How Internet Gatekeepers Stifle Progress

Here's a great article by Cory Doctorow on monopolies and copyright, DRM, and the like. Basically, a few "gatekeepers" make the rules, even on the Internet, and once again, the creatives get screwed.

Drug company deal with White House

Does anyone else get the feeling when reading of a deal like this -- where the drug companies are only going to make ten trillion dollars instead of eleven trillion dollars (by overcharging poor people) -- that the drug companies are laughing at us as they get richer and richer while pretending to be good guys? Is everything spin anymore?

New Logan's Run comic!

Bluewater Productions is making a new Logan's Run comic starting this fall. Logan's Run was a novel (first of a trilogy that included Logan's World and Logan's Search, plus a later short story) about a dystopian future where the law proscribed death at 21 (a 70's movie adaption changed that age to 30; a remake has been talked about for years, but doesn't seem to be able to get off the ground).

Word balloons in old ads

Here's a neat article featuring old-time ads that used word balloons to get their message across.

Handling charge for website

DailyINK is a website that offers access to daily comics, among other things such as interactive puzzles, from King Features Syndicate. The annual access cost of $15.00 includes a $3.00 handling charge. Does that strike anyone else as strange -- a handling charge for a website?

Great Simon and Kirby comic: "The Woman in the Tower"

Thanks to boingboing, who reprint a neat Joe Simon and Jack Kirby interpretation of a woman's dream, from the 1950's series Strange World of your Dreams.

Today's topic

Today's topic is
apophenia. Discuss.
I'll be here, waiting.

Frog haiku

Came across this list
of many translations of
frog haiku. Enjoy!