I'm Glad Global Warming is Just a Liberal Lie

Otherwise I might be worried by the 107F temperatures here today and tomorrow. Happy to know this is just a fluke and not the start of a pattern.

It must be great to be Republican and so blissfully ignorant of any uncomfortable truths.

Time Waits for No Man

The Los Angeles Times reported today that AT&T will be discontinuing the "Time of Day" service as of September 17th. Their reason is that, "In today's world, there are just too many other ways to get this information. You can look at your cellphone or your computer. You no longer have to pick up the telephone."

Yeah, I guess so. I mean, I haven't used the service in decades, but I remember using it all the time when I was a kid. It was one of the first cool things my brother Keith showed me how to do. For those in the area, the number is 853-1212. I think when I was little you only had to dial the 31212, but back then all local calls were only five digits (Yeesh, am I old!).

Even still, and this may sound real silly, but I'm gonna miss that service I never use. It just feels like another part of my childhood has died, like slide rules and Neru jackets.

40 Years Ago Today From DC Comics -- Strange Adventures #205

Strange Adventures #205 (On Sale: August 29, 1967) is a classic masterpiece, the introduction of Arnold Drake's Deadman in a chilling and brilliant cover by Carmine Infantino and George Roussos, featuring what Drake called, "the best bit of writing I ever did," the caption:

"This man who was just murdered is our hero! His story begins on minute later -- Introducing... Deadman"

Inside we have the wonderful "Who Has Been Lying in My Grave?" by Arnold Drake, Carmine Infantino and George Roussos. Boston Brand, a trapeze artist and minority owner of a circus, walks the circus grounds before his nightly performance as the aerialist Deadman. He discovers a local constable poking around the grounds and chases him away. He then discovers that Leary the barker is stealing from the box office. He also catches Heldrich the animal trainer getting drunk. He fires Heldrich, then heads to the big top.

After reaching the top of the trapeze, Boston is shot by a sniper with a hook for a right hand. He falls to his death. Then his astral form is met by Rama Kushna, a Hindu spirit goddess. Rama allows Boston to walk the Earth as a spirit until his killer is caught.

Boston, now truly a Deadman, begins the search for his killer by checking up on the circus performers. He discovers that he is invisible, but can temporarily take control of human bodies. While inhabiting the body of Tiny the strongman, Deadman discovers Heldrich and Ramsey, the constable, making a drug deal. Deadman stops the crooks, then resumes the search for the killer, the Hook. Reprinted in Brave and the Bold #97, DC Special Blue Ribbon Digest #5 and Deadman #1.

I came late to Deadman, as I hadn't really started collecting comics till next month. but once I found him I quickly found all the old issues and was simply blown away by the concept and the execution. As far as I'm concerned, this book marks the beginning of the Infantino reign at DC and the beginning of my golden age of comics. New ideas, new characters, new concepts were all coming to DC and this book was the first shot across the bow of the stodgy old DC. My copy of Strange Adventures #205 was in very good shape when I bought it, but is now tattered and ragged after a multitude of readings. This was simply one of the best comics I ever read.

Jack Miller takes over as Editor.

The Rats Have Fled!

From Daily Kos, a list of departures from the Bush administration since November's elections:

1) Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense: GONE. Resigned November 8, 2006.
2) John R. Bolton, Ambassador to the United Nations: GONE. Resigned December 5, 2006.
3) Harriet E. Miers, White House Counsel: GONE. Resigned January 4, 2007.
4) Peter Wehner, White House Director of Strategic Initiatives: GONE. Resigned March 29, 2007.
5) Meghan O'Sullivan, Deputy National Security Adviser: GONE. Resigned April 2, 2007.
6) J.D. Crouch II, Deputy National Security Adviser: GONE. Resigned May 4, 2007.
7) Sara M. Taylor, White House Director of Political Affairs: GONE. Resigned Late May, 2007.
8) Dan Bartlett, White House Counselor: GONE. Resigned June 2, 2007.
9) Rob Portman, OMB Director: GONE. Resigned June 19, 2007.
10) KARL FREAKIN' ROVE, Prince of Darkness: GONE. Resignation effective August 31, 2007.
11) Alberto Gonzales, Attorney General: Resignation effective September 17, 2007.

And from TPMuckraker.com comes a list of Justice Department Resignations:

1) Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, today.
2) Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty announced his resignation May 14th.
3) Acting Associate Attorney General William Mercer (the Department's #3) announced that he was withdrawing his nomination for the position June 22nd.
4) Kyle Sampson, Gonzales' chief of staff, resigned March 13th.
5) Department White House liaison Monica Goodling resigned April 6th.
6) Michael Elston, McNulty's chief of staff, resigned June 15th.
7) Executive Director of the Executive Office of United States Attorneys Michael Battle, announced his resignation in mid-February.
8) Bradley Schlozman, an attorney in the Counsel to the Director staff at the Executive Office for United States Attorneys, formerly the U.S. attorney for Kansas City and a former acting assistant attorney for the Civil Rights Division, resigned mid August.
9) Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division Wan Kim was another notable resignation (on August 23rd), although Kim's troubles were unrelated to the firings scandal.

Litmus Test for Congress

No recesses until there is a new Attorney General, no matter how long it takes and anyone involved with the debacle that is Homeland Security should not even be considered.

Litmus Test for New AG

1. To what have you sworn allegiance to uphold: the president or the constitution?
2. Where does the right to executive privilege end?
3. Would you prosecute members and ex-members of the president's cabinet for obstruction of justice?

Katrina: A Disaster Still Happening

Associated Press Editor and New Orleans native Brian Schwaner looks at the disgraceful state of the governments assistance to the City of New Orleans and gives this warning to the rest of America, "The next time, it could be your town." While our clueless leader wastes a trillion dollars in Iraq for absolutely nothing, a great American city is dying. There are not enough levels in hell to cover the sins of George Bush and his minions of perpetual war profiteering.

In The Shadow of the Moon

We saw the trailer for In The Shadow of the Moon last night for the second time in as many weeks and man, does it speak to me. It might not be the same if you are younger than I am and don't remember those times, but it was a time where one act could bring the world together, in awe and in pride. I watched every Mercury, Gemini and Apollo launch and recovery on TV as a child. My mother made sure I did, keeping me out of school on those days. She said it was more important to watch history being made than to learn of history already past. All of these launches were historic, but Apollo 11 was something else entirely. It was something that transcended borders; it wasn't about the feat of a country or a people, it was a feat for the whole planet.

I don't know how well this Ron Howard produced film will be received, but I sure plan on seeing it. Take a look at the trailer and you might plan on doing the same, and you might find yourself looking back longingly at a time when America stood for something other than greed and aggression; a time when we really were the land of the free and the home of the brave.

The Best Years of His Life?

Bill Dwyre has written a wonderful article for the Los Angeles Times on Andre Agassi. It is a year later, a year since Andre left the tennis court at the US Open to the roar of 23,000. For Agassi, it has been a year well spent.

When I think back through the years to the young, rash, egotistical punk that Agassi first personified on the court, his transformation into this selfless, caring, giving man is all the more impressive. If you have never heard of the Andre Agassi College Preparatory Academy and the amazing work it does for underprivileged children, you should read this article. Even if you know of Andre's school, I think there is enough in this story that you might not have known, to make reading it worth your time.

There is no doubt that Andre achieved greatness on the tennis courts of the world, energizing the game like no other in decades. Yet it appears that it will be in a wholly different arena where Andre will prove the measure of a man, and where his best will be put on display. I was a fan of Andre Agassi the tennis player; I'm in awe of Andre Agassi the man.

40 Years Ago Today From DC Comics -- Girls' Romances #128

Girls' Romances #128 (On Sale: August 24, 1967) has an interesting cover by Jay Scott Pike.

Inside we begin with "I Wish I Could Love You" by persons unknown, followed by "Don't Stop Loving Me" a reprint from Secret Hearts #69 by Arthur Peddy and Bernard Sachs. Lastly is our cover story, continued from last issue: "We'll Never Meet Again Part II" drawn by Jay Scott Pike.

As usual we have not a lot of detail in the romance books. However, there is something I find interesting about this particular book.

The "arms held back, breasts pushed forward" shot utilized on this cover was a popular one over the years. Check out this beautiful Neal Adams All-Star Western cover for another example. In the interior of this book the wonderful and never forgotten Gray Morrow did another version of this scene which also prominently featured an incredible thrusting chest.

Edited by Barbara Friedlander.

15 Minutes of Fame, 82 Minutes of jail

OK, they say these are normal guidelines, but I still can't help feeling that if I was caught driving down the freeway in the wrong direction and high as a fucking kite, that I would have to spend more than 82 minutes in jail. I mean, this isn't just a DUI, this is reckless endangerment of anyone unfortunate enough to live or be visiting the same town as this little tramp.

Something seems really wrong here, really wrong.

Faking Astral Projection?

Researchers in England and Switzerland have been working on ways to confuse the sensory signals received by the brain allowing people to seemingly watch themselves from a detached location. It all has to do with one's feeling of "self," much as my brother Jack explained in the series I did here on astral projection. The researchers are using head-mounted video displays to fake the brain into thinking its "self" is watching itself, as different tactile tricks are played to enhance the experience of being "out of body." Most interesting.

Contemplation

This is another recent pastel piece I did. Certainly a different subject matter for me, but one that I found interesting. This was done using hard and soft pastels on gray Mi-Teintes paper. I had a lot of fun working the smoke field in the background and the mass of gear the men are wearing provided a number of different textures to try and capture. There is just something I find very appealing in laying down the impressionistic slashes of color that make up their heavy coats. This one was just a heck of a lot of fun to paint.

Saying Goodbye to a Breakthrough

I'm in the slow process of moving my home office from its current location to a larger room across the hallway. In doing so I am very slowly getting rid of stuff I should have discarded years ago, but to which, due to some odd pack rat gene, I have heretofore been unable to give to old "heave ho." Among the things I have been parting with have been old computers. You might ask, "How many old computers could you have?" The answer is, "a lot."

I think I have now lightened my load by at least nine computers and maybe as many as eleven, I have lost track you see. But I do know that I took three to the Goodwill Reclamation Center this afternoon (along with a scanner). Among the discards today were two computers I actually bought as full-blown systems, which is rare for me. One was a Dell Dimension 120 (yep, 120MHz) that I paid $4,500 for in 1995 when it was new. This system also had on it something that at one time was a sign of pure status on my part, something that you would not be able to get $20 for today but which cost me $1,000 in 1995. It was a Pinnacle Micro RCD-202 CD-ROM Writer and I was the only person I knew for years who had one.

Now $1,000 might seem like a lot of money for a CD burner and it was, but the year before, when the RCD-202 had first come out it costs $3,995, so $1,000 was a huge drop in the price. The RCD-202 was a 1X burner, meaning it was slow and could take literally hours to burn a CD; an hours worth of music took an hour to burn. Oh, and the blank CDs were made out of gold and cost between $3-$14 a piece.

Why did I buy it? Well, I had been "into" CDs for a long time and was shocked that I could burn one in my home. In 1986 when I worked at EDS I was in charge of a group of programmers who were developing a bevy of PC-based CD products under the umbrella name of Opti/Search. Making CDs in 1986 was expensive. It took a $200,000 dedicated hardware/software system to get enough memory to create a CD and its index. You downloaded to the dedicated system through tapes the information you wanted on the CD and then the system processed the data and spit out a final tape of the CD image. You then got in line at one of the three labs on the planet that could master a CD with your tape and $10,000. In one to three months they sent you a master CD.

By the time I left EDS on December 31, 1989 you could get a master made overnight for $1,000. Five years later for $1,000 I could make my own CDs on my own PC without any dedicated hardware or software. I bought the damn thing because it was a breakthrough.

Anticipating 3:10 to Yuma

The Los Angeles Times has an article today on the script for the forthcoming western remake, 3:10 to Yuma. I remember seeing this film as a child, watching it on TV with my father and how struck with it I was even then. I saw it again just about six months ago and it held up to my memory very well.

The original 3:10 to Yuma starred Glenn Ford and Van Heflin. Ford played a bad guy, real bad guy. He and his gang rob stage coaches and have a tendency to kill people in the process. Ford's Ben Wade is captured in a small town and rancher Dan Evans, Van Heflin, is persuaded to take Wade in secret to the nearest town with a railway station to await the 3:10 train to the court at Yuma. Ford's gang is out to free their leader and all Heflin has to do is keep a hold of Ford until the train arrives.

This is a unique twist on the classic "ticking clock" device that is used in most films to generate suspence. Usually a ticking clock is something to avoid. One classic example of a ticking clock is a bomb with the bright red LED displays that countdown to detonation. The protagonist has to disarm the bomb or leave the area before the LED gets down to 0:00. Another example would be the mad rush in Back to the Future to get everything set up before the lightning strike the town watchtower with enough energy to send Marty McFly back to the future. In 3:10 to Yuma, you want the clock to keep ticking, you want it to get to 3:10 because with 3:10 comes safety.

3:10 to Yuma was based on the novel of the same name by the great Elmore Leonard, and I am not the only one who appreciated it, as the remake opening in two weeks clearly shows. Ford's Ben Wade will be played by Russell Crowe and Heflin's Dan Evans is being created by Christian Bale. I can't wait to see what they do with this cool little story.

40 Years Ago Today From DC Comics -- Metal Men #28

Metal Men #28 (On Sale: August 22, 1967) features a Ross Andru and Mike Esposito cover.

"You Can't Trust a Robot" is by Robert Kanigher, Ross Andru and Mike Esposito. The Metal Men stop a gang of bandits known as the Leopard Mask Gang. The gang leader escapes only to visit Doc's lab and steal a group of evil Metal Men, which Doc had developed for army research. Doc tries to stop the crook, but is struck in the head.

The Metal Men return to the lab just as the villain is leaving. They are defeated by their evil duplicates. Doc has amnesia, so Tina stays behind while her teammates split up to search for the evil robots.

This week Mark Evanier has a fascinating item on his blog, News From Me, regarding the creation of the Metal Men and the strange habits of their creator, Robert Kanigher. Worthwhile reading for sure!

Edited by Robert Kanigher.

Conflicted

That's what I am feeling regarding the news that noted ex Air America co-host Janeane Garofalo is joining Fox's right-wing free-for-all 24. I stopped watching the show this season when it began looking more and more like a weekly advertisement for the excesses of the Patriot Act.

So I'm conflicted. Janeane I want to support, but 24 creator Joel Surnow is a self-proclaimed "right-wing nut job" and I have zero compunction to support him. For that matter I have no desire to support any show on Fox and I'm dong pretty good at avoiding the network all together. This will make it marginally more difficult for me.

Let's Put This One To Rest Once and For All

LiveScience.Com is reporting on a new concept for a time machine that could possibly enable someone in the future to travel into the past. They say that unlike past ideas for time machines, this new concept does not require exotic, theoretical forms of matter in order to work. However, I think it is high time we put this time travel myth to rest once and for all. We have all the evidence we need that time travel will never happen and the proof is pretty compelling.

Just look around at how messed up the world is. If time travel was possible, someone from the future would have come back to the past and seen to it that that little piece of shit George Bush would never have been born thus sparing the world the tragedy his leadership has heaped upon the world.

Veronica Mars on Heroes

Sort of anyway. The Associated Press reported today that Kristen Bell will guest-star in a multi-episode arc beginning in October on NBC's Heroes. You can read about it here. I for one will be watching.

Even more exciting is that she will be starring as the title character in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, a big-screen comedy being produced by Judd Apatow, who did The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up and the outrageously funny Superbad!

Festival!

This is my latest pastel painting; a Flamenco dancer at a festival. I thought the vibrant colors lent themselves to pastel over any other medium and the uncontrolled action of the skirt in motion was made for the impressionistic aspect of pastel sticks. Unlike most of my other pastel paintings, this one is done solely with my hard Nupastel sticks.