geekosystem

Thursday I wrote about a Kickstarter campaign that was trying to raise money for Death Star research, and I called it the crowdfunding site's jump-the-shark moment. My concern was that if Kickstarter starts letting stuff like that through, it would soon be overrun with nothing but joke campaigns. Now there's a campaign to fund an X-Wing squadron to stop the Death Star campaign. This is exactly the kind of thing I was talking about.

Fifty years from now, when we all look back at what once was, and we fondly remember how Kickstarter used to be a great way for artists and inventors to fund projects that might not otherwise be possible, we could very well remember this campaign as Kickstarter's jump-the-shark moment. After the White House refused to build a Death Star, someone started a joke Kickstarter campaign to build one anyway, and it already has more than 1,000 supporters.

As you may or may not be aware, there's a petition over on We the People, which is where folks post petitions to potentially receive an official response from the United State government, requesting that the Obama administration "[s]ecure resources and funding, and begin construction of a Death Star by 2016." Like, Star Wars Death Star. Ordinarily, this would just be an amusing blip on the radar, covered by our sister site The Mary Sue back in December. That was before Paul Shawcross, Chief of the Science and Space Branch at the White House Office of Management and Budget, penned an official White House response to it.

What at first appears to be just one man having a little fun outside of his Minnesota home after a blizzard suddenly becomes a brilliant homage with the addition of special effects that can only be described as "impressive; most impressive." (Michael P. Nelson via Laughing Squid)

Alternate endings have been making their way through the great tubes of the internet, and none more chillingly prophetic than this one. Remember, kids, the next time you blow up a battle station the size of a moon, move it away from the planet inhabited by adorable teddy-bear creatures. It is worth noting, however, that if this is how the movie had ended, no one would have suffered through those Ewok spinoffs. (Via The Daily What)

John Gruber on Apple antenna guy's ouster (Daring Fireball)

Which illegal activities get a pass from you? (Consumerist)

Bermuda Triangle fueled by methane? (Salem News)

5 real historical Death Stars, complete with baffling security flaws (Cracked)

Stock market "crop circles" (Nanex)

125 rare photos of famous people (AcidCow)

Wikipedia's "list of unusual deaths" page (Wikipedia)

Bonus video: