Back in 2006, I reported that Virgin had opened a joint venture with Gotham Entertainment to take advantage of a growing comic book and graphic novel market.

According to AWN, Virgin Comics produced 17 comic series in two years, as well as 18 trade paperback collections and three hardcover titles. The owner to the rights to these properties is unclear.

Started by Richard Branson, Deepak Chopra and his son Gotham Chopra, the company’s original goal was to create comics inspired by Indian and Hindu mythology for license out to film and merchandise companies to build global franchises.  Great idea!

As part of their work, Deepak Chopra wrote a biography of Buddha in comic form.  Bad idea!

AWN also reports:

Virgin also created a Director’s Cut line, featuring comics from Hollywood players like actor Edward Norton (DOCK WALLOPER), director Guy Ritchie (GAMEKEEPER) and director John Woo (SEVEN BROTHERS). Virgin hoped to turn these projects into major films.

Virgin’s Voices comic line featured works from actor Nicolas Cage (VOODOO CHILD), adult film star Jenna Jameson (SHADOW HUNTER) and musician Dave Stewart (ZOMBIE BROADWAY).

Ed Norton!??  Deepak Chopra??  Jenna Jameson??   Hmm..  I think they should have looked for more folks like John Woo and Guy Ritchie - at least they make a bit of sense.

Just because a person has had every major orafice of their body violated on camera does not mean that they will make a good comic book.  Maybe it was just the irony of Jenna Jameson making Virgin Comics?

Do other industries do stupid sh*t like this?  Never mind.  Don’t answer that.  I don’t think I could stomach the truth.

Virgin Comics, Comic Books

California legislators have passed AB 2270, a bill that basically allows the government to confiscate your water softener if a non-elected board decides that local salinity is too high or harmful to the environment.

You can read the amended text here.

The juicy part is here:

SEC. 4. Section 13148 is added to the
Water Code , to read:
13148. Notwithstanding Article 1 (commencing with Section 116775)
of Chapter 5 of Part 12 of Division 104 of the Health and Safety
Code, if the state board or a regional board makes a finding at a
public hearing that the control of residential salinity input will
contribute to achievement of water quality objectives, any local
agency that maintains a community sewer system in an area affected by
the finding may by ordinance take action to control residential
salinity inputs, including those from water softeners, to protect the
quality of the waters of the state.

So basically, after we have spent $2500 to make our water more normal for everyday use (we have 26 grains of hardness!), they can come in and simply remove my unit, without any compensation at all for my cost.  We bought the unit for medical reasons (my daughter has very dry skin), and yet there is no allowance even for that.

I swear our politicians are dead set on making the United States a modern Gulag.

While we did buy the unit to help my daughter’s dry skin, its a simple fact that hard water also costs a homeowner money by greatly damaging pipes and plumbing, increasing the cost to operate appliances and by making clothes wear out faster.

Hard water is also BAD for the environment, as it forces the use of more soap and detergent for all household and commercial cleaning applications.  That means that MORE, not less chemicals are introduced back into the environment when the entire goal of the proposed bill is to reduce environmental impact and to increase water serviceability through recycling.  Sacramento is sometimes nothing more than an expensive idiot farm.

Here’s an idea - why don’t we have a referendum to vote that next year, politicians can only REMOVE laws from the books - they can’t write new ones for a whole year.  Something tells me the benefit to society would be tremendous.

Please join me in telling the Governator to VETO this assinie bill.  Its easy to do - just go to: http://savemysoftener.com/ and follow the directions.

Water Softener Ban, AB 2270, Save My Softener

Ajaxload is a neat little service where you can easily make your own animated Ajax load graphic with custom color designs.  Its free and quite easy to use.

My geekness approves.

Here’s an example:

Ajax, Ajax Loader, Spinning Dohickies

Amazing what a 4th generation, 15 megapixel CMOS can do…  I love to shoot ambient light, so the low-noise of these really makes me drool!

These photos found on Canon Rumors.

Canon 50D, EOS 50D

Behold, the Canon EOS 50D:

Canon EOS 50D

Canon is a leaky product company, and the 50D is no exception.  Apparently someone inadvertently put up a Chinese web page a few days early, only to have it taken down shortly after.  Then, a scant three days after the first blunder, test shots and product pictures started showing up on other web pages that disappeared fairly quickly.  What could Canon do but finally clean up the mess and make an official announcement?

Mistake or Marketing?  Who cares, as long as the product is real! And, this time, it is…

Here are the specs:

• 15.1 megapixel APS-C sized CMOS sensor (not a full frame…)
• DIGIC 4 image processor, up to ISO 12800 support
• 3.0-inch LCD with face detection Live View
• HDMI output
• 6.3fps burst mode
• same AF system found in Canon’s 40D with new Microadjustment feature

Apparently it will be ready for the holidays (shipping in October) for an estimated $1,599 with Canon’s EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM zoom lens and in a body-only package of $1,399.

Now that this is cleared up, how about something similar happening for the long rumored Canon EOS 7D? Apparently, it is supposed to be a full frame $1900 body-only beauty.

Rumored EOS 7D

Just when I thought it was safe to upgrade… *SIGH*  Still, $500 more for a full frame sensor MAY be worth the extra price and the wait.  The final specs will tell.

Too bad these other items seem to be going on the fritz at the same time:

• Our video camera
• Our main family room 65″ Mitsubishi Widescreen Television
• Our Logitech Harmony 880 Universal Remote that makes all of the techno magic happen with a single press of the button.

Oh, yeah, and I’m supposed to be building a new home office in one bay of my 3 car garage, buying new furniture for our master bedroom so that we can give our older stuff to my baby boy who is due late in October (just like the EOS 50D), AND resurface our pool after this summer season, because the plaster is falling apart right before our very eyes.

Just like me, when I think of all these things we have to pay for.

Oh well… To quote a good friend of mine: “It’s just money.  I can make more.”

**caps off the bravado with a sheepish grin**

Canon EOS, EOS 50D, EOS 7D

The only thing that I would add to the instructions is that you want to make sure to Deauthorize your old computer before you trash it, reformat or anything like that.  If you don’t, the songs that you have purchased from iTunes will always have a fantom “use” out there.  You can usually have Apple wipe them all out, but sometimes they can get finiky, so better to do the housekeeping now rather than having to fight with Apple later.

Happy moving!

iTunes, Moving Your Music Library

Check out: 10 Secrets To Getting Better Tech Support From Asus

The sad part is that I don’t think this is so unusual when it comes to the PC market.  I typically do not even assume that I’ll ever be able to talk to a PC part manufacturer.  I count on them to make updates to thier BIOS, etc. but I never beleive I’ll get a response.

Perfect example of this - I bought a CoolerMaster Cosmos case for my last rig build, and it had a few challenges.  I contacted CoolerMaster several times, and have NEVER received a reply.

That’s just fracking sad.

And, trust me, Apple is no better, as many in the post comments mention.  I’m sure you’ve heard the stories of people trying to get iPod or iPhone repalcements.  Not fun!

Asus, Customer Service

I have used the Web Developer plugin for FireFox for quite some time.  It is a lifesaver when you are developing web pages, as you can easily see all of the styles and markup that is being applied to a specific area of your page.  The problem is that it only works in FireFox, leaving IE out in the cold.  Since IE is the real pain in the rear when it comes to Web Dev, the lack of a similar tool has been a major PITA.

Well, a two hour witch hunt for an IE only CSS bug lead me to scour the net for something to make the pain go away!  The fix?

IE HTML Element Spy, an IE7 Add-On.  I LOVE THIS TOOL!!!

It works a little differently than Web Developer, but it really gets the job done.  I litterally spent the last 2 hours trying to debug a DIV that wouldn’t line up with the top of a page.  It was completely impossible to find out why - the thing worked fine in FireFox, but not IE.  Installing IE HTML Element Spy lead me right to the problem - a burried IE only CSS rule that put a 30px padding at the top of the sidebar.

Voila!  Problem solved.

So, 2 hours and not a single clue using my own powers of debugging versus 2 minutes and a fix with IE HTML Element Spy.  Which would you prefer?!  Yeah, me too!

Download that puppy now!

Frackin’ IE.

IE HTML Element Spy, IE CSS Bugs, CSS

While many people like to make Wordpress themes from scratch, one of the best ways to get the most bang for your buck is to use someone elses hard labor to your own benefit.  There are a ton of talented theme developers out there, and if you are going to use a classic three column design, why would you want to start from scratch.  Lots of great themes exist in the open source realm that make excellent starting blocks for your own work.

There is a bit of a problem though - the theme that you are basing your work off of is likely still changing and getting better.  How can you base your own theme on another, and still be able to seamlessly upgrade the base theme without having to do much work on your own?  Use a Child Theme, thats how!

Simply by adding the following line:

Template: **name of base theme here**

to the header of your style.css file, you can use all of the files of the base theme, and simply have whatever you put in the child theme override the styles, etc. of the base theme.

For more information, check out this article on ThemeShaper.

Wordpress, Wordpress Theme, Themes

It is set in an extremely immersive world and honestly, simply running around a very beautiful rendition of the medieval Holyland is extremely fun. The fact that you can climb on nearly anything, hide from people and confront nearly any character in the game simply adds to the enjoyment. There are many ways to complete the tasks set before you, and its the openness of the game that really draws you in.

The game itself follows a fairly straightforward plot with additional weapons and abilities being bestowed upon you as you complete tasks for your master. There are no choices at each level up, but completing side tasks can help you gain stamina to last longer in a fight.

The basic plot is that you wake up to find yourself in a laboratory with some people who want to put you in a machine that allows you to live out the memories of your ancestors - one of which happens to be an assassin.

In the memories, each of several cities (Acre, Jerusalem, Damascus) are broken up into 3 sections, each with a plot to uncover and ultimately a target to assassinate. There is also Masyaf, the assassin stronghold to explore and the space in between the cities that is called “The Kingdom”.  A lot can happen there too…

You play the silent hand of power in the larger struggle of the Crusades of 1191- the English king, Richard the Lionhearted wars against Saladin the Saracen for control of the Holyland. You assassinate members of both factions, doing the bidding of the Assassin’s master. In each section, you can either quickly do some basic research and get on with killing your target, or you can take the approach of doing everything there is to do in that section. The more you do, the more you “synchronize” with your ancestor’s memory of what happened, and the more hitpoints you essentially receive. If you do decide to do everything, you’ll probably feel like it is a bit repetitive, as the tasks aren’t really varied at all from city to city - just the same 7 or 8 basic jobs to do.  Still though, I found it enjoyable.

There is also plot to be uncovered outside of the memories, though a lot of it feels very stifled compared to the openness of the memory portions. I suppose that could be intentional, as you are supposed to be held against your will.

Having been to the Holyland a few times, I was endlessly fascinated by the digital recreations of cities that I have seen only in the context of a modern city sitting squarely atop their archeological pasts. Regardless of how inaccurate the representation may be, to run around through that past in somewhat of a first person perspective was extremely rewarding in and of itself.

With such a good setting, the other excellent aspects of the game were greatly enhanced, and the few flaws of the game were effectively minimized.

Some may be offended by some of the games theological musings, but I took that all with a large grain of salt - just as I did the ability of the character to suddenly “disappear” from 20 armed guardsmen by jumping into a pile of hay for 2 minutes.  Seems like they would look a little harder for someone who just killed the ruler of the city.

Overall, it was an excellent balance of “realistic” confrontation and action with a fairly palatable dose of required “suspension of disbelief” to keep things going.

The voice acting of the main character is fairly horrible early on - it either gets better, or I got used to it. Donno which.

I highly recommend this game for anyone that wants to run around and have their way with medieval history in the context of an excellent thinking man’s action game.

Assassins Creed, PC Games, Ubisoft

AT&T has an exclusive on the phone in the States - whether the exlusive is a permanent thing or only until a certain date isn’t exactly clear.  Doesn’t really affect me either way, as I’m tied to AT&T for the forseeable future.

My reasons for wanting the Bold:

• GPS.  This was the one feature that I had been waiting for them to integrate into the Curve.  My patience ran out and I bought a Curve sans the GPS.  Literally, the day that my Curve arrived at my doorstep, RIM announced the Curve with the GPS.  I haven’t been quite sane since.
• 3G network.   Nice!  Internet speeds that make using a mobile device, well… useable.
• Wi-Fi.   Cool service.  Neat for a quick IMDB while being a couch potato.  I’d say it wasn’t necessary given the 3G network, but see my next comment for why it IS necessary.
• Cell service over Wi-Fi for when I’m in my office.  For those of you who haven’t heard me complain about this in the past, my office is otherwise known as the Bermuda Triangle of cellphone service.  One minute its there, the next minute its gone.  Five Bars!  No Bars!  Two Bars!  No Bars!  Not good for conducting buisness.
• Much faster processor means no waiting for Apps or email to open.
• New BB OS, with such “advanced” features as HTML email.
• The camera is supposed to be a bit better too.

Overall, its a very nice improvement from my current 1st generation Curve.  The Curve made a BlackBerry man out of me - I’d been loyal to my Treo for FAR too long.  I’m hoping the Bold continues the trend, if they ever release the darn thing.

Blackberry Bold, RIM

I haven’t tried it yet but its just too James Bond-ish to not mention.  This adds one more check box on my journey to being a super-spy:

1. Sharpshooter.  Check!
2. Lots of gadgets.  Check! Could use more though…
3. Seeing/married to hot chick.  Check!
4. Crazy cool encryption technology.  Check!
5. Svelte and athletic.  Damn.  Not so much.
6. Wins at poker.  Frack.
7. Insanely fast and expensive car (helps with #’s 2 and 3 above).   Aw forget it!  Who wants to be a super spy anyway!  *sniff*

TrueCrypt, Hidden OS, James Bond

HAHA!  Ok, so this is a bit simplified but it IS one way to live.

Thought for the day

Handle every stressful situation like a dog.
If you can’t eat it or hump it,
Piss on it and walk away.

philosophy of dogs, philosophy