Miraclo Miles

2-D Daddy I'm sure that for someone out there this story won't be disturbing -- after all, some people are part of the program -- but the Flat Daddy/ Flat Mommy program feels wrong. In short, the Army National Guard has instituted a program where they provide roughly life-sized photos of the head and upper body of deployed servicemen and women which their families can affix to foam core board and keep around as placeholders. This way they can be home and present at all family activities. Why, ideally it'll feel as if he never left... This shot strikes me as unbelievably sad and macabre all in the same stroke. One person likened it to having a sock puppet as a surrogate parent for some endangered species, though at least there's more of a guiding and benevolent intelligence behind the sock. Having a picture of a family member who's away is one thing, but taking a life-sized cut-out of the head and torso of a loved one out on appointments, setting him up at the din...

Pol Alerts Even if I can't muster much energy for such things doesn't mean I can't pass along some items du jour from Buzzflash . Their delivery still strikes me as over the top, as they're too eager to pick up a sliver of glass and try using it as a broadsword, but it's still a good site to hit for a balance to the toadying done to the Bush administration in so much of the mainstream press. I love that they can link directly to the GOP mouthpiece that is FOX News for a possible October Surprise . Personally, I expect it to be just more of the fear-mongering the GOP has used to gain and hold power, so the painting of an Iranian menace and the evocation of advice about not changing horses in mid-stream, and the ever-popular "We're a nation at war" is all they're after in the short term. This isn't to say they won't make the most of anything that could be construed as a provocation. Keith Olbermann on Donald Rumsfeld . I also see that Mark...

The Fists & the Flurry Now that my head's been cleared by the ammoniac wake-up slap of the new work week (and sent into a whirl anew, but that's another issue) , I'll take a stab at fleshing out a little of the action (as best I recall it) of this past weekend's clix battle (previous post), and combine it with a response to the first comment H added to it. I definitely enjoyed playing, but found myself too drained by both the twisted hours the weekend took and a few other things of more tiresome varieties that needed doing or at least looking into. By that time the season finale of Deadwood was upon me, and the fetid breath of the new work week puffing in my face almost immediately on the far side of that. All combined, my energy level was too low Sunday to get into details of the game beyond copy and pasting of notes concerning the teams and word of how long the game lasted. This will not in any way be a play-by-play, but simply some details that I both recall an...

## This is the game that never ends, it just goes on and on, my friends... ## The second Heroclix game at Crypt Leak and Abbygal 's went off as scheduled Saturday, including Eric 's being there for it this time. Another late start to the game itself, but that was little excuse for how long it ran. We called an end and wrapped everything up about 4am. This was Eric's first time playing, while CL and A had only played the once before, so every turn was tentative. I was trying to be good about pointing out opportunities to each player, even when it was at my team's expense. Everyone, ultimately, seemed to have a fairly good time of it, but when something goes on that long it's difficult to say what the lasting impression will be, especially as it virtually guarantees a ruined (or, at best, decadently languorous) day after. If there's another of these clix get-togethers it'll be best to remember it's just a game and to put a time limit on it, preferably i...

Fiscal Fright Friday Another busy workweek kept me from all but the most cursory of blogging activities, I'm finally settling into my Friday evening and weekend in general. First order of post-dinner business is trying to clear away various chores so as to better clear the weekend. Sunday's still going to be taken up with some Work work (things that Must Needs Be Done for Monday), but I'll leave Sunday to Sunday. Friday evening was when I ran into a potential trap. I'm continuing to press ahead with paying every bill almost immediately as it arrives (well, within the week) even though it leaves what I think of as a very thin amount of cash in the account. Granted, it's better than I can easily recall not so very far in the past, where it could swing down double and even singe digits, the wall between this dimension and one of cranky creditors wearing uncomfortably thin, but with all the things that casually go on around here - including the number of prescriptions I...

Mike T. pointed the pilot episode of The Amazing Screw-On Head out to me over on Sci-Fi. If you're a fan of Mike (Hellboy) Mignola's work, then there are far worse ways to spend 22 minutes and 31 seconds.

Supernova Shift Heh. Well, knowing how the universe works I should have seen it coming the moment I found myself mentioning in the comments on the previous post that Supernova was scheduled for release October 25th. Someone heard me. It's been moved three weeks later, to November 15th . On the bright side, that should mean I'll have the set with just over a week to spare before the extended Thanksgiving weekend on the 23rd-26th. Also, I can hardly complain that they've taken this move as part of their upgraded quality assurance program. Still... man . Three extra weeks? And I thought it was going to be difficult keeping myself from finding out too much for an October 25th release... I'd jokingly say " gorblimey " but I'm afraid about what would happen.

Monday Night Notes Another busy day following another too-swift weekend. I seem to be fighting off a cold or something similar -- headache and fatigue I could have just passed off as work-related, but following a post-dinner nap the lung congestion was becoming more apparent. It could be an allergy spike since ragweed pollen's at a regional peak, or so I'm told. Either way, something's hitting me and I'm going to treat the symptoms. Not much to say, and a few chores to get done around the house, and as I've already taken some nighttime cold medicine the clock's ticking down to when it'll start hitting me. Tuesday has to be another early-start, so all of this points to me getting to sleep early. I'll be settling in to watch the first two parts of Spike Lee's When The Levees Broke , which has been highly praised in the articles and the radio pieces I've read and heard in the past few days. Spike has reportedly pulled together some wonderful resourc...

Healthy Skepticism or Woeful Ignorance? I've seen it reported in a few places recently that among a fair list of developed nations the US ranks next to the bottom in terms of accepting evolution . Of 32 nations surveyed only Turkey is less willing to accept evolution as fact. I was going to pass this by, but after Crypt Leak sent me the link I gave it a second thought and decided this was worth noting even if just as a cultural snapshot. The article notes most of the important elements, from the politicization of the topic to an important note that the percentage of adults in the U.S. flatly rejecting evolution has dropped from 48 to 39 percent over the past 20 years -- that much is a good sign. Religious fundamentalists - believing in a world created roughly some 6,000 years ago - are unlikely to be reached with facts. They've locked onto a set of beliefs and all we can do is make information to the contrary available to them. Effective education and presentation o...

Now & Then A change of plans and a welcome arrival. (All ultimately Heroclix-related.) By Thursday afternoon the plans for a clix match planned for this Saturday ( as mentioned a week ago ) were already taking a hit. Eric wouldn't be able to make it because an old friend and his wife had just lost their baby extremely late in the pregnancy. I don't know the specifics aside from an emergency C-Section, momentary stability with life support equipment and then a drop into the black. Understandably, he wanted to go spend some time with the couple -- all the moreso since they live out in the same area where his parents are and he hadn't been there in weeks. Definitely a weekend for him to head for home. We were going to press on as a gaming threesome, but Abbygal had a mishap early this morning that grew more irritating through the day and would have likely found her uncomfortable tomorrow trying to play a game. No good would come of that. So, since Eric (in theory) will be...

A little violent, free fun Bogged down, too much else to get to, but here are two suggestions for some violent, animated fun available on the web. (Neither one's for kids or the easily offended.) This week's Venture Brothers episode, " Victor Echo November " is on The Fix over at Cartoon Network. (Click on it from the menu on the right once you get there. Something else will be playing on the main screen until you make a selection. Once you click on the episode it'll play a quick hair product commercial, then the episode. Depending on the speed of your connection you may want to double-click on the screen and view it full screen.) Want something more participatory? Go pretend to be Samuel L. Jackson and battle Snakes On a Plane , m*th*rf*ck*r! (click on that link, then click on "Play This Game" once you're there to launch the Flash game.)

Long Week Zzzzip! That week disappeared in a flash, though it felt more like a flash burn while it was under way. Little that was dramatic, mainly fatique colliding with workload and various other stresses. At least by the end of the week I was essentially caught up on bills for the month - some weeks ahead of time - and finally got the van inspection (and prerequisite repairs) out of the way to the tune of $524 and change -- better than I'd feared, so I actually took that cheerfully. A busy weekend ahead, but I'm enjoying it and looking forward to the bulk of it. A week from this Saturday another get-together with a clix match as at least part of it is planned at Crypt Leak & Abbygal 's place, with Eric G. planning to make it this time, too, very interested in giving it a try. I'm assembling additional teams and selectively revamping ones I made up last time to give everyone some fun options to choose from. The Defenders team's already been modifed in o...

So, what will the pump prices be like Monday? BP shutting down Alaskan oil field . Hoo boy, expect next quarter's oil profits to be even higher! The Prudhoe Bay reportedly accounts for 8% of domestic production, though indications are most of it goes to Japan and China anyway. Jeez... should I go out and top off the tank (I'm down to a third) before I go to bed?

Super Storefront A cool idea I've only just become aware of, this is one of several storefront locations that are actually fronts for writing workshops for children age 6 through 18 . The original idea came about in San Francisco when novelist Dave Eggers ' 826 Foundation wanted to open a location and the best choice was zoned for commercial use. So, they opened it in the guise of a pirate supply store . The location is Seattle is fronted as a Space Travel Supply Co. The organization itself is active in six locations: Valencia , Ann Arbor , Brooklyn , Chicago , Seattle , and Los Angeles .

Don't Go Down There Actually, Lion's Gate films' latest bit of horror - The Descent - isn't a bad film. It's one of those B movies that works well enough to a point, and is in may respects intelligently written, scripted and performed, though elements become a little silly in the thick of the action about three quarters of the way through. It's still an enjoyable bit of horror adventure and additionally interesting because aside from a supporting character in the first few minutes of the film it's an all-female cast. For a few reasons I took Friday off from work. I'd put in quite enough time earlier in the week, including being there until 9pm the day before, and I'm trying to more conscientiously burn off vacation time via a Friday here or a Monday there so I don't have an unrealistic bundle as year's end approaches. I got some errands done early and decided to catch the first showing at a local theater, choosing this movie largely on a whi...

New II I see it's likely old news to those who care and hang around the usual information channels for such things, - apparently the news has been out there since at least July 21st (dusty by 'Net standards) - but I found out about it Friday while looking through Newsweek at the doctor's office, so it was new to me so maybe it'll be new to you, too: November 28th (the same day as Superman Returns hits DVD) Superman II : The Donner Cut will be released. Back in 1977 Richard Donner was filming Superman: The Movie and Superman II simultaneously. Roughly three quarters of the second film was shot, but the production was over-budget so filming was suspended and attention focused on post-production of the first film. Various conflicts resulted in a new director, Richard Lester, being brought in to complete the second film. Lester dropped much of the footage Donner and cinematographer Geoffrey Unsworth (who'd suddenly and unexpectedly died October 28, 1978) had pr...

This man was handcuffed, threatened with charges of conspiracy, impeding an investigation, and obstruction of an investigation. For what, you ask? Drug dealer arrested in neighborhood. Uninvolved neighbor takes a shot of the arrest scene with his cell phone. Guess what happened next? So, was that Philly cop reading a couple pages ahead in the federal playbook, or is the spirit of Frank Rizzo still alive and well? (Thanks to Crypt Leak for passing along that bit of too-local-for-comfort news, which reminded him of the former Philadelphia Mayor and police commissioner prior to that.) That Wikipedia link for Rizzo has been flagged by someone as not conforming to their "neutral point of view policy" so if that notice isn't up top when you view it then it's likely been sanitized for your protection. Just in case there's a change in the piece later (e-media is so malleable) or someone's coming across this link months later and NBC 10's cleared their online arc...

Who does this government serve? Fairly clearly, not us. Our new Treasury Secretary, Paul Snow sees benefit programs for US citizens as a threat to the economy , while the super-rich (including some of the trop contributors to the Bush campaigns) continue to keep as much as $70 billion annually out of our treasury via tax fraud perpetrated using off-shore accounts. Now, I'm just a simple citizen who hasn't managed to crack into the six figure income bracket, but it seems to me that we have the makings of at least the solution to the former as a consequence of addressing and fixing the latter. No time for more than that just now, but I wanted to float that for any passersby and to note for the Fox- & GOP-programmed that, yes, this is class warfare.

Sgt. Schultz probably had the right idea ...especially if he were to travel to the U.S., and Philadelphia in particular. See nothing, know nothing -- or at least have that be your official story. Ladies and gentlemen, presenting the case of bizarre case of the jailed witness: Korvel Odd . This is the type of thing that were one to see it in a drama the first thought would be that the screenwriter was getting lazy in making a strawman of the court system. Beyond this, consider that this is something that happened to someone within the legal system. Imagine how much worse things could be if the Bush Administration gets its wish to expand the reach and authority of military courts . (Full text of story reprinted below in case the Washington Post is demanding some onerous sign-in or otherwise archives the story for subscribers-only.) I see Tony Collett noted this development last night. What follows is the Post article: White House Proposal Would Expand Authority of Military Courts By...

"Zey are all vermin!" Hey, it's Jewish law . It only sounds like something they learned from the Nazis. Hey, what's Yiddish for "living space?" I'll have to watch for that in future press releases. It's all good, of course, since God is surely on their side, and only the finest of nations have ever made that claim. (More) Seriously, though, so anyone living in Lebanon is "the enemy" now? Pontius, please pass the soap.

Create Your Own Cult (Kool Aid Optional) Tammy clued me in on how one can either locate a trendy, upstart new cult to join or indulge your own messianic complex by setting up one's own. Either way, look no farther than Cultspace I haven't even signed up there yet, but I see they had 167 cults already in place. Start yours before all the choice acolytes are committed! Hurry! Get your running shoes on!

Spread His Word! (Sauce?) The time has come for conversion! Play the Flying Spaghetti Monster game ! (Thanks to Crypt Leak for the heads-up.) I don't seem to be very good at it, but perhaps my faith is not strong enough! Just in case you missed out on this cultural phenomenon from 2005, here's the scoop .

"Bury me quick, you cocksuckers! I'm already ripe!" Just a quick note to mention for all your Deadwood fans and armchair historians of the Old West that the real life Calamity Jane died of pneumonia today back in 1903. (Considerin' the situation you might want to take a fresh bottle to drink from.) Here's a photo of the real deal.

Not Much Evil Shall Escape Their Sight Here's a look at the figures in the upcoming Green Lantern Corps Heroclix set . I'm continuing to avoid all spoiler threads for October's Supernova set. I know that as a minimum (unless my personal financial picture turns very bad) I'll be getting a case and a brick of that. No need to inspect the goods beforehand as I've already decided to buy. Looking for info on the next two collector's sets, however, is something I've been doing. I've already quietly looked over the Invincible set and largely shrugged. I don't expect to be ordering one of those. Sure, there are some nice pieces in terms of dials - Omniman will likely become some players' favorite, but I have no connection to the characters and simply haven't been struck by much in the set, including their Guardians of the Globe TA that is rumored will add an Incapacitate to any damage-dealing attack. The Green Lantern Corps set , however, is a dif...