I'm not sick but i'm not well...

Well, actually I'm still somewhat sick.  What I thought was an allergy-based migraine on Sunday turned out to be a nasty cold thaty kept me flat on my back for the last two days- not even any posting on LJ, for an indication of how bad it was.

But I'm back, now, sort of.  I'm on a bronchitus watch right now, since at this stage once the cold migrates downt ot my chest I have a 50% chance of developing bronchitus.  It's a sign of how old I am, that I can assign probabilities of where my illnesses will go.

So for those wondering, I'll take it easy for now.  Maybe a few links to interesting articles, some pics, and...oh yeah.  Lots of hot liquids, and going home if I get overtired.  And if I end up not going to thinktank or the parties this weekend, I hope people will understand.

It figures that Nature would get there first...

A while ago, I came up with the idea of Garbage Turtles; bioengineered critters designed to eat discarded metal and glass, and secret them into neat patterns on their shells, which then would be shed for easy recycling. I did it for a different project, but I was going to adapt it for Under the Green Moon, since one of the concepts of the setting is that easy sources of ores have been used up millennia ago.

It figures nature would get there first: Scaly-foot Snail secrets iron sufides into its skeleton. It just goes to show there's very few concepts that aren't mimicking in some way something that evolution came up with.

And here's the scaly-foot snail, also know as the gold-footed snail. Isn't it cute?

In which I poke "international team" comics with a stick

So over on Comics Should be Good, the question has arisen over the decline of the internationally-themed group.  Using the Blackhawks as an example, the author notes it's a pretty simple concept; you have each character from a separate country.  In the case of the Blackhawls, it was all of the countries occupied by the Axis.  The author suggests that the stereotyping involved in those groups lead to their disappearence, except for a few international groups like The Authority.

As for me?

The inner cynic in my quietly points out that back in the day, it was probably easier to do an international team that was acceptable to american fan tastes: several white guys (and possibly one girl) from America or Europe, and one grotesque ethnic stereotype from a non-European country. Today one has to deal with the ever-increasing knowledge that a truly international team should really be mostly non-white; Even for hardcore comic fans it’s harder and harder to disguise the fact that America and Europe doesn’t comprise 90% of the world’s population. Of course the simple alternative would be to actually make a superteam that was largely non-white. Yeah, like THAT’S going to happen.

I mean, look at how far we’ve come: Original Blackhawk had several guys from America and Europe, and one Chinese guy. Contrast this to the international superteam Authority that was referenced above, which has…several white guys and gals from America and Europe…and one Chinese woman.

You’ve come a long way, baby.

On the mend- The Joys of Suspicious Pharmacuticals

I do seem to be better, and put my chances of avoiding bronchitis at 3-1 odds, something I attribute mostly to my ingestion of the right drugs.  My lovely mate, with her healthy lifestyle  looks with suspicion at my trust in science, and so raised a fuss at my ingestion of year-old cough syrup-with-codeine.  I don't understand that attitude toward modern medicine

"What?" said I in response to her look.  "I've got a bad cough.  It's perfectly safe, and it'll help me get better.

Well actually it was more along the lines of "Wha?  Bad caw...s perf...per...ly  ss.  heeeeep m' fee ber.  Dizz."

But it DID keep me on the couch, and may have even helped me with the cough.  

An important Halloween Debate.

HAS Halloween become too commercialized?  You decide!

Maybe, maybe not. I'm just going to go dig out my amulet to be sure.