When HDTVs first came out (and I’m talking about the 720p DLP projection TVs and the 1080p CRT TVs - yes, I had one of each), they had cable smartcard slots in them for receiving digital cable TV - no cable box needed! But I had DirecTV at the time because they were the only ones offering HD content (all 10 channels…

I’m just going to put this here to help all of the people who somehow think you are talking about Natalie Portman. http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Sab%C3%A9

These 3-D drawings are popular online and Gizmodo has done several articles about them over the years. The problem that is never mentioned is that they only work when viewing them through a 2D monitor. I did print out one of a Rubik’s Cube and placed on a table at home and found that it works okay if you close one…

This is not entirely unlike traffic congestion. Based on the number of cars on a highway, there is an optimal speed to maximize flow. The more cars there are, the slower that speed becomes. The problem is, if flow is maximized at a slow speed, some people will feel that they can take advantage and speed up to get a…

She’s not holding a light saber in those posters. And there is a small backstory for Rey on the back of the toy packaging that can be seen as a spoiler of sorts.

I don’t know about Gen1, but I can confirm my Gen2 is having this issue. When I saw it, I thought “oh, I didn’t realize there was a battery that needed to be replaced. Let me just take it off the wall and do that.” After I realized there is no obvious replaceable battery, I realized something was seriously wrong. I’m…

Truth. But in this case, I also think it was Han’s love for Leia that made him promise to bring Ben home. Deep down, Han may have known it was a lost cause, but he tried for her. It will be interesting to see how she deals with it in the next movie.

That’s what was so beautiful about that scene, and Adam Driver’s acting (which I never cared for before now). The fact that we, the audience, believed him in that moment, just as his father believed him. That we are even having this discussion, wondering now, if he really meant it or if he was just THAT good at faking…

I always assumed the light saber fell off or got knocked off of Luke’s body as the wampa was hanging him up. That’s why it was sitting in the snow just it if his reach.

Exactly. Foreshadowing is a literary technique that translates well to movies. It makes the story more interesting.

How about “you go to war with the army you have. . .”

We know from the prequels that lightsabers can’t cut through shields (i.e. shield generator shields, like the destroyer droids have), and we know that lightsabers cut very slowly through certain alloys of metal. So my guess is that things that are lightsaber resistant don’t just exist to block lightsabers, but to…

Because 1. Police have a lot of latitude to interpret what they consider to be obstruction of traffic, reckless driving and any number of things and 2. The police are not always right when they make those judgements.

I think more like, this is what the average 18-20 year old healthy woman looks like in each country. They are all beautiful. While I am biased because I tend to see what is beautiful in almost all women I look at, these women look “above average” in beauty across the board because youth and health are attractive. I…

African Americans who are descendants of west-african slaves are their own “race” because they have some white ancestry mixed in. This is why African Americans don’t look like African immigrants.

If you truly want to make it from “scratch,” you have to first invent the universe.

That's pretty screwed up, but I'm still willing to bet that it was the police who lacked the will to make an arrest, and not lack of applicable law. Even is assault requires physical harm in your jurisdiction, there are other statutes that could apply, including battery, which is an aggressive or unwanted touching,…

Exactly. What people don’t get about Uber and AirBNB is that these companies are providing a market for independent contractors who wish to provide services that they could otherwise provide WITHOUT these apps.

If I go out of town and want to rent out my house while I am gone, I am free to do that. And I have…

This could be an example of “broken windows” policing. Create an app that the police can monitor to encourage people to fight, then arrest them when they do. Potential violent offenders are charged with a crime and perhaps learn an early lesson.

That doesn’t make it legal, it just means that it was her word against his and, without other witnesses or evidence, it would be hard to convict, and many times police don’t want to make arrests without evidence. I am willing to bet she could still file charges with a magistrate, which is often what people have to do…