The Blue Screen of Searing, Cosmic Death Okay, I'm at risk of sounding like a Mac user by making the above comment about a cool, robotic, non-invasive surgical tool simply because the user interface is running on a Windows XP platform, but I'm not sure that I want to trust it quite that far when it comes to the possible consequences of a freeze-up. I suppose the patient's really in the hands of the dedicated software in the robot, which should still follow default safety settings, so things should go smoothly providing no one types "John Connor" into the patient's name field.
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"Go, Habib!" Word's out that the US Army is working on a comic book series to distribute in the Middle East . It will be based on "the security forces, military and police, in the near future in the Middle East" and is being produced by US Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg in North Carolina. The article also mentions the Egyptian-based comics company, AK Comics , which I mentioned here last month . While AK is attempting to create indigenous superheroes, though, so as to give the people in various Middle Eastern nations homegrown Captain Americas, Supermen and Wonder Women, the US Army's project sounds more like a more international GI Joe team idea, though I imagine they'll quickly inspire this sort of treatment .
Gone, gone... ... Terri Schiavo's body has finally gone the way of what made her her , but I don't see the battlefield clearing too quickly. The general public is wrung out on the story, but the news media never likes to walk away from a cash cow and there are many reputations that have been put on the line during this battle. That appellate Judge Stanley Birch Jr. rebuked the White House and the primarily GOP-driven legislature for such a high level of improper interference isn't likely to be quickly forgotten by those officials. That the parents were denied access during the final moments seems harsh on the face of it, but I'm not sure how much of a problem they may have been making of themselves, and it wasn't as if she passed away on a schedule. The level of attentiveness of a guard on duty outside a room door and one inside a room to make sure no one tried to slip a temporary IV line in are two very different things. At least in the story above and in her obitu...
The Stuff of Dreams A friend is feeling a little sick, and in a note today he mentioned "odd dreams when I nap that indicate I may have a slight fever." Part of this struck me as quite natural - not only have I had fever dreams , but TV sitcoms have been decades teaching us that we have pastiche nightmares when we're sick - but when I checked it with my experience I also realized that the only time I have any dreams that I recall it's when I've gone back to sleep for a second time for the day -- ie when I've taken a nap. I can only rarely recall waking up from the main night's sleep with any memory of a dream. If I wake up for even a short time, though, and then go back to sleep, I always wake up from a dream. I briefly posited (most of the following) on a likely, media-driven fever dream du jour: The Burger King commercial with the "Big Rock Candy Mountain" knock-off plays, but there are unsettling changes. The Black, singing cowboy ( D...
Shoot first, make up stories later... I must confess that I'd only given the case of the Italian journalist Giulana Sgrena who was held for a month by an Iraqi resistance group, freed, and then shot by US troops on the way to the airport. The reports by US media generally soft-pedalled it, taking the US military's line about a checkpoint and an accident, and I must admit that the perspective I came away with was just that - an unfortunate accident caused by a mixture of tense soldiers in an environment that constantly threatens to turn deadly in an instant, being faced with the journalist a driver and an Italian intelligence/security agent who felt the worst was behind them and wanted to get to the airport quickly following a long ordeal. I'd heard some reports on the fringe that suggested otherwise, but those were generally framed in an exaggerated, absurd way, suggesting that the journalist's car was deliberately targeted by US troops. While I remain firmly in opposi...
Weekend... With Chocolate It's another Saturday, so the feel of "holiday weekend" is largely behind me since there aren't anymore weekdays off in the mix. Tomorrow will see a trip to my in-laws for dinner, which is nice in its way but travel & family obligations on a Sunday... eh. When Sundays hit there's already such a stench of moribund weekend and impending Monday that the time almost seems gone as it is. A couple hours travelling back and forth, and visiting... augh. I'm just not one for most get-togethers. I'm much better with them if there's still at least one more day off afterwards. So, well, I'll focus for now on it still being Saturday (yeah, yeah, it's like taking solace in a Lifesaver's candy...) and the sudden influx of candy (pounding the theme mercilessly) tomorrow. As you've noticed, I've added a banner for 24 Hour Comics Day up top. I'm aiming to observe it in some way this year, whether it's going ...
Evangelical Wood – on Vinyl! I’m a Crypt Lea k’s been following some strange thread only to find it was a marionette string in the service of The Lord! Praise JAY-zus! This led him to someone’s collection of evangelical records, many of which are conceptually entertaining to heathens such as IaCL and I. A recurring theme of ventriloquist’s dummies couldn’t help but catch my attention. Click on any of the images to be taken to a little info on each. Each of them have a Left/Right button on its page so you can cycle through the entire gallery. Surely I can't be the only one to notice that one of the characters on the "Bible Stories That Live" LP cover bears a striking resemblance to Uncle Floyd 's sidekick, Oogie, seen here to the left. A relative, or the strange past of a single performer? Who - save Oogie -- can say? Did he have a falling out with the minister and strike out into show business? Was the seemingly benign and benevolent Uncle Floyd actually an age...
And you think the dog gets excited when he sees you just pick up his leash or say, "go for a walk?" Just wait. While the comedic idea might have occurred to me I don't believe I would have spent time doing a product mock-up for Dog Condoms . The "meat-scented" variety seems one paw over the line to me. Still, these people appear to be serious. It's reminding me uncomfortably of the episode of South Park where we visited a PETA commune. (Though the germane part's only hinted at in the second paragraph.) Don't you know that every dog, regardless of how small, will be insisting his human friends buy him the Great Dane variety? I see plenty of therapy sessions to go around for all involved. They say they'll require "human intervention" to use, but I think that's just a challenge to pet owners. I e xpect that within a year of these hitting the market Pet Star wi ll have to come up with a form letter to reject all the people who want t...
A time to sell, a time to buy I've set up a small wall of Heroclix auctions ! Unlike other times, though, these aren't to benefit me; they're a friend's extras I'm selling on his behalf in hopes of helping bridge a rough financial patch between jobs. One Hell and a half of a week continues, as work continues to pile in and every client -- and too many of the project managers on their behalf -- are convinced that they're a special case, and so are exempt from all restrictions of time, space and general propriety. Consequently, I'm beat. I have One More (likely) Long Day ahead, and then I'm taking Thursday off, followed by Friday's company holiday, and -- glory be! -- actually observing the weekend this time around! Only time will tell if this is pure delusion. However that is, though, the auctions are up and running, and each of them with a low, low opening price, so drink heavily and then start browsing.
I'm guessing Warner's plans to send an assassin robot back to 1981 to kill her didn't pan out This is one of those intellectual property cases I hadn't heard about. In this case it's word that a Black author, Sophia Stewart, has won a case alleging that the Matrix and Terminator movies were based on works of science fiction she'd submitted for consideration to the Wachowski brothers in response to an ad for new sci-fi work . Here's some interview material with the alleged author. The announcement of the lawsuit's settlement was reportedly made back on October 4th of last year, which is probably what makes it most interesting to me as such a huge (an estimate of $2.5 billion is referenced) settlement concerning such properties, one would think, would be difficult to keep quiet. Presuming the initial report is accurate (ie the settlement/court judgement is true) then it lends some credence to the message and tone of the first link c...