Andrew sez, "I'm the owner of Chapel Hill Comics in Chapel hill, NC. We participated in the international event 24 Hour Comics Day last weekend, where folks attempt to create 24-page comics over the course of 24 hours. We currently have 2 of the 24-page comics (created by 9 year old Kevin Collins and 12 year old Saul Zimet) and a 5-page preview of another at the store's website, with much more to come!"

Sweet! If you participated in 24 Hour Comics Day, post a link to your creation in the comments! Link (Thanks, Andrew!)

A board-game publisher has begun engaging in price fixing, a practice newly liberalized in the US in the wake of a June Supreme Court decision. Yehuda sez,

In June, 2007, the U.S. Supreme court struck down a major 97 year old law on price fixing, which prohibits manufacturers from coercing retailers on how to set their prices.

The new ruling essentially wrote that the old law was too rigid, and each instance of price fixing would now be evaluated on a case by case basis to determine if it harmed or helped the consumer.

This went relatively un-noticed for a while.

But last week, Mayfair Games, US publisher of the popular board game Settlers of Catan as well as other games, sent letters to all of its retailers demanding that they limit any discounts on their games to 20% off the suggested retail price.

This is purportedly to boost struggling brick-and-mortar stores against the spread of deep-discounting online stores which have been stealing their business.

Lots of discussion on Board Game Geek about this, split about evenly down the middle. Half the people say that deep discounters are good for the consumer, because people can buy more games and people without access to local stores can buy games. Half the people say that deep discounting is bad for the consumer, because local game stores server many more people than online stores do, and discounting games leads to their undervaluing.

Link (Thanks, Yehuda!)

Update: The original link went to a slightly reorganized version of a Wikipedia page -- but with no credit given. I've de-linked the page. This is basically plagiarism, and it stinks.

Here's a fine collection of 87 bad futuristic predictions from years gone by -- many of them are risible because of their skepticism (see the "telephones" section below), but I'm very fond of the optimistic ones, too, like "Nuclear-powered vacuum cleaners will probably be a reality in 10 years" (Alex Lewyt, president of vacuum cleaner company Lewyt Corp., in the New York Times in 1955).

# «This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us.» A memo at Western Union, 1878 (or 1876).

# «The Americans have need of the telephone, but we do not. We have plenty of messenger boys.» Sir William Preece, Chief Engineer, British Post Office, 1878.

# «It's a great invention but who would want to use it anyway?» Rutherford B. Hayes, U.S. President, after a demonstration of Alexander Bell's telephone, 1876.

# «A man has been arrested in New York for attempting to extort funds from ignorant and superstitious people by exhibiting a device which he says will convey the human voice any distance over metallic wires so that it will be heard by the listener at the other end. He calls this instrument a telephone. Well-informed people know that it is impossible to transmit the human voice over wires.» News item in a New York newspaper, 1868.

Site (http://www.2spare.com/item_50221.aspx) de-linked for plagiarism. (via Futurismic)

Today on the Worth1000 photohsopping contest: a world where zombies rule. Link

Shawn from These Foolish Things posted a quick tutorial on making sugar skulls for Día de los Muertos. He ordered the supplies online from MexicanSugarSkull.com (seriously), which has a fine selection of Día de los Muertos decorations and supplies that are sure to make you the life of the party. (Sorry.) Link (via MAKE: blog)

The first sentence of this actual news story from the Daily Mail would make HG Wells proud:

The human race will one day split into two separate species, an attractive, intelligent ruling elite and an underclass of dim-witted, ugly goblin-like creatures, according to a top scientist.

Link

UPDATE: For those who want to move past the silliness and actually consider whether there's any science to this story at all, Bad Science's Ben Goldacre wrote a column for The Guardian that's a good place to start. Link

This cheese board set has dry erase functionality so you can more easily label each selection. It's $20 from Macy's, part of the Martha Stewart Collection ('natch).
Link (via Cookie)

Ohio comic book fans are celebrating one of their state's greatest exports, Milton Caniff, creator of the influential mid-twentieth century adventure strips "Terry and the Pirates" and "Steve Canyon." Caniff was only 12-years-old when his first strip ran in the Dayton Daily News. He'd go on to produce a daily feature for more than five decades, helping define the genre of sequential storytelling through his intensely patriotic strips. Today, the Associated Press profiles Caniff, whose work will be fêtted during this week's Festival of Cartoon Art in Columbus, Ohio. For more about Caniff's life and impact, check out the new biography "Meanwhile... A Biography of Milton Caniff," by Robert C. Harvey and published by Fantagraphics. From the Associated Press article:

In 1934, the Chicago Tribune-New York News Syndicate commissioned Caniff to create a cartoon based on news reports of a band of Chinese pirates led by a woman. "Terry and the Pirates" debuted 73 years ago on October 22, 1934...

Caniff brought a cinematic technique to his strips, with close-ups, panoramas and angled views of characters out of the corner of panels. He used the "chiaroscuro" artistic style to create black-and-white contrasting images.

He insisted on accuracy in his drawings, subscribing to dozens of magazines to aid his research and amassing a collection of guns, knives and swords to get the details right on weapons. He relied on "spies" in the armed services to keep him up to date on military lingo and procedures and welcomed readers who caught mistakes in his strips...

Themes of war and violence ran through the cartoon. Men were strong, women were sultry and sexual relations were implied. He created a lesbian character, Sanjak, decades before cartoons like "Doonesbury" and "For Better or for Worse" addressed homosexuality.

In 1947, Caniff created a new strip, Steve Canyon, an event so anticipated it landed Caniff on the cover of Time magazine.

Link to Associated Press article, Link to buy "Meanwhile... A Biography of Milton Caniff", Link to 2007 Festival of Cartoon Art

This Bigfoot costume is terrific. I especially love his expression, a thoughtful mix of curious, angry, and sad. It's a high-end number, costing $888 from Costume-Shop.com.
Link

Christian Spließ just posted this fan-translation of my story Craphound, my very first professional publication! Like pretty much everything I've published, Craphound is under a CC license, as is this translation. Thanks, Christian!

Craphound hatte für einen verfluchten dreckigen Alien-Bastard ein abgefahrenes Garagenflohmarkt-Karma. Er war einfach zu gut darin aus einem rasenden Fluss der Nutzlosigkeit das einzige Körnchen Gold herauszuwaschen als dass ich ihn nicht hätte mögen können – oder jedenfalls respektieren. Aber dann fand er die Cowboy-Truhe. Für mich waren das zwei Monatsmieten und für Craphound nichts als ein verrückter Alien-Kitsch-Fetisch. Also tat ich das Undenkbare. Ich verletzte den Code. Ich geriet in einen Bietkrieg mit einem Kumpel. Lasst euch nicht erzählen Frauen würde Freundschaften vergiften; laut meiner Erfahrung heilen die Wunden von Auseinandersetzungen über Frauen recht schnell; Auseinandersetzungen über Schrott hinterlassen nichts als verbrannte Erde.

Link

Street-kids in New Delhi have created their own successful bank:

A related and less carefree spotting came in from New Delhi, India, where more than 1,000 street children have joined together to create a bank that helps them manage the small sums they earn each day. Launched in 2001 by a volunteer aid group called Butterflies, the Children’s Development Bank aims to empower children in several important ways.

Like any other bank, CDB pays interest on the deposits that New Delhi’s street children make. That interest can be a vital incentive to kids who might otherwise spend their daily earnings on cigarettes, candy or other items—or worse, have their meager profits stolen. Money for the interest comes from the repayment of micro loans made to kids 15 years and older. But interest on income is only part of the picture. While adults stand at the ready to help, CDB is managed by children, helping them gain valuable work skills.

Link (via Smart Mobs)

This crocheted scarf does a pretty good job of making it look like your neck is draped with a bloody, twin-handled band- crosscut saw. Link (via Neatorama)

Further to yesterday's post on LOLCode, a programming language based on LOLCat dialect, this Craigslist ad for LOLCode developers (yes, probably not a real want-ad, but it's New York, anything is possible. If you can write LOLCode there, you can write LOLCode anywhere).

YOU CAN HAS CHEEZEBURGER?
YOU HAS A FLAVUR?

If so, you may be the right fit for this Midtown Manhattan Web Design Startup! We are a small company looking for a Senior LOLCode Developer, preferably with at least 1 month experience developing LOLapps. Please send a resume, along with links to any web-based LOLapps you have developed.

KTHXBYE

Link (Thanks, Sam!)

Wired wants your geekiest pumpkin-carving pix for its gallery of Hack-o-Lanterns. Love this Warcraft Gourd. Link

I'm interested and hopeful about ProPublica, a new non-profit investigative news organization. Paul E. Steiger, former managing editor of The Wall Street Journal, will serve as president and editor-in-chief.

ProPublica, when fully staffed in 2008, will include 24 fulltime reporters and editors, the largest staff in American journalism devoted solely to investigative reporting. ProPublica will be supported entirely by philanthropy and will provide the articles it produces, free of charge, both through its own Web site and to leading news organizations selected with an eye toward maximizing the impact of each article.

Commenting on the new organization Mr. Steiger said, “ProPublica will focus exclusively on journalism that shines a light on exploitation of the weak by the strong and on the failures of those with power to vindicate the trust placed in them. We will be non-partisan and non-ideological, adhering to the strictest standards of journalistic impartiality and fairness.” He continued, “We will look hard at the critical functions of business and of government, the two biggest centers of power. But we will also focus on such institutions as unions, universities, hospitals, foundations and the media when they appear to be exploiting or oppressing those weaker than they, or when there is evidence that they are abusing the public trust.”

Link (Thanks, Paul!)

(Click on thumbnails for enlargement)

The Onion sells these funny fake-product "gotcha" boxes -- which you can fill with real presents.

Wrap an otherwise forgettable gift in one of seven Gotcha Boxes from The Onion, and watch their faces fall when they realize there is no such thing as a USB-powered travel toaster or a 28-piece whisk set—just a crappy bric-a-brac inside you waited until the last moment to buy. Or feign enthusiasm for a surge-protected power strip that mounts on a car review mirror and plugs into the cigarette lighter.

Link (Thanks, Dale!)

Imagine the conversations and activities that took place inside Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot's limousine.

Mr. Pot killed about two million Cambodians (a quarter of the country's population) in the 1970s in order to live the high life. But you don't need to kill anyone to own this piece of history. You just have to be the high bidder on eBay.

For Sale - one classic 1973 Mercedes Benz Stretch Limousine (short-wheel base stretch) - previously used by one infamous owner - Pol Pot who led the Khmer Rouge during its genocidal regime in Cambodia from 1975 - 1979.

Currently on display at the famous French colonial renakse hotel (Monireth Boulevard) - opposite the Kings' Royal Palace. The car was discovered by a previous editor of the Phnom Penh Post being used to transport water melon's to the Central Market (Psar Thmei). The current owner purchased the car in 2001 and has painstakingly restored it to its current glory.

Link

On November 21, our friends at Kidrobot will issue their Yo Gabba Gabba! line of toys and awesome hoodies. For those who have not opened their hearts to Yo Gabba Gabba!, it's a mindbending, surreal, and absurdly funny children's TV series about five toy monsters. Regular guests include the likes of Biz Markie and Mark Mothersbaugh. Link (Thanks, Jason Weisberger!)

Previously on BB:
• New kids' show: Yo Gabba Gabba! Link

Akezys says: "Recently police at the Vancouver airport were attempting to question a recent immigrant that could not speak English. They tasered him after 24 seconds of speaking with him. The man had spent 10 hours stuck in the airport with no-one helping him."

The 40-year-old construction worker, who had never left Poland before, was immigrating to Canada to join his mother, 61, who lives in Kamloops, about a five-hour drive from Vancouver.

They had arranged to meet at the baggage carousel in the international terminal at YVR....

Mr. Dziekanski arrived at about 3 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 14.

"He made his way to primary customs in the ordinary fashion … he went through there in the normal time frame … he then proceeded through and was directed to secondary customs, which is normal for someone who doesn't speak English and is immigrating to the country," Mr. Kosteckyj said. His papers were in order and he proceeded without difficulty.

But what happened after that was far from normal. For nearly 10 hours, Mr. Dziekanski stayed in the Arrivals Hall, growing increasingly frustrated and eventually becoming frantic.

Outside, in the public area, his mother spent nearly six hours pacing the corridors and, in broken English, asking airport officials for help in locating her son.

Mr. Kosteckyj said she visited one booth in international arrivals "at least three to four times and conveyed to them that she was concerned about her son being in the area and she wanted to get a message to him and how could she do that? They wrote her name down and said that they would make inquiries."

At about 10 p.m., she was told he wasn't there. She made the long drive home, only to find a phone message waiting, saying her son had been found.

"She called back to immigration when she got in, which would have been around 2 a.m., and spoke to someone there and was advised that her son was somewhere in the area and was fine. And she advised, you know, 'Please take care of him because he can't speak English and I'll get there as soon as I can.' And of course he had died, been killed really, some time on or about 1 or 1:30," Mr. Kosteckyj said.

Link

Bolivian prostitutes on a hunger strike have sewn their mouths shut as part of a protest against the governmental shut-down of brothels and bars in El Alto's red light district. From Reuters:

"We are fighting for the right to work and for our families' survival," Lily Cortez, leader of the El Alto Association of Nighttime Workers, told local television.

"Tomorrow we will bury ourselves alive if we are not immediately heard..."

Link (Thanks, Lindsay Tiemeyer!)

Video and news story about the spiny anteater's remarkable penis.

The spiny anteater's four-headed phallus had been puzzling scientists. "When we tried to collect semen by [electrically-stimulated ejaculation] before, not only did we not get a single drop, but the whole penis swelled up to a four-headed monster that wouldn't fit the female reproductive tract, which has only two branches," says Johnston.

“Now we know that during a normal erection, two heads get shut down and the other two fit," he told New Scientist. The heads used are swapped each time the mammal has sex.

Link (Thanks, Pete!)

Todd Lappin of Telstar Logistics writes, "It's the ultimate fire-fighting mashup: This week NASA joined forced with the FAA and the US Forest Service to field a civilian version of the Predator UAV over Southern California. The drone aircraft has combined infrared thermal imagery with Google Earth location data to map critical fire hotspots so incident commanders know where best to direct their resources." Link

FEMA workers pretended to be reporters and asked softball questions to Harvey E. Johnson, FEMA's deputy director. FEMA blames it on "error in judgment."

The White House scolded the Federal Emergency Management Agency on Friday for staging a phony news conference about assistance to victims of wildfires in southern California.

The agency — much maligned for its sluggish response to Hurricane Katrina over two years ago — arranged to have FEMA employees play the part of independent reporters Tuesday and ask questions of Vice Adm. Harvey E. Johnson, the agency's deputy director.

Link (Thanks, Sponselli!)

One of my all-time favorite spots in San Francisco is the Musée Mécanique, a magnificent penny arcade of yesteryear filled with dozens of incredible antique arcade machines, mechanical music instruments, and bizarre automatons. Today, I spent the morning at Musée Mécanique with my pals from OpenRoad.TV, a new travel video site dedicated to unique destinations in the American West. I've been visiting Musée Mécanique for years and this time had the chance to meet the proprietor, Dan Zelinsky, who also leads the restoration and maintenance of the machines. Dan's a wonderful guy with a passion for these delightful contraptions and a love of sharing his fun with the public. The first thing I noticed when I met Dan is that he was wearing a aluminum stainless steel pocket protector. He said he made it himself after realizing that he was tearing through at least one plastic pocket protector a week. The side seams are sewn with copper wire and coated with cellophane tape so it doesn't snag his shirt. I think it's a real beaut. Click the photos for a better view. I'll link to the interview with Dan and the tour of the Musée Mécanique once it's online at OpenRoad.TV. Link to Musée Mécanique, Link to OpenRoad.TV

Previously on BB:
• Pocket protector museum Link

UPDATE: OpenRoadTV's Doug McConnell posted about our visit too. Link

This week's "briefing" in The Week is about childhood obesity.

Over the last 25 years, the obesity rate has doubled for young children and has tripled for teenagers. As a result, diseases once associated only with adults, such as type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and even cirrhosis of the liver, are on the rise among children. If the trend in childhood obesity continues, experts predict that over the next few decades, it will cut as much as five years off the average American’s life span. “Our kids,” said California health official Dr. Jason Eberhart-Phillips, “belong to the first generation of Americans whose life expectancy could well be shorter than that of their parents.”

Link

Alexei Karpenko put together a system consisting of GPS, camera, sensors and communications, sent it to an altitude of 30km, and retrieved it on the ground after a parachute landing. The photos and videos he took are stunning.

High altitude ballooning is an emerging hobby, since price of GPS and communications equipment has gotten quite low. It is an excellent hobby for people fascinated by space flight and telerobotics and has many learning aspects — from systems design to electronics design to software engineering. There is also an exciting risk factor, namely, that you could lose your precious electronics if something malfunctions. In this project, many of my interest and knowledge areas came together. Also, I have verified that the Earth is indeed round and that space is black.

Bre Pettis of MAKE also built and launched a near-space balloon, but never found it. See his videos (part 1 and 2).

Link

Jim says:

Today has to be one of the happiest days of my life. I've searched for this film (Skaterdater, 1965) numerous times on the net for years, and finally found that the beginning has been uploaded to YouTube:

I first saw this in 1967, when I was first grade, as the opening feature for a Saturday matinee in my Midwestern hometown. It's not exaggerating to say that this film influenced a lot of things in my life. First off, it started my lifelong love of surf guitar. It's remarkable that this theme has been running through my head for forty years, though I'd only seen it that one time! It also got me into skateboarding (steel wheels, baby!), and why I'll always love California and cute girls in striped shirts.

Check out the kid barefoot nosewalking on that deathplank! And dig those awesome windbreakers the riders are wearing! Seriously, nothing has ever been better than this.

Link | Full movie on Google Video (18 minutes)

Watchismo has a feature on another haunted timepiece: an animated 17th century clock that gives the Pirates of the Caribbean a run for its money, telling the time by means of gruesome rictus and snakes darting in and out of its hollow eye-sockets.

During the first minute, the skull's expression seems to smile, the second minute it seems to laugh, the next appears to scream and finally, the jaws snap shut, as if the skull were trying to bite something. At the same time, one of the snakes slowly sinks back down into one of the eye sockets, while the other slowly comes out of the other eye, before retracting suddenly, as the first snake again springs out from its eye-socket. And to view the time, just open up the skull cap! It sold recently for $135,000.

Link

See also: Skull-watch of Mary Queen of Scots

Why have a Jack O'Lantern this Hallowe'en when you could be carving a couple of gourds into a convincing Pac Man (Pac O'Lantern!) and ghost?

A quick, low-tech halloween project: we hollowed out a couple of miniature decorative gourds. You can get these by the bagful at the grocery store, next to the mini-pumpkins. The one on the left had a kind of wrinkly base that adapted itself well to this shape, and the one on the right had more of a conical tip that we cut off to make a flat base.

Link (Thanks Jennifer!)

Apparently, 1934 was the year that robotic boxing machines were so imminent that Jack Dempsey was moved to declare that he could "whip any mechanical robot," as reported in the April, 1934 issue of Modern Mechanix.

The reason is simple: Engineers can build a robot that will possess everything except brains. And without brains no man can ever attain championship class in the boxing game. It is true enough that we have had some rare intellectual specimens in the higher frames of boxing glory, but I can truthfully say that no man ever attained genuine boxing recognition without real headwork. The best punch in the world is not worth a whoop if the boxer doesn’t know what to do with it. The most damaging of all blows is the short, straight-arm punch to the solar plexus—the punch which came into being when Fitzsimmons took the championship from Jim Corbett in one of the boxing-game’s greatest surprise victories.

In hitting to the solar plexus, that spot just below the meeting point of the ribs, the blow travels only about six or eight inches and the result is comparable only to the terrific effect of being struck by a piston which moves forward as its arm slides out. There never has been and never will be a boxer who could remain on his feet after being struck by a mechanically perfect solar plexus punch.

Link

Apparently, this is real. Species: Promachoteuthis sulcus. According to the Tree of Life Web project, the single specimen is 25 mm and was captured at a depth of nearly 2000 meters in the south Atlantic Ocean off Tristan Da Cunha.
Link

Previously on BB:
• The Deep: The Extraordinary Creatures of the Abyss Link

A Dr. Lajos Nagy claims that his cosmetic surgery technique of pointing ears Spock-style can actually "improve the experience of listening to music." According to his Modern Plastic Surgey website, Nagy practices cosmetic surgery in New York City but will soon introduce his "Music Faun" method in his native Hungary. I've seen extreme body mod practitioners with pointed ears but I'm not entirely convinced that a licensed surgeon would publicly offer such a service (yet). From Nagy's Web site:

Why are pointed ears more sensitive?

One of its reasons is rather simple: pointed ears focus sounds in a better way, which, in the case of animals, is supplemented by the fact that they can orientate themselves towards the source of sounds without turning their heads, by moving only their ears.

The other reason is the own frequency of the pinnae, as being solid objects themselves, which changes together with their shape. Pointed ears resonate with sounds at the frequency of around 8 kHz, thus they amplify sharp sounds instead of the intermediate frequencies. This is the reason why, amongst other things, dogs are sensitive to ultrasonic sounds, which are imperceptible for human ears.

Although turning the pinnae still remains impossible for human beings according to its anatomic features, the advantages of pointed ears can be enjoyed once again with the help of a simple, routine operation.

Be the next to sharpen your hearing!

Link (via The Presurfer)

UPDATE: As suspected, this is likely a hoax. Check the comments. Link

According to a new Associated Press/Ispos poll of 1,013 adults in the US, approximately one out of three people believe in ghosts, 19 percent in spells or witchcraft, 48 percent in ESP, and 34 percent in UFOs. Meanwhile, 23 percent claim to have "seen or believed (they) were in the presence of a ghost," 14 percent say they have sighted a UFO, and only five percent have "seen a monster in the closet of (their) bedroom." The low positive response to that last question is probably because the poll did not inquire about monsters seen under the bed, which is where the 82 percent of bedroom monsters actually reside. From the Associated Press:

One in five say they are at least somewhat superstitious, with young men, minorities, and the less educated more likely to go out of their way to seek luck. Twenty-six percent of urban residents — twice the rate of those from rural areas — said they are superstitious, while single men were more superstitious than unmarried women, 31 percent to 17 percent...

Generally, women were more superstitious than men about four-leaf clovers, breaking mirrors or grooms prematurely seeing brides. Democrats were more superstitious than Republicans over opening umbrellas indoors, while liberals were more superstitious than conservatives over four-leaf clovers, grooms seeing brides and umbrellas.

Link to AP article, Link to AP/Ipsos Poll results page

In today's episode of Boing Boing tv:

Simpsons director David Silverman plays his flaming tuba for us. He built the propane-fueled "Tubatron" himself with help from pyro expert pals, and he puffs out a few bars of the Simpsons theme song. You can catch him and the flammable sousaphone in action at parades from time to time, and every year at Burning Man. (0:00-2:30)

And finally, a (cough) happy ending for the week: BB co-editor Mark Frauenfelder visited the Los Angeles Zoo and watched a zookeeper massage a grateful Tapir. We should all be as blissed-out as this odd-toed ungulate. (2:47-3:28)

Link.

AT&T took an active role in helping the NSA break the law by wiretapping the whole Internet, without a warrant, particularized suspicion, or moral compunction. Here's a suggested logo-revision from an anonymous reader -- remember, November 5 is Guy Fawkes Day: Wiretapping, Treason and Plot! JPEG Link

Britain's Royal Armouries have launc