Beautiful B-52 photo
I found this photo on flickr. It’s of the Arc Light memorial located at Andersen Air Force Base on Guam. The photographer, flicker user harogi, writes:
This is a 3 Exposure hand held HDR of the B-52 Bomber Stratofortress at the Arc Light Memorial on Andersen Air Force Base Guam, USA. I just had to stop by here before leaving back to Hawaii. Oversaturated.
I know this memorial quite well. I was stationed on Andersen Air Force Base. I used to run a lot back then and I had a route that took me around this memorial. I also spent a couple of days scrapping rust off it when it was being refurbished. At one time it was in very bad shape. The wet, salty air isn’t very kind to a B-52. For that reason planes were always swapped out after 12 months with a B-52 from the states. Maine to be exact.
This old D model sat in the corrosive Guam air for decades.
I love this photo. Click on the above photo to go to the flickr page where it’s located. Also check out the photographer’s other similarly stunning photos.
To read about what Arc Light was, you can check out this Wikipedia article.
Ron Paul supporters turn to the FCC when Fox News excludes their canidate from a debate
Ron Paul claims that he’s been excluded from a New Hampshire January 6 Republican debate being organized by Fox News. This is the weekend before the New Hampshire Primary. Ron Paul says he is being excluded because Fox News is scared of him. Why is Doctor Paul constantly questioning everyone’s bravery? First a recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor and now a cable news network.
Ron Paul’s Internet fans aren’t taking this exclusion sitting down. They are organizing a boycott against any company that advertises on Fox News. They have a list. They are getting the word out to all followers of Ron Paul to not to buy products from these companies.
One of these companies is Gold Bond. That means if a Ron Paul fan were to get a rash in an embarrassing place, they would have to turn elsewhere to get some instant relief. Let’s just hope that they go rash-free.
What’s even funnier is that some Ron Paul supporters are also advising fellow Ron Paul supporters to contact the FCC and complain. This is from a post on a Ron Paul message board:
I’m actually surprised that I haven’t seen this tactic posted yet. Along with advertisers, this is the other major weakness of broadcasters/networks.
The other critical items we can influence directly are the FCC broadcast license for each affiliate, AND FCC approval for station purchases/mergers/trades. By specifically targeting FCC approvals, your comments will have a LOT more long-term weight. Endangering the local affiliate’s license with enough negative comments in the right way will change their attitude from “It’s the network, nothing we can do” and largely ignoring you to actually calling the NewsCorp on your behalf saying “OMG, fix this NOW!”
Remember, the FCC threatened to hit EACH broadcast station with a 6-figure fine for the half-second “wardrobe malfunction” at the SuperBowl*.
This is funny for two different reasons. First, Ron Paul represents a political philosophy that believes a big federal government is bad. If he had his way, not only would the FCC cease to exist, so would the IRS, the Department of Education, the CIA, the FBI, and a whole host of other federal agencies. What do Ron Paul supporters do when they think their man has been slighted? They whine about it to a government agency.
It makes you wonder why they are Ron Paul supporters in the first place.
Secondly, the FCC doesn’t have any jurisdiction over Fox News. It’s a cable network, not a broadcast network. Whining to the FCC about something a cable network is a waste of time. Then again, why should that stop a Ron Paul supporter?
And why is Fox News excluding Ron Paul from the debate? Because there is no debate. It was canceled three weeks ago because of it’s close proximity with another similar event. Ron Paul had been invited to attend, but reportedly his staff never got back with the event organizers to confirm that he would attend.
Why would Fox News exclude someone like Ron Paul from the debate? Including Ron Paul ensures more people will watch. Not only his rabid die hard fan base, but people like me that think he’s a loon. I would watch just for the entertainment value. Who knows what he would say.
Cat 1, bratty kid 0
Video of some brat getting what’s coming to him. I love the fact that there are two adults just watching as a kid attempts to engage in some animal cruelty. I also assume that there is another adult holding the camera. By the looks of the video, it was probably a super 8 movie camera.
Karma’s a bitch.
Maybe Ron Paul is right about Abraham Lincoln
When Republican presidential hopeful Ron Paul proclaimed that Abraham Lincoln started the American Civil War, maybe he wasn’t talking about the same Abraham Lincoln everyone assumed he was talking about.
Maybe he was talking about Star Trek Abraham Lincoln.
Abraham Lincoln is one of our most beloved presidents. Star Trek Abraham Lincoln on the other hand can be a real asshole. I wouldn’t put it past Star Trek Abraham Lincoln to start a war. Can you say with unwaivering certainty that Star Trek Abraham Lincoln did not cause the American Civil War?
I didn’t think so.
I don’t trust Star Trek Abraham Lincoln. I never have. There is a reason the Red Shirts in the above photo have their phasers aimed squarely on Star Trek Abraham Lincoln. If there is one thing Red Shirts know is taking the proper precautions to be safe and secure. If you ever find yourself in an Away Team to some strange alien planet, stick close to the guys in the red shirts. They will keep you safe. At least the ones assigned to the U.S.S. Enterprise.
I have no doubt those phasers are set to Kill and not Stun. You cannot mess around when it comes to Star Trek Abraham Lincoln.
I may have to rethink my opinion on Ron Paul. If he is against Star Trek Abraham Lincoln, he can’t be all that bad. That doesn’t mean I would vote for him or put one of his stupid signs in my yard. One would have to be nutty as a suger-free fruitcake to do something like that.
Ron Paul really puts his foot in his mouth on MSNBC
Republican presidential hopeful Ron Paul did a phone interview this morning on MSNBC to respond to being called a “crackpot” by correspondent David Shuster. This was in response to Ron Paul’s factually incorrect and totally asinine assertion that Abraham Lincoln “started” the Civil War. Ron Paul went on to claim that the hosts of the morning show had simply not read the right history books concerning the Civil War. He even went on to tell host Jack Jacobs that he was not “brave enough” to read the right American history books.
Not brave enough?
Jack Jacobs is a retired Army Colonel and Congressional Medal of Honor recipient. He also holds three Bronze Stars, two Silver Stars, and two Purple Heart Medals.
Being that Ron Paul is a member of Congress, perhaps he has heard of the Congressional Medal of Honor. It’s the most revered and respected honor in the entire military. Not only is any recipient of the Medal of Honor brave, they are the epitome of bravery. If there is one thing a person who holds the Congressional Medal of Honor should never have to worry about is having their bravery called into question on national TV by a member of Congress. Even if that member of Congress is a whack-job.
When will Ron Paul’s followers realize their idol doesn’t deserve their unwaivering worship?
First Ron Paul said that Abraham Lincoln started the Civil War. Now he claims a distinguished war hero isn’t brave enough to read a certain history book. What will Ron Paul say next? Whatever it is, it’s sure to be entertaining.
Update: Video from Ron Paul’s interview is now up on YouTube, but the first part where he claims Col. Jack Jacobs is not brave enough to read a book that says Lincoln started the Civil War is missing from the video. I was able to find an audio only version that includes the statement by Ron Paul. It’s right about at the 6:40 mark.
Ron Paul thinks Abraham Lincoln started the Civil War
Republican presidential hopeful and all around crackpot Ron Paul was on Meet The Press this past weekend and capitalized on the opportunity by showing America just how kooky he is. He blamed Abraham Lincoln, arguably our most beloved president of starting the Civil War. This from MSNBC:
Paul repeated his claim that Abraham Lincoln should not have started the Civil War to get rid of slavery. “Six-hundred-thousand Americans died in the senseless Civil War,” he said. “No, he should not have gone to war. He did this just to enhance and get rid of the original tenet of the Republic,” he told NBC’s Tim Russert.
“Slavery was phased out in every other country in the world,” Paul continued, responding to the question if America would still have slavery had there not been the Civil War. “The way I’m proposing that it should have been done is do it like the British Empire did — you buy the slaves and release them. How much would that cost compared to killing 600,000 Americans?… I mean, that doesn’t sound too radical to me. That sounds like a pretty reasonable approach.”
Except “buying the slaves” would give credence to the idea that humans can be bought and sold like farm animals. That was kind of the whole point in abolishing slavery.
People are not livestock.
Lincoln did not choose to go to war. The war came to him. The United States did not declare war against the Confederacy. The Confederacy declared war against the United States. The southern states illegally seceded from the United States one by one in reaction to Lincoln winning the election. They feared that Lincoln would abolish slavery. Lincoln only called from states to provide troops to assist retaking U.S. forts in southern states after the Battle of Fort Sumter.
A part of me feels sorry for Ron Paul supporters. I understand why they gravitate towards him and his candidacy. Ron Paul is the only anti-Iraq war candidate on the Republican side. Unlike most candidates in either party, Paul comes out and clearly says what he believes. It’s refreshing. The problem is that some of the stuff he comes out and says that he believes in is just plain wrong. Not philosophically wrong, but factually wrong. Like that Lincoln stated the Civil War or that a fertilized egg is a human being. To be a Ron Paul supporter, you have to chose to ignore an awful lot.
It is a Christmas miracle!
Through some loophole in the rules that govern the holiday known as Christmas, agreeing with your spouse that you will not exchange gifts this year does not include one person giving the other an XBox 360. Sheri surprised me this year by giving my an XBox 360 system. It includes the the game console, a 20 gig hard drive, two (2) wireless controllers, a headset, and a cool looking messenger bag. It also came with some games – Marvel Ultimate Alliance, Forza 2 Motorsport, and Halo 3.
She told me she bought it a month ago from Wal-Mart Online. She said it doesn’t break our no-gift agreement because she plans on using it as much as me. She has a point. It also technically isn’t a Christmas gift because she gave it to me two days ago. Who am I to question it?
I bought a wireless network adapter for it. I wanted to be able to use it online so I could enjoy the pleasure of 14 year old nerd-boys fragging me at Halo 3. Plus, I wanted to be able to stream media files from my PC to my TV. The XBox 360 allows me to do just that. I created a shared video folder on my PC and placed all of my avi videos in it. I then added them to my library in Microsoft Media 11. Now I can watch all of my videos on my 42 inch HD TV in the living room. What surprised me was the picture quality. It’s really quite good. Excellent in fact. Just to have the ability to stream digital media from my PC makes the XBox a worthwhile investment.
We had been talking about getting a Wii. I asked Sheri why she bought an XBox 360 if she wanted a Wii. She told me that she wanted both. That sounds good to me.
Tee Morris vs Brother Love
There is a feud going on in the podcasting community between singer Brother Love, a superstar in the world of podsafe music and frequent guest of the Keith and The Girl podcast and author Tee Morris, a man who may be best known for writing Podcasting For Dummies. I honestly had never heard of the guy. I’m not a podcaster and I’m not a dummy. At least most of the time.
The two men got into this past summer at the New Media Expo in Ontario California. Being that it transpired at the New Media Expo, the whole exchange was captured on a digital recorder. Imagine that.
The argument stemmed from something that happened prior at this past Dragon*Con. Brother Love was to speak at one of the panels dealing with Creative Commons until he was scratched from the event at the last minute without any prior warning. He didn’t find out until he attempted to go on stage and take his seat. Understandably he was irritated over this. He had spend time promoting his appearance at Dragon*Con and this one panel had been the only panel he had planned on participating in. He voiced his displeasure to Derek and Swoopy, the event organizers and the team that produce the Skepticality Podcast.
How does this involve Tee Morris? Evidently, he is friends with Derek and Swoopy and he didn’t appreciate how Brother Love spoke to his friends.
Not only was the entire argument between Brother Love and Tee Morris recorded, it was played in it’s entirety on The Keith and The Girl podcast (episode 589: A Hero’s Return) the next time Brother Love was a guest. The segment begins at about the 18 minute mark.
Tee Morris might have been irritated with Brother Love over something that happened at Dragon*Con, it’s nothing compared to what he feels about Keith and The Girl playing the audio of the argument on their show. He’s also extremely angry with Brother Love, though I don’t really understand why. The audio wasn’t recorded by Brother Love. It was recorded unbeknown to him by someone who was there. Brother Love said he didn’t know a recorder was going during the argument. Keith and The Girl said they got the audio not from Brother Love, but by the person that recorded it.
Tee Morris is making the claim that recording the argument between Brother Love and his was a crime. He claims that you must have permission to record someone, even if it is in a public place in complete earshot of everyone there. Even if that public place is an event called the New Media Expo. Personally, I would assume everything said in public at the New Media Expo was on MP3 somewhere. I doubt I would be wrong.
If you want to hear exactly what Tee Morris thinks about all this, you can listen to Keith and The Girl, episode 641: Happy Jeremymas. They have the audio of a commentary made by Tee Morris concerning this whole thing. It’s the final seven minutes of the show.
It’s irritating to listen to. Tee Morris refers to Keith and The Girl as “Amateur Hour” and Brother Love as “Dink”. I’m not sure why he feels the need to give them codenames. It seems to me that if you are going to go to the trouble of trashing someone, you might as well make it clear just who you are trashing. There actually is a podcast called The Amateur Hour. Now it seems that Tee Morris has a problem with a podcast he has probably never heard of.
Why is Tee Morris so upset about the audio being made public? I can only imagine it’s because he comes off sounding like a complete douche. Not only when he is discussing his perceived problems with Brother Love/Dink, but what he says afterwards. When he learns that Brother Love is Jewish, he shares that his “first time” was with a “Jewish redhead” and that he has the scars to prove it. I’m not entirely sure I understand what he meant by that. I thought he was talking about the first time he had sex, but why would that leave scars?
I think that if it left scars, he was doing it wrong. I guess he should have read Having Sex With Jewish Redheads For Dummies.
The Dark Knight trailer
As if I wasn’t already looking forward to the summer.
Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert to cross the picket line
The Daily Show and The Colbert Report look to be returning with new episodes after the first of the year. From the LA Times:
Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert joined their late-night comrades Thursday in announcing that they would reluctantly return to the air next month without their writers.
After a previously scheduled two-week hiatus, “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart” and “The Colbert Report” will resume production Jan. 7, Comedy Central said in a statement released late Thursday afternoon.
Stewert and Colbert are members of the WGA. Both of them will in effect be writing their own material for the respective shows. Doesn’t this mean that they are scabs? It certainly seems that way to me. They as members of the WGA will go on to enjoy any advancements the WGA secures as a result of this strike. It just seems unethical for them to cross the picket line now and go back to making new episodes.
I’m not going to pretend that I agree with this strike. I think most of what they are fighting for is silly and not important. With that said, if you are a member of the WGA, you ought to respect your own union and your fellow union members. You ought to be respecting your own strike.
As far as I can tell, both Stewart and Colbert are scabs.
Ultimates 3 #1
Writer: Jeph Loeb
Pencils: Joe Madureira
Colorist: Chris Lichtner
I really got my money’s worth with this book. Usually I only read a comic once. With this book, I read it twice. Not because I enjoyed it so much that I had to experience the joy one more time. No, I read it again because I didn’t understand what happened.
The art was nice looking, but I couldn’t really figure out what what transpiring from one panel to the next. The colors were extremely dark. I thought the story was going to include Venom and Magneto. They were on the cover. I don’t remember seeing them in the book. Then again, it was kind of dark in there.
I did enjoy the part were Captain America told Wanda the Scarlet Witch that she needed to show less skin when she went out in public. I didn’t like the part that showed Wanda and Pietro in a romantic relationship. With each other. They are brother and sister. That’s creepy and disgusting even for mutants.
EBay wants to ditch the ‘fleamarket’ feel
John Donahoe, a muckety-muck over at Ebay, wants to do a major overhaul to the site so that it can shed the fleamarket stink eBay has developed lately.
I wish him the best of luck with that.
EBay used to be a great place to go to find stuff. It used to be a place where people went to unload their stuff to other people that wanted their stuff. Stuff was always sold in the timed auction format. You knew exactly how long something would remain up for auction. You could bid on stuff you wanted and then wait to see if you were the high bidder. It was actually a lot of fun.
Something happened to eBay a long the way. It became less of an auction site and more of a place for professional junk peddlers to sell their crap. They don’t use the auction format. They list things using a set sale price.
In other words, a fleamarket.
If John Donahoe truly wants to clear the fleamarket stink from eBay, he will find a way to clear the merchants and their eBay storefronts from the site. Return it to the timed auction format where regular people go to bid on stuff from other regular people.
Like I stated earlier, I wish him the best of luck with that.
Digital Rights Management (DRM) is a blight on civilized society
I recently upgraded my cellphone to a Motorola RAZR. Not only is it the best cell phone I’ve ever owned, it does all sorts of neat stuff such as playing an MP3 file as a ringtone. I’ve been using the generic ringtones because I haven’t had a way of transfering an MP3 file to my phone. That was until this past weekend. I purchased a software package that allows me to transfer picture files to use as wallpaper and MP3 files to use as ringtones. It came bundled with a USB cable along with adapters for most cellphones.The software allows you to edit down a sound file to a more manageable size. I made a 20 second MP3 of the hook from BLACK HOLE SUN by Soundgarden and it turned out great. After that turned out so swimmingly, I decided I would try something else. I decided to convert over PUNKROCKER by Teadybears. It features Iggy Pop doing the vocals. It was used recently in a car commercial. I don’t remember which. I had purchased the song on iTunes. Every time the commercial would play, I would end up playing the song in my head. It’s a cool song.
When I tried to convert the file over to an MP3, iTunes informed me that I was not allowed because it protected.
I paid for this song. I can play it on my PC. I can play it on my iPod. I just can’t play 25 seconds of it on my phone.
Digital Rights Management (DRM) is a blight on civilized society. It’s an unnecessary obsticle getting between me and the music I paid for. If I want to hear, “well I’m a punkrocker, yes I am” every time my phone rings, I have to burn the song to a disc and then import the one-song disc back over as an MP3. What a waste of my time. And to think this is what I get for actually paying for the song instead of jumping on The Pirate Bay and downloading it.
Thanks. Thanks a lot.
WGA writers get shafted out of residuals from iTunes?
Recently actors from the hit NBC television show Heroes picketed outside Universal Studios. Not the part that is a cheesy amusement park with the fake looking giant shark, but the part that is the actual movie studio. Someone from Comic Book Resources was on hand and was able to write about it.
Greg Grunberg, the actor that plays Parkman on Heroes said something interesting. This from the CBR article:
Grunberg characterized the AMPTP’s position on the issues “ridiculous.” “When a musician puts out a record that becomes a CD and then becomes an online digital download, they still make the same amount of money,” Grunberg said. “Why isn’t the same true for a writer?”
This is something I’ve heard said before. B.J. Novak, actor and writer for The Office said something quite similar in the YouTube video I linked to earlier.
It’s not true. The writers have been getting residuals on iTunes downloads all along. When the consumer pays for a download, the writers get their residual just like they would if the consumer paid for a DVD instead of a download.
I’m not sure if this misinformation is perpetrated on purpose or if it’s simply a case of the people involved not understanding the specifics. Most people that read about the strike or watch YouTube videos about the strike know about iTunes. Most of them have probably purchased media from iTunes. I’m sure it resonates with these people when they hear that writers don’t get paid from iTunes downloads they have paid for.
That doesn’t make it true.
Mike Huckabee lies about having a theology degree
Mike Huckabee last month in a post-debate interview:
I’m as strong on terror as anybody. In fact I think I’m stronger than most people because I truly understand the nature of the war that we are in with Islamofascism. These are people that want to kill us. It’s a theocratic war. And I don’t know if anybody fully understands that. I’m the only guy on that stage with a theology degree. I think I understand it really well.”
Mike Huckabee after being outed as a liar by the conservative blog Powerline:
I have a bachelor of arts in religion and a minor in communications in my undergraduate work. And then I have 46 hours on a master’s degree at Southwestern Theology Seminary. So, my degree as a theological degree is at the college level and then 46 hours toward a masters — three years of study of New Testament Greek, and then the rest of it, all in Seminary was theological studies, but my degree was actually in religion.
I’m not surprised that Huckabee was only lying when he claimed to have a theology degree. I remember when he said it and I remember thinking that it was an interesting aspect of Huckabee that set him apart from any other candidate. Most politicians are former lawyers. I was reminded of the fact that Huckabee held a theology degree when he made the derogatory comment about the Mormon faith. I thought it was strange that someone with a theology degree would be so ignorant about a major American religion.
Huckabee’s ignorance now makes more sense. He was lying about the theology degree.
Nintendo to offer Wii rainchecks
I read an article in the LA Times that since Nintendo can’t make enough Wii game consoles to satisfy consumer demand, they will do the next best thing – they will begin selling rain checks. They are calling them “Wii Certificates”. Nintendo hopes to squash criticism and stop prospective customers from defecting over to one of the rival game systems.
We’ve been thinking about getting a Wii. They look like a lot of fun and they don’t cost nearly as much as Sony’s Playstation 3 or Microsoft’s XBox 360. Plus with a Wii, it only comes one way. The XBox 360 and the Playstation 3 both come in different models and editions. It’s confusing. I’ve never really understood the difference between the different versions. For instance, the XBox 360 comes in a special Halo 3 edition except it doesn’t even come with the Halo 3 game.
The Wii only comes one way.
I’ve looked for them every time I go to a retail store that sells them. Though I always see enough Playstation 3 and XBox 360 consoles to choke a goat, I’ve never seen a Wii. They’ve been out a year now and I still haven’t seen one for sale.
More on the legalities of downloading comic books
Todd Allen of Comic Book Resources interviews lawyer Darren S. Cahr (AKA Super Lawyer) concerning the intricacies involved with trademark and copyright laws and how they pertain to the use of BitTorrent technology to share comic books. Marvel and DC have recently begun taking steps to stop BitTorrent sites from sharing comic book scans.
From the Comic Book Resources article:
The question is, if you own a physical copy of the comic, is it still illegal to download a digital copy?
“Yes,” says our Super Lawyer, “just as if you own a copy of a comic book you can’t simply take another copy of the same issue from a
store . At least that is the position of the publishing and music industries.”
So the touted Super Lawyer is equating downloading a digital copy of a comic you already legally own to going into a store and stealing a physical issue. The big difference is that when you steal a physical comic, that result for the store is one less copy to sell. That is something that doesn’t happen when you download a digital copy of a comic. Another difference is that a digital scan of a comic is not the same thing as a physical paper comic. One is made of ones and zeros and must be viewed on a computer. The other is printed on paper and involves ink and some staples.
A physical comic and a digital copy of a comic are different from one another. They are not the same thing. Even someone who is not a Super Lawyer can easily tell the difference between the two.
I’m not sure why someone would even want two physical copies of a comic, but I can see why someone would want the physical version and a digital version of the same comic.
Also from the article:
Is it really a good idea to go after some of your more regular customers? This is slippery slope on both sides. On the other hand, there’s something the torrent crowd needs to accept, that they’ve been screaming to the hills about, and that’s the cease and desist letter. Did it occur to anyone that someone like Marvel has to send those letters to maintain their trademarks?
Describing the BitTorrent “crowd” reacting to the cease and desist letter as “screaming to the hills” isn’t really necessary or productive. It’s comes across as unnecessarily snarky. Both sides should be able to discuss this issue without resorting to making insulting remarks about the other side.
When will Marvel and DC send similar cease and desist letters to artists that sketch comic book characters for money? There are artists making money sketching characters they don’t own the rights to. If Marvel and DC are going to go after those that infringe on their intellectual properties, they ought to be consistent. People are making a nice profit infringing on Marvel and DC intellectual properties. It’s not the BitTorrent crowd.
One annoying aspect of the article is the author evidently felt the need to dumb everything down so we comic book nerds could understand the concepts involved. He referred to the BitTorrent controversy as “Secret Torrent
Who is Allen writing this article for, 12 year olds?
10 things people need to know before going on Judge Judy
I like watching Judge Judy. I find it extremely entertaining. I find the whole process of two people going before a televised small claims court and arguing their case in front of millions of people entirely fascinating. Ironically, I get the feeling that many of the litigants going before Judge Judy have never bothered to watch the show.
That’s too bad.
I can not help but think that if they had simply watched a few episodes of Judge Judy, they may have learned things that would have helped them avoid a lot of grief and very public humiliation.
These things include:
- Before you appear in Judge Judy’s court, you will be required to submit a written statement detailing your case. Much of what Judge Judy decides will be determined from your written statement. Make sure you do a good job on your written statement. Get someone who is smarter then you to help you with your written statement. Study your written statement before you appear on the show. Do not come into her courtroom and contradict your own written statement.
- Um is not an answer. She hates it when when people preface an answer with um. Do not do it. It is preferable to have a few seconds of uncomfortable silence then for you to preface your answer with um.
- Stand up straight and do not cross your arms. Do not lean on the table.
- Look her in the eye when you speak to her. Do not look away or off to the side.
- Do not raise your hand just because you think you have something to say. You will get your turn to speak.
- If it appears you are winning the case, stop talking. Do not interrupt Judge Judy to add anything while she is questioning the other litigant.
- Answer simple questions with either Yes or No, or preferably Yes your Honor or No your Honor.
- If you have evidence to present to Judge Judy, do not attempt to approach the bench and physically hand it to her. Officer Petri Byrd (the bailiff) will stop working on his crossword puzzle and come to you to gather your evidence and present it to her. Under no circumstances should you leave your table and approach Judge Judy.
- Do not tell her something someone who is not in the courtroom supposedly said. She will tell you that it is hearsay and she will not listen to hearsay. Judge Judy does not like hearsay. It does not matter how you try to reword it.
- Dress for the show as if you were going on a job interview. The less skin showing, the better. Think about leaving any exposed body piercings at home.
Lets be Digg friends!
Click this link and you and me will be Digg friends.
http://www.digg.com/invitefrom/BentCorner
You need to have an account with Digg, but I you probably already have one. Most people do, right?
The Sensational Spider-Man #41
Writer J. Michael Straczynski
Pencils: Joe Quesada
Inker: Danny Miki
Colorist: Richard Isanove
This book turned out not to be nearly has bad as I thought it was going to be. My expectations were extremely low. The Internet told me what was supposed to happen in this story. Plus, the cover looks remarkably like a cover of Wizard magazine. I can’t help but think that’s a bad sign.
It really wasn’t that mad. I still don’t agree with the path this story is taking the Spider-Man franchise. I’ve already explained why that is. Straczynski’s writing is up to it’s usual greatness and Quesada certainly knows what to do with the pointy end of a pencil.
This comic cost a whole $3.99 and the story was over before I even hit the staples. The rest of the book contained a long and detailed bio on Mephisto (Satan). Stuff you wont find in the Bible. It also contains a reprint of THE SILVER SURFER #3. It’s the first appearance of the Mephisto.
It wasn’t that bad.
Mike Huckabee asks: “Don’t Mormons believe that Jesus and the devil are brothers?”
Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee has once again gone out of his way to say something incredibly stupid. This time it’s about the Mormon faith. In an upcoming article to be published in Sunday’s New York Times Magazine, Huckabee reportedly asks the question to the reporter interviewing him for the magazine. They had been discussing fellow presidential hopeful Mitt Romney who is Mormon.
Huckabee is pretending is was a simple question about something he didn’t understand taken totally out of context. I’m not buying it. Mike Huckabee should know a thing or two about the Mormon religion. He is an ordained Southern Baptist minister. He received a B.A. in theology from Ouachita Baptist University in 1975 and an M.A. in theology from Southwestern Baptist Theology Seminary in 1980. If there is one thing this man should know, it’s about religion.
The Mormon faith is a major religion in this county. Wikipedia says that there are over 6.7 million Mormons in this county. How can a man that holds two degrees in religion pretend to be so dense about another religion that he could pose such a crass and ridiculous question? He needs to treat Mormonism with as much respect as he would like others to show his own particular faith. I would think a theologian would know that.
Mike Huckabee is an idiot.
Kristen Bell as Slave Girl Leia
From the upcoming movie Fanboys.
Gillian Anderson has been found!
I’ve always wondered what happened to Agent Dana Scully from the the TV show The X-Files. Gillian Anderson seemed to fall off radar (cue spooky music) after The X-Files went off the air. I regularly see David Duchovny pop up, but not Gillian Anderson. Until now.
She will be appearing as one of the hosts this January on PBS’ Masterpiece Theatre. She will host the first 10 episodes.
Stick a fork in Huckabee, he is done
Evidently Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee has a hard time telling the difference between AIDS and a highly contagious and scary disease from the middle ages. Back in 1992 when he was trying to become a U.S. senator, he answered 229 questions submitted to him by The Associated Press. I have to think somebody at the AP kept Huckabee’s answers in a special file. The file was probably entitled, “WHACK JOB”.
Among the things advocated by Huckabee:
- He wrote that, “If the federal government is truly serious about doing something with the AIDS virus, we need to take steps that would isolate the carriers of this plague.”
- He suggested that Hollywood celebrities fund AIDS research from their own pockets, rather than federal health agencies.
- He wrote that, “It is difficult to understand the public policy towards AIDS. It is the first time in the history of civilization in which the carriers of a genuine plague have not been isolated from the general population, and in which this deadly disease for which there is no cure is being treated as a civil rights issue instead of the true health crisis it represents.”
In case you don’t remember, by 1992 we already knew that you couldn’t catch HIV or AIDS from casual contact with those that were infected. As far as infectious diseases go, it’s fairly difficult to contract. You don’t get it from shaking hands with someone or sitting next to them on a bus. Unless you are exchanging bodily fluids with someone who is either HIV positive or has AIDS, you have nothing to worry about.
Even back in 1992, people knew the idea of putting people with AIDS in special camps was a dumb idea. Everyone except Mike Huckabee.
What does Joe Quesada have against marriage?
I don’t normally read Spider-Man comics. That doesn’t mean I don’t recognize the character as one of the most popular characters that Marvel Comics has. He’s a very popular character. Just not with me.
I was surprised to read on the Interents that Marvel Comics is going to do a major change to the character. Spider-Man, aka Peter Parker is married to his high school sweet heart Mary Jane. Marvel’s Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada has never liked the fact that Peter Parker was married. He supposedly thinks it makes the character non-relatable to the younger readers.
Marvel Comics has younger readers? And to think I thought the kids were reading creepy Japanese manga where everyone has the really big eyes.
So Joe Quesada thinks Spider-Man being married makes youthful readers less inclined to relate to him? Never mind the fact that he can shoot web goo from his wrists and that he has superhuman strength and dexterity. It’s the whole “married thing” that confuses the youngsters and makes it so they can’t relate to him.
The most retarded thing about this whole story is how they are going to make him non-married. Instead of just having him divorce Mary Jane, they are going to place him in a situation where his Aunt May is going to die. The Devil (seriously, the Devil) makes a deal with Spider-Man: The Devil will save Aunt May if he agrees that his relationship and his marriage with Mary Jane will have never happened. Aunt May will live, but Peter and Mary Jane will not only not be married, they will have no memories of even knowing each other.
That has got to be the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard of.
Who in their right mind would give up the love of their life just so their enfeebled old aunt can defy nature and go on living? Aunt May has lived a full life. It’s time for her to go join Uncle Ben.
Joe Quesada must really hate being married. If this even sounds slightly plausible to him, his wife is in trouble.
I’m willing to bet the TV in Joe Quesada’s bathroom that this has less to do with appealing to youthful readers and more to do with getting publicity in the mainstream press. I think Quesada is addicted to seeing his name in the USA TODAY.
Comic book artist Jamal Igle is against copyright infringment?
There has been a spirited debate among funny book nerds over on the Newsarama forums concerning the Z-Cult FM comic book BitTorrent controversy. Comic book artist Jamal Igle has been weighing in on the matter from his prospective. Even though the comic book industry has enjoyed a steady rise in sales during the time Z-Cult FM has been in existence, Jamal believes people that BitTorrent comic books cost professionals such as him money.
In fact, he believes that people that do it should be prosecuted:
Bit torrents of copyright material for mass downloading and file sharing are illegal and should be prosecuted.
Prosecuted? Jamal seemingly thinks it’s wrong to reproduce copyrighted material except when he’s the one that is doing it. Like many comic book artists, Jamal frequently attends comic book conventions and does commissioned artwork of licensed comic book characters that he does not own or have the rights to.
Using BitTorrent to share digital scans of comic books and producing unauthorized comic book art for sale are both illegal. One of the two is done to make some extra money and the other isn’t.
It’s true that comic book publishers know that many of their artists do commission work on the side using their licensed properties and they choose to turn a blind eye to it. They used to do the same thing to the people the used BitTorrent for comics. Marvel and DC Comics never seemed to care about Z-Cult FM. Now they do.
Obviously things change.
If comic book publishers don’t think commissioned sketches adversely effect their bottom line, they are wrong. Comic book fans only have so much money to spend at a comic book convention. Every single dollar they spend on high priced, unauthorized comic book art is one less dollar they have to spend on licensed, authorized products. If I was a vendor at a comic book convention and I paid money to set up a booth on the sales floor so I could sell licensed, authorized comic books and collectibles, I wouldn’t like the fact that a substantial amount of money was being spent on unlicensed artwork in Artist Alley.
If comic publishers want to crack down on copyright infringement, then they need to be consistent about it. They shouldn’t just single out people who upload scans of comic books while turning a blind eye to comic book artists that crank out $500 Wolverine sketches at comic book conventions.
They can’t have it both ways.
Michael George murder trial to begin February 26
A trial date has been set for comic book retailer and Pittsburgh Comicon organizer Michael George. His trial has been scheduled to begin February 26 in Michigan. The trial is scheduled to last two weeks.
George stands accused of murdering his wife, Barbara George, 17 years ago execution style in the comic book shop they both owned. Investigators initially believed that that the murder was the result of a robbery gone bad. George claimed at the time that many high-value comic books were missing from the store. He filed an insurance claim against the missing books and received $13,000 from his insurance company.
It’s the prosecutor’s contention that no comic books were stolen and that the story of missing books was made up by George to make it look like a robbery. Both cash registers in the store still contained money and Barbara George still had all of her jewelry when they found her. A witness will testify that George was in the shop at around the time of the murder. The witness is claiming that he called the comic book shop at around the time of the murder and spoke to Michael George.
Michael George claims that he was asleep on his mother’s sofa at the time of the murder. His mother and his then 4-year old daughter will testify that he was asleep on the sofa. Neighbors will also testify that they remember Michael George’s vehicle parked in front of his mother’s house at the time of the murder.
No physical evidence links Michael George to the murder. The weapon used to kill Barbara George has not been found.
Yet another reason cops should not have Tasers
Eugene Snelling gets Tasered by corporal Thomas O’Connor of the Austin Police Department for not giving him his driver’s license and proof of insurance fast enough. Eugene Snelling was driving 70 mph in a 65 mph zone. He is also black. I can’t help but think that had a lot to do with it. A black man driving a whole five miles an hour faster then the posted speed limit on the interstate then getting all uppity when the white officer immediately begins to yell at him.
The BBC interviews The Pirate Bay
Dan Simmons, a reporter with the BBC, interviews Fredrik Neij and Peter Sunde from The Pirate Bay. It’s an interesting read:
Those behind the site say they do not fall foul of those laws because it acts as a search engine and does not directly host any of the content
But although it may not break Swedish laws that has not prevented the authorities from trying to close it down. Last year police raided the building and seized its servers.But what the authorities did not expect were the public protests that followed.
In the main the protesters were angry about the US film industry telling their parliament what to do. They believed that senior US politicians forced their government to shut The Pirate Bay down, even though it was not doing anything illegal under Swedish law. And that really sparked public debate.
I think part of the problem with copyright law is that not only is it different from one country to the next, it’s a line in the sand that is constantly moving. What’s in the public domain and what isn’t? Take Disney. They have earned billions of dollars through the years making movies based on stories and characters in the public domain. They didn’t create Snow White, Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, etc. They were characters created by other people a long time ago. These characters now reside in the public domain.
When it was about time for one of Disney’s own creations, Micky Mouse, to finally fall into the public domain, they successfully got the law changed by lining the pockets of the politicians that sponsored the 1998 Copyright Term Extension Act.
Where would Disney be today without stories and characters in the public domain?
More proof that Wizard magazine is irrelevant
Wizard magazine has been the target of criticism from online female comic book fans over the fact that the magazine now labels itself as the #1 men’s pop culture magazine. My opinion has always been that it doesn’t matter what Wizard calls itself.
Wizard magazine is irrelevant.
A monthly magazine sold at grocery stores dedicated to superhero comic books may have had a place in the 1990’s. We are now nearly eight years into the twenty-first century. A monthly comic book magazine can’t hope to compete with the likes of Newsarama, Comic Book Resources, ICv2, The Beat, The Comics Reporter, Journalista, or the hundreds of blogs dedicated to comic books.
By the time you read about something on the pages of Wizard magazine it’s already old news. Chances are you already read about it a couple of months ago online.
It appears now that Wizard isn’t even relevant as far as a printed magazine is concerned. The UK magazine Empire is the first to show a full image of Heath Ledger as the Joker from the upcoming Batman movie. Click on the photo to see a much larger version.
If Wizard was relevant, this photo would have first appeared on it’s cover, not on the front of Empire.
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Comment moderation is for asshats
If there is one thing I hope 2008 brings is an end to comment moderation. You read an interesting blog post and you decide to leave a comment. You put your thoughts down in the most coherent way that you can, making sure your grammar is correct and your spelling is right. You then type in the series of fuzzy letters and numbers appearing on the screen to prove that you are not a robot. Why is it that a robot can be programed to drive around on the surface of Mars and send back photos but it can’t be programed to type “er57z” when it appears on the screen?
You then press Enter and wait for your comment to appear. Instead of seeing the comment you just posted, you see a message that says something like this:
Why must my comment be approved? I typed in the short string of fuzzy numbers and letters proving that I was not a robot. Why then do I have to have my comment approved?
I just don’t see the point. Why do some bloggers do this? What are they afraid people are going to say? Are they worried that they are going to be called a derogatory name or that a disparaging thing is going to be said about their blog? If so, it’s time to grow up. Stop being such a pussy. Either let people leave comments or don’t. Don’t insist on micromanaging each little thing someone has to say. It’s pathetic.
The thing I hate the most about bloggers that insist on approving comments is that they never inform you ahead of time that they will need to approve your comment. They could save everyone a whole bunch of time by letting that fact be known ahead of time. Not only do I not what to leave a comment if it must first be approved, I don’t want to read comments left by other readers. If the comment section doesn’t truly reflect what other readers are thinking, I don’t want to waste my time reading it.