George Lucas: he knows the stuff

All you need to know about the creative brilliance of George Lucas can be summed up in this excerpt from Bloomberg's story on the Disney-Star Wars merger:

The cars don't have wheels.The level of technological development is uniform throughout the galaxy. A backwater planet where cars are common? Nah.

In related news, Carrie Fisher has signed up, so the old gang is back for the sequels. Expect Yoda to show up in transparent sparkly form, because, you know, the Force

TV Today's piece of pointless "Mad Men" hype examples the tagline on the short promo that had absolutely no action whatsoever:

Probably. Not exactly a surprise if it happens, is it? Anyway, the reason for this is a "leaked" photo of Harry Crane, showing you that the crisp skinny-tie / men-with-hats vibe of the show is gone for good.

Full-on shagadelic this season.

SCIENCE! Speaking of planets that do not have cars because he knows all that stuff: The Bad Astronomy blog notes that there might be lots of Earth-like planets. Lots. Enough to fill up a couple Federations, at least.

Although some people would probably want to hunt the jellyfish. A combination big-game / whaling expedition. Harpoon bazookas. Then we realize they're not only sentient but vastly intelligent, and we have to leave the planet in shame before they use their telepathic brains to wreak vengeance.

I'm not quoting any particular sci-fi story, just a generic sci-fi plot. Doesn't mean it couldn't happen.

TECH Backlash against SimCity's DRM escalated rather quickly. Says TechCrunch:

Yes. Almost? More so. Legitmate players paid for it.

URBAN AFFAIRS Or lack thereof, I guess. Stumbled across a slideshow of the top 9 recession-stricken developments. Rio Vista was #9.

Well, here's the Google Street View:

This site says Rio Vista "is perhaps the most visually impressive example of the American dream gone wrong." Really. Well, back out of that picture and you'll see it's a small part of a reasonably filled-in city. Another example is California City, California, laid out in 1958, which the article makes it sound was never occupied in the first place. Not so. Granted, it's not exactly bustling:

But there are people living there. Again, back out and take the aerial view: it is rather spooky. All those streets. Nothing. The developer thought the town would rival LA in size, forgetting perhaps that LA had A) a substantial pre-installed user base, as they say, and B) Water.