Unutterably Silly Corrupt-A-Topic (anymore off-topic and it would be on-topic)

[Solitaire1]

Why did 8.5 inch by 11 inch paper become the standard size for typing paper? It seems an odd size that is larger than necessary since most letters don't need that much space. Besides, most books are not that size and it seems that each page contains plenty of space for the text. Then again, books contain a large number of pages while letters are usually only a few pages.

[crich70]

Originally Posted by Solitaire1

Why did 8.5 inch by 11 inch paper become the standard size for typing paper? It seems an odd size that is larger than necessary since most letters don't need that much space. Besides, most books are not that size and it seems that each page contains plenty of space for the text. Then again, books contain a large number of pages while letters are usually only a few pages.

I think it might be that in the old days when paper had a good rag content that the pages were sized that way. And there is the fact that the early printing press was adapted from a press used to do things like pressing olives and grapes so the table surface was a set size. And remember early printed books were printed to look like they had been hand written and the old hand written books were fairly large probably for ease of writing as it's very hard to write verysmall for a long period of time. Those are just guesses on my part though.

[badgoodDeb]

Didja google the question? Somebody "Out There" may have wondered the very same thing. If you find an answer, report back. Cuz now I wonder too, but I'm too lazy to go look!

[Dylrob]

Laziness shall not be tolerated! Squirrels, attack!

[HomeInMyShoes]

Flashing lights seizure my brain.

[GeoffC]

a pair of swans waddle their tails.

[Solitaire1]

I was thinking about Star Wars and how the Sith are those who have fallen to The Dark Side. That led me to a comparison to the Green Lantern Mythos. Unlike Star Wars, the Green Lantern Mythos doesn't contain just two sides of The Force, but seven aspects of the Emotional Spectrum, with each color representing an emotional aspect.

Green (representing Will) sits in the middle of the Emotional Spectrum and is balanced. It doesn't control, it supports.

However, the further you get from the center, the more the emotional aspect controls you. As an example, Red Lanterns (Red represents rage and sitting at the far end of the spectrum) are so filled with rage that they tend to be almost unthinking animals, while Star Sapphires (Violet representing love) tend to be completely overpowered by love to the point of obsession.

Considering the aspects that led to Anakin Skywalker's fall to The Dark Side, in Green Lantern terms it would seem like he was strongly under the influence of Red (Rage), Orange (Avarice), and Yellow (Fear). At the same time, he turned away from Blue (Hope) and Indigo (Compassion).

To me it's interesting how the two (The Force and The Emotional Spectrum) seem to bare similarities to each other. Like with The Force, the Emotional Spectrum has two sides and the left side seems to be the more negative side of the two (although there are some negative aspects of the other side). In fact, it has been stated that, like with the Dark Side of The Force, once you fully embrace the Red, Orange, or Yellow you will never turn from that path or free from their influence.

[crich70]

Originally Posted by Solitaire1

I was thinking about Star Wars and how the Sith are those who have fallen to The Dark Side. That led me to a comparison to the Green Lantern Mythos. Unlike Star Wars, the Green Lantern Mythos doesn't contain just two sides of The Force, but seven aspects of the Emotional Spectrum, with each color representing an emotional aspect.

Green (representing Will) sits in the middle of the Emotional Spectrum and is balanced. It doesn't control, it supports.

However, the further you get from the center, the more the emotional aspect controls you. As an example, Red Lanterns (Red represents rage and sitting at the far end of the spectrum) are so filled with rage that they tend to be almost unthinking animals, while Star Sapphires (Violet representing love) tend to be completely overpowered by love to the point of obsession.

Considering the aspects that led to Anakin Skywalker's fall to The Dark Side, in Green Lantern terms it would seem like he was strongly under the influence of Red (Rage), Orange (Avarice), and Yellow (Fear). At the same time, he turned away from Blue (Hope) and Indigo (Compassion).

To me it's interesting how the two (The Force and The Emotional Spectrum) seem to bare similarities to each other. Like with The Force, the Emotional Spectrum has two sides and the left side seems to be the more negative side of the two (although there are some negative aspects of the other side). In fact, it has been stated that, like with the Dark Side of The Force, once you fully embrace the Red, Orange, or Yellow you will never turn from that path or free from their influence.

I don't think you can separate the two sides of "The Force" that simply myself. Anakin fell in love (which is forbidden to a Jedi) and naturally felt fear about the possibility of loss, but if you don't have love in your life you are half way to the dark side of the scale already (IMO) because if you can't feel love you are already pretty empty and Anakin was "supposed to bring balance" to the force. Neither side was really complete because part of their emotional range was suppressed and while the Jedi had good intentions he was pushed into a situation that very few (if any) people could deal with I think. The Good guys wouldn't let him have love and then piled distrust upon him so his career was also suffering and eventually he cracked under the strain. Vader is actually a very tragic figure. He made the wrong choices while under great emotional strain. I'd wager if something like his situation was a real life situation (as far as the emotional strain he was under) and someone snapped the lawyer (for the defendant) would claim temporary insanity made his client do it.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by crich70

I don't think you can separate the two sides of "The Force" that simply myself. Anakin fell in love (which is forbidden to a Jedi) and naturally felt fear about the possibility of loss, but if you don't have love in your life you are half way to the dark side of the scale already (IMO) because if you can't feel love you are already pretty empty and Anakin was "supposed to bring balance" to the force. Neither side was really complete because part of their emotional range was suppressed and while the Jedi had good intentions he was pushed into a situation that very few (if any) people could deal with I think. The Good guys wouldn't let him have love and then piled distrust upon him so his career was also suffering and eventually he cracked under the strain. Vader is actually a very tragic figure. He made the wrong choices while under great emotional strain. I'd wager if something like his situation was a real life situation (as far as the emotional strain he was under) and someone snapped the lawyer (for the defendant) would claim temporary insanity made his client do it.

Stupid Question No. 6,789,435,218:

If "love" is forbidden to Jedi, how on earth do those bozos expect the mitichlorians (sp?) to increase throughout the population to make MORE Jedi? This ain't like the Priesthood. I mean, no WONDER the Jedi fell! Patently, the talent, the Force, etc., is INHERITED, that's the whole Luke storyline. So, duh, eh?

Hitch

[crich70]

Originally Posted by Hitch

Stupid Question No. 6,789,435,218:

If "love" is forbidden to Jedi, how on earth do those bozos expect the mitichlorians (sp?) to increase throughout the population to make MORE Jedi? This ain't like the Priesthood. I mean, no WONDER the Jedi fell! Patently, the talent, the Force, etc., is INHERITED, that's the whole Luke storyline. So, duh, eh?

Hitch

Answer to question 6,789,435,218:
It is forbidden for a Jedi to marry. That is mentioned in the course of the 2nd movie "The Clone Wars." As I understand it Jedi are born of normal families just like everyone else and once detected as children they are sent to the Jedi temple for training.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by crich70

Answer to question 6,789,435,218:
It is forbidden for a Jedi to marry. That is mentioned in the course of the 2nd movie "The Clone Wars." As I understand it Jedi are born of normal families just like everyone else and once detected as children they are sent to the Jedi temple for training.

DU-uh.

Yeah, got that. BUT...if, as we have seen, the dreaded mitichlorians (so help me, if I have to go look that up on some Nerdy-nerd website, just to ensure that I'm spelling it right, Crich, I'm gonna beat you!) are heritable--which one might think that the mighty Jedi would have noticed by now (now being...whenever), why would they preclude Jedi from breeding? It seems utterly DAFT and self-defeating! As I said, it's not like the Priesthood, is it? Ok, sure--for some reason, they are precluded from Marriage--although nobody said that they had to remain celibate, as near as I can see/tell--and there are FEMALE Jedi, too. (And thus, you'd think, they'd be even more inclined to breed selectively).

The whole, "Jedi can't marry" storyline seems to be one of those short-sighted storylines created strictly to explain Vader. And (thinks back to when she was a paid book reviewer, in ye olden days, long e'er the time of Amazon and eBooks)...isn't there a post-movie storyline in which Luke has a romance? Yes, there is. I've read it, and reviewed it, somewhere. In the early...90's? So, whassup with the forbidden love thing?

Hitch

[crich70]

Originally Posted by Hitch

DU-uh.

Yeah, got that. BUT...if, as we have seen, the dreaded mitichlorians (so help me, if I have to go look that up on some Nerdy-nerd website, just to ensure that I'm spelling it right, Crich, I'm gonna beat you!) are heritable--which one might think that the mighty Jedi would have noticed by now (now being...whenever), why would they preclude Jedi from breeding? It seems utterly DAFT and self-defeating! As I said, it's not like the Priesthood, is it? Ok, sure--for some reason, they are precluded from Marriage--although nobody said that they had to remain celibate, as near as I can see/tell--and there are FEMALE Jedi, too. (And thus, you'd think, they'd be even more inclined to breed selectively).

The whole, "Jedi can't marry" storyline seems to be one of those short-sighted storylines created strictly to explain Vader. And (thinks back to when she was a paid book reviewer, in ye olden days, long e'er the time of Amazon and eBooks)...isn't there a post-movie storyline in which Luke has a romance? Yes, there is. I've read it, and reviewed it, somewhere. In the early...90's? So, whassup with the forbidden love thing?

Hitch

I don't know what's up with that. Maybe it was set up as a way to make sure that 'the chosen one' would be able to be spotted easier. And having attachments leads into the 'fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering' line that Yoda mentions in The Phantom Menace so perhaps that was put into place to avoid that problem. I don't know much about the novels just the movies for the most part.

Spoiler:

I do remember reading one where Leia and Han have wed and are expecting twins. Another character recognizes her as 'lady Vader' as her scent is not unlike her father's or something.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by crich70

I don't know what's up with that. Maybe it was set up as a way to make sure that 'the chosen one' would be able to be spotted easier. And having attachments leads into the 'fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering' line that Yoda mentions in The Phantom Menace so perhaps that was put into place to avoid that problem. I don't know much about the novels just the movies for the most part.

Spoiler:

I do remember reading one where Leia and Han have wed and are expecting twins. Another character recognizes her as 'lady Vader' as her scent is not unlike her father's or something.

Well, when I was with Sphere--a long, long time ago, in a Galaxy far, far away (when the web wasn't GUI, imagine! And everybody gabbed on usenet ngs--I did read a bunch of them, because I was reviewing mostly sci-fi and fantasy, and that's what Bantam, et al, sent me. Along with a boatload of other books, ranging from great to bad. Anyway, I distinctly recall that Luke had a gf. And yes, that which you discussed in your spoiler abso-looley DID occur,

Spoiler:

although arguably, Leia is not a Jedi. (Trust me: there are far more spoiler-ish things to spoil, in the books--things that broke fans' hearts!)

Just "of the blood," so to speak, which, brings us back to square one.

I just think it's STOOPID. I mean, why not breed 'em up like cattle, really? DAFT.

Hitch

[Solitaire1]

I agree that The Jedi made a mistake in forbidding marriage since it will lead to the situation with Anakin. Due to it being forbidden, Anakin had no one to speak to honestly about his concerns so he could receive help. Due to this, and the further mishandling of Anakin by the other Jedi (they can see he is troubled, yet they force him into a situation that will trouble him even more?), he was left alone to try and figure it out himself.

Rather than forbidding marriage, the Jedi should have just discouraged it and explained their reasons (the ones that Yoda mentioned) and let the Jedi considering marriage to know that it will make their life more difficult. By allowing marriage, and thus knowing which Jedi are married, they can help Jedi who are troubled to seek out help without the fear that they will be expelled from The Order.

Now, to take this off-topic:

In so many stories involving parallel universes, it seems like the character often encounter variations of their characters they know, yet they often seem to be similar to the people they know. Events take place in a slightly, or sometimes not to slightly, manner. However, what if this is due to the structure of reality not based on parallel timelines but a cube?

Suppose the entire structure of reality is actually in the form of a cute with a large number of points inside (while each reality has all of the planets in the same location). Each point within the cube represents a different reality, and when you move from one point to another, how similar the two realities are depends on how close the points are.

Let's say that you move to the point closest to your reality. In this alternate reality, the difference between the two is something as small as the stop lights being a slightly different shade of red, or the version of you from that reality was born 1 minute later.

Then, after returning to your native reality, you travel to a reality that is several million points away. There are so many difference from your native reality that it is completely unrecognizable (as an example, an environmental disaster there destroyed the ecosphere and killed all life).

[crich70]

Interesting idea. I wonder how big a cube you would need and of course how certain you could be that you had actually returned to your own reality and not had your thinking adjusted by natural forces so that you only thought you had returned to your starting point.