linkmachinego.com
4 August 2000
[online comics] Scott Mcloud’s Zot Online. ‘Although it was a superhero series, Zot! quickly became known as “the superhero comic for people who hate superhero comics” — which isn’t the best sales strategy in the world, come to think of it… When people asked me to describe the series, I said it was “a cross between Peter Pan, Buck Rogers and Marshall McLuhan” which, uh, wasn’t much better come to think of it…’
You get that bus out Butler![on the buses] How many degrees of seperation between Kevin Bacon and Blakey (from On The Buses)? I’ve got you Butler!
3 August 2000
[web] British ISP’s don’t like heavy surfers reports newsUnlimited. ‘He says one user somehow managed to clock up 29 hours of usage in one day by setting up an ISDN-style connection.”There were also several businesses using the service,” he adds, “and we had made it clear this offer was not for business users.”‘
[big brother] A couple of reports — According to BBC News Sada wants to be a TV Presenter and newsUnlimited covers the whole Big Brother phenomenon‘Conflict is inherent in Big Brother because it is a competition. Treachery is essential, as Nick, the stockbroker, has realised. Maligned by the media he may be – the Sun’s Dominic Mohan has started a Kick Out Nick campaign – but Nick is liked by his housemates. In this week’s vote on eviction, no one has voted to have him ousted. He plays the game too well, as proved by his exploits last week, when he encouraged everyone to vote for Sada and Caroline’s expulsion then provided them with a shoulder on which to cry.’
[comics] Bugpowder — Another excellent comics weblog. [via Blue Lines]
2 August 2000
[weblogs] Amusingly written weblog — torrez.orgWhile I’ll be a really bad father and The Evolution of a Weblogger in the Year 2000 ‘The reason, of course, is that I’ve been that typical male. I’ve talked my way into their beds while their parents slept, blissfully unaware that that Torrez kid, the one who was on his way to Berkeley as a computer science major, had 20 megs of porn on his hard drive (note: this was back when both porn and hard drives were rather small. 20 megs translates to roughly 93.3 gigabytes today). That Torrez kid was not too drunk to drive, nor was he about to have surgery, nor was his penis going to fall off if it didn’t receive its daily massage.’
[gonzo] Hunter S. Thompson shoots assistant whilst chasing bear off his property. Here’s a link to the Guardian’s Passnote on the matter. ‘”First, never hesitate to use force, and second, abuse your credit card for all its worth.” (Thompson’s rules for a good life.)’
[war] The Man Who Dropped The Bomb — Newsweek interviews Paul Tibbets who dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima fifty-five years ago … ‘Oftentimes, in Tibbets presence, I would see men and women in their seventies and eighties come up to him (once they figured out who he was) with tears in their eyes, to thank him for letting them live full lives. The men had been young American soldiers on their way to a land invasion of Japan. Because of what Tibbets did, they came home instead, and raised their families. They cry now, when they meet him.’
[comics] upcomingmovies and comics2film cover Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell’s From Hell. ‘Inspired by “Jack the Ripper: The Final Solution” by the late Stephen Knight, “From Hell” suggests that Prince Albert “Eddy” Victor had fathered an illegitimate child, and when four Whitechapel prostitutes attempted to exploit this information, they were executed (the fifth victim was allegedly a case of mistaken identity). Complicit parties include Scotland Yard, the Freemasons and Victoria herself, while such London notables as Oscar Wilde and John “Elephant Man” Merrick make cameo appearances.’
1 August 2000
[maggots! eating my flesh!!] newsUnlimited covers larval therapy. ‘A paper released last week from specialists at West Cumberland hospital in Cumbria could make them think again. Twelve patients with serious, “sloughy” leg ulcers took part in the study; six of them were treated with conventional hydrogel therapy, six with larval therapy (a more reassuring term for maggots). After one application of maggots, left in the wound for three days, all six of these patients were left with clean wounds. Of the others, only two had clean wounds after a month of treatment, with the other four needing further medical attention.’
[weblogs] Cool Beans…. The Haddock Directory is back.
[pitts] William Reith talks about the Pitt’s wedding photo. ‘This – the luxury, the security, the plunder and price of fame – is what the picture is trying to negate. It’s trying to negate the barrage balloons, the guards outside the wedding compound talking into their radios, the prison vans. It might as well be a photograph of a politician and his wife. It is spin. Here is a couple who want to pretend they are just like you and me. They know the price of milk. Knowing that we would not like them if we saw them represented by more conventional images, they have given us a more likable version of themselves. And they think they’ve taken us in!’
31 July 2000
[comics] For sale on eBay…. Neil Gaiman’s Leather Jacket! ‘From 1989 on, it was my leather jacket, worn day in and day out, all over the planet, for the next six years, all through the writing of Sandman. In 1996 I retired it, replaced it with a newer stranger Talanah Gamah and Ieish creation. It’s spent the last four years in a wardrobe, being worn only occasionally. (Recently I had it professionally redyed, so it’s a uniform black.)’ [via Windowseat Weblog]
[photo] There are some amazing pictures on photo.net. ‘There’s something ethereal about this delightful picture’ [via random($foo)]
[comics] Alan Moore interview in The Independent. ‘I was glad to have been forewarned as to his appearance. Draped in black, well over six feet tall, with feral eyes, unfashionably and unfeasibly long hair and beard, and fingers aswarm with silver scorpion rings, Moore looks like the kind of man who might have been thrown out of Black Sabbath for being too weird.’ [via C-Log]
30 July 2000
[media nuggets] Media Nugget of the Day looks at Apple’s Airport and The Simpson’s Archive. ‘Does the world really need a complete list of Bart’s chalkboard openings? Maybe not. But it’s a comfort just to know it’s there.’
[tech] Danny O’Brien profiles Google — possibly the best web search engine around at the moment. “Google’s secret is in being a plain, almost arid-looking search engine driven by a set of abstruse mathematical principles. Its extra selling point is that it actually works. Indeed, its many fans insist that a Google search is better targeted than any other, its unique text-matching technologies yielding a more selective and relevant set of results than the overwhelming deluge many rivals dump on you. And all in two seconds maximum.”
[farmers] The Guardian looks at why the British are so hostile towards farmers. ‘In the same Mail On Sunday that sympathised with Martin, Geoffrey Wheatcroft wrote a vigorous attack on all farmers for their “greedy whingeing”. “They are always whining,” he wrote, “and they are always holding their hands out. They expect – and they get – money to grow crops, and money not to grow crops. All in all, the way in which farming is subsidised has become the greatest single affront to British democracy. What makes it worse is the astonishing ingratitude of our farmers”.’
29 July 2000
[ads] Blast from the past — umbongo.com.
[comics] SAVANT Magazine. Warren Ellis recommends it… so it must be good. ‘Never went to San Diego. Have the same feelings about heroin, quite frankly, which I’ve haven’t done either. There’s a little tiny nag to do it once, just once, and never again but deep down inside I’m terrified that one time wouldn’t be enough. Of course, the chances of meeting compulsively masturbating momma’s boys who want to yak my fucking ear off about Aquaman as I try to urinate in peace while in the midst of a grand-mal heroin binge are considerably slimmer.’
28 July 2000
[tech] It’s SysAdmin Appreciation Day! ‘Sysadmins don’t want to be apreciated, we want to be left alone! Now please excuse me while I take these disks to the bulk era….er..bulk virus scanner…’
[men] Blokes, I feel your pain… newsUnlimited covers masculinity in crisis. :) ‘And in the carpark of that pub, alone in a T-registration Ford Capri but for the bitter-sweet, heartrending sound of Phil Collins singing Another Lonely Day in Paradise, I sat down and wept. The song ended and the late news came on. Football supporters run riot in Belgium. Another clash in the House of Commons. Two men arrested on suspicion of multiple murder. Lorry driver causes fatal crash on Ml. Lone man chews gum in high-rise. Men, men, men. Men in trouble. Men at sea. Masculinity in tatters.’
[orgy] Hacker’s orgy — fails because nobody shows up… ‘Only two people showed up, and now the would-be Dionysus is trying to recoup some of his costs by selling the shirts for $15 each. In retrospect, he realizes the orgy was probably a bad idea from its conception. “The idea came out of a conversation on IRC [Internet Relay Chat],” he says. “We were bitching about how hackers never get laid.” Even at an orgy.’ [via Guardian Weblog]
27 July 2000
[bins] Benji The Binman — British newspapers hire an obsessive-compulsive to hunt through the rubbish bins of the rich and powerful. ‘As well as filling the family home with papers, his daily routine involves repeated checks of doors, locks, lights and other possessions. The illness is thought to have started in his early teens after an older brother died in a car crash. Around the age of 14 he became known as the “bag boy”, carrying around half a dozen bags stuffed with papers and books.’
[comics] C-Log — a weblog about comics…
[lists] Five Reasons for LinkMachineGo: 1) Because Sonny Barger is standing next to me. 2) Because little things please me. 3) Because I’m it for the money. 4) Because you can’t envict me from the house. 5) Because I’m a semi-hard cheese with a plastic taste! [thanks to notsosoft]
26 July 2000
[news] BBC News reports that Chinese claim invention of Flush Toilet. ‘The invention of the flush toilet is widely attributed to London plumber Thomas Crapper, who patented a U-bend siphoning system for flushing the pan in the late 19th century, and who also installed toilets for Queen Victoria.’
[comics] Jesus: The Dark Messiah Returns. Fantastic… ‘The water on my head feels like a baptism. Because it is. I’m born again. Again.’
[news of the screws] Metafilter on the Jennicam scandal. ‘Because the World Wide Web is all about two things: horrifyingly stupid psychodrama, and naked chicks.’
25 July 2000
[star wars] Star Dudes: The Bad Dudes Strike Back