Everyone's favorite space opera has come back in a big way over the last few years, but for decades the stars of the show were living lean and barely scraping by due to a lack of studio interest caused by the prequel catastrophe. Let down and left behind by Lord Lucas, the main cast was forced to seek employment on the mean streets of Coruscant, where they learned how good they had it during those original trilogy days.
Show the world what your favorite sci-fi stars did while in-between wars with this Star Wars the Lean Years t-shirt by Stephen Brian Phillips, it's a hilarious design that's sure to make your fellow fans smile.
Are you a professional illustrator or T-shirt designer? Let's chat! Sell your designs on the NeatoShop and get featured in front of tons of potential new fans on Neatorama!
The Batcave is supposed to be one of the most secure, well hidden and safest places on the planet, a base of operations where Batman can sip tea and use his Batcomputer in peace.
But, despite his best efforts to keep the location a secret, the Batcave has been raided by at least a dozen different villains, and Batman has been forced to carve out a few new Batcaves around the city since Bane broke in.
When Bane literally broke the Bat in the Knightfall story arc he did so inside the Batcave, after breaching Wayne Manor's defenses with a frontal assault, to prove a point- Batman's
But the strangest Batcave break-in title goes to Doctor Hugo Strange, a guy so obsessed with Batman he tried to kill him and take his place, and even built an exact replica of Wayne Manor and the Batcave as a Bat-trap.
Hugo drugged Batman and brought him into the replica, then he threw on his own Batsuit and the surreal Bat-vs-Bat battle began!
Batman got the better of Dr. Strange and actually killed him, which is when he discovered it was actually just a robotic version of the mad Dr. being remotely controlled by the real Hugo- from the real Batcave.
The fake food hustle is still going strong in countries around the world, and the targets of the scam are usually poor people in third world countries who can't afford to do anything about being ripped off.
But these fake food scams are typically small operations selling products that aren't necessarily deadly when ingested, and many more fake food incidents are simply urban myths spread to keep people on their toes.
However, a two and a half ton shipment of "Best Tomato Rice" was intercepted in Nigeria and is currently being tested- because the rice may be nothing but grain shaped pieces of plastic:
Lagos customs chief Haruna Mamudu said the fake rice was intended to be sold in markets during the festive season.
He said the rice was very sticky after it was boiled and "only God knows what would have happened" if people ate it.
It is not clear where the seized sacks came from but rice made from plastic pellets was found in China last year.
"Whoever made this fake rice did an exceptionally good job" says the BBC's Martin Patience, "on first impression it would have fooled me. When I ran the grains through my fingers nothing felt out of the ordinary. But when I smelt a handful of the "rice" there was a faint chemical odour."
Customs officials say when they cooked up the rice it was too sticky - and it was then abundantly clear this was no ordinary batch.
Speaking at a press conference yesterday, a senior official with the NAFDAC said levels of bacteria, including Coliform, found within the rice were “above permissible limits,” and that the product was unsuitable for human consumption. On its own, this bacteria isn’t usually harmful, but its presence is an indicator of other contaminants, such as microorganisms that dwell in fecal matter, disease-causing bacteria, viruses, and parasites.
Speaking at the same press conference, a Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) official said he had acted on “credible intelligence” that “large consignments of plasticized rice were...to be shipped from the Far East to Africa.” He added that the NCS would intensify patrols to prevent further batches of tainted rice from entering the country’s borders.
Troublingly, intelligence reports suggest that several tons of this dangerous rice are still lying in wait in warehouses in neighboring countries.
EDIT- This story has been confirmed to be false, thanks to A. DeBusk for sharing this information:
On 24 December 2016, Nigeria's Ministry of Health announced that tests on the "plastic rice" had revealed the rice was in fact not plastic:
In [a] statement, Yetunde Oni, acting director-general of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), who briefed minister, was quoted to have said that preliminary findings by the agency failed to validate the claim by the NCS.
“Following the reports on the seizure of ‘alleged plastic rice’, NAFDAC team of inspectors led by the Director Ports Inspection Directorate(PID) and Director laboratory services visited the Area Comptroller’s Office, Ikeja, Lagos and drew samples from the seized consignment for laboratory analysis,” Oni said.
“The products were in 25kg pack size with no NAFDAC number, batch details and manufacturing details of address of manufacture and date markings.
“The following preliminary tests and results were found to be in conformity with the specification for rice: Floating — negative, cooking — normal, odour — normal, colour- off-white rice grains , moisture -13.0 , pre-ashing — normal.” -Via Snopes
Fans like to imagine what it would be like if two pop culture universes intersected, bringing their favorite franchises together in an awesome movie or TV show that makes their geeky dreams come true.
Licensing restrictions and greed tend to keep these crossovers from actually happening, but there are quite a few geeky franchises out there that already exist in the same universe, even though many are unaware of the connection.
The TMNT and Daredevil seem like they're from totally different worlds, but they share an origin story- because the canister that left Daredevil blind and gave him powers is the same one that transformed four little turtles into the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Transformers and G.I. Joe are about to cross over in the movies, but they've existed in the same universe from the very beginning- they're both owned by Hasbro, they had cross over story arcs in the comics, and both animated series' were produced by Toei Animation.
Spielberg and Lucas worked together on the Indiana Jones series so they naturally had a few crossovers, namely a kid in a Yoda costume appearing in E.T. and those E.T.-style aliens seen at the senate meeting in Star Wars: Episode I- The Phantom Menace.
We get to know certain characters and products by name and start calling them by that name from then on, forever referring to round oat cereal as Cheerios, frozen waffles as Eggos and cotton swabs as Q-Tips.
This shows how important it is for a product to have a good brand name, but the name that sticks is often a later version of the original, such as Cheerioats losing the "at" and becoming Cheerios.
A lot of people call every cola "Coke", but oddly few call colas "Pepsi" even though the two companies are the top of the soft drink industry, which may have something to do with how easy it is to say "Coke".
Still, it's probably best Pepsi chose to use a brand name rather than their original name "Brad's Drink", which just doesn't have the same ring to it.
And speaking of having a ring to it- social media apps must have a snappy name, something that's memorable and easy to slip into conversation, like Twitter, Instagram or Snapchat.
But would Instagram have become as big if it was called "Burbn"? And would Snapchat have succeeded with the original name "Pictaboo"? Burbno and Pictaboo.
Most cops are trained to spot drug users and visually identify what they're on based on how they act, identifying signssuch as track marks and burns, and the look of their face and skin.
But nothing gives a drug user away like their eyes, because drugs tend to do funny things to a user's pupils.
Amphetamines, cocaine and marijuana enlarge the pupils, and smoking pot also tends to make your eyes bloodshot red, while opioids like heroin constrict the pupils.
But can you actually tell which drugs someone is on simply by looking at the size of their pupils?
Vice visited a bunch of nightclubs in Berlin and snapped pics of people's eyes so they could see if the pupil test is a myth or the ultimate identifier of a drug user.
Their photos show you really can't tell what will happen to a user's pupils once they've taken drugs, because other factors like epilepsy, cataracts and sensitivity to light can affect the pupils as well.
Which is why medical professionals from the Charité Hospital in Berlin say the bottom line on the pupil theor is this:
It's absolutely not possible to tell what drugs someone has consumed by looking at their pupils.
2016 was a terrible year for nightly news watchers because it seems like something horrible happened on a daily basis, leaving us longing for a slow news day.
But hidden among the horror stories were those spirit lifting bloopers, which weren't well received by the networks but made for a great year-end clip compilation. (NSFW language)
Seeing as how there were so many live TV fails and news bloopers in 2016 YouTube channel News Be Funny Videos had to make a second video to contain all the cringeworthy moments! (NSFW language)
Fantastic beasts such as the Nifflers and Erumpnt tend to have a fetish, which is some activity, object or substance they value greatly and love to indulge in whenever they get the chance. For the Nifflers there's no activity more entertaining or satisfying than stealing shiny stuff, and they will cram their pouches full of every shiny bauble they come across in their journeys. So when Captain Mal had to make an emergency landing in old New York and made the mistake of leaving his bay door open long enough for a Niffler to spot all the shiny stuff he had inside he unknowingly added one sneaky new member to the crew of the Serenity...
Add a touch of fantastic imagination to your geeky wardrobe with this Shiniest t-shirt by ChocolateRaisinFury, it's the adorable way to bring your new favorite movie and old favorite TV show together in the cutest way possible!
Are you a professional illustrator or T-shirt designer? Let's chat! Sell your designs on the NeatoShop and get featured in front of tons of potential new fans on Neatorama!
Rogue One has proven to be just what Star Wars fans needed at the end of this crummy year, and the final version of the film that made it to the big screen seems to have satisfied even the pickiest fans.
Believe it or not 40% of the original film was reshot, which means the original version of the film presented in the trailers may have been quite different than the one released in theaters.
But one thing is for certain- at least 46 shots shown in the trailers were cut, so film editor Vashi Nedomansky created a video essay to show us all the scenes that were left on the cutting room floor. (may contain spoilers)
According to the movies in the Aliens franchise Ripley was pretty much the only human who truly stood a chance against the xenomorphs, and even she couldn't tackle an entire brood of those nasty aliens.
But Ripley had neither an army nor the Force at her disposal, and if you want to exterminate aliens for good you need to call in Darth Vader and his hand picked 501st Imperial legion, known as Vader's Fist, to crush those bugs.
This amazing fan art by illustrator Guillem H. Pongiluppi gives us a glimpse of what a war between Darth's Imperial legion and the xenomorphs would look like, and now I'm sad that we'll never get to see this movie!
Dog owners aren't really all that different than cat owners, but they definitely have a different kind of relationship with their pet.
Cats tend to act aloof and treat their humans like house guests, but most dogs will happily follow their human around all day long, watching their human do stuff while seeking attention, approval and a snack.
This pack dynamic makes for a strong bond between dogs and their doggy mommies and daddies, and yet it's hard to describe what it's like to live with a furry friend who sees you as the center of their world.
When a 4-year-old goes missing it's crucial to find the child within the first 48 hours, because they know from experience that a young child would have a hard time surviving outdoors that long without help.
So when little Karina Chikitova wandered into a forest in Siberia and got lost her family panicked, and when the hundreds of people searching for her had yet to locate her a week later they began to give up hope.
But Karina was lucky because her dog Kyrachaan had gone with her, and Kyrachaan was able to help Karina stay warm at night and defend her from wolves and bears in the forest until help arrived.
Eleven days after her disappearance Kyrachaan showed up in the village and pointed rescuers in the right direction, and four miles from the village in the tall grass they found Karina.
Karina had survived by eating berries, and had a few scrapes and bug bites but no major injuries, and the first thing she said when she saw Kyrachaan again- "Why did you leave me?"
Squirrels don't know about Santa or Christmas or that it's better to give than receive, and they don't get to experience acts of human kindness as often as they should so they can get a bit skittish around people.
But something tells me the neighborhood squirrels are willing and eager to visit Twitter user @SHESAMERICVN's house on Christmas- because her dad gives out wrapped chestnuts.
Wrapping little presents for squirrels may seem a bit nutty to some, but to me it seems like the perfect opportunity to shoot a hilarious video for AFV!
Back in the day adults were stuck playing the same old boring, repetitive and unimaginative board games because there just weren't any alternatives out there.
But game industries have been booming for the last 20+ years and now there are some amazing, captivating and, most importantly, super fun to play games available for those who are tired of spelling words and passing go.
It's sad to see adults so strapped for game options they reach for games like Mouse Trap, Sorry or Trouble, especially when they could be playing amazing games like Pandemic and The Resistance: Avalon, which are similar in spirit but much more fun to play.
In Pandemic, several virulent diseases have broken out simultaneously all over the world! The players are disease-fighting specialists whose mission is to treat disease hotspots while researching cures for each of four plagues before they get out of hand.
The Resistance: Avalon pits the forces of Good and Evil in a battle to control the future of civilization. Arthur represents the future of Britain, a promise of prosperity and honor, yet hidden among his brave warriors are Mordred's unscrupulous minions. These forces of evil are few in number but have knowledge of each other and remain hidden from all but one of Arthur's servants. Merlin alone knows the agents of evil, but he must speak of this only in riddles. If his true identity is discovered, all will be lost.
Solitaire tends to numb your mind after a while, turning the player into a card flipping zombie, but why flip cards mindlessly when you can play Agricola and flip cards with a purpose?
In Agricola, you're a farmer in a wooden shack with your spouse and little else. On a turn, you get to take only two actions, one for you and one for the spouse, from all the possibilities you'll find on a farm: collecting clay, wood, or stone; building fences; and so on. You might think about having kids in order to get more work accomplished, but first you need to expand your house. And what are you going to feed all the little rugrats?
And I think Cards Against Humanity is a brilliantly simple game that can be played forever, provided you keep adding new cards to the set, but at the same time the gameplay can get a bit boring after a while.
So if you and your friends are looking for a more compelling alternative why not give 7 Wonders a try?
7 Wonders lasts three ages. In each age, players receive seven cards from a particular deck, choose one of those cards, then pass the remainder to an adjacent player. Players reveal their cards simultaneously, paying resources if needed or collecting resources or interacting with other players in various ways. (Players have individual boards with special powers on which to organize their cards, and the boards are double-sided). Each player then chooses another card from the deck they were passed, and the process repeats until players have six cards in play from that age. After three ages, the game ends.
We learn about different battery sizes when we're kids, which is when I learned it took six D batteries to play cassettes on my boombox for about four hours- and that D batteries were heavy and cost a bundle.
But we're always left with one unanswered question- what happened to the "B" batteries?
To find out we have to go back to the 1920s, when battery cell sizes were standardized by the government agencies, War Industries Board and American battery manufacturers working to create a uniform product:
In 1924, industry and government representatives met again to figure out a naming system for all those cells and batteries they had just standardized. They decided to base it around the alphabet, dubbing the smallest cells and single-cell batteries “A” and went from there to B, C and D. There was also a "No. 6" battery that was larger than the others and pretty commonly used, so it was grandfathered in without a name change.
As battery technology changed and improved and new sizes of batteries were made, they were added to the naming system. When smaller batteries came along, they were designated AA and AAA. These newer batteries were the right size for the growing consumer electronics industry, so they caught on. C and D batteries also found a niche in medium- and high-drain applications. The mid-size A and B batteries simply didn’t have a market and more or less disappeared in the U.S..
While you typically won’t see either A or B batteries on American store shelves, they’re still out there in the wild. A batteries were used in early-model laptop battery packs and some hobby battery packs. B batteries are still sometimes used in Europe for lanterns and bicycle lamps. According to Energizer, though, their popularity is dwindling there, too, and they might be completely discontinued.
