Order Sixty-Six

What is Order Sixty-Six?

Order Sixty-Six is the climax of the Clone Wars.

Not the end — the Clone Wars will end some few hours from now, when a coded signal, sent by Nute Gunray from the secret Separatist bunker on Mustafar, deactivates every combat droid in the galaxy at once — but the climax.

It’s not a thrilling climax; it’s not the culmination of an epic struggle. Just the opposite, in fact. The Clone Wars were never an epic struggle. They were never intended to be.

What is happening right now is why the Clone Wars were fought in the first place. It is their reason for existence. The Clone Wars have always been, in and of themselves, from their very inception, the revenge of the Sith.

They were irresistable bait. They took place in remote locations, on planets that belonged, primarily, to “somebody else.” They were fought by expendable proxies. And they were constructed as as win-win situation.

The Clone Wars were the perfect Jedi trap.

By fighting at all, the Jedi lost.

With the Jedi Order overextended, spread thin across the galaxy, each Jedi is alone, surrounded only by whatever clone troops he, she, or it commands. War itself pours darkness into the Force, deepening the cloud that limits Jedi perception. And the clones have no malice, no hatred, not the slightest ill intent that might give warning. They are only following orders.

In this case, Order Sixty-Six.

Hold-out blasters appear in clone hands. ARC-170s drop back onto the tails of Jedi starfighters. AT-STs swivel their guns. Turrets on hovertanks swung silently.

Clones open fire, and Jedi die.

All across the galaxy. All at once.

Jedi die.

— Matthew Stover, “Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith” pages 348-349

Technorati Tags:
Star Wars, Episode III, Revenge of the Sith, Order Sixty-Six, Order 66, Jedi, Clone Wars

Google's Search is down?!

For the first time in my life, I have seen what I thought was impossible, Google’s Search engine is down…

When I search on ANYTHING, I am getting the error message:

Server Error

The service you requested is not available at this time.

Service error -27.

WOW….

Link to me spam -- without the link?

Here’s some goofy spam that I cannot ignore. Not only is the reported Google keyword search inaccurate, but the spammer did not include a URL for me to blindly link to.

I verfied the keywords “christian faith movie” against the major search engines using the Webmaster Toolkit’s Search Engine Position Checker. No hits at ALL for Google, but I am #37 with All The Web

From: Sarah Green
To: webmaster~(AT)~inthefaith~(DOT)~com
Subject: inthefaith.com ranked # 36 in Google for christian flash movie
Cc: mimandsir@AOL.com
Cc: Sei4God@aol.com

I’m a web master, and I was just searching Google for christian flash movie. I found
your domain, inthefaith.com ranked 36, which is pretty cool.

My site is all about Entertainment - Movies, too . Maybe we should link up? I
wouldn’t be stealing any of your sales, because all I do is write informational
articles…not selling anything on my site at all. And most of my visitors write
back to say that they love the fact that I only write good, quality info. As a
matter of fact, I’ve got a pretty loyal following of people that come back over and
over again (they use the site as a reference), so if you link to me, you should get
some pretty good traffic from it — which is always nice.

Anyway, let me know if you’d like to swap links. I’ve already linked to you, and
will keep it up there for a few days until I hear back. Hope to hear from you soon!

Sarah Green
RAC IM: 829462.

Hopefully, the email harvesters will pickup the about email addresses and return the spam favor.

Lycos: Janet boob stunt most popular Internet search ever

Still don’t believe that mankind is totally depraved? Ms. Jackson’s Super Bowl XXXVIII Half Time show is possibly THE most searched event in the history of the Internet according to Lycos. We want our carnal pleasures and boy do we want them now!

LOS ANGELES, California (Hollywood Reporter) — Janet Jackson’s near-baring of her breast at the Super Bowl might be the most searched event in the history of the Internet, search site Lycos said.

Meanwhile, a paid streaker was a success for the dot-com company he advertised for, and movie studios earned big spikes in traffic for films they pitched.

Lycos said that Jackson and searches related to the Super Bowl halftime show the day after the big game amounted to 80 times more searches than did the usual No. 1 celebrity search, Britney Spears. In fact, Jackson and halftime searches that day outscored even the largest one-day total for terrorist-related searches on and after September 11, 2001.

[ Full Story @ CNN.com ]

Source: CNN © 2004 Cable News Network LP, LLLP.

Dean Calls FCC Probe of Breast Incident 'Silly'

Somehow I am not at all surpised that Dr. Dean would take this position on the Jackson/Timberlake Super Bowl Incident:

Howard Dean, a physician and a Democratic presidential candidate, on Monday dismissed as “silly” a government inquiry into whether indecency rules were broken during the broadcast of the Super Bowl halftime show when pop diva Janet Jackson’s bodice was ripped to expose her right breast.

“I find that to be a bit of a flap about nothing,” the former Vermont governor said. “I’m probably affected in some ways by the fact that I’m a doctor, so it’s not exactly an unusual phenomenon for me.”

As a Presidential hopeful, it would behoove Dr. Dean to look beyond his own self-serving interests and embrace what matters to the country.

Could he right while a noisy faction of 140 million viewers are sounding off in outrage? Let’s say that only 10% of the viewers took offense to the R-rated display during the “family-friendly” television hours, the voice of the offended equates to 14 million people.

Also note that Janet apologizes

“The decision to have a costume reveal at the end of my halftime show performance was made after final rehearsals,” Jackson said in a statement.

“MTV was completely unaware of it. It was not my intention that it go as far as it did. I apologize to anyone offended — including the audience, MTV, CBS and the NFL.”

and slightly contradicts Justin Timberlake’s near immediate apology:

“I am sorry if anyone was offended by the wardrobe malfunction during the halftime performance at the Super Bowl,” he said. “It was not intentional and is regrettable.”

Ms. Jackson seems to validate the conspiracy theorists’ notion that the stunt was secretly planned. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell told CNN that he was “not convinced the incident was an accident”

Even the White House has issued a statement:

“Our view is that it’s important for families to be able to expect a high standard when it comes to programming,” White House spokesman Scott McClellan said.

FCC Chairman Powell ordered the investigation on the Monday following the game and adamantly seeks to penalize the involved parties.

Powell said he was watching the game Sunday evening with his two children and found the incident “outrageous.”

“I knew immediately it would cause great outrage among the American people, which it did,” he said, citing “thousands” of complaints received by Monday morning. “We have a very angry public on our hands.”

Powell said MTV and the CBS network’s more than 200 affiliates and company-owned stations could be fined $27,500 apiece.

“I think it’s all of their problem,” he said. “The law allows you to reach many of the different parties.” He said he would like to see the enforcement penalties strengthened to 10 times their current amount.

Maybe Dean’s right and we need to view the body a just pure anatomy, forget about all this “silly” decency/morality stuff, and go somewhere and yell “Yeeeeaaaahhh!”

…Whatever…

(After this statement are there any Dean supporters left in the room?)

Janet Jackson's Super Bowl Show Promises 'Shocking Moments'... and Fulfulls..

On January 28th, MTV.com ran this article: Janet Jackson’s Super Bowl Show Promises ‘Shocking Moments’.

At Super Bowl XXXVIII, Ms. Jackson did just that and now CBS apologizes for Janet Jackson’s breast-baring end to halftime show

Just in case you did not know…

At the song’s finish, Timberlake reached across Jackson’s leather gladiator outfit and pulled off the covering to her right breast. The final lyric of the song goes, “Going to have you naked by the end of this song.”

I was shocked while watching the show with my wife and two girls. Montina and I knew that it was planned. There is indeed truth in advertising in this case, she promised to shock us and boy-howdy, we were shocked and modesty takes another jab to the face.

My spirit grieves for America and my prayer is from Phillipians 1:10-11 (NLT)
For I want you to understand what really matters, so that you may live pure and blameless lives until Christ returns. May you always be filled with the fruit of your salvation – those good things that are produced in your life by Jesus Christ – for this will bring much glory and praise to God.

Kevin McCullough asks this question at his weblog @ Crosswalk.com :
“Should Janet and Justin be prosecuted for public indecency?”

Engineering geek names son version 2.0

And now for something a little different. Via CNN.com, “ - Engineering geek names son version 2.0”

Yep…

Microsoft may drop Xbox to $99, launch Xbox 2 in 2005

CNN Money released this article that may interest gamers of all kinds, “Microsoft may drop Xbox to $99, launch Xbox 2 in 2005.” Now isn’t that something to ponder.

And just like that...Booble no more

You know, sometimes it is just scary, how predictable the internet can be. We all knew that Google would crack down on nuisance that was Booble, the inappropriately named vaporware (because it disappeared as fast as it came online) that was an adult search engine.

Jane Perrone contributed this to the weblog at the Guardian Unlimited.

Google/Booble part two
January 22: My calls to the Google press machine have borne fruit. Here’s the entirety of the message I received last night from David Krane, Google’s director of corporate communications:

Greetings Jane…thanks for your inquiry.

We were just made aware of the Booble.com website yesterday when theylaunched. Upon discovering these types of sites, Google typically takes the appropriate action necessary to protect our trademarks.

Thanks and regards,

David

I guess that answers my question, then …
· Jane Perrone

Google/Booble mystery
January 21: While my colleague Neil McIntosh is discussing Yahoo’s latest moves in the competitive search engines market over at the Guardian Unlimited weblog’s stablemate Onlineblog, I’ve been investigating a slightly more lowbrow development in the world of search: an ‘adult’ search engine called, ahem, Booble. After a story in today’s Sydney Morning Herald, Booble appears to have been unceremoniously yanked from the web, perhaps because it’s a self-confessed parody of Google’s less-is-more front page design. (Google has kindly provided a cached version if you’re curious about the logo). I have calls in with Google’s UK and US press offices but no word on whether Google’s lawyers were involved.
· Jane Perrone
Update: I’ve just seen Tom Coates’ exasperated post about Booble.

Dean Goes Nuts

Must… resist… cannot.. control linking…
Aaaaah. Forget it.

Blogos brings www.deangoesnuts.com to the Blogdom.

I’m still touched.

Inspired by sleeping (Sleep Essential for Creativity)

Got a creative block or need to make a big decision? Sleep on it. That’s what this study mentioned at Yahoo! recommends, sleeps spurns creativity. Maybe we can sleep at the office when big issues arise.

For the first time, scientists say they have proved what creative minds have known all along: that our sleeping brains continue working on problems that baffle us during the day, and that the right answer may come more easily after eight hours of rest.

The German study is considered to be the first hard evidence supporting the commonsense notion that creativity and problem-solving appear to be directly linked to adequate sleep.

Some researchers said the study provides a valuable reminder for overtired workers and students that sleep is often the best medicine.

Toyota Offers Automatic Parallel Parking Option

Sigh… I knew that this day would come. No need to learn how to parallel park.

From Slashdot

For drivers who can’t parallel park very well, relief is available in Japan. Toyota Motor Corp. is offering a $2,200 option package for its Prius (a gas-electric hybrid car) that includes a computer imaging system which stuffs your car into parallel parking spaces on demand.

I wonder when it will be available in America.

OK, I admit it, I lied about the lottery ticket

Now it can be told, Elecia Battle has fooled all of us! Well, not really, but she did have us going for a little while, didn’t she? The flashlights, the store searching, the tears, we felt her grief over the loss of this fortune. But now we see that it was all a scam, that’s right, our trust has once again been violated. (Can you sense an sprinkle of lightheartedness and sarcasm mixed into here?)

CLEVELAND - A woman admitted through tears Thursday that she lied about losing the winning ticket for a $162 million lottery prize, saying: “I wanted to win so badly for my kids and my family.”

Elecia Battle, 40, is dropping her lawsuit to block payment of the 11-state Mega Millions jackpot to the certified winner, her lawyer Sheldon Starke said.

“I wanted to win,” Battle said. “The numbers were so overwhelming. I did buy a ticket and I lost it. I wanted to win so bad for my kids and my family. I apologize.”

The Cleveland woman had filed a police report saying she lost the ticket, possibly when she dropped her purse outside a convenience store. The lottery dismissed the claim and declared Rebecca Jemison, 34, the winner on Tuesday.

Police Lt. Kevin Nietert said Thursday he expected Battle to be charged with filing a false police report, a misdemeanor punishable by 30 days to six months in jail.

Battle apologized to her husband, her lawyer and Jemison, saying she wanted to use the money to help her family and recently laid-off Cleveland police officers.

[ Full Story @ Yahoo ]

Source: Yahoo © 2004 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved

Did I say I lost MY ticket? I meant to say I lost YOUR winning ticket...

Well, after that moment of prayer about the ticket, the real lottery ticket holder has surfaced and claimed her loot.
I read this at Reuters today. I love their tag line, “Know. Now.”

CHICAGO (Reuters) - An Ohio woman on Tuesday collected a $162 million lottery prize, saying the winning ticket was in her hands all along and had not been lost, as another woman had claimed.
Rebecca Jemison, 34, of South Euclid, Ohio, near Cleveland, produced the winning ticket and was awarded the prize. She elected to take a one-time $94 million payment rather than collecting the larger amount over a number of years.

The jackpot in a multi-state drawing had gone unclaimed since Dec. 30. On Monday news leaked out that a woman had filed a police report saying she lost the ticket outside the store where it was purchased.

Elecia Battle, 40, said she was sure the ticket she lost when she dropped her purse was the winner. The disclosure prompted a number of people to descend on the area near the store to search for the supposedly missing piece of paper.

But Jemison told a news conference when she claimed the prize that she had played the winning combination of numbers previously.

“I knew the proof I had,” she said. While she was angered at first that someone else was claiming the ticket was their’s, she said, in the end “It didn’t bother me at all.”

She said the report of the lost ticket prompted her to come forward to claim the prize, and lottery officials said they believed she was the legitimate winner.

You know that I have to ask this question: Why did it take so long for the winner to claim the prize? I cannot imagine anyone delaying to claim $94 million dollars. Maybe the controversy over Ms. Battle’s claim prompted Mrs. Jemison to redeem her winning ticket.

UPDATE: Per an interview on CNN.com, Mrs. Jemison said that she first contacted her attorney and accountant prior to offically claiming the winnings, hence the aforementioned delay.

Jemison said she “went into shock” after learning she had won the jackpot, and came forward after making arrangements with a lawyer and an accountant. She said she tried to keep her win quiet, even going to work on New Year’s Day in order to avoid drawing attention to herself.

Jemison said she was angered by the claim that someone else had the winning ticket, but: “I knew … what I possessed. I knew the proof I had, so it didn’t bother me at all.”

I lost my lottery ticket...

This morning in the UK’s Guardian Unlimited — An Ohio woman is distraught about losing the winning ticket to the Mega Millions lottery jackpot. That’s a loss of $162 million. Ouch!

CLEVELAND (AP) - A woman has told police she picked the winning numbers for the $162 million Mega Millions lottery jackpot but lost the ticket before the drawing, according to a police report.

Elecia Battle, of Cleveland, told police she dropped her purse as she left the Quick Shop Food Mart last week after buying the ticket. She said she realized after the drawing last Tuesday that the ticket was missing.

The Ohio Lottery said that the winning ticket was sold at the store in South Euclid, about 15 miles east of Cleveland.

Battle, 40, would not talk about the specifics of when she bought the ticket, how she lost it or even if she was a regular lottery player. She planned a news conference Tuesday to announce a reward.

“I’m praying that someone finds the ticket, brings it forward and gets rewarded and from there we all live happily ever after,” said Battle, who cried as she talked to The Associated Press.

That’s my prayer, too.

What is CompleteMovies.com and why do I think that the police will be knocking at my door?

Here’s my first distraction, while I was chasing the Google rabbit down the rabbit hole by following up on all of the interest to this site for the Matrix Revolutions on DVD, I saw CompleteMovies.com listed as one of the “Sponsored Links.”

What is this about and how can they say that you can “Download all the lastest movies!”

Well, I checked the COMPLETEMOVIES.com Disclaimer/Terms of service for my answer.

Lo and behold:

4. ENROLLMENT IN THE SERVICE

… To begin the enrollment process, you must complete the Service registration process located on our web site at http://www.COMPLETEMOVIES.COM/register.html (“COMPLETEMOVIES Site”). You will only be charged for the effort it took us to compose a webpage helping you to comfortably find and download movies online and to have all the tools needed in one place. We do not claim to own any software provided to our members. Any of the software provided could be obtained for free at the owners’ respective sites. We do not promote illegal activity and respect copyright laws. We cannot be held liable for whatever you do once you start using peer-to-peer software available in our member’s section. You understand, that no files can be downloaded directly from this site in any way, shape, or form.

[emphasis mine]

Basically, it’s a pre-paid peer-to-peer file sharing site. Thus, claim “Download all the lastest movies!” is BARELY legal.