George Lucas has finally caved, and will be releasing DVDs of the original three Star Wars films (Episodes IV, V, and VI) - unaltered.

That means you’ll finally be able to see Han shoot Greedo first on your own televison. Until now, all DVD owners have been able to see is the disgusting re-edit of that famous cantina scene, where Greedo shoots first, then Han responds in “self defense.”

Using a complex set of algorithms, modern computer technology, and a team of research scientists, I was able to re-create the original cantina scene. As you can clearly see in the quality rendering we were able to produce, Han clearly shoots first:

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Housecat chases a black bear up a tree. Priceless.

Image credit Suzanne Giovanetti, AP. Click to embiggenate.

Link

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Shortly after 2am on Wednesday, a hillside in northern Norway was struck by what appears to have been a very large meteorite.

It appears that the energy released was comparable to that from a small atomic bomb.

The news is just now starting to trickle in (it is rural Norway, for crying out loud). The only eyewitness of the event (so far) is a farmer who - I kid you not - was only out because his mare Virika was about to foal for the first time.

No decent link yet… only a few online Norwegian news sites that I won’t bother linking to. If any major newswire picks it up, I’ll post an update here.

Image credit & copyright: Peter Bruvold (the Norwegian mare/foal/farmer dude)

UPDATE: Here’s a pic of the impact site.

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I gots me some new Photoshop filter/rendering tools via the FilterForge beta. Its HDMI lighting engine is spectacular.

I based the water part of this painting on a couple of Vladimir Golovin’s textures, which I modified through FilterForge. The planets and stars were created using my own process.

If you want the image for desktop wallpaper, choose your size and download:

• 1280 x 1024 resolution (168 KB)
• 1024 x 768 resolution (120 KB)
• 800 x 600 resolution (83 KB)

Note: to find out which version to use, right-click on your desktop and select Properties. Click the Settings tab, and note the setting in the Screen Resolution box.

If you are using Internet Explorer, once the image appears, you must mouse off of the image. When you mouse back over the image, an Expand box will appear in the lower-right corner of the screen. Click it. After the image returns to 100%, right-click the image, and select Set as Background.

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Come take up your Hats, and away let us haste
To the Butterfly’s Ball, and the Grasshopper’s Feast.
The Trumpeter, Gad-fly, has summon’d the Crew,
And the Revels are now only waiting for you.

The Butterfly’s Ball and Grasshopper’s Feast is a children’s poem written by William Roscoe in 1802. It’s a delightful poem about a party for small animals thrown by their insect friends. It’s about youth, innocence, love, tolerance… - you know, all those same motifs that were common to early 70’s heavy metal.

So Roger Glover (of Deep Purple fame) wrote an album that used the poem as a theme. A full-length animated movie was planned, but the only thing finished was this psychedelic short.

Yes, that is Ronnie James Dio singing a children’s song. Way cool. Go here to see David Coverdale (of Whitesnake) sing another trippy tune with Glover.

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Whoa. Click image to embiggenate. (2 MB file)

Also check out the time lapse video. (800 KB AVI file)

Info and image via APOD.

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