- Are you not reading this little morning news round-up today? Perhaps that is because you are stuck at home, not working, without the Internets, on account of the snow. [AP]
- Meet the TJX hacker, a man who terrified millions when he accessed the records of TJX, Dave & Buster’s, and other places where people would not want anyone to know they’d been shopping or visiting. [Wired News]
- It appears that the men who stole the inspirational Nazi slogan “Arbeit Macht Frei” were not ideologically or politically motivated, but instead were common Polish thieves. [JTA]
- Protest-happy Iranians took the funeral of Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, a cleric at the helm of the country’s opposition movement, and turned that into a yet another occasion for protest. And the Basij came in and cracked some skulls, as is their wont. [Washington Post]
- Most out-of-work Americans have yet to land themselves a coveted “real job,” but literally dozens have found success as temp workers! [New York Times]
- Will nobody save the beloved and quirky Saab from certain death? Dutch luxury carmaker Spyker might be up to the task. [Reuters]
In a way, I'm sort of looking forward to a skip week where I don't have to pull comic savers or redo the racks or anything. At last, I'll have time to brush up on my breakdancing skills for the big year-end competition, Employee Aaron will have time to drag a comb through his hair, and Employee Timmy will, I don't know, do something British, I guess...have bangers and mash or queue up somewhere, or something like that.
So here are a few of the comics that are coming our way this week that I feel like saying something about:
- Angel Annual #1 & Angel: Only Human #5 - Is it just me, or are there suddenly more Angel comics than the market can really bear right now? At the very least, I'd like to see an end to comic adaptations of the television episodes since the target audience probably already owns them on DVD and the comic versions just feel a bit like grabbing that audience's money just because they can. Or maybe those fans are clamoring for comic adaptations for episodes, so what do I know?
- Archie #604 - It seemed for a while that interest was going to dip in this "Archie Marries Anything with A Pulse" series of stories, once people finally caught on it was an "imaginary" story presenting possible futures for the red-haired boy and his lady pals. However, sales did go back up, and I've had to place reorders a number of times for some installments. Part 3 seems to keep selling out, for some reason.
- Bart Simpson Comics #51 - After last issue's tour de farce (hey, get it, get it? You see what I did there?) featuring cover-to-cover Sergio Aragones, this issue features Sergio on his regular short feature "Maggie's Crib," with other creators filling out the rest of the book. The Simpsons comics tend to be pretty solid, so don't let less Sergio scare you off from trying the book.
- Black Widow and the Marvel Girls #2 - Talking with pal Dorian about this the other day...that Marvel is apparently putting out a lot of Black Widow comics right now so that they'll have Black Widow trade paperbacks available for sale to tie into the character's appearance in the Iron Man 2 movie. We both noted that we're not seeing enough emphasis on War Machine, since it's that character's appearance in the trailer people seem to be getting excited about.
- Captain America Reborn: Who Will Wield The Shield one-shot - I haven't been keeping up...isn't this spinning out of the last issue of the Captain America: Reborn mini? The as-yet-unreleased issue?
- Ender's Game: Command School #4 and Ender's Shadow: Command School #4 - not sure why we needed two concurrently-running Ender's Game comics, but there they are.
- Hellboy: Bride of Hell one-shot - drawn by Richard Corben. Man, I do love Corben's Hellboy art.
- Image United #2 - I mentioned on the Twitter that the first issue of this series didn't do so hot for us, which resulted in a really defensive response from Image Fan #1 telling me the comic did great, it sold 50,000 copies, so in conclusion, shut up. Well, yeah, I'm sure Image printed 50,000 copies and sold them to stores. And I'm sure some stores did gangbusters on them. But our store, and a few other stores I've been in contact with...yeah, they just kinda sat there. The "bonus variant extra whatever" cover by Jim Lee was the variant cover that sold the best. Even the Spawn cover and the Witchblade cover barely moved any copies. That the Shadowhawk cover didn't move one copy at all came as little surprise.
I mean, nothing against the comic. I like the idea of it, with the Image creators each contributing the artwork for their own characters in this crossover. Kudos to them on the amount of work and planning that went into making this possible. Just...well, no one's terribly interested in it in our neck of the woods. Hey, sorry, not everything can be a hit. - Iron Man Vs. Whiplash #2 - Guys, I'm telling you, Whiplashmania is going to hit our country like never before once people see him in the Iron Man sequel. Men will tremble, women will faint, and anyone left standing will be pounding on our doors insisting on every single copy of every Whiplash appearance be presented to them immediately.
...Okay, I shouldn't joke, because I can guarantee there's this one guy who comes to our shop who will start asking for Whiplash appearances once the movie is a little closer to opening. - Punishermax #1 2nd printing - This comic is really taking off, and it really is good. Hope a 2nd printing of #2 is coming soon, because we can sure use those, too. Hey, for once Marvel's 2nd printings are coming in handy.
- Wall-E #1 - Sure, #0 was depressing, but it was a cute depressing, and I suppose I'll be back for this issue.
Ha ha, those old people had to stay at work until 1 a.m. this morning after being stuck in the smelly old Senate for the entire snowbound weekend, and now Health Care Reform is just another three 60-vote procedural operations from becoming a real true Senate law the House can screw up. YIPPEE!
But really, this is a good thing for libtards who want some kind of “national health care,” regardless of what Howard Dean of the Daily Kos says. And the New York Times is celebrating with this perfect-match picture of a riot, featuring Simpsons-esque rioters with torches. [New York Times]
TWO new page of “Adventures of The Floating Elephant.”
At Activatecomix.com!
Two new pages which end Chapter II:
http://activatecomix.com/23-1-59.comic
Read “Adventures of the Floating Elephant” from the start:
http://activatecomix.com/23-1-1.com
Chapter 3 will resurface near the end January 2010.
Thanks for reading!
Tim
Оригинал 
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The always admirable Sen. Dick Durbin — Barack Obama’s white father — is super upset with the behavior of this health care debate’s most shameless Senate C-Streeter, Tom Coburn, a dick. He is demanding that Coburn “explain” an earlier prayer call for a Democratic senator to miss tonight’s 1 a.m. cloture vote, SOMEHOW. Hmm. Which senator’s circumstances are most likely to prevent him (or her! women!) from reaching a super-important 1 a.m. vote?
Maybe it’s Robert Byrd, the one who is famously dying and 107 years old? (It’s most likely that he died some months ago — Harry Reid is just pulling a lil’ Weekend At Bernie’s action until this health fucker passes.)
So sad that the clubby friendships of the Senate have become so strained. In fact this is every American’s problem and the most important issue to each of them. Time to call for an open “house meeting” to repair these friendships, just like in a mid-season Real World episode.
Unlike the yardstick on the left (yes, I know it's upside down), measuring snow according to National Weather Service standards is a bit more arduous and not solely just dropping the ol' yardstick in (right side up, of course) to measure how much snow your backyard, patio, or front yard has. These helpful tips have been lifted from the National Weather Service and are provided as a service in case one always wanted to know how the National Weather Service liked snowfall measured.How To Measure Snow With A Measuring Stick
Find a location where the snow appears to be near its average depth. Avoid drifts or valleys. Look for a flat, somewhat open area away from buildings and trees. Some trees in the distance may be helpful in making a wind break, preventing drifting, and thus providing for a more even distribution of the snow. Measure the depth with the snow measuring stick (aka "the common household ruler") at several locations and use an average. Traditionally ten measurements are made and the average value is the snow depth. When snow has fallen between observation times and has been melting, measure its greatest depth on the ground while it is snowing, or estimate the greatest depth. During heavy snowfall some of the actual total may be lost due to compaction of the column by the weight of the snow, during these times it may be best to estimate a slightly higher value if snow has been falling at a heavy rate for several hours since the last actual measurement. If all snow melted as it fell, you can estimate a total if you think more than a half of inch fell before melting, or report a trace for the snowfall.
Measuring New Snow On Top Of Old Snow
When fresh snow has fallen on old snow, it is necessary to measure the depth of the new snow (in tenths of inches) and the total snowdepth (whole inches). Snow boards provide the best method of taking measurements in this case. Sometimes if the old snow has settled or partially melted enough to develop a crust or to be noticeably denser than the new snow, it may be possible to insert the snow stick until it meets the greater resistance of the crust of old snow, and to use this depth as the amount of new snow having fallen.
Use of a Snow Board
Snow boards (scroll to page 4 for an illustration) are laid on top of the old snow when there is any possibility of new snow falling. Push them into the snow just far enough that the top of the board is nearly level or just above the top of the old snow. After each observation, boards should be cleaned and placed in a new location. Because of evaporation or drifting, they may need adjusting daily to assure that the top of the board remains flush with the old snow. A clean sidewalk or open cement area where there is some protection from the wind and drifting is a good alternative to using a snow board. You still need to clean an area off before the snow starts and between measurements in order to accurately measure the newly fallen snow. A piece of plywood that is approximately two feet by two feet or a flat board that is painted white will work in this capacity.
The ideal rule of measuring is every six hours and if you use a snow board (which is what the NWS likes) you should clean it off. If you use a flat surface like a patio or sidewalk, you can sweep it away as well to get an accurate total every six hours as accumulated snow will compact due to its own weight.
Weird. So, yeah. the-beatrice.vox.com? Not original content, and not me posting under an alias.
Despite a mild to warm start to the week in Philadelphia temperatures ultimately averaged out below normal this past week in Philly by about a degree. The three day mild reprieve from an overall colder than average past couple of weeks was quickly zapped by the last three days, which have averaged out to nearly ten degrees below average in the city.We all know what Saturday's event brought upon the region but it's crazy to think just a week prior we were dealing with nearly an inch of rain during the bulk of the day Sunday, with some icing issues occurring across the northern/western suburbs of Philadelphia at the onset of the rain event. December is already the 8th wettest on record in Philadelphia with just a couple of inches to go to break the monthly record. We might not hit it, depending on what happens with the Christmas Eve/Christmas storm that modeling is depicting, but the wet trends of recent months cannot be ignored.
Nationally, milder than average temperatures held serve in the West, Midwest, and Florida during the past week.
Alin then fine-tuned a spindly-racy blue bike he's letting me borrow, and we made a trip to the local bike shop to refurbish Antonin's milk-white racer. It was nearly 8pm on a Sunday evening, but the bike shops in Tokyo were all still open -- something that would be unheard of in Berlin.The bookshops and department stores were all open too, so we headed down (five of us on three bikes) to Shibuya, where Alin and Antonin planned to show me Shibuya Booksellers, a fashionable new (well, new to me, anyway) art and design bookstore. It was open, but there was a presentation of some kind going on. We recognised Nakako Hayashi sitting by the window:
Nakako Hayashi is the editor of Here and There magazine, which is a wonderful and peculiar beast, a self-published magazine featuring Hayashi's small but compelling world, comprised of people like Susan Ciancolo, Elein Fleiss and Yukinori Maeda of Cosmic Wonder. It exists at the spiritual-ethical-aesthetic end of fashion.In this interesting TAB interview Hayashi tells her story; how she started with Shiseido's magazine Hanatsubaki in the late 80s, then started her own magazine around the turn of the century, getting the brilliant Kazunari Hattori to do the design. The latest edition of Here and There -- launched in tandem with a show at Utrecht in September -- is No. 9, subtitled Her Life. Nakako also keeps a blog.
Alin Huma also showed me an elegant little publication he's made, the catalogue for his nascent bike company Fin de Cycle. Since Alin never does anything with less than impeccable visual standards, both the bicycles he's offering for sale and the catalogue itself are far beyond the call of commercial duty. I think that aestheticism-beyond-the-call-of-duty is one of the things I appreciate most here in Japan, whether it's in Alin's bike-love, Hayashi's magazine, or Shibuya Booksellers' store design. They didn't have to be as great as they are; nothing but love forced them.
Mary Worth, 12/20/09
Wilbur is reacting to the revelation that he may have sired a young person named “Kurt” in a way totally at variance with the way in which a normal human would respond, which I guess is another way of saying that he’s reacting exactly like a Mary Worth character would respond. He seems to be treating the possibility that he has an unknown son not as a shocking revelation or a potential scam, but rather as part of the unpleasant memories of his college years. “You know, once I graduated, I never really wanted to revisit that part of my life — the drugs, the embarrassing politics, the creation of other human beings using my naughty bits, my obsession with prog rock…”
Marvin, 12/20/09
Today’s Marvin is another strip whose entire tone is changed by the throwaway panel in the top row. Without it, we have a simple, tragic story about a young boy whose selfless gift to Santa was pillaged by a greedy dog. But with those panels in place, we know that Marvin himself stole those cookies, and thus his moral indignation at this little drama’s denouement must be seen as rather ironic.
Rex Morgan, M.D., 12/20/09
This is pretty much a near-perfect Rex Morgan, M.D., containing as it does June wildly oscillating between supercilious rage and mortifying self-doubt, a groggy Rex desperately trying to soothe his wife and so he can get some sleep but still expending enough energy to be kind of a dick about it, and copious amounts of skin and sex appeal all around. (I’m assuming that “mortifying self-doubt” is the emotion we’re supposed to be seeing in the second panel, as “face-melting” isn’t an emotion per se.) Panel three is a particularly delight both for June Morgan boob fans and aficionados of general ridiculousness, as June seems to have carefully positioned herself before waking up her husband. “Brook thinks you’re too cute for me … I mean, has she even seen my impossibly perfect breasts? I’m gonna cut her!”
Gil Thorp, 12/20/09
OH MY GOODNESS! It turns out that Valerie hooked up with the slightly cross-eyed band geek that Jamaar paid to keep tabs on Valerie, in a turn of events that could only be predicted by anyone who has ever had even rudimentary experience with narrative of any sort. Now, since I’m a slightly lazy-eyed former band geek myself, I’m a fan of band geeks finding love with Amazonian girl jocks, but I’m an even bigger fan of things not turning out as you’d expect in Gil Thorp, so I’m hoping that Valerie has merely turned the tables on Jamaar and is just paying Deion to pretend to be her boyfriend. That would explain why he’s rubbing his face ecstatically against her hand in panel two, as if this is a singular, unique experience that he wants to treasure every second of, while she just glowers meaningfully at Jamaar. Thus, the unseen dialogue: “I think we finally did it — we made ‘the Ghost’ disappear! Here’s $50. Never talk to me again.”
Dick Tracy, 12/19/09
Say what you will about Dick Tracy, but the art will never fail to baffle and delight. Today we learn that the enormous, bleak entry plaza to this concert hall is just part of a larger modernist architectural horrorshow, with the nightmarish structure apparently being topped by a rotating restaurant, or perhaps an attacking UFO. In panel two, we’re reminded that Dick Tracy never phones it in when it comes to shocking violence; while another, lesser strip might simply depict an enraged father strangling his son, here we see our crazed elder longhair attempting to literally rip off his son’s face. Finally, panel three offers a curious juxtaposition between Tess’s dialogue and facial expression, unless we’re meant to understand that she finds ingesting copious amounts of cocaine “peaceful.”
Beetle Bailey, 12/19/09
More proof that the soldiers of Camp Swampy really do represent the military’s dregs: they can’t even maintain interested consciousness when being instructed on the use of what looks to be some kind of terrifying futuristic radioactive death ray.
We guess New York Times op-ed satirist Thomas Friedman went so broke with the collapse of his wife’s shopping-center fortune that now he’s forced to ride the Metro like a common poor person who doesn’t even understand how playing golf in China explains the miraculous way KFC and Taco Bell often share the same building in an Arizona mini-mall. The world is … dumb? Yes, dumb. Thanks to Wonkette Operative “Chris” for taking this shocking photograph and sharing it with the entire globalized world community.
For those of you who were interested in ordering a bottle of that amazingly fresh Umbrian olive oil: below is Kathy's email. Kathy has told me that shipping to the west coast may run up to about nine or ten dollars for one bottle.
umbrianadventure(at)gmail.com
Here is Kathy's blog, Umbrian Adventures, which depicts her travels in Italy.
Enjoy!
~W
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