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Below you will find many answers to commonly asked question about the Jedi Knight, including questions about the roles Jedi Knights can play, advanced classes, weapon restrictions and armor restrictions, companion characters, light side/dark side, etc. Before you post that thread asking a question, you might want to check to see if the answer is here first. The Post will be updated with new information regarding the Jedi Knight class and advanced classes until release, and may be re posted in a new format after release. No, we don't know the release date.
Please feel free to post corrections and addendum below. If you have new information that's confirmed, post it in as a reply and I will add it.
Useful Links:
General Questions -
Q: At what level do I get to chose my advanced class?
A: Level 10.
Q: Where does the Jedi Knight begin play?
A: The planet of Tython, the ancient birthplace of the Jedi Order.
Q: Do I get to start out with a Lightsaber?
A: No. You earn your lightsaber around the same time that you complete your character's story arch on Tython, at approximately between level 8-10. Until then, you use a "Training Saber", which resembles a vibro weapon bat thingy.
Q: Do I get to craft my own lightsaber?
A: Yes - WARNING: Link leads to video from in game cutscene, so if you don't wanna spoil it, don't click, and take me at my word.
Q: Can I become a Jedi Master?
A: Yes! Although the method to become one is unconfirmed at this time. However, several developer statements confirm that many titles are available throughout the game, and that some may be based on alignment.
Q: Can I fall to the Dark Side?
A: Yes.
Q: If I fall to the Dark Side can I switch factions?
A: No.
Q: If I increase either my dark or light side score, will it open any rewards?
A: Yes. There are gear rewards that are alignment-based, certain lightsaber color crystals can become equippable (see below), and certain abilities in your skill tree can be opened up with the proper alignment.
Q: What sort of Star Ship do Jedi Knights get?
A: Corellian Defender Class Light Corvette
Q: What species can become Jedi Knights?
A: To the best of our knowledge, Humans, Miraluka, and Zabrak. Twi'lek Jedi Knights have been suggested, as well.
Q: What actors will be voicing the Jedi Knight?
A: David Hayter will be voicing the male Jedi Knight. Kari Wahlgren will be playing the female Jedi Knight. (props to Aussie for the find)
Advanced Class Mechanics
Q: What are the available advanced classes for the Jedi Knight?
A: First, you can find that information here . However, below is a basic rundown of each Jedi Knight advanced class, the roles it can fill, and the weapons and armor it uses.
Jedi Guardian
Fully Viable Roles: Tank or Melee DPS
Weapon Style: Single Lightsaber
Armor Type: Heavy Armor
Q: So, as a Guardian, can I tank?
A: Yes
Q: So, as a Guardian, can I do competitive DPS?
A: Yes. There is a fully viable Guardian DPS build available for play. You will be able to offtank small encounters and weaker enemies, as well.
Jedi Sentinel
Fully Viable Role: DPS
Weapon Style: Dual Lightsabers (two lightsabers)
Armor Type: Medium Armor
Q: So, as a Sentinel, can I do good DPS?
A: Yes, and you have several different methods of doing that job to choose from.
Q: Will I be able to do any offtanking as a Jedi Sentinel?
A: To a certain degree, yes. Like the DPS Jedi Guardian, you will be able to offtank small encounters or weaker enemies.
Q: Is my weapon style restricted? For example, can a Jedi Sentinel use a single lightsaber?
A: Your weapon style is restricted for all practical purposes. Guardians single wield, and Sentinels dual wield.
Q: Is my armor style restricted? For example, can a Jedi Sentinel wear Light armor?
A: Your armor is restricted in terms of what types of armor you can equip. Armor is backwards-usable. If you can use heavy armor, you can use medium and light armor. However, armor is designed in order to attract classes that fill particular roles through the stats the armor provides. Likely, you will be using your intended armor to fill your intended role.
Q: So, which Advanced Class is better at DPS? Which one is better at offtanking in their DPS spec?
A: The Sentinel is marginally better better than the DPS Guardian (Vigilance build) at DPS, and the DPS Guardian build is marginally better at survivability than the Sentinel.
Q: Is my choice of an advanced class permanent?
A: The developers said that the current plan is that they will probably allow it. (Georg Zoeller interview). They are still hashing out the details of the cost, and GZ implied it would be a large cost and not something you could do lightly. However, at present, they are planning on probably doing it. That's about as specific as it gets.
Q: Can I change my talents in game?
A: Yes. You can change your talents for in-game credits.
Q: How do Talent Trees work?
A: The Guardian and Sentinel share the Focus tree between them. Each Advanced Class has two unique trees as well.
Lightsaber Questions
Q: Can lightsabers be upgraded?
A: Yes. Crystals and components can be used to upgrade your lightsaber. These crystals do include stat increases. In fact, you can keep the first lightsaber you get, and use it all the way until the end of the game by upgrading it as you go.
Q: Can my lightsaber blade be any color?
A: Color crystals are currently alignment/faction based. So, if you are Republic, you can always equip Green and Blue crystals. If you are Dark Side, you can equip Red crystals. Other colors have been confirmed to exist, but their alignment requirements, if any, remain a mystery. If you are a Dark Side Jedi, you can equip red lightsaber crystals. If you are a light side Sith, you can equip green or blue colored crystals.
NOTE: There is currently some unconfirmed information on the boards regarding Purple crystals and the Sith. We actually have no confirmation that the Sith get Purple by default, and that the Jedi would have to be Dark Side to equip it. Please don't perpetuate the rumor until it's confirmed by Gold.
Q: Can I find a guard shoto/light whip/shoto/etc?
A: So far, the only light sabers confirmed to be in game are standard lightsabers that you see in the films – the saber staff and regular light sabers.
Q: What Lightsaber fighting styles are available in game?
A: The Jedi Guardian has access to Shien and Soresu. The Jedi Sentinel has access to Juyo and Ataru. The base style is Shii-cho, which is later modified by the shared talent tree, Focus.
Force Powers
Q: What Force Powers does the Jedi Knight have access to?
A: We have seen confirmation of several different force powers, including a lightsaber throw, a Force Push (possibly only for the Jedi Guardian, but that is not concretely confirmed), group buffs, Force Stasis, and Force Leap. Check out the archives at Darth Hater if you're interested. They do decent dissections of videos and other information.
Q: Can the Jedi use Force Lightning?
A: No.
Q: Can the Jedi Knight use Force Choke
A: To the best of our knowledge, No.
Q: Can the Jedi Knight deflect lightning with their lightsaber?
A: We don't know.
Story Information
Q: How many companions do we get?
A: 5, like every other class.
Q: Who is our first companion?
A: T7, the astromech droid shown in the "Return" trailer.
Q: Any other confirmed companions?
A: A Jedi Padawan.
Q: Romance options – do we have them?
A: The current rumor is that all romance options for Jedi are dark side options. This is just a rumor, and is in contention. Some believe there is a path to light side romance, but we don't know. So, yes you do have them, but you might have to walk the line to experience them.


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LAWTON Okla_ Lou the Moose was vandalized outside Lulu's Coffee and Bagel House again. This time, it was all caught on camera.
Surveillance footage shows a car and SUV pulling into the parking lot of the Lawton coffee shop on Cache Road near Northwest 31st at about 5:00 am Tuesday. It shows two young women approaching the store's mascot. One took off the Santa hat, and the other took the coat.
Back in October, a group of people climbed on Lou, breaking off one of his antlers. In early December, vandals made off with the other antler.
Denise Scarbrough said she's not only upset about what happened this morning, but the last two acts of vandalism as well. She said Lou is more than just a statue of a moose, he represents her dream.
"Their intentions were nothing but malicious," Scarbrough said. "I feel that people just aren't respecting something that is coming to Lawton, trying to bring a different take or a feel or a different look."
Scarbrough says 15 years ago, she dreamt of running a coffee shop like she does today. A military wife, she said some of her best memories were the four years her family spent in Alaska. She wanted to bring a piece of that to Lawton, and Lou is that connection.
"I wanted the little log cabin with the tin roof," Scarbrough said. "I wanted the Alaskan feel. I also needed something out on Cache Road since we were sitting so far back that would draw attention, and that moose did it."
Scarbrough said while breaking off Lou's antlers and stealing his holiday cheer may be fun and games to some, it's a reminder to her.
"This is a small business," Scarbrough said. "I put my entire life savings into this business.
She has a message for those who continue to attempt to tear that dream down.
"I hear so much about Lawton beautification and I'm also part of the Lawton citizens for economic growth," Scarbrough said. "We want to see target come and look good. We want to see downtown built and look presentable. This is going to deter people from trying something different or bringing something nice to Lawton, because they don't want that to happen to them."
Scarbrough says despite the recent attacks on Lou, she won't stop her plans of opening up more coffee and bagel shops, with more Lous standing outside to attract business.
If you have any information on either of these vandalism cases, call Crimestoppers at 355-info or text the word "bust" to the number 274637, along with your tip.
Telephone: (580) 355-7000
Fax: (580) 357-3811
Email: email@example.com
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subset: commoncrawl


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Got to hand it to Rolan Beech of 82games.com. I completely agree with most intelligent fans - stats cannot tell you who the best player is, who the best defender is, or even who the best team is. Some things just come down to watching the game and getting that feeling in your gut. Even then, the chances of everybody agreeing on these topics is is about as good as Perkins nailing a game winning 3 pointer.
But some things can be proven with stats. One of those, is shooting ability on game winners. Here, Roland Beech studies game winning shots from the past 5 full regular seasons and playoffs, plus this year so far. His most noticeable findings? Ray Allen is clutch. Like, really clutch. And Kobe Bryant.... well.... isn't.
Some excerpts:
Game Winning Shot Opportunity = 24 seconds or less left in the game, team with the ball is either tied or down by 1 to 2 points.
Way to go Ray...
Ray Allen is in third overall but also leads in most 3's made under our game winning defined situation specifics, with eight three pointers. Long live the NBA's arguably best pure shooter (Ray also currently leads the NBA in Midrange 2pt FG%).
Keep shooting Kobe...
...and then we get to Kobe Bryant. Kobe fans don't like to hear it, but while their man is #4 in the league in total game winners hit, he holds the top spot in a less glamorous category: most game winning opportunity missed shots!
42 - Kobe
35 - Vince Carter
33 - Joe Johnson, LeBron
32 - Crawford
31 - Billups
Now we're not Kobe haters by any means and I will readily give him his due as one of the best NBA players (note however, I didn't say the best) but he certainly has an overblown reputation when it comes to the clutch shot: people remember the ones he hits, but not the ones he misses, and heck you think a 56 FGA to 1 assist ratio might be part of the problem?


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Investigators Look Into Alleged Sale Of City Email List
Monday, December 16, 2013
(San Antonio, TX) -- Investigators are looking into the alleged sale of the city of San Antonio's email list. The "San Antonio Express-News" reports police are questioning Roger Legrand, a former aide to Senate candidate Elisa Chan. He's accused of selling the taxpayer-funded email database. Legrand denies the allegations.


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Lawyer-Actor Writes Gitmo Script
Posted Feb 4, 2008 12:00 PM CDT
By Debra Cassens Weiss
An actor-turned-lawyer has written a 30-minute screenplay that imagines the deliberations of three military judges deciding whether to hold a Guantanamo detainee as an enemy combatant.
Sig Libowitz played a Jewish man with mob ties on The Sopranos and a public defender on Law & Order before he attended the University of Maryland Law School. He wrote the 30-minute screenplay, called "The Response," and produced it with funding through the school's Linking Law and the Arts series, the Associated Press reports.
The film will be offered to educational institutions ranging from high schools to law schools and will be offered for television distribution.
The movie was shot in three days in the law school's mock courtroom, the story says. Libowitz played one of the judges, along with Kate Mulgrew of Star Trek: Voyager and Peter Riegert, who played a lawyer on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and a corrupt politician on The Sopranos.
The detainee is played by Aasif Mandvi of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.
Libowitz based the screenplay on transcripts of the Guantanamo Bay tribunals. He said the movie weighs the need to protect the country against the rights of the detainees. "This is really something that takes a look at what's going on there from a very fair-minded perspective," he told AP.
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Houston, TX, United States
July 13th, 2011
About this event
TEDxHouston is hosting a simulcast of the TEDGlobal Conference on July 13th at Ecclesia
from 9:00am to 6:00pm
This event is open to anyone and it is completely Free.
We welcome people in the community to come co-work out of the space as we watch and enjoy the simulcast of TEDGlobal all the way from Scotland.
There will be 4 sessions in two blocks with breaks in between, we welcome you to register for any and all sessions.
Taft Street Coffee, Ziggies, and other restaurants will be near by for lunchtime.
Huge thanks to Ecclesia Houston for hosting us!
Additional Links
Venue and Details
Ecclesia Houston
2115 Taft St
Houston, TX, 77006
United States
More about the venue »
Event Type (what is this?) TEDGlobal2011 Simulcast (TEDxLive)
This event occurred in the past.
See more TEDxHouston events »
Javier Fadul
Houston, TX, United States


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Site can be best viewed in new Browser Version. Click here to Download Internet Explorer 9
The course focuses on the purposes and design
of different curricula used in Health Professions Education (HPE) with emphasis on the participants'
involvement within the context of their own profession and institution.
Introductory Short Course in Health Professions Education (ISC-HPE)
The course is spread over nine weeks, beginning March 24, 2014 and concluding on May 23, 2014. The course time is scheduled as follows:
By the end of the Advanced Level Course on Curriculum Development, the students will have the knowledge, skills and academic grounding necessary to:
The educational strategies are multi-modal with focus on active learning and requiring critical thinking by students, offered through interactive plenaries, individual and group presentations and assignments, workshop formats, exercises, small group activities and on-line submission of assignments. Mid-course feedback is provided.
For the course on Curriculum Development, assessment is based on the following:
The selection criteria for the course can be viewed here.
Programme Director
Dr Rukhsana W Zuberi
Course Directors:
Dr Shazia Sadaf
Dr Naveed Yousuf
Course Co-ordinator
Dr Iram Khursheed
Mr. Rashid Raza
Associate, DED,
Aga Khan University
Tel: 92 21 3486 2419
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com


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This product was discontinued November, 2012 and is no longer available. Please consider one of the Customer-Recommended Replacements above, or try a new search.
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Authorities say firefighters responding to a vacant home on Detroit's east side have found a body.The body was found Tuesday morning while crews put out flames inside a home on Kenilworth. The discovery was made in a rear stairwell.The Wayne County medical examiner's office was called to the scene. Anyone with information is asked to contact authorities.
- The Associated Press contributed to this story
35 Skyline DriveLake Mary, FL 32746
Phone: (407) 644-3535News Tips: (866) 55-FOX35


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Flash flooding at Bampton
Emergency services were called to Bampton this afternoon after flash floods hit the area.
Fire engines were used to pump out a number of homes and the local supermarket.
The Environment Agency has issued a flood warning for the area.
– Environment Agency
The main band of rain has cleared the area but river levels are still rising. Further showers are expected during Thursday and overnight into Friday with totals of 10 mm possible. This warning has been issued based upon levels at the gauging station at Bampton.


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With 89% of the vote, Zack Wheeler is named prospect #1.
The poll for #2 will close at 12AM on Tuesday.
As always, when voting please do so without looking at the results first. I know it's tempting but I would like an honest result. Also, please lobby who should be added to the next poll in the comments.
Rookie eligibility: 130 at-bats or 50 innings pitched in the Major Leagues, or accumulated more than 45 days on the active roster of a Major League club or clubs during the 25-player limit period, excluding time on the disabled list or in military service.


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CATEGORIES Documentary, New Releases, Lionsgate Films, The Weinstein Co., Movie Marketing, Michael Moore, Movies, New Releases, CinematicalIt isn't a secret that Michael Moore dislikes U.S. copyright law and is okay with piracy. It also isn't a secret that Moore fears the U.S. government will want to confiscate his new film, Sicko, and so he's been stashing copies outside the country. What may be a secret is that Moore may have personally leaked his film to the internet -- this is what some people think, anyway -- in order to get his film seen before/if it is seized, or for publicity. Moore denies this, of course, and I honestly doubt that he would bother doing something that would upset the Weinsteins. Still, I'm sure they're all aware that Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 was heavily pirated and that film went on to break box office records.
Anyway, the most accessible copies of Sicko, those on You Tube, have been ordered down by Lionsgate (which is co-distributing with The Weinstein Co.). After a whole weekend of being available in 14 consecutive segments, enough damage may have been done, but it is interesting to see how many people actually watched the documentary on the site. The two uploaded copies appear to have only been viewed by just under 1000 people (not including any other people sitting there with each You Tuber). That doesn't seem too bad. Now, get this: the first segments, or the first ten minutes, were watched by about 3000 people. Unless all of those people (minus the 1000 who continued watching) were really not into the film, I think many just wanted to check out the intro to see if they wanted to go see it in the theater. I've always been a fan of the "watch the first ten minutes" idea, which has been useful for little films that can actually hook a moviegoer in with its beginning.
So, even if Moore didn't do it, somebody has possibly helped with the marketing of Sicko. Even the fact that this is a national news story helps the awareness factor. Supposedly The Weinstein Co. is going to track down the pirate, because the leak seems to have come from a watermarked screener DVD. When they do, they should wait and see how Sicko's opening weekend goes before pressing charges. They may want to give the person an award instead.
Can piracy really ruin a movie? Read Erik's Monday Morning Poll, and tell us what you think.


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"Don't worry, Mr. Simpson, we can take care of ourselves." – Black Nerd
"Uh, wallet inspector." – Snake
"Oh, here you go. I believe that's all in order." – Fat Nerd
"Whoa, I can't believe that worked!" – Snake
"Hey, that's not the wallet inspector." – Homer Simpson
Posts Tagged 'Homer Goes to College
Quote of the Day
Quote of the Day
"Marge, someone squeezed all the life out of these kids. And unless movies and teevee have lied to me, it's a crusty, bitter old dean." – Homer Simpson
"Hi there, hello, I'm Dean Peterson, but you can call me Bobby. I just want you to know, if you ever feel stressed out from studying or whatever, I'm always up for some hacky sack. Or hey, if you just want to come by and jam, I used to be the bass player for the Pretenders." – Dean Peterson
"Boy, I can't wait to take some of the starch out of that stuffed shirt." – Homer Simpson
Happy 20th Anniversary to "Homer Goes to College"! Original airdate 14 October 1993.
Quote of the Day
Tags: Conan O'Brien, Homer Goes to College
"We played Dungeons & Dragons for three hours, then I was slain by en elf." – Homer Simpson
"Listen to yourself, man, you're hanging with nerds." – Bart Simpson
"You take that back!" – Homer Simpson
"Homer, please, these boys sound very nice, but they're clearly nerds." – Marge Simpson
Happy birthday Conan O'Brien!
Compare & Contrast: Homer Parties Like It's Freshman Year
Tags: Homer Goes to College, Kill the Alligator and Run
"Now, the only antidote to a zany scheme, is an even zanier scheme!" – Homer Simpson
"Why does it have to be zany?" – Fat Nerd
Since the show had all but run out of ideas by Season 11, it's no surprise that they had to start revisiting topics and concepts that they'd already done with increasing frequency. And while most of "Kill the Alligator and Run" is a bizarre slideshow of the family leaping from one goofy, vaguely Southern situation to another, it gets there by transporting Homer to a raucous college party and having him run around with the drunken kids. As it happens, Homer had tried to party with college students once before, in Season 5's infinitely better "Homer Goes to College".
As with so many comparisons between The Simpsons and Zombie Simpsons, to really get to the heart of the matter you have to put aside most of Zombie Simpsons usual problems. So, no, the trip to Florida doesn't have anything to do with spring break, nor does it have much to do with Homer's odd freakout at the beginning of the episode or the subsequent multi-act run from the law. And, no, Homer getting down with the college kids doesn't make any sense on its own either, from his getting to the beach with a bed tied to him to his bizarre antics at the Kid Rock concert to the sheriff happily looking the other way for Homer. All of those typical Zombie Simpsons shortcuts distract from just how empty the comedy here really is, so while they exist and are a big part of what makes this episode so very unwatchable, they aren't what makes their take on "spring break" so utterly empty, boring and unfunny.
On the surface, both "Homer Goes to College" and "Kill the Alligator and Run" have Homer acting like a jerk around college kids. But if you look just a bit deeper, you can see that Zombie Simpsons wasn't doing anything else while The Simpsons was using Homer for far more than just him running around and yelling.
Homer yelling and running, there's a lot of this.
The premise of "Homer Goes to College" was that Homer, in his infinite stupidity, thought that all those Animal House style movies about college are what life on campus is really like. When he actually got there, he figured that the jocks would be constantly beating the nerds, that the dean was naturally out to get everyone, and that the rest of the students would feel the same way he did. Homer being Homer, he couldn't see that none of that was true, and instead tried to do things like take the nerds on a beer fueled road trip and prank a nearby school that no one else on campus even cared about. The jokes come fast and heavy, but the main idea on which everything else rests is that Homer is wildly out of place and spectacularly wrong about what college is like.
By contrast, in "Kill the Alligator and Run", Homer isn't wrong about anything. In fact, he's exactly correct about what it is all those young people are doing. Because of this, the episode is left with hardly anything to do but exaggerate the wildness on display and hope for the best. That's how it gets stuck with having Homer and some kids turn over the family car, Homer ride to the beach on the top of a van, and a Kid Rock concert that features a cartoonish, Acme-sized bottle of booze and the late Joe C being fired out of a makeshift slingshot. Like their hapless fluffing of Lady Gaga earlier this year, this is Zombie Simpsons making something look awesome and mistaking that for satire.
So while Homer is behaving like an out of control jerk in "Homer Goes to College", there's a point to it, namely that Homer is doing his level best to fit in with the insane depictions of college in movies and teevee. Homer isn't just stumbling around because that's what he likes to do, nor is he insisting on it because he's an invincible cartoon character, he's just got it in his head that zany schemes and pig abduction are par for the course. He can't comprehend that Dean Peterson (but you can call him Bobby) isn't some crotchety old jerk who hates fun, or that the students don't think it's funny that the professor dropped his notes. He doesn't even realize the nerds are nerds until his family tells him.
The Jerkass Homer in "Kill the Alligator and Run" is just and only that: Jerkass Homer. He's not interested in acting out some strange media portrayal, he just wants to run around and scream and drink for the sake of running around and screaming and drinking. So when it ends, he just keeps it up, dragging his family along for the ride. It's the difference between this (which, let's remember, is just the starting point for more insane adventures):
And let's not even wonder where he got the airboat or why the rest of them are going along with this.
And this (which is a movie parody and occurs at the end of the episode):
And, once again, Homer learns nothing.
Quote of the Day
Quote of the Day
"Oh, very well, it's time for your bribe. Now, you can either have the washer and dryer where the lovely Smithers is standing, or you can trade it all in for what's in this box." – C.M. Burns
"The box, the box!" – Nuclear Inspector
Reading Digest: The Perils of Syndication Edition
Tags: Homer Goes to College
"Wow! They'll never let us show that again, not in a million years!" – Krusty the Klown
Assuming that pure joy expands in a circle at the speed of light, the echo of my unbounded glee at learning that reruns of The Simpsons would be on five days a week should be somewhere between Altair and Sigma Draconis by now. In those dark days before DVDs, DVD rips, and bottomless hard drive platters, watching old episodes wasn't easy to do, and the news that it would be on every weeknight (and sometimes on Saturday) was literally life changing. All those episodes that I had only seen once or twice were suddenly going to be broadcast again and again, and that meant that I could watch them again and again. These days I never watch the syndication runs, both because they're hopelessly polluted with Zombie Simpsons and because having episodes on my computer is vastly more convenient. But I recognize that I'm in the minority on how I watch, and this week we have two links to demonstrate that. One to a television station that's broadcasting good episodes in May, and another to someone who's still shackled to the whims of the program directors. We've also got pictures of that beaded Springfield, an awesome love song, plenty of excellent usage, and a Hans Moleman video.
Perfectly Cromulent Analysis: Mr. Plow – Smooth Charlie's Click of the Week is a post on "Mr. Plow" by our old friend Andreas. He extensively and rightly praises that excellent "Do you come with the car?" joke that still rings true nearly twenty years later. Well worth reading in full.
The Unofficial Smithers Love Song – Fan made song and video that contains 100% of your daily recommended amount of fuck yeah (via @springfieldx2).
Electronic Arts Cancels 'Dead Space 2′ Wii, 'The Simpsons Game 2′ – A Simpsons related game I didn't know was being developed has been cancelled.
10 Best Female Voice Actors | Actors & Directors | Screen Junkies – Nancy Cartwright snags #1 here, but no one else from the show makes the cut.
The Simpsons Makes a Skit About Precious – Thanks go to Maggie C for sending in a link to this Tumblr site that noted Zombie Simpsons' pathetic "Precious" dream sequence in "Love Is a Many Strangled Thing". My favorite comment got right to the point:
holy shit fuck you, simpsons
Simpsons town revealed in Forest Hills artist's home – Pictures from the revealing of Forty Square Feet of Awesome. The Disco Stu door prize is pretty cool.
Financial Lessons from the Final Four, Yoga, Homer Simpson, and Other Odd Sources – Prosaic advise courtesy of a copy and paste job at Time magazine. They get the quotes right so it's excellent usage even if it is banal to the point that Henry Luce's corpse would blush if it still could.
Everything I Know About Money, I Learned from Homer Simpson – And linked from the above is this, which doesn't quote anything, but does mange to allude only to plotlines from Season 10 and earlier.
Grizzly Links: Stephen Colbert, David Lynch, The Simpsons, & a Midget in a Gorilla Costume – There's some good stuff here, I'm especially fond of the Jaws painting (though shouldn't one of them be on drums?). Among the links is a montage of Hans Moleman clips, the first part is mostly from good seasons with a sprinkling of Zombie Simpsons, volume two reverses the ratio:
FOX legal will be calling in three, two, one . . .
Homer simpson Minecraft Skin – Exactly what it says. Nicely done.
Searching for gluten-free food at Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville – Discussing watching baseball when your usual pleasures are denied you brings us this:
In a long-ago episode of "The Simpsons," an on-the-wagon Homer sits silently sober at the ballpark while everyone around him enjoys cups of beer. After a few seconds of dead silence with his eyes wide open, Homer remarks: "I never realized how boring this game is."
Excellent usage.
Mr Burns takes a nap – While I'm not a fan of crappy collector stuff, I am a fan of it being used creatively.
Todays winners and Losers – From the "Losers" category:
The feeling when you get home and you flick to channel 4 and the simpsons end credits are on… gutted.
I used to hate that feeling.
Future Finds: Computers (#74) – Speaking of creatively repurposing Simpsons stuff, this guy doesn't sound like on of the five richest kings of Europe to me.
Classic Simpsons In May – A UHF station in San Francisco will be running "rare" and "haven't seen in years" episodes during the month of May, and by that they mean things from Seasons 1-10. Fucking Zombie Simpsons has ruined syndicated Simpsons.
Things That Will Always Guarantee Laughs – This is a list, and while I don't agree with everything on it, this is true:
The Simpsons (seasons 3 to 8)
Oh Seasons 1 & 2, I will love you so much it will make up for the rest of the world's indifference.
The Origin Story – Reminisces, and a picture, of a 1990 Bart Simpson skateboard.
Forbes Fictional 15: list – This list gets stupider every year. How do you assign a worth to the dragon from The Hobbit? And what the hell is Jeffery Lebowski doing on there? He's so poor he had to steal a million dollars from little urban achievers. Oh, and Mr. Burns checks in at #12.
First Look: Doughnut Vault – There's a new donut shop in downtown Chicago that sounds fantastic (albeit pricey). This is poor usage, however:
Homer Simpson may have said it best when he called the doughnut sacrilicious.
The waffle that Bart tossed on the ceiling was sacrilicious. The donut is just, "Mmmm" or "transcendent" (as translated by Lisa).
Release the Hounds – Silvio Berlusconi as Mr. Burns. Heh.
#1 of the 365 Things That Make Me Happy: The Simpsons – Ahem:
I absolutely adore The Simpsons and have ever since the shorts were used as bumpers on another favorite television show of mine; "The Tracy Ullman Show". I know a lot of critics and fans say that the show isn't as good as it used to be, and to some degree they are right. However, I feel that The Simpsons have given me so many great years of programming, that if they want to coast on a few episodes, I don't mind a bit.
I used to say almost exactly that, then they kept on coasting for more than a decade. But The Simpsons does always make me happy.
Critics use The Simpsons to lampoon Mexico's Slim – Somebody took out a newspaper ad in Mexico making fun of the world's richest man, Carlos Slim, with "The Slimsons". Sadly, I was unable to find an image of the ad on-line.
Weird science on the equator line – Wikipedia is skeptical of Lisa's explanation of the Coriolis effect, but this is a first hand account of the strange things you can do at the equator, and it includes clockwise and counterclockwise draining.
"The Simpsons" and Their Films – The image and the link from whence it came are something we've mentioned before around here. But I want to wholeheartedly agree with this:
The more films I watch the more I notice that sometimes I'm approaching them backwards: I've often seen the parody before I've seen the picture itself. When I first saw Frank Capra's It's A Wonderful Life (1946), for example, I found it was quickly coloured yellow, as Homer Simpson's take on George Bailey (Jimmy Stewart) came to mind.
In fact, The Simpsons becomes consistently richer the more films I see. References to America's cinematic heritage appear not only in episode-long treatments of certain pictures but also in the more fleeting echoes of a particular shot or character trait.
I've lost track of the number of movies I've watched specifically because they were mentioned on the show. Last year that number included The Devil and Daniel Webster (thanks Andreas!), which was fantastic.
Up and atom, veggie burger! – And finally, among an excellent looking recipe and much excellent usage is this:
It was only the Simpsons' 7th season, so it still had writers who rolled out classic lines
Indeed. (There's also YouTube of "My eyes, the goggles do nothing!".)
College Students to Zombie Simpsons: Meh
Tags: Homer Goes to College
"Someone squeezed all the life out of these kids. And unless movies and teevee have lied to me, it's a crusty, bitter old dean." – Homer Simpson
If you Google "Zombie Simpsons", the first result is a post I wrote last year called "The Cost of Zombie Simpsons". Not being familiar with anything more than the barest outlines of Google's proprietary alchemy, I can only guess as to why it's that one and not another. But if I had pick of our back catalog to occupy that choice spot of search real estate (it gets more traffic than all but a handful of pages here), it'd probably be that one.
My strained pollution metaphor was prompted by my discovery of a Futurama fan who had never seen "Marge vs. The Monorail". He knew of The Simpsons, but had never seen one of their most well known episodes. I wondered how many people out there, too young to have watched the show's decay as it happened, lived under the misunderstanding that it had always been so ordinary.
This week I came across two blogs written by guys who fall under that age bracket. The first is a student at Tufts University who writes about television for the campus newspaper. In an article titled "Fox offers laughs beyond Seth MacFarlane", he spends 769 words talking about all of the comedies currently broadcast on FOX. (The piece is part of a series of four, one for each network.) This is the Simpsons bit:
Outside the MacFarlane empire, "The Simpsons" is still going strong in its 22nd season. It's not what it used to be, but it still has some smart plotting, good jokes and original stories after all these years.
I obviously agree with the part about it not being what it used to be and disagree with the part about it being "smart", "good", and "original". But that's neither here nor there. What's revealing about this is the fact that the entire article is about FOX comedies, and yet those two fleeting sentences are the only part that discusses Zombie Simpsons. The show is only mentioned one other time in the entire piece, and that's just to note that it's been overshadowed by MacFarlane's television hydra. In other words, even to people who like it, Zombie Simpsons is far less culturally interesting than every other program on FOX. It's a placeholder that gets brought up only for the sake of completeness.
The second blog is brand new. Its author is a student at the University of Arizona and the first four substantive posts are a top 25 Simpsons episode countdown. I've seen a lot of these kinds of lists over the years. Most of the time they're either entirely or predominantly episodes from the before time, the long long ago; those are my favorite. Sometimes they're a jumble of The Simpsons and Zombie Simpsons, with picks ranging from Season 1 to the present; I like those kind less. But, hey, it's somebody's opinion and they're certainly entitled to post it on-line.
What's unusual about this list is the range of episodes it covers. The earliest episode on it is from Season 5 and the latest is from Season 14 (though only a handful are from after Season 11). I've never seen a list like that before. The explanation for this unusual selection comes in the introduction to the first part (emphasis added electronically by Channel 6):
As a dedicated (and somewhat obsessed) fan of The Simpsons, I have seen my fair share of Simpsons episodes (302 to be exact) and decided I would attempt to rank my favorite Simpsons episodes of all time. I took a lot of different factors into consideration of each episode (story,gags,overall hilarity), but mostly just picked the ones that I know I can sit through time and time again.
(The rest: Part 2, Part 3, Part 4)
He describes himself as a "dedicated" and "somewhat obsessed" fan who watches episodes "time and time again", but the back catalog is so dauntingly swollen with mediocrity that he's never sat down and plowed through it all. At 302 episodes, itself a powerful feat of television watching, he still hasn't seen nearly forty percent of the show.
There are only two possibilities with the given math. Either he's never seen a significant chunk of the early seasons, or he gave up on the show completely right after Season 14. Neither scenario reflects well on Zombie Simpsons, but given his list I'd be willing to bet it's the former. If that's true, it means that Zombie Simpsons has deterred him from seeing some of the best things to ever grace the airwaves.
This is precisely what I was talking about in "The Cost of Zombie Simpsons". In its current dilapidated state, Zombie Simpsons is hardly worth bringing up in a discussion of FOX comedies. But its irrelevance to modern audiences doesn't prevent it from obscuring its vastly superior predecessor.
Quote of the Day
Image used under Creative Commons license from Flickr user bsabarnowl.
"Finally, the great taste of Worcestershire sauce in a soft drink." – TV Announcer
"Ahhh, steaky." – TV Guy
[Edited because I've been hearing what I wanted to hear since 1993. I'm not going to stop referring to Worcestershire sauce as "stanky" though.]
Quote of the Day
Animation Showcase: Homer Goes to College
Tags: Homer Goes to College
- By Bob Mackey
When The Simpsons had its prime-time debut in 1989, the show's animation was considered crude by most. While it's true that the visuals improved by leaps and bounds after that first rocky year, the original 12 episodes of The Simpsons – despite their roughness – still stand as a major leap forward in the progress of television animation. And over The Simpsons' first handful of years, talented artists like Brad Bird, David Silverman, Jeffrey Lynch, Jim Reardon, Wes Archer, and Rich Moore (amongst others) not only defined and refined the look of the show; they also raised the bar for a genre of entertainment largely considered — at the time, anyway — a brainless distraction for equally brainless children. For these visionaries, The Simpsons provided the opportunity for endless experimentation; which is why it's no wonder that most of these folks went on to fame and fortune at outstanding animation studios like Pixar and Rough Draft.
Generally speaking, the animation on the first six-or-so years of The Simpsons is far "looser" than what it would eventually become; the art on these early seasons complemented the excellent writing, instead merely serving as just a platform for the dialogue. For lack of a better term, directors and animators on The Simpsons were once allowed to make their drawings more "cartoony," which meant deviating from the standard design of a model sheet for the sake of drawing the strong poses necessary to create a visually interesting and, most importantly, funny image. Of course, when this is taken too far, the results can be disastrous: you only need to look at the outtakes from "Some Enchanted Evening" to see what happens when a group of animators gets The Simpsons completely wrong. But, when used correctly, brief bits of cartooniness can add vibrancy and emotion to a scene – which is something the show used to do very well.
Over the years, The Simpsons' animation became much more conservative and homogenized, and by the end of season eight, the show had lost nearly all of its cartoon snappiness. And as a fan of the show, it's this quality I miss the most. For my first post on Dead Homer Society, I've decided to visually dissect "Homer Goes to College," which is an excellent showcase for the brilliant animation once seen on The Simpsons. For those worried, this examination isn't going to be couched in technical terms; as an animation enthusiast, I'm going to try and break this down into terms everyone can understand.
This early scene of Homer chasing a bee down a hallway relies entirely on the animation for its humor. Sure, the idea itself is a little funny, but a sitcom-staged shot of Homer running wouldn't be as funny as what we see here: strong, goofy poses that punctuate his haplessness.
Here's a brief instance of some cartoony punctuation. These drawings are incredibly odd when compared to how we normally see Homer, but he quickly snaps back into his normal model once he leaps from the sewer. You can tell whoever drew this was having a lot of fun.
When was the last time The Simpsons made you laugh with a drawing alone? Here, Homer is locked in an exaggerated position that seemingly defies his anatomy, but that only adds to the hilarity of the scene. Strangely enough, Matt Groening always hated this kind of stuff; if you listen to various DVD commentaries, he claims he was always obsessed with giving the characters solid and consistent anatomy. This isn't inherently bad, but it makes drawings like the ones throughout this post practically illegal.
This shot isn't particularly mind-blowing, but I picked it because it shows how expressive the characters used to be. Here, Homer's eyes and mouth are a little bigger than normal, but these small embellishments really sell his sense of panic. In general, eyes on the Simpsons used to be much bigger, and much more expressive, as we'll see below.
One of the subtle hallmarks of Simpsons animation used to be the eye bulge; animators would sprinkle this little bit of business in dialogue heavy-scenes to accentuate certain words or ideas. Here, Burns isn't speaking, but his eye bulge adds a little zing to his freak out. If you weren't aware of the eye bulge, go back and check out some early episodes while keeping this little bit of acting in mind — it's everywhere.
Again, nothing mind-blowing about the animation here, but the brief bit of squash and stretch before Homer's standard scream makes his reaction much more expressive.
On these earlier episodes of the Simpsons, it wasn't odd to see characters emote in ways they never had before. Instead of looking at model sheets for stock expressions, the animators in these days tailored the emotion of their drawings to the unique situation of the scene. We've seen Homer angry countless times before, but for some reason, this drawing feels fresh.
An excellent display of self-control from whoever laid out this scene. Later episodes would probably place the emphasis on Homer, but the composition of this shot (which goes on for a while) sells the awkwardness of the situation, and highlights Homer's choice of seating.
More acting unique to this episode. I don't think I've seen Homer in these poses before or since.
Nothing incredible happening here, but I took this screenshot to highlight how Homer was generally plumper and more retarded in Jim Reardon's episodes. His walleye here used to be a hallmark of the shows eye acting (along with the bulge), which seems to have been lost to the mists of time.
Another expression I haven't seen before or since. Something tells me this brief bit of self-satisfaction from Homer wouldn't look nearly as funny if it was animated five years later.
A really strong pose from Homer. What would you call this emotion? It's a perfect, dialogue-free reaction to the nerd revealing the reality of their road trip.
This scene begins with an amazing shot and tons of detail. Staging like this is what made The Simpsons so much more visually interesting than anything that had come before. The planning of the prank could have begun with a less complicated shot, but its current layout really sells the mock-drama of the scene.
Another bit of exaggerated animation before Homer pops back into a normal pose.
And again. The simulated motion blur of Sir Oinks-A-Lot's face is absolutely hilarious, and really makes him seem vicious for those brief few frames. Homer's eye bulge is equally great; I actually remember slow-mo-ing this scene back when I originally recorded the episode as a kid.
Some fantastic poses from Bart and Lisa that really sell the range of emotions they go through in this scene: from awe, to shock, to panicked urgency. You don't even need to be aware of the scene's context to know what they're feeling.
A hilarious shot, from a perspective of The Simpsons I believe we've never seen before or since (or perhaps just not that often). The characters' unique anatomy makes them extremely weird-looking from certain angles, but going with a strange, funny shot like this just shows how much the animators were willing to experiment.
This may be my favorite bit of animation in the entire history of The Simpsons; in fact, I look forward to this scene every time I watch Homer Goes to College. It's incredibly brief, but the animators transformed a simple stage direction into an incredibly expressive (and impressive) bit of acting. Every little frame, from Homer's confident slide out of this chair, to his jaunty little walk, to the way he hands in his paper, completely sells his confidence in a way that dialogue never could. If I didn't know better — and I don't — I'd say David Silverman did this scene.
Another great expression to end this post. You can really tell that Homer has no goddamned idea what he's talking about, here.
Since I have no way to conclude this little article except awkwardly, I'd like to thank you for humoring me in this examination of what I feel is one of The Simpsons' most-overlooked qualities. If I can muster up the fortitude to do this again, I'll probably tackle "Homer's Triple Bypass" next.
Quote of the Day
Synergy Has a Nostalgia Hangover
Tags: Homer Goes to College, Million Dollar Maybe
"Duh, Homer, why are we down here?" – Bernie
"Aw geez, I told you Bernie, to guard the bee." – Homer Simpson
"But why?" – Less Gifted Employee
"Oh you guys are pathetic, no wonder Smithers made me head bee guy." – Homer Simpson
Having read more of these IGN Simpsons reviews than I care to think about it's become clear that they just don't put a lot of thought into them. Case in point is this week's review which has only two main elements, 1) praising the show for being on the air a long time, and 2) retelling the various setups that made up the plot. Number 2 is pretty standard for these reviews, but I think the presence of number 1 is mostly a carryover from the last few weeks. IGN got locked into nostalgia mode over all the 20th anniversary stuff and just sort of mindlessly kept going with it.
February 1, 2010 – After their 450th 451st episode focusing on Krusty and a celebratory special spreading the love and dissing Zombie Simpsons, it was nice to have things get got back to the familiar level of suck with "Million Dollar Maybe." And by familiar level of suck, I mean watching what's left of Homer do what he can to make his family happy, while screwing it up as he tries random, crazy shit. Sunday night's episode had Homer yet again letting down Marge, winning a million dollars for "plot" reasons, spending it all without her knowledge for some reason and still finishing the half-hour in the arms of the woman he loves. All this and laughs, too.
Things started with Homer and Marge preparing a musical toast for a cousin's wedding contrivance. But on the day of the wedding contrivance, Homer opened a fortune cookie stating this was his lucky day. At first, Homer blew off the fortune: "Any part of a cookie you can't eat is just a waste of time." But his luck did indeed start to turn as crashing into a vending machine resulted in its contents raining down for Homer's enjoyment for some reason. Instead of heading straight to the wedding contrivance, Homer stopped to buy a lottery ticket and got stuck a very long, very slow line for about three hours for one more unknown reason. It was a fun hacktacular set up, leaving Homer feeling plot guilty about missing the toast and unable to tell Marge that he was instead buying a winning lottery ticket. It was a nice touch ate some time to have Lenny and Carl help convince Homer that the fortune cookie may be right. I especially loved the headline from the Beijing Daily Worker: "New Fortune Cookies Vaguer, More Accurate."
To further stretch things out Homer used Barney to pick up his winning check, a good majority of which went to Uncle Sam: "This money will go to partially cover the cost of a study to decide what to do with the money." Unable to tell Marge about the money (yeah, still), Homer instead bought things anonymously for his family. Watching the various ways in which gifts were discovered was quite fun killed a lot of clock, starting with Homer throwing Bart into bushes disguising a new washing machine, and ending with Marge pulling a new pearl necklace out of Maggie's diaper. But the ruse dumb ploy couldn't last, and soon Bart discovered Homer's secret money tree, setting up a second series of unrelated clock killing skits. This included a randomly hilarious scene with Moe showing up out of nowhere, menacingly stating "Don't forget my cut." When questioned about it, Moe responded, "I just go around saying that and hope it'll be applicable." When questioned about that, the writers responded, "We just go around sticking characters in and hope people don't complain."
Bart first convinced Homer to indulge a little help fill screen time with the cash, resulting in rides on a zero gravity plane and a personal concert from Coldplay. Fittingly, Chris Martin was the only band member to get lines. Though the scene had some chuckles made no sense and wasn't funny, Martin's appearance could have been replaced by any number of celebrity rock stars. The good times didn't last, and soon Bart was threatening to tell Marge Homer's secret because it was getting time to wrap things up. To keep him quiet, Homer basically became Bart's slave. This was reminiscent of about six episodes of every sitcom ever and had been done ten thousand times better Homer becoming Patty and Selma's slave for a similar secret-keeping reason in "Homer vs. Patty and Selma." But since this was only a small focus of this episode done poorly and for no reason, with an entirely different viewpoint, it didn't feel like a retread so much as its own brand of suck.
Filling out the episode was a decent plot with Lisa buying the retirement home a Funtendo Zii. She got the idea in a great scene with Mr. Burns trying out the videogames at the store: "Wait. I'm shooting at Nazis? That's not how I remember it." This was an adequate B storyline in that it's hard to see how they could've stretched the A plot any thinner, with enough laughs to keep things interesting, but never getting too complicated and taking the focus away from Homer and his predicament. Ultimately Yawningly, in the main storyline, Homer told Marge the truth and everything returned to the status quo. Homer's cherry blossom testament of love was yet another sweet ending over-animated, under thought-out set piece to a long line of Simpsons Zombie Simpsons sweet endings over-animated, under thought-out set pieces, punctuated with a very funny "Phew!" visual gag. This was a fun dull and funny disorganized episode focused on Homer and his always dysfunctional relationship with his family — just what we've come to love and expect after 20 10 years.
Crazy Noises: Rednecks and Broomsticks
Tags: Homer Goes to College, Rednecks and Broomsticks
"Marge, they don't have anywhere to stay. And they're geniuses! They'll solve all our problems, they'll elevate us to the status of kings on Earth!" – Homer Simpson
"Mr. Simpson we all have nose bleeds." – Black Nerd
In our continuing mission to bring you only the finest in low class, low brow, and low tech internet Simpsons commentary we're bringing back our "Crazy Noises" series and applying it to Season 21. Because doing a podcast smacks of effort we're still using this "chatroom" thing that all the middle schoolers and undercover cops seem to think is so cool. This text has been edited for clarity and spelling (especially on "dialogue").
Once upon a time there was a Simpsons episode titled "Homer Goes to College". In it Homer had a reason for going to college, went to college, met three nerds and hilarity ensued. The nerds three, though only one of them even had a name, were given plenty of screen time to run amok in their nerdy way as the kind of unabashed self-parodying stereotypes for which The Simpsons justly became famous. The nerds discussed Star Trek on-line, had a rock tumbler, got nose bleeds, and thought about correcting for wind resistance when trying to save an adult male from being hit by a speeding car. They did stuff.
On Sunday Zombie Simpsons had an episode with three Wiccans that Lisa met for no particular reason. Despite being introduced fairly early in the episode they were given almost no screen time. What time they did get was spent on dialogue comprised of them explaining themselves and jokeless exposition used to move the story along. They didn't do anything but stand there and wait for stuff to happen to them. They weren't characters; they were props (and poorly used ones at that).
Charlie Sweatpants: Shall we get started?
Dave: More Bambi killing, less of everything else
Mad Jon: Did anyone get the feeling that episode started as a cut scene from the movie?
Charlie Sweatpants: Not really, but I see where you're coming from on that.
Other than the frozen lake there really wasn't any need for it to be winter, but it did give it a bit of an "Alaska" feel.
Mad Jon: Yeah, I more or less got that feeling as they were driving and had to be saved by Cletus.
Wow, they are really going out of there way to ruin all the best one-line characters.
Dave: I didn't expect the Cletus/Homer thing so soon, nor did I expect it to be more substantial than that Wiccan bullshit
Not that any of that matters, it was still boring and sucked balls
Mad Jon: It was pretty bad. How much do you think FOX gets for each scene with an iPod?
Charlie Sweatpants: I'll give them this, last week when they had Bart caring a ton about his future they just did it. Here they did give Lisa a single line about still being a skeptic before dropping that aspect of her character completely.
Mad Jon: Well, that was one of the deals with the Wicca chicks.
Charlie Sweatpants: Also, what was with the pipe cleaner project and weird scene where Miss Hoover wasn't there?
I mean, why the hell was that old woman screaming about "which craft"?
They eventually explain away the poisoned water (which I called about ten minutes before it happened, by the way) but that was just bizarre.
Mad Jon: The Lisa plot had about as much of a lead-in as Carlin's stand-up. But they aren't George Carlin, they haven't earned what he's earned!
Charlie Sweatpants: Yeah that's just it, this one actually kinda almost had a coherent story, but it wasn't enough to even begin to fill out 22 minutes of screen time.
I went back and timed that thing with the toy in the car from the beginning, it takes a full minute.
Mad Jon: I see you went out of your way to make 'kinda almost' in bold.
That's pretty bad. Do they actually have toys like that?
Dave: That's almost a reversal of our screening last night, which was punctuated with "what the fucks" and "this is taking too long"
Charlie Sweatpants: I don't think it matter whether or not the toy is based on a real thing, it was still a full minute of screen time that had almost no dialogue and no jokes.
Mad Jon: I can hear Charlie's high-pitched anger right now…
No, I know it doesn't matter, I was just curious.
That was were my movie Deja-vu started.
Charlie Sweatpants: When I went back and thought on it though the time killing got even worse because when you think about it they had three ripe for the plucking new characters and they barely used them.
Bart's little monologue about the stages a woman goes through before she becomes a Wiccan could've been funny. You've got three Wiccans right there, show it to us with them!
Nah. Not our style, we'll just have Bart monologue for a while.
Mad Jon: Yeah, that could of gone better, I thought it had some potential.
Dave: That's what I said last night; making fun of Wiccans is like shooting fish in a barrel, but they couldn't be bothered
Mad Jon: It is. It really is.
Charlie Sweatpants: While I'm going down my mental list of things that sucked here, what the hell was up with Moe?
Mad Jon: Oh Jesus, I almost forgot about that.
Dave: Uh yeah, the whole wanting to be raped bit was awful
Charlie Sweatpants: He had two scenes, the first time he begs to get raped by Cletus; and then he's happy when he's being chased by the mob . . . what the fuck?
Mad Jon: I think I was trying to create a mental block there.. Seriously what the fuck was the rape fantasy about.
Dave: Rape fantasies are the new suicide attempts
Mad Jon: That's unfortunate for so many reasons.
Charlie Sweatpants: Indeed.
Did anyone else notice that there were eight headings on "Wiccapedia" and only two of them were jokes?
Dave: Negative
Mad Jon: I just assumed they were all actually what they were supposed to be
Charlie Sweatpants: Again, it's the missed comedy opportunities left and right when they spend so much time killing time that really made this one awful.
Mad Jon: Good point. But that would reek of effort,
The suckiest thing about the most recent few episodes is that They are just dead weight. I can't even spend any serious time pissing on them
Dave: I think it's worth noting that basically all the witchcraft comments/threats were regurgitated from the ToH segment
Charlie Sweatpants: Well, it's not like they're trying to cover a lot of new ground.
Mad Jon: No, but there isn't any need to backtrack and burn the bridges down.
Its just boring time filling and unfunny sight "gags" followed by the desecration of classic one line characters and they almost always end with a fucked up musical bit
Dave: I think that was the point I was trying to make
Charlie Sweatpants: Like the whole dunking chair thing and then Lisa figure skating?
Dave: Whether or not they were covering new ground, it's just fucking lazy writing
Mad Jon: What the fuck was that? Was it a parody of something? Am I that out of touch?
Why not just draw a bunch of Simpson characters standing around blinking. That's it, just standing around blinking. At least I would know where they stand. None of this trying to try crap;
Charlie Sweatpants: I don't think so, I stand by the title of the recap post we put up yesterday, I think this episode came in massively short of 22 minutes and they just padded the margins like crazy.
Mad Jon: Ugh, I need to vomit and shower.
Charlie Sweatpants: I guess that means we're done.
And none too soon.
Mad Jon: I got nothing else.
Dave: Yeah, agreed.
Charlie Sweatpants: Vomiting and showers for everyone!
Quote of the Day
Quote of the Day
"Oh, and one more thing. You must find the Jade Monkey before the next full moon." – C.M Burns
"Actually sir, we found the Jade Monkey. It was in your glove compartment." – Mr. Smithers
"And the road maps and ice scraper?" – C.M. Burns
"They were in there too, sir." – Mr. Smithers
"Excellent, it's all falling into place." – C.M. Burns
Crazy Noises: The Homer They Fall
Tags: Homer Goes to College, The Homer They Fall
"Those 'crazy noises' are computer signals." – Skinny Nerd "Yeah, some guys at MIT are sending us reasons why Captain Picard is better than Captain Kirk." – Black Nerd "Hah! They're out of their minds." – Fat Nerd
In an attempt to fill the summer with love, hate and pointless Simpsons commentary we at the Dead Homer Society are going to spend some time overthinking Season 8. Why Season 8? Because Season 8 is when The Simpsons really began to deteriorate into Zombie Simpsons. That's why. Because we're cutting edge and ultra-modern we're using a newfangled, information-superhighway fad called a "chatroom" to conduct our conversation. This text has been edited for clarity and spelling (especially on "sphygmomanometer").
Today's episode is 803, "The Homer They Fall", and we'll be back tomorrow with 804, "Burns Baby, Burns".
Mad Jon: Well, we can start by perhaps discussing the crapitude of the episodes in question, especially as they follow one my personal favorites [Editor's Note: That would be "You Only Move Twice", aka the Hank Scorpio episode.]
Charlie Sweatpants: Well, looking at my notes for "Homer They Fall" three things really struck me. The first is that this is one of the first whiffs we get of Homer being bipolar, weird, and ultra stupid.
The second is that there're still a lot of good gags in there, it's clearly not Zombie Simpsons, but it's also clearly not real Simpsons.
Third, and far and away the biggest, is just how fucking lazy the story is. It's just bad storytelling, through Homer's improbable boxing career, fighting the champ for no reason, then it ends with Moe flying in on the fan guy thing?
Mad Jon: There are some pretty good sight gags too, and they don't go too far like a zombie episode would, I cite Barney drinking varnish and the very brief description of the 'stinger'
Charlie Sweatpants: Yeah, both of those struck me as something that would've been dragged on a lot longer these days. I was also a big fan of the entrance to the big fight with the sign that says "Tasteful Attire Prohibited" and then you notice all the weird shit people are wearing.
Mad Jon: but then there is that stupid montage of the train yard circuit or whatever
Dave: boxcar charlie or something like that?
Mad Jon: I think it was in black and white no less
Dave: the dude fighting for a sandwich?
Charlie Sweatpants: Well, they use the famous song from that one opera that's been in about forty movies and TV shows before.
Mad Jon: too bad I'm not into opera
I feel they did a good job with the Don King impersonation
I also like his desire to have a fight go long enough so the fans have a chance to get drunk
Charlie Sweatpants: Lucious Sweet was right on the money, but the problem I had with him goes to what I was saying earlier about bad story telling. Lucious wants someone to fight Tatum, but then he acts surprised when Homer shows up at the fight and he's fat and out of shape.
Mad Jon: Good point
I would also like to point out that Homer spends Zero (0) time in the plant, which is always a bad sign.
Charlie Sweatpants: Say what you will about Don King, but at least Peter McNeeley was in shape.
Mad Jon: And he got a Pizza Hut spot out of his 92 seconds
Charlie Sweatpants: Yeah, I remember watching this one the first time, and right at the beginning, Homer grabs Marge's arm and drags her into the electronics store and then freaks out over the World's Coolest Jacket or whatever. It's very out of character.
Dave: the whole bonanza opening thing at the mall was off
Charlie Sweatpants: You think so?
I liked that part.
Dave: well, off might not be the right word
Mad Jon: I kinda liked the statement, "Weren't there 3 Indians last year?"
Dave: I didn't find it particularly funny though
Mad Jon: I must say my least favorite aspect of the episode is that there is any kind of character growth in Moe. Moe doesn't grow, he stifles people's growth. That's his thing.
The real Moe would have let Homer take the last punch
Dave: agreed, Jon. The ending montage with Moe doing good deeds was more of that empty character growth
Charlie Sweatpants: The ending is a hot mess regardless. Just having Moe throw in the towel wouldn't be enough, so in the eight seconds it takes Tatum to wind up his punch he runs away, gets the fan thing, picks up Homer, flies out of the ring, and then when they land in the parking lot Tatum and Lucious are both already there.
And that's after we've put up with the idea that Homer can take lots of punches, but gets heavily winded by throwing even a single one. Oh yeah, and he doesn't know who Tatum is.
I don't think that last point is a nitpick, because a regular guy like Homer would absolutely know about a guy like Tatum. But SuperHomer can be sooooo dumb that he doesn't know anything.
Mad Jon: Completely agreed. The real Homer would have made some comment about how he lost money on Tatum's assault trial or something
Charlie Sweatpants: Bingo. Dave, anything Homer related that jumped out at you in this one?
Dave: nothing about the fight in particular, just some general carelessness that seemed out of character as when Marge says he's hurting her arm, and he responds "no I'm not"
Charlie Sweatpants: Yeah, that bothered me too.
So, what's the 1-2 sentence summary of what's wrong with "Homer They Fall"?
Dave: Characters acting unexpectedly lead to situations that strain to exist even within the loose reality of "The Simpsons"
Mad Jon: In an attempt to needlessly flesh out the non family characters the writers failed to remember who the star was or involve the rest of his family at all.
Charlie Sweatpants: Homer ceases to be human yet they play it for tension and morality anyway. It makes so little sense that you don't care what happens.
Mad Jon: That episode reminded me of the time I saw Buckethead perform with Guns and Roses, there were some good things, but in the end nobody won.
Dave: I just poured water all over my laptop. Carry on – I'll be right back after I deal with this
Mad Jon: That's what he gets for not drinking beer
Charlie Sweatpants: Amen, cans don't spill easily.
So . . . Jon, Dave's Wet Laptop, any final thoughts on Homer They Fall?
Mad Jon: Yes. Let it stay down, and I'll hit the back scene button until "You only move twice" starts over.
Dave: crisis averted
Charlie Sweatpants: Good to hear.
Hehe, I will say, this does have one of the best Comic Book Guy scenes ever, when he's away from his store and he has to endure the taunts of the other shopkeep. A fat sarcastic Star Trek fan, you must be a devil with the ladies? And then he calls him Casanova. That always cracks me up.
Mad Jon: Yeah the belt bit was funny, especially when Bart points out it has a sphygmomanometer
Charlie Sweatpants: Anything you want to add Dave, or should we go on to "Burns Baby Burns"?
Dave: Nothing else to add except I enjoyed the sphygmomanometer bit too
not many people would find that funny
ready to move on when you guys are
Charlie Sweatpants: Sure
Mad Jon: Ok


text: Saute onion, bell pepper, celery, do you want to add carrot? We used carrot. In olive oil until softened. Then toss in chopped garlic and stir so that it gets fragrant. Add chopped clean greens, stirring into the hot vegetables to wilt slightly. Add vegetable broth or salted water just enough to cover. Should have a small amount of vinegar. Tablespoon or so. Simmer til tender. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve with peppered vinegar.posted by ijoshua at 5:45 PM on April 3, 2007


text: High Country News http://www.hcn.org These are the search results for the query, showing results 1 to 14. Do subdivisions designed for conservation actually help wildlife? http://www.hcn.org/issues/44.9/do-subdivisions-designed-for-conservation-actually-help-wildlife Conservation development is supposed to reduce the habitat fragmentation caused by exurban sprawl -- but it only works if it's done right. No publisher Emily Wortman-Wunder Land Preservation Subdivision ordinances biodiversity Conservation development Colorado native Western wildlife clustered development exurban sprawl open space Routt County land management invasive species rural subdivisions habitat fragmentation generalist species wildlife corridors 2012-06-06T14:51:08Z News Article A Mexican rancher struggles to shift from cattle to conservation http://www.hcn.org/issues/44.7/a-mexican-rancher-struggles-to-shift-from-cattle-to-conservation In Northwest Mexico, rancher Carlos Robles Elías works hard to make his Rancho El Aribabi into an oasis of biodiversity, despite the challenges of a sagging economy and rampant drug cartel violence. No publisher Tony Davis Río Cocóspera Rancho El Aribabi ranchers Carlos Robles Elías Northwest Mexico landscape and ecology Mexico-U.S. border jaguars biodiversity birdwatching groups drug cartel violence Mexican environmental movement Mexican conservationists ecotourism undocumented immigrants 2012-05-07T13:57:09Z News Article How conservation works south of the border http://www.hcn.org/issues/44.7/a-mexican-rancher-struggles-to-shift-from-cattle-to-conservation/how-conservation-works-south-of-the-border Maps, photos and text describe some of the federal and private, nonprofit work in Northwest Mexico to preserve imperiled landscapes and a rich diversity of plants and animals. No publisher Ray Ring, Tony Davis and Talli Nauman Río Cocóspera Mexican gray wolf Rancho El Aribabi Tarahumara Indians CONANP ranchers Mexican bison restoration Northern Jaguar Reserve Carlos Robles Elías Northwest Mexico landscape and ecology Copper Canyon Mexico-U.S. border jaguars biodiversity Valer and Josiah Austin Mexican environmental movement Mexican conservationists Mexican federal conservation system cross-border conservation work ecotourism Mexican environmental groups 2012-04-29T21:14:26Z News Article The call of the semi-wild http://www.hcn.org/issues/41.6/the-call-of-the-semi-wild Semi-wild rural landscapes, where humans mingle with wildlife, are a richer source of biodiversity than many Westerners realize. No publisher Paul Larmer biodiversity Red Desert birdwatching Annie Proulx 2010-08-31T16:33:49Z News Article Semi-wild in the new West http://www.hcn.org/wotr/semi-wild-in-the-new-west Semi-wild rural landscapes, where humans mingle with wildlife, are a richer source of biodiversity than many Westerners realize. No publisher Paul Larmer birdwatchers biodiversity habitat raptors irrigation bird counts agriculture Gunnison sage grouse 2010-02-05T08:37:55Z News Article Super rodents build super habitat http://www.hcn.org/articles/17165 In the Southwest's Chihuahuan Desert, prairie dogs and kangaroo rats provide food and shelter for a host of other animals. No publisher Morgan Heim Wildlife Chihuahuan Desert kangaroo rats prairie dogs biodiversity keystone species Science 2010-02-05T09:39:59Z News Article Exploring High Mountain Lakes in the Rockies http://www.hcn.org/issues/317/16162 Exploring High Mountain Lakes in the Rockies by biologist Fred W. Rabe takes a detailed look at mountain lakes, describing their formation, geology and aquatic plants and animals No publisher Staff Riparian Areas and Wetlands Fred W. Rabe Exploring High Mountain Lakes in the Rockies Rocky Mountains lake formation bodies of water aquatic animals aquatic plants biology biodiversity geology science guides field guides 2010-02-05T08:57:16Z News Article The common beauty of a spring day http://www.hcn.org/issues/274/14747 A spring day in Montana leads to an encounter with sandhill cranes, and with beauty No publisher Charles Finn Birds Pinon pines junipers Mesa Verde ecosystems pinon-juniper ecology pinyon pines M. Lisa Floyd science biodiversity 2010-02-05T09:57:19Z News Article Seeing the forest for its dead trees http://www.hcn.org/issues/274/14746 M. Lisa Floyd's book, Ancient Pinon-Juniper Woodlands: A Natural History of Mesa Verde Country, brings 23 scientists and researchers together to celebrate a little-known and delicate ecosystem No publisher Gail Binkly Science Biodiversity Pinon pines junipers Mesa Verde ecosystems pinon-juniper ecology pinyon pines M. Lisa Floyd science biodiversity 2010-02-05T09:57:19Z News Article Biology: The missing science http://www.hcn.org/issues/271/14656 Studies by Montana's Andrew Hansen and Colorado's Rick Knight offer some of the first scientific evidence that preserving ranch lands provides important benefits to surrounding ecosystems No publisher Jon Christensen Agriculture Livestock Ranching Biodiversity Andrew Hansen Rick Knight biodiversity ranch lands open space grazing Gunnison sage grouse Clait Braun Gunnison County Ranchland Conservation Legacy Susan Lohr wildlife biology ecology Science 2010-02-05T09:56:49Z News Article Agriculture's wild side http://www.hcn.org/issues/262/14379 In Farming with the Wild: Enhancing Biodiversity on Farms and Ranches, Daniel Imhoff discusses what's wrong with industrialized agriculture and offers suggestions on how to fix it. No publisher Ali Macalady Sustainable Farming Agriculture industrialized agriculture sustainable farming and ranching biodiversity conservation 2010-02-05T09:55:18Z News Article The grasslands — humanity's big backyard http://www.hcn.org/issues/306/15794 In Sonoita Plain: Views from a Southwestern Grassland, biologists Carl and Jane Bock convey the subtle beauty of the wildlife and people of Arizona's Sonoita Valley. No publisher Michelle Nijhuis Human Beings And Nature Grasslands Carl and Jane Bock Sonoita Valley Appleton-Whittell Research Ranch biology wildlife biodiversity Audubon Society Stephen Strom pronghorn conservation 2012-03-05T23:11:18Z News Article Restoration evolution http://www.hcn.org/issues/267/14539 In his new book, The Sunflower Forest: Ecological Restoration and the New Communion with Nature, William R. Jordan III lays out a powerful vision for a new environmental ethic No publisher Ali Macalady Biodiversity ecological restoration biodiversity environmental ethics The Sunflower Forest William R. Jordan III ecosystems Science 2012-08-14T22:36:01Z News Article An encyclopedia of rivers http://www.hcn.org/issues/335/16711 The huge, copiously illustrated Rivers of North America is the first comprehensive effort to detail the current state of the continent's rivers No publisher Irene Wanner science biodiversity Columbia River Rivers of North America Bering Sea dams Arctic Yukon River watersheds Gila River reference books Rivers salmon ecology encyclopedias Colbert E. hydrologists geomorphology Cushing National Wildl Arthur C. Benke 2010-09-09T21:24:26Z News Article


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It's that time again!!!
I'm not sure if Kris or Jason or anybody is doing the fantasy football once again, but I have a league that needs some managers. The Real Deal league is a yahoo league (265707) no password. It's a 12 manager league so everyone will have a chance to get some decent players and not have enough decent players to compete. The scoring is slightly altered from yahoo scoring but any suggestions on that will be heard.


text:
Links from this week worth checking out
- Jeff in Pusan has an update of his recovery from his motorcycle accident complete with X-rays.Ă'Â
- Michael remembers the good old days of partying in Korea.Ă'Â
- Seoul Hero has some nice pictures of his trip to Bomunsa Temple.
- There has been another North Korean jail break.
- So who is the latest North Korea apologist?Ă'Â Find out here.
- Will this make the Cartoon Network one day?Ă'Â
- Does North Korea have a plan of attack on Japan?Ă'Â Find out here.Ă'Â
- How could I have missed this, this week was Takeshima Day in Japan.
- Who thinks Gochu man has a small gochu?


text:
You know, there's been a lot of talk lately. Most of it has been about Manning, Tebow, and Payton and the Saints. There's been lots of mocks and FA ideas. Well, I figured that like myself, everyone is probably getting a bit green in the face hearing the same thing over and again. So, I thought I'd mix it up a bit, and let my verbal diarrhea appeal to you as it might. ;)
A hop and a skip, now...
1) Holy crap, the Bills defense is going to be scary this year. Superman, Dareus, and Anderson on their D line?! That's going to be a nightmare for some QBs! The thing is, it's not like the Eagles where they got a bunch of people that don't necessarily mesh together. I think these three are going to be VERY good for years to come. Their LB corps and secondary are nothing to scoff at either. If Fitzpatrick can be a little less bipolar next year, they could be making a serious run.
2) What is with everyone being so down on Tim Tebow? Yeah, it was a crappy situation and maybe the Broncos FO could've handled it better... the guy is making millions, doing what he loves, and using this media circus to further his own platform and agenda; he will have an even bigger stage and opportunity in the Big Apple. Yes, it's sad that someone with that much potential both on and off the field had to be shipped away, but so what? Let's get over it.
3) Without Payton, what do you think the chances are like for the Saints this year? Do you think the penalty was too harsh? Too soft? How about missing out on two second rounders? Player punishments?
4) The Patriots have quietly made some pretty big splashes. I think they shored up their offense while sort of neglecting their defense. I'm actually pretty happy for BLoyd for getting out there. I think him and Brady will develop a good rapport, and they needed a deep threat outside the hashes
5) If we can land Jameel McCLain and Tracy Porter, I'll be a happy camper! I may be in the minority here, but I'm glad we didn't overpay Bunk. Don't get me wrong, I was high on him the moment we signed him from Philly, but 9M guaranteed? I don't think so.
6) I think the Chargers look a little scary right now, as do the Chiefs. I know it's just Phyllis Rivers, but Robert Meachem worries me a bit. Minus the QB situation, I think KC has all the pieces in place. With Charles coming back and Hillis as the change of pace back, great young receivers, and a pro-bowl safety returning to the lineup... not to mention the TE. They are going to make for stiff competition, but I think adding Peyton instantly improves our chances.
7) How solid did RGIII look at Baylor's pro days?! That guy is gonna be a monster. He's as mobile as Vick, but he's already got his passing down pat. He could really revolutionize the game, sort of like Cam Newton did last year.
8) Speaking of Cam Newton, WTF is Carolina doing? WHY DO YOU NEED TOLBERT?! You *need* good receivers to help out your young stud QB.
Hmm... well, that about covers it. :) Tell me about some of my thoughts in the comments, or go ahead and post your own! Educate me!
Go Broncos!


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Our choice of presentation topics for this event were based on details provided by clients about their current requirements and concerns; and also on feedback received from delegates at previous Oasis events. Presentations at this event were based around the theme: '2013 – Year of the Corporate Compromise'.
Java is a common platform on which many applications are built across all industries. It is used not only for back-end web applications but for client facing user interfaces, some of which can be deployed via common web browsers on any of Java's supported platforms. Recently Java has gained a reputation for insecurity, numerous high profile 'zero-day' exploits have been used in the web browser plugin to compromise large corporations such as Apple and Facebook. Whilst Oracle fixed over 50 vulnerabilities in their most recent Critical Patch Update more are still being found.
James' talk presented some technical details on what is making Java so insecure, including some recent zero-day vulnerabilities he has found and presented at CanSecWest 2013. He also discussed how best to protect a corporate environment which relies on Java for day-to-day operation, without necessarily resorting to the blanket 'uninstall Java' mind-set.
If you would like more information about Context's Research services, please go to our dedicated Research area of this website.
Context are regularly commissioned to perform Red Team engagements and scenario based assessments against client organisations. These engagements help our clients plan for real world attacks, assess their readiness to respond quickly and effectively and review their general security posture.
Mike's talk presented a real life example of a Red Team engagement performed by Context. This 'no holds barred' journey detailed from start to finish attack scenarios, advanced technologies and low-tech solutions employed by Context with the single goal of gaining access to the target client systems. Insight was provided into real world attack scenarios used in the wild against many Fortune 500 companies which allow malicious actors to gain a foot hold on specifically targeted company networks.
If you would like more information about Context's Assurance services, please go to our dedicated Assurance area of this website.
For more information on Red Teaming please go to our dedicated Red Teaming service page.
Peter's presentation described how organisations can start to look for intrusions in their own networks using sources of evidence which are readily available or easy to configure. In addition to the proactive efforts to detect malware, understanding, gathering and storing this data will undoubtedly help if and when there is a compromise on the network. The presentation was closed by describing how detection efforts could be supported and complemented by more complex solutions and more specialised skillsets.
If you would like more information about Context's Response services, please go to our dedicated Response area of this website.


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Shadowing the Flag: Extending the Habeas Writ Beyond Guantánamo
Dawinder S. Sidhu
University of New Mexico - School of Law
November 2, 2011
20 William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal, Vol. 20, p. 39, 2011
The writ of habeas corpus activates the courts' duty to check the arbitrary or unlawful restraints by the executive on individual liberty. In times of war, the courts have been compelled to determine whether the writ is available to individuals held by the executive outside of the territorial boundaries of the United States. The Supreme Court in Johnson v. Eisentrager, in which World War II detainees were held in Germany, answered in the negative, while in Boumediene v. Bush, involving post-9 11 detainees housed in Guantánamo, reached the opposite conclusion. Operating within these two guideposts, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in al Maqaleh v. Gates decided that three detainees held in Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan are not entitled to the constitutional habeas privilege.
The purpose of this Article is to explain why the D.C. Circuit got it wrong. Part I provides an overview of the facts and relevant law that formed the basis for the decision. Part II will show that the court misapplied the basic factors set forth initially by the Court in Eisentrager and later clarified by it in Boumediene. Part III will contain a proposed framework that reorients and reframes these factors in order to make habeas jurisdiction analyses more workable and consistent with the historical justifications for the writ, separation of powers considerations, and governing case law. Part IV applies this framework to the Bagram petitions and in doing so highlights the problematics of the D.C. Circuit's decision. In short, under both existing standards and the suggested new way of looking at questions of wartime habeas jurisdiction, I posit that the petitions should not have been dismissed.
If left to stand, al Maqaleh will not only cast the detainees into an indefinite legal abyss, but will place the executive beyond the courts' traditional constitutional checking duties, precisely when the wartime executive is most tempted to act outside of established law – that is, when judicial review is most critically needed.
Number of Pages in PDF File: 41
Keywords: habeas corpus, jurisdiction, extraterritoriality, judicial review, Executive authority, BagramAccepted Paper Series
Date posted: September 23, 2010 ; Last revised: November 3, 2011
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text: Conventional retirement accounts such as IRAs and 401(k)s aren't your only retirement savings options. Here are four savings vehicles that offer something unique to the retirement saver.Two of the saving vehicles should be familar to readers: reward checking accounts and I Bonds. The other two haven't been mentioned as much: Health Savings Accounts and single premium deffered annuities. The author does a good job at providing a brief overview of each.


text:
[A:] Excellent question! First we'll have a quick history lesson, then we'll see how it works and how it differs from fiat money.
Definition of the Gold StandardMy normally extensive Economics Glossary does not have an entry on the gold standard, so we'll have to look elsewhere for a definition. An extensive essay on the gold standard on The Encyclopedia of Economics and Liberty defines the gold standard as "a commitment by participating countries to fix the prices of their domestic currencies in terms of a specified amount of gold. National money and other forms of money (bank deposits and notes) were freely converted into gold at the fixed price." A county under the gold standard would set a price for gold, say $100 an ounce and would buy and sell gold at that price. This effectively sets a value for the currency; in our fictional example $1 would be worth 1/100th of an ounce of gold. Other precious metals could be used to set a monetary standard; silver standards were common in the 1800s. A combination of the gold and silver standard is known as bimetallism.
A Very Brief History of the Gold StandardIf you would like to learn about the history of money in detail, there is an excellent site called A Comparative Chronology of Money which details the important places and dates in monetary history. During most of the 1800s the United States was had a bimetallic system of money, however it was essentially on a gold standard as very little silver was traded. A true gold standard came to fruition in 1900 with the passage of the Gold Standard Act. The gold standard effectively came to an end in 1933 when President Franklin D. Roosevelt outlawed private gold ownership (except for the purposes of jewelery). The Bretton Woods System, enacted in 1946 created a system of fixed exchange rates that allowed governments to sell their gold to the United States treasury at the price of $35/ounce. "The Bretton Woods system ended on August 15, 1971, when President Richard Nixon ended trading of gold at the fixed price of $35/ounce. At that point for the first time in history, formal links between the major world currencies and real commodities were severed". The gold standard has not been used in any major economy since that time.


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First Public Service Venture Fund 'Seed Grant' recipients challenge debtors' prison in Alabama
Until last month, scores of destitute people—virtually all of them African Americans— languished in the city jail of Montgomery, Ala., for unpaid traffic tickets they couldn't pay off, sentenced to one day in jail for every $50 they owed. They could earn another $25 credit daily by providing free labor, scrubbing blood and feces […]
Crystal Yang '13, law and economics scholar, to join the Harvard Law faculty
Crystal Yang '13, a scholar specializing in criminal law and consumer finance, will join the Harvard Law School faculty as an assistant professor in July. This past year, Yang was an Olin Fellow and Instructor in Law at the University of Chicago Law School, where she taught a seminar on Empirical Criminal Law. "Crystal's powerful […]
Harvard Gazette: A Q&A with Ronald Sullivan on the economic and social costs of rising U.S. incarcerations
Ronald S. Sullivan Jr., clinical professor of law and director of the Criminal Justice Institute at Harvard Law School, recently spoke with the Harvard Gazette about racial and national sentencing disparities, the economic and social costs of mass incarceration, and the sentencing reforms now under consideration.
Spring break road trips lead to the clinic, the delta, and the desert
Two receive the Gary Bellow Public Service Award
Juvenile in Justice: HLS hosts photo exhibit by Richard Ross (video)
Nearly 70,000 young people in the United States are held by law in detention or correctional facilities that treat, confine, punish, assist and, occasionally, harm them. Over the past eight years, Photographer Richard Ross has visited more than 200 juvenile detention centers in 31 states to shed light on the stark conditions faced by these […]
Human Rights Clinic: 'Myanmar Military Must Reform Policies'
Nancy Gertner receives the Margaret Brent Lawyers of Achievement Award
Retiring but Not Shy
For decades, Alan M. Dershowitz has led a frenetic life as author of dozens of books, legal counsel to a multitude of celebrities and ubiquitous TV commentator on myriad issues of the day. Known to many around the world for his brash style and high-profile cases, after 50 years, Dershowitz is now leaving the role he loves best: Harvard Law School teacher.


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News: Fat Joe Speaks Out, "Big Pun Was Surrounded By A Bunch Of F*cking Idiots"
Monday, Jul 18, 2011 5:14PM
Terror Squad leader Fat Joe has come forward to vouch for Joell Ortiz in light of the backlash he received for dropping his tribute record, "Big Pun's Back."
Calling Ortiz's record great, Joey Crack slammed the people Pun associated himself with.
"See, what happened is Big Pun was surrounded by an enormous amounts of idiots," Joe explained in an interview. "And, sad to say, as big of a genius he was, and beautiful as he was, and I'm not just saying that 'cause he dead, 'cause he was the most loyal, beautiful person -- He's my brother. I worship him to death... But, it's unfortunate he was surrounded by a bunch of f*cking idiots. Nincompoops. You got a younger Spanish dude who's hot in the streets and he wants to honor Big Pun and you throw slander at him and you disrespect him for f*cking only honoring Pun? How do expect anybody else to honor Big Pun?! Or talk about him in a good way?!" (XXL Mag)
When asked for his opinion on ex-Terror Squad members Cuban Link and Tony Sunshine going at Oritz, Joey questioned their relevancy.
"I really don't tune in to these n*ggas," Fat Joe added. "Like, who are these n*ggas? To be honest with you, they aren't even relevant. I just hear the gossip n*ggas tell me, like this n*gga said.. I was like, what? There you go. That's why n*ggas can't do the tribute to Pun, all proceeds to his kids. N*ggas can't do the VH1 Honors, cause these n*ggas are straight scums of the Earth. Straight scumbags. Like I said, Big Pun, as beautiful as he was, as an angel of a guy, cause he's an angel.. Big Pun would take a crackhead off the streets and give him chicken at his house and rice and beans in one second. He was a great dude and a great father. But, it's sad that he was surrounded by so many f*cking bad people. For real, it's crazy" (XXL Mag)
Last month, Cuban Link talked about his gripe with Oritz's tribute.
"First of all, duke said the new Christopher Lee Rios of rap," Link explained. "That you want to be the new Christopher Lee Rios. You already want to be like my man -- You supposed to be giving love, but you want to be the new. You taking the spot or something. When I don't even feel like you're in the same realm as him -- Second strike, you gonna say in your second verse, '45 will hit you like a heart attack.' For real? You're going to use the word 'heart attack' on my brother's song? You giving him love, but yet you gon' put that word heart attack? He died of a heart attack. That's very disrespectful to the family, if you don't know. If you still confused." (WSHH)
Following Link and Sunshine's remarks, Ortiz stepped forward to address the hype.
"Once again, I was confused. When I speak on them, I speak a little different, because Cuban knows me," Ortiz told radio host Funkmaster Flex Tuesday (June 14) night. "I had met Tony Sunshine before. It was a tribute, and it was a freestyle and it was in memory of a great rapper...Flex, I'm from Brooklyn. I don't have to check in with anyone about anything. I did it for Big Pun to keep his legacy alive. That's it. to be honest with you, I'm in September in my mind already. 'Big Pun's Back' was recorded late April, early May, knowing that the Puerto Rican Day parade was coming up and knowing that his tribute and his legacy needed to stay alive. Who else but me? That's how I felt. But I don't gotta check in with anybody. About anything." (Hot 97)
Check out Cuban Link & Tony Sunshine speaking on Joell Ortiz below:


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Posts Tagged: 'Take-Two'
Waiting Forever for Duke Nukem
by Jonathan Strickland | May 7, 2009
Last night, word began to spread throughout the blogosphere after ShackNews broke the story that game developer 3D Realms has shut its doors. The company behind such games as Beyond the Titanic, Bio Menace and Duke Nukem is no more. Raise a frosty beverage of your choice in honor of this video game company.
Sadly, the company has been the target of jokes for years, mainly due to one title above all others: Duke Nukem Forever. 3D Realms first announced the development of the title back in 1997. The Duke Nukem series was one of the company's most popular titles and had throngs of fans. But it's been 12 years and there's still no sign of the hard-living, cannon-carrying warrior who was a combination of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Campbell. The title has made Wired's annual list of vaporware so often that I'm sure they were tempted to use a copy and paste approach (they didn't — Wired is far too professional to just run the same copy two years in a row). It even made our list of Best Video Games Never Made.
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