Category Archives: Link of the Day

Remarkable Fan Film

Star Wars Revelations, A Fan FilmLast night I finally got around to watching Revelations, a Star Wars fan film which I found to be truly remarkable. It is not without its flaws, but it is remarkable that fans could dedicate enough time, energy and organization to produce such a professional and competent film. I found the special effects and costuming to be particularly noteworthy and surprising. To keep from running afoul of George Lucas and his lawyers, the film is absolutely free and available for download in either Quicktime formats or alternatively as a DVD image. There is also a second DVD which contains the “making of” information which I haven’t watched yet, but will probably watch in the next couple of days.

Cool stuff, and inspiring for DIY media types.

I also read that Slate magazine had asked that George Lucas release Star Wars under a Creative Commons license. I think the chances are right around 0%, but it’s an interesting idea.

Incidently, Slate places the cost of Revelations at $20,000. That’s pinching your pennies.

Hacking to save lives…

From the MakeZine Blog, a report of an attempt to aid American troops in Iraq. Roadside bombs are jury rigged from FRS radios, and set to explode when particular code sequences are sent over the FRS. A 7 watt amplifier and a little Basic Stamp will send all potential detonating codes, and hopefully trigger the explosive device before troops can get in the way. MAKE: Blog: Hacking for GIs

IRC Poker Database

While reading ::amazon(“1880685000”, “Skylanski’s Theory of Poker“)::, my brain was tickled into remembering vaguely hearing about a database of millions of poker hands. A bit of grepping, and I found a link to the IRC Poker Database. I thought I’d link it here, since I may want to find it again sometime.