The Cartoonist

Saturday, January 4, 2003

Armin has posted some historic pictures of Swindon. Nice stuff. A few pictures from Historic Swindon - Wiltshire 10:59:21 PM     |

This is mean. First I spend the whole morning looking for Hal Foster links without finding any decent ones. Then, there's an old Prince Valiant movie on German telly. And now Robert has posted shedloads of Prince Valiant/Hal Foster links on his koewi.log. There is no justice in this world. :-) 7:25:18 PM     |

Will Eisner, creator of The Spirit and a lot of other beautiful comics now maintains his own website. Another comprehensive Spirit website is The Spirit Database. 2:26:44 PM     |

One for the Trekkies. Starship Exeter - The Savage Empire is a fan production based on The Original Series, and it is indeed watchable. It's available as a Quicktime movie; also on the website are pictures of the props used and the sets - the Captain's Chair is great. "The U.S.S. Exeter, freshly recrewed and commanded by Capt. John Garrovick, is on a mission to save a ship infected with the deadly Canopus Plague. The Exeter must travel to the homeworld of Andorian Lt. B'fuselek to find the cure. But Andorian rebels have other plans . . . and so do the Klingons! " 1:25:01 PM     |

Friday, January 3, 2003

(sachmahassenixzutunralf?) It's Friday, isn't it?! Grrr... Robert of :::koewi.log::: fame found another Tarzan-related link: Sheena, Queen of the jungle! Hey Tarzan, eat this... 9:28:07 PM     |

Sweet, sweet Jane. Proper music? A version performed live by Mott the Hoople (MP3). Well, Ian Hunter used to play with Lou Reed, so... -Those were the times when Lou used to wear silly hats and mascara. The Cowboy Junkies version is much better, although it's not available on the web. Courtesy of Schockwellenreiter for the main link to Spitfire Records One of the best guitar riffs ever. [The Cartoonist] 5:32:04 PM     |

No comment. This is fantastic. The Complete Works of Marlowe: "The Complete Works of Christopher Marlowe: An Electronic Edition" "link" 4:01:31 PM     |

Mark Twain about long German words (like Heimatsicherheitshauptamt?) and other peculiarities of the German language. "The Awful German Language" by Mark Twain: "4. "Verdammt," and its variations and enlargements, are words which have plenty of meaning, but the sounds are so mild and ineffectual that German ladies can use them without sin. German ladies who could not be induced to commit a sin by any persuasion or compulsion, promptly rip out one of these harmless little words when they tear their dresses or don't like the soup. It sounds about as wicked as our "My gracious." German ladies are constantly saying, "Ach! Gott!" "Mein Gott!" "Gott in Himmel!" "Herr Gott" "Der Herr Jesus!" etc. They think our ladies have the same custom, perhaps; for I once heard a gentle and lovely old German lady say to a sweet young American girl: "The two languages are so alike -- how pleasant that is; we say `Ach! Gott!' you say `Goddamn.'"" Via Industrial Technology and Witchcraft. Fab link that is. 3:41:55 PM     |

Virtual Africa. Quicktime Panoramas of KwaZulu-Natal. Fascinating. My thank you goes to Armin, who posted the main link: Worldwide VR Panoramas 3:07:50 PM     |

Amazing, how the brain works sometimes. I'm still in a Africa mood somehow. Here's a website with historical postcards from Mali and West Africa, all supplied as High Resolution images. Amazing. 1:39:25 PM     |

Tarzan again. Here is a biography of Burne Hogarth, the best Tarzan artist ever. More about The Lord of the Jungle is at Tarzan of the Internet. 12:57:05 PM     |

[Burroughs #2] The wild one. Wonderful website about Edgar Rice Burroughs and his creation, Tarzan; biography, history and many pictures. A big linkpage can be found at this location and Edgar Rice Burroughs's works are online here. 11:03:17 AM     |

[Burroughs #1] The author with a gun. The Unofficial William S. Burroughs Homepage lists documents and websites, while The William S. Burroughs Files again lists documents and websites. Bit boring, but at least there isn't too much of a crossover between those two. "Language is a virus from outer space." 10:51:25 AM     |

Time, gentlemen! Landlord calls time ... with JCB. Landlord allegedly demolished his own pub after bar staff refused him an after-hours drink. [Guardian Unlimited] 9:47:59 AM     |

Thursday, January 2, 2003

Here's Google in Klingon. Unbelievable. They must have too much time on their hands. Google 9:30:15 PM     |

Oh great - comments are down again! Well done. Grrr... 2:46:21 PM     |

Hey Mr Rain. Rain plunges South-East into chaos [This is London: London News] 10:12:47 AM     |

Crime Time. Martha Grimes maintains her own website (well - sort of) with information about the Superintendent Richard Jury series. Of course, there's a 'Pub' link - the titles of her novels are all names of pubs. Peter Robinson's website with his Inspector Banks series can be found here. "Like P.D. James, Robinson works on a large, intricately detailed canvas....This satisfying and subtle police procedural has a little bit of everything." Publishers Weekly Henning Mankell is nowhere to be found - Books'n'Bytes is asking: "Please let us know if you find an official Homepage for Henning Mankell !" 10:00:33 AM     |

Wednesday, January 1, 2003

Update: Heimatsicherheitshauptamt. Google now returns 120 hits. 7:33:19 PM     |

England under water. Well, I just have to look out of the window... UK floods 'could get worse'. Heavy rain sweeps across the UK bringing widespread flooding and even causes a landslide which derails a train. [BBC News | Front Page | UK Edition] 4:39:38 PM     |

This is bizarre. Hospital fights Peter Pan copyright battle [This is London: London News] 4:37:03 PM     |

Early office stuff at the Office Museum. Amazing website with tons of pictures: Office photos from 1830-1940, early typewriters, dictating machines, staplers - and a whole page is dedicated to paper clips. "The Early Office Museum(TM) engages in research on the evolution of offices and business technology based on original documents and artifacts. We recommend that you begin your visit with a review of the Museum's Site Index by clicking here. To visit Exhibits and the Museum Store, please click on the links at the top of this page." 4:27:43 PM     |

Jäki Eldorado licks Iggy Pop's leg. The development of Punk in Germany at Verschwende deine Jugend - Waste your youth. Lots of pictures, timelines and, best of all: a few scans of old articles from Sounds magazine. Available only in German though. 11:59:44 AM     |

Tuesday, December 31, 2002

More about Freddie Frinton (and the amazing fact is that I couldn't find any english websites) here, here, and there. The Dinner recipes are here; or there. Or wherever. And whatnot. Happy New Year. I'm off now. 3:32:34 PM     |

Dinner for one. Good old Freddie... Dinner for One: "Below we have the dialogue for Dinner for One, one of my favorite little pieces - a short television comedy shown every New Year's Eve in Germany. James : Good evening, Miss Sophie, good evening. Miss Sophie : Good evening, James. James : You are looking very well this evening, Miss Sophie. Miss Sophie : Well, I am feeling very much better, thank you, James. James : Good, good... " ... 3:16:28 PM     |

I'm actually starting to like this guy. femail.co.uk "Prince Charles has abandoned an official visit to the United States because the White House has signalled he is not welcome. The snub by President Bush - which is causing a behind-the-scenes diplomatic furore both in London and Washington - has been prompted by the Prince's deeply held reservations about Bush's determination to wage war with Iraq." Via Armin. 2:47:37 PM     |

Routed through Kellerkind: Two new(?) and interesting German weblogs: Ferner liefen (Astrid is an author of crime novels) Philos Arbeitsbuch (Philo is not an author of crime novels) Keep on bloggin', guys... 2:12:17 PM     |

Fantastic Belgian website about abandoned buildings. Industrial and rather creepy. Courtesy of the fabulous Fact or Fiction Network 1:50:44 PM     |

A third series? They surely can't top the first two. BBC2 boss vows to bring back The Office. Media: BBC2 controller Jane Root has declared her new year resolution is to bring back hit comedy series The Office for a third series. [Guardian Unlimited] 11:39:03 AM     |

And a Happy New Year to the Spambots too! mjuxsnefdn@lurnfkalaahcejpkmm.edu, zhcznypm@ifwbukh.net, ldbuxcfmwu@nyrasvisfkweedzmm.de, qjs@jvvwngstmntsbqeel.jp, hlnruqr@giqklddzhyq.es, rhrl@ihhcljwwz.at, wnlybrprwc@embqmqshcqetiyv.eu, gadg@hwmywcsunjrorx.st, tiyuvijlh@emgropiuhaul.de, rxqgjqiim@bjotsklmpsih.at, akzwirnq@ggddsdupgtkn.net, woknhjh@zmga.tv, aedh@xyglbsqud.com, knkeo@buqkehlzznizzp.st, spyffp@bkwmpdovylpwnhlig.es, jehnatw@ibdalrqknrrvukhig.edu, nzeucpsc@ddlgrtjsywrlfjht.de, ektagkqhaz@knnfkamkum.mil, qrabzwd@zzohmpohrnhxu.de, eqzkqw@bpphbj.at 10:14:19 AM     |

Create your own. Understanding Weblogs : In this article, I'll show you how to build a simple weblog using Radio UserLand, then I'll spend some time explaining the fundamentals behind weblogging. (O'Reilly Network via MyAppleMenu) 9:54:01 AM     |

A Happy New Year from the RatSwine - and from yours always amazed, The Cartoonist! Have fun, all of you. There might not be enough time left for having fun... 1:50:59 AM     |

Monday, December 30, 2002

Yeah, but they probably have more visitors than I have. So what's the problem? (Could it be the navigation of those sites? The content?) Mhmmm... Official websites leave public cold. Politics: The government's £1bn plan to put all public services on the internet is in danger of creating 'online millennium domes with just as few visitors', a new report has warned. [Guardian Unlimited] 7:21:29 PM     |

You see?! Walking the dog can be dangerous! Get a cat instead a dog. Should I stay or should I go? BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Music | Funeral for punk hero Strummer: "The funeral of Clash star Joe Strummer, who died of heart failure last week aged 50, has taken place in west London. The singer died on 23 December at his home after taking his dog for a walk." 7:16:00 PM     |

This is very old news indeed, and I have mentioned it before, but then - why not again: Google Mac Exclusive! Looking for an easier way to find Mac information on Google? Well, look no further. All you need to do is visit Mac Google and search away! For example, while searching for "Microsoft Office" on Google's main search site, the first return will be about the Windows version of Office. Searching for the same term on Mac Google will bring you directly to the Mac version of Office. This is a simplistic example, but one that illustrates the convenience of this service nicely. Google even has a Mac-oriented logo for the service. Via MacObserver. (Guys, you're late...) 7:09:59 PM     |

Didn't I mention this already? Online Literature Library - Classics at the Online Literature Library Probably the same stuff you're getting everywhere else. 5:14:02 PM     |

"bob"This always seems to happen at Banks. Japanese banking giant faces new sex bias claim [This is London: London News] 5:06:48 PM     |

Gold! Rum! Adventure! All about Treasure Island here: Treasure Island - Home "Fifteen men on the dead man's chest- Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!" 3:29:42 PM     |

Now they've gone completely mad over here. Terror cordon panic warning [This is London: London News] 3:18:57 PM     |

Garageland. No, sorry, that's supposed to read: Theatreland. The West End's restoration drama. Arts: London's antique theatres need gold not gilt to keep up appearances. [Guardian Unlimited] 9:17:47 AM     |

This is brilliant. Tarot cards with Peanuts characters. Fantastic. The artist "Valerian" pleads online, "Don't sue me," and offers this explanation of the offbeat project: "An absurd, heretical, really cool view of an ancient ritual of divination: This is a joke. Six-year-old suburban kids enacting adult emotions and situations, breaking them down and magnifying them into hilarious crumbs of childhood experience - tragedy, pain, and measured triumph. With children as protagonists and innocent humor as the disarming tool, the emotions are simplified and magnified (as are the physical features of each cartoon drawing) and the exchanges between the children become both an ironic parody of adult emotions, and an impossibly close and meditative study of them." Via BoingBoing. 9:09:08 AM     |

Jeffrey Zeldman is right. Awkward and non-existing things in OS X: View By Date Modified Considered Harmful : If there is a way to change the sort order from the useless default, we haven't discovered it yet. (Jeffrey Zeldman via MyAppleMenu) 8:54:52 AM     |

Sunday, December 29, 2002

So. Comments are back after 6 hours. Great. 8:49:30 PM     |

Alright. Fed up with this. I've disabled the comments now - the Radio Comments server is down again. This is getting ridiculous. Could perhaps anyone point me to a working comments server? 5:36:26 PM     |

Tip Top! This website lists all the title pages of Rolf Kauka's Super Tip Top. Ha - I still have at least 3 of those. 1:44:53 PM     |

Suske en Wiske. Ulla und Peter. Wastl. Jerome. Robert found a big German Website about the Belgian superstars. Great! "koewi" 1:34:11 PM     |

German website about the history of computing. The site is HUGE, over 400MB in size and covers almost everything. Another interesting link in this regard is The Dot Eaters, covering the history of videogames. My favourite was always 'Defender'. I never got past the third or fourth level though and I always ran out of smart bombs, even though I could later practice the game on my Dragon 32... 12:56:21 PM     |

Analog Word Processing. A really nice website about fountain pens: Makers, History, Construction, Filling, Inks, Troubleshooting...and some old ads in 'Special exhibits'! Unfortunately there's nothing about the Esterbrook 356, which was used by Carl Barks. 10:03:25 AM     |

Ok then. Let's give it a try: Heimatsicherheitshauptamt. The Odd Case of Heimatsicherheitshauptamt. As seen at the link: What is going on here? Google censorship? On my Journal page for Saturday, 16 November, I posted a response to a message from a reader. That response included a word I'd just made up, "Heimatsicherheitshauptamt", or "Homeland Security Main Office". Also on 16 November, Jerry Pournelle posted a message from me that included the word Heimatsicherheitshauptamt. The following Monday, I wondered if I'd actually made up that word, or if someone else had used it first. So I did a Google search for "Heimatsicherheitshauptamt". That search returned only two hits, one my Journal page for 11 November, and the other Jerry's Mail page. I didn't think much more about it until a couple of weeks ago, when I decided to run the search again to see if anyone had picked up on it. This time, Google returned zero hits. Nada. Nothing. Zip. Which it still does. So the obvious thing is to get as many people as possible to post the word Heimatsicherheitshauptamt on their webpages, and see what happens. [linkfilter.net] 9:36:53 AM     |

Oh, really? Short admits: Labour's style is lousy. Politics: One of Tony Blair's most forthright ministers says government's style is 'crummy and lousy'. [Guardian Unlimited] 9:34:15 AM     |