The personal blog of David Christy, whose website, Jayden12.com, is dedicated to exploring what it looks like to take God and His Word, the Bible, seriously. This blog discusses additional theological, social, technological, and family topics.
For a long as the computer had existed our imaginations have exceeded our capacity to express it. When the personal computer came around in the 1980s, Steve Jobs was one of the first to realize that computers could (and should) display text in more than one font. Displays running 640x480 pixels at a ridiculously low pixels-per-inch were the standard for over a decade. Then the Pentium set new standards with 1024x768 displays and Windows 95 entered a new era of visual computing. The world wide web connected us like never before and experienced a revolution of it's own when Steve Jobs again rocked the world with the iPhone. (Remember a wide screen iPod, a phone, and a revolutionary internet device, on YouTube here.) iOS and Android made us drool over our phones, but the software continued to press the envelope of what was possible given the available hardware. And the hardware was usually dumb looking. It rarely looked like technology of the future. The iPhone 4, the iPhone 6 and exceedingly rare other devices were worthy of science fiction writing from the 20th century.
I saw this year's model of Samsung's Galaxy Tab S3 at the store today. It is beautiful. It puts an iPad to shame. It was clearly designed by the same company that made the S8 (set for release 2 weeks from today, I preordered it tonight).
It's impossible to explain how glorious it feels and looks. The feel of matching glass on front and back is just amazing. The nuance of how they made the side frame metal and match the color and tone of the glass makes for a wonderful unibody appearance that exceeds the iPad because it affords the strength of metal on the edge and the look, sheen, and feel of glass on the front and back. It truly looks like something that is a work of science fiction, like something that jumped right of the screen from Tron Legacy or Star Trek. (iPad's curved back may make it easy to pick up off a table, but that's the end of the pros.)
Running more than full HD and 9.7 inches diagonal with an HDR display and four built in speakers, and a processor that delivers silky smooth graphics (I don't even care what the processors is, it delivers) this thing pumps out the sensory experience to the max (for a tablet). But it's running Android. Not that I dislike Android, I like it better than iOS and to an extent Windows. But for a piece of hardware like this, Android 7 visually presents the experience of a child's toy from the early 2000's. iOS would too if you somehow forced it on there, and so would Windows. Now that our hardware has almost caught up to my design expectations (both the S8 phone and this S3 tablet) it's time for someone to theme Android in such a way that the OS lives up to the hardware. A game that hardware manufactures have been playing catch-up on for a decade and this year finally took the upper hand. At least Samsung has. Now we'll see if anyone else follows suit.
Samsung has gotten a lot of criticism for what they did with the fingerprint sensor. In the S7 it is on the home button, but the S8 has only a virtual button and is near bezel less, so it had to move. Putting it on the back is logical next best option, but their choice baffles most of us. Here's what it really looks like.
The problems are (a) the fingerprint sensor is right next to the camera lense and (b) it's still small (just rotated 90° from the S7). Now I don't know what is under the hood and what challenges they faced in moving this sensor, but it can be done differently. Here's how LG did it.
I can see not wanting to copy or be accused of copying. So how about this?
This design will take care of both criticisms A and B above, and would make the fingerprint sensor be in the better place for us right handed people who hold our phones with our left hand. My pessimistic hypothesis is they've already thought of this and are just waiting for the S9 to do it. The current state may just get annoying enough after a year that people will upgrade just because of it.
In the same vein, I've wondered why the iPhone doesn't have wireless charging yet. My pessimistic hypothesis is Apple is developing a new wireless charging standard that's incompatible with existing standards but works as good and allows them to continue selling proprietary chargers. Sure, they'll claim it's some percentage better than the industry standard, but that wasn't the point, it wasn't about helping the consumer, it's about market control. I don't have to respect that.
It was divine timing. I just so happened to stop by the mall to turn in some old cell phones for recycling and stopped by the AT&T store. I'd heard the Samsung Galaxy S7 was coming out soon, but didn't know when. They had one on display in the store. I've actually looked in the last couple weeks at various cell phones on the market and thought about upgrading. My current Samsung Galaxy Note 4 is awesome, but it's 16 months old. They gave me 20 months of payments with no interest and I wasn't done yet, so assumed I had to (or should) wait until at least July or even August to even think about a new phone. While at the store, the salesman said I could simply turn in my old phone and upgrade for free, and they'd cancel my remaining payments and I could have the same 20 month payment plan for the new phone, so there would be no net change on my monthly bill, no activation fee. That means rather than paying for my 650-800 phones, I'd be just renting them. Since I've never done anything with my old phones (and I can't give them to my kids because then they'd argue over who gets which) I took them up on the offer. I'm still not convinced it was a great idea, but I haven't thought of a specific need/use for the old phone yet (as cool as it was) so I'm not sad I did. I went back on Friday (the release date) and showed up right as they opened. I was their first customer.
The S7 is awesome (PhoneArena). It feels great. Some say it's "slippery," but I prefer the term "smooth." The material used for the surface feels very nice to the touch, and the smooth edges (which I admit have obvious inspiration from the iPhone 6, but do have a subtle difference) are nice. I figure since I've got a 12.2 inch tablet (Samsung also) that I am ok with downsizing my phablet to a human size phone. The Note 4 is 5.7" and the S7 is 5.1". Some more features:
Waterproof (up to 5 feet for 30 minutes)
Wireless charging (ordered a charger online, should be here Friday)
Fingerprint sensor (touch not swipe, good upgrade)
Android 6
Home screens allow 5x5 (traditional is 4x4)
Ultra shiny (gold is not my preference, silver would be better, but they didn't offer that, but the shiny is cool. Not better than black, better than white though, and just different.)
Battery life is great (I've been actively "testing" it the first three days and it's ended with 30-50% each day). I'm very pleased. Praise God for Samsung, and for Apple too, who I'm sure provided significant inspiration.
I got an awesome phone in October and posted about "Daddy's new toy." In January I got my wife one of these and a couple weeks ago I bought a second one. I'm loving it. It's an HP Chromebook 14. It doesn't run Windows or Mac or Android or iOS, it runs Chrome OS. The thing cost $250 and is just an Internet browser. It's very light, returns from standby before you even finish opening the lid, has a decent keyboard, 14 inch screen, about 8 hours of battery, and runs very smooth and stable. It's not a full replacement for a Windows 7 desktop or laptop (yes, I said 7) but it's a great portable thing for almost dirt cheap. I'm not necessarily "recommending" it, but I will tell you, I love it.
I've had my Samsung Galaxy S[martphone] 3 for almost 16 months now, and I got it when it was a year old, so it was time for something new. As aluded to a month ago, I was impressed by the Apple iPhone 6 (see my post "prediction of the inevitable smartphone design"). The hardware impressed that is. I've never been impressed by iOS, at least not since version 4 when I realized I disliked so many of their intentional design choices that Android proved they'd made. So while I drooled over the hardware of iPhone 6 for a couple late nights in mid September, I eventually gave up on it.
I wondered to myself if I should get the Samsung Galaxy S5 (released five months ago) from my carrier, Boost Mobile, or hope that they get the LG G3 in November. But I finally resigned myself that what I had was fine and not worth getting the S5, perhaps I could wait until the S6 next year. More importantly, I decided that God knows what I want and if it's not available for me today, then perhaps He's got something even better in mind for me for tomorrow. That was mid September. In mid October, I found out what that would be. I began to hear stories of the Samsung Galaxy Note 4. I'd been somewhat envious of the Note for a couple years now when a coworker had it at a conference I was at a couple Christmases ago. I've had a saying for as long as I can remember (a few years): I like my screen big and my phone small. The Note 4 (PhoneArenea) is a powerhouse, and that's what I want. My phone represents power to me. The power to manage information, which is my obsession. And lets count the ways it kicks the iPhone6 Plus's (PhoneArenea) rear. (Following list has iPhone comparison in parenthesis.)
5.7 inch diagnal screen (5.5)
515 pixels per inch (325)
8.5mm thick (7.1mm)
S pen (nada)
IR blaster (nada)
Heartrate sensor (nada)
microSD card (nada)
Android 4.4 (iOS 8) and I hear rumor that Android 5 is coming out tomorrow (coincidentally)
MultiWindow (nada)
The Note 4 is a monster. It's huge. But it still fits in my pocket. I love the hard edges which are only vaguely reminiscent of the iPhone4, but are noticeably different with their shiny chamfered angles (like the iPad air, but on both front and back rather than just on the front).
Once I made the decision I wanted this device, which was about a day or two before it was officially released in the USA, I had to gamble. Will my carrier of four years get it or will I have to change to AT&T or Verizon. Boost Mobile was showing no evidence of getting it and I found that AT&T had a plan only a couple bucks a month more expensive than Boost, so I made the switch. However the AT&T store was out of stock of the black phone, and I'm never buying a white phone again (if I have a choice). So I waited five more days, calling the store each day to see if they'd gotten any more in stock. Finally the store across the river did, so I drove over during lunch to get it. I've been loving it since the moment I got my hands on it.
I noticed after I'd brought it home that it's only the third top of the line device I've owned since graduating college almost 15 years ago. This was a surprising revelation given that while growing up I was known for obsessing over computers and technology and I have always been blessed by God with a good job. I graduated in 2000 and the first top of the line device I got was the Dell Axim PDA in 2004 (three years before the original iPhone came out and smartphones became popular). It had an astonishing 640x480 screen resolution, double that of any other consumer device on the market. Then in 2008 I got the Blackberry Bold right after it came out. When I showed a techie friend the demo movie that it came with he said "that's sad, a phone shouldn't have a screen that good." I loved that phone. Now in 2014, I've got the Note 4. May it never get wet ;)
I've been a loyal user of Boost Mobile for about four years and only switched away to get this phone from AT&T. Boost was great, and I got good reception (they use the Spring network) all over town and everywhere except in my office building. We have a microcell for AT&T at work, so now I get great reception. I can also send and receive international texts, a bonus that I'll rarely use but is nice to have (I have twice in the last four years missed out on coordinating with coworkers who were in town and they could text met but I couldn't text them back). And I'll actually be able to use this phone if I travel overseas with it. All good perks. Also, I've never used swipe on any of my previous devices, even though it's been available, but the keyboard is so big on this phone that it was kind of a no brainer to try out. And what a surprise, I like it. Swiftkey is a great keyboard.
When I read the gospels, something that stands out to me now (now that I've been working in the international business world for years) that didn't stand out the first couple times I read them (in college and shortly after) is the importance of paradigms. I've been to four other countries on three other continents for my employer and learned a lot about humanity in the last few years. I've learned that we're all the same, that we all have approximately the same hopes and dreams for reasonably prosperity and happiness, and we all have things we like and dislike about our government and our leaders. I've also learned that we're all very different, that there are some people on this planet who think very very differently than I do. Some of them live a world away, some only live down the street. Take this perspective into account the next time you read the Gospel of Jesus.
For example, for hundreds of years, even thousands, God had been foretelling the Jews that a messiah was coming. God had used tons of prophets to be His voice. Of all the prophecies over the years, when Jesus actually showed up the one that was the "prime directive" in many people's minds was Psalm 110:1, which says:
The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit in the place of honor at my right hand until I humble your enemies, making them a footstool under your feet.” [NLT]
Never mind that this was basically the only prophesy that didn't warn us that the messiah would be ridiculed, mistreated, misunderstood, murdered, etc.* But remember that the Jews had glory days. They remembered when David and Solomon were king, and they ruled the whole area. But now, the Romans were in charge, and the Romans weren't the nicest bunch of dictators you could ask for. The Romans were the enemies of the Jews, and many Jews were unwilling to accept a Messiah who didn't live up to Psalm 110:1 and kick the Romans out. But think about that concept again, and what that really means, because Jesus was the Messiah (and still is). So let's say that another way then. Many Jews were unwilling to accept God's plan God's way and thought that either God should operate the way they expected Him to operate or He can just go to Hell. We see that over and over again through the Pharisees and other religious leaders' interactions with Jesus. It was never the fact that what Jesus did was inherently wrong or evil or malicious that absolutely infuriated them, it was that what He did constantly challenged and unnervingly quickly and effortlessly destroyed their paradigms of who God was, what God cared about, and more importantly, who they were and their place in the world. Jesus even called them on this in Matthew 22:41-46, which says:
Then, surrounded by the Pharisees, Jesus asked them a question: “What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?” They replied, “He is the son of David.” Jesus responded, “Then why does David, speaking under the inspiration of the Spirit, call the Messiah ‘my Lord’? For David said, ‘The Lord said to my Lord, Sit in the place of honor at my right hand until I humble your enemies beneath your feet.’ Since David called the Messiah ‘my Lord,’ how can the Messiah be his son?” No one could answer him. And after that, no one dared to ask him any more questions. [NLT]
Today, the way we think (in our paradigm) it is a non-issue for a son to achieve more power than a father. Especially when the father is so old he's dead. But to them, under their paradigm, this was a huge theological problem. That's why no one could answer him. They wanted to claim the part of the prophesy (that we now know as Psalm 110:1) that would give them power (God making their enemies their footstool) but they really didn't want to deal with the part where a descendant, or heir, could be more important than their predecessor. Not because it mattered in an absolute sense, but because they had deviated from God's will so much and come to love the power and position they had gained over the years, that to admit not only that they weren't perfectly aligned with God but that God actually saw things completely differently than they did would stand a good chance of making them to look really stupid (since they were his ambassadors). And if they looked stupid on this one (big) issue then they might loose all their worldly power and position, and that was the most unacceptable thing they could imagine. One of them even came out and said it in John 11:46-48:
Some went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. Then the leading priests and Pharisees called the high council together. “What are we going to do?” they asked each other. “This man certainly performs many miraculous signs. If we allow him to go on like this, soon everyone will believe in him. Then the Roman army will come and destroy both our Temple and our nation.” [NLT]
Notice the comment about the Romans came second, and his first concern was actually for the people who looked up to him stopping and following Jesus instead. There are tons of examples of even the apostles struggling with the paradigm shifts that God was trying to introduce. One of my favorite examples is Peter. Remember him, he is the guy that Jesus praises so strongly in Matthew 16:13-19:
When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” “Well,” they replied, “some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.” Then he asked them, “But who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied, “You are blessed, Simon son of John, because my Father in heaven has revealed this to you. You did not learn this from any human being. Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’), and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it. And I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. Whatever you forbid on earth will be forbidden in heaven, and whatever you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven.” [NLT]
Pretty cool, huh? The Catholics believe Peter was the first Pope. But then, in the next verse basically, Peter lets his paradigm get the best of him. He's just been given this wonderful compliment from Jesus because of his faith, so Peter is probably feeling pretty bold, like he can take on the world. Especially after that description of "whatever you forbid..." Let's read it in Matthew 16:21-23:
From then on Jesus began to tell his disciples plainly that it was necessary for him to go to Jerusalem, and that he would suffer many terrible things at the hands of the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but on the third day he would be raised from the dead. But Peter took him aside and began to reprimand him for saying such things. “Heaven forbid, Lord,” he said. “This will never happen to you!” Jesus turned to Peter and said, “Get away from me, Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.” [NLT]
Notice the comment "Heaven forbid"? Remember what Jesus had said just a few sentences prior, about the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus all but tells him he's got the wrong idea (paradigm). And then, a little while later, in Matthew 26, Peter was still hoping for his chance to be part of the beginning of the ultimate holy war where Jesus might forget all that peace junk he had been preaching for three years straight and go nuclear on both those annoying religious leaders and the Romans. Let's read it from John though instead of Matthew, first in John 18:10-11:
Then Simon Peter drew a sword and slashed off the right ear of Malchus, the high priest’s slave. But Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword back into its sheath. Shall I not drink from the cup of suffering the Father has given me?” [NLT]
...and less dramatically in John 6:15:
When Jesus saw that they were ready to force him to be their king, he slipped away into the hills by himself. [NLT]
My next favorite example is John the Baptist. John is put in prison and when he hears that Jesus is out and about doing lots of miracles, he begins to doubt because Jesus is taking too long to come, break down the door, and rescue him. So John sends some of his disciples to ask Jesus what's taking Him so long to launch the rescue campaign? The response is in Luke 7:20-23:
John’s two disciples found Jesus and said to him, “John the Baptist sent us to ask, ‘Are you the Messiah we’ve been expecting, or should we keep looking for someone else?’” At that very time, Jesus cured many people of their diseases, illnesses, and evil spirits, and he restored sight to many who were blind. Then he told John’s disciples, “Go back to John and tell him what you have seen and heard—the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, and the Good News is being preached to the poor. And tell him, ‘God blesses those who do not turn away because of me.’” [NLT]
Jesus is saying God blesses those who do not turn away from God because He holds a different paradigm, or because He has different priorities, than we do. Blessed are us who are prepared to drop our own priorities and accept God's. Judas Iscariot was perhaps one of the best examples of this. Judas, too, expected a military messiah. You may remember Judas was the one who betrayed Jesus by selling him to the Jewish leaders for 30 pieces of silver. But is what we read in Matthew 27:1-5 the tone of a man who hated his teacher?
Very early in the morning the leading priests and the elders of the people met again to lay plans for putting Jesus to death. Then they bound him, led him away, and took him to Pilate, the Roman governor. When Judas, who had betrayed him, realized that Jesus had been condemned to die, he was filled with remorse. So he took the thirty pieces of silver back to the leading priests and the elders. “I have sinned,” he declared, “for I have betrayed an innocent man.” “What do we care?” they retorted. “That’s your problem.” Then Judas threw the silver coins down in the Temple and went out and hanged himself. [NLT]
The subtext, in my opinion, is that Judas had a wrong paradigm which lead him to have unrealistic expectations for his messiah (Jesus) which caused him to sin. Judas had been with Jesus since before Matthew chapter 10. He was one of the original apostles (not just a disciple). He knew who Jesus was, and he didn't have any disdain for Jesus. What he had in mind when he sold Jesus was not too dissimilar from John the Baptist. I think Judas was saying to himself, "I know, I'll get the Jewish leaders to come after Jesus and force His hand so that He'll have to get the military campaign started, because I'm tired of waiting for it." Kind of like with Neo in The Matrix and Emit in The Lego Movie, where the main characters couldn't really fulfill their potential until they really believed in themselves, spurred on by one of the other main characters. Perhaps Judas thought Jesus just needed a push to build up the courage to get things in gear. All things being equal, this might have been alright. However, God didn't really appreciate a mere mortal trying to force His hand (John 17:12). Jesus knew what Judas was thinking and said in Matthew 26:23-24:
“One of you who has just eaten from this bowl with me will betray me. For the Son of Man must die, as the Scriptures declared long ago. But how terrible it will be for the one who betrays him. It would be far better for that man if he had never been born!” [NLT]
And lastly (for this blog post) we see all this paradigm stuff with the mock trial. Even when they were criticizing Jesus in the last hours, they were in their own way giving Him a chance to get so mad that He'd succumb to their expectations and go on a nuclear rampage and kill all the Romans. (That is, if He really was the messiah, then surely that's what He'd do. And if He wasn't the messiah, then as far as they were concerned he deserved to die a hundred deaths for wrecking havoc on their little kingdom.) We can see it in this modern dramatization of Matthew 26:59-68, from Mel Gibson's 2004 movie The Passion of the Christ. (The only version of this clip on YouTube has no subtitles, the movie of course has them.)
The trick is the people were not expecting a humble servant but a super hero. Contrast God's idea of a savior to man's idea of a savior in the following movie clip from Marvel's 2009 movie Iron Man. While you're watching this, remember that the Romans, while honestly not all bad, in many ways fit the bill (as Obiwan Kinobi said, "from a certain point of view") exactly for what we today call terrorists. Except they were in charge of most of the known world. As setup, this clip is showing you a scene from the movie where the hero, Tony Stark, is sitting in his basement fine tuning this new suit of armor he's made after using an earlier prototype to escape from these very same terrorists he's seeing on the TV. The suit he made is meant to be armor and the device on his hand was originally only intended to be used as a flight stabilizer. Once he realizes it has an alternate use, that is the catalyst of inspiration to go and be some people's savior.
(Note: the clip I originally picked here has been removed from YouTube, here's another that starts a minute later in the movie but contains the most important part of what I wanted to highlight. If at some point this video is also removed then this one was an authorized clip so shouldn't ever get pulled, but leaves out the terrorist's actions which leaves out some relevant emotional context.)
Obviously "iron man" is not what the Jews had in mind, specifically. But the power and vengeance that he demonstrated was more in line with what they were expecting their messiah to bring. Reminiscent of the judge Samson, or the Angel of Death in Moses's day.
Now of course, fast forward a couple thousand years. Are we any different? Do we accept God's plan as God's plan or do we tell Him that salvation and the rest of the universe needs to work the way we say it should work, otherwise He can take a hike? Never mind that He invented absolutely everything, even the energy you're using to power your brain as you read this. For example, take any of the numerous cultural hot topics, including abortion, marriage, sexuality, gun control, the 10 commandments, and biological evolution. God stated His opinions on these topics very clearly, long before you and I were born. Do we care? Are we willing to reset our paradigm to conform to His (as revealed in His word) or do we live our lives as if we expect God to conform to ours? If you're reading this at Christmas, remember why Jesus came to Earth 2000 years ago and think about what that can mean for how you live your life. If you're reading this at Easter, remember why Jesus suffered and died on the cross, and think about what that can mean for how you live your life.
(* Other prophecies the Jews surely hung to (because it emphasized the Messiah's glory, not His suffering) were Isaiah 11 and 55:3-5.)
I'm no Apple fan but when I saw the iPhone 6 this week I immediately thought "I want that." Then I remembered how many things about iOS I hate. But still, the hardware in this latest phone is stunning. I was thinking about why was I so strongly attracted to it. The reason I think is it comes closer than anyone's come before to making a real, fully functional computer look like a single simple piece of glass.
The ultimate design would be all black, the whole chassis the same color as the screen when it's off, so that we can't tell where the screen edge is. Whether it has rounded edges like iPhone 6 or hard edges more like iPhone 4 should be a mater of specific model choice, so long as it superbly fools the user into thinking, when it's off, that they're just holding a piece of tinted glass.
I remember the first time I used an original Kindle. It was years ago and I was browsing at Target. I wasn't looking for Kindle, I was just walking down the aisles and I passed a display for this plastic e-reader looking thing. I specifically remember thinking to myself "this must be a plastic sample of that new Kindle thing" (like how cell phones have plastic samples for display). Then when I touched it, the display changed from one page to another and I almost freaked out that it was a real, functioning device! I had never seen "e-ink" in person before. That surprised reaction of "this piece of glass is actually a working smartphone!" is the experience that the ultimate cellphone design will give us.
May someone beat Apple to it, or if not then at least have the guts to copy them and do just as good or better.
So in 2005 when episode 3 came out the whole world was wondering what would cause this cute/ handsome/ young Anakin with so much going for him to turn to the dark side and into Darth Vader? We knew from episode 2 that he had a (not so) secret and forbidden love for Padme, and we knew from the original trilogy that he had kids with her, and she didn't survive to episode 4. So there was no question of what had to be accomplished in episode 3, it was just a matter of how.
[Warning, spoiler alert]
So how's Lucas do it? (Or at least, how does it end up after the forces of Hollywood produce it?) Anakin is freed from slavery and raised for ten years by the Jedi, but then turns his back on them because he realizes his girl friend is going to die in labor? Are you KIDDING ME? This from the movie series where Darth Vader cuts off his own son's hand and a day later Luke has a fully functional prosthetic? HELLO? How many of our mothers in the 20th century had cesarean sections to deliver complicated births? I'm sorry, but I walked out of the theater opening weekend in 2005 saying "that was so stupid! What a let down." But I'm the kind of guy who likes to put his money where his mouth is, so here's my better idea.
I don't care how the writers or director want to accomplish the story flow, but here are the highlights of what _I_ would have made sure was accomplished/ revealed in episode 3.
1. Before he was senator, as part of a bribe or even premeditated assassination/ betrayal of his predecessor, Mr Palpatine has a short visit to Tatooine. There he gets distracted by a girl, has a one night stand, and rather than be dull and simply kill her, he figures out how to sell her into slavery to cover his tracks. But he's already a Sith, so he uses his skill with the Force to wipe her memory of the night. Time gets short to fulfill his real reason for being there and he forgets to check if he created an offspring. And he never bothered to learn her last name.
2. Jedi are formidable in man-to-man combat, but when they're passengers on a starship they're as vulnerable as any man. Palpatine should have found out about Anakin and Padme and manipulated/ lied to Anakin to make him think the Jedi were going to harm Padme or somehow separate them. Simultaneously he should have found a reason to get the Jedi to all go on a ship somewhere, all except Anakin. Palpatine should have attempted to kill Padme but either make it happen over time or simply half fail and only mortally wound her so she could still deliver her babies. He'd have to do it in such a way that he never got close enough to notice she was pregnant and in such a way so as to blame it on the Jedi. (Perhaps she has an 'accident' and falls, and had Anakin been there he'd have able to rescue her but he was off on some menial mission for Yoda and Palpatine made sure Anakin was thinking of Padme when she fell so he'd know about it but be just too far away to get there and he'd feel helpless like when his mother died. Then Palpatine could send Anakin in a small ship with big weapons to "hunt down and destroy the Jedi" in revenge, as Obiwan said in episode 4. By taking out their ship he'd take care of them all at once, and Obiwan and Yoda could have some embarrassing reason they weren't on the ship (unbeknownst to Anakin and Palpatine). This would be superior to the Jedi being betrayed and overcome by mundane clones.
Of course if you're familiar with the Oedepus story, you can see what a twist this plot line would cause. Think about episode 6 and Palpatine and Vader trying to kill Luke and go after Leia and Luke convincing Vader to instead kill Palpatine. Talk about a messed up family. Sadly, that's actually fairly believable in today's world.
3. Then there's the whole deal of "Master Sifodeous" creating the clone army for the Republic and conveniently dying a little later. Yoda and Windu seem familiar with him in Episode 2, if Lucas had filled the rest of us in in episode 3 on who he was and why he did such a thing then that's called suspense or a cliff hanger. But when he didn't, that's called a gaping plot whole. It would be fitting if Sifodeous was Palpatine's Jedi Master (instructor). And then there's that lame comment from Mace Windu to Yoda about the Jedi's ability to use the Force deminishing. What?? Another unexplained plot whole that my better idea is to just leave out (of episode 2), I see no way to salvage that idea.
Do you think my idea is better than what you saw in the theater? I'd like to know.
We started the process of adoption in January of 2012. We might have finished a year later but Christmas slowed down the USA portion and Chinese New Year slowed down the Chinese portion. In January 2013, at one point I set a countdown timer on my phone, hoping we'd travel and be back by March 1. We didn't leave before then, but coincidentally we got notified of our Consulate appointment on March 1, which was the very last thing we needed before buying airline tickets.
We had no lines in O'Hare.
It was a nice flight from Chicago to Beijing except a bumpy, quezy landing. Pickle was a great traveller. You and mommy had noise canceling headphones, daddy just used the provided ones. The plane had 9 seats across and we sat comfortably in economy plus, with one window, middle, and aisle seat. I brought a splitter so two people could listen to the same movie at once. Pickle watched Madagascar 3 with mommy then Wreck it Ralph with daddy. She played Bejeweled 2 a lot in between movies. Mommy had Finding Nemo going and fell asleep, Pickle half watched, listened, and played Bejeweled. Later after a nap mommy watched the first three of the four Pirates of the Caribbean movies and daddy watched the remake of Total Recall.
We had no lines in the Beijing airport layover either.
Smooth transition to hotel, though guide wasn't there at first and substitute showed up delayed by someone double parked and then traffic. If we weren't experienced we'd have been worried, but we're experienced. Our guide, Savor (pronounced See-va) was great, giving us recommendations and schedules.
The three of us went to the Purple Mountain Park Plumb Festival on Sunday. It was pretty, but difficult to find where we wanted to go without being able to read anything. The concierge got us a taxi and we ended up walking a slightly wrong way (west rather than north) but we asked someone where we were and found our way to Ming's Tomb. The weather was nice but colder than expected and by that time Pickle was pretty cold so we went back to the hotel. Later we had Pizza Hut for dinner. They actually had cheese and peperoni pizzas on the menu. (That's normal in the USA of course but we've been to Pizza Huts in China and Taiwan before that didn't.)
Monday morning we went to some city office and Coco and Sung had Daniel waiting for us at the front steps.
Afterwards we returned to the hotel and took a little walk. We sort of went looking for Walmart but it was farther than we wanted to walk. We got my favorite picture by the river (not that you can tell it was taken by a river). We ate lunch at McDonald's and found out you love spoons and have no interest in even the smallest pieces of french fries or chicken chunks. The rest of us ate McDonald's chicken mcnuggets for four lunches this week.
We went to a mall only one block away with an orange wall facing the street. We went for lunch (we found a McDonald's there) and to look for shoes for the boy. The orphanage had given you to us with good clothes but we figured we'd return them since we have plenty. The only shoe store we found that had kid shoes was a Crocks store. Your big sister also got a Hello Kitty pair. They were $60 each pair. Ouch, but only shoes we could find on short notice and limited mobility. Pickle was such a good traveller and big sister that we were happy to treat her, though we used up our cash on hand and I went back to the hotel to get more. We went back for dinner at Subway and the fountains were all little up. These were some of my other favorite photos from the trip.
While Savor took someone else to their orphanage far away, Nancy took us to ours on Thursday. Nancy is the same lady who helped last June. We got lots of pictures of where you spent all your time and we were happy to see what kind of food you were used to since you weren't eating much of what we offered you. You're used to an Oatmeally consistency congy/rice/veggie/meat mashup. It was also nice to meet the nanny who took care of you the most. She was very nice.
Thursday night when I sat on the couch to feed the boy his bottle I crossed my leg and he did the same :)
Friday night we flew to Guangzhou and had a half hour drive to the hotel. Many of the buildings were covered in lights. I wonder if it's like how corporations in the USA have lots of land but that's impossible (impractical) in China so they deck out their buildings instead. Just a guess.
It's impossible to explain how glorious it feels and looks. The feel of matching glass on front and back is just amazing. The nuance of how they made the side frame metal and match the color and tone of the glass makes for a wonderful unibody appearance that exceeds the iPad because it affords the strength of metal on the edge and the look, sheen, and feel of glass on the front and back. It truly looks like something that is a work of science fiction, like something that jumped right of the screen from Tron Legacy or Star Trek. (iPad's curved back may make it easy to pick up off a table, but that's the end of the pros.)
