no No Outlet

Posted on Monday, 2002 October 21 by Anton

Alas, Adam Greengard has wearied of writing/drawing No Outlet, the thinking dog’s comic strip. I’ll eagerly await his next project until, y’know, it slips my mind. (As one of his characters might say.)

Posted in cartoons | 1 Comment

what right?

Posted on Monday, 2002 October 21 by Anton

Now and again one hears the phrase “Israel’s right to exist”. But I can’t recall ever encountering a statement of either the substance or the grounds for such a ‘right’. Are there states that exist without right (other than all of them), or states that have a right to exist but do not exist? If the form of government is altered, but not the boundaries, is a right violated?

Posted in politics | 1 Comment

today in Poetry Corner

Posted on Monday, 2002 October 21 by Anton

“To his Koi Mistress” by Troy McClure.

Okay, not really, because there’s no way I could do justice to the premise.

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bring on the obscene teddy-bears

Posted on Monday, 2002 October 21 by Anton

PVP takes on the tough issues

Posted in cartoons | 2 Comments

bedfellows

Posted on Monday, 2002 October 21 by Anton

Andrew Bulhak observes:

(The identity of heroes/villains in films can be telling; for example, there’s Four Feathers, which glorifies the British Empire (which can be seen as a rather prestigious model to proponents of a a global American empire) and its doings in the Middle East, only a few years after pre-9/11 film The Patriot painted the British as the original Nazis (somewhat slanderously, apparently). I wonder whether we’ll see any metaphorical films about straight-dealing, heroic apple-pie Romans (played by Ben Affleck or Brendan Fraser) doing battle with treacherous, Taliban-like Visigoths.)

Also from Andrew, a link to Earth Erotica, worth a chuckle

Posted in cinema, history | Leave a comment

a use for the stuff

Posted on Sunday, 2002 October 20 by Anton

George Byrd, who has contributed to this space before, comments on the urine item below:

I recall reading somewhere that during the last years of the Civil War, some southern cities instituted regular collection of urine from chamber pots, from which they extracted nitrates for gunpowder manufacture.

I don’t know whether it is true or not, but if true, it would be “a use for the stuff”.

Posted in history, technology | Leave a comment

million-dollar idea

Posted on Thursday, 2002 October 17 by Anton

Holster stickers (only a philistine would glue anything to the gun itself): sticky-back strips 1cm high by about 7cm wide, imprinted with humorous phrases.

My Other Gun is an Arbalest
Make a Joyful Noise
One Round at a Time
Just Happy to See You
As a Matter of Fact, I Do Own the Whole Damn Range

Posted in arts, weapons | Leave a comment