Random Thoughts

The Mars Society has folks living like they are on Mars, only in Utah and the Canadian Tundra. A journalist got selected to be part of the experiment, and Slate is posting his journal from his two weeks on "Mars".

I'm still waiting and hoping for news on why Diamond has cancelled Dork Storm Press books Nodwick and PS238, and when the books will be resolicited. PS238 is just about the best superhero related kids book I've ever seen, bar none, and I would hate to see it go away. Anyone? Are there no comics journalists with actual sources who can look into this? I've e-mailed a few folks, but haven't gotten any responses yet. Anyone spotted an article I may have missed? Anyone?

Also, with the news of Bob Haney suffering a stroke, I'm ever more curious if DC will ever do the right thing and publish The Teen Titans Swingin' Elseworld Special. Bob Haney did a lot of Aquaman, too. I hope he recovers.

Fanboy Rampage is reporting a rumor that CrossGen is closing its doors this week. We'll have to see if it happens or not, eh? I will seriously miss Abadazad, if it does.

Kevin Melrose of Thought Balloons points out that his next story appears in Digital Webbing Presents #17, which now has a Diamond Order Code: JUN04 2442. It'll be out in August, and it's a 40 page, B&W and no ads, book with a cover price of only $2.95. Kevin sent me Digital Webbing Presents #11, which, despite it's not-terribly-exciting name, was quite good.

Near Mint Heroes has gone on a spat of link-blogging, and you should check them out. Lots of stuff I haven't seen linked to elsewhere in the comics blogosphere.

Polite Dissent is a must-read for comic fans who are at all interested in how accurate the medical bits are in the books you read. Some of the stuff he finds is just... cool. I swear I learn something about medicine every time I visit the page.

As some of you know, Newsarama has coverage of Mike Allred's Golden Plates Project, complete with the requisite Mormon bashing in the thread that follows. I suspect Allred and anyone who actually supports this project will have to put up with a lot of that in the months to follow, as too many people would rather waste time attacking other people's religions instead of working on making themselves better people. Go figure. After making a few stupid comments on Allred's board, I think I'm just going to stay out of it too. I should learn to keep my trap shut, sometimes.

Anyway, the Newsarama article includes four samples from the work, including Nephi shocking his brothers, Samuel the Lamanite, Moroni taking the records to bury them, and Mormon and Moroni during one of the final battles. Members of the LDS church will know exactly what these stories are. I'm hoping that this project will allow my husband to experience some of the stories I grew up with, without pressuring him with the religious side of it. Anyway, my only complaint with the project so far is that Samuel's skin ought to be darker.

There was a bit more on Tent City in the Seattle Times today. The article talks about tent city residents with outstanding warrants. Apparently two resident were arrested, and one was kicked out. Said a Tent City res: "We have never been asked to screen for warrants before. We only screen for sex offenders." There is also the information that the city hearing on whether or not it is legal for the church to host the Tent City on their land will be June 9 and 10. I don't intend to get involved in that, as it really is a purely legal question, even if the motivations of the people filing suit might not have been as pure as possible. According to this FAQ about Seattle's Tent City, such suits have always been thrown out of court before.

Another article from Friday's paper indicate that crime rates generally don't change when Tent City is in the neighborhood: The longest stay for the group — six months in 2000 — was at Beacon Hill's El Centro de la Raza, a Latino advocacy organization. During those six months, the neighborhood around the site reported about 12 crimes per month. A year later, when the tent city was no longer there, the El Centro area had 13 incidents each month. Crime went up when the tent city left?

Also from that article: Tent-city campers are subject to expulsion if they violate a code of conduct that prohibits drug or alcohol use, weapons or violence, abusive language, loitering and disturbing neighbors. So alcohol is prohibited. I also found this bit encouraging: Michael Ostrogorsky, co-manager of GreenWing Gardens and Parrot Cafe in Haller Lake, said he misses the litter patrols that cleaned up the neighborhood each morning. "They picked up everybody's trash, whether it was theirs or not. I was actually sorry to see them go," Ostrogorsky said. There's an awful lot of litter in our neighborhood, usually from the Sunday church-goers who seem to think that emptying their trash into the blackberry bushes on somebody's yard is acceptable behavior. I would be happy to see a litter patrol.

I plan on visiting Tent City tomorrow, probably with some granola bars or something, if I can afford any. If anyone has any serious suggestions for questions to ask, I'd be delighted to give it a shot. I wish I had a camera. Tomorrow, by the way, is supposed to be very wet. I suspect I'll see the downside of having to camp. I wish I could afford to go out and buy some tarps and lamps for them. If you haven't, please read my account of my first visit.

WARNING - POLITICS AHEAD

Via Crooked Timber, you can get a free sticker from MoveOn. As usual, Bush-supporters won't want to bother following this link.

END POLITICS