Maniacalblogger

What Have We Wrought?

2010-11-05T13:42:00.002-04:00

The mid-term elections of 2010 are over and done with. Now what happens? Not much I'm sure until the back end of January. Until them the Democrats may try to push through a lot of crap the Republicans will repeal once they get to hold the mortgage on the House. The campaigns were full of all sorts of finger pointing while the candidates tried to lie their way into more votes. I think the better liars won this round. And the trend toward voting out the incumbents had a little to do with it. So, the power is split between the House and the Senate. When something goes right, who's going to grab the credit? And if it goes wrong, who will be pointing the fingers? The answer to both questions is... both sides will; naturally.

I see nothing but gridlock on who's going to pay for everything from health care to paying for the war the Republicans got us into. But then, we know who will be paying for most of it... the people who haven't got enough money in the first place. I see the Republicans stalling as much as they can while they wait for election day 2012.

The first priority should be how to get the unemployed working again, not how everything is going to get paid for. The equation is simple: more people working = more tax revenue = more money to pay the national debt. Corporations, having to find ways to cut cost learned how to get the same amount of work done with less employees. Now that they know how they are not inclined to hire those people back. This puts more money in the CEO's pocket.

We're living in a house of cards and the financial crisis of '08 & '09 nearly brought it crashing down. One more such hit and it crashes in on all of us. The infrastructure of the country is getting old quickly and can't be upgraded cheaply either. Industry has got to start dipping into their own pockets to bring it up to world standard and not tell the Government to pay for it or it won't get done. Somehow, sending jobs overseas and not being willing to assist in your countries financial health and success sounds like treason to me.

Think about it and have a great day.

Inspiration.... Animation

2010-10-28T11:30:00.004-04:00

Many times when I am in need of inspiration to get down to my own illustration, I turn to animations. But not just any modern animation... I look back to Fleischer Studios. Oh sure, I have many disks from Warner and Disney but nothing has the pleasing effect of the Fleischer touch. In particular are the Superman short films from the early 1940s.

I actually spend more time watching the backgrounds than the action in front. These are tremendous, well rendered pieces of art that mimic the true value of distance. Even a piece of paper has the subtle shadows that make it appear to have been folded. Leaves in trees actually looked like leaves in trees. Great attention was paid to detail. The cartoons made for TV in the sixties almost made me gag. Everything was flat with no shadow or substance.

Fleischer's animations were filled with camera pans and dissolves between scenes that gave them a cinematic quality. He was inventing new ways to make animations and was the only true rival to Disney at the time. The backdrops to Superman and the early Pop-Eye films were so realistic they almost looked like a world you could step into. With a few exceptions, todays animations while high in special effects, don't have that realistic feel of any place you could visit.

When Paramount first came to Max Fleischer to make the Superman films he turned it down. When asked why, he told Paramount that it was just too expensive to make the kind of film they wanted. Back then the average short cost $10 to $15,000 to make. The Superman short films would cost $90,000 to make. Paramount agreed and put up the money.

It's truly amazing that these nearly 70 year old animations can still rival anything made today. Production costs what they are, I can see where they would want to cut corners, Only the action seems relevant today. While all the studios make some very fine action animations that are very eye catching, I can't help looking beyond what's going on in the foreground and sneeking a peek at what's out back.

It truly is all in the details.
This link gives further insight into the creation of Superman in the animations.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E01KqT6RURs

Incumbents Need To Go!

2010-10-12T14:24:00.003-04:00

The masses have spoken! They will hear no more of this type of change! They stood shoulder to shoulder, spoke their piece and had their way. The GAP will not remain with the new logo but will return to the original. What did you think I meant?

If only the voters could be as passionate about who speaks for them in government as they are about the name on their shopping bag. The GAP heard the people loud and clear and took action. Why can't voters speak just as loud and clear to their representatives? Mid-term elections are in a few weeks and it's time to make choices... serious choices.

It's time for the career politicians to be shown the door, the pink slip, to be sent packing. Mayors, Governors, and the President of the United States are subject to term limits. They can only hang around and be ineffective for a short period. But those who have introduced these rules and enacted them have no intention of having limits imposed on them. There's too much money to be scraped into their pile by hanging around and convincing the voter they are doing him a favor by picking his pocket. There is a solution.

Go to the polling place and vote them out. There is a growing trend to vote out the incumbents. Ask yourself if that career politician has really helped the masses or just the already rich. Have they done all they can to get peoples jobs back or just secured their own? Decades of ineffectuality are just a waste of our time and tax money. Just because he's a "Good Old Boy" is no reason to keep him around.

We are at a point in time where we need more rapid solutions to this countries problems. All Congress seems to do is keep everything in Committee while they fight over the legitimacy of each proposal. And when a solution is passed it's held up by all the legal wrangling.

But, don't we need these career people because of their experience? Ask yourself how all this experience let this country fall so deeply into the hole it's in. Ask yourself if any one of them lost their home, lost their savings or lost their health insurance. We know none of them lost their job. Now it's time they did. But don't grieve for them. They've got an ironclad pension that we'll be paying for forever.

Incumbents need to go! The next person may be all wrong for the job but he'll be an incumbent.... and we know what to do with them each and every election year.

Facebook changes.....again

2010-10-08T14:12:00.009-04:00

In the news, yesterday they announced more new changes at Facebook, ostensibly to make your usage of the social site more enjoyable and easier to use. One of the upgrades mentioned was that you could now download every post you ever made right back to the day you first signed on. It reminded me of a post by one person who asked, "When I delete any of my posts are they completely erased?" Apparently, this person had some dubious posts that now, in hindsight, were illadvised. I replied, doubting that anything was completely erased. It had to be on some server, somewhere in their archives; you just weren't able to see it anymore.

So, allowing my Conspiracy Theory writers mind to drive, I came up with a scenario. Knowing how the NSA listens in on everything in the cyberworld, looking for terrorists, it was clear that Facebook or Twitter or any social site, or even blogging sites like this one, would be a good place to go trolling for baddies. Also, knowing how some members like to talk in code, either song titles or passages from literature or quotes from famous people past and present, would this not pique the curiosity of these covert listeners. Maybe not, but it might get you on the radar of some listener who thinks everyone is out to overthrow the Government. How long would they be tiptoeing through the tulips of your public passages before they decided you were harmless. Or would they ever decide you were harmless; especially if some sting in your local area were to flush out a hive of felons dedicated to breaking the law or sending info to foreign governments? For that matter; will this post have them looking at me?

I've often advised people of giving TMI (to much info) online. Where they live or what they own; even when they will be on vacation and the house will be empty. They might as well hang a sign on the front door, "Come in and help yourself".

So, all I can say, (again) is don't say anything online that you will regret later because deleting it is not going to get it erased. It will always be recorded somewhere so that some dedicated savior of the nation can connect you to the local terrorist cell. As for me........ I got nothing to hide.

Oh great! That'll have them knocking on my door by sunrise.

New GAP logo - Who cares?

2010-10-08T13:59:00.002-04:00

With all the tragedy, loss of life and property, the furor today is over the new logo for the GAP. The elongated Times Roman type inside a large blue square is replaced by the bland "Impact" type with a small blue square in the corner. I can see a lot of thought was used to come up with that. I say... what difference does it make? Will shoppers be unable to find the store in the local mall, now? Not a chance. They'll still be running in to plunk down their plastic to get the latest, whatever, fashion. If they can't accept change maybe they should save their old shopping bags to use on their next visit.

I say, if they want to use a new logo with some, impact, they should enlarge a close up of Michael Strahan's teeth and use it as a background for the newest logo.

Christmas Gift To Myself

2008-12-16T17:10:00.002-05:00

On Sunday, December 14th I ordered a gift for myself. A brand new Canon digital camera. It's got all kinds of great functions that make taking better pictures extremely easy. Why a new camera when I rarely take pictures? Listen up while I explain.

I haven't sold any of my writing in years and haven't made a nickle on my artwork in some time but in this epoch of layoffs and business closings I'm determined to make some extra dough by selling stock photos. I'm not about to make a career of it but one never knows. I do intend to make it a source of rainy day insurance.

My everyday job looks to be secure for now and if my employer continues at the current pace and can weather the storm I should be okay. Still, one can't just sit around and hope everything will always turn out okay.

I'm well aware that taking pictures is not just a matter of pointing the lens and clicking the shutter. Content and composition are paramount. I've got a lot to learn but I'm convinced my artistic talents will guide me as I set up shots. I intend to take the advice I gleaned from various blogs by successful photogs and carry the camera with me at all times. You never know when that perfect picture will reveal itself. I'm prepared to take dozens of shots from as many angles as I can think of in order to get that one perfect picture. Practice makes perfect in anything you do.

I'm compiling a list of types of shots I want to watch out for and where I might have to go to get them. This is not going to be a hobby but rather a way of life. Pursuing this is going to get me out of the apartment and away from the glare of the television. One side affect could and should be a stimulus to get me to jump start my artistic talents. It's already gotten me to write in this blog which I haven't done in some time.

I envision taking a number of floral pictures at first or "crowd" shots of interest, local sports or playground shots. I may end up chasing a few fire engines to get news shots or of an accident or two or something of human interest that may see print in local newspapers. Who knows... maybe in a couple of years I may be jostling for the optimum position with other shutterbugs for that perfect shot of Britney Spears cleavage? Yeah, right! Dream on sucker.

Timely Service... Forget it!!!

2008-09-01T13:01:00.002-04:00

On August 28th at 4:30 PM my phone service went dead. Along with it went my DSL service from Verizon. Since I'm not an owner of a cell phone and don't care to own one there was little to do at the time. There's been a lot of remodeling going on in my apartment complex and a wire could have gotten accidentally yanked loose.

At work the next day I went online to Verizon to request repair service. The request form is not set up for people who don't have cell phones. It asked me for an alternate phone number so they might call me if they had to. No help there but it wouldn't take my request without some phone number there so I put in the one that's dead. Naturally the dumb machine took the useless number. I was also asked for my e-mail addy. I put it in but without the phone working I've got no DSL and as a result no e-mail. After it tried to see if my line was working it told me they couldn't send out a repairman until Sept 3rd. What! Seven days without service. They got to be kidding!

So now I have to take a day off from work to wait for the repairman because he will be around anywhere between 9AM and 8 PM. Nice of them to be so specific. If I'd had some serious ailment or was an invalid they would have made the effort to get to me right away. Sometimes being healthy is a drawback.

Since I'll be without service for a week do you think Verizon will offer me 25% off my bill this month? Yeah! When pigs fly.

But all is not lost. My new PC that I bought last February has a WiFi connection and it has been telling me of signals it detects in the area every time I turn it on. I've ignored it but now I was interested. I expected to be asked for some password to sign on and I was correct but the machine has detected half a dozen signals so I kept trying and what do you know. One allowed me to connect but it is an unencrypted source. I'm online again. The signal is a little week and drops out at times and I'm not going to be doing any online banking soon. I've got to check out the encrypted provider and see what they want for their service. Unless their transmitter blows up I'm not likely to be without service again. And it works a hell of a lot faster.

The Incredible WALL*E

2008-07-05T09:39:00.003-04:00

Since I had no where else to be yesterday, July 4, I went to see a couple of movies. The first was Wall*e, a tongue in cheek love story between two robots. A too long alone trash recycling robot left behind on the Earth to clean up the mess left behind by the Earthlings taking a cruise to the stars and a sleek, clean, ultra-powerful probe sent back to Earth to see if it's worth returning to.

After it gets over its fear of being destroyed by the ultra-powerful probe, it's love all around for Wall*e the bumbling little trash recycler. Wall*e follows the probe, designated Eve, to the stars by hitching a ride on the outside of the ship sent to retrieve her/it. They are taken to the cruise ship Axiom where humanity has been in space for 700 years. Having grown fat and lazy the humans are waited on hand and foot by automated robots.

The movie is full of sight gags and inuendo and the facial expressions of the robots trigger the same emotions in the viewer. I couldn't help but laugh and feel sorrow for the little robots as the situations changed. A film well worth seeing again and again.

The second film was The Incredible Hulk. This sequel is far superior to the first installment. Ed Norton did a far better portrayal of Bruce Banner than the previous actor. And William Hurt made me believe he really was Gen. "Thunderbolt" Ross. Even though the action was between the Hulk and the super-powered antagonist, the battle was and always has been between Banner/Hulk and Ross. Each with their own separate ideas of right and wrong.

Even for all his brutality and blind rage the Hulk has a sense of right and justice. He does nothing more than defend himself when he is attacked. It's his enormous strength and lack of control that makes him appear to be a brutal, rampaging savage and killer. If left alone or ignored he'd just go away to be by himself. Clearly, Thunderbolt Ross is the true cause and is ultimately responsible for all the carnage done by the Hulk.

Given this new adversary, the Hulk is pitted against his equal, physically and far outmatched by this creature that has human intelligence and reasoning. But the aversary has ego which is his weakness while the Hulk's strength is and always has been his blind, insane, rage. This seering rage and to some extent, virtue, keep picking the Hulk up after he has been beaten down and should stay down. The gamma loaded adrenaline that courses through his veins magnifies the Hulks strength transforming him into an unstoppable juggernaut. Unstoppable except for the influence of one slim, unassuming, beautiful woman... Betty Ross. Somewhere, deep in the recesses of the Hulks brutish, manic-depressive brain resides a spark of humanity that is Bruce Banner's undieing love for this woman. She alone can calm the flames of his insane anger. While, on the surface, this may appear to be a weakness, it's actually the Hulk's greatest asset.

This movie was superbly put together graphicswise. The computer generated hulk actually looks like he is right there interacting with the other humans and his surroundings. The movie is an adrenaline rush from start to finish with just enough oases to let the viewer catch his breath.

Films such as this one don't get nominated for the best picture Oscar but this one needs to be considered by the Academy.

Where oh where has my poor doctor gone?

2008-05-18T13:12:00.002-04:00

Once upon a time (believe it or not) the local doctor was about the poorest man in town. Huh? Don't scoff, it's true. This man was on call 24/7 and willing to make house calls at any hour if you were too sick to come to his office. Which was usually the back parlor of his house. He was also a pharmacist; mixing the ingredients for pills and all sorts of elixers. Many of his patients were the working poor and if they could not pay him in cash sometimes they made good with chickens or vegetables or fruit they had grown. An equitable arrangement most times; at least the doctor ate. Most of his ready cash went to buying more drugs for his traveling pharmacy.

Somewhere along the way (like as not in the city) they started to specialize and with good cause. They were able to do more research into more serious illnesses and surgeries and save more peoples lives. The General Practioner, GP for short, would do all he could to treat his patients but if he could not treat them sufficiently he suggested sending them off to the big city to a specialist. Somewhere along the way the specialist felt he should be paid in cash and more of it. Okay, he likely had higher overhead in the big city and had all that fancy equipment to buy.

Then as now, the good citizens had fund raisers to help pay for someones medical treatment which likely led to the creation of what we know today as the HMO. What a boon to the specialist and the GP. Everyone gets paid almost right away. But along the way medical providers started to get greedy. Granted, their training at the medical schools was costing a small fortune and they didn't want to be in debt until they were too old to enjoy their Wednesday off. Doctor's fees were skyrocketing and pharmaceutical companies were jumping on the bandwagon as were the creators of all the newest diagnotic equipment. We were being held hostage by our health or lack of it. And the elderly took the brunt of it. Choices had to be made by the Geriatric patient. Pay $5 a piece for the pills that were keeping you alive or buy groceries. No one should be put in a position to make such a decision.

By this time the Doctor was the richest man in town. But how to hide his fortune from the Government who would surely want their share. Real Estate. Create clinics and medical centers that they could charge high rentals on, creating a bookkeeping morass that they have to pay someone to straighten out. Of course, another specialist, in the money field, to see that the good Doc fits into all the loopholes in the Income Tax laws.

Now your GP is no longer a GP of sorts. Oh he'll treat your everday ailments and give you scrips for a lot of things to try to keep you healthy but if your BP goes askew he hands you off the the Cardiologist or if you have a seizure problem you get sent to the Neurologist. God forbid you have more than one major ailment; you'll go broke shelling out for all the co-payments the HMO wants you to pay. Trying to get and keep straight all the referals the HMO requires can drive you insane. And now you even have specialists within a specialty. Another insanity is trying to get an appointment with any of these specialists. It's a two month wait for most of them and don't ask for an evening or weekend appointment; they don't do that anymore. Get the flu or a bad infection or something and it's still a two week wait for your GP. And by then you could either be cured or dead. It's no wonder many are doing an end run on this waiting game and heading to the local ER. You might have to wait all day in their triage and you'll likely get some underpaid, overworked and possibly undertrained intern but it's better than waiting two months instead of sitting before some specialist who only sees you as a number.

And ask yourself this; when was the last time a Doctor really cured anything? I'll tell you; back in the 50s when Doctor Jonas Salk came up with the cure for Polio. No major desease or affliction has been cured since then. Think about it. Pharmaceutical companies don't want you cured. Why lose so handy a money maker. Just treat the symptoms; make the patient feel better and he'll be glad to keep dumping his nest egg into the money pit.

Superhero -- Who? Me?

2008-05-15T08:32:00.002-04:00

With great power comes great responsibility. Those words were first strung together by Stan Lee after he created Spider-Man. While these words were meant to define the duty of the superhero in the comic book universe it could also apply to any public official or upper echelon of the business world. But let's concentrate on the superhero.

Imagine yourself with the powers of your favorite hero. After you got done playing with and exploring the new abilities would you design your costume and go out to fight crime or be committing them. For the sake of arguement we'll say you want to fight crime.

Would you openly display your abilities or be a creature of the night and do things as quietly as possible? Done in secret would only last so long. Sooner or later you'd get caught at it and be on the run. Someone once said "No good deed goes unpunished". No matter how good the intentions you'd be hunted by the law.

Would there be mistrust -- ceretainly, fear -- absolutely, bad propaganda -- for sure. The Government would want to not only control you they'd want to disect you to see if they could make more of you into soldiers. They'd want to brain wash you and/or use you as a weapon of blackmail to enemy countries. But before that they'd want to use you as a superspy. Your life would not be your own.

Of course, if you were powerful enough, they'd try to destroy you if they couldn't control you. You may believe this thinking is a little paranoid but I think it's very close. Human nature is what it is.

While it's entertaining and often thrilling to read about superheroes I don't think I'd want to be one. Well, maybe being invulnerable wouldn't be so bad.

Status Symbol

2008-05-13T15:37:00.002-04:00

In the United States that could be none other than the automobile. The sleeker, faster, racier, the priceier the better. But now, since the price of gasoline has gone so high it does more parking in the driveway than driving on the Parkway. (pardon me George Carlin for stealing your line)

In the seventies we had much the same thing happen. More cars were sitting and public transportation was being utilized. But that was because you couldn't get any gas because of the shortage of fuel due to the oil embargo beset upon us by the oil producing nations not because of the price. Now as then, cars with higher mileage ratings were being sought out rather than the big status symbols. At the time a five year old Volkswagen beetle would set you back $2000 - 2500 while a gas guzzling five year old Cadilac Eldorado could be had off the lot for $500.

The long sought after and so handsomely prized by Soccer Moms everywhere, SUV, is being sent out to pasture and the gas sipping sub-compacts are flying off the lots. The SUVs were sold under the banner that it was the safest, most reliable vehicle that you could count on to keep the loved ones safe in an accident. Now... who cares if the wife and kiddies get crushed under an 18-wheeler, WE CAN'T PAY FOR THE GAS. And speaking of the 18-wheeler: I heard last evening that in order to fill one up with Diesel fuel will set the driver back $1300. Be prepared to pay even more at the grocery store and any other place that relies on these big rigs to bring in the goods.

Scooters are also the transportation of choice by the thrifty or just plain poor. Getting 100 miles to the gallon will cause most anyone to forget how silly they might look on one. Guess what's going to cost more in the near future. Hint: it's the first word in this paragraph.

Remember the old sales pitch by the used car dealer: "It was driven by a little old lady from Pasadena who only used it on Sunday." Now I can hear the pitchman saying "It was driven by a small family from (insert town here) on the weekends." What with the cost of gas so high many are resorting to only using the car on the weekends while they take public transportation to and from work. Even the usually auto-choked highways in Southern California are suddenly experiencing a lot less traffic. And the trend is spreading around the country. Look for tolls on bridges and turnpikes to increase as revenue starts to plummet.

If something isn't done I can visualize more and more of these rapidly growing detriments to the budget sitting in front yards with "For Sale" signs on them. Or maybe someone will fill theirs up with dirt and grow flowers or brocoli or maybe asparagus in it. Now there's a status symbol for ya!

The Writing Muse

2008-05-12T14:02:00.002-04:00

Mine, at least, must be female. Why do I say that, you ask? Because it's so fickle.

She jumps into my thoughts at the most inopportune times when I've no time to be productive and when I'm at the keyboard with all the time in the world she decides to go out for a walk. And her step-brother, Ambition, usually decides to take a nap.

This doesn't happen all the time but more often than not. I suppose it might have something to do with having no deadline to meet or being in need of the funds I potentially could earn if I actually sold something. But is that really my fault? :-)

I suppose, if I could shut out all the other distractions, she might be willing to get down to some serious work. Then again she hates to get down to any serious research which really slows down the process.

What's a writer to do when they have a clunky muse? Is there any place to exchange an old one for a new one? Can they be reprogrammed or are you stuck with the one you're born with?

So many questions -- so few answers -- so little time.

Friends

2008-05-08T16:41:00.002-04:00

What are friends...really?

I used to think they were that someone who stood behind you in good times and bad. Who took the time to listen to what it was that troubled you. Someone you could seek out for advice or who would seek you out when they had a problem to solve. But most of all, someone who would never shut you out just because they thought you might not understand or forgive a transgression.

And you know what? All of this is true. The difficulty is in deciding just who are friends and who are just letting you fill in time until something better comes along. Sometimes you have no idea who really are your friends until adversity shows it's ugly face. Then those you believed to have thought you were invisible suddenly show you how wrong you were.

But what do you do about those who tell you "how glad I am to have found you" then become invisible themselves for whatever reason they had. Do you forgive? If you're any kind of friend and want to keep calling yourself that, you better. Do you trust them ever again? Trust has to be earned and can be earned again if the person really wants it.

What it all boils down to is if you want to have friends you have to be one first. This is not some revelation I just thought up; no, it's been around since the beginning of man's existence. It's just that sometimes you have to remind yourself of it.

7 kinds of sex

2007-11-16T15:42:00.000-05:00

The 1st kind of sex is called: Smurf Sex. This kind of sex happens when you first meet someone and you both have sex until you are blue in the face.

The 2nd kind of sex is called: Kitchen Sex. This is when you have been with your partner for a short time and you are so horny you will have sex anywhere, even in the kitchen.

The 3rd kind of sex is called: Bedroom Sex. This is when you have been with your partner for a long time. Your sex has gotten routine and you usually have sex only in your bedroom.

The 4th kind of sex is called: Hallway Sex. This is when you have been with your partner for too long. When you pass each other in the hallway you both say "screw you".

The 5th kind of sex is called: Courtroom Sex. This is when you cannot stand your wife/Hubby any more. She/He takes you to court and screws you in front of everyone.

The 6th kind is called Religious Sex, which means you get Nun in the morning, Nun in the afternoon and Nun at night.

OOPS. Don't forget the 7th kind of sex - Social Security Sex. You get a little each month. But not enough to live on!

Gone Phishing

2007-10-13T13:16:00.000-04:00

Scam artists have been phishing via email for some time now with all sorts of scenarios to trick you out of your private information. And unfortunately, a large enough percentage of people still bite on these lures making it profitable for the scammers to keep trying.

It needs to be remembered that any site you are registered with will not email you and ask you for your username or password. And any email they do send you will usually address you by name: info that phishers could not possibly have.

Recently I had an incident with the phishers other tactic. They call you on the phone if you are listed in the book and try to get info from you. The automated caller claimed to be with MasterCard and told me my rates were about to change and to press 9 to speak with a rep who would explain it all to me. It pains me to think that some percentage of people are naive enough to fall for this. First: I have more than one card with different banks whose rates are different and set by each bank. Second: any changes to your rates will be mailed to you with your monthly statement well in advance. They will not waste time and money with the phone unless there is a serious problem with your account. I was tempted to talk to this rep and see just how much bullshit I could lay on them before they hung up in disgust but it was late in the evening and I had other fish to fry.

All I can say is that if anyone calls you or emails you for your info tell them nothing. The only time you will need to give them your info is if you contact them first through their website or call the phone number on the back of your card and not some link in an email or a phone call from them. If one of your accounts should call you they will address you by name and tell you a portion of your account number once you identify yourself.

So be aware and be safe.

It Ain't Art - It's Fraud!

2007-10-04T19:04:00.000-04:00

Today, I happened across an art book that ticked me off. On it, displayed as high art were a bunch of old weathered timbers bolted together at right angles with a few old bolts and metal plates and it was called art. I call it firewood. And then there was that bolder. You're not going to take ten pounds of clay and shape it into a pile of dried dog poop left out in the rain, cast it in bronze ten times it's original size, plunk it on a slab of concrete in some metropolitan park and make me believe it's art. Or better still, take a few condiment squeeze bottles, fill them with paint, squirt them all over a six foot by ten foot canvas and call it art. And then have the balls to place a five million dollar price tag on it.

Who do you gotta sleep with to get that kind of deal?

Give me a good renaissance painter any day. These artisans knew how to make fine art. Their paintings looked exactly like what they were depicting. There was no guesswork there. You didn't have to stand there staring at the canvas for hours trying to figure out what the hell was this guy thinking. Even Warhol's op art looked like something even if it did make your eyes cross at times.

I've painted landscapes and done artwork for comic books and believe me I haven't earned enough to buy the local professional ball club. Then again, I haven't been dead for 300 years yet.

Maybe I'll try inventing a new style. I'll take several different colors of paint and pump them up my ass and then fart all over a canvas. Now all I need is to think of what to call it.

Have a great day.

Social Security

2007-10-02T18:01:00.000-04:00

As a baby boomer I am rapidly closing in on the time when I will want to file for my Social Security. Whether I'll be able to retire and enjoy my leisure is another question.

It's been speculated many times that SS will likely be broke by then and Congress has not formulated a better plan to save it. I, on the other hand, have had the answer for some time. It's quite simple... cancel all Congressional pensions!

If they have to live on their SS as so many of us poor schmucks will have to do they'll fix the system in a big hurry.

Then too, most of them are lawyers and will likely get some high paying job once they're voted out of office. A job that will likely have a large pension attached to it when the time comes so they won't need their SS anyway. But you know the greedy group will apply for it anyway just so the rest of us can't get it first..

There also is another issue that is happening right now. The current administration wants to cut back on funding for medical care for children of low income families. Why? Most likely it is because the war in the Middle East is costing so much that they have to cut back on something. Who cares if hundreds of sick children die so long as we keep funding a senseless war where we're killing so many young adults. They get to cut back on the surplus population even faster. This has also prompted several states to sue the Bush administration to get the funding restored.

Get the tar and feathers ready, folks.

Justice League

2007-10-01T16:05:00.000-04:00

Well, it looks like we may get the promised Justice League movie yet. They're still nailing down the cast and have said they want to announce the entire lineup all at once when it is set. But secrets are fleeting and it had been revealed that Jessica Biel would play Wonder Woman but three days later she was reported to have said no thanks. My two favorite choices would be Milena Govich recently off of Law & Order or Kate Beckensale.

The rest of the lineup include the Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman and the Martian Manhunter. Superman and Batman are also listed but Brandon Routh and Christian Bale will not be playing their respective roles. Christian Bale has just finish filming The Dark Knight and likely is looking for some time off. Brandon Routh has not done much lately so only the studio knows why he's not on board. My choice for Superman is obvious; offer it to Tom Welling who has been playing the young Clark Kent in "Smallville" now in it's seventh season. Oddly enough, Welling, who plays the young Superman to be, is older than Routh who played the older version.

I haven't made up my mind who should play the other heroes but if anyone who reads this has any suggestions let me know with a comment.

The villain should, in my estimation, be some otherworldly supercreature; something quite huge and powerful that would require an entire team of heroes to defeat it.

American Idol

2007-08-28T18:51:00.000-04:00

Yesterday nearly 20,000 hopefuls stood outside of the Wacovia Center in Philadelphia to wait their turn to audition. I feel sorry for those who were at the end of the line that started before 4 AM.

I give them credit for having the where-with-all to wait for their turn before the preliminary judges. You have to want something bad to wait for so long. By dinner time they were still listening to auditions and there were hours to go still.

The judges deserve some credit for being there all that time. A captive audience you might say.

Several of the early arrivals were singled out by the media to give a little sample of what they intended to sing. As I listened to each of them in turn it occurred to me they all sounded alike. Didn't any of them have something original. Sure, they sang different songs but each one, man or woman, sounded the same in every inflection. I only heard a dozen or so and can only imagine how the judges felt after a few thousand.

Only about a thousand will be chosen to go on to the next round. This gave me pause for thought. This show always lets a certain number of auditioners, who couldn't carry a tune in a bucket, through to the next round so they can be ridiculed on camera by Simon and the rest. Is this really fair? Are they letting these few bad singers through at the expense of someone else who might actually be able to sing? Seems unlikely. The judges have already picked the better singers from the rest and just need a few for some reality television. It gives the better singers the incentive to do their best and not fall under the wrath of Simon.

William Hung (I hope I spelled his name correctly) was an exception. Some fast thinking producer saw a way to make a few bucks for a year or so then let William fade away. If he's still in show business it's a big secret because I haven't heard of him, in a while.

There even was a cross dresser there for the audition. What a flamboyant load of whatever. The man was dressed in a white feather dress, a white feather boa, a white feather hat with a huge brim and white high heels. That one I hope got the free pass to ridicule city. Not that I'm a nasty person or have anything against cross dressers, it's just good TV.

Anyway, I wish them all luck but I'll be staying away from the early rounds until the chaff is separated from the wheat.

I Resign

2007-08-04T16:33:00.000-04:00

I found this on another website and thought I'd post it here for others to see.

My Resignation
Author Unknown

I am hereby officially tendering my resignation as an adult. I have decided I would like to accept the responsibilities of an 8 year-old.

I want to go to McDonald's and think that it's a four star restaurant.

I want to sail sticks across a fresh mud puddle and make a sidewalk with rocks.

I want to think M&Ms are better than money because you can eat them.

I want to lie under a big oak tree and run a lemonade stand with my friends on a hot summer's day.

I want to return to a time when life was simple; When all you knew were colors, multiplication tables, and nursery rhymes, but that didn't bother you, because you didn't know what you didn't know and you didn't care.

All you knew was to be happy because you were blissfully unaware of all the things that should make you worried or upset.

I want to think the world is fair. That everyone is honest and good.

I want to believe that anything is possible. I want to be oblivious to the complexities of life and be overly excited by the little things again.

I want to live simple again. I don't want my day to consist of computer crashes, mountains of paperwork, depressing news, how to survive more days in the month than there is money in the bank, doctor bills, gossip, illness, and loss of loved ones.

I want to believe in the power of smiles, hugs, a kind word, truth, justice, peace, dreams, the imagination, mankind, and making angels in the snow.

So... here's my checkbook and my car-keys, my credit card bills and my 401K statements. I am officially resigning from adulthood.

Made in China

2007-08-04T16:22:00.000-04:00

This is almost becoming a phrase that means buyer beware.

It was bad enough with the poisoned dog food that came from there a few months ago then the toothpaste scare of recent weeks and now the latest is children's toys with excessive lead paint on them. This last one with the paint has forced Fisher Price to recall several toys made for them in China.

So many coincidences over so short a time has got to make one wonder what the hell is going on. Are they secretly out to get us. You might think so but they ship these same items to England and elsewhere in the world.

During the Second World War we saved their collective butts by driving the Japanese out of their country. They had no Army or any serious weapons in which to fight a large invasion. You'd think they'd be a more grateful nation rather than the ambivalent one they seem to be.

Commercials???

2007-06-24T14:38:00.000-04:00

I haven't been to a movie in some time and decided to treat myself and a friend to an early movie. After the obligatory plug for the concession and to please make no noise came the string of trailers for upcoming movies. Okay. I endured all that and prepared for the movie. Uh uh. I had to sit thorough a string of TV commercials. What? I came to the movie theater to get away from the mindless TV ads on the tube. I don't want to be accosted by them in the theater.

I know, I know it's done to keep costs down but I should think the exorbitant prices they charge at the concessions would make up the difference. Oh well. You endure the adverts and then you at least get to see an uninterrupted movie.

Have a good day.

Money Talks.... Again

2007-06-07T16:20:00.000-04:00

Money talks and the rest of us get told to shut up. Paris Hilton walked out of jail today after serving only 4 days of a 23 day sentence. No, it wasn't for good behavior; it was for an undisclosed medical condition. What a load of crap! Her Mother paid off the right lawyer who knew just who to put the squeeze on. If it was me or any other average American we'd be sent to the prison doctor and that would be the end of it.

She already had her sentence reduced from 45 days by the judge who sentenced her. Did he have a change of heart or did someone remind him he might have a hard time getting re-elected if he didn't ease up. You decide. I've no proof either way.

Undisclosed medical condition. Don't give me that bull either and expect me to swallow it! It couldn't be that serious if all they did was lock a tracking bracelet on her ankle and send her home. I want to know exactly what it was that was wrong with her. If it wasn't life threatening she should be behind bars.

I'm done here. The thought of such a rape of the judicial system is making me want to puke!

Do You Put things Off

2007-06-02T09:45:00.000-04:00

Too many people put off the things that bring them joy
just because they haven't thought about it, don't have
it on their schedule, didn't know it was
coming, or are too rigid to depart from their routine.

Have you ever thought about all those people on
the Titanic who passed up dessert at dinner that
fateful night in an effort to cut back. From
then on, I've tried to be a little more flexible.

How many women out there will eat at home because
their husband didn't suggest going out to dinner until
after something had been thawed? Does the
word "refrigeration" mean nothing to you?

How often have your kids dropped in to talk and sat in
silence while you watched 'Law and Order' on
television?

How many times have you called your sister and said,
"How about going to lunch in a half hour?" and she would
stammer, "I can't. I have clothes in the
washer. My hair is dirty. I wish I had known
yesterday, I had a late breakfast," And my personal
favorite: "It's Monday."

Because Americans cram so much into their lives, we
tend to schedule our headaches.. We live on a sparse
diet of promises we make to ourselves when
all the conditions are perfect!

We'll go back and visit the grandparents when we get
Steve toilet-trained.
We'll entertain when we replace the living-room
carpet. We'll go on a second honeymoon when we get two
more kids out of college.

Life has a way of accelerating as we get older. The
days get shorter, and the list of promises to
ourselves gets longer. One morning, we awaken,
and all we have to show for our lives is a litany of
"I'm going to," "I plan on," and "Someday, when things
are settled down a bit."

When anyone calls my 'seize the moment' friend, she is
open to adventure and available for trips. She keeps
an open mind on new ideas. Her enthusiasm for
life is contagious. You talk with her for five
minutes, and you're ready to trade your bad feet for a
pair of Rollerblades and skip an elevator for
a bungee cord.

Now...go on and have a nice day. Do something you WANT
to...not something on your SHOULD DO list. If you were
going to die soon and had only one
phone call you could make, who would you call and what
would you say? And why are you waiting?

Have you ever watched kids playing on a merry go round
or listened to the rain lapping on the ground? Ever
followed a butterfly's erratic flight
or gazed at the sun into the fading night? Do you run
through each day on the fly? When you ask "How are
you?" Do you hear the reply?

When the day is done, do you lie in your bed with the
next hundred chores running through your head? Ever
told your child, "We'll do it tomorrow." And
in your haste, not see his sorrow? Ever lost touch?
Let a good friendship die? Just call to say "Hi"?

When you worry and hurry through your day, it is like
an unopened gift....Thrown away.... Life is not a
race. Take it slower. Hear the music
before the song is over.

"Life may not be the party we hoped for... but while
we are here we might as well dance!"

Are Traditional Inkers Being Phased Out?

2007-05-28T10:27:00.000-04:00

Yes.... and No.

For the past few days I have been corresponding in several forums on this very question. For the uninitiated, an inker is someone who works in comic books. He or she receives finished pencil drawings of comic book pages and goes over them in black ink to make them camera ready. An inker has been called a simple tracer of lines but this is so very far from the truth. Inkers are terrific artists in their own right. As a traditional inker in the past I have had to redraw hands, correct perspectives and fill in backgrounds or create visual effects the penciler didn't have time to correct.

With the quantum leaps in computer speed and memory and graphic art programs such as Photoshop and Illustrator a lot of the inkers work is being done directly in the computer with a Wacom tablet and stylus. Time and money saved is the key here as publishers try to keep the retail price of their books down. Anyone who is a collector these days is shelling out a lot of cabbage each month to get their favorite books.

Marvel had their famous bullpen where all the individual artists came to work in the same building and worked assembly line fashion to get out the monthly publications. This is not the case today. Pencilers, inkers, letterers and colorists are scattered all over the globe. Penciled pages would have to be overnighted to the editor who okayed them or sent them back for corrections. Then the editor sent them to the inker who sent them back to the editor who... well, you see the pattern. A lot of time and money was involved in all that shipping.

Today some publishers are looking for anyone who can do pencils, inks and color all by themselves. Then team system is losing favor. Instead of large envelopes full of finished art being shipped editors are receiving CDs with an entire issue on them or in some cases the finished art is sent electronically to the publishers computers.

As a consequence there is less and less work for inkers to go around. Many I have corresponded with are learning the new way with the computer. Others, sadly to say, are in denial and scoff at the new technology as not being real -- how it can't compete with the look and feel and the style of the traditional inker. I've researched a lot of digital inkers who are so good at their craft that you couldn't tell which was traditional and which was digital if you didn't know.

The hard line traditionalists are always picking apart the digital inks and how "unreal" they are; how they can't have the style and flare of pen and brush. I disagree. In the proper hands a digital inker can do the same things as any top traditional inker and likely do it quicker. To the trained eye the flaws and inconsistencies will stand out like a sore thumb but the casual reader is not going to give a rats rear or even notice and publishers know this. And the digital inker has other advantages: when he's finished for the day all he or she has to do is save their work to a file and close the program. Traditional inkers must clean up their pens and brushes, make sure they cap their ink bottle, erase excess pencil lines and/or graphite on the page, correct ink drops or spillages with white out and put up with substandard art boards that are scratchy and catch on their nibs or cause the ink to bleed all over their finely rendered lines.

Some lament the loss of extra revenue from reselling the finished art at conventions or on the web. Another has suggested that the future of these electronic files may be as signed and numbered reprints much as old masters did with lithography so that more people could own a copy of their grand works.

The answer to my original question is that while some traditional inkers will be phased out the best will occupy some niche that the public still wants. They're not going to go away completely. The next generation of artists are going to be expected to do it all and do it quickly. There's no escaping this fact.

IMHO

Have a great day.

The Father of the Graphic Novel

2007-05-27T07:58:00.000-04:00

I recently finished reading Will Eisner's New York - Life in the big city. Along with being a superb artist Mr. Eisner was a unique story teller. His view of the world seemed straight forward at first glance but as you get into his work you see the ironic, the sardonic, the often funny and sometimes cruel workings of fate. Little vignettes of no more than a page or two tied together by things like a storm sewer grate or a window or a wall; sometimes just by the passage of time. One man's struggle to be invisible all his life works so well that when he is mistakenly listed among the newly deceased in the obituaries he can't make anyone believe he is still among the living. He loses his apartment, his job, all his money and possessions and eventually in an odd twist of misunderstanding his own life. The ironic part of the whole story; the woman who mistakenly listed him among the dead wins an award from the paper for her dedication and accuracy in her reporting.

The birth, life and death of a building and the ghosts of seemingly inconsequential pedestrians are the backdrop for the story, "The Building". Other stories chronicle the choices, good or bad, made by people we likely would not notice if we tripped over them.

The stories are not filled with explosions and super-fisticuffs and do not often take place on other worlds. So what makes them so fascinating is the way they are told. It's like watching a soap opera. The stories are only important to the people involved but you can't stop watching them anyway.

The hardcore reader of todays comics may not find Mr. Eisner's work worth his hard earned dollar because it doesn't contain enough action but the people who want to create comics would do themselves a disservice by not learning from the master of storytelling. Mr. Eisner's book "Comics and Sequential Art" is a must read for comic creators. You may not like his style of art and that doesn't matter. What you must heed is his pacing and layout of pages and the panels within them. Telling a story without dialog or captions as Mr. Eisner did so well is truly masterful.

Other books to read:

A Contract with God

Will Eisner Reader

Dropsie Avenue

Life on Another Planet

Fagin the Jew

Last Day in Vietnam

The Spirit Archives.

There are others but these are must reads as far as I'm concerned.

Have a great day.

Ban violent video games

2007-05-26T17:34:00.000-04:00

Video gamers will likely think I'm way off base here but I think it's in the best interest of the mental health of our youths to ban violent video games.

I personally don't play the games. I'm into creating art not watching it try to maim, maul or slay everything. A co-worker related to me that he was trying out a demo in a local video store. In the demo a number of Arab types were shooting and killing American soldiers. In the demo he was able to capture one of the enemy and was offered the option to tie up the prisoner or shoot him. He chose to shoot the prisoner in the head then instantly felt guilty for his selection. He had no idea why he did it.

As far as I'm concerned it was nothing but brainwashing brought on by current events and the creators of the video. Philadelphia, PA is experiencing an average of more than one murder a day. The weekends are especially littered with fatalities. When these young people see how little worth is placed on life in these videos they translate it to the real world and experience no hesitation in shooting real people. These are not organized crime in action where those who cross the Mob get payed back. These are innocent men, women and children trying to enjoy life who just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

We all covet our freedom and the pursuit of happiness... but what happens if the City Fathers get just fed up enough to declare Marshall Law, bring in the National Guard and detain anyone who steps outside after curfew without good reason or, God forbid, someone who looks like he might have a gun gets shot. Think it can't happen, don't bet on it? The public will demand that the Mayor do something about it sooner or later. Worse would be if people started behaving like Charles Bronson in the "Death Wish" movies.

Think about this. What if someone created a video game call "Ku Klux Klan"? In this game a group of murderers in white sheets and cone shaped hats took it upon themselves to enter any metropolitan city to: stalk black men and women, shoot black men and women, hang from lamp posts black men and women and rape black women and/or castrate black men before they executed them. Points would be scored for how many kills you made and the level of violence in doing so. The Government would pull such a game from production before the NAACP could get to their phones.

So why isn't the Government curtailing these other violent games? Oh yeah. There's that 1st Amendment thing. I was unaware it stated you had the right to act like an asshole. It's up to parents to not allow such games in their homes and stop letting that one eyed electronic cyclops be the babysitter of their children. Know who your children's friends are and their habits.

I'm all for freedom but it stops when it causes other people irreparable harm.

This is of course IMHO.

Have a great day.

Credit Cards

2007-05-16T15:27:00.000-04:00

A credit card company who shall remain nameless here (I don't want no stinking lawsuits) keeps sending me applications for another card. They are quite willing to give me the new card no matter what my balance or credit score is. They want us all to go more heavily into debt and owe them even more money.

I pay my statement in full each month. I never buy what I don't need and never leave a balance. I'm a detriment to them because they're not getting any interest from me on my account. They'd likely want to drop me but they have no just cause to and in the meantime I'm helping my credit rating.

I guess I'm un-American by not wanting to mortgage to the hilt what is left of my insignificant life but I've been heavily in debt before and screwed up my credit and was evicted. This I vow will never happen again.

Why doesn't the credit card company just increase my credit limit you ask? They can't charge me an extra annual fee if they do that. Only by suckering me in with another card can they reach deeper into my wallet.

And they keep sending me blank checks that say, "Look how convenient we are. Use us just like money to pay off your other debts." Yeah, right! Then you can also charge me extra interest on top of what you already charge on outstanding debts because I'm taking a cash advance when I do and not making a purchase. If you've done this check your statement and it will have purchases and cash advances and the interest charged separately. And when you make a payment on your statement look to see which listing is paid first. I guarantee your purchases will be paid down first so that the cash advances you made can gain a lot more interest.

This country runs on credit and if you qualify just barely there will be some company willing to help you bury yourself in debt.

Remember what you've read here and when you're dragging yourself through your second job at K-Mart or McDonald's or 7/11 ask yourself if that Nintendo game and the plasma TV and the hot tub in the back yard; all of which you never get to use because you're at work or sleeping through your days off was worth running up all that debt.

Have a good day.

T. G. I. F.

2007-05-11T19:35:00.000-04:00

It should mean Thank God I'm Free. Let's face it; there isn't one high and mighty schmuck born in this country that has an iota of what it's like to live in a repressed country. And it may not be much longer that anyone can say that.

The recent sting that captured the six men who were going to storm Fort Dix in New Jersey and kill as many of our fighting men as possible makes me wonder. The weeks after 9/11 brought on a paranoia that threatened the lives or at best, the health of anyone who looked like an Arab. Forget the fact that they were born in this country and so were their parents.

Everyone here should thank God we have organizations like the ACLU. They'll never allow the wholesale roundup of possible insurgents like happened to the Japanese/Americans during the second World War.

I agree in part with the tenets of the NRA. Every man or woman should be allowed to own a pistol or a shotgun if they wish but no one in their right mind should be allowed to own an assault weapon; collector or not. This is where the NRA needs to bend. Assault weapons should be banned 100%.

George Orwell's book, 1984, reflected a world where everyone was watched and had no privacy. A world where wrongdoers were severely punished. Judge Dredd came from a world where wrongdoers were judged and condemned instantly by judges on motorcycles. No lawyers allowed.

Are we headed this way? Seems unlikely to me. But there is always the threat of Star Chamber justice by law enforcers who are just fed up with the criminal element perverting the law to give them an unjust advantage.

Think about it!

T.G.I.F. and thank God I live in a free country.

Rules Men Wish Women Knew...

2007-05-10T17:23:00.000-04:00

1. If you think you're fat, you probably are. Don't ask us.

2. Learn to work the toilet seat: if it's up put it down.

3. Don't cut your hair. Ever.

4. Birthdays, Valentines, and Anniversaries are not quests to see if he can find the perfect present, again!

5. If you ask a question you don't want an answer to, expect an answer you don't want to hear.

6. Sometimes, he's not thinking about you. Live with it.

7. Don't ask him what he's thinking about unless you are prepared to discuss such topics as navel lint, the shotgun formation and monster trucks.

8. Get rid of your cat. And no, it's not different, it's just like every other cat.

9. Dogs are better than ANY cats. Period.

10. Sunday = Sports. It's like the full moon or the changing of the tides. Let it be.

11. Shopping is not sport.

12. Anything you wear is fine. Really.

13. You have enough clothes.

14. You have too many shoes.

15. Crying is blackmail. Use it if you must, but don't expect us to like it.

16. Your brother is an idiot, your ex-boyfriend is an idiot and your Dad probably is too.

17. Ask for what you want. Subtle hints don't work.

18. No, he doesn't know what day it is. He never will. Mark anniversaries on a calendar.

19. Yes, pissing standing up is more difficult than peeing from point blank range. We're bound to miss sometimes.

20. Most guys own two to three pairs of shoes-what makes you think we'd be any good at choosing which pair, out of thirty, would look good with your dress?

21. Yes and No are perfectly acceptable answers.

22. A headache that lasts for 17 months is a problem. See a doctor.

Web Comics in 3D

2007-05-06T10:52:00.000-04:00

Web comics have been around for some time now. I myself am working on one that will be up soon. The quality of these comics runs from okay to why hasn't this person been offered a job in the industry. The artwork and story are excellent in most.

What is becoming even more popular are comics rendered in 3D. Software is becoming rapidly less expensive and much more powerful and intuitive to the renders needs. While the rendering software is great you still need other software such as Photoshop or Illustrator to do color changes, special effects and touchups and to add lettering.

Web sites like Drunk Duck and Comic Space and many others are filling up with a wide variety of 3D comics. These run from Comedy to Science Fiction to Drama series that are long running and are building a following.

It's doubtful that these 3D comics will rival and/or replace the current crop of print comics in the near future but I do see them showing up on CD with enough popularity to urge the distributors to list them in their sales catalogues or available through the likes of Amazon, Ebay or through PayPal.

Will there be a day when a young student props his Ipod up behind his textbook in study hall and tunes in to his favorite 3D comic? One can only surmise.

Happy reading.

Inexhaustible fuel source

2007-05-04T18:16:00.000-04:00

With the rising price of crude oil comes a rising cost in everything downstream from it: gasoline, heating oil and electricity. There's a way to exploit an inexhaustible source that will be here long after all the oil deposits are depleted.

Ask yourself this: what powers the space shuttle? Hydrogen and Oxygen. And what is water made of? The same thing. So what's the problem? It takes a lot of energy to separate Hydrogen from Oxygen but if industry would put their shoulder to the wheel they could come up with less costly ways to separate the two.

Think of it. A power station on the banks of a river drawing water from the source, separating it into it's two components then feeding it into a furnace that creates super-heated steam that runs turbines that create electricity. And what do we get from the combustion? Distilled water and no pollutants. The combustion chamber would have to be a closed system. Drawing in outside air with it's various gases would create another pollution we don't need.

As the system evolved and was made more efficient I can see the power company selling off excess distilled water instead of separating it again to be re-fed into the furnaces. And there's no way we could ever run out of fuel.

Also, consider this. Power companies keep standby generators ready to help out when the demand for power is high in the summer when air conditioners and fans are sucking up a lot of energy. These standby generators are driven by electric motors. A percentage of the energy from the turbine driven generators is drawn off to power these motors that are connected by a shaft to the generators that produce the extra energy when needed.

Consider this; why can't the generator be plugged into the motor that is running it? It's illogical to think that 100% of the energy produced would be needed to run the drive motor. In theory we would have nothing but free energy. I'm no expert but I'm sure the experts could figure out the whys and wherefores in making it work.

Why aren't the Government and industry pursuing the research that would bring all this about?

The simple answer is we aren't desperate enough. We're not in danger of running out of oil in the near future and even when that runs out there are thousands of cubic miles of coal underground that could be turned into fuel. The Germans were doing it over 60 years ago. Only when they've fouled the air so badly and we're dying of various lung failures will someone think there must have been a better way.

But then, this is just IMHO.

Take a deep breath for me, won't you?

Huh!

2007-05-03T21:12:00.000-04:00

Not too long ago I was standing before a vending machine trying to make up my mind which row of useless calories I wanted to waste my hard earned buck on. I was curious as to the raised bumps on each of the numbers on the keypad. Then it hit me... braille. Braille? Of what earthly use could this be to a customer who couldn't see the product in the first place? I was pleased that the machines manufacturer was making the products as handicap accessible as possible but this leaned toward overkill. Not a well thought out idea. It was amusing in an ironic sort of way.

Have a good day.

You're No Longer Cool When...

2007-05-02T15:48:00.000-04:00

I got this from a friend some months ago who got it from somewhere on the web who got it from somewhere and so on and so on and so on... Anyway I doubt there's any copyright infringement here. Enjoy.

You find yourself listening to talk radio.

You daughter says she got pierced and you look at her ears.

The pattern on your shorts and couch match.

You fondly remember your powder blue leisure suit.

You think Tragically Hip is when a middle-aged man gets a new sports car, hair piece and a 20 year old girlfriend.

You criticize the kids of today for their satanic suicide-inducing music, forgetting that you rocked to Alice Cooper and Black Sabbath.

You call the police on a noisy party next door instead of grabbing beer and joining it.

You turn down free tickets to a rock concert because you have to work the next day.

When grass is something that you cut, not cultivate.

When jogging is something you do to your memory.

Getting a little action means your prune juice is working.

All the cars behind you flash their headlights.

You remember the "Rolling Stones" as a rock group not a corporation.

You bought your first car for the same price you paid for your son's new running shoes.

You actually ASK for your father's advice.

You don't know how to operate a fax machine.

When someone mentions SURFING you picture waves and a surf board.

Why?

2007-05-01T11:28:00.000-04:00

Why do people ask questions they don't want answers too?

I've been to all kinds of forums where members can post their writing or artwork or pictures, even music. They ask the membership for critiques and when they roll in and if they aren't favorable they become defensive and reply, "How dare you..." or words to that effect.

I discount the sadistic types who just like to bash everyone's work. They're evil incarnate. But why jump all over the honest person who feels you need a serious edit of your stuff? That's why you asked for the critique in the first place; to make your stuff better than it was. And why belittle the person who just wants to help with the an asinine "doh!" Homer's become a part of our everyday language. How droll; how sad for all of us.

Why do women who complain about men staring at their breasts wear a T-shirt with several lines of type emblazoned on it?

This always confounds me. They place a novel on their chest and you have to walk by them several times to get to the punch line or in desperation, stop them and hold them still till you can finish the prose. And they have the nerve to complain. God help us when they start producing those shirts in braille.

Why do women who say they only want a nice guy run off with bad boys?

I'm a firm believer that women only want bad boys no matter what they say to the contrary. They must equate nice guy with dull. Bad boys are unpredictable: they lie, cheat, bend the law, make women feel like property and ultimately break their hearts. Do they think they can tame him? Get real. Ain't gonna happen. If it's just the thrill they get out of it it'd be safer psychologically if they stood up while riding a roller coaster. And if they did tame the guy then they wouldn't want him. Go figure.

Why do men who dump women get jealous when they find new boyfriends?

Let it go Ace! You cut her loose so you could explore new territory; let her do the same. If you want more than one woman in reserve all I can say to you is move to Utah.

Why: if soft chewy cookies turn hard when you leave them out to go stale and hard cookies turn soft don't they revert to their original state if you leave them out longer?

Points to ponder IMHO.

Have a great day.

Your Tax Dollars at Work?

2007-04-30T15:18:00.000-04:00

I'm sure many of you have heard or heard about the planet that was found outside our system last week. It is said to be Earth-like and likely has water on it. It is also 120 lightyears from here. I'm a science enthusiast and write science fiction stories and avidly watched just about everything on the Mars landers a few years ago. My question is: why are we exploring anywhere beyond Mars? Why do we need to know about a planet no one from Earth is ever going to walk on? I can hear the Trekies grumbling.

Yes, I do believe that a lot has come out of the space program that has benefited the common person but how does knowing that Earths doppelganger is out there benefit anyone? Why does the Government hand out grants to research such things?

When I was growing up in the fifties it was predicted we'd have a human presence on Mars before the turn of the millennium. What happened? Government money wasted on innocuous programs, wars and armament got handed out. Defense budgets I have no gripe with. They're a necessity we can't do without.

If we're going to land people on Mars then lets do it. Test propulsion systems and habitats by going to the Moon. Don't hand out grants to people who are not going to earn it. There's a lot of large chunks of rock orbiting out there that the astronomers need to check up on and I wouldn't cut there funding at any time just don't waste time looking beyond our system. Where's the benefit to us there?

This, of course, is IMHO.

First Blog

2007-04-29T11:06:00.000-04:00

After many false starts, writers block, artist block, illness and the constraints of a job that actually pays the bills I have my website, Digital Maniac up and running. It's a little crude for a first try and I haven't set up all the bells and whistles yet. I'm doing it to showcase my writing and illustration and writing talent. There are a few short stories there and the first installment of my novel, "Mask of the Crime Czar" with new installments every two weeks. Also there is the cover to the web comic I created Mindforce 7k with new pages added about every week or so.

Please go to http://digitalmaniac.net and have a look around. After you're done click on the Contact button and sign the guestbook. I'd appreciate any comments.

Anything and everything may be discussed in future blogs. The sky's the limit. There may be things I like, things that piss me off, politics, religion, science fact or fiction; whatever crosses my mind that day.