BOOK REVIEW: FTL, Y’All!

FTL, Y’All!: Tales From the Age of the $200 Warp Drive
Edited by C. Spike Trotman and Amanda Lafrenais
Iron Circus Comics
Copyright 2018 by Iron Circus Comics

As an “Old Fogey”, I remember when comic books were something you found in the checkout lines at the supermarket, or perhaps in a bookstore or newsstand. They were just “there”; I never had the inclination (or money, or time) to care about them. And that was pretty much what most people thought of them. Sure, we all knew about Superman and Batman (and Archie), but that was thanks to TV. No one ever took them seriously.

Then Art Spiegelman published Maus, and showed quite convincingly that the format could indeed produce works of real merit. Rather suddenly, all the comic geeks demanded to be heard, because there really was some good stuff being done in the medium. Though I have to differ with the term “graphic novel”; most of the works aren’t long enough to be called a novel – “illustrated short story” is better.

I still didn’t get into them, though. Same reasons – didn’t care to. Then a chance pickup of a little sample flyer from Iron Circus Comics piqued my interest, so I thought I’d give their website a look.

FTL, Y’All! is an anthology of stories based on a simple premise. In the near future, plans for a faster-than-light drive appear online. And the parts are all readily available for the cost of around $200, and can be easily assembled without any special skill.

What happens then, when pretty much everyone who wants to can build their own starship?

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On the 2025 Hall of Fame Ballot

It’s the Hot Stove Season, and all I’m seeing in the baseball press is who’s talking to which free agents. That’s boring. There’s something more fun that we can talk about – the Hall of Fame ballot.

Let’s take a look at all the new players on the ballot.

I don’t have a vote, and I doubt I ever will, but I can still have Opinions.

Generally, candidates can be grouped into a couple of classes / ranks. So let’s do that. Continue reading →

Don’t Waste Any Time Mourning – Organize!

Those words were in one of the last writings of labor organizer Joe Hill before his execution in 1915, and have been adapted for use by many activist movements ever since. I know people are still coming to grips with what happened in the most recent election, but when they finally process things, it’s time to do what Hill said. Don’t mourn the end of American democracy, but get organized to fight for it.

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Book Review: The Oxygen Farmer

The Oxygen Farmer
Colin Holmes
CamCat Books
Copyright 2023 by James Colin Holmes

“Mil” Harrison is a stubborn old man. In his seventies, he’s been living on the Moon for half of those years. His job? “Farming” oxygen (getting it out of the lunar regolith) to be used for life support and fuel. He’s got the knowledge that comes with his years to be able to fix most of the physical problems he deals with, the experience to know which rules can be “bypassed” when necessary, and the general respect and collection of favors to be given some slack when he does choose to “bypass” a rule.

While trekking across the lunar surface to collect a part he needs for a repair, he takes a shortcut across an “exclusion zone”. Normally, these are Thou Shalt Not Enter Under The Severest Of Penalties areas. He’s not worried; no one seems to know just why this particular area was given that designation. Then he quite literally stumbles over something that isn’t supposed to be there….. And when he investigates the site – because he can – he finds something really interesting and REALLY dangerous.

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Pond in a Jar – 8

There have been some notable changes since I decided to tweak things a bit. Last time I mentioned adding a teeny bit of eggshell to add some calcium to it (it’s a suggestion to help snails grow). Well, I did. Just the tiniest fragment I could manage. I also added some more water from the source pond, and poked at that green lump at the top with a stick. Since it felt rather solid, I reasoned that it might be restricting water circulation. I pushed it around enough to open a ‘channel’ to the rest of the jar.

The results are in.

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On the 2024 World Series

There’s a truism in two-player strategy games that the winner is the player who makes the next-to-last mistake. The Dodgers and Yankees proved it in Game 5.

Given that the Dodgers won the first three games, it was almost guaranteed that they’d win the Series (a 15 out of 16 chance without taking anything special into account). But it can also be argued that since Game 1 went to extra innings, Games 2 and 3 were both decided by the score of 4-2, and Game 4 was intentionally a “bullpen game” for the Dodgers (where they used the four “least good” pitchers on their roster), that the teams were evenly matched and the series could just as well gone into Game 5 tied at two games each.

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Those Election Maps Again

As the presidential campaign heads into its final weeks, you might start seeing maps of the US with the states colored in according to how they are expected to vote in the Electoral College. The more relevant ones are those that come out after the election, showing the actual results. We all know that the EC is a clunky way to choose a president, but we’re stuck with it until someone gets the political will and energy to amend the Constitution to change it.

But that doesn’t mean we can’t do something about those maps – which surely drive data scientists bonkers with their awfulness.

NOTE: Examples use 2020 election results. All but the last map were ‘borrowed’ from World Mapper; the last map came from XKCD.

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A Halloween Message from Our Sponsor

While Christmas commercials get almost all the love, Halloween isn’t one to stay in the shadows. A whole bunch of advertisers get in with the spirit of the spooky season, too.

There’s one I wish I could find (I’ve forgotten the soap brand behind it), since it encapsulates the mix of horror and comedy that’s so prevalent this time of year. A woman arrives at her isolated old home in the forest, and the first thing she decides to do is take a shower using the advertised brand of soap. Even though she has the bathroom window wide open, the running water prevents her from hearing a mask-wearing, axe-wielding Bad Guy approaching the house. (OMINOUS MUSIC PLAYS) Well, she holds the bar of soap just right, so it squirts out of her hands and flies out the window….. You can probably guess what happens to the Bad Guy; and the tagline is something about how the brand of deodorant soap gives you long-lasting protection….

Anyway, here are a couple of neat spots that I *could* find: Continue reading →

MOVIE REVIEW: The Secret Sex Lives of Romeo and Juliet (1969)

I know you’re asking (and if you’re not, you should be) “Why is this guy reviewing an old soft-core porn flick?” Well, one of my guiding principles here is that any movie worth talking about should have something in it to justify the conversation – even if the movie is an example of what not to do.

I also maintain that there is a difference between pornography and erotica: if you remove all the sex from something and what’s left still has some value and interest, then it’s erotica, not porn.

With that in mind, let’s NOT look at the nudity and simulated sex, and see if there’s anything left that’s worth a discussion. This will require winding up the figurative time machine and program in stops in three different eras.

First, let’s go back to the late 1950s to see what was going on in the movie industry. Continue reading →

Halloween Countdown

Way back in Ye Olde Times when I first started this vanity project, I came across a blog called “Countdown to Halloween”. They were pretty much a “hub” for dozens and dozens of Halloween themed blogs. I had a bunch of thematically appropriate posts ready to go, so I signed up as a “Crypt Keeper”. I got everything I wanted to post out under that banner, so I didn’t sign up in the years following (even though I kept posting a few Halloween-related things each year).

Well, the Countdown has been going on without me, and many of the same bloggers are still active. Many even post year-round!

In addition to all the artists, craftspeople, and reviewers (and assorted personal blogs), here are a few that I think will be worth your occasional time.

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