Harrison Ford is reported to have said to "Star Wars" creator George Lucas, referring to the dialogue in "Star Wars", "George, you can type this shit, but you sure as hell can't say it."

It was that bad.

Carrie Fisher says that she did cocaine on the set of "The Empire Strikes Back" so it must have gotten to her also.   All that snow on Hoth apparently wasn't just set design.

Deaf or blind people often report enhanced abilities in their remaining senses, but  no one has explained how and why that could be. Researchers say they have discovered there is a causal link between enhanced visual abilities and reorganization of the part of the brain that usually handles auditory input in congenitally deaf cats.

The findings provide insight into the plasticity that may occur in the brains of deaf people.

Another question for those considering cochlear implants; if the brain has rewired itself to compensate for the loss of hearing, what happens when hearing is restored?

Facebook recently implemented a system where you can be added to groups without any choice in the matter.  Result: technology blogger Michael Arrington, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and Mahalo founder Jason Calacanis all found themselves added to a group called North American Man/Boy Love Association (NAMBLA). 

Adding Zuckerberg without his permission would seem to make the point privacy groups are concerned about rather clear, but it didn't.  

If you are one of those nostalgic types, you might insist football players were better when you were young.  You are wrong.   Kids today are bigger and faster.   When my local football team, Folsom, played Grant for the first game of the season this year, I predicted a loss of 35 points despite the fact that Folsom wins most of its games by 40 - and that would be a good showing.   My reasoning?  Two kids on the other team could bench press 400 lbs and weighed over 300, 5 would go to top schools on scholarships.     When I went to college, it was a big deal to bench press 300 lbs. for a football player.

Databases are tough.   Unless you want to spend a million dollars on Oracle you are stuck with sporadic performance, testy optimization and occasional baffling behavior over a product you didn't build and can't control.

But without databases, it is hard to run.   If you look in our footer avatar bar there are always a few hundred people reading and then contributors online writing or chatting.   Even that takes a dedicated server that sometimes wheezes under the load.

Surrender your booty!   There be archaeologists on them thar seas!

Just off the coast of North Carolina the Queen Anne's Revenge, Blackbeard's flagship, is believed to have sank in 1718.

But the archaeologists diving to the wreck there aren't trying to find gold doubloons or something cool, they instead want to save the cannons ship's from saltwater corrosion.

Let's be honest, Russian winters are the kiss of death in the best of circumstances - just ask Napoleon and Hitler how things would change if they had a do-over.

But this year could be even worse.  If you believe the somewhat suspect record-keeping that is currently used to make temperature claims before the last 30 years, you'll want to avoid Russia during the coldest winter Europe has seen in the last 1,000 years.

Luckily, like most temperature forecasts even today, that one is only 70% accurate.

But it's best to be sure so, Russians, make sure you remove all that summer smog from your air vents.

Their son died in a horrific car accident, but that was just the beginning of dealing with his heart-wrenching death for his parents.

Next, after he was buried, they found out his brain was on display in the medical examiner’s office.   The ME’s office told the parents the brain was held for tests with other brains, but the parents said they were never informed. So the parents won a court order for its return.

No one is canceling vacation plans just yet but the strongest warning yet about visiting France and Germany has come from Britian, that the terror threat there was high.  It's no surprise since French intelligence has said the same thing, noting the rise in North African terrorism activity.

The US added similar caution this weekend and now Japan and Sweden have done the same.   

The public concerns intensified last week after a Pakistani intelligence official said eight Germans and two British brothers were at the heart of an al-Qaida-linked terror plot against European cities.