Physicist Andy Howell explains the science behind Star Wars, to the extent Star Wars follows the laws of science. I wanted so much for there to be hope and physics supporting the construction of my own lightsaber. (via Kotke)

Speaking of lightsabers, while there is much praise of George Lucas for having the foresight to keep the merchandising rights for Star Wars, he was pretty slow to get rolling when A New Hope premiered. My friends and I would have killed for toy lightsabers and they just didn't exist. Instead we had to take cardboard tubes (my best source was my mom's wrapping paper stash) and use those to wail upon each other. The trouble was that they just didn't hold up well and a few good whacks would often turn your saber into a limp, sad mess. The ironic part is that I learned a little science at the time as my friends and I perfected duct tape techniques to make our lightsabers last longer.

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