Below are the most recent 25 friends' journal entries.

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Tuesday, November 10th, 2009
itlandm	3:47p	Getting better I seem to be getting slightly better instead of worse from the current virus infection. So I'll assume it is just a bad cold. After the course I failed to go on today I have unbroken vacation out the month, so it should be easy to stay home for some days so as to not bring it on to others and give them the same scare. Current Mood: sick (Comment on this)
aberranteyes	7:50a	Happy birthday, cbmp! Current Mood: chummy (Comment on this)
someposifeed	11:32a	[SP] Come and Play http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp11092009.shtml If there are any problems with the comic or website, or if you have any questions, comments, or complaints you would like to address directly to Randy, please email him at choochoobear@gmail.com. (32 Comments |Comment on this)
mister_neil	4:05a	Crossoverlord X3, and Neil is lost on internet radio again I hear that WWE Raw is changing its theme song. That's too bad. It's not that I actually care about the song they were using. I don't. I think their old theme song sucked. But I also enjoyed the comedy that came from a theme song which declared "I just wanna be loved!" for a program about half-naked men tumbling around on a mat. Preview of Thursday's Crossoverlord There are three episodes of Crossoverlord this week. There was originally to be one, but Al kind of confiscated half the of comic from me. Good thing, too, because he had something in mind that I did not entirely understand, and it was good that he ultimately ended up doing the scene as he intended. In fact, he ended up splitting his "half" of the concept into two, and now it completely baffles me how I ever thought I could do all of this in one page. Al has the pages for Tuesday and Wednesday. I have mine for Thursday. I'm really pleased to be able to stretch out and do the ending of the sequence as one complete page instead of condensing down into three or four panels. My page for Thursday came out SO much better than I ever planned, and you'll just have to wait to see it. Hey, speaking of webcomics, I appeared on the Webcomic Beacon again this weekend. And moments into the show, I had a catastrophe that rendered me incapable of following the topic, and I sounded like SUCH an idiot. You can probably hear the *clang* of things going wrong in the audio about ten minutes into the show. In my defense, I didn't exactly understand the topic going into the show, as it was a very last-minute schedule. I had just gotten home! I was also really, really tired, as I later discovered. About an hour after the show, I completely crashed. I didn't get much sleep the night before, but I didn't realize I was THAT tired. You know how if you stay awake for a really long time and then fall asleep, your head kind of hurts when you wake up? I had that. In fact, I'm still screwed up from that. I keep falling asleep early and waking up at 3am. I apologized to Fes later. He thought it was funny, though. Fun at my expense. What else is new? Hey, I got to plug myself, at least. Plug plug plug! (Comment on this)
dryponder	1:06a	Farewell to Dry Pond. As a writer/artist/colorist (etc.) in comics, I feel an odd kinship with the tragically noble tribrid depicted above, the Bearsharktopus, so I have adopted him as my new spirit animal and branded my new blog accordingly. This post marks the beginning of my transition from LiveJournal to Tumblr. See you there. (Comment on this)
itlandm	9:06a	Cold or flu? So yesterday I had a bad head and throat cold, of the kind I have a couple times a year. This was not surprising, since my fellow bus passengers the past week were coughing and sneezing like they were alone on a secret island. Whatever they had, I was likely to get. And if not them, then the person coughing beside me on the software course earlier in the week. Although that may be a bit too early again. So is this a normal cold or the Killer Flu of Doom? I honestly don't know. My temperature has hovered just below 38 C since yesterday afternoon, but at this time of the morning it is usually closer to 36. And it is probably not a good sign that I was shaking so badly I had trouble shaving. If this is the flu, this is when I should start eating Tamiflu. But of course, to get that I would have to take the bus to the city, infecting a random number of other people on my way. But I am definitely not going to the second part of that course today. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Monday, November 9th, 2009
dr_hermes	7:12p	Giant-Man cracks me up I seriously doubt if Stan Lee put all that much thought into the dialogue back then, as he was batting out scripts as fast as he could type and he was working with whatever wild unexpected plot twists Jack Kirby handed in ("Black Bolt? I told Jack that this issue was going to guest-star the Silver Surfer! Oh, well..."). But it's interesting how Henry Pym was consistently shown as someone in over his head when dealing with other super-heroes. He was so outmatched in sheer strength or fighting ability that it wasn't even funny. Yet, right from the start even as Ant-Man, he took it for granted that his seat at the pantheon of godlike beings was secure. (In a way, he reminds of the original Atom. Al Pratt was just a short, tough-guy brawler but he sat down opposite the likes of the Spectre or Dr Fate with complete confidence he was their peer.) Take this panel from THE AVENGERS# 2, where the Space Phantom has got the Avengers fighting each other. Giant-Man runs up and seperates a brawling Iron Man and Hulk. Now, in the real world, someone who could disregard the cube-square law and function at a twelve-foot height, would be incredibly awesome. He could pick NBA players up and throw them to one side while dropping the basketball into the hoop from above. Yet, in the world of super-heroes, Giant-Man is messing with two guys who could each tear him apart without trouble. (In fact, later in the same issue, the Hulk mentions that he's "stronger than a dozen Giant-Men.) ( moar, nao! ) (Comment on this)
dr_hermes	6:13p	Sad news about Miss Rasmussen's niece You remember Ingrid, right? She was the student who tried bowling while wearing roller skates. (What a mistake, she had to pay when the ball went through the window.) Anyway, I heard from Miss Rasmussen the other day -- these phone calls from Denmark are so expensive-- and it seems Ingrid is heartbroken. ( see Ingrid's problem ) (2 Comments |Comment on this)
dr_hermes	6:01p	Surprise package Well, here we go again. The game here is that some of these pictures are sweet and adorable, while others cause nightmares in the toughest minds. I suppose it's a sort of Russian Roulette of the senses. ( ????" ) (Comment on this)
dr_hermes	5:51p	Today's mystery animal Well, of COURSE this is the very animal that saved T.E. Lawrence during that sandstorm in 1915. No? It's the same camel that had a drinking problem and used to go into convenient marts and try to walk out with six-packs of beer? Not that, either? (5 Comments |Comment on this)
dr_hermes	4:08p	Oh heck. That's Japan, Brazil, Canada... mmm, Lebanon, Israel. Give me a minute Okay, name them all. One, two, three... GO! This is interesting, one of those royalty-free stock images floating over the ether. I suppose everyone's natural instinct is to check first for their own nation's flag and where it is ("Hey, what are we doing way down there?!"). Then you try to name the others. Regardless of how I may feel about the various nations represented (and I tend to regard countries as not being "good" or "evil" so much as they're looking out for their own interests), I like some flags for aesthetic reasons. Israel is simple and attractive, blue and white with a simple recognizable symbol, the Star of David. The same holds for Canada, with the maple leaf. I actually like the Union Jack better than the American flag as a piece of design, it's just more centered and better laid out. Things get a bit vague for me after that. Japan, okay I recognize that one-- the Rising Sun of the war became a simple red sun symbol. Lebanon I know because of the cedar tree, and the Biblical phrase of the "cedars of Lebanon." Brazil has a cool globe of the Earth. And Korea, with the Yin-Yang symbol. But some European flags perplex me, as they are just three vertical bars of colors. (Since a flag is flown upside down as a sign of distress, I wonder if this caused some confusion a few times. "Nothing's wrong, we're not a Klopstakian ship in trouble, we're from Fredonia and that's how our flag looks!") (5 Comments |Comment on this)
someposifeed	5:55a	[SP] Widdle Babies http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp11022009.shtml If there are any problems with the comic or website, or if you have any questions, comments, or complaints you would like to address directly to Randy, please email him at choochoobear@gmail.com. (32 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, November 8th, 2009
dr_hermes	10:13p	Get him, Kato! Beat the hell out of that Robin! __ These BATMAN episodes aired on March 1 and 2, 1967. The Green Hornet and Kato show up at the Pink Chip stamp factory in Gotham City at midnight to confront the unsavory Colonel Gumm (played with his usual over-the-top zest by Roger C. Carmel). They're investigating a counterfeit stamp operation, using their standard technique of pretending to be muscling in on the racket and demanding "A Piece of the Action" (thus, the episode title). The factory's owner Pinky Pinkston (Diane McBain) is an incredibly annoying woman with pink hair and pink wardrobe, who uses talking to her pink dog Apricot as a way to make nasty digs at people. She asks Commissioner Gordon to recruit Batman to guard her factory from the notorious arch-criminal Green Hornet. The cliffhanger at the end of the first episode has the Hornet and Kato pushed into a huge contraption and apparently transformed into life-size stamps which Gumm thumbtacks to the wall. (Oh, come ON!) But in actuality, the visiting vigilantes were trapped inside the machine and it was their images xeroxed onto stamps which came out. As Batman's freeing them from the machine gave Gumm and his henchman time to esape, Kato makes an insolent remark. "None too smart for a smart crimefighter," he says and swaggers off with his boss. After that, there's some interaction between Batman and Britt Reid, and then Bruce Wayne and Britt Reid (it seems that they have been rivals since childhood). Both bachelors have romantic intentions toward the irritating Miss Pinkston, who plays them off each other. There's also some talk about her being able to prove that Bruce Wayne is the Green Hornet and Britt Reid is Batman (considering the crimefighters operate in cities far away from where their supposed alter-egoes live, it gives you an idea of how sharp Miss Pinkston is). Kato is a bit cockier than usual here. We see him actually doing some valet work, which I don't think is ever shown on the GREEN HORNET series, other than serving drinks. He's brushing off Reid's suit in the background while his boss is trying to get a date with Pinkston. The Hornet and Kato are operating out of a very ritzy-looking hotel, which kind of makes me wonder where they're storing the Black Beauty while in Gotham. Did they disguise it a bit or maybe keep it in a garage rented under a false name? Soon enough, both teams of crime-fighters learn that Colonel Gumm (in disguise) is going to rob a high-class stamp exhibition. Both the home team and the visitors intend to stop him, and this means that they are inevitably going to clash. ( much more ) (8 Comments |Comment on this)
dr_hermes	9:58p	Today's mystery guest Someone who does not seem to have gotten his fair due of praise, this fellow (seen here about ten years ago)was an artist, writer and editor for both a line of outstanding comics and a fine magazine. (4 Comments |Comment on this)
dr_hermes	9:35p	You think your laundry takes all day? This is from a 1964 ad for Japan Air Lines ("California/Hawaii to all the Orient and on to Europe"). We're being sold on how exotic the airline is, including how the cabin has brocades, family crests and you are offered a scented o-shibori hot towel. Neat. Flight hostess Tamae Nagashima is described as wearing a kimono. ("Tamae and her sister hostesses attend to your every wish*") Part of the ad shows how Tamae conducts the tea ceremony and can help you master the use of hashi chopsticks. And we see how she cleans a kimono. Wait, has anyone ever heard of this before? Unstitching the garment, washing and drying it and then sewing it back together? Was this a well-known practice? Sometimes when I read old travelogue material, I get the distinct feeling that the reporters were having their legs pulled a bit. _______________ *"Happy ending? Think again, please. This is business. You may have another bag of peanuts if you wish." (2 Comments |Comment on this)
dr_hermes	8:36p	And now for something completely different A shark diving into the roof of a house. Police suspect foul play, as the shark had been seen loitering in the area earlier. "He seemed despondent," one neighbor said. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
dr_hermes	8:28p	I'm confused by this cover I mean, come ON, just how big is that rhino supposed to be? (Oh, wait, that's how he looks through the hunter's scope? Well, then, how come we can see the hunter at a different angle and scale? Is the artist trying to get all post-modern and fractured-sensibility when trying to sell a men's adventure magazine? And, let's be honest, is it a good idea to "Teach Your Wife How To Kill"? Will this make for a happier marriage? Are men supposed to be teaching their wives how to kill so they can be sent to shoot these gigantic rhinos while the husbands stay home and watch The Weather Channel in their underwear, eating cereal out of the box? Or is there a connection between all these wives being taught to kill and this so-called "Secret Army in the Middle East"? Frankly, I think this magazine bears closer examination, it is clearly up to No Good. On the other hand, it came out in 1957 and we're still here, so maybe things worked out. (4 Comments |Comment on this)
itlandm	3:48p	That's why we have a separate WIS stat, folks "A high IQ is like height in a basketball player," says David Perkins, who studies thinking and reasoning skills at Harvard Graduate School of Education in Cambridge, Massachusetts. "It is very important, all other things being equal. But all other things aren't equal. There's a lot more to being a good basketball player than being tall, and there's a lot more to being a good thinker than having a high IQ." New Scientist, Clever fools: Why a high IQ doesn't mean you're smart (Comment on this)
aberranteyes	7:54a	Happy birthday, concretedragon and markpoa! Current Mood: chummy Current Music: Garbage, "Why Do You Love Me?" (Comment on this)
Saturday, November 7th, 2009
dr_hermes	10:54p	Today's mystery guest (12 Comments |Comment on this)
dr_hermes	10:40p	Surprise package In all fairness, I should remind everyone that some of these pictures are just so twee that they make the Hanging Judge go, "Awwwww..." Or they might be of Miss Rasmussen and her sprightly niece (rowr). Or, most likely, they'll be gruesome and unsettling. But then, no one is making you click on the link. ( ????? ) (2 Comments |Comment on this)
dr_hermes	10:25p	You dirty son of a sea-mammal! This is from YOUNG MEN# 24, December 1953. This was a brief revival by Timely (or Atlas, or Marvel, whatever)of the Human Torch, Captain America and the Sub-Mariner. Here, Bill Everett has Betty Dean explain to her roommate about Namor. (Sounds like a natural submission for READERS DIGEST "Most Unforgettable Person I Ever Met," eh?) Is it just me, or does Betty refer to Namor's folk in an odd way. Not Mer-people or aquatic humans, but "sea-mammals" and "manlike mammals." Betty, what's WITH you? Do you think the Sub-Mariners evolved from seals or what? (4 Comments |Comment on this)
dr_hermes	9:45p	You may wish to make an icon of this cat I would totally understand that. That cat embodies my inner self. This panel is by Daniel Piraro, whose strip BIZARRO is well named. His website is certainly worth checking out http://www.bizarro.com/ Some of his cartoons have haunted the darker corners of my memories for years now, bobbing up to the surface when least expected. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
dr_hermes	8:40p	Wait, who wrote this? From 1964, this was written by Marion Zimmer Bradley. (Art is by Rafael DeSoto, who did stacks and stacks of covers for paperbacks and men's adventure magazines.) I don't remember reading Bradley as a kid, but very likely I did (since I systematically raided every library for miles around and used my lunch money for magazines). But my best friend is a big fan, and whenever I loot the used book stores, I normally pick up anything by Bradley or Melanie Rawn for her. I've glanced through a few of them (dragons and unicorns, seems like) and somehow they just don't draw me in. I don't care for Robert Jordan, either, although my friend swears up and down he's the best talent since Tolkien. I did try a book from THE WHEEL OF TIME and it was like sitting on a lawn waiting for the leaves to turn color. Honestly, not only did not much happen but it forever to not happen. So, as it turns out, she and I are not likely to fight over ownership of a book, since our tastes veer in wildly different directions. Be all that as it may, I thought some fans of Marion Zimmer Bradley's fantasy might not known that she wrote different genres during her career. And, since she did use different pennames, it doesn't hurt to point it out. You never know, a Bradley fan might see this book at a yard sale or whatever and remember, "Hey, I've heard of this," and snatch it up. In which case, I will have done a bibilophile's good deed. (11 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, November 8th, 2009
itlandm	1:41a	Exercise, fat, etc Phys Ed: Why Doesn’t Exercise Lead to Weight Loss? (NY Times) Most of us actually burn off a lot of the calories we eat, rather than storing them. This is particularly true for carbs, as we don't have a good system for storing carbs over and above approximately one day's use (which is stored as glycogen). Converting sugars to fat is cumbersome and most of the energy is lost in the process. (There is a difference between sugars though, as fructose is a bit easier to convert to fat. Or so I read, back when I tried to get my weight back.) Anyway, even if we don't exercise, we leak away many of the extra calories as heat. If we exercise, the body simply processes less calories during the rest of the day, as also this study shows. Negative afterburn. Still, it is better to be fat and healthy than fat and unhealthy! (Comment on this)

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