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| C-3PO Tape Holder (via Medocinie) |
I’d love to hear what you think of the Internet’s greatest strangest moments in
this week’s “Geek Bits.”
By The Way
We’re trying something different this week. Instead of posting news
links it’s the strangest and most bizarre geeky stories on the
Internet. Let us know what you think.
Links
J.J. Abrams Stopped Filming Star Wars to Look at Moon (via Huffington Post)
In
an interview with HuffPost UK,
Oscar Isaac, the strange thing Abrams did after Harrison Ford came back:
“He was in such high spirits, he was
literally making jokes on the loudspeakers. We had a big schedule that
day, but JJ stopped us all and he said, ‘Can everybody just stop and
look at the moon right now?’ He said, ‘Look how beautiful it is, and
how lucky we all are to be here.’ JJ knows what’s important, and he
reminded us it was a beautiful experience. He made it very personal.”
Team Who Built Original Star Trek Enterprise Reuniting for Replica (via People)
Richard Taylor (who designed the
Enterprise), Jim Down (who built the ship) and Paul Olsen (who painted
the model) were first brought together in 1978 by Paramount. The group
aims to raise $3 million to outfit an L.A. workspace and undertake the
16-month project. Fans can donate via the group’s website (http://www.projectenterprise.space), with varying levels of donations being granted different rewards, like exclusive access to events.
Wierd Sea Worm Shoots Spider-Man Webbing
It turns out the “Peanut Worm” can shoot anywhere between 18 and 24
tentacles from it’s mouth to feed on organic materials found in mud and
sand. It’s also good for freaking out humans and the Green Goblin.
Spider-Man Feeding the Homeless (via Huffington Post)
A 20-year-old man from Birmingham, England, who wishes to remain
anonymous, is a bartender by day. But at night, he puts on a Spider-Man
suit and gives free sand
wiches to homeless people. Birmingham Spiderman
says,”I’ve learned that everyone is the same, we’re all part of the
human experience and I … believe that we need to look at everyone as
humans and help each other the same as we would a close friend.”
Jon Stewart Asks Neil deGrasse Tyson If Batman Could Beat Superman (via Huffington Post)
de Grasse Tyson didn’t directly answer the question, but said Batman
answers to Commissioner Gordon and, ultimately, the mayor. But Superman
reports to “no one we know.” He added, “He just behaves in whatever way
he wants. And so, at the end of the day, what might matter, is the
public reception of the superhero and the superhero’s conduct. And if
Batman executes our wishes in the city, and Superman does what the hell
he wants, that’s a conflict.”
Batman Batarangs confiscated at Charlotte airport (via Charlotte Observer)
Three batarangs, those roughly bat-shaped throwing weapons used by
Batman, were found in a carry-on bag by at Charlotte Douglas
International Airport. Batarangs, it turns out, are prohibited
carry-ons by the Transportation Security Administration.
College Student Dons Iron Man Armor to Cheer Up Children (via My San Antonio)
“The youngster’s eyes lit up when he
walked through the doors at the University of Texas at San Antonio
Convocation Center, looked up and saw the red-and-gold superhero of his
dreams — Iron Man. And beside him was his teammate, Iron Patriot, in
all his metallic glory, dancing to music blaring across the arena.
“Dazzled by the sight, the boy hugged the dancing machine, brought to
life by UTSA student Matthew Price. Beneath sweltering armor and
helmet, the maker of the suits, Albert Lee, committed the scene to
memory, marking his first appearance to lift the spirits of children
with cancer.
“I wanted to share this with others,” Lee, 22, said. “Seeing people smile makes the effort of making the suits worth it.”
Reviews
Television
Star Trek: The Animated Series – “Mudd’s Passion” (01×11) – Recommended
 |
| via Trekmate |
Wikipedia Synopsis: “In
this episode, the Enterprise brings aboard con-artist Harry Mudd who
spreads a fast-acting love potion on the ship. The story features actor
Roger C. Carmel voicing an uncredited reprise of his live-action role
as Harry Mudd.“
This
one is a very fun episode specifically seeing Mr. Spock caught in the
throes of passion for Nurse Chapel. It’s also fun to think that she was
in love with him the whole time. Mudd’s very perceptive.
- Star Trek TAS Mudd’s Passion (via Spacerguy)
- Star Trek: Mudd’s Passion (via Armchair Squid)
Movies
Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) – Recommended
“Marvel
Studios presents ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron,’ the epic follow-up to the
biggest Super Hero movie of all time. When Tony Stark tries to
jumpstart a dormant peacekeeping program, things go awry and Earth’s
Mightiest Heroes, including Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, The
Incredible Hulk, Black Widow and Hawkeye, are put to the ultimate test
as the fate of the planet hangs in the balance. As the villainous
Ultron emerges, it is up to the Avengers to stop him from enacting his
terrible plans, and soon uneasy alliances and unexpected action pave
the way for an epic and unique global adventure.
“Marvel’s ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’
stars Robert Downey Jr., who returns as Iron Man, along with Chris
Evans as Captain America, Chris Hemsworth as Thor and Mark Ruffalo as
The Hulk. Together with Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow and Jeremy
Renner as Hawkeye, and with the additional support of Samuel L. Jackson
as Nick Fury and Cobie Smulders as Agent Maria Hill, the team must
reassemble to defeat James Spader as Ultron, a terrifying technological
villain hell-bent on human extinction. Along the way, they confront two
mysterious and powerful newcomers, Wanda Maximoff, played by Elizabeth
Olsen, and Pietro Maximoff, played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and meet an
old friend in a new form when Paul Bettany becomes Vision.”
I saw this one on opening weekend and was blown away by its character
development and amazing visuals. Think about the last movie you saw
that’s been hyped up for over a year. A constant barrage of cips,
posters, leaks and rumors. Did it live up to the hype? It rarely does,
but this one actually manages to make good on its claim that it’s an
amazing experience. In the beginning of the film, we see the team going
after a Hydra base and encountering the twins: superhumanly fast Pietro
and mind-controlling Wanda Maximoff. The core of the story is Tony
Stark who, after being given a vision of the dead Avengers, loses his perspective
and is desperate to save the world at any cost. It’s his scientific
hubris that causes all the problems. The A.I. Ultron is created and
wrecks havoc on the world. Usually characters like Black Widow are
sidelined, but in this film she becomes key to the Hulk and we get an
amazing understanding of her tragic background as a Russian
super-soldier.
In fact, all the characters go through massive changes and that’s the
core of the film. While the movie doesn’t have the same level of action
as the first film, Joss Whedon is able to take the characters from the
last movies and move them forward. Cinematographer Ben Davis also
worked on Guardians of the Galaxy
and his sweeping visuals are a treat to the eyes. James Spader has
become the most terrifying Marvel villain just using his voice, and
Vision has become the most beloved.
This film is a triumph as one of the best films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
What do you think of this week’s
links and reviews?
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<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="33125 ">29 Comments
I didn't really like AoU that much but I'm sure I'm in the minority.
No it's not for everyone but I enjoyed it.
We can go back tens of thousands of years and it would still be the same. North Africans have looked they way they do for that long. I don't know why you would say that. Why do you think that black Africans are officially known as "Sub-Saharan Africans"? Here's a clue, they were from SOUTH of a certain desert.
It's not a contradiction. I never said all Vikings were Black
Avengers II was messy, lots going on… didn't think that Widow was too lovey-dovey… she was at 7 years and needed her pon-far fix. I enjoyed and was lost for awhile and my hopes there will be a another hour thrown into the dvd/blu-ray release… it was good to see them back together.
I remember writing an article on "Real Life Superheroes" last year. Interesting group of people. Hopefully the guy dressed as Spider-Man will help inspire some good.
I'd like to see the Avengers movie.
That's wonderful about helping the homeless and cheering up children.
Finally we get to see a brief spark of emotion between the lovely Nurse Chapel and pointy ears. Vulcans sure can be dumb sometimes but logical.
I'm hoping there will be a bunch of cut scenes Jeremy and it was wonderful to see them back.
LOL yes it was wonderful and the spark was brief but welcome. I never noticed any tension between them before but I often miss that stuff.
It is great to see people using superheroes to inspire and help Medeia and the world could use more cheering up sometimes.
They are an interesting group and it's stories like that that prove superheroes can do good on and off the pages of comic books.
I know you didn't. I read what you said. I just don't know why you used such a crappy webpage.
I loved Age of Ultron, but sadly it did not surpass my expectations from the first Avengers. Still, great great movie.
Just look at Egyptian art before it was invaded by waves of Asians and Europeans. They went from looking like black Africans to mulattoes.
What are you talking about? DNA proves that there were Asians and some Europeans who had migrated to Egypt (and the general North African area) many thousands of years before the Ancient Egyptian civilisation.
Ive seen nothing of the sort however 9 mummies have had
their DNA tested and mummies from the 12th dynasty. I could post the
links. Their DNA was all over Africa. Only one of them was somewhat mixed and I’m
talking Beyonce mixed not Halle Berry. Also Vikings were DNA tested and it
showed that their much of their maternal lineage begat from Kenya.
History is white washed. It's not black washed.
LMAO You mention DNA but give statues and art? Here you go…
http://www.quora.com/Egypt/What-proportion-of-Egyptians-descend-from-Arabs-vs-ancient-Egyptians
"By and large you don't descend from one or the other – the vast majority of modern Egyptians would have some blood from the invading Arabs and some blood from the native stock of the country. But there have been numerous studies done here, and it seems like the invasions account for less than 10% of the DNA in the Modern Egyptian population. You can find more information here: DNA history of Egypt"
See? Modern Egyptians aren't too different to Ancient Egyptians. And who said anything about white-washed? The theory of Egyptians being white was thrown out long ago. The modern theory TODAY is that they were heavily mixed. Next.
you are a f–king moron, the irish didnt describe them as white and black, its well known it was a mistranslation black/white can also be changed fore "old and new" which refered to the old vikings, that had raided them and the newly ones.
You're using art as evidence? SMH. Most of those Egyptian players in the third picture look dark brown anyway. So why say that?
And enough with this "invasions" story. DNA tells another story…
http://journals.plos.org/plosgenetics/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgen.1004393#s1
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22253600
Again, why do you rely on art? DNA settles the debate.
Maybe my reply was deleted. When I post DNA stuff it ends the debate and people delete it.
You are right DNA does settle the debate.
I'll post it again
To be fair the question was flawed about modern Egyptians and Arabs. You have to really know what an Arab is. Not all Arabs are the same. You have black, white and everything in-between with different types of black and white. It would be more accurate to ask what percent are from foreign invaders but even that is flawed because of how DNA works. The most common male haplogroup in modern Egypt is E1b1b which is shared by Africans, Asians and Europeans. You can’t use a multi-race gene to exclude a multiracial people without using more than a paternal lineage.
Here see for yourself.
http://www.thegeneticatlas.com/E1b1b.png
It’s totally multiracial and while it’s not heavily Arab it’s still 10% of Saudi Arabia and even more of Turkey and Greece both of whom actually invaded Egypt.
The reality is you can’t tell how related modern Egyptians are to Arabs or Ancient Egyptians with modern DNA alone. Egyptians could have moved or been killed. A lot of the times when cultures are invaded they are replaced especially when they were invaded so many times and so long ago. Wiki's article actually mentioned two of the mummies that had their ancestry tested but the link you posted did not mention those results.
But first I want to say that the interpretations of linguistics are as dated as the genetics are flawed. The Afro-Asiatic language is an example of a less intentional white wash. It was created without respect to greater African languages. It is related to Arabic however Arabic and proto Hebrew are the only language that leaves Africa so is it called Afro-Asiatic? The Niger-Congo branch travels more than Afro-Asiatic. I can tell that you are coming from a point of bias because with the exception of Ethiopians (who were once classified as Caucasian… by Caucasians) you only name white people and mixed people from that language group.
The Ancient Egyptian language could be called the latin of Africa. When African scholars first started learning the ancient languages they all thought they had descended from Ancient Egyptians because Ancient Egyptian words are all over Africa. It’s as related to the Niger-Congo branch as it is Afro-Asiatic.
This is their DNA
http://www.dnatribes.com/dnatribes-digest-2012-01-01.pdf
http://www.dnatribes.com/dnatribes-digest-2013-02-01.pdf
9 mummies. 1 Beyonce and people who look more like those statues I posted. Also in Mikey’s link it talks about the two Mummies who’s haplogroup’s were released. It was E1b1a
http://www.thegeneticatlas.com/E1b1a.png
Like I said, you can’t tell who an ancient people are by studying a modern population. People move.
So to answer the question better….
You cant tell. Egyptians were darker. You can tell by the art. If you just go by the paternal haplogroup it won't tell you anything because the modern predominant haplogroup is all over the place.
DNA ends the debate which is why it gets deleted and I don't lead with it.
http://www.quora.com/Egypt/What-proportion-of-Egyptians-descend-from-Arabs-vs-ancient-Egyptians
I posted the same here as Anonymous with three upvotes.
So look there if my post is deleted.
What the hell does this have to do with Arabs? My DNA sources confirm that North Africans (Egyptians included) were more closely related to Asians than Sub-Saharan Africans. You clearly ignore that. Then you put up irrelevant crap about mummies and Arabs. My DNA sources speak of entire populations in North Africa, not a few mummies here and there. Try again.
Who
brought up Arabs? Lol… You did!
You didn’t even read your source. Not only did I read it I followed its sources to wikipedia and followed wikipedia’s sources before arguing why it's wrong.
Your link was entitled
"Egypt: What proportion of Egyptians descend from Arabs vs ancient
Egyptians?"
Arabs vs ancient Egyptians!… Your linkl
Either you
didn’t read it or you didn’t understand it. This is why I held off DNA evidence. I figured dark brown ancient Egyptians and light brown modern Egyptians was common sense after they were invaded as often as they were.
I know you
don’t understand your source because it did not argue that North Africans were
more related to Asians and Europeans. It was not about North Africa as all it was about modern Egypt. The article argued the opposite.
It argued that since modern Egypt’s Y DNA is mostly of indigenous and of a relatively recent inner
African decent ie E1b1b 25K then modern Egyptians are descendants of the ancients.
I explained why this was not true and my explanation had little to do with Arabs. Matter of fact I said it would be more accurate to say "It would be more accurate to ask what percent are from foreign invaders but even that is flawed because of how DNA works."
The genetics argument in your link referenced a common multiracial haplogroup. The Egyptians were invaded by more than Arabs. They were also invaded by Brits, Romans, Persians, Asyrians, Turks and the
Greeks moved their capital there to name most. Yes many Romans, Turks Greeks and Persians are E1b1b with a more recent African lineage however that does not make them indigenous especially when history tells us they invaded Egypt.
History also correlates with the Nine Ancient Egyptians that have had their DNA
tested. From Zulus to the Akan from
North to South, east and west Africa people African tribes declare the Nile
Valley nations as their homelands, The Greeks described the Egyptians as of the
race of the Ethiopian and the Egyptians themselves referred to the source of
the Nile as the place of their ancestors. But like I said if you have ever seen black people in real life then its obvious with pics alone.
On planet earth dark brown Africans with these features
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fa/Menphis_-_Egypte_-_500before_JC_-_Troop_of_funerary_servant_figures_shabtis_in_the_name_of_Neferibreheb.JPG
are black people… word to the 9 mummies tested.
Dude, it still doesn't make sense… north africans and moors weren't even black-black, but more olive skinned and tanned and more of arab descent rather than african descent. It just doesn't make sense no matter how matter "he is awesome in the role" kind of excuses you're trying to make!
This is Thor, is not based on a fictional novel written by Shakespeare, but on geography and culture and what norse people really depicted their gods like. Of course all of them would be white, blonde with blue eyes, it just makes so much sense. Why try to make every culture out there, a black one?
Even if they saw some black slaves somewhere or black tribe leaders or black merchants/traders doesn't mean they'd suddenly say "Hey, those people have nothing to do with our entire culture at all but let's consider that OUR gods might be black from now on, cause it looks fancy"…. like, they didn't already have a complete and defined pantheon, BEFORE they were able to make ships and go as far as North Africa (and by the way, never heard of those voyages)… Yea, sure…
Seriously…. 😐 let's make a movie about the gods african tribes believed in, and cast Brad Pitt and Scarlett Johansson as some of these deities, cause why not?
He'll say Cleopatra (facepalm) which was of macedonian (WHITE) descent