'Tis the Season

Looks like none of my friends have done this yet, so I'll be the first to say:

Happy Winter-een-mas!

If you are very confused right now... well, the official site might help you. But maybe not. ;)

Jack Thompson is a terrible human being

Most of you who read this blog also frequent Ctrl-Alt-Del, so you may have seen this on their main page already. In case you haven't I'll just quote Tim here:

A reader has just brought this matter to my attention.

From GamingHorizon.com:

"Earlier this month, gamer named Mitchell S. with the online screenname "Kuja105" who posts on a few online videogame forums (including GameFaqs.com and MetalGearSolid.org) committed suicide. On January 2 he posted a message in both forums detailing his intent to end his own life, citing overwhelming complications with school and finances.

A very brief period of initial disbelief was followed by a barrage of replies from fellow forum members pleading that he not take his life, trying to talk him out of it.

For days, no word was heard from Mitchell. Fearing the worst, members and administration from metalgearsolid.org began searching for contact information, spending hours on the phone trying to get in touch with him. Finally on January 4, Ryan K., an administrator at metalgearsolid.org, got him on the phone and spent hours desperately trying to talk him out of it.

Sadly, Mitchell soon ended his own life by consuming antifreeze and painkillers.

Later, members from the site contacted Mitchell's family to find out the grave news. They reported it to their online community, and posted a tribute to their passed friend on the front page of metalgearsolid.org." Full Report Here.

Mr. Jack Thompson then sent in the following letter regarding the situation to MetalGearSolid.org, one of the forums frequented by Mitchell, where he was known well:

"Your "gamer friend" will find peace through the Lord, Jesus Christ, but sadly it's too late for that.

There is a void in every heart. You can fill it up with the things of God, or the things not of God. This unfortunate soul chose to fill it up with combat games. The playing of these video games is masturbatory activity, meaning senseless self-stimulation. If you gamers could use a dictionary you would know that that term is not necessarily a sexual one.

The real tragedy here extends beyond the life and death of this one fellow. There are literally millions of young people and young adults whose despair is deepend by turning to the things of this world and then finding them meaningless.

All of you gamers need to put down the controllers and get a life. The utter inanity of the vast majority of postings here shows how vapid "gaming" really is.

You are one of the cheerleaders for this wasting of time and the wasting of lives. Do you feel any remorse for having contributed to this "culture of death?" Of course not. Hey, let's all play MORE games, and ignore all the really productive things to do with our lives.

Let's pretend to be shocked that a gamer might descend into deeper depression, as his gamer "buds," knowing he was killing himself, couldn't figure out how to call 911 themselves for him. That would have involved leaving their computers I guess.

Sad. Sad for all of you."

Ok, so I was well aware that Jack Thompson was an extremist idealogue and an idiot, but I was previously unware that he lacked a soul. Seriously, what kind of person takes the tragic death of a member of a community and tries to twist it to damn the very community which is still grieving over the loss? That's just evil!

I noted how Thompson stole Bush's "culture of life" speil and called gaming a "culture of death". Sorry Jack, but if your "culture of life" allows and promotes the cold exploitation of an individual's death for one's own means, then I want none of it.

Dead Pixel Fixer?

I thought WidowPC's dead pixel fixer looked interesting. It's a epilepsy-inducing movie you are supposed to run on loop behind a dead pixel overnight, and it might be able to un-stick it. I have no idea whether or not this actually works, as I've had the incredible good fortune of never owning an LCD with any dead pixels (over an old Dell laptop, a PowerBook, a 19" display, a PDA, an iPod nano, and a cell phone!) but I can't think of how it would hurt to try if you suffer from this all-too-common problem.

This thread on Applegeeks has a couple testimonials that the thing does sometimes work.

Comic, Apple, College, Yay! (or, Yet Another "Update" Post)

It's another multi-topic update post, so I've broken it into sections for easy reading.

Comic

First off, new comic on Directionless! That's right, I have real honest-to-God content again, and I even introduced a new character!

Apple

Tuesday was the keynote address at the annual Macworld expo, and as usual Apple rolled out a bunch of new stuff. Most interesting among the things announced was the actual introduction of the first Intel-based Macs, specifically, the iMac and the MacBook Pro.

Let me just say this: The name "MacBook Pro" sucks. A lot. "PowerBook" sounded cool. "MacBook Pro" makes you sound like a clucking chicken if you say it too fast. I can understand wanting to drop "Power" from the name since the PowerPC G4 chip is no longer being used, but wanting "Mac" in all your product names was no excuse for accepting such a sucky name. "ProBook" wouldn't have been great, but it would have been better.

Sigh... Name aside, the hardware looks good, although since Final Cut Pro/Express isn't a universal binary yet, it wouldn't do me much good even if I could afford a new laptop. But is is good to see the PowerBook get a big update like this. The G5 is still an awesome chip (That's why Microsoft is using something based on it in the XBox 360) but the G4 was getting more than a little long in the tooth. And Core Duo is actually really cool! Best of all, it seems it's good enough to wow the Penny-Arcade guys!


In other Apple-related news, I used some of my Christmas money to buy another 512 meg stick of RAM for my PowerBook, bringing it up to a Gig. Mmmm.... RAM. :)

College

Heading back to Syracuse tomorrow, classes start tuesday. The online scheduling system for SU doesn't offer nice online schedules like CMU does (well, it kinda does, but they aren't publicly-accessable) but that doesn't stop me from making my own:

My Spring 2006 Schedule

All in all, a mixed bag. I have no classes on friday, and nothing starts before 12:30pm, which is awesome. On the other hand, on thursday I have class pretty much straight from 12:30 to 10pm, with less than an hour break in there for dinner. Yuck. I got into the "Intro to 3D" computer arts class, so I get to spend 3 hours a week sitting in front of a PowerMac playing with Lightwave, which is cool. Unfortunatly, I also have Writing 205, which is a whole class devoted to research papers.


So that's recent events. Don't expect another update until I get back to college and settled in. Now I have to pack. :(

New Content on "Directionless"

It's not much, but there's some belated Christmas-themed filler up over at my webcomic, "Directionless." (remember that?) I do plan on continuing the comic, and should have something along the lines of real content up this coming weekend. I have a few ideas and such, I just need to draw them.

Upcoming absence

My break so far...

Got home at like 3:00 AM Saturday morning, slept most of the rest of the day. Sunday night I hung out at Haley's for A Very Bitter Beer Pong and watched Donnie Darko, a very weird but interesting movie. And, uh, that about brings you up to speed. Yeah, the amount of craziness leading up to finals makes the lack of stuff going on now seem a little odd. Of course, there's nothing unpleasant about doing nothing! :)

But I didn't make this post to point out how little I've been doing, I made it to point out that from December 23-27 I'll be visiting relatives in New Hampshire. (Another long car trip? Noooooooo!!!) So, if anyone (coughHaleycough) is planning anything (coughlan partycough) over break, please don't do it then!

And Halapy, I fully plan on updating the webcomic.

Eventually.

I Am Home!

Finals are done. Have seen Narnia and Kong. Enjoyed both. Will see again. More to follow.

That is all.

Busy, Busy, Busy.

While everyone else is justifying a lack of updates by saying nothing is happening, I haven't been updating because too much has been happening.

It goes like this: Next week is finals week, commonly known as college's miniature hell. But here's the thing - only one of my classes is even having a "proper" final during that week. The rest all either have abnormally large exams on the last day of class, or have papers due. So for me, this is hell week.

So here's how "Hanley's Hell Week" breaks down...

Last weekend - dealt with a very poorly-timed cold while trying to get my revised draft for Writing done to e-mail to the professor. Had also planned on starting my Art Media paper, but that didn't happen. Things became complicated when my roommate came home drunker than he's ever been Saturday night ("You were only gone for 2 hours!" "Fwuuuuhhhgg...?") and I had to make sure he didn't vomit on the wrong things (aka: anything mine) So, yeah... That was a barrel of laughs... Not.

Monday - The cold turned into a sore throat/coughing sort of thing. Had the last class for Film History, my only class with a "normal" final. Professor did a bit of review, but of course didn't tell us anything useful. We then had to watch some "art" films, one of which could only be described as a sadist's take on childbirth.... yeeeeah. That night I had my last Intro to Acting class. Good news - no exams, and we got free pizza. Bad news - I had to perform my assigned scene one last time, which I really didn't feel like doing with a sore throat. Class ended at 10pm, and I tried to use the time to write my Art Media final essay. Didn't get anywhere, partially because I was struggling with the topic, partially because I just hate that class, but mostly because I felt like crap.

Today (Tuesday) - Woke up feeling a little better (I think my fever broke in the middle of the night. I have no better explanation for why I started shivering uncontrollably for no apparent reason...) . I wrote my entire Art Media essay in one 3-hour run, which sucked but at least I got it done and didn't make it entirely BS. Went to Writing and found out I wasn't really as near being done as I'd thought I was with my paper. Went to the last class of Art Media (and there was much rejoicing!) and turned in my crappy-but-at-least-it-works paper. Then we watched an interesting film (watching something interesting in Art Media? Unheard-of!) of a Rube Goldberg-like device involving lots of fire and small explosives, and another one that was a feature-length (100 min) film comprised of one continuous steadycam shot, and all done in one take. I felt so bad for the poor cameraman by the end of the movie.

Looking to the future....

Tomorrow - Wake up for my "9:30 am but a 20-minute walk away" Theater class where we'll be doing some sort of review for the test on Friday. The I can come back and try to finish the 650-page book ("Bonfire of the Vanities") that I need to be familiar with (among other things) for the "final" exam in Anthropology of American Life at 7:00 pm. And before you say it, I checked - there are no SparkNotes for this book! :(

Thursday - Last Writing class, where we'll basically be given time to work on our papers, get feedback on them, and cry over how bad they are. I then start studying for my Theater final. This is also possibly my last chance to hunt down the teacher of the 3D Animation class I want to take next semester, as I need his signature (it's normally reserved for Computer Arts majors) and he's never in his office (even during office hours) and never checks his e-mail!

Friday - Wake again up for my "9:30 am but a 20-minute walk away" Theater class, but this time I have a "final" exam to take. I then come back and frantically revise my Writing Essay so it can be dropped of in the professor's mailbox by 5:00 pm. Only then can I rest.

At that point, I will basically have nothing to do for the better part of a week because my Film History final, the only "real" final I have and the last thing I have to do before I can go home, is on Friday the 16th. As soon as it's done, I cram the majority of my stuff into my dad's car (parents drive up Friday morning) and head back to the 'Burgh! :D

So yeah, don;t expect much else out of me until after this Friday. If you do hear anything from me before then, kindly remind me that I have work to do!!!!!!!1

signing off...

Awesome Christmas Lights!

Someone set up their Christmas lights to be synchronized with what sounds like a Trans-Siberian Orchestra song (update: I've identified the song as "Wizards in Winter"). The result is nothing less than awe-inspiring!

NOTE: It has been brought to my attention that the first site I linked to contains advertisements which some people may deem objectionable. An alternate link can be found below:

Incredible Christmas Lights!

Quick - someone get Andy! This must be duplicated! :)

Update 12-2-05: I found some more information on Carson Williams, the guy behind this stuff.

First, he's on Wikipedia (and honestly, what isn't these days?)

Also, here's another one of his light shows. The song isn't as cool as the first one, but it's still impressive.

There's a WGMD radio interview where he explains some of what he did. The host is kind of annoying, but there are some nice tidbits. Apparently the Trans-Siberian Orchestra (who did the music in the first video) really like the display and may be putting a higher-res version up on their own website.

Finally, he gave some text instructions on how it's done, and posted the sequencing file he used.

Home Tomorrow! W00t!

Happy Day-After-Your-Birthday, Will!

I catch a cab at 8:45 AM, wade through Thanksgiving lines at the airport, catch my 11:15 flight out and I'll be in Pittsburgh by 1:00. My roommate left yesterday, and most everyone else on my floor left today so it's pretty barren tonight. This was the dining hall at 6:30 PM...


There wasn't much food, either. Just hot dogs, hamburgers, some crappy pasta, and salad. I pity the poor fools who aren't going home over the break. The one upshot of there being not many people here is pretty much all the crazy kids went home already, so the people left behind are pretty cool. I got to introduce the joy that is "Rejected" to a couple more people. Muahahaha!


Recapping the time since my last post - well, I got a "new" Canon Optura 30 video camera off ebay. $310 for a camera that was $899 a year and a half ago is not bad, if you ask me. Throw in a case and extra battery and you have one happy film student!

What else happened? Oh yeah, we finally had snow on Friday! Come on, this is Syracuse for crying out loud, we should have had snow before Halloween! Pittsburgh got snow before us!


I've also been dealing with scheduling, which is turing into a real pain. Oh, I got my required courses in all right, although the only schedule that fits requires me to make the 20-minute walk from Syracuse Stage to Main Campus in less than 10 to get to my next class... but we told the professor about that so he's just going to try to shift the second class 10 minutes later. But that isn't the real problem - the real problem is my electives. I took so many AP's in high school that I can get out of all but 3 of my "academic elective" (read: arts & sciences) classes, one of which I took this semester. Instead, I can skip electives altogether some semesters (which I will take advantage of Junior and Senior year since I'll be spending so much time making longer films) or take studio electives (art stuff) instead. A studio elective sounded good for spring, so I signed up for "Introduction to 3D," where you get to learn Lightwave. Sounds like a really fun class. The problem is, it's normally reserved for Computer Arts majors (what happened to the ease of exploring different interests within the Transmedia department?) so I have to get a slip signed by the professor to let me take it.

Ok, but there's one problem with that - I can't track him down! his office hours are listed as only 12pm-1pm Thursdays, but when I went last week the door was shut and locked! I sent an e-mail, but I haven't heard a response yet. The head of my department said I was doing what I should, and that if I don't get a response in another week, I should send a follow-up e-mail. But by then the course may be full! Sigh... college. There is some good news about my schedule, though; As it's shaping up now, I won't have any classes on friday. Granted, I'll have an 8:30 am class on Monday, but whatever.

Wow, that turned into a rather long rant. I guess then I shouldn't go on too much about my stupid last paper for Writing 105, or my even more stupid Final essay for Art Media... yeah.

I know I've been neglecting the comic for... like... a month. I'll see if I can do something about that over break. Heck, maybe tonight, I'm not really doing anything else. We'll see.

To my friends: I'll see you guys back in the 'Burgh! We seriously need to have a LAN party, or Risk, or D&D. Something!

Shenanigans!

As Mike pointed out, he and Will had some fun with me last night. As requested, I'm posting the exceedingly humorous logs from the AIM sessions I had with the two. Be warned - they're long! I couldn't summarize what happened if I tried, so you'll just have to figure out what's going on for yourself! Rest assured, this will make it into the comic in some form. It's just too good to pass up.

We'll start with my chat with Will. I signed on to AIM last night, and was greeted with this:

12:56 AM
x2Xtreme21x: yeah so... um... haley's passed out on my floor in a pool of his own vomit... good thing?
Mike Hanley: not usually...
Mike Hanley:
x2Xtreme21x: its' quite humorous
x2Xtreme21x: I found like... scars on his wrists
Mike Hanley: until you have to clean up said vomit
Mike Hanley: scars?
x2Xtreme21x: from like razors
x2Xtreme21x:
Mike Hanley: eesh. fun
x2Xtreme21x: yeeeeeeeah
x2Xtreme21x: ..... thoughts?
Mike Hanley: i find it ironic that this happens right after i see you're in the "I prefer not to drink on weekends" facebook group
x2Xtreme21x: ... I am?
Mike Hanley: and yes, I'm aware this is haley not you, but still funny
x2Xtreme21x: it's not ME.. it's HALEY
Mike Hanley: was that on his profile?
x2Xtreme21x: no it's on mine
Mike Hanley: k, my point still stands
Mike Hanley: that fact that after you "give it up", you have to deal with this
x2Xtreme21x: AM I PASSED OUT ON MY FLOOR IN A POOL OF VOMIT?!
x2Xtreme21x: NO IT'S HALEY
Mike Hanley: i know
Mike Hanley: nevermind
x2Xtreme21x: it's gonna be a bitch to clean this up..
Mike Hanley: i would imagine
1:00 AM
x2Xtreme21x: I'll get him to once he wakes up
x2Xtreme21x: with his ASS
Mike Hanley: just make sure he's on his side so he doesn't drown in it
x2Xtreme21x: um
x2Xtreme21x: too late?
Mike Hanley: is he breathing? if so, not too late
x2Xtreme21x: um
x2Xtreme21x: I don't wanna go near that..
x2Xtreme21x: he's a runner... he can stand a long time without oxygen....... right?
Mike Hanley: ...
x2Xtreme21x: I might be a little drunk myself..
Mike Hanley: what position is he in now?
x2Xtreme21x: DOGGY STYLE
Mike Hanley: face down, then?
x2Xtreme21x: umm..
x2Xtreme21x: I think?
Mike Hanley: ...
x2Xtreme21x: yes... face down
Mike Hanley: just nudge him over with your foot until he's on his side
x2Xtreme21x: I don't know... he crawled into my closet
Mike Hanley: O_O
Mike Hanley: fuuuuuuun
x2Xtreme21x: um yeah
x2Xtreme21x: so... HOW'S LIFE?
Mike Hanley: um... less eventful than your own
Mike Hanley: thankfully
Mike Hanley: seriously, just make sure Haley's still breathing and put him on his side. Drowning in your own vomit would be a horrible way to go.
Mike Hanley: and yes, he will owe you big time after this....
Mike Hanley: wait...
x2Xtreme21x: ummm
x2Xtreme21x: maybe that's not haley..
Mike Hanley: he just signed on AIM...
Mike Hanley: yeah
Mike Hanley: WTF?
x2Xtreme21x: WHO IS IN MY CLOSET?
Mike Hanley: who is on your floor?
1:05 AM
x2Xtreme21x: ... WHAT THE FUCK
x2Xtreme21x: it's NOT HALEY
x2Xtreme21x: oh shit
Mike Hanley: yeah
Mike Hanley: shit indeed
Mike Hanley: do you know who it is?
x2Xtreme21x: [01:05] x2Xtreme21x: yeah so... you're not on my floor
[01:05] Mike Haley: Uh..?
[01:05] x2Xtreme21x: yeah someone's passed out in my closet..
[01:05] Mike Haley: ... Uh?
[01:06] x2Xtreme21x: I SWEAR TO GOD IT'S YOU
[01:06] Mike Haley: ... Yes, Will. It's me.
Mike Hanley: you really need to figure out who this guy is
x2Xtreme21x: well it's kinda tough that he's passed out
x2Xtreme21x: hmmmmm...
1:10 AM
x2Xtreme21x: HOLY SHIT I THINK I KNOW WH OIT IS
x2Xtreme21x: ... it's Haley I swear
Mike Hanley: I'm talking to him right now on AIM
x2Xtreme21x: who?
Mike Hanley: Haley!
x2Xtreme21x: oh
x2Xtreme21x: then wtf
x2Xtreme21x: WHHO ARE YOU????
Mike Hanley: Mike Hanley, you messaged me, remember?
x2Xtreme21x: not yo
Mike Hanley: oh, him
x2Xtreme21x: HALEY
Mike Hanley: ITS NOT HALEY
Mike Hanley: I'M TALKING TO HALEY
x2Xtreme21x: YOU CAN'T PROVE TAHT
1:15 AM
Mike Hanley: Haley is going to come over to help you
Mike Hanley: but you'll need to sign him in
x2Xtreme21x: HE'S ALREAXY HERE
x2Xtreme21x: I SWEAR TO YOU MIKE
Mike Hanley: just trust me, alright
Mike Hanley: just trust that someone is coming to help you.
x2Xtreme21x: um
x2Xtreme21x: help me?
x2Xtreme21x: Im fine
x2Xtreme21x: it's fucking HALEY THAT NEEDS HELP
Mike Hanley: whatever, you need help with the situation

Heh, yeah. Around here is where Will called to tell me it was a joke, and make sure I hadn't called his parents or anything. :) And then my chat with Mike. Keep in mind these are going on around the same time:

1:06 AM
Mike Hanley: so, um, wtf?
drkdstryer1: ???
Mike Hanley: who is passed out on will's floor ????
drkdstryer1: Will is like... really drunk
Mike Hanley: apparently hes not the only one
drkdstryer1: I don't know what's going on
drkdstryer1: So like
Mike Hanley: here's the chat so far:
drkdstryer1: What has he been telling you
drkdstryer1: ?
The AIM service could not send the message: A message or picture is too large to be transmitted.
Mike Hanley: hmm, too long to send
drkdstryer1: What is the synopsis?
Mike Hanley: someone is passed out in a pool of his own vomit in Will's closet
Mike Hanley: he thought it was you
drkdstryer1: ... uh
drkdstryer1: Like
Mike Hanley: then you signed on
drkdstryer1: I'm in my dorm
drkdstryer1: All night
1:10 AM
drkdstryer1: I was at the track house for like an hour, but I'm home now
Mike Hanley: the fact remains - there's someone passed out in their own vomit in will's closet
Mike Hanley: obviously not you, but someone
drkdstryer1: Like, he thinks it' me?
drkdstryer1: Wait
Mike Hanley: not anymore
drkdstryer1: Will... doesn;'t really have a closet
drkdstryer1: Like, it's really small
Mike Hanley: will says the guy kinda crawled into it
drkdstryer1: No way can someone fit in there
drkdstryer1: That's like NOT POSSIBLE
Mike Hanley: so i'm picturing half-in half-out
Mike Hanley: he still thought it was you, i told him im talking to you, now he's says "oh. the wtf?"
drkdstryer1: Like, I'm gonna go down to Pitt now
drkdstryer1: Should I?
Mike Hanley: yeah, i think he really needs help
drkdstryer1: It's really late though :
Mike Hanley: he's obviously slightly drunk himself
drkdstryer1: Eh
Mike Hanley: oh dear
drkdstryer1: ?
Mike Hanley: x2Xtreme21x: ... it's Haley I swear
Mike Hanley: I'm talking to him right now on AIM
x2Xtreme21x: who?
Mike Hanley: Haley!
x2Xtreme21x: oh
x2Xtreme21x: then wtf
x2Xtreme21x: WHHO ARE YOU????
Mike Hanley: Mike Hanley, you messaged me, remember?
x2Xtreme21x: not yo
Mike Hanley: oh, him
x2Xtreme21x: HALEY
Mike Hanley: ITS NOT HALEY
Mike Hanley: I'M TALKING TO HALEY
x2Xtreme21x: YOU CAN'T PROVE TAHT
drkdstryer1: Oh shit
drkdstryer1: Afk
drkdstryer1: To Pitt!
drkdstryer1: Oh shit
drkdstryer1: I can't get into his dorm
1:15 AM
drkdstryer1: He needs to sign me oin
drkdstryer1: *in
drkdstryer1: Do you know his cell?
Mike Hanley: um
drkdstryer1: Can you call Will? I ahvew like no minutes left
Mike Hanley: hold on
drkdstryer1: I can give you his number
Mike Hanley: im talking to will on aim
drkdstryer1: Just be like "Haley's coming"
Mike Hanley: Mike Hanley: Haley is going to come over to help you
Mike Hanley: but you'll need to sign him in
x2Xtreme21x: HE'S ALREAXY HERE
x2Xtreme21x: I SWEAR TO YOU MIKE
Mike Hanley: just trust me, alright
Mike Hanley: just trust that someone is coming to help you.
drkdstryer1: Heh right
drkdstryer1: Thanks
Mike Hanley: call him when you get tthere
drkdstryer1: If my plan lets me....
Mike Hanley: x2Xtreme21x: um
x2Xtreme21x: help me?
x2Xtreme21x: Im fine
x2Xtreme21x: it's fucking HALEY THAT NEEDS HELP
Mike Hanley: whatever, you need help with the situation
drkdstryer1: O shit
Mike Hanley: he still thinks its you....
drkdstryer1: Yeah, I'm gone nowe
drkdstryer1: Talk to you later
Mike Hanley: let me know how it goes
Mike Hanley: call me if you need more reasoning with will

Haley has a blog!

Attention! - After a long history of reading and occasionally commenting on others, perfoming the blogging equivalent of lurking, Haley has finally been successfully talked into starting his own blog. This battle has been won, but the war isn't over! The villian is now threatening to not update again under some pretense of having a "boring life." Our efforts must not fail! We must spam him with comments to force him into updating!

Ahem. Yeah, so the only serious news in this post is that Haley has a blog now.

I'l be home this weekend

Yup. First weekend in November I'm going to be taking advantage of my dad's frequent flyer miles (and a convenient 3 day weekend thanks to Eid ul-Fitr) and making a quick trip back to Pittsburgh. Should be a nice change of pace, and I'll probably sleep better without my roommate snoring :)

Directionless is up!

Took an age and a half, but my new webcomic Directionless finally exists on the internet! There's only two comics so far, but I'm working on that part. I'm aiming for once-a-week updates, but anyone familiar with Medieval Mayhem should know not to expect that rule to be set in stone.

Yes, I know there are ads, but they're just little banners, and using Comic Genesis lets me use their slick automation tools so I don't have to update things like archive pages and "Prev"/"Next" buttons - I just upload a properly named JPEG, even in advance if I want to, and it will all be automatically updated on the appropriate day. Slick. And it's free, so who's complaining?

The Evil, Ironic Pop-Up

Yes, it's true, even with Firefox's built in filter, some cleverly-coded pop-up ads still get through. Some of them still follow the "make it look like a Windows message box" template, since apparently there are still people that stupid left in the world.

But this one tops them all...

The irony is just overwhelming...

Wikipedia = Hitchhiker's Guide to Earth?

An interesting article on Slate.com compares Wikipedia to the famous creaton of Douglas Adams that we all know and love. (or at least we should!)

The parallels between The Hitchhiker's Guide (as found in Adams' original BBC radio series and novels) and Wikipedia are so striking, it's a wonder that the author's rabid fans don't think he invented time travel. Since its editor was perennially out to lunch, the Guide was amended "by any passing stranger who happened to wander into the empty offices on an afternoon and saw something worth doing." This anonymous group effort ends up outselling Encyclopedia Galactica even though "it has many omissions and contains much that is apocryphal, or at least wildly inaccurate."

Interesting way to look at it, to say the least.

Welcome to the New Red Scare

Looks like our new society of fear and anxiety has at least one undeniable effect: wasting the Secret Service's time with frivilous nonsense that makes everyone involved look like a friggin' moron. Oh wait, I just called a god-loving Wal-Mart employee a moron, when he was just trying to protect his country from the ominous threat of the Thumbtack Terrorists? Help! The thought police are coming for meeeeeeeee!

Article from AlterNet

And a less opinionated local story to prove this isn't just "fabricated by the liberal media":

Article from WVEC-TV

Drink the Water!

Yay! - The "Boil water" order has been lifted.

Don't Drink The Water!

Oh, this is fun to wake up to: Looks like there's E-Coli in the tap water here.

An e-mail from the University offers this helpful advice:

Water should be boiled at a full boil for a minimum of one minute
before drinking, making ice, brushing teeth, washing dishes or being
used in food preparation; boiling kills most bacteria and other
organisms in the water.

Bathing is permitted, but incidental ingestion during bathing
activities should be avoided.

It's like studying abroad in Mexico! Just without the travel costs, or that annoying language barrier!

Comic Name and Update

It is decided: the new comic will be called "Directionless." Now I just need to start the prolonged process of getting a Comic Genesis account.

Plus, I've finished the second comic!

I had to do a bit of trimming to the lengthy dialogue I had written originally, but I think the point still comes across. Tell me what you think.

FYI, this conversation never actually happened, but when were were driving in there really was a sign hanging on one of the frats that read "Freshman Girl Drop-Off."