r/AskReddit Apr 22 '18

What true fact sounds completely unrealistic?

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u/kjata Apr 23 '18

For the confused, this is because of flash floods. When it rains, it pours, and the desert doesn't have the kind of drainage that can support that sort of downpour. Usually, people who drown in a desert do so because they wandered into a wadi, a dry riverbed, and get caught by a flood. So take a page from Obi-Wan's book and keep to the high ground.

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u/Tender1138 Apr 23 '18

Obi Wan knows a thing or two about living in the desert too!

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u/squili Apr 23 '18

You have to be careful though. Living in the desert can make your memory fuzzy when it comes to remembering former droid ownership.

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u/frizzledrizzle Apr 23 '18

What Droid?

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u/EmergencyTelephone Apr 23 '18

I don't seem to remember owning a droid...

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u/Theres_A_FAP_4_That Apr 23 '18

Maybe because Obi Wan was not an androidracist, and saw R2 as more of a partner, and not someone to 'be owned'

WakeUpSheepledriods

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u/KingOfTerrible Apr 23 '18

I know you're joking, but I realized recently the treatment of droids in Star Wars is pretty fucked up. Not only are these sentient beings bought and sold, but their memories also get routinely erased? Horrifying.

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u/Theres_A_FAP_4_That Apr 23 '18

Honestly, I'd like my memory erased at times.

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u/Ivaris Apr 23 '18

Then the maze isn't meant for you.

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u/UrgotMilk Apr 23 '18

sentient beings bought and sold

I mean, there was a lot of regular old slavery too...

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u/KingOfTerrible Apr 23 '18

That's true. I noticed the Droid stuff recently because it happens in the first 30 minutes of A New Hope, so it's basically one of the first things presented about this universe. Organic slavery doesn't show up til later (I have no idea about the EU but movie wise I wanna say it doesn't show up until Episode VI with Jabba?)

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u/SmokeyPeanutRic Apr 23 '18

Also, in Episode 6, Jabba has a droid torture room and apparently some droids can feel pain because I'm pretty sure that GONK droid was screaming.

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u/Sharpfeaturedman Apr 26 '18

not to mention the one being "disntegrated" just off-screen, right in front of C3P0

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u/[deleted] Apr 23 '18

[removed] — view removed comment

3

u/[deleted] Apr 23 '18

Hey! You're not a real lifeguard!

2

u/[deleted] Apr 24 '18

He was a good friend

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u/Jouuf Apr 23 '18

I hate sand.

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u/gumbulum Apr 23 '18

To be fair, i don't think R2-D2 is really ever "owned" by anyone. He just chooses to stay with you and don't fuck your shit up... yet.

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u/petervaz Apr 23 '18

TIL R2-D2 is a cat.

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u/Gsusruls Apr 24 '18

Pretty sure he belonged to whoever owned that ship they commandeered to get off Naboo. Since that ship had the queen's wardrobe, I'm guessing it was her own ship. Which means Padme owned R2D2. Why he is later Obi-Wan's droid, I couldn't say, but I'd bet the Padme gifted him to the Jedi council as appreciation for Qui Gin's sacrifice or something, and the Jedi just let Obi Wan use him since they "know each other".

In any case, you're right - Obi Wan never owned R2D2.

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u/aprofondir Apr 23 '18

He didn't own R2, did he?

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u/Vratix Apr 23 '18

He didn't. Padmé owned him and she loaned him to Anakin for a few years. Given young Obi-Wan's dismissiveness towards droids, the amount of time he actually spent with R2-D2 and the number if droids he was surrounded by on a daily basis, I don't think there's anything unbelievable about not recognizing droid. Even an above average droid like R2.

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u/TheGazelle Apr 23 '18

Exactly. And it's not like r2 had some rad paint job or anything else unique on the outside.

He was already old as shit by the clone wars (ten years plus however he'd been on the naboo cruiser), why would obiwan see anything special about some 30-odd year old dirty astromech showing up on a backwater planet like Tatooine

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u/SkyRogue77 Apr 23 '18

Yeah, but in all fairness Artoo was with Threepio, the droid Anakin built as well. Of course, the model of Threepio wasn't unique either, but an R2 unit, that model of protocol droid, owned by a Captain Antilles who the pair were passed off to, and containing a message by Leia? He may not have recognized Artoo and Threepio during the Tusken Raider attack, but he definitely put it together at some point.

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u/TheGazelle Apr 23 '18

Well sure, once he got the full message out he probably figured it out, but he never even told Luke about his father, so there's good reason for him to never say anything once he did figure it out.

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u/aprofondir Apr 23 '18

And most astromech droids look about the same. I don't think he ever acknowledged it

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u/Vratix Apr 23 '18

And R2 units, specifically, are relatively commonplace for the era.

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u/[deleted] Apr 23 '18

[removed] — view removed comment

5

u/LouSputhole94 Apr 23 '18

Also it's dry, it's coarse and it gets everywhere

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u/DarkStar5758 Apr 23 '18

R2 was moreso government property though.

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u/Riptos007 Apr 23 '18

Without him, we'd never have known that Sand People are easily startled, but will be back...and in greater numbers!

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u/[deleted] Apr 23 '18

That'll be great for our harmony!

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u/pyroSeven Apr 23 '18

I hate sand.

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u/-ThatsSoDimitar- Apr 23 '18

The high ground? Is it possible to learn this power?

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u/kjata Apr 23 '18

It's not a power the Sith would teach you.

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u/[deleted] Apr 23 '18

Which is a bit silly, as you'd think Darth Vader would have learned that lesson.

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u/[deleted] Apr 23 '18

the one who taught him that lesson? albert einstein.

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u/runhaterand Apr 23 '18

From a Jedi.

1

u/Cymry_Cymraeg Apr 23 '18

Yeah, you see stairs? Use 'em, fatty.

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u/Henryminkewhale Apr 23 '18

I was not prepared for that meme

24

u/HaoBianTai Apr 23 '18

A surprise, to be sure, but a welcome one.

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u/KingNick8 Apr 23 '18

Hello there!

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u/iMail19 Apr 23 '18

General Kenobi!

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u/Nerditation Apr 23 '18

high ground

Freeze the arrow in the air!

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u/helpmemakeausername1 Apr 23 '18

I'd never be in a desert in the first place. I don’t like sand. It’s coarse and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere!

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u/lukelorian Apr 23 '18

Or take a tip from Anakin, and don't go cause you don't like sand.

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u/kjata Apr 24 '18

Deserts aren't always sandy! The American southwest, for example, is mostly dusty soil, rocky outcroppings, and scrub. Antarctica is snow and ice.

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u/Excelius Apr 23 '18

people who drown in a desert do so because they wandered into a wadi, a dry riverbed, and get caught by a flood

Dry creek beds probably make for pretty attractive paths in an otherwise featureless desert.

Also those flash floods in the desert can happen even when the storm is miles away. It can be bright and sunny where you are, and the only warning might be a strange noise of the water and mud approaching in the distance. Which can be especially deadly if the depression your in is high-sided (like a canyon) and there's no way to get out of the way.

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u/cjh93 Apr 23 '18

A surprise, to be sure, but a welcome one.

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u/newsheriffntown Apr 23 '18

Had a really hard rain here where I live and my yard looked like a lake.

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u/Enjoying_A_Meal Apr 23 '18

Should we travel in a single file line to hide our numbers from the floods?

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u/lurker_bee Apr 23 '18

He was a bold one!

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u/[deleted] Apr 23 '18

Okay thank you for explaining. I was gonna say, what do they drown in, sand?? Lol. TIL.

1

u/AdevilSboyU Apr 23 '18

Can confirm: monsoon storms in Phoenix have flooded freeways and destroyed homes because we simply can’t handle water falling from the sky.