Saturday Slumpy
Bah.
Has anyone noticed that on the VEVO version of Eminem's Beautiful, the lyric captions censor the word "shoes"? No? ...Didn't think so. It was rather specific wasn't it? Oh well.
Media 180
Just something off the top of my head:
I follow about 10 different news agencies... some local, some global, but mostly national. And, I just noticed something. It may be that I'm missing something, but it seems like there was a lot of new about politics, and about Americans were unhappy with the government, and how fucked up everything is, and bitch, bitch, bitch, moan, moan, moan, etc, etc, etc. And this has been going on for the last two or three years... So much so that I don't really remember when all the ridiculous amounts of political coverage started (hazarding a guess, I'd say the last year of Bush).
And I'm unhappy, damnit!
Oh, but there's always been a ton of political coverage, etc, etc.
But I mean... not as much as the last couple years... where it was like 2/3 headlines was: politicians does this or that, or political scandal, or so-and-so is a damned dirty liar, or Americans unhappy with government, or whatever.
And none of it was so much news as just like... the written equivalent of screaming at the top of your lungs.
And then, the last couple of weeks... suddenly...
nothing.
It's like a void.
Now, the only news about politics you hear about is a few mentions about foreign politics in the middle east, and republicans suddenly talking about how they support obama and "it's not their place to tell americans what to think" even though that's exactly what they've been doing for the last 10 months. But even then, it's still scant.
This smells kinda fishy. Kinda like there a group of people who were pushing to get certain things turned into news... like they were focusing on a small percentage of people, documenting their opinions and experiences, and then presenting it as the viewpoint and position of the majority.
Like... this group of people was trying to get something changed... perhaps get themselves in power... and then, they reached their goal... so now they don't have to spend the resources telling us the world is going to end.
...And of course I'm talking about the republican party. Duh. (I'm neither republican nor democrat by the way. I'm a Meat Popsicle.)
Unfortunately... there's a few problems with this: First off, they spent so much time whipping people into an unhappy fury that they've accidentally created a few segments of the population which are inevitably going to cause a backlash against politicians in general. No, I'm not talking about the Tea Party, because the Tea Party was just an objective oriented shard of the republican party, from everything I've investigated about it. I'm talking rather about the offshoots from the Tea Party. The Tea Party people who didn't fit into the Tea Party, or got kicked out of the Tea Party.
Second, unless they're planning on spending resources to convince people that things are better under them, people will eventually realize that nothing has really changed... And then next election cycle, their converts will flop back to democrats.
Blah blah blah. I forgot what I was talking about. Anyways, the talk of the Tea Party made me start humming a song... so... Music Video time!
Of Trajectories
...Just something to think about.
Over the last few days, as I've been working on Chedr (the top secret application that's technically my second app), I've noticed that while I'm understanding a lot more about Java, I've really slowed down.
Which makes me realize something about the way I learn things: I go after huge, lofty ideas, can't make any sense of it, then eventually have a eureka moment where everything falls in place. But, if I'm just sort of trudging around and picking up small bits here and there, I quickly forget most of that I learned.
As it is, I have a total of 5 Java books, out of which I've only read three.
I really need to sit down and read the other two, even if they're not really "Learn Java" books and more "Giant Ass Reference Tomes of Doom"... So, I suppose this post is more for just reminding myself to stay on task. A book dedicated to Java GUI development would be awesome though. (Alternately, some Java genius pointing me towards the proper resources to make the snazzy GUIs I see other people do, as opposed to the current hey-its-1995-again look.)
*shrug*
Either way, I still need to finish the covers for Issues 2 and 3, then I'll be putting them up on the site, under the Comics page. It shouldn't take me more than a week, provided I don't dig myself into another book.
And, in other news, I'm getting my crap out of the storage place in Colorado in the later half of next week. Hopefully the weather is nice during the trip, and double-hopefully I don't pull any muscles this time.
T'would be nice, me thinks.
Site Changes
Again...
Since I'm doing more Java stuff now, the site will be getting changed around some more over the following weeks or so as I try to gear the site more towards application development, stupid Java programs, and getting a "real job" to make enough money to live on. Major changes:
Spookle is getting taken down.
The forums are getting wiped, and integrated with the main site. (I haven't been able to find a way to import the forums to WordPress, and currently it's beyond my skill in PHP to do. I will however back them up, so hopefully I can import them at a later date, along with the vintage sediverse 1.5 forums.)
The Comics are going down as well, although they'll be put on the side bar as downloadable PDFs.
I won't be using ComicPress anymore.
The Links to the stores will be cut, and the merchandise no longer updated or supported. (So if you do a google search, you'll be able to find the old crap that wasn't worth buying, but I'm not going to pitch it or hope for sales.)
Why? Well, I don't really have any equipment to actually work on the comic, so continuing this site as a webcomic site is... rather silly, honestly. I will still work on the comic when I have spare time and motivation, but really, SED is becoming more and more of a doodle sort of comic. As I make more issues though, I'll add those to the side bar for download.
SED will probably end up as a cartoon on youtube, though, so at least there's that.
Still, SED is pretty much dead at this point, since I don't really have any way of keeping it going. Major thanks and props to everyone who helped me keep this thing going for as long as it has. Hopefully we can get everything back up to the point where the comic will be a regular project again. Cheers!
(P.S. - For those who didn't know (or didn't follow the news posts I left with a lot of the comics) The laptop I used for drawing broke down, then I decided to learn Java, then I had to sell my car to pay bills, then my phone stopped working, then my desktop broke down so I had to build a new computer with the broken parts from my next door neighbor, then the new computer broke down, and i had to borrow money from family to fix it... and my rent just went up (again.) So, all in all, point is: I've had a pretty crappy year, financially speaking, and that's why I haven't been able to draw the comic. On the bright side though, I did manage to go to the doctor in September or whatever, and now I do actually have medication for the migraines that were leaving me out of commission for weeks at a time.)
THQ vs The World 2011!!
Short Explanation: THQ has decided to use a "one time code for online play" for Smackdown vs. Raw 2011. A lot of people go insane. Especially people who prefer used games. THQ then stands up for its decision and says "Hey, we don't really care about people that buy the game used because it doesn't profit us."
Yeah, those guys.
So there's two main camps here: Those that say what THQ is doing is unfair, and those who say it's understandable.
So I'm going to tackle a few of the popular arguments of both sides, just because.
Fan Art 4
Okay, so there isn't too much here... *cries*
But hey, at least there's something.
by Apathyninja.
by Deemanboy24, who's colored a few pages for self amusement!
An old one from Spy.
by... Me, actually. I sort of unofficially made this for a forum comic contest.
drawn by Vicious Creechling, inked by me. I never finished it though... I was going to ink and color it... meh.
BAM! And there you go. Be sure to check out the other fan art thingys (click on the fanart tag), and make some of your own, then post it on the forums! RAWR!!!
Of Permalinks and Apartments
I just finished changing a bit around for the site: There's a new permalink structure, since I finally got around to making the header play nice with it. Also, there's a new cache system, which should speed up the site loading a bit, even though it might slow down the updating by a minute or two.
Translation: Faster loading. New comics will be a minute late (assuming they're on time to begin with. Ha.)
As for the "apartments" side of this post, enjoy:
An interesting discussion
http://www.physorg.com/news190872056.html
Over on physorg there's an interesting article, and even more interesting discussion going on about punishment vs. reward. I wholeheartedly encourage everyone to read a bit, especially since at least one SEDhead around here as expressed an interest in Game Theory, and this (The Nash equilibrium, and Prisoner dilemma to some extent) is core game theory.
In honor of 4/20
Today is 4/20, and that means that marijuana users are crawling out of the woodwork. A large portion of them seem to be spouting off the same old tired, ignorant crap. So, I have this to say, this year on 4/20:
No, it's not healthier than tobacco or alcohol. You're still burning something and inhaling. Pound for pound, it's just as dangerous as smoking cigarettes. Second, natural tobacco isn't as addictive as corporate tobacco. When you finally get marijuana legalized, what, you think it's going to stay all natural and not be ridiculously addictive? What, you think major corporations aren't going to try and make a profit out of it? Huh? Seriously. Is Phillip Morris just going to sit by while Ralph's Reefermobile makes $5 an ounce?
Ohhh righttt.... Marijuana is a symbol of like, freedom... and like... you know... like... peace... So... when the big companies start selling it... they're going to like... mellow out and feel the love... yeeeaaahhhh....... and it will, like... totally change the world!... They'll see how they're hurting people... and they'll like... totally stop and just vibe with us... And then wars will stop... and I'll win the lottery... Oh Dude... A unicorn just walked in through my window... Nah, I'm messing with you... It's just Jen... Hey Jen... Oh wait... I typed that instead of saying it... lolololol.......
Uh. No. Sorry.
And, as The Colorist is always pointing out: If science really believed all the bubkis and hype about marijuana, then the beneficial elements would be been identified, refined, and distributed in a more efficient delivery method.
Glauconex: Helps resolve cataracts and glaucoma.
Or maybe like, Nautegra: Combats nausea and stimulates appetite for cancer sufferers and anorexics.
Nope. Sorry. It's social. It's about personal identity. It's about who you want to be, not about what the drug does, and that's tainting every argument you make. It's no different than saying "I want a vehicle". Well, if you just want a vehicle, you can pick one up for cheap at a junk yard. "Well, I want it to be a good vehicle." Okay, so how about this truck then? "Naw... I like cars, not trucks." Okay how about this one? "No... I want it to be red."
You don't want just a vehicle. You want a good, red, car.
You don't want to just treat the disease. You want to feel good, and not care/remember how bad you feel.
So stop trying all this pseudoscience, completely bullshit crap, and just say you LIKE it. I might actually support legalization then.
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