also worked for this one- but I put those together mainly to make videos for Tiktok (my account is still up over there but I deleted the app and am not making new content anymore- the privacy issues were more concerning than those with other apps. I blogged about it on JenEyre.com if you’re interested) #shepropchallenge2020 #jedileia #jedileiacosplay #lightsaber #theriseofskywalker #thefutureoftheforceisfemale #leia #leiaorgana #princessleia #theitcrowd #suffragette #closetcosplay https://www.instagram.com/p/CEpCvOujZ3R/?igshid=xhvq0rlqiyra

#shepropchallenge #shepropchallenge2020 #jedileia #jedileiacosplay #lightsaber #theriseofskywalker #thefutureoftheforceisfemale #leia #leiaorgana #princessleia #theitcrowd #suffragette #closetcosplay

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animatedjen · 3 months

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This part of the Soldier edit has been stuck in my head lately

#I love photomode but these edits will always be my favorite thing to work on (even when they take way too long)#star wars jedi survivor #jedi survivor #jedi survivor spoilers #jedi fallen order #cal kestis #jen makes jedi videos

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thatsnotcanonpodcasts · 4 years

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Half-Life projects, Comic-Con program guide, Playstation Factory & Esports Mental Toughness

First, Dev-i-boy found a list of Valve games that never came out. These games were created in the dark times before Half Life: Alyx was announced, and include some interesting looks at what Half Life 3 could have been.

You can't go to Comic-Con this year, but you can watch it online. There's a great program with tons of shows including comics, television and gaming news. It's also probably the most accessible Comic-Con ever, since you don't need to leave your house and the shows are free.

First the robots came for the car factory jobs, and I said nothing. Then they came for the Playstation 4 assembly jobs, and I said "Cool, that's some nice tech". Sony has almost fully automated their assembly line and only use four people on the ends of a single assembly line that makes one console every 30 seconds. It's awesome.

Esports are stressful, and high skill players show the same signs of stress as their analogue counterparts. This doesn't surprise the Nerds at all, but it's an interesting study.

This week, Professor played a chaotic real time dice rolling game, DJ kept the peace in Agents of Mayhem and Dev-i-boy got distracted by job applications. Wish him luck.

Half-Life projects cancelled before Alyx, including Half-Life 3

- https://www.pcgamer.com/at-least-5-half-life-projects-were-cancelled-before-alyx-including-half-life-3/

Comic-Con @ Home program guide

- https://bleedingcool.com/comics/wednesday-programming-for-san-diego-comic-conhome-is-up/

- https://bleedingcool.com/comics/thursday-programming-for-san-diego-comic-conhome-is-here/

- https://bleedingcool.com/comics/friday-programming-for-san-diego-comic-conhome-is-here/

- https://bleedingcool.com/comics/saturday-programming-for-san-diego-comic-conhome-is-here/

- https://bleedingcool.com/comics/sunday-programming-for-san-diego-comic-conhome-is-here/

Near fully automated Playstation Factory

- https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Companies/PlayStation-s-secret-weapon-a-nearly-all-automated-factory

- https://vdata.nikkei.com/en/newsgraphics/sony-playstation/

Stress and Coping in Esports and the Influence of Mental Toughness

-https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00628/full

Games Played

Professor

– Project: ELITE - https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/171726/project-elite

Rating: 4/5

Deviboy

– DNP (Did Not Play)

Rating: TBA

– Agents of Mayhem - https://store.steampowered.com/app/304530/Agents_of_Mayhem/

Rating: 3/5

Other topics discussed

Major Twitter accounts hacked in suspected bitcoin scam

- https://www.smh.com.au/technology/major-twitter-accounts-hacked-in-suspected-bitcoin-scam-20200716-p55chj.html

Half-Life: Alyx - Final Hours (an interactive storybook, written by Geoff Keighley, that takes fans inside Valve Software to chronicle the company's past decade of game development, including the return of Half-Life.)

- https://store.steampowered.com/app/1361700/HalfLife_Alyx__Final_Hours/

Half-Life 2: Episode One (2006 first-person shooter game developed and published by Valve. Valve wanted to release new games quickly, without spending years developing a major new product with new tools. For Episode One, they focused on the player's relationship with Alyx, developing her artificial intelligence. The game uses an updated version of Valve's Source engine, with new lighting and animation technology.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half-Life_2:_Episode_One

Portal (Portal is a series of first-person puzzle-platform video games developed by Valve. Set in the Half-Life universe, the two main games in the series, Portal (2007) and Portal 2 (2011), center on a woman, Chell, forced to undergo a series of tests within the Aperture Science Enrichment Center by a malicious artificial intelligence, GLaDOS, that controls the facility. The Portal games are noted for bringing students and their projects from the DigiPen Institute of Technology into Valve and extending their ideas into the full games.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal_(series)

Half-Life 2: Episode Two (2007 first-person shooter game developed and published by Valve. Following Episode One (2006), it was the second in a planned trilogy of shorter episodic games that continue the story of Half-Life 2 (2004) Like previous Half-Life games, Episode Two combines shooting, puzzle-solving, and narrative, but adds expansive environments and less linear sequences.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half-Life_2:_Episode_Two

Transition to services and a flat structure (The change in Valve's approach has also been attributed to its use of a flat organization structure that the company adopted in 2012. Valve had originally used a hierarchical structure more typical of other development firms, driven by the nature of physical game releases through publishers that required tasks to be completed by given deadlines.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valve_Corporation#Transition_to_services_and_a_flat_structure_(2010%E2%80%932015)

Epic Games (American video game and software developer and publisher based in Cary, North Carolina. Epic Games develops the Unreal Engine, a commercially available game engine which also powers their internally developed video games, such as Fortnite and the Unreal,Gears of War and Infinity Blade series.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epic_Games

Artifact (digital collectible card game developed and published by Valve. It focuses on online player versus player battles across three boards called lanes, and is based upon the universe of Dota 2, a multiplayer online battle arena game also from Valve. Artifact was designed by Magic: The Gathering creator Richard Garfield.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artifact_(video_game)

More details on the cancelled Valve projects

- https://www.ign.com/articles/half-life-3-left-4-dead-3-details-cancelled-valve

Axe (DOTA 2 character) (Mogul Khan, the Axe, is a melee strength hero, infamous for creating chaos in battle and thriving off of it. xe is commonly played as an initiator, as his potent disables can disrupt the enemy's formation and give his team openings in fights.)

- https://dota2.gamepedia.com/Axe

Minecraft (Minecraft is a sandbox video game developed by Mojang Studios. Created by Markus "Notch" Persson in the Java programming language and released as a public alpha for personal computers in 2009, the game was officially released in November 2011, with Jens Bergensten taking over development around then.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minecraft

Roblox (Roblox is an online game platform and game creation system that allows users to program games and play games created by other users. Founded by David Baszucki and Erik Cassel in 2004 and released in 2006, the platform hosts user-created games in many genres, such as racing games, role-playing games, simulations and obstacle courses, coded in the programming language Lua.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roblox

DEATH STRANDING (DEATH STRANDING is an action game developed by Kojima Productions. It is the first game from director Hideo Kojima and Kojima Productions after their split from Konami in 2015. It was released by Sony Interactive Entertainment for the PlayStation 4 on November 8, 2019, and by 505 Games for Microsoft Windows on July 14th, 2020.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_Stranding

-https://store.steampowered.com/app/1190460/DEATH_STRANDING/

Hunt Down The Freeman (Hunt Down The Freeman is a fan-made spin-off game based on Half-Life 2 and both a "narrative" sequel and a spin-off o fHalf-Life: Opposing Force released in 2018 by Royal Rudius Entertainment.)

- https://half-life.fandom.com/wiki/Hunt_Down_The_Freeman

- https://store.steampowered.com/app/723390/Hunt_Down_The_Freeman/

Seven Hour War (The Seven Hour War was a brief, but decisive confrontation between the Combine and the governments of Earth, ultimately leading to a large human death toll and the Combine occupation of the entire planet.)

- https://half-life.fandom.com/wiki/Seven_Hour_War

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order (Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is an action-adventure game developed by Respawn Entertainment and published by Electronic Arts.)

-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars_Jedi:_Fallen_Order

Half-Life 2: Episode Three (a cancelled game that was planned as the final installment in the Half-Life 2 episodic trilogy.)

- https://half-life.fandom.com/wiki/Half-Life_2:_Episode_Three

Half-Life 2: Episode Four (An unreleased Half-Life game set in Ravenholm, alternatively called Half-Life 2: Episode Four, Return to Ravenholm, or Ravenholm, was in development from 2005 to 2008.)

- https://half-life.fandom.com/wiki/Half-Life_2:_Episode_Four

JKX Comics (Comic books simplify STEM concepts from multiple disciplines to create engaging comics to increase students' scientific literacy.)

- https://www.jkxcomics.com/

Cells At Work! (Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Akane Shimizu. It features the anthropomorphized cells of a human body, with the two main protagonists being a red blood cell and a white blood cell she frequently encounters.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cells_at_Work!

RedLetterMedia - Mr. Plinkett's Star Trek Picard Review

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwF1iri1GjQ

RedLetterMedia - Star Trek: Picard - re:View

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfQdf93e63I

Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 1 Trailer – CBS

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3RkBKedKWw

Todd McFarlane (Canadian comic book creator and entrepreneur, best known for his work as the artist on The Amazing Spider-Man and as the writer and artist on the horror-fantasy series Spawn.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Todd_McFarlane

Steins;Gate (a 2011 anime television series created by the animation studio White Fox based on 5pb. and Nitroplus's 2009 visual novel of the same name, and is part of the Science Adventure franchise along with Chaos;Head and Robotics;Notes. It is set in 2010, and follows Rintaro Okabe, who together with his friends accidentally discovers a method of time travel through which they can send text messages to the past, thereby changing the present.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steins;Gate_(TV_series)

Quantum Immortality (Quantum suicide is a thought experiment in quantum mechanics and the philosophy of physics. Purportedly, it can falsify any interpretation of quantum mechanics other than the Everett many-worlds interpretation by means of a variation of the Schrödinger's cat thought experiment, from the cat's point of view. Quantum immortality refers to the subjective experience of surviving quantum suicide. This concept is sometimes conjectured to be applicable to real-world causes of death as well.)

-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_suicide_and_immortality

Anime Expo VR Chat Meetup Has Attendees Waiting for Hours in Virtual Lines

- https://www.animemaru.com/anime-expo-vr-chat-meetup-has-attendees-waiting-for-hours-in-virtual-lines/

Playstation 4 ((officially abbreviated as PS4) is an eighth-generation home video game console developed by Sony Computer Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15 in North America, November 29 in Europe, South America and Australia, and on February 22, 2014 in Japan. It competes with Microsoft's Xbox One and Nintendo's Wii U and Switch.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_4

Valve - Building the Steam Controller

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCgnWqoP4MM

Inside the Sony factory: Watch how the PS3 is assembled.

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXRHrnA7lOY

Nintendo president issues apology for the Nintendo Switch Joy-Con drift

- https://micky.com.au/nintendo-president-issues-apology-for-the-nintendo-switch-joy-con-drift/

Bridge is the ultimate trick-taking card game, easily the greatest source of enjoyment that four people can have with a pack of cards. Bridge is a sport: the World Bridge Federation is recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Just like every sport, Bridge offers enormous benefits to its players.

-https://www.bridgemaniac.com/is-bridge-olympic-sport/

Chess makes move for inclusion at 2024 Paris Olympics

- https://www.reuters.com/article/us-chess-olympics/chess-makes-move-for-inclusion-at-2024-paris-olympics-idUSKCN1Q12N4

Esports History (The earliest known video game competition took place on 19 October 1972 at Stanford University for the game Spacewar.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esports#Early_history_(1972%E2%80%931989)

First game tournament, ‘Intergalactic Spacewar Olympics,’ held 40 years ago

- https://www.polygon.com/2012/10/20/3529662/first-game-tournament-intergalactic-spacewar-olympics-held-40-years

45 years after first-ever gaming tournament, Seattle museum hosts vintage Spacewar! Olympics

- https://www.geekwire.com/2017/45-years-first-ever-gaming-tournament-living-computers-hosting-vintage-spacewar-olympics/

Professional 'Counter-Strike' Player Caught Cheating in Tournament (Pictures from the event show Kumawat packing a backpack and leaving, the rest of the team looking grim around his computer alongside tournament officials, and a file explorer window showing a suspicious-looking program innocently named "word.exe.")

- https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/43eexp/professional-counter-strike-player-caught-cheating-in-tournament

Formula E Driver Disqualified After Cheating in Virtual Race

- https://variety.com/2020/digital/news/daniel-abt-formula-e-disqualified-cheating-virtual-race-1234615414/

The Magic School Bus Rides Again (The Magic School Bus Rides Again is a Canadian-American animated children's web series, based on the book series of the same name by Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen. It also serves as a continuation of the 1994–1997 PBS Kids series The Magic School Bus, with Lily Tomlin reprising her role as Ms. Frizzle. The series premiered on Netflix on September 29, 2017.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Magic_School_Bus_Rides_Again

The Magic School Bus Rides Again | Main Trailer

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoiTW2zw80c

The incredible story of how Target exposed a teen girl's pregnancy

- https://www.businessinsider.com.au/the-incredible-story-of-how-target-exposed-a-teen-girls-pregnancy-2012-2

Jessi Combs (American professional racer, television personality, and metal fabricator. She set a women's land speed class record (four wheels) in 2013 and broke her own record in 2016. She was known as "the fastest woman on four wheels.”)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessi_Combs

American jet-car racer and Mythbusters host Jessi Combs posthumously awarded world land-speed record for a woman

- https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-06-25/jet-car-racer-jessi-combs-female-land-speed-record-fatal-crash/12391272

Remembering Grant Imahara - Still Untitled: The Adam Savage Project – 7/14/20

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TG_pm98W8c

Neo-Geo (SNK's first two products using the Neo Geo name are an arcade system called the Neo Geo Multi Video System (MVS) and a companion console called the Advanced Entertainment System (AES), both released in 1990.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neo_Geo#Neo_Geo_MVS_and_AES

NEOGEO mini

- https://www.snk-corp.co.jp/us/neogeomini/

Neo Geo Pocket (The Neo Geo Pocket is a monochrome handheld game console released by SNK. It was the company's first handheld system and is part of the Neo Geo family. It debuted in Japan in late 1998 but never saw an American release, being exclusive to Japan, Asia and Europe.)

-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neo_Geo_Pocket

X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics fictional character Wolverine. It is the fourth installment of the X-Men film series, the first installment of the Wolverine trilogy within the series, and a spin-off prequel to X-Men (2000).)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-Men_Origins:_Wolverine

Ultraman (a fictional superhero and is the first tokusatsu hero launched by the Ultra Series and by extent, Tsuburaya Productions. His appearance in the entertainment world helped spawn the Kyodai Hero genre with countless shows such as Godman and Iron King.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultraman_(character)

Frankenstein's monster (Frankenstein's monster or Frankenstein's creature, often erroneously referred to as simply "Frankenstein", is a fictional character who first appeared in Mary Shelley's 1818 novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. Shelley's title thus compares the monster's creator, Victor Frankenstein, to the mythological character Prometheus, who fashioned humans out of clay and gave them fire.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankenstein%27s_monster

Escape from New York ((stylized on-screen as John Carpenter's Escape from New York) is a 1981 American science fiction action film co-written, co-scored and directed by John Carpenter. The film's storyline, set in the near-future world of 1997, concerns a crime-ridden United States, which has converted Manhattan Island in New York City into the country's maximum-security prison.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escape_from_New_York

Lady Mouth (TNC Podcast)

-https://thatsnotcanon.com/ladymouthpodcast

Shout Outs

12 July 2020 – Joanna Cole, Author Of ‘Magic School Bus’ Books Turned TV Series passes away 75 - https://deadline.com/2020/07/joanna-cole-dies-author-magic-school-bus-book-tv-series-was-75-obituary-1202986879/

Joanna Cole, whose Magic School Bus book series was beloved by millions of young readers and later turned into an animated television show. The idea for The Magic School Bus was born in the mid-1980s. Scholastic senior editorial director Craig Walker was fielding requests from teachers for books about science, and decided a storytelling and science series was the answer. He recruited Cole for the task. She was the author of the children’s book Cockroaches,along with illustrator Bruce Degen. The concept was simple: Teacher Ms. Frizzle led students on journeys into everything from the solar system to underwater adventures. Magic School Bus books sold tens of millions of copies and later was turned into a popular animated TV series and later a Netflix series. Plans for a live-action movie with Elizabeth Banks as Ms. Frizzle were announced just last month. Cole and Degen recently completed The Magic School Bus Explores Human Evolution, scheduled for publication next spring. She died from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis in Sioux City, Iowa.

13 July 2020 – Boxed, Sealed Copy Of NES Super Mario Bros. Sells for $114K At Auction - https://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-news/2020/07/12-1/boxed-sealed-copy-of-nes-super-mario-bros-sells-for-114k-at-auction

Heritage Auctions, an auction house based in Dallas, Texas specializing in pop culture memorabilia auctions has announced that it has set a new bidding and auction sales record for the sale of a highly-graded boxed and sealed video game, with the retail version of Super Mario Bros. for the Nintendo Entertainment System having been bid and won for an unheard of $114,000 on Friday, July 12th. The auction house previously set the record for the winning bid on highly graded boxed and sealed copies of video games with a copy of the 1987 Mega Man game for the same console being sold for $75,000 in 2019. This version of the game dates back to mid-1987 and still features the original cardboard hang tab underneath the shrink wrap. This makes it one of the few remaining early copies in such a pristine condition with a high Wata Games certified rating of 9.4/10. This was the highest-quality version of the game ever sold by the company, where previously lower quality versions of the game such as a 8.0/10 selling for $40,200.

13 July 2020 – Grant Imahara passes away at 49 - https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-07-14/mythbusters-host-grant-imahara-dead/12454370

Former MythBusters co-host Grant Imahara has died suddenly after reportedly suffering a brain aneurysm. Before his career on camera, Imahara spent nine years at Lucasfilm's Industrial Light & Magic, where he started working after gaining an electrical engineering degree from the University of Southern California. He had visual effects credits for The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) and Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003), as well as the Matrix sequels. However, Imahara was most well known for being a member ofMythbusters’ Build Team, joining the cast in 2005 after the departure of Scottie Chapman. Working with team members Tory Belleci and Kari Byron, Imahara tested the scientific plausibility of hundreds of myths by designing and building outlandish contraptions, delighting thousands with his innovation and stoking wider interest in robotics. He was enthusiastic about sharing his passion for engineering with others, and encouraged people to be curious and investigate how things work. After leaving Mythbusters in 2014, Imahara co-hosted short-lived Netflix series White Rabbit Project with MythBusters co-stars Kari Byron and Tory Belleci, continuing to investigate scientific questions and make such topics accessible to a wider audience. He also consulted with Walt Disney Imagineering to develop its Stuntronics — robotic aerial stunt performers intended to be deployed in Disneyland theme parks. He was also a Trekkie, and had acting credits on fan productions Star Trek: Renegades (2015) and Star Trek Continues (2012). He passed away in Los Angeles, California.

14 July 2020 – X-Men the movie is 20 years old - https://www.cbr.com/x-men-anniversary-original-did-better-prequels/

On July 14th, it will be 20 years since X-Men premiered. SinceX-Men: First Class introduced a new take on the world of mutants, the original trilogy has been met with criticism in comparison; however, there are several things the original trilogy, comprised of X-Men, X2: X-Men United and X-Men: The Last Stand, did better than the successors. The X-Men’s greatest achievement was its ability to show that superheroes could be taken seriously. Created in a time when superheroes were seen as too kid-focused to be profitable. The X-Men chose to focus on the series’ very real theme of racial precedence. A theme far more adult than those in previous superhero movies. The movie also did it’s best to steer clear of various comic book elements. Such as flashy costumes, omega level powers, or one-dimensional villains. Magneto’s plan of turning humans is a very comic book plan. It is not done for power, wealth, or revenge. Simply to make humans and mutants equal. This helped give the movie a level of grit and realism not normally seem in superhero movies at the time. It also allowed it to stand in contrast to the brightness of the Spiderman series. Singer's X-Men actually paved the way for movies like Spider-Man (2002), additional X-Men films, Wolverine, Deadpool, even Daredevil,Hulk, and Punisher, and of course, Iron Man and the MCU as we know it today.

Remembrances

13 July 1762 – James Bradley - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Bradley

English astronomer and priest who served as Astronomer Royal. He is best known for two fundamental discoveries in astronomy, the aberration of light , and the nutation of the Earth's axis. These discoveries were called "the most brilliant and useful of the century" by Jean Baptiste Joseph Delambre, historian of astronomy, mathematical astronomer and director of the Paris Observatory. Bradley worked with Samuel Molyneux until Molyneux's death in 1728, trying to measure the parallax of Gamma Draconis. This stellar parallax ought to have shown up, if it existed at all, as a small annual cyclical motion of the apparent position of the star. However, while Bradley and Molyneux did not find the expected apparent motion due to parallax, they found instead a different and unexplained annual cyclical motion. Shortly after Molyneux's death, Bradley realised that this was caused by what is now known as the aberration of light. The basis on which Bradley distinguished the annual motion actually observed from the expected motion due to parallax, was that its annual timetable was different. This discovery of what became known as the aberration of light was, for all realistic purposes, conclusive evidence for the movement of the Earth, and hence for the correctness of Aristarchus' and Kepler's theories. The theory of the aberration also gave Bradley a means to improve on the accuracy of the previous estimate of the speed of light, which had previously been estimated by the work of Ole Rømer and others. After publication of his work on the aberration, Bradley continued to observe, to develop and check his second major discovery, the nutation of the Earth's axis, but he did not announce this in print until 14 February 1748, when he had tested its reality by minute observations during an entire revolution (18.6 years) of the moon's nodes. He died at the age of 69 in Chalford,Gloucestershire.

13 July 1921 – Gabriel Lippmann - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriel_Lippmann

Jonas Ferdinand Gabriel Lippmann, Franco-Luxembourgish physicist and inventor, and Nobel laureate in physics for his method of reproducing colours photographically based on the phenomenon of interference. One of Lippmann's early discoveries was the relationship between electrical and capillary phenomena which allowed him to develop a sensitive capillary electrometer, subsequently known as the Lippmann electrometer which was used in the first ECG machine. Above all, Lippmann is remembered as the inventor of a method for reproducing colours by photography, based on the interference phenomenon, which earned him the Nobel Prize in Physics for 1908. The interference phenomenon in optics occurs as a result of the wave propagation of light. When light of a given wavelength is reflected back upon itself by a mirror, standing waves are generated, much as the ripples resulting from a stone dropped into still water create standing waves when reflected back by a surface such as the wall of a pool. In the case of ordinary incoherent light, the standing waves are distinct only within a microscopically thin volume of space next to the reflecting surface. Lippmann's process foreshadowed laser holography, which is also based on recording standing waves in a photographic medium. He died at the age of 75 aboard the steamer SS France, while en route from Canada.

13 July 1974 – Patrick Blackett - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Blackett

Patrick Maynard Stuart Blackett, Baron Blackett, British experimental physicist known for his work on cloud chambers, cosmic rays, and paleomagnetism, winning the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1948. In 1925 he became the first person to prove that radioactivity could cause the nuclear transmutation of one chemical element to another. He also made a major contribution in World War II advising on military strategy and developing operational research. Blackett spent ten years working at the Cavendish Laboratory as an experimental physicist with Ernest Rutherford. Rutherford had found out that the nucleus of the nitrogen atom could be disintegrated by firing fast alpha particles into nitrogen. He asked Blackett to use a cloud chamber to find visible tracks of this disintegration, and by 1925, he had taken 23,000 photographs showing 415,000 tracks of ionized particles. Eight of these were forked, and this showed that the nitrogen atom-alpha particle combination had formed an atom of fluorine, which then disintegrated into an isotope of oxygen and a proton. He thus became the first person to deliberately transmute one element into another. In 1947, Blackett introduced a theory to account for the Earth's magnetic field as a function of its rotation, with the hope that it would unify both the electromagnetic force and the force of gravity. He spent a number of years developing high-quality magnetometers to test his theory, and eventually found it to be without merit. His work on the subject, however, led him into the field of geophysics, where he eventually helped process data relating to paleomagnetism and helped to provide strong evidence for continental drift. In 1948 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics, for his investigation of cosmic rays using his invention of the counter-controlled cloud chamber. The crater Blackett on the Moon is named after him. He died at the age of 76 in London.

Famous Birthdays

13 July 1527 – John Dee - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Dee

Anglo-Welsh mathematician, astronomer,astrologer, teacher, and occultist, but mostly he was an alchemist. He was the court astronomer for, and advisor to, Queen Elizabeth I, but spent much of his time on alchemy,divination and Hermetic philosophy. As an antiquarian, he had one of the largest libraries in England at the time. As a political advisor, he advocated turning England's imperial expansion into a "British Empire", a term he is credited with coining. He believed that numbers were the basis of all things and key to knowledge. His goal was to help bring forth a unified world religion through the healing of the breach of the Roman Catholic and Protestant churches and the recapture of the pure theology of the ancients. From 1570 Dee advocated a policy of political and economic strengthening of England and imperial expansion into the New World. His 1576 General and Rare Memorials pertayning to the Perfect Arte of Navigation was the first volume in an unfinished series planned to advocate imperial expansion.He argued that England should exploit new lands through colonisation and that this vision could become reality through maritime supremacy. Dee promoted the sciences of navigation and cartography. He studied closely with Gerardus Mercator and owned an important collection of maps, globes and astronomical instruments. He developed new instruments and special navigational techniques for use in polar regions. He believed that mathematics (which he understood mystically) was central to human learning.Although Dee's understanding of the role of mathematics differs much from ours, its promotion outside the universities was an enduring achievement. For most of his writings, Dee chose English, rather than Latin, to make them accessible to the public. He was born in Tower Ward, London.

13 July 1831 – Arthur Böttcher - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_B%C3%B6ttcher

Jakob Ernst Arthur Böttcher, Baltic German pathologist and anatomist who was a native of Bauska, in what was then the Courland Governorate (present-day Latvia). In 1856 he earned his medical doctorate from the University of Dorpat (present-day University of Tartu in Estonia) with a dissertation on the nerve supply to the inner ear's cochlea. Böttcher is largely known for his anatomical investigations of the inner ear, particularly studies involving the structure of the reticular lamina and nerve fibers of the organ of Corti. Today his name is associated with the eponymous "Bottcher cells", which are cells of the basilar membrane of the cochlea. Other anatomical terms that contain his name are:

Böttcher's canal: Known today as the ductus utriculosaccularis or as the utriculo-saccular duct. This duct connects the utricle with the endolymphatic duct a short distance from the saccule.

Böttcher's ganglion: Ganglion on the cochlear nerve in the internal auditory meatus.

Böttcher's space: Also known as the endolymphatic sac; the blind pouch at the end of the endolymphatic duct.

Charcot-Böttcher filaments: Spindle-shaped crystalloids found in human Sertoli cells. They measure 10 to 25 µm in length. Named in conjunction with neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot (1825-1893).

13 July 1940 – Sir Patrick Stewart - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Stewart

English actor, director and producer whose work has included roles on stage, television, and film, in a career spanning six decades. He has been nominated for Olivier,Golden Globe, Emmy,Screen Actors Guild, and Saturn Awards. Stewart's first major screen roles were in BBC-broadcast television productions during the mid-late 1970s, including Hedda, and the I, Claudius miniseries. From the 1980s onward, Stewart began working in American television and film, with prominent leading roles such as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation, its subsequent films, and 2020's Star Trek: Picard; as Professor Charles Xavier in the X-Men series of superhero films; and voice roles such as CIA Deputy Director Avery Bullock in American Dad! and the narrator in Ted. Having remained with the Royal Shakespeare Company, in 2008 Stewart played King Claudius in Hamlet in the West End and won a second Olivier Award. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on 16 December 1996. In 2010, Stewart was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for services to drama. When Stewart was picked for the role of Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987–1994), the Los Angeles Times called him an "unknown British Shakespearean actor". He initially experienced difficulty fitting in with his less-disciplined castmates, saying that his "spirits used to sink" when required to memorise and recite technobabble. When questioned about the significance of his role compared to his distinguished Shakespearean career, Stewart has said that: "The fact is all of those years in Royal Shakespeare Company – playing all those kings, emperors, princes and tragic heroes – were nothing but preparation for sitting in the captain's chair of the Enterprise." He was born in Mirfield,West Riding, Yorkshire.

Events of Interest

13 July 1956 – The Dartmouth workshop is the first conference on artificial intelligence. - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dartmouth_workshop

13 July 1967 – On this day in 1967 (in West Germany), Frankenstein Conquers The World enjoyed a run through the theatres. - https://www.scifihistory.net/july-13.html

The feature starred Tadao Takashima and Nick Adams, The film was a Japanese-American co-production; it was the first collaboration between Toho and Henry G. Saperstein. In the film, scientists investigate a child's resistance to radiation that makes him grow to monstrous size, while a second monster ravages the countryside. In 1966, Toho/UPA released a sequel titled The War of the Gargantuas. Here's the plot summary :

"During WWII, a human heart taken from a certain lab in Europe (Dr. Frankenstein's) is kept in a Japanese lab, when it gets exposed to the radiation of the bombing of Hiroshima. The heart grows in size, mutates and sprouts appendages, and eventually grows into a complete body and escapes. Later, a feral boy with a certain physical deformity (a large head with a flat top) is captured by scientists who refer to the boy as Frankenstein. The creature grows to the height of 20 feet, escapes again, fights police and army, and is practically indestructible. Later, a reptilian monster goes on a rampage. Eventually the Frankenstein creature and the reptile face off in a terrible battle."

13 July 1977 – New York City: Amidst a period of financial and social turmoil experiences an electrical blackout lasting nearly 24 hours that leads to widespread fires and looting - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City_blackout_of_1977

Intro

Artist – Goblins from Mars

Song Title – Super Mario - Overworld Theme (GFM Trap Remix)

Song Link -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GNMe6kF0j0&index=4&list=PLHmTsVREU3Ar1AJWkimkl6Pux3R5PB-QJ

Facebook

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heathershomilies · 6 years

Text

I wasn’t planning to do a Tweets Post at the moment. I’m working on a couple of other more substantial posts that are taking a lot of time. However, there are a few things I want to bring to your attention. They’re not Good Things. They’re WTF things.

As I’ve said before, I’m (very) slowly doing a post about John Bolton. I think Donald Trump is aware that bringing Bolton into the White House is increasing the impression that he’s a warmonger. Despite liking to be seen as the Ultimate Tough Guy, he’s not so keen on the moniker “warmonger”. It appears he’s doing something about it. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing when this came on my screen. This is what you get when you try and do the right thing and learn other points of view!

Trumpy Bear!

This, dear readers, is the ‘Trumpy Bear Official Commercial’. I thought this was going to turn out to be some sort of left-wing mockery of Trump. But no. It’s real!

Third Month Mania

A new video has come out from The Daily Show to encourage people to vote in the final of ‘Third Month Mania’. You can find my take on that here if you haven’t already read it. There are three days left to vote, so be quick. It only takes a few seconds, and you can vote here.

Some Americans are Ignorant and Proud: Flat Earth Edition

This is a YouTube channel I’ve just found: Some Americans are Ignorant and Proud. This is video #127, so they’ve been around a while. I watched a couple of their other videos and I think they’re pretty funny, but I may have a warped sense of humour.

This recent video is dedicated to flat-earthers. Take note of the guy from around 3.30 on, who uses a model plane and globe to demonstrate “… the simplest irrefutable flat earth truth.” He earlier declares that everything he learnt in school after the sixth grade was a waste of time.

There’s some good stuff from Neil deGrasse Tyson in there too, especially right at the end.

Some memes you’ve probably all seen before …

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Education Tweets

In honour of the stupid theme, here’s a tweet of mine.

The real reason the GOP don’t want to raise teacher wages. (Did you ever notice that the worst education rates are in red states?!) pic.twitter.com/61sHujbIM7

— Heather’s Homilies (@HeatherHastie) April 7, 2018

Scott Pruitt

Scott Pruitt is the subject of a lot of discussion in the comments on the last post, so I thought I’d post these recent cartoons about him:

Political Tweets

And since we’re on the subject of politics, I have to include Political Tweets.

The US border with Mexico according to #TrumpLies pic.twitter.com/eWsKqO0WA3

— Heather’s Homilies (@HeatherHastie) April 7, 2018

Paul Ryan balances the budget … pic.twitter.com/Je1WLUVpUL

— Heather’s Homilies (@HeatherHastie) April 7, 2018

This article by Madeleine Albright is one I highly recommend.

A must read by Madeleine Albright:

Will We Stop Trump Before It’s Too Late? https://t.co/9d2QmKA0sz

— Heather’s Homilies (@HeatherHastie) April 7, 2018

This is good … (Via Ann German.)

Trump says he didn’t know about Cohen’s hush money to Stormy Daniels. And he didn’t know about his Don Jr.’s meeting with Russians to get dirt on Clinton. And he didn’t know about WikiLeaks. This is now devolved to, “What didn’t the president know, and when didn’t he know it.”

— George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) April 5, 2018

This could get interesting … (Via Ann German.)

I really want to see the Presidential Directive ordering Kushner to do this.

Like, a lot.

If there isn’t one, he’d better get fitted for an orange jumpsuit.https://t.co/lB368INNpi

— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) April 5, 2018

Now that’s a T-shirt! (Via Ann German.)

Trump Hate This T-shirt ! Love Tom Hanks And His T-shirt !! Get One : https://t.co/C3YxRr0f9J 10% Off !! RT & BUY #AMjoy#ImpeachTrump #FridayFeeling#InvasionOfPrivacy Cardi B#JobsReport 7 Russian Oleg Deripaska Will We Stop Trump Before#FlashbackFriday#Muse18 Sergei Skripal pic.twitter.com/XzCm9dvcQ1

— Julia J. Martinez (@AZ_APPAREL2) April 6, 2018

Mueller Time Tweets

An update … (Via Ann German.)

“Armed with subpoenas compelling electronic records and sworn testimony, Mueller’s team showed up unannounced at the home of the business associate, who was a party to multiple transactions connected to Trump’s effort to expand his brand abroad”https://t.co/yyxN7KcYOu

— Maddow Blog (@MaddowBlog) April 6, 2018

Sinclair Media Tweets

Due to Sinclair Media being in the news, they’ve been a favourite topic of the political cartoonists in the last few days.

The news, brought to you by #SinclairPropaganda pic.twitter.com/FweKFnpyPR

— Heather’s Homilies (@HeatherHastie) April 7, 2018

On Sinclair Media … pic.twitter.com/9VxlU4aRFm

— Heather’s Homilies (@HeatherHastie) April 7, 2018

Human Rights Tweets

A man got a rejection slip for his manuscript from a female publisher. He went berserk on Twitter, deciding there was #MisandryInPublishing. There’s a pic of one of his tweets in this tweet: (Via Ann German.)

Imagine being so threatened about acknowledging your own privilege you decided periods were a freakish, voluntary political statement 😂 #misandryinpublishing pic.twitter.com/URlOWdTITj

— ♠️ Amanda Foody ♠️ (@AmandaFoody) April 5, 2018

There were quite a few hilarious response to his outburst, but really, it boils down to this …

Misogyny: literally kills women.

Misandry: A woman hurt my feelings.#Misandryinpublishing

— TakedownMRAs (@TakedownMRAs) April 5, 2018

You may think this belongs in the Political Tweets section, but I want to separate it from politics in the way John Pavlovitz has. This is about something much deeper and more important. The Trump presidency is doing enormous damage to the fabric of US society. The divisions were already there before Trump became president, but now they’re laid bare. I urge you all to read the article in the link of this tweet. In fact, to make it easier, just click here. (Via Ann German.)

“It’s about my grief at the ugliness you feel emboldened to post on social media now, the nastiness you seem newly capable of, the disgusting words you now so easily toss out around the dinner table.”#SaturdayMorning https://t.co/jC5F0GcIdq

— John Pavlovitz (@johnpavlovitz) April 7, 2018

Scenic Tweets

I’ve never come across these before. Very cool looking buildings!

‘The Gurunsi (Kassena) tribe live in fortified houses in the Tiebélé region on the border of Burkina Faso and Ghana. pic.twitter.com/vIJHg2Xs4K

— Architecture (@archpics) April 8, 2018

I wish this went on longer – I could just sit here and watch it for ages.

The beautiful Berner Oberland 🍃🌳😍https://t.co/nuLmPTWnJi pic.twitter.com/gOBuPEEMxV

— Life on Earth 🌴 (@planetepics) April 8, 2018

London’s had such an amazing history for centuries. It would be so interesting to visit during any of them. (Well maybe not during the Blitz or when plague was raging!)

A colorised shot of #London during the 1930’s pic.twitter.com/WrByxIKEWG

— History Lovers Club (@historylvrsclub) April 8, 2018

Just … WOW!!!

Sheikh Zayed Mosque – Abu Dhabi, UAE pic.twitter.com/yWrpZG8Oct

— Architecture (@archpics) April 8, 2018

Food Tweets

This looks delicious!

This Indian dessert looks like a flower-shaped funnel cake pic.twitter.com/mKVOJg0WPh

— NowThis (@nowthisnews) April 8, 2018

Lego Tweets

A Jedi master by a Lego master!

“When made out of #LEGO bricks you are, look as good, you will not, hmmm?” | The great Jedi master lives again in this huge #Sculpture by Felix Jaensch. – https://t.co/TCYrkvi9iY | #Character #StarWars #Models pic.twitter.com/WBjtnA3huw

— The Brothers Brick (@BrothersBrick) April 8, 2018

Fungus Tweets

How’s this for a cool mushroom! I don’t know anything about it – I hope one of you can tell me more!

pic.twitter.com/dlTzQUZ0Ub

— Mood:Odd (@moododd) April 8, 2018

Insect Tweets

Now you know …

Why mosquitoes bite some people and not others https://t.co/p9anUtWGs8

— TIME (@TIME) April 8, 2018

Other Animals Tweets

I challenge you to watch this without a tear coming to your eye!

When this orphaned baby chimp arrived at a sanctuary, he was so terrified that he wouldn’t let anyone touch him. Then he met a friend who changed EVERYTHING 💕 (via @ApeActionAfrica) pic.twitter.com/w0zAgxAjpd

— The Dodo (@dodo) April 7, 2018

It’s Ratty!

Water Voles: with @SurreyWT #Nature #RatedAwww –https://t.co/1h3M7nNS72

— Amy Carparelli (@AmyAmylou1993) April 7, 2018

I’m not sure how they know it’s smiling, but I’ll take their word for it …

A fox’s Smile pic.twitter.com/PRa6lV4Ig9

— Land of cuteness (@landpsychology) April 8, 2018

Bird Tweets

Another nice rescue from the lovely people at Wildlife Aid.

‘Frozen red kite nurtured back to health’: #Nature –https://t.co/KCuNmUnDFc

— Amy Carparelli (@AmyAmylou1993) April 6, 2018

The latest news on what’s going on at Slimbridge. It’s not just birds – there’s news on the frogs and toads too. Slimbridge is on my list of places I have to visit if I ever get to England.

WildWatch @WWTSlimbridge ‘April 2018’: #Nature #RatedAwww –https://t.co/9npY9Y0wyg

— Amy Carparelli (@AmyAmylou1993) April 4, 2018

A chilled out kookaburra.

It amazes me sometimes how relaxed some wildlife can be around people. This kookaburra just sat on my fence as I took a close up on my iPhone. Calm as anything it really is nice having such great wildlife in the burbs. pic.twitter.com/O1e1P09JBZ

— John White Wildlife (@JWhiteWildlife) April 8, 2018

Woops!

No, no, no… you’re not supposed to swallow peanuts whole! pic.twitter.com/u8cwT4PrAB

— Jen Cross🦉🕷🦖 (@7StellarJays) April 8, 2018

Dog Tweets

Here’s a real feel good story …

This rescue dog was scared of everything until she met this amazing little boy. Soon, someone from her past came along — and she made their family SO complete 💞 pic.twitter.com/HNcYgLEXIJ

— The Dodo (@dodo) April 7, 2018

So cute!!!

Husky pic.twitter.com/i2USnM4xyV

— Land of cuteness (@landpsychology) April 8, 2018

I’ve seen this before, but it’s so cool. He clearly loves it. His wee tail wags all the way down.

this video always cheers me up pic.twitter.com/2Vf3rdgXTK

— Cutest Animals Ever 😍 (@CUTEST_ANlMALS) April 8, 2018

Cat Tweets

What a cool cat!

Cats + bags = 😻😻😻 pic.twitter.com/QsHsFXxZy8

— The Dodo (@dodo) April 8, 2018

Awww … poor things.

Thunder buddies in their thunder bunker. pic.twitter.com/08h18lKr17

— Land of cuteness (@landpsychology) April 8, 2018

It’s not just the kookaburra that’s chilled out!

I will never be as cool as this can and I’m okay with it. 😻

📹: princetite_princessoyan pic.twitter.com/25l8Xs7OJE

— Emergency Kittens (@EmrgencyKittens) April 8, 2018

What love looks like. 💕

💖 pic.twitter.com/8BAhPJT5Ws

— Kittens (@kittenpic) March 8, 2018

Simon’s Cat: Polished Paws

If you’ve got this far, here’s your reward. There are two new Simon’s Cat videos out. First up, here’s ‘Polished Paws’.

Simon’s Cat: Guide to Spring

And last but not least we have Simon’s Cat‘s ‘Guide to Spring’. Enjoy!

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A Miscellany of Stupid (plus Tweets) I wasn't planning to do a Tweets Post at the moment. I'm working on a couple of other more substantial posts that are taking a lot of time.

#Cat Tweets #Dog Tweets #Education Tweets #EPA #Flat Earth #Food Tweets #Fungus Tweets #Human Rights Tweets #Insect Tweets #Mueller Time Tweets #Other Animals Tweets #Scenic Tweets #Scott Pruitt #Simon&039;s Cat #Sinclair Media Tweets #Third Month Mania #Trumpy Bear

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