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interesting article on the likely future marketing landscape for LLMs. Cal Peterson argues it's more like airlines - severe supplier seller's market (NVIDIA), low barrier of entry for new competitors, weak brand loyalty - than it is like Coke, which is just a flavor/branding play.


I wonder if there's a way for an LLM to stand out and attract specific Coke-brand loyalties via virtual personality, and/or a clear difference in what level of problem it can solve? I'm a little loyal to ChatGPT, in part because I started paying for it early, and also early I realize I prefer LLMs to be in their little sandboxes vs deeply coupled and nested in my editor. (In one case, trying to override its code suggestions for a simple import in VS Code, overwhelming where the old auto-complete was trying to do the job, left a very bad taste in my mouth.))


I guess with LLMs too... it's always tough to be sure there's no unseemly corporate agenda for any given one. Especially since most often the processing is remote anyway, you can never have that sense of "I know this AI is just working for me."

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Trying to be gentle with myself because I'm muddling through a cold, but - hallmark of the less productive day: the phone has a full charge (barely left the charger), the laptop is nearly dead (goofing off online - reclining rather than at the desk.) from the Patrick Sean Farley / Electric Sheep Comix The Guy I Almost Was... I need to see if I can make a mirror of that page...

(Actually here is a mirror I made but I need to see if I can get the font mojo working...)

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Thrilling tales of old video games has some neat retro tidbits, especially about how things got their names, and the translations involved.

I read a study where they had people play Monopoly and gave one person twice as much money as the others but didn't announce this. In all the test groups the person with more money won quickly and bragged throughout the game about how well they were doing and that they were better at the game than the others were. None of them noticed that they had more money or considered that starting capitol may have been a factor in their winning

Rich people like to believe we all have equal opportunities and they're just better at playing the game

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Possibly Unpopular, or at least Unhip, Opinion: Splenda elevates homemade glasses of iced tea from "Well at least it's a break from just water" to "Hey this is an ok substitute for diet soda."

(Shout out to my friends back in the "Pop" section of the country. It is absolutely a better term than "Soda")

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kirk.is/memes/ - in exiting from Dropbox (hearing how indifferent they are on making a Mac Silicon version, despite being a Running All The Damn time program, was kinda the last straw.) I decided to put my small meme pile on my site where I can grab things easily.

Throwing together the display script for it PHP made me get around to putting together some thoughts I had in defense of PHP, or at least understanding why people who hate it so much hate it so much.

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Poe: Once upon a midnight
Beastie Boys: DREARY
Poe: While I pondered,
Beastie Boys: WEAK
Poe: and
Beastie Boys: WEARY

Aw, poor kitty Dean. We're not feeding him this morning because of an ultrasound later today.

I know when cats become extra affectionate when they want food, it's easy to be cynical - like hey, maybe you don't like me or even pets for own sake, just a conduit to food! But even if that was the case (and I don't think is at least not totally) I gotta remember that it's foolish to expect a cat to live up to some weird human separation of communication of affection and dependency ...

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School of HONK! Friendsgiving Dance Party, I'm in the "miniband".

Man, it looks so much better when I'm dancing a little than just standing stiff. Last night Melissa and I did Christmas decorating- my dad's old "folk art" minimalist tree (Melissa really sees my only-child nature in how many of my ornaments have my name imprinted...) and the more real-looking one she prefers, with lots of lights.

I realized I didn't have an appropriate holiday drink like a nog or anything so here is my new recipe:

King Santa's Beard:
Pour 1 or 2 shots of Crown Royal Whisky in a tumbler. Put a big dollop of spray whipped cream on top.

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Universality and diversity in human song gets into some questions I've been thinking about; how much of our formal music system is universal, maybe tied into some mix of math and our shared neurobiology, and how much is just a cultural artifact?

FOLLOWUP: on FB Nick B reminded me of this:

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And say simply, Very simply, With hope: 'Good morning.'

On my devblog- Shape detection is on the iPad! As seen on the Newton circa '95 or a '63 Lincoln TX-2... (and I suppose CAD programs have been doing it all along, but still.)

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Really bummed about Tumblr. I was always a little surprised when encountering people who mostly thought it was for porn, since it was pretty easy to avoid. For me tumblr is more of a gathering place with a pro-Social Justice vibe. I guess some of its sub-communities are based on shared horniness, but it was easy for me to curate a collection of folks posting stuff I found interesting on the regular. More visual than twitter, more dialog based (and less self-absorbed) than Instagram, less special-topic than Reddit, and not "folks I already know" than Facebook.

Jerks at 4chan can continue to be as alt-right and pornish as they want, I assume. From a culture war standpoint this stinks. On Art and Sesame Street.

advent day 4

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I'm a hick," I recall saying to him.

"No," Harrison answered. "You think you're less than you are. You're a smart hick." And then, "You have the eyes of a doe and the balls of a samurai.

Music I added to my collection last month, 4-stars in red.

• May I Suggest (Red Molly) Aw jeez, can this song give me a bad case of the feels.
• 'Round Midnight (Amy Winehouse) Slightly corny but nice take on Sarah Vaughn's classic.
• Roses (feat. ROZES) (The Chainsmokers) Shazam misidentified a Mazy Starr as this, but it's smooth and great. Like the line about "smoke a little weed on the couch in the back room"
• Annie (Overture) ((2014)) I liked the percussion for this when I heard it at a local ice skating competition, and I'm partial to the music ever since I was in the pit orchestra for the stage show.
• (Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher & Higher (Jackie Wilson) Just rounding out my R+B... maybe all the Ghostbusters talk made me think of it.
• Ballerina (Leona Naess) Very sweet soft song that Melissa showed me.
• WTF (Where They From) (Missy Elliott) So cool to see her back, great sound. The spins in the video at 1:20 are amazing.
• Working In the Coal Mine (Lee Dorsey) Got this hearing about Allen Toussaint's death.
• Hold 'Em Back (Kenan Thompson) It's a funny, novelty song, but I love that bass sound.
• Stomp to My Beat (Radio Edit) (JS16) Funny... I thought this sounded like a DDR song... but I love the beat that comes in at 1:26
• Lips Are Movin (Meghan Trainor) I don't always dig the throwback feminism, but the throwback sound is catchy.
• Encyclopedia Frown (Jonathan Mann) I kind of had to beg the artist via twitter for this version, which is shoutier than the other one he released. Anna Anthropy's cat. As a pirate.
• Ricky ("Weird Al" Yankovic) I think eventually I will purchase every song on Weird Al's first album, which was one of my first and most heavily listened to tapes as a kid.
• Rusty Cage (Johnny Cash) Just good.
• Prisencolinensinainciusol (Adriano Celentano) - a weird, catchy song, nonsense syllables of what English sounds like to an Italian speaker... (music starts at 1:45)

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advent day 4

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"Show Your Work". I think I do that too much when I write: it's not enough to state what I believe, but why I believe it, because I have this subconscious fear that at any moment I might be held to account for it, and being Wrong is kind of Sin.

But in truth, no one (or at least a small select) gives a damn. The indifference of the universe is at once utterly disheartening and rather freeing.

"The winds blew and the clouds moved on as if they were oblivious to their mortal plight." <- best video game quote ever.

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With a presumed life span of over 500 years, it's safe to say that every plastic bottle you have used exists somewhere on this planet, in some form or another.

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after ordering a nice cheap pair of gloves from Amazon, I wonder what it will be like for kids who witness their parents doing this... I mean money and the worlds of commerce are already kind of mysterious for kids, I think-- witnessing parents who type at a computer and then two days later or so stuff just shows up on the doorstep... That's kind of weird!

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So the Eric Garner strangler is either lying about using a chokehold, or the man needs to stop watching so much MMA.

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'@kcbeerminx: Kid Rocks looks like he would smell like stale farts & cigarettes'. Pff, more like fresh farts - and CIGARS.

advent day 4

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Thinking about the power of mindfulness. It seems greatly empowering to be gatekeeper of one's mind, letting good thoughts hang around and linger and dismissing the distractions and negative ideas. Trying to think of why it scares me a little though, and I realize it's because of past frustrations with people who are very contentedly ensconced in a particularly arbitrary mindset or faith or belief system, and utterly unassailable to logical debate of what they're believing. I... don't want to me one of "them".

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Don't Start a Company, Kid - interesting counterpoint to the usual ra-ra-entrepreneurship thinking.

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The dramatic oversimplification of one of the longest studies ever: "Happiness = Love. Full stop."

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Playlist November 2013:

• Happy Trails (Van Halen) Surprised to find this cover, looking for a version of this song.
  
• Sweet Georgia Brown (Brother Bones & His Shadows) My Honk Band does this one, and I love it.
  
• Faidherbe Square (feat. Mister Colfer & DJ Crabees) (ProleteR) Oddly ethnic-retrop hiphop.
  
• Royals (Lorde) Late to the game on this one, but it's pretty sweet.
  
• B�same Mucho (Trio Ellas) Lovely classic.
  
• What's Up? (4 Non Blondes) Another "90s song I missed". Not great, but not bad.
  
• New Slaves (Kanye West) Heard this on NPR. Intrigued by Kanye working to repurpose the confederate flaf as his personal symbol.
  
• Soul Finger (LP Version) (The Bar-Kays) Boingboing had this motown-like piece.
  
• Faint (Live) (LINKIN PARK) Another guilty pleasure.
  
• Dragula (Rob Zombie) Love the fury of this, especially after hearing the inspiration was the car from the Munsters.
  
• Bouncin' Back (Bumpin' Me Against the Wall) (Mystikal) Love Mystikal's delivery.
  
• Vinter Undervare (Stan Boreson) A Dr. Demento classic.
  
• (Reloaded the entire License to Ill album, because of the "Girls" controversy)

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Taking over some Java Swing UI code... compared to HTML5/js, it feels SO WEIRD to try and build your nouns via a series of verbs...
advent day 4

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The problem with unit testing is that "units" hardly ever fail. Components fail, Systems fail-- it's the interaction of units that's usually the problem.

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Look, suffering doesn't make you better, it just makes you suffer!

(reading his MetaMaus now, fascinating.)

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Everything happens so much

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I am always amused by nunchucks. I can't recall ever hearing of a single incident where anyone successfully has used nunchucks to either defend himself or to attack someone else, yet they are illegal in three states. They can't be easily concealed, and pose as much of a danger to the wielder as to the target. Presumably, if nunchucks were in any way effective, all soldiers and cops would carry them. And yet everyday factories manufacture nunchucks. And every day some teenage boy covers his back and forearms in bruises in his futile quest to master the noble of nunchuckery.

(2019 UPDATE: unsure replacement)

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SUFFERERS OF ADHD. Look on the bright side. At least your deficit of attention is in high definition.

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#screenshotsaturday !

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Youtube Skimming Enterprise "Mirror Darkly"; always like "elseworlds" stuff; TOS Defiant kicking Terran Empire butt is fantastic, as well as the old school uniforms. CGI Gorn is as cheesy as the original in its own way though.

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http://lenlow.com/ - some GREAT mashups (tho also broken links) Cyprestition, My Shiny Gun Mosey, Do Your Thing to the Music, Kanye Mahna--

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Understanding Pac-Man Ghost Behavior - I am humbled by the nuance of Pac-Man's AI (not to mention the A/V!)

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Regarding farting in space, I'm not sure if the smell or the spinning around would be more nauseating.

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http://theoatmeal.com/comics/design_hell

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Just discovered http://openprocessing.org where people can share their java sketches - here's a great one: http://openprocessing.org/visuals/?visualID=1811

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Almost as interesting as all this social etymology is how depressed Dick looks in panel two. "Am I ready for long-hair music?" he asks himself, as if this was the last stage in a man's life before death. "Normally the only music I listen to is made up of perps begging for mercy as their bones are shattered. Has it really come to this?"

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C# Compiler sucks ass through a straw, especially in terms of locating errors. My opinion of Visual Studio is through the basement.

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Sometimes I forget how my name is soaked in religion: Kirk the Scottish church, Logan the evangelist, and, well, Israel. In the comments for yesterday's minimalist entry, I got this:

I think your New Year's Resolution should be to not blog the entire year. I double-dog-dare you.
--A concerned individual

Whoa, whoa, WHOA there, you don't go straight to double-dog-dares!

Heh, well, "concerned individual" (oy, pseudo-anonymity is so odd) this week at least I'm concerned too, but mostly with how I've been so obsessed with this "Banjo-Kazooie Nuts & Bolts" building game... times I've legitimately ducked out of work for a scratchy/stuff cold, I've been wrestling with this games interesting set of building/driving challenges rather than resting... In fact, that obsession explains why some of the entries have been a bit more sparse the past few days, I'm not quite as thorough with my own daily web-browsing rounds.

But would a hiatus from blogging be helpful? Watching my mom browse I realize Twitter could potentially step in for letting folks know I'm still alive, and how I'm feeling, and captures some of what I think is funny. So the idea of pausing the site isn't as remote as it once was, though I think Twitter's message length limitations are a bit too sharp to fully stand-in.

But what would the benefit be? Would I focus more on the other parts of life, maybe do a better job of life-management in general? There are certainly many aspects of what I do that deserve more and more careful attention than they're getting, but I don't think they get less attention because of this site. Being a web-junky, yes. (Actually, that's a side benefit of my current short 'bout of hardcore game obsession; it's reminding me that I don't have to let myself be constantly distracted by the websites I like in order to keep up with them and the world.)

cmg followed up that comment with:

I don't think he could stand the fact that he might have to go without attention

But... seriously, that's not why I do this site as a daily practice. I mean it is, in part, but it's an extension of something I was doing with a Palm Pilot before I expected anyone to read it -- I want to bear witness to the world, from the meaningful and thought-provoking to the just plain goofy and fun.

I do ride the coattails of those people actually doing interesting things to show them to people who don't share my web habits, but the attention I receive is just icing. (And besides, except when people comment, online or in person, I have little idea of who or how many are actually following this page.)

Like I've said before, a central reason I blog daily is so that I can look back at the footprints from every day. I dig the site's "retrospect" feature on the sidebar, that shows me what I was thinking this date over the past decade or so.

Going back to the original suggestion, a better resolution for the year: no more damn muffins from Soup'r-Salad in the morning, the things aren't that great anyway, just convenient. Maybe I'll start this morning.

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Exchange of the Moment

Takashi wrote:

shnozlak wrote:

shrugtheironteacup wrote:

It was fun to hear about this while trapped in Northern Idaho. You end up watching the coverage on Fox News all day while various relatives filter through your grandmother's house and share with you their opinions on why they think this happened, now.

My relatives have taught me that this happened because Obama.

That more things like this will happen because Obama.

That "the week before he's sworn in there'll be stuff blowing up all over the world."

Conclusion: Obama.

I dont follow.

I think the point here is
Obama

SO like ...Obomberman

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Gave to the WBUR fundraiser, in part for the "Not For Tourists" Boston Guide, also so the nagging - while continuing - won't feel so bad.

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Disliking the new embedded youtube search box... bad enough on the "click to play" screen, but why when paused or ff'ing? Sucks.

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Way back when I used to think Shirley MacLaine might be a bit evil 'cause of the New Age stuff. (Now based on the wiki page, she was cute!)

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Reviving old Iced Tea maker at work - no more 25 cent cans of diet coke for me - science lesson: ice can chill hot liquid in real time

draggin - source - built with processing Just a small Java game I put together... one of the first things I've done there with sound! Devour the villagers who are threatening you and your precious apples. (You can eat them with your head, but they are deadly to the rest of your body.) It was inspired by this processing demo code which was simply moving a chain-like set of links on a screen. I'm not sure if I quite got the interaction feel I was aiming for. Here comes the snow. Bleh*3. Shovel, scraper, extra gloves are dutifully brought to back of car. Bostoners, watch out for the idiots who have forgotten how to drive on snow, but I guess we should count ourselves lucky, if this is the same system that punished so many to the West, it seems like we're getting off pretty damn easy.

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Video of the Moment
This video (Umm, PG13 lets say) about pre-nookie negotiations with lawyers is actually pretty funny. I think I saw the basic idea on the Chappelle Show, but this takes it to the next level by bringing the counsel. (via BoingBoing.)

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Anecdote of the Moment

"During the contest for the 1960 Democratic presidential nomination, Kennedy visited a mine in West Virginia. "It is true you're the son of one of our wealthiest men?" asked one of the miners there. Kennedy admitted that this was true.

"Is it true that you've never wanted for anything and had everything you wanted?"

"I guess so."

"Is it true you've never done a day's work with your hands all your life?"

Kennedy nodded.

"Well, let me tell you this," said the miner. "You haven't missed a thing."

Quote of the Moment

The thing that I consider most important about my work is this: I told it like it is. I told my readers that the bad guys have a little of good in them, and the good guys have a lot of bad in them, and that you can't depend on anything much; nothing is always going to turn out roses.

Barks made the Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge comic books in the 1940s and 50s...highly regarded, especially in Eurupe, I've found first hand.

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Aside of the Moment
Is it just me or is the rate of technology getting cheaper vastly slower than it used to be?

I guess it's what you're in the market for, but I was looking for an extra small external harddrive for data swapping, and I swear those things aren't many more Gigs per Dollar than they were a year ago, maybe longer.

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Schadenfreude of the Moment
Heheh WOW -- Yankees reportedly lost up to $85 million last year...guess big money ball doesn't always pay off! Not that the Red Sox are any spending slouches, but no one is in the Yankees league in terms of shelling out.

Image of the Moment

--Happyface Bowling, 3 Dec 2004 Feature of the Moment
So I jumped the gun a little bit and added 2003 to my best of kisrael page. (If I do anything clever in December, I can always add to it.) After I revamped the best of page, just having two years looked a bit lonely, hence 2003. Of course, 'best of' is a bit...I dunno, misleading maybe. It's mostly just days when I've created something interesting, an image or an online toy. I link to stuff more interesting than what I personally create all the time, but "best of" is the stuff I can take credit for.

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Quote of the Moment

'If all the neurons in your brain were laid end to end,' Funny Paper's college roommate used to say, 'you would die instantly.'

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Japan Links of the Moment
Found some kind-of similar articles on Japan lately: a FAQ focused on the practicalities of moving to Japan, and a SAQ about odd things you might notice if you go there. The latter is more interesting, in general. It has some cool links, like a 'solution' to what is the sound of one hand clapping (a kind of ritualistic exchange that goes a little beyond Bart Simpson's "flap flap flap" suggestion) and a list of animation shortcuts and clichés used in anime. There's also a page on etiquette, with even more links down at the bottom. These images are pretty cool and informative.

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Link of the Moment
"We are Tree of Borg. Your street signs will be assimilated and their biological and technological distinctiveness will be added to our own." Quote of the Moment

As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light of meaning in the darkness of mere being.

Interesting to compare this to the first quote on this entry on my old Palm journal, from Babylon 5, which says in part "We are the Universe made manifest, tring to figure itself out."

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Self-Improvement Essay of the Moment
I need to master the fine art of Structured Procrastination.

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Read of the Moment
I just finished Alan Moore's highly lauded graphic novel "Watchmen". It was great, borrowing both from traditional superhero comics as well as some very Vonnegut-esque concepts of time. The concept that even beings with superpowers might not be enough to deal with the nuclear weapons of the superpowers was a bit disturbing. I found a site featuring odd tribute comics and with a lot of links (many stale, alas) including annotations by fans and other commentary. (Though most of those links contain spoilers, so you shouldn't read them without having read the work first.) Woo Hoo! Smash Brothers Melee for the Nintendo Game Cube is out today! It's a turbocharge of the previous N64 game, which had bunches of classic Nintendo characters (Mario, Donkey Kong, Samus from Metroid, Link from "Legend of Zelda", newcomers like Pikachu from Pokeémon and Fox from Star Fox) duking it out in a big brawl, four players at once, with each character having features and weapons from his or her game. I'm going to be attached to the TV for quite some time...

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Movie Quote of the Moment

Simon: Father! ...we must leave at once!
Stella Star: 48 seconds left 'til the explosion--we've got to get out of here!
Simon: It's true father--the count has mined the planet with nuclear devices. We're all about to die!
Emperor: You know something my boy? I wouldn't be Emperor of the Galaxy if I didn't have a few powers at my disposal. [To Ceiling:] IMPERIAL BATTLESHIP, HALT THE FLOW OF TIME!

Just as good as you'd expect a film featuring David Hasselhoff, starring a robot sheriff with a southern drawl, with intermittent kung fu scenes, bone wielding cavemen, and alternate titles like "The Adventures of Stella Star", "Female Space Invaders", and "Scontri stellari oltre la terza dimensione" to be. In other words, so bad it actually warps the flow of time and space around it. Mo and I watched it last night. Thanks Erin.

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Link of the Moment
Is Your Son a Computer Hacker? An amusing parody of a parent's view of the current geek world. (Thanks to Peterman for the link.)