The Weird, Random, and Interesting things that Fit Nowhere Else Thread..

[Raithe]

Just for those people in need of an "Awwww" moment...

 

http://youtu.be/uRmoowIN8aY

[Gromnir]

Trial for Alleged Silk Road Mastermind Ross Ulbricht Is About to Begin in Manhattan

 

The part that makes me scratch my head is this

 

The other problem is that Ulbricht has never claimed he is the Dread Pirate Roberts, which, conversely, makes him legally vulnerable. Last October, a New York district judge ruled that Fourth Amendment protections, which safeguards citizens against unlawful search and seizure methods, do not apply to Ulbricht because he has not staked ownership of the server or Silk Road. Ulbricht is now faced with a wretched catch-22: either own up to authoring the site, or relinquish his constitutional legal shield.

Is this legit?

privacy is based on some implied constitutional rights.  there actual ain't anything in the constitution talking 'bout a right to privacy.  nevertheless, the courts has found such a right by combining other rights and protections to create a penumbral right for citizens.  given that such a right is based on a bit more shaky constitutional foundations, it is tending to get a narrow interpretation. such a right is personal. if we spend the night at a friend's house and we hide dirty pictures o' our illegal drugs (*chuckle*)  in our friend's bathroom, we cannot raise a privacy claim if our drugs is discovered when the police make an unexpected and seemingly unwarranted search o' our friend's home.  the police would not be able to use evidence o' our friend's illegal drugs, but Gromnir would be sol. 

 

we got a Personal privacy reach that is very limited. our self. our personal belongings and the clothes we is wearing. our car, but not where car is open to plain view, is affording us privacy rights, but not the car in which we is a passenger. we got privacy rights in our home, but if cops see stuff through open windows, we is not being private, is we.  'course using high-tech surveillance to "see" is not amusing to the courts-- naked human eye seeings only.

 

businesses have much more reduced privacy than does people.

 

However, you do has privacy for stuff such as safety deposit boxes. well, encrypted stuff on a 3p server is just like that, no? need a warrant for safety deposit box. simple, right?  our encrypted digital stuff is just like that, no? no.

 

Smith v. Maryland, (1979) said that a defendant has no fourth amendment rights in ‘‘information he voluntarily turns over to third parties." uh-oh. this is the law. is kinda going against common sense and modern realities, but it is law as of today. the Court has observed that they likely need to re-examine Smith v. Maryland given the realities o' the digital age, but they ain't actual done so.

 

regardless, most info the fbi needed they got the old fashioned way.

 

"ROSS WILLIAM ULBRICHT was arrested in San Francisco, California, on October 1, 2013. At the time of his arrest, ULBRICHT was using a laptop computer, which was seized in connection with his arrest and subsequently searched pursuant to a search warrant. ULBRICHT’s residence was also searched on October 1, 2013, pursuant to a search warrant, and federal law enforcement agents conducting that search found several pieces of computer hardware belonging to ULBRICHT (collectively, along with ULBRICHT’s laptop, the “computer hardware”). Through forensic analysis of the computer hardware, federal law enforcement agents recovered a Bitcoin wallet containing approximately 144,336 Bitcoins."  

 

HA! Good Fun!

[Gromnir]

dirty picture of our illegal drugs?  were s'posed to be "or" and not "of." sheesh.  dirty pictures of drugs?  am not even gonna imagine.

 

HA! Good Fun!

Edited January 15, 2015 by Gromnir

[Raithe]

Science! And Photography!

 

 

 

Yesterday morning, Texan Joshua Thomas took this picture in Red River, NM and shared it with us. He captured a truly special display of ice halo phenomena including rare suncave and sunvex Parry arcs, helic arcs, and intense supralateral and infralateral arcs. See also the diagramed version, which the outstanding folks at US National Weather Service La Crosse Wisconsin did for the photo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ShadySands]

Green Bay’s Board-Game Obsession - Competitive Juices Fuel Lengthy Rounds of ‘Settlers of Catan’ Among Packers’ Players

 

The weekly schedule of an NFL player is jam-packed and controlled to the millisecond. There are appointments that cannot be missed. There’s practice, film study and time in the cold tub. In the case of the Green Bay Packers, there’s also board-game night.

 

There may not be a more unusual bonding tradition in the NFL than the gang of Packers who get together regularly to play a board game called “Settlers of Catan.” For the past two months, it’s been the talk of the locker room. The number of players that have devoted a long night to the game is in the double-digits—including most of the team’s starting offensive line, among others. And don’t let the words “board game” fool you, this is not Candy Land.

 

Any player in the locker room will readily admit that it’s a nerdy endeavor. The game’s object is to build settlements on the board using “resource” cards. Think of it as a fantasy version of Monopoly. “At first we’re like, ‘What the hell is this? Brick? Wool? What kind of game is this?’” said starting center Corey Linsley. But that quickly faded. “We are completely addicted to it, we play it whenever we can,” said tight end Justin Perillo.

 

[Raithe]

This article's from the middle of last year, but might be worth a thought or two...

 

Why is Florida and Texas so strongly against off-grid living practices that they deem it illegal?

 

 

 

Citizens of Earth have been cautioned on timeless occasions to control their consumption of fossil fuels and rely more on sustainable and renewable resources. Many countries, including America, openly support the practice of sustainable living. Then why are the states of Florida and Texas trying to curb the good-for-mother-nature practice?

 

Living off the grid as a lifestyle is being increasingly examined and experimented with by people who feel they can survive by not utilizing the resources offered by the utility companies. It essentially means primarily living independently of the utility companies. Using renewable resources like the sun, wind, and water bodies nearby, people are trying to generate their own power by using rain water harvesting techniques; they have successfully severed the water connection offered by the city. Moreover, many people have even taken additional steps to manage their own waste.

 

These steps might seem difficult to pull off, but there are communities that have sprung up which are practicing all this and more to support the living-off-the-grid lifestyle. But the states of Texas and Florida clearly aren’t happy. Last year, the state of Texas deployed multiple SWAT teams to shut down a sustainable community called “The Garden of Eden Community.” It was totally self-sustainable, but all of the community members were still handcuffed at gunpoint.

 

The state of Florida isn’t better. The city officials recently deemed living off the grid illegal. The city council mandates all homes must be connected to an electricity grid. Though not illegal yet, even in Northern California, citizens can be evicted if they do not consume electricity, citing fears about candle-fires.

 

Living off the grid is clearly viewed as bad practice by law, cited Florida city officials. They were referring to the International Property Maintenance code, which requires homes to be connected to the electricity grid and running water. Using or rather misusing the same, the state of Florida attempted to prosecute Robin Speronis, who was living completely independently of Florida’s water and electric system by employing solar energy, a camping stove, and rain water. Eventually, though the state couldn’t convict her for not having “proper” connection to a sewer or electrical system; she was found guilty of not being connected to an approved water supply.

 

Supporters of the living off the grid practice allege that the reason these states do not want the people to go off the grid is because large corporations will lose their ability to control citizens. They argue that if everyone employed a self-sustaining lifestyle, nobody would have to work. This would have undeniable impact on the current political and financial system’s status quo.

 

Utilities have become an inseparable aspect of modern living. But depletion of natural resources is an undeniable truth. Shouldn’t the states and the country encourage people to rely a little less on utilities and reward them for their efforts, instead of attempting to curb the practice?

 

 

 

[Walsingham]

dirty picture of our illegal drugs?  were s'posed to be "or" and not "of." sheesh.  dirty pictures of drugs?  am not even gonna imagine.

 

HA! Good Fun!

 

Well, you know how they get into the country...

[Guard Dog]

 

coon.jpg

 

I though my house was haunted.... it wasn't. He's still alive and gone now.

 

Actually I didn't really think the house was haunted since 1) I don't really believe in ghosts, and 2) I built this place (actually I had Jim Walter Homes do that but still)

have been hearing some attic noises of late that make us think we got squirrels living in our house.  we really should call somebody to take care o' that.  humane catch and release is soo expensive. perhaps release a feral cat to drive out the squirrels? 

 

...

 

am not serious about the cat btw, but am almost certain about the squirrels.  

 

HA! Good Fun!

 

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Is this the thread where we talk about our sex lives?

[Valsuelm]

Gosh, I hope not. Especially when you're rocking that avatar.

[ManifestedISO]

Was that crass, I don't wan't to be crass.  

Edited January 18, 2015 by ManifestedISO

[Guard Dog]

Gosh, I hope not. Especially when you're rocking that avatar.

Woah, hold on here. College guy with a borderline drinking problem? I'm betting KP has stories to tell. Since Shryke left us there is a opening for a "ladies man". Maybe KP's got the goods?

[Guard Dog]

Yeah, that was the kind of thing that would happen to Shryke.

[ManifestedISO]

I know, geez. I thought I was happy having had sisters at one time. Not at the same time. And they were only half-sisters. 

[Fighter]

What the ... do people do in DayZ?

 

Warning: Profanity.

Edited January 18, 2015 by Fighter

[Raithe]

It's all about having the vital information...

 

io9 - 80% of Americans Support Mandatory label on foods containing DNA...

 

 

A recent survey by the Oklahoma State University Department of Agricultural Economics found that 80.44% of respondents supported a government policy mandating labels on foods containing DNA. Not GMOs. DNA, the genetic material contained in every living thing known to science and practically every food, GMO or otherwise.

 

The results smack of satire, but they're real. The Food Demand Survey (FooDs) is an online poll of a representative sample of the U.S. population, conducted every month by Oklahoma State agricultural economist Jayson Lusk and research specialist Susan Murray. The most recent month's survey included a question regarding the institution of government policies concerning food. The results, which you can read in full here, indicate that "a large majority (82%) support mandatory labels on GMOs." What's curious, note Lusk and Murray, is that roughly "the same amount (80%) also support mandatory labels on foods containing DNA."

 

The results indicate that most Americans do not understand the difference between DNA and a genetically modified food. The former is genetic material essential to life as we know it. The latter is an edible organism, the genetic material of which has been altered for some purpose. One is a building block, the other is the result of a process that alters those building blocks to some end. Given that a label warning of a food's DNA content would be, for all intents and purposes, as meaningless as a label warning of, say, its water content, the survey results reflect an unsettling degree of scientific ignorance in the American population.

 

The survey results are also symptomatic of chemophobia, an irrational fear of chemicals deftly parodied by a recent episode of Parks and Rec:

 

Chemophobia is also brilliantly lampooned by the Dihydrogen Monoxide Research Division, a satirical scare-campaign that rebrands water as the dangerous substance "dihydrogen monoxide." Borrowing on this conceit, Ilya Somin of the Washington Post imagines what a DNA food label might look like:

 

 

WARNING: This product contains deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). The Surgeon General has determined that DNA is linked to a variety of diseases in both animals and humans. In some configurations, it is a risk factor for cancer and heart disease. Pregnant women are at very high risk of passing on DNA to their children.

 

The results of Lusk and Murray's survey also highlight a contradiction central to GMO labeling campaigns that would see all genetically modified foods blanket-labeled as "GMOs," regardless of the modification they contain, or towards what end they were produce. Prima facie, such initiatives seem like a laudable effort to provide consumers with information. What's ironic, UC Berkeley biologist Mike Eisen explains in a recent blog post, is how little information consumers would actually receive from such a mandate:

 

If you're worried that the GMOs you're eating might kill you, then you should want to know what specific modification your food contains. I don't think there is any harm in eating food containing the insecticidal "Bt" protein, but even if it were dangerous this would have no bearing on the safety of golden rice.

 

Similarly, if you are concerned that the transgenic production of plants resistant to certain herbicides encourages the excessive use of herbicides and triggers an herbicide treadmill, then you can boycott crops containing these modifications. But it doesn't make sense to oppose the use of crops engineered to resist diseases, or to produce essential vitamins. Indeed, there are many, like UC Davis's Pam Ronald, who believe that advanced development of GMOs is the best way to advance organic and sustainable agriculture. You may disagree with her, but it should be clear that the effect on agricultural practices varies depending on the specific plant and type of modification being considered.

 

The Oklahoma State food survey reinforces Eisen's point: A blanket DNA label would be even less informative than a blanket GMO label. And yet, an overwhelming majority of Americans support it, because we have a right to know.

We have a right to know what, exactly?

 

Over at WaPo, Somin ruminates on what can be made of the Oklahoma State food survey:

 

It would be a mistake to assume that widespread political and scientific ignorance are the result of "the stupidity of the American voter," as Obamacare architect Jonathan Gruber put it. Political ignorance is not primarily the result of stupidity. For most people, it is a rational reaction to the enormous size and complexity of government and the reality that the chance that their vote will have an impact on electoral outcomes is extremely low. The same is true of much scientific ignorance. For many people, there is little benefit to understanding much about genetics or DNA. Most Americans can even go about their daily business perfectly well without knowing that the Earth revolves around the sun. Even the smartest people are inevitably ignorant of the vast majority of information out there. We all have to focus our time and energy on learning that information which is most likely to be instrumentally useful, or at least provide entertainment value. For large numbers of people, much basic political and scientific information doesn't make the cut.

 

Eisen writes in his blog post that, in supporters of blanket GMO labels, he sees "a lazy and self-satisfied acceptance of an internally incoherent piece of legislation that, rather than giving consumers the 'right to know', will actually protect their desire to know nothing."

 

I'm not as cynical as Eisen. I like to think of myself as an idealist. But the Oklahoma State survey has dealt a heavy blow that idealism.

When participants of the survey were asked if they had read any books about food and agriculture in the past year." Roughly 81% answered "No," and 3% answered "I don't know." The 16% who answered "Yes" were asked to give the title of the food and agriculture book they had most recently read:

 

The vast majority of responses were of the form "I don't remember" or "cannot recall". Fast Food Nation, Food Inc., and Omnivore's Dilemma were each mentioned about three times. The Farmer's Almanac and Skinny Bitch were mentioned twice. One respondent mentioned the bible.

 

These results seem pregnant with significance, but I'm too dispirited to unpack it, at the moment.

 

[Oerwinde]

Was watching Jodorowsky's Dune (which was excellent) and then this happened... Edited January 19, 2015 by Oerwinde

[Blarghagh]

What.

[Orogun01]

What.

His vision.

[Oerwinde]

What.

His ending to Dune had Paul die but his conciousness inhabits everyone on Arrakis, awakening the planet which turns into some sort of messiah planet traveling the cosmos awakening other planets.

[Woldan]

$hell:

 

 

Edited January 19, 2015 by Woldan

[Blarghagh]

http://elitedaily.com/news/world/man-writes-about-wasting-life/841316/

 

Read this today and realized it's probably my greatest fear.

[Raithe]

So....
 
io9 - King Tuts Mask Has Been Damaged
 

The most famous archaeological relic in the world has been damaged during a botched cleaning attempt. After being knocked off, the blue and gold braided beard on King Tut's burial mask was "hastily" glued back on with an inappropriate adhesive, damaging the item even further.

Brace yourselves, folks. This story is all kinds of messed up. As The Associated Press is reporting, it appears that the beard was quickly glued back on by curators at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo with epoxy, an "irreversible material" that's completely unsuitable for a restoration effort of this importance. Conservators at the museum revealed the incident yesterday.

Frustratingly, the story isn't entirely clear because three of the museum's curators are offering conflicting accounts. It's not known when the incident happened, or whether the iconic beard was accidentally knocked off or removed because it was loose. What we do know, however, is that the curators were "ordered" from above to fix it quickly and that epoxy was used. All three curators refused to give their names for fear of professional reprisals. From the AP report:

"The mask should have been taken to the conservation lab but they were in a rush to get it displayed quickly again and used this quick drying, irreversible material," the conservator added.
The conservator said that the mask now shows a gap between the face and the beard, whereas before it was directly attached: "Now you can see a layer of transparent yellow."

But the story gets worse. It appears that the curators inadvertently got some of the epoxy on the face of the mask — and they used a spatula in an effort to get it off, damaging the relic even further:

Another museum conservator, who was present at the time of the repair, said that epoxy had dried on the face of the boy king's mask and that a colleague used a spatula to remove it, leaving scratches. The first conservator, who inspects the artifact regularly, confirmed the scratches and said it was clear that they had been made by a tool used to scrape off the epoxy.

Egypt's Antiquities Ministry and the museum administration are not responding to media requests, but one of the conservators said an investigation is currently underway.
 

 

 

Telegraph - King Tuts Beard Hastily Glued Back On

 

 

 

Three of the museum's conservators reached by telephone gave differing accounts of when the incident occurred last year, and whether the beard was knocked off by accident while the mask's case was being cleaned, or was removed because it was loose.

They agree however that orders came from above to fix it quickly and that an inappropriate adhesive was used. All spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of professional reprisals.

 

"Unfortunately he used a very irreversible material - epoxy has a very high property for attaching and is used on metal or stone but I think it wasn't suitable for an outstanding object like Tutankhamun's golden mask," said one conservator.

 

"The mask should have been taken to the conservation lab but they were in a rush to get it displayed quickly again and used this quick drying, irreversible material," the conservator added.

The conservator said that the mask now shows a gap between the face and the beard, whereas before it was directly attached: "Now you can see a layer of transparent yellow."

 

Another museum conservator, who was present at the time of the repair, said that epoxy had dried on the face of the boy king's mask and that a colleague used a spatula to remove it, leaving scratches. The first conservator, who inspects the artifact regularly, confirmed the scratches and said it was clear that they had been made by a tool used to scrape off the epoxy.

 

 

 

 

[LadyCrimson]

Epoxy....spatula...lol.

 

Indiana Jones would be apoplectic.

[Raithe]

And to have the general upfeel...

 

Since who doesn't love Princess Bride?

 

LA Weekly - Cary Elwes Tells Behind the Scene Princess Bride Stories in his Memoir

 

 

In 1987, Rob Reiner conceived the inconceivable: A big-screen version of William Goldman’s fairy tale/love story/adventure/comedy mash-up The Princess Bride. The script had been languishing for years because nobody knew how to make a movie about a princess, a six-fingered villain, a giant, wizards and oversized rodents. After a decade or so, the director finally got the project off the ground, only to enjoy moderate box office success.

 

More than 25 years and a new generation later, that modest hit has become a beloved and endlessly quotable pop-culture phenomenon: “Inconceivable!” “Have fun storming the castle.” “Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die."

 

 Cary Elwes was inspired by write his new memoir As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride (the title a reference to his own famous line) in 2012 after taking part in a 25th anniversary screening at the New York Film Festival moderated by former L.A. Weekly film editor Scott Foundas. “We were all asked what was our favorite part of the film,” Elwes says during a phone conversation from his L.A. home, “and I said I didn’t have a sufficient amount of time to share how much I enjoyed making the film. Everyone is always asked if it was as fun to make the film as it looked, and I always tell them it was more fun than it looked. It really was. So I wanted to share these memories and stories that I had with the fans, and get it down on paper before my memory started to fail.”

 

Back in June 1986, after turning down a residency at the Royal Shakespeare Company, Elwes was in Berlin filming when he met Reiner and his producing partner Andy Scheinman. Reiner had seen Elwes in the 1984’s Lady Jane. He was looking for a Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. type to cast in the Westley/Man in Black role, and Elwes had read the novel version as a kid.

 

“What resonated with me was the wonderful sense of humor,” says Elwes. “I thought, this is so wonderful and weird, just really oddball. It’s a very sweet story. It’s very unashamedly about true love. It’s also a fun story. Adults can appreciate it while watching it with their kids. That's a rare thing today.”

 

In his book, Elwes recalls how nervous Goldman was at the table read. The Oscar winner had penned the screenplays to Marathon Man, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and All the President’s Men, but The Princess Bride, a fairy tale originally written as a novel as a gift for his daughters in 1973, was his favorite. Various studios had tossed around the idea for a movie with Francois Truffaut, Robert Redford, Norman Jewison and Richard Lester (A Hard Day’s Night, Help!) attached to direct at different times, and Colin Firth, Christopher Reeve, Danny DeVito, Arnold Schwarzenegger and even Sting in consideration for the roles. But the film wasn’t realized until Goldman met Reiner, whose father, Carl, had given him a copy of the book.

 

“Rob went over to his apartment, took Andy Scheinman, sat down and just convinced him,” says Elwes. “I think they just hit it off. It was a friendship and bond that proved quite fruitful for the both of them because they ended working on number of projects together, including Misery. So it was a fortuitous meeting for all of us.”

 

For the book, Elwes interviewed co-stars Robin Wright, Mandy Patinkin, Chris Sarandon, Christopher Guest, Wallace Shawn, Billy Crystal, Carol Kane and Fred Savage. Wright, too, was a relative newbie; at 19, she was plucked from obscurity, namely the ‘80s soap Santa Barbara. Elwes writes that he was instantly smitten with his love interest, but their relationship was purely professional.

 

With Patinkin, Elwes spent months learning how to fence (both right- and left-handed) for their famous sword-fighting scene. He went to the hospital twice during the filming: once for breaking his toe trying to operate an ATV, and another during a scene with Guest, who accidentally cut open Elwes’ head with his sword. And when it comes to the movie’s memorable scene with Crystal, Elwes admits the comedian had him laughing so hard he was replaced with a dummy during certain moments, though he doesn’t point out which. (“Just go back and watch. You’ll be able to see.”) Not surprisingly, much of Crystal and Kane’s dialogue was ad-libbed; some of Crystal’s more off-color jokes that were cut are floating around YouTube.

 

Though he heaps praise on the entire cast, Elwes was particularly fond of Andre the Giant, whom he calls “a beautiful soul and a real gentle giant, who would give you the shirt off his back, which would be enough for five people.” Plagued by back problems, the 540-pound Andre couldn't perform any of his physically demanding scenes, and his drinking was legendary. Elwes recounts the time he passed out at the Dorchester hotel in London during filming, and had to be barricaded with velvet rope until he woke up the next day. 

 

“This massive icon of a man taught me a lot about appreciating the small things in life and about living in the moment, and I am more that grateful to have known him,” writes Elwes.

Elwes also recalls the moment on set when the wrestler let out a massive fart, which he vividly describes as “so intense I even observed our soundman remove his headphones to protect his ears.” A more surprising tidbit on Andre the Giant was his friendship with Samuel Beckett. Turns out the Irish playing once lived in the same French village and chauffeured the young Andre to school in his convertible.

 

“When he told me that story I just about fell out of my chair,” remembers Elwes. “I asked him, ‘So what did you guys talk about?’ And he said, ‘Mostly cricket.’ I just thought, gosh, Andre playing cricket. If only he'd played baseball. If anyone had given him a bat, he would’ve been Babe Ruth.”

 

Upon its release in 1987, The Princess Bride didn't become the box office bonanza everyone had anticipated, which Elwes mostly attributes to Fox’s lackluster publicity, the movie’s trailer and poster. “One of the reasons Goldman couldn’t get the movie made for ten years is that no studio had any idea what the demographic was,” he says. “Studios aren’t used to having multiple genres to pitch to their marketing department. So naturally they were stumped. They decided to focus on the image of the grandfather reading to his grandson, which is a beautiful image, but it really didn’t give an insight to the story.”

 

But thanks to home video, the film took on a new life, becoming the cult classic it is today. In 2011, Jason Reitman directed a staged reading at LACMA that included Elwes, Reiner, Mindy Kaling, Paul Rudd, Patton Oswalt and Nick Kroll. And the following year, Austin’s Alamo Drafthouse unveiled a movie-inspired line of wine to mark the 25th anniversary.

Elwes realized the movie had caught hold with the public when he stared hearing fans spouting lines.

 

“It was maybe a decade later that was in a restaurant and I was ordering food,” Elwes recounts, “and the waitress asked how I wanted my meat cooked, and I said medium rare, and she winked and said, ‘As you wish.’ That was the first time anyone had said that to me.”

 

Now that he’s stepping behind the camera to direct an upcoming biopic on the Who manager Kit Lambert, Elwes shares what he learned from Reiner: “He was incredibly collaborative, very nurturing to the actors and very decisive about what he wanted. He was clear on his vision. You're lucky if you work with directors like that. It makes your job as an actor so much easier.”

 

 

 

The Princess Bride was an unfilmable jinx.

“It was in one of those cinema books as one of the greatest screenplays ever written that had never been produced,” director Rob Reiner groans. Author William Goldman published the original The Princess Bride novel in 1973 and Fox immediately bought the movie rights for $500,000. That's a lot of ducats, but they still couldn't get the film made. Every director wanted to do it — some who make sense, like Norman Jewison (Moonstruck, Fiddler on the Roof) and John Boorman (Excalibur), and some you'd never suspect, like Richard Lester (A Hard Day's Night) and Francois Truffaut (The 400 Blows, Jules et Jim). Even Robert Redford threw his name in the ring, and could have done double duty as Westley. (Another almost-Westley: Christopher Reeve.) Reiner knew it'd be a struggle but he managed to get Goldman's blessing. Shrugged the novelist, “I mean, he wasn't Alfred Hitch****, but he's a great director.”

 

Chernobyl could have cost Cary Elwes the part.

The nuclear power meltdown happened just before Elwes — a handsome newbie who'd just turned down an offer from London's Royal Shakespeare Company — flew to East Germany to shoot Maschenka. The danger zone was eight hours away, near enough that Elwes was warned not to drink the local milk. Co-producers Andrew Scheinman and Rob Reiner were almost too spooked to visit Elwes on set for his final audition. Scheinman was so afraid of radiation that he sprinted from the taxi to the hotel lobby, forgetting his $1,000 jacket in the cab, and once inside he refused to touch even the bottled water. The pedigreed Elwes knew he looked the part — now he had to convince them he was funny. “Here I was, a British actor working in Berlin, and our conversation revolved largely around my recounting my favorite episodes of All in the Family,” he jokes. What sealed the deal: Elwes' Fat Albert impression. No kidding. 

 

  Buttercup and Westley were totally hot for each other in real life.

Here's Elwes remembering the first time he met then-20-year-old Robin Wright, then a soap opera star: “It was as if I were looking at a young Grace Kelly, she was that beautiful,” Elwes writes. “I couldn't concentrate on much of anything after that first encounter with Robin.” It was mutual. “I was absolutely smitten with Cary,” Wright confesses. “So obviously that helped our on-screen chemistry.” Santa Barbara added a year to Wright's contract in exchange for freeing her to do the movie, which Elwes thought was “kind of rotten, but she didn't complain.” Well, yeah.

 

Author William Goldman was so nervous the film would suck that he ruined the first day of filming. 

The Princess Bride was his favorite of his books, and Goldman was scared the studio would screw it up. On day one, while shooting Buttercup and Westley in the Fire Swamp, the sound engineers noticed some bizarre background noise on the tapes. “It sounded like some strange incantation,” Elwes says. Goldman had been chanting prayers that the movie wouldn't suck. Reiner gave him a hug and told him to relax. But Goldman forgot that in the next scene, Wright's red dress had to deliberately catch fire. As soon as the gas geyser lit up her dress, Goldman burst out screaming, “OH, MY GOD! HER DRESS IS ON FIRE! SHE'S ON FIRE!!!” Later, he scolded Reiner: “You're setting fire to Robin on the first day?! What are you, nuts? It's not like we can replace her!”

 

The Greatest Swordfight in Modern Times is actually The Greatest Swordfight in Modern Times

Goldman spent months researching 17th-century swordfight manuals to craft Westley and Inigo's bravura fencing battle. Then Elwes and Mandy Patinkin spent more months perfecting it — right- and left-handed. Reiner hired the best coaches in Hollywood: Peter Diamond and Bob Anderson. Not only did both men train the original swashbuckler, Errol Flynn, they both worked on Star Wars, Diamond as the Tusken raider who surprises young Luke Skywalker on Tatooine, Anderson as the stunt double for Darth Vader.

 

But Elwes almost didn't get to fight a Rodent of Unusual Size.

Danny Blackner, a 4-foot-tall, heavily tattooed stunt guy, was hired to climb inside the 50-pound rubber rat suit and grapple with Elwes. But the night before, Blackner was arrested for drunk driving. Blackner begged the officer to let him go because he had a major job in the morning, but when he confessed what the job was, the cop sneered, “All right, I've heard enough, back of the van for you.” When no one could reach him in the morning, Elwes was told he'd have to wrestle a dummy. Finally, Blackner got sprung from jail, drove straight to set and climbed into the costume.

 

Arnold Schwarzenegger nearly played Fezzik the Giant.

The then-unknown bodybuilder was Norman Jewison's first pick. When Rob Reiner finally started making the film a decade later, he also considered Richard Kiel, James Bond's infamous Jaws.

 

Andre the Giant was the greatest human being on earth

At 7'4” and 540 pounds, Andre knew he was scary. (The first time Chris Sarandon's daughters saw him, they ran screaming.) To help people relax, Andre called everyone “Boss,” and when Robin Wright got the shivers between takes, he would warm her by resting a huge hand on her head, like a hat. One day, Andre casually mentioned that Waiting for Godot playwright Samuel Beckett used to drive him to school in rural France, after he grew too tall for the school bus. Beckett, who had hired Andre's father as a handyman, owned a convertible and took the top down to chauffeur Andre to class. Elwes asked what on earth the wrestler and the Nobel Prize winner talked about. Said Andre, “Mostly cricket.”

 

But, boy, could Andre the Giant drink.

In one night, Andre could polish off three bottles of cognac and 12 bottles of wine and feel only a little tipsy. He kept a flask of cognac in his costume, but his favorite drink was a monstrosity called “the American,” a 40-ounce beer pitcher filled with whatever booze he felt like that day: merlot, brandy, beer, vodka, whatever. The first time Andre the Giant and Robin Wright went out for dinner, he ordered four appetizers, five entrees and a case of wine. While bar-hopping with Elwes in New York, the two were politely tracked by an off-duty cop who was hired to keep an eye on Andre in case he fell over and hurt someone — again. (Andre generously bought the officer several drinks.) And the night of The Princess Bride's first script read-through, Andre got so drunk at the hotel bar that he passed out in the middle of the lobby. The hotel employees couldn't move him, so they put velvet ropes around his snoring corpse and told the maids not to vacuum until he woke up.

 

Naturally, Andre the Giant unleashed epic farts.

Elwes devotes three pages of his book to one truly memorable blast. Here's how he describes it: “A veritable symphony of gastric distress that roared for more than several seconds and shook the very foundations of the wood and plaster set where we were now grabbing on to out of sheer fear. ... The sonic resonance was so intense I even observed our sound man remove his headphones to protest his ears.” Between giggling fits, Elwes spotted what looked like steam rising from Andre's toupee. “It's OK,” chirped Andre. “My farts always made people laugh.”

 

No one liked how the movie was advertised.

How do you get adults to buy tickets to what sounds like a girly kiddie flick? The studio had no idea. With a dozen memorable characters to pick from, the marketers foolishly decided on a poster with just Fred Savage and Peter Falk. Elwes was mystified. “Granted that relationship was an integral part of the story, but we all felt, including Rob, that perhaps it wasn't the best angle to promote the movie.” Then Fox did such a hatchet job on the trailer that it was pulled from theaters. The film languished. Groaned Reiner to Fox head Barry Diller, “This is terrible. We've got a movie that everybody loves but we can't get anybody to come.”

 

Luckily, now The Princess Bride has very unexpected fans.

There's no better proof of The Princess Bride's impact on popular culture than these three Cary Elwes encounters. One Iraq veteran told him that every day, when his commanding officer would send the men out on dangerous patrols, he'd wave goodbye with, “Have fun storming the castle!” The soldier told Elwes, “That did a lot for morale.” Bill Clinton beamed that he'd seen the movie a hundred times and was thrilled with Elwes' offer to send him and Chelsea a signed script. But the most startling fan of all: Pope John Paul II, who shook hands with Elwes and gushed, “You are the actor! The one from The Princess and the Bride!” Elwes was startled — his Holiness knew the film? “Yes, yes,” the pope smiled. “Very good film. Very funny.”

Edited January 22, 2015 by Raithe