Content Challenge, you are a cruel mistress. I almost went to bed without paying homage, and there you were, crouched in the corner with a whip. Another time, another place, another gender, and I might not have minded, but come on! I’m exhausted, and the roofers are coming tomorrow at seven ay em. I thought having a house would be easy; it is if you don’t count keeping it not looking like the trash compactor room on the Death Star, or having to clean up when the roof sends gallons of rain pouring into my bedroom or gallons of sewage burbling up from that little hole in the basement floor.

Speaking of the Death Star, they had my buy-in when I was a kid, but now I just don’t know. According to the most recent movies, the evil Galactic Empire was formed in the same way that our own evil empire is currently being formed: the citizenry was not paying attention, and the legislative branch of the government—inspired by patriotism during an artificially created war—signed its powers away to the Emperor. All of this is familiar enough to us and just good fun according to the alien slug version of Rush Limbo (which, remarkably, resembles the Earth version of Rush Limbo down to the last molecule), but what about the Death Star? If Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader wanted to quell the suspicions of their subjects and paint the Rebel Alliance as the enemies of galactic peace, why would they name their planet-killing battlestation “Death Star”?!?!?! Wouldn’t they have named it something like “The Fluffy Bunny Mobile” and painted it a nice, cheerful light blue? Perhaps the alien slug version of Karl Rove was on a vacation when they dreamed that one up. Even Republicans are smart enough to name their battleships things like “Liberty Eagle” and “Freedom Eagle Wings” and “Giant Boob-a-licious Shocking Happiness.”

Anyway, I was just wondering.