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I don't know about you guys, but I absolutely love trailer mash ups and this Harry Potter one is one of the best I've seen in a very long time.

Via Geeks Are Sexy

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If you like the show Adventure Time, then you'll get a kick out of this gender-swapped version Cartoon Network showed at Comic Con. The rest of the episode will be premiered on September 5 during the show's regular time slot.

Link Via The Mary Sue

When you think about it, Edward Rooney from Ferris Bueller's Day Off was just trying to do his job to ensure a high school delinquent didn't get away with ditching school while everyone else had to go. He's not the only movie villain who actually wasn't that bad of a guy in the long run. Cracked has 8 more and they have some really valid points.

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As I'm sure all of you already know, Comic Con took place last weekend and as always, there were hundreds and hundreds of costumed convention goers. This year Zeon Santos and I took over 200 pictures of people in costumes and here are the best of the bunch, starting with the Oogie Boogie Man and Sally from Nightmare Before Christmas. Scott Pilgrim and Ramona Flowers was the most popular couples costume this year, but what set these two apart was their great accessories. Perhaps the biggest (and in my opinion, the coolest) trend this year was turning male characters into adorable female versions. I can't think of anyone that better epitomized this trend than this adorable Toy Story pairing. Here's another delightful gender-bending costume, this time a female Doctor Who. Of course, those familiar with the show know that he just might become a female during his next incarnation. While this isn't quite what I was talking about when I mentioned turning traditionally male costumes into adorable female versions, I doubt any of you have ever seen a more girly Master Chief.

Environmental Graffiti has a great collection of pictures of The Orion Nebula for your viewing pleasure. After viewing them all, I can't help but think they should take over as the Rorschach Test of the new century. I see an astronaut with bird wings, what about you?

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In the eternal struggle for survival, animals are constantly evolving new strategies to win. This arms race is particularly evident when looking at the fight between opossums and snakes. Possums have built up a tolerance to pit viper venom by eating the potential predators. This has also helped them protect themselves from bites from rattlesnakes and copperheads. Even more interestingly though, the viper is constantly evolving more deadly poison:

Rapid evolution of both the snake’s venom and the opossum’s venom defense suggest that the two creatures are in a chemical arms race, having evolved in response to each other, according to researchers at the American Museum of Natural History in an article published in PLoS One.

Learn more over at Discovery News.

Link Image via normanack [Flickr]

This is my last Star Wars post today, I promise. But just look at how cute this Princess Leia cupcake is. Best of all, it's super easy to make with just a little black frosting, a few Oreos and pink sprinkles.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/justjenn/5052286036/in/photostream via Geeks Are Sexy

I hate to admit it, but I'm on a bit of a geek kick still so you'll have to excuse my extensive Star Wars posts today. That being said, how awesome is this great Salacious Crumb crochet plush? He was created by Allison of Crafty is Cool for the Bird and Bear Gallery's Stitch Wars Strikes Back show that starts in August.

Link via Craftzine

I just got back from Comic Con today and while there were tons of people dressed as Darth Vader and a few artistically painted Vader helmets, there was nothing like this wonderful disco ball or the Darth Vader gas mask featured on this great Oddee article. If there was, I might have ended up spending even more money on things I don't need.

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When you talk about Star Tours nowadays, you have to distinguish between the new and improved version that just opened this year and the classic incarnation, which was first launched in 1987. Personally, I haven’t been on the new version and I’m sure many of you haven’t yet either, which is why it’s so exciting to read about. Of course, the classic ride was something all Disneyland lovers recall with fondness, so I’ll be sure to include plenty of info on that one as well, including the history of the ride itself. Image via inturnaround [Flickr]

Creating A Ride That Occurs “A Long Time Ago, In A Galaxy Far, Far Away”

While Star Tours eventually became the first Disney ride based on a film the company had nothing to do with, it didn’t start out that way. Originally the ride was conceived to go along with the 1979 Disney film The Black Hole. The ride was intended to be an interactive simulator that allowed guests the opportunity to choose the car’s route, but because the project was going to be so expensive (ringing in at an estimated $50 million) and the film wasn’t a big success, the idea was quickly shelved. Fortunately, rather than trashing the idea altogether, the company decided to partner with George Lucas, who was already working with them to produce Captain EO. Once everyone agreed to the idea, the Imagineers started work on the project by buying four military-grade flight simulators that cost $500,000 each and then they started designing the building and ride around their new toys. While the Imagineers worked on the technical side of the project, Lucas and his team at Industrial Light & Magic worked on the film that would be played inside the simulators. Once the simulators and film were up to speed, a programmer then had to sit inside with a joystick to manually synchronize the vehicle’s movements to the action on screen. By the time the project was completed in 1987, the ride cost a total of $32 million, which was almost twice the cost Disney paid to build the entire park back in 1955. To celebrate the official opening, and to help promote the new ride, the grand opening of Star Tours coincided with the park being left open for 60 straight hours starting on January 9, 1987 at 10 am. Image via popculturegeek.com [Flickr]

The Story of A Classic

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Some dogs chase their tails, but this little guy seems to have a blast chasing his stuffed cowboy -and his owners have a blast watching him do it.

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If you're familiar with the Zodiac Killer, then you know he created a number of coded messages, many of which took years to crack. At long last, his final unsolved message may be ciphered. A hobbiest code breaker claims that when deciphered, it reads:

"KILL SLF DR HELP ME KILL MYSELF GAS CHAMBER AEIOUR DAYS QUESTIONSABLE EVERYY WAKING MOMENT IM ALIVE MY PR IDE LOST I CAST GO ON LIVING IN THIS WAY KILLING PEOPLE I HAV KILLD SO MANY PEOPLE CANT HELP MYSELF IM SO AN GRY I COULD DO MY THINK IM ALONE IN THIS WORLD MY W HOLE LIFE FUL O LIES IM UNABLE TO STOP BY THE TIME YOU SOLVE THISI WILL HAV KILLD ELEVEN PEOPLE PLEASE HELP ME STOP KILLING PEOPLE PLEASE MY NAME IS LEIGH ALLEN"

What do you guys think? Is it real or just a hopeful codebreaker's attempt to make sense of something beyond his abilities?

Link Via BoingBoing

From pumpkin carving to fine dining to a music festival, you'd be amazed just how much stuff can happen underwater when you get a few expert scuba divers together for a good time. Oddee has a collection of some of the wackiest underwater events to have ever been posted on the web.

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If you love MMORPGs, particularly WOW and Starcraft, then you'd most certainly have a great time at China's counterfeit theme park based around the epic Blizzard videogames. You can see all kinds of pictures of the park over at Shanghaist.

Link Via Consumerist

I always read ZooBorns for their great pictures of adorable baby animals, but this cutie koala was so adorable that I couldn't help but share him with all of you. For more precious pics, be sure to click on the link.

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