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)