Kiss/Met 47

written by Reginald Ting; art by Jim Jimenez

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Solution to steamed-up eyeglasses

Scientists have cracked a problem that popular opinion suggests they suffer from most: steamed-up spectacles.

The solution, they found, lies in nanotechnology, the science of the vanishingly small. By applying an ultra-thin coating of particles to sheets of glass and other transparent surfaces, scientists at Massachusetts Institute of Technology made them permanently fog-proof.

Glasses steam up and car windscreens fog over when they are cold and meet warm, moist air, making thousands of tiny droplets of water condense on to the surface. The droplets scatter light as it passes through them, producing the misty, blurred effect.

The coating, a thin sandwich of transparent plastic and layers of silica particles too small to be seen with the naked eye, works by attracting water more strongly than the glass does. This flattens each of the water droplets, smearing them over the surface in a see-through layer.

Funny story of a corporation

Those who know what's happening in comics nowadays, particularly with Marvel and DC, will get a kick out of this.

Coffee good!

The scientists measured the antioxidant content of more than 100 different food items, including vegetables, fruits, nuts, spices, oils and beverages, and then examined national data on the contribution of each food item to the average American's diet.

Both caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee emerged as the biggest source of antioxidants, given that Americans do not eat sufficient quantities of fruit and vegetables. Black tea came second, followed by bananas, dry beans and corn.

Helping to rid the body of free radicals, destructive molecules that damage cells and DNA, antioxidants have been linked to a number of benefits, including protection against heart disease and cancer.

The research is the latest in a number of studies to suggest coffee could be beneficial, with consumption linked to a reduced risk of liver and colon cancer, type two diabetes, and Parkinson's disease.

High tech caddy

IT WILL make you either the most popular or loathed player on the golf course.

The royal and ancient game is about to be rocked by a new row over "cheating" following the launch of a new hand-held satellite guidance system that gives exact measurements to the hole.

The new 'Caddy' system, which costs £249, can be clipped to a belt or golf bag and will provide exact read-outs of distances to bunkers, ponds and greens. Available to amateur golfers for the first time from next month, its manufacturers claim it will be one of the greatest shot-saving devices ever marketed.

Vandalizing cars with smut

BERLIN (Reuters) - German police have arrested a 31-year-old man they caught vandalizing two cars by scratching large penis-shaped gouges into them and said they believe he may be responsible for similar markings found on hundreds of others.

A police spokesman in the western city of Bochum said on Friday the man was under investigation for vandalizing around 330 vehicles in the region over the last few months, most of which had also been marked with the same penis insignia.

Ice Cream stick-made Viking ship

These guys just have too much time on their hands:

A replica Viking ship made of 15 million ice-cream sticks is to be launched this week.

The Viking longship, which is 15 metres long and took Robert McDonald and two volunteers two years to build, will be launched in Amsterdam harbour with a crew of about 25 in an attempt to break the world record for the largest sailing ship made of ice cream sticks.

Tilda Swinton to play Nico

For David:

TILDA Swinton is to play Andy Warhol's muse Nico in a blockbuster film written by the creators of Bladerunner.

Nico was part of the Velvet Underground with Lou Reed. But the price of her fame was heroin addiction and a turbulent private life. Now the story of the German supermodel and singer, whose lovers included a pantheon of rock greats - among them Mick Jagger and Jimmy Hendrix - is to be told on film.

Scots director David Mackenzie, whose erotically charged version of Young Adam, with Ewan McGregor and Swinton, earned him international fame, is expected to begin shooting next year. The Vagabond Films production, budgeted at more than £10m, marks Mackenzie's debut working in the US.

The script has been written by Hollywood husband and wife team Jane and David People who penned Bladerunner.

Kiss/Met 46

written by Reginald Ting; art by Jim Jimenez

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The Monday Comic Web Ring's usual suspects:
Shelly
Jonas
Gilbert
Elbert

Jerry Lewis rips reporter

Read how Jerry Lewis rips apart a reporter here.

Found via Will Pfeifer.

Man-Horn

That crazy Warren Ellis, sometimes the things he finds just make skin crawl...

Click here for the recent weirdness.

Jim Lee does Spider-Man

For Gilbert.



Click on the image for a bigger version. Linked from Gelatometti.

Porn sells

Rebels in India's north-eastern state of Tripura are making pornographic films to raise money for their separatist campaign, officials say.

The information has come from surrendered guerrillas of the National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT), according to police.

They say the rebels are forcing captured tribal women, and some men, to take part in the films.

The films are then dubbed to be sold in India and neighbouring countries.

Comic Book Urban Legends

Comics Should Be Good has a semi-regular feature on urban legends pertaining to comics. Check out the most recent one here (you'll find the previous ones in the link).

Kiss/Met 45

written by Reginald Ting; art by Jim Jimenez

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Chinese singing duo

This made me smile.

Cloning to preserve endangered species

A conservation institute in the United States has produced wildcat kittens by cross-breeding cloned adults.

The Audubon Center for Research of Endangered Species says this is the first time that clones of a wild species have bred.

Eight kittens have been born in two litters over the last month, and all are apparently doing well.

The researchers say this development holds enormous potential for preserving a range of endangered species.

Kiss/Met 44

written by Reginald Ting; art by Jim Jimenez

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Good Comic

This comic is good: Rex Libris #1

Want to check out that book without a library card? Overdue books? Watch out, the Librarian will be after you. Yes, that's right, a Librarian. This unique concept is just out there, that you have to read it for yourself.

Additionally, if you're tired of decompressed comics that you can breeze through in 5 minutes, this one is chock full of info, and if you're to read the commentary at the bottom, it'll take you about an hour just to finish this comic.

From the SLG website:

The astonishing story of the incomparable Rex Libris, Head Librarian at Middleton Public Library, and his unending struggle against the forces of ignorance and darkness. With the aid of an ancient god who lives beneath the library branch, Rex travels to the farthest reaches of the galaxy in search of overdue books. He must confront incredible foes, such as powerful alien warlords who refuse to pay their late fees. Wearing his super thick bottle glasses, and armed with an arsenal of high technology weapons, he strikes fear into recalcitrant borrowers, and can take on virtually any foe from zombies to renegade public-domain literary characters with aplomb.

Check out the preview here and the press release here.

Kiss/Met 43

written by Reginald Ting; art by Jim Jimenez

first previous next home

Here are the rest of the Monday Comic Web Ring:
Shelly Soneja
Jonas Diego
Gilbert Monsanto
Elbert Or

Abandoning chastity campaign

The King of Swaziland has abandoned a four-year campaign to enforce chastity among teenagers following criticism of his own behaviour and with figures showing that the policy has completely failed to stop the spread of HIV in the country.

The announcement in the kingdom's papers yesterday coincided with the release of government statistics revealing nearly a third of Swazi 15- to 19-year-olds carry the virus that causes Aids, the scourge King Mswati III had hoped to combat with his appeals to girls to remain virgins.

Alarmed at the high rate of HIV infection, Mswati in 2001 reinstated for five years the "unchwasho" rite, banning sexual relations for unmarried girls younger than 18.

And then we find out how many wives and children he has:

The 36-year-old king has 12 wives, one bride-to-be and 27 children. His late father, King Sobhuza II, who led the country to independence in 1968, had more than 70 wives when he died.

Arresting a bot user

Police in Japan have arrested a Chinese student over the use of a network of software "bots" to steal items in an online role playing game (RPG).

Players were attacked in the game, Lineage II, and their items were then sold for cash on auction sites.

The attacks were carried out using automated bots, which are difficult for human game players to defeat.

LifeGem

Burial or cremation? What do you want your mortal shell to become? Here's an alternative: the LifeGem.

Diamonds are made out of carbon, so why not use the carbon of our bodies? It's not like we need it when we're dead, right?

Kung Fu Monkey

"You call your agent when you need work. You call your manager when you have a dead hooker in the bathtub of your Kentucky motel room."

This is from the funny John Rogers. Here he talks about agents and managers, and how valuable/invaluable they are to the writer. He has more stuff about Writing and the like over at his blog. Check him out and see if he doesn't put a smile on your face.

Kiss/Met 42

written by Reginald Ting; art by Jim Jimenez

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Gold!

A 4,200-year-old hoard of gold, comparable to the fabulous treasures of Troy, has been found in Bulgaria to the delight of archaeologists desperate to beat looters to tombs in the former communist country.

The miniature pieces were unearthed in an ancient tomb in Dabene, 75 miles east of the capital, Sofia. The objects, including around 15,000 ornate golden rings, may have been made by a race predating the ancient Thracians.

Scholars have described the objects as the oldest ever found in Bulgaria.

Using umbilical cords

SCIENTISTS have found a way of deriving stem cells from umbilical cords which may end the need to clone human embryos in an attempt to cure diseases.

The discovery of stem cells in umbilical cord blood with the potential to transform into a wide range of other cell types - in the same way as those in an embryo - could allow scientists to sidestep the ethical issues that surround the creation and destruction of embryos.

The British scientists behind the work have also found a way of multiplying the new cells using NASA technology to ensure there are enough to repair tissue damage caused by injury or disease, such as spinal cord injuries and Alzheimer's disease.

They said the breakthrough could enable doctors to repair liver damage without the need for an organ transplant within ten years. The research team has already managed to create liver tissue in the laboratory.

Pro-life and religious groups have argued that human life should not be created and then destroyed to provide new ways of treating patients, but this method avoids this ethical dilemma completely.

Kiss/Met 41

written by Reginald Ting; art by Jim Jimenez

first previous next home

Closer to finding Atlantis

A submerged island that could be the source of the Atlantis myth was hit by a large earthquake and tsunami 12,000 years ago, a geologist has discovered.

Spartel Island now lies 60m under the sea in the Straits of Gibraltar, but some think it once lay above water.

The finding adds weight to a hypothesis that the island could have inspired the legend recounted by the philosopher Plato more than 2,000 years ago.

Evidence comes from a seafloor survey published in the journal Geology.

Marc-André Gutscher of the University of Western Brittany in Plouzané, France, found a coarse-grained sedimentary deposit that is 50-120cm thick and could have been left behind after a tsunami.

Veggie-flavored ice cream

Wonder how this tastes:

In Italy, ice cream is sacred. But this summer old favourites such as chocolate, hazelnut and pistachio are being challenged by savoury newcomers. How about a scoop of balsamic vinegar, celery or tomato ice cream?

According to Giancarlo Timballo, president of the Italian ice cream manufacturing society, flavours based on vegetables, spices, herbs and flowers are rising in popularity.

Even ice lollies are getting in on the act. In the seaside resort of Rimini, batons of celery and carrot are replacing traditional wooden sticks.

"Italians want gelato naturale - a product that is freshly made and seasonal," he said. "We are seeing a drop in demand for ice cream made with artificial flavourings and colourings, the kind of luridly coloured ice cream we had when we were children."

More gelaterie are experimenting with regional produce. Modena is trying a balsamic vinegar flavour and Asti has an ice cream made from its fizzy wine Moscato.

Young Drunks

CHILDREN as young as seven are being admitted to hospital in the Capital suffering from alcohol poisoning

Experts today blamed sweet tasting, cheap drinks on the growing trend for alcohol abuse among youngsters.

Calls were also made for legislation to regulate alcohol advertising which deliberately targets young drinkers.

Writing in the Evening News today, Edinburgh Royal Infirmary's acting accident and emergency consultant Paul Leonard said his department had treated 40 children in one month who were under the influence of alcohol.

Champion hotdog eater is champion dumpling eater

Man, the guy can sure eat!

A Japanese speed-eating champion has claimed the title in a Hong Kong dumpling-eating contest.

Takeru Kobayashi polished off 83 of the steamed vegetarian dumplings in eight minutes, easily beating Hong Kong's Johnny Wu into second place with 76.

Mr Kobayashi will take on the best six competitors in a final pork bun eating race on Sunday.

The 27-year-old is known as the hot dog king after winning a hot dog eating event in New York five years in a row.

Kiss/Met 40

written by Reginald Ting; art by Jim Jimenez

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Shelly's still on comic hiatus so just click on the following people for more comics:
Jonas Diego
Gilbert Monsanto
Elbert Or

J Torres in Sunday Inquirer Magazine

Today's Sunday Inquirer Magazine has a feature on J Torres:

"I've always had a special place in my heart for the Teen Titans. And sometimes I still can't believe that I'm working on a series based on characters who were favorites of mine in high school. A series that's even seeing print in Psi-Com's DC Kids in the Philippines! Who would have known that would happen to me? And not only that, but the series I work on is geared towards kids. I've been writing all-ages comics for years with the hope that it would bring more readers to the fold. So, I see "Teen Titans Go!" as an opportunity of a lifetime, one that I feel comes with a certain responsibility. I take this job seriously, but I'm having a blast doing it!"

Thanks to J and Budjette for the heads up!

Rat hunt

"IT SOUNDS like Disney on acid: a crack team of rodent killers travel thousands of miles to wipe out an island's entire population of 10,000 rats while another set of experts rescue the woodmice.

"This is not an experiment in children's cinema, however, but a £250,000 project to improve life for the 14 residents of the tiny Scottish island of Canna.

"Brown rats have overrun the west coast island since they were accidentally introduced by ship about a century ago. The rodents are wiping out seabird colonies and pose a threat to Canna's mice.

"But while the problem is undoubtedly serious, the publicly funded solution - called Operation Canna Recovery - borders on the bizarre.

"Island owner the National Trust for Scotland has hired New Zealand-based Wildlife Management International with a £200,000 contract to exterminate the rats by laying 3,500 traps.

"Starting next month, it will even involve brave rat catchers using ropes to descend the sheer cliffs of the island to reach the entrances to the rat burrows.

"But the operation poses an obvious threat to the 'innocent' local population of woodmice. To get round this, a breeding population of around 120 mice will be captured and transported to the mainland to be returned when the rat menace has been dealt with."

Good Comics

From the Marvel website:

SPIDER-MAN/HUMAN TORCH: I'M WITH STUPID DIGEST
Written by DAN SLOTT
Pencils & Cover by TY TEMPLETON
Cover by PAUL SMITH
Hang tight, True Believer! It's five all-new, old-school adventures featuring your favorite web-headed hero and his pal, the walking matchstick! Follow them through the years - from high school to present day, from the Negative Zone to the Coffee Bean, from Dorrie Evans to Mary Jane Watson-Parker. It's all here! Collects SPIDER-MAN/HUMAN TORCH #1-5.
120 PGS./T+ Suggested for Teens and Up $7.99
ISBN: 0-7851-1723-7

A fun read, with some laugh out loud moments. This might be a bit confusing to the casual reader, as writer Dan Slott sets the stories in various times in Spidey's life (also the different loves -- Betty Brant, Gwen Stacy, Felicia Hardy, Mary Jane Watson). But overall, an enjoyable book.
And if you're still unsure whether to read this, I have three words for you: Spider Dune Buggy.

Jurassic Park theme park

For Red and his family:

Move over John Hammond, the dinosaur-obsessed billionaire portrayed by Richard Attenborough in Steven Spielberg's 1993 film adaptation of Jurassic Park.

Two Arab businessmen are planning to create a real life Jurassic Park in Dubai, with more than 100 animatronic dinosaurs, including T-rex, vicious velociraptors and plant-eating triceratops.

The park is the brainchild of Ilyas and Mustafa Galadari, the developers behind the City of Arabia section of Dubailand, a enormous entertainment and leisure "city".

The Galadari brothers are pumping £100m into the 500,000 sq foot theme park - to be known as "Restless Planet" - and aim to make the attraction the centrepiece of the Mall of Arabia, the world's biggest shopping complex.

With the help of scientific experts from the British Natural History Museum and Jack Horner, the chief paleontological advisor to Spielberg, the park will feature not only dinosaurs, but artificial volcanoes and rides exploring the prehistoric seabed.

Now Brazil's doing it

"Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has asked for forgiveness from the Brazilian people for a scandal that has engulfed his government.

"He apologised on TV but said he did not know about the alleged corruption, including a cash-for-votes scheme in the Brazilian Congress.

"He insisted that those responsible would be punished.

"His Workers' Party came to power in 2002 pledging to represent a break with Brazil's traditional dirty politics.

"The government and the Workers' Party have to ask for forgiveness from the Brazilian people," he said in his televised speech to the nation."

Heh. Now other countries are doing the "I am sorry" thing.

Sexy Chix

Hey Gilbert! Someone else is cashing in on your idea again:

Don't let the title fool you-this isn't your average collection of comics featuring impossibly proportioned vixens in spandex. This time around the sexy chix in question are the writers and artists behind the comics, respresenting some of the best and brightest talent contributing to the medium of comics and graphic novels today. With stories ranging from mainstream adventures to hilarious comic shorts to heart-wrenching autobiography, Sexy Chix is devoted to the under-recognized contingent of female cartoonists in an overwhelmingly male-oriented industry. It's about time these divinely talented creators get to tell the stories they want to, and the result is an exquisite variety of artistic visions and styles.

Among the sexy chicks are New York Times best-selling author Joyce Carol Oates, Eisner Award-winning illustrator Jill Thompson (Scary Godmother), A Distant Soil writer/artist Colleen Doran, Bitchy Bitch creator Roberta Gregory, DC Comics writer Gail Simone, novelist Sarah Grace McCandless (Grosse Pointe Girl), and many, many more!

- Features stories by and about women from the under-recognized contingent of female authors/cartoonists.

Pub. Date: Dec 21, 2005
Format: Soft cover, 104 pages, b&w, 6" x 9"
Price: $12.95

Found via Fanboy Rampage.

Physics of dating

"Successful couples are said to have chemistry, but a study by an Oxford graduate suggests that dating may actually have more to do with physics.

"Richard Ecob adapted a system for modelling atoms in radioactive decay to investigate how we look for partners.

"He found that "super daters", people who have many short relationships, have a good effect on others' lives.

"This is because they break up weak couples, forcing their victims to find better relationships."

Free Music

That's right, free music, compiled by Warren Ellis. He's put together 25 mixtapes of unknown bands, and some of them are pretty good. Some might not float your boats, but with 25 mixtapes to listen to, there's bound to be one that will tickle your fancy.

Hurry and download them while they're still up, as Mr Ellis has indicated that he's cutting his libsyn service this week, which means the links will disappear soon.

To download, head on over to http://warrenellis.libsyn.com.

Here there be dragons!

A photo of two peculiar dragon-shaped objects taken from a plane flying over Tibet's Himalayas piqued many users' interest when displayed on a Chinese website. The photographer is an amateur.

On June 22, 2004, the photographer went to Tibet's Amdo region to attend the Qinghai-to-Xizang Railroad laying ceremony, and then took a plane from Lhasa to fly back inland. When flying over the Himalayas, he accidentally caught these two "dragons" in a picture that he took. He called these two objects "the Tibet dragons."

Looking at the photo, these two objects appear to have the characteristics of crawling creatures: The bodies seem to be covered by scales, the backs have spine-like protuberances, and also they have gradually thinning rear ends. Although the photo caught only a portion of the entire scene, it was sufficient create the appearance of two gigantic dragons flying in the clouds.

Found via warrenellis.com.

Kiss/Met 39

written by Reginald Ting; art by Jim Jimenez

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Hunting your sperm

Meet Xena. She can track you down through your sperm.

Swedish detectives could soon have a new weapon in their armoury when investigating rapes - a police dog trained to sniff out sperm.

Xena, a five-year-old Belgian Malinois, has spent months being trained for the specialist crime-fighting role.

Her handlers say dogs can be trained to sniff out anything from bodies to bombs, but they have not heard of other forces using dogs in this way before.

A new hope

Scientists have unscrambled the genetic code of rice, a development that could help end hunger around the world, Nature magazine reports this week.

The blueprint will speed up the hunt for genes that improve productivity and guard against disease and pests.

In order to avoid shortages, rice yields must increase by 30% over the next 20 years, researchers say.

Scientists from 10 countries cooperated to work out how the 400 million "letters" of rice DNA are arranged.

"Rice is a critically important crop, and this finished sequence represents a major milestone," said Robin Buell of The Institute for Genetic Research (TIGR). "We know the scientific community can use these data to develop new varieties of rice that deliver increased yields and grow in harsher conditions."

Kiss/Met 38

written by Reginald Ting; art by Jim Jimenez

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New lemurs found

Two new species of lemur have been found in Madagascar, bringing the number of known species to 49.

German and Malagasy scientists made the discovery by analysing the genetic make-up of wild lemurs.

Lemurs are considered the most endangered of all primates and live only on Madagascar which has evolved in isolation for 165 million years.

How can you not find him adorable?

Receiving test results via text

A new system which allows students to learn of their exam results by text has been hailed a success.

A total of 58 teenagers received notification of their results via mobile phones on Monday - a day before the results were officially released.

The Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) said the pilot had "worked well" adding that it could now be rolled out to schools across Scotland.

The pupils involved were also due to receive their results by post.

Are they using some sort of system here, what with us being a huge proponent of texting? It would be nice to know in advance, rather than wait for the results at the end of the semester.

And through post? Kuripot dito e, even though our postal system's efficient enough (at least in my experience).

Kiss/Met 37

written by Reginald Ting; art by Jim Jimenez

first previous next home

Wannabe suicide bombers

BANGALORE - Recruitment of potential suicide bombers, which has generally been shrouded in silence and secrecy, appears to be going more public. An Iranian publication recently carried an advertisement calling for applications from aspiring "martyrdom seekers".

The advertisement calls for men and women to enlist with the "Lovers of Martyrdom Garrison" and promises those who are picked that they will be given "specific and specialized training". The aim it seems is "to achieve all-round readiness against the enemies of Islam and the sacred Islamic republic and to protect the foundations of Islam". To this end, "a martyrdom-seeking division" would be set up for each province in the country.

All that aspiring candidates to the "Lovers of Martyrdom Garrison" need to submit are two photographs of themselves, a copy of their identity cards, and a filled-in application form. The advertisement even provides an address – PO Box 16535-664, Tehran – where aspiring candidates to the "Lovers of Martyrdom Garrison" should forward their application forms.

Sheesh, talk about insecure. Can't we all just live in peace?

Knowing when to leave

"A YOUNG mother who suffered months of abuse at the hands of her violent partner was finally forced to leave him when he spat in their baby's face.

"After repeatedly beating up the mother of his child, Vikki Stickland, 19, amateur boxer Steven Welch then directed his anger towards their daughter.

"As the baby lay sleeping in her cot, he woke her - by spitting in her face.

"It was the turning point for Vikki, who had suffered months of terror. She immediately picked up her daughter, Kiera, grabbed her buggy and left the house. She told Welch she was going to the shops and never returned."

It took her months to realize her husband was abusive? I hope that women realize that there is just no reason for a man to hit a woman. It's not a gentlemanly thing to do.

Sub Saved

"The Russians trapped in a submarine beneath the Pacific Ocean for three days would have died had it not been for British help, a naval expert says.

"A British team used a remote-controlled mini-sub to cut free the vessel, which became snagged on debris on Thursday.

"The mini-sub Priz had dropped to 190m (620ft) off the Kamchatka peninsula."

I just find it ironic that the mini-sub was a rescue sub in the first place...

Kiss/Met 36

written by Reginald Ting; art by Jim Jimenez

first previous next home

Normally, clicking the image on the left will take you to the next comic in the Monday Comic Web Ring, which is Shelly's (the image still links to her blog). However she's begging off for a while, so you can go straight to these other fine folks of the ring:

Jonas Diego Gilbert Monsanto Elbert Or

Bummer God 6

written by Reginald Ting; art by Jim Jimenez

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Bat-Signal

To those who subscribe to Warren Ellis' Bad Signal should read this.

Found through Johanna.

US military scientists go to film school

"According to the New York Times, the US military is paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to send scientists on a screenwriting course in Los Angeles, with the aim of producing movies and television shows that portray scientists in a flattering light.

"It is being billed as a radical solution to one of America's most vexing long-term national security problems: the drastic decline in the number of US students pursuing science and engineering.

"The students at a five-day course at the American Film Institute included experts in rocket science, nanotechnology and genetics.

"They agreed that films such as Deep Impact, the 1998 blockbuster starring Robert Duvall and Morgan Freeman, were the sort that should be emulated."

Huh? Is this so that whatever research and breakthroughs they unearth can be made into a movie, thereby making people believe in them less? Conspiracy theories, anyone?

Kiss/Met 35

written by Reginald Ting; art by Jim Jimenez

first previous next home

It's official: drinking is good

"It is guaranteed to raise a cheer among those who enjoy a tipple: moderate drinkers are better thinkers than teetotallers or those who overindulge.

"Research by the Australian National University in Canberra suggests drinking in moderation boost your brainpower. But none at all, or too much, can make you a dullard."

Of course, everything in moderation. But if you have free beer, that's going to be a tough task.

Brash Bird

Isn't it funny that the first things you learn in a foreign language are the curse words? This bird's learned a few choice words too:

"A foul-mouthed parrot previously owned by a lorry driver has been banished from public areas in a British animal sanctuary after repeatedly embarrassing his keepers, they said.

"Barney, a five-year-old Macaw, is now kept indoors at Warwickshire Animal Sanctuary in Nuneaton, central England, when outsiders visit after abusing dignitaries with swearword-littered insults.

"He's told a lady mayoress to f..(expletive) off and he told a lady vicar: 'And you can f... off as well'," sanctuary worker Stacey Clark said."

Sermons on your i-pod

This may be the start of a new wave of religion:

"Thousands of people have downloaded a Suffolk vicar's sermons after he posted them on the internet last month.

"The Rev Leonard Payne, Vicar of St Nicholas' Church in Wrentham, said the response had been overwhelming after he posted them on the Apple iTune store.

"We were stunned. Within a short period of time, over 2,000 people had downloaded one of them," he said."

Cozy Cat

The eyes! They burn like the sun!

Seriously, this is our cat, Cosmo, making himself at home in one of our drawers.

Bummer God 5

written by Reginald Ting; art by Jim Jimenez

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Roller Gundam

For Richie:



Linked from Boom! Studios.

Kiss/Met 34

written by Reginald Ting; art by Jim Jimenez

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Big Brothers will be watching soon

Solar powered, unmanned high altitude long endurance aircraft will soon patrol the skies, making satellites a thing of the past. You'll never know who's watching.

"Unmanned surveillance vehicles are increasingly omnipresent in a world which relies on knowing what people and places are doing.

"Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) patrol innocuous-looking skies and silently report back streams of strategically-important data, video, and images from locations around the world.

"They are the ultimate Earth watchers."

Bummer God 4

written by Reginald Ting; art by Jim Jimenez

first previous next home

Ass to Mouth

You dirty mind, you! It's not what you're thinking.

"Patients with inflammatory bowel disease may benefit from cannabis-based drugs, UK scientists believe.

"The Bath University team found people with the gut disorder had an abundant number of a type of cannabinoid receptors in their body.

"They believe this is part of the body's attempt to dampen down the inflammation and that giving a drug that binds to these receptors could boost this."

Spider-Man 3 possible plot

Larry Young may be on to something here.

Hi Tech classroom

The future of learning has arrived, albeit still experimental:

"Since the Kenyan government introduced free primary school education two years ago, the resulting influx of kids has meant that resources are spread as thinly as ever.

"Classrooms are crowded, and the all-too-familiar scenario of children sharing outdated textbooks is still very much in evidence.

"However, in Class Five, things are just a little bit different. Fifty-four 11-year-old students are willing guinea pigs in an extraordinary experiment aimed at using technology to deliver education across the continent.

"In the Eduvision pilot project, textbooks are out, customised Pocket PCs, referred to as e-slates, are very much in.

"They are wi-fi enabled and run on licence-free open source software to keep costs down."

Sean Connery retiring?

"IT IS a decision that will horrify his legion of worldwide fans and leave grown women in tears.

"Scottish screen legend Sir Sean Connery has almost drawn the curtain on his long and glittering career by revealing it would take a Mafia-style "offer he couldn't refuse" to tempt him to make another film.

"At the age of 74, Connery still manages to be Britain's highest-paid actor, commanding up to £10m per movie. But his three-year absence from the industry has prompted questions about whether the Scots star has decided to retire after half a century in Hollywood and 77 films.

"Now, Connery has provided the answer. In an interview with a New Zealand newspaper, the actor says he has no time for the "idiots" now making films in Hollywood."

He has to do something to rise from the crapfest that was LXG.

More men seek breast reduction

"A SHARP rise in the number of men requesting breast- reduction operations is being blamed by surgeons on the effects of excess female hormones in tap water and food.

"Clinics are reporting a doubling in the number of operations being carried out over just one year. According to surgeons, the male breasts examined are similar in structure to those of women and are not simply fat deposits caused by overeating.

"They believe the condition, called gynecomastia, is caused by traces of the female contraceptive pill in tap water and hormones used to promote the growth of farm animals.

"Yannis Alexandrides, a surgeon at the Kosmeticos clinic in Harley Street, central London, carried out one male breast reduction a month four years ago but is now doing one a week."

Angry Fantasy Author: Terry Pratchett

"Author Terry Pratchett has complained that the status of Harry Potter author JK Rowling is being elevated "at the expense of other writers".

"Pratchett, one of the UK's most successful novelists with 40 million books sold, said the media ignores the achievements of other fantasy authors.

"He also took a sideswipe at Rowling for saying she did not realise Harry Potter was fantasy until it was published."

"He also expressed surprise at Rowling's comments that she only realised Harry Potter was fantasy after the first book was published.

"I'm not the world's greatest expert," he wrote. "But I would have thought that the wizards, witches, trolls, unicorns, hidden worlds, jumping chocolate frogs, owl mail, magic food, ghosts, broomsticks and spells would have given her a clue?"

Here's the Time magazine article on Rowling that Pratchett reacted to. Choice snippets:

The most popular living fantasy writer in the world doesn't even especially like fantasy novels. It wasn't until after Sorcerer's Stone was published that it even occurred to her that she had written one. "That's the honest truth," she says. "You know, the unicorns were in there. There was the castle, God knows. But I really had not thought that that's what I was doing. And I think maybe the reason that it didn't occur to me is that I'm not a huge fan of fantasy."

"I was trying to subvert the genre," Rowling explains bluntly. "Harry goes off into this magical world, and is it any better than the world he's left? Only because he meets nicer people. Magic does not make his world better significantly. The relationships make his world better. Magic in many ways complicates his life."

Mr Pratchett does have good reason to be angry. Let's face it, after writing 65+ books, wouldn't you be a little pissed when someone says that before Rowling came along fantasy was stuffy and boring, and that nobody has done cutting edge fantasy?

Kiss/Met 33

written by Reginald Ting; art by Jim Jimenez

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