New Cartoon

I'm down in San Diego at the universe's biggest Comic Convention (175,000 people today).

But I've got the new cartoon done!


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The Government Controls your Dreams

I woke up this morning from a dream in which I had a dragon. I was an independent "pilot" who was waiting for a client at a landing area. There were a lot of people who needed a flight, but there was a strike at the airport and I wouldn't cross the picket line... except for my client, because I had seen the future through some device that showed me taking the client to her destination.

Crazy stuff, but after I hit the snooze on my alarm, I went back into the dream.

I still had the dragon, but was trying to figure out a way to get FCC approval for flights, since I didn't have (or need) a pilot's license to ride my dragon. I needed portable radio for talking to air towers, and a way to get the license without turning the dragon over to the government. Dragons don't exist, after all, and they'd probably want to either dissect him or appropriate him for military use.

So yeah, I spent the rest of my dream trying to get around government paperwork.

Once I woke up fully, I decided this wasn't as odd as it seems. Most of my "fantastic" fiction take a concept like, say, owning a dragon, and taking it to it's logical conclusion in the real world. All good things become bad things over time, just as many bad things can become good things over time. Also, even as a kid, my dragon fantasies where always grounded in practicality. Ever since reading the Pern books, I had daydreams of dragons... but they mostly revolved around how I would feed the thing.

It seemed very expensive.

Irony? You're soaking in it!

While I worked today, I listened to the latest mixes of the Sweetie Tanya soundtrack. Some of the songs are about as near to perfect as I can imagine them being. Others are very good, but still on their way. It's a thrill and a half to listen to these. They're so damn good, and I think it'll be a real treat for fans of the show, and will hopefully result in our being able to sell the show to other companies and make even more fans.

I did take a break to head down to the DMV and not only renewed my driver's license (55 minute wait, 5 minutes of interacting with the personnel) and got a parking ticket at the same time. I drive once a month, and boom.

Well, there you go.

Man in a suit

I saw Hellboy 2 last night and thoroughly enjoyed it.

I was quite stunned today to find out that the character of wink wasn't done with CGI. I've gotten so used to amazing creatures on films being done that way, that it never occurred to me what I was really seeing.

Headlines and statements

Like a lot of people I was appalled when I heard that Obama was supporting the bill that grants telecoms retroactive amnesty for wiretapping.

So I went looking for more information. Here's the full statement.

In particular, this phrase struck me. "It does, however, grant retroactive immunity, and I will work in the Senate to remove this provision so that we can seek full accountability for past offenses. But this compromise guarantees a thorough review by the Inspectors General of our national security agencies to determine what took place in the past, and ensures that there will be accountability going forward. "

So, yeah, Obama is supporting what he considers a flawed, sub-optimal bill but acknowledges a major problem with it that he will continue to try to get fixed. Unfortunately, that's about all he can do right now. I am glad to hear that he still acknowledges that allowing retroactive immunity is wrong and will continue to strive towards something that meets our ideals and get something on the table that ends Bush's violations NOW.

This situation reinforces, more than anything, my distrust of our own media. The headlines I saw suggested very strongly that Obama was supporting amnesty for telecoms, but that's not the case at all.

From Cranky to Mushy

Feeling less curmudgeony today.

In fact, I'm even going to post this link that Sam Blanchard sent me.

Awwwwww