Who are these mysterious comic book characters?

Scott Snyder, a writer for Detective Comics, has stumbled across a bizarre mystery. In comics across both "universes," i.e., in both Marvel and DC comics, there are two young men that appear regularly. The first one has red hair, glasses, and chin hair, i.e., a goatee or beard of some sort. The other has dark hair, long sideburns, and sometimes a soul patch.

Very strange. Who are these two?

[Story Source: iFanBoy.com]
[Images Source: Scott Snyder's TwitPic Feed (pg 2 at the time of this posting)]

John West Salmon to be investigated for cruelty to animals

This commercial brazenly shows a John West Salmon employee injuring a wild bear and damaging its chances of reproduction without assistance. This sort of madness cannot continue unchecked. Next thing you know we'll be giving kittens cheeseburgers....

Ban Dihydrogen Monoxide!

I have just been alerted to the overwhelming presence of a very dangerous chemical on our planet. Dihydrogen Monoxide. According to available literature,

Dihydrogen monoxide (DHMO) is colorless, odorless, tasteless, and sickens over 4 billion and kills over 2 million people every year (United Nations World Health Organization, 2008: www.WHO.Int). Most of these deaths are caused by accidental inhalation of DHMO, but the dangers of dihydrogen monoxide do not end there. Prolonged exposure to its solid form causes severe tissue damage. Symptoms of DHMO ingestion can include excessive sweating and urination, and possibly a bloated feeling, nausea, vomiting and body electrolyte imbalance. For those who have become dependent, DHMO withdrawal means certain death.

Source: Coalition to Ban Dihydrogen Monoxide

We must take action quickly! If left unchecked, Dihydrogen Monoxide could reach the farthest corners of our planet and beyond. There's even rumor now that Dihydrogen Monoxide may be found on the surface of neighboring Mars and may have had something to do with the disappearance of any possible civilization there.

Please contact your Congressional Representative IMMEDIATELY and urge them to consider a ban on DHMO!

Catching Snipe

For so long now I believed that snipe were simply a creation of sadistic camp counselors everywhere. The snipe hunt no more than a means of keeping green scouts busy while the experienced campers enjoyed nature. But such is not the case. Did you know that the snipe is a very real bird? That's right true believer, the snipe is a simple wading bird that have long bills and eat invertebrates which they search for in the mud with a sewing machine like action.

Snipe are extremely elusive birds that have been historically hunted with the use of shotguns and dogs. Even for the most experienced hunter, bagging a snipe can be difficult, due to the snipe's erratic flight, unexpected flushes, excellent natural camoflauge and treacherous natural terrain. A skilled hunter able to actually shoot one of these suckers earned the nickname "sniper" which is where the term is derived. I'm not making this stuff up, folks, honest.

Now, rumor has it that it is a touch easier to catch a snipe with a simple burlap sack, a kazoo (which apparently closely mimics the snipe mating call), a bucket of dehydrated water and a can of night-vision. It doesn't hurt to have a portable hole, but those can be fairly difficult to come by.

Save the Nauga!

I have been giving this some thought and have come to a conclusion. Until further notice, this blog will be focused on the more fun aspects of life. Here we will hunt for snipe, seek out bigfoot, campaign to save the nauga, be visited by E.T., worry about zombies, etc. etc. If you want that other stuff, go check out my other blog.

I just need an outlet for crazy and this seems like a good place to do it. :)

From my LiveJournal

News from the other side:

There's an article running on FoxNews today (no mention of it on CNN though.... interesting) about an unusual image captured by one of the Mars Rovers.

NASA Photo Shows Humanoid Figure on Mars
Wednesday, January 23, 2008


Is it Bigfoot? A Tusken Raider from the first "Star Wars" movie? Or just a rock?

British newspapers went crazy Wednesday morning about an image from Mars that appears to show a humanoid figure descending a shallow hillside.

The "alien" is actually a blurry detail in a huge panoramic photograph snapped on the edge of Mars' Gusev crater by NASA's Spirit rover in early November, and posted on NASA's Web site on Jan. 2.

Naturally, it took the Photoshop skills of dedicated bloggers to find the "humanoid."

• Click here for the full NASA image. If that doesn't work, try this. The figure is near the bottom left corner.

"NASA scientists have been puzzled by the peculiarly life-like image," declared the Times of London, despite the apparent fact that no one from NASA has had any comment.

The skeptical Web site BadAstronomy.com, however, scoffed, "Puhlllleeeeze. A man? It's a tiny rock only a few inches high. It's only a few feet from the rover!"

Other British papers saw the humo(u)r in the story, with the Sun theorizing that it was Detective Gene Hunt, the drunken, sexist policeman from the BBC time-traveling crime series "Life on Mars."

"It's Usama bin Laden!" declared one Times of London commenter. "All this time we thought he was in Pakistan."

An artist's illustration of the Spirit rover on the surface of Mars.


The edge of Mars' Gusev Crater as photographed by the Spirit rover in early November 2007.


A medium-range shot of the Spirit image, with the mysterious figure indicated.


A detail from a NASA image of a Martian crater shows ... well, something.


Now I'd certainly agree that last photo looks strikingly similar to this one:



I'm curious about the comment from the skeptic at badastronomy.com. Let's assume for a moment that it is only a few feet from the Rover and only several inches tall. I guess we've always assumed that life on other planets must be both humanoid and similar in height and stature to ourselves (thank you Star Trek, Star Wars, et al). It is also easy enough to prove whether it is small and/or rocks. NASA simply needs to issue a command to the rover to return to the same spot and at the same time of day snap another photo. Rocks won't have moved and would be in the same place. Duh!

Or maybe this is just more likely:

Damnable things

Okay... I don't mind automated menu systems when it comes to calling businesses. I've even designed a few so I understand how in some cases they can be helpful to a business in directing calls. In fact, there are times where I would almost prefer an automated system, for example, if I'm calling the bank to check a balance or a utility to pay a bill. At those times it is convenient for me to call, punch in some numbers on my phone and handle my business briefly and without human interaction. What I HATE, however, are businesses that think they're clever or cute and use automated systems that want you to talk to them.

I can't stand those systems. Invariably, you're going to end up calling those systems at a time when either the ambient noise around you is going to be picked up by the stupid thing and it's going to try to interpret the dog farting as your response, or you're trying to make a quick payment from work or in some other public place where you don't necessarily want to broadcast your account number, pin, social security number, payment amount, etc. or that you were making the payment at all. If you want me to interact with an automated phone system, please do me the courtesy of not treating me like an idiot and trying to make me believe that these dumb things can actually think? I know better and to me they're just aggravating.

I spent a good deal of time yesterday talking to one of these stupid things and it never got me to the right person. I had to call back five different times before I received the service I was requesting.

What irks you?