Conversation and Comics

So, a few days ago, as per the note last rant, that IRC channel I started on a whim became filled with the various unwashed masses of my readerdom. Fine, masses is a bit of a stretch as the percentage of people reading this willing to actually hop into an irc channel and talk to each other is quite low, and they may have washed, I'm not sure.

In any case, that little experiment worked out far better than I would have hoped. A conversation came about spanning a truly staggering array of topics, ranging from the future of humanity to what defines a good GM, and probably a few things that are a tad less nerdy. Fun stuff.

In other news, thanks to the wonders of Random Generosity™, I am now the proud owner of the first nine issues of The Tick. Plus I finally got around to reading I Feel Sick, the other spin-off to Johnny the Homicidal Manic, presented in wonderful Zim-type color. Turns out my cousin bought it a year ago and I could have read it any time, but I digress.

The reading of all these comics, naturally, put me in the mood to seriously crack down on Anecrophilia there. I was planning in fact to finally get issue 1 chapter 3 all finished up and posted for you actually, but then I remembered my plan is to post an ISSUE at a time, not a chapter. Plus there's a truckload of margin art left to draw. So in the meantime you'll have to settle for me following a trend with the picture found above... or go poke around the panel-at-a-time script there. Again though, I'd just as soon people forget the whole thing until there's enough for it to actually live up to the name and have some cute zombies dancing about.

Hmm... you know, I was kind of expecting the things I've done this space to make for a more interesting read. Or at least longer. So let's fill with some political talk.

Recently, something Tailsteak said for some reason inspired me to send him some ridiculously long e-mail about the mathematics of voting. At one point I got on a tangent to which I figure he'd reply with his motto that there's always a third option in any debate. So I pointed out that sometimes that isn't the case, citing as a random example "Should rape victims be allowed to have abortions?" He replied by posting this, which I think is a bit of a stretch for a third choice myself, but mainly I'm just pointing this out because I realized that I've never actually posted a link to his page, and it isn't the easiest thing to find from the 1/0 archives I have a link to. Especially since the odds are against the majority of you ever taking the trouble to really go over my links page. Speaking of which, that's about due for an update.

Here's another political point for you though. Cigarette companies are not allowed to advertise anywhere, must place warnings on their packaging, and even pay for anti-smoking ads. That and smoking itself is only allowed in a small and dwindling number of places. Beer companies on the other hand are allowed to advertise wherever they want, allowed even to specifically target the young, and to my knowledge, are not in any way forced to talk people out of drinking that I am aware of. Oh yes, and you're allowed to drink just about anywhere of course.

Now, here's what bothers me about this. Alcohol, which is clearly less frowned upon, is a good deal worse than cigarettes are. Here's a nice little side by side comparison:

So, what's my point here? Well, for starters, that bit about the advertising on cigarettes should go quite frankly. Forcing them to admit all the nasty things about their product is just fine, but it's flat out insane to ask people to pay to discourage people from buying their products. Alcohol on the other hand should be receiving the same sort of treatment (if not worse), as cigarettes. I'll spare you my thoughts on other drugs.

Oh yes, and since I've had to clarify this point every time I've made this argument, no, I don't smoke. Never have, never intend to, try to talk everyone I know who does into quitting. This is strictly a principle sort of thing.