Thursday, May 22, 2008

The Sun : A Bright Spot

The sky will fall on December 21, 2012. Or maybe the 22nd.

There are sites that sorta explain it. One site quotes a real NASA report that states:

Many forecasters believe Solar Cycle 24 will be big and intense. Peaking in 2011 or 2012, the cycle to come could have significant impacts on telecommunications, air traffic, power grids and GPS systems. (And don't forget the Northern Lights!) In this age of satellites and cell phones, the next solar cycle could make itself felt as never before."
The rather alarming headline on the non-NASA site:
NASA Announces 2012 Destruction Probable

Dude! Ahhhhh!!! Run!!!

NASA made no such announcement.
What NASA said is that solar activity, which according to predictable cyclic movements is due to peak in 2011 or 2012, may have a significant impact on modern electronic communications. Losing your Wi-Fi sucks. It is not, however, the end of the world.

The author interprets "2011 or 2012" thusly:
I find it quite a coincidence that this major happening is forecasted (sic) for 2012, as this exact timing correlates to the ancient Mayan prediction of the end of the dimension.
Pardon my English, but "2011 or 2012 " is not an "exact time" at all- it's a vague range of dates. And what does "end of the dimension" mean anyway?


The site will also sell you mp3 files that will give you "Psychic Powers" if you download them-for a fee...I see a rip-off in the future.
That's the bad news.
The good news?
There isn't much future left.
The future, as everyone who isn't me knows, is scheduled to end on or around 12/22/2012.


See, there are some Cosmic Alignments taking place in 2012.

- There will be a Transit of Venus across the Sun, an event so rare that it hasn't happened since 2004.

- There will be, as noted above, an usually active period of solar magnetism; a Solar Maximum, as described by NASA. This hasn't happened since 1958.
We might see awesome Northern Lights and experience really crappy cell-phone coverage.
My advice: Stock up on ammunition, barbed-wire and books.

- According to experts, there will be a Galactic Alignment - the winter solstice Sun will align with the Milky Way's equator or something...NASA is trying keep this information under wraps, which sort of proves that it's gonna happen...the Government Eggheads don't want us to know, but it's too late...the secret is out.
According to expert interpretation of ancient Mayan astronomy, the Alignment will occur on Dec. 21st (or the 22nd), 2012- the final day of the Mayan Calender, give or take thirty-six years.

-My Car Talk desk calender ends on 12/31/2008. This is pretty close to 12/22/2102.
Nine days and four years, to be precise.
Nine
plus four equals thirteen.
According to experts, 13 is a magickal number.
Quite a coincidence, eh?

- This Alignment will place us in the path of a Comet/Planet named Nimburu. NASA recently sent an unmanned probe (code name Deep Impact) to a comet's surface - allegedly for the sake of so-called "scientific research". The real mission was to test the feasibility of planting a nuclear 'bunker buster' bomb under the comet's surface...if successful, this technology will be used in a vain attempt to prevent NIMBURU from smashing into the Earth and turning us all into fossil fuel, just like it did to the dinosaurs.

-Some experts claim that the World is gonna End. This might be true if your life depends on GPS technology...winter of 2012 will be a bad time to be lost in the woods. Even a traditional compass might not work, the earth's magnetic field might be all fuckity...you could try to get your bearings from the stars, but the Earth might be shifted on it's axis, so even if you know how to navigate old school, the stars won't be where they should be...or they'll be obscured by a fiery, toxic, earth-encompassing cloud of post-collision soot and debris.
My advice: Choose your 2012 winter vacation site wisely. Deep underground or off-planet is best.

The 'glass half-empty' crowd can concern itself with the short-term inconveniences produced by a comet-induced global extinction, but I think it's better to be optimistic about such things- every life-smothering cloud of inter-planetary dust has a silver lining if you look hard enough.

To an oil-dependent optimist, the idea of a Earth/comet collision is good news, because oil is actually a renewable resource. Fossil fuels are called "fossil" because they are composed of old, dead things. In the 'big picture', oil is the ultimate Biofuel- it can be made from just about everyone, given enough patience and sacrifice.

Sure, it will be difficult on us , our kids and their grand-kids, but ten million generations from now our descendants will once again have cheap, plentiful gasoline.
They will enjoy this ample supply for roughly one hundred years; after which a comet once again hits Earth, everyone dies and the 250 million-year cycle begins anew, give or take a few years.

Let's take the far-thinking approach.
The driver of today is the gasoline of tomorrow.
Together we can be the future.

Look to the stars.
See ya in the tank.

Logg Cabbin, M.D.


Mark Fail

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Shameless Plugs

"We are quite different, yet I am drawn to you. I am powerless over this feeling."

"I know. It feels as if we were somehow made for each other."




"You are so beautiful...being with you turns me on."

Oh, just shut up, already.




"I have an idea."

"You talk too much."






Oh. Oh. Oh.




"Mmmmm...I could get used to that."

"Wow. You remind me of my ex-boyfriend. He really changed after we got married, though."





" Oh...Gosh! It's almost one o'clock! I need to leave."

"Call me."





***************************************


The New Breakfast Snob, Saturday May 17th

Every Saturday at 1pm EST...man, I went from the worst time spot to the best one...cool.
My thanks to everyone involved!



Dread Zeppelin- The Immigrant Song
What the world really needs is a reggae- styled Led Zeppelin tribute band with an Elvis impersonator as the lead singer. They broke up, I think...'tis pity.

Al Stewart- On The Border
It has been many years since I have seen Casablanca. I'd like to watch it sober.

Badfinger- Come and Get It

Peter Tosh - No Sympathy

Jonathan Coulton- Skullcrusher Mountain

I met Mr. Coulton via my imaginary friend , John Hodgman. Jonathon writes the best Dungeons and Dragons lovesongs , ever. You can listen here- for free!

Ken Nordine- Flesh
I love this bizarrely enlightened poem. It's from a REsearch CD that a DJ pal gave me.

Flogging Molly - Cry of the Celtic

The Proclaimers- Irish Girls Are Pretty
Yes, they are. That's why there are so many great songs about them.

Damien Dempsey- Your Pretty Smile
Irish girls are pretty.

Ringo Starr- No No No Song

A ten-pound bag of cocaine? Those were the days.
Don't do drugs.

Sweet- Love Is Like Oxygen

Alan Parsons- I Wouldn't Want To Be Like You
You are drunk. That's sad.

Bruce Cockburn- Lovers in Dangerous Times
Got to kick at the darkness until it bleeds daylight

Amen to that.

10 CC- Art for Art's Sake
In the kitchen, in the hall...against every wall...
...money for God's sake...

Big Mountain/UB40- Baby I Love Your Way
This started with Humble Pie?

The Beatles- Abbey Road Medley( You Never Give Me Your Money...She Came In Through The Bathroom Window)
This, to me, is some of the best Beatles, ever. It's just a string of unfinished song bits worked into a ten-minute jam session...brilliant, really.

Butthole Surfers- Pepper

I can taste you on my lips
And smell you in my clothes

Cinnamon and sugary
And softly spoken lies

You never know just how you look

Through other people's eyes

Nina Hagen- Smack Jack

This is one of the best anti-heroin songs of all time...man, her voice is twisted and brilliant. Too bad she found Jesus...no more Nunsexmonkrock from the Eastern Bloc.

The Kinks- Rock and Roll Fantasy
I am a background character in this song- it's written by Ray Davies to his brother and band-mate, Dave.

Sugarcubes- Sick For Toys
Solar power is the wave of the future, baby!

Montrose- Space Station # 5
This bangs my head.

T. Rex- 20th Century Boy
I need to get a bicycle helmet.

Frank Zappa- Dirty Love
Like a dragon in your dreams

Hot Tuna -Serpent of Dreams
The serpent of your expectations sleeps a nervous dream

*****************************************


My next trick:
Removing the dust bunny from this live socket using a pair of metal tweezers.

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Lone Star Romance

(If you click the pic, you'll be taken to a slide show featuring the entire comic)

This here is an unfinished rough draft of a comic that I wrote in the late nineties, art by Richard Menustik. I found it at the bottom of box of old books as I cleaned my apartment today.
I chopped it into a slide show for your amusement. I had forgotten this comic (but not the story)...
I suddenly feel like doing comics again. Too bad my drawings suck.

Note: It's much easier to read it if you hit "pause" and advance the slides manually.