Keenspot: A Web Site Review

In my report about Comic-Con, I mentioned going to a panel discussion that had some of the creators of web comics that are based at Keenspot. In this post I'm going to take a look at Keenspot itself.

Keenspot hosts over 50 comics and Flash cartoons. At present, I follow about 15 of the comics. I wrote "at present" because Keenspot has always had a policy of not interfering when a creator decides to take his/her comic independent. Which means I have continued to follow several comics after they have at one point or another left Keenspot.

There are other hosts of multiple web comics; so why do I follow Keenspot comics? To be blunt, one point is because Keenspot does not charge for full access to the comics. Unlike other sites which allow the most current edition of a comic to be viewed free of charge, but to view the archives of comics they host, one has to pay a subscription fee. I tend to be cheap and look for good free alternatives whenever possible, whether it's a matter of viewing web comics or selecting software.

Another point is that I feel Keenspot simply attracts quality comics. Of course, as I noted above, sometimes the creators of those quality comics choose to go elsewhere. Which brings me to another good point about Keenspot: it frequently recruits comics to join the firm. Thus being able to find new (for me) web comics at this one source can be great fun.

So, all in all, for anyone interested in comics, I heartily recommend Keenspot as a good site to find new ones to follow.

Train sense

From time to time San Diego news media has an item related to freight trains moving through the downtown area, so I've been aware that one day I might find myself waiting for one such train to move through whatever downtown spot I found myself at.

That happened yesterday evening. I was attempting to get to a trolley station, and found myself blocked by a freight train that was composed of one engine, followed by 10 lumber-carrying cars, which were followed by what appeared to be about 20 tanker cars, all of which were labeled "liquified petroleum gas" (not gasoline).

So, this train was slowly moving forward through the intersection I needed to cross to get to the trolley station.

Then it stopped and started backing up.

Then it stopped and started forward again.

Then once again it stopped and began to back up! At this point I realized the engineer and whoever he was in contact at the other end of the train must have been trying to back it into a siding or through some sort of other switch.

Myself and the fairly large crowd that had been gathering at the crossing gates were able to get through after the engineer eventually was able to back up enough to get the entire train out of the intersection, but after that he had to do some more back and forth before everything was lined up as needed.

That additional back and forth including one more time of completely backing out of the intersection than moving forward through the intersection again. During that moving forward, I watched an amazing number of people go around and under the crossing gates and cross the tracks as the engine was approaching; the engineer blew the engine's horn continually until that nonsense stopped. That display by multiple people of a total lack of common sense was truly astounding.

One of the funniest animal photos ever

You have to see this to believe it. Oh, man, that's just hysterical!

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time: A Review

Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is narrated by a character named Christopher Boone, who the reader discovers is an autistic British teenager.

His autism is displayed in several ways. For instance: human emotions make no impression on him whatsoever. He reacts violently when anyone touches him. He cannot abide the color yellow.

The tale begins late one night when Christopher finds the body of a neighbor's standard poodle; it had been killed by being stabbed with a garden pitchfork. Christopher does react well to animals, so discovering the killing of the poodle makes a deep impression on him; he decides he will identify the person who killed it.

Thus begins a journey for Christopher that also creates a journey for the reader through Christopher's thought processes, which are unlike anything most readers will have experienced. As he interacts with various people during his pursuit of the identity of the killer of the dog he goes through moments that at times are funny, at times shocking, at times very sad. Author Haddon obviously knows what he is writing about; a note at the beginning of the book says he has "worked with autisitic individuals."

This novel is throughout fascinating, compelling, and rewarding.

Couple follow-ups

Today we're having weather that is more normal (as opposed to yesterday's weather) for this time of year: Hot, and huge thunderhead clouds forming only over the area's mountains and mostly likely raining only over those mountains.

The ants I wrote about earlier are still coming, but (at least so far) only in very, very small numbers. I'm also seeing really small numbers of them in my kitchen, despite my caulking off of an access point in the kitchen last year. Obviously they found somewhere else they could get in.

Rain? Maybe? Please?

Image via Wikipedia

Clouds have been building up over the San Diego metro area all day; the weather service has been forecasting a slight possibility of thunderstorms getting away from the mountains (where they normally form and dump all their rain this time of year) and moving west to the area's cities (where I am.)

The clouds had been getting thick enough I've been hoping we might actually get a decent amount of rain out of them, as we haven't had any rain to speak of for a few months. But at least for now it's looking like what has and will fall will be so minimal all it'll do is make my car look even dirtier than it did this morning!

Return of pet peeves: Parking challenged people

I was reminded of this long-time pet peeve when I got home from work today.

First, some explanations. As I expect is the basic norm for apartment and condominium complexes, my condo complex allocates one space in the parking lots for each unit. Thus, when people find their ability to use their space is being interfered with in some way, they can get rather upset.

So. Arriving home this evening, I found one neighbor's car parked at an angle that left most of it in their space, but which put a major section of the car's left rear quarter within my space. The only way I could have parked in my space would have left my car encroaching into my other neighbor's space, which I was not about to do. I knocked on the door of the condo associated with the angle-parked car to ask them to move it, but nobody answered.

I parked on the street and stomped back to my condo, very irritated.

Ate dinner and went back out to check, and found the badly parked car was gone, so I walked back to where I had parked my car and got it into my space. Frankly, right now I'm just too tired to write out a complaint about all this to send to the homeowner's association, but I'll see how I am tomorrow morning.

The Comic-Con report

My one day at Comic-Con for this year had ups and downs, but overall I enjoyed it. I'm thinking for next year I am going to want to schedule vacation for the week it will be running in and go more than one day. Discussion of why later in this post.

I had preregistered via the Comic-Con web site. Thanks to doing so, I was pleased to find I could sail right past the extremely long line that was waiting to register by displaying my printed confirmation to Convention Center personnel and proceed directly to the check-in area for preregistered folks. Yay for preregistring!

I decided first thing to do was go to the exhibit halls and wander the aisles for a while. That did not last real long. The numbers of people in the those areas of the Center were just incredible. An example of the problems thus created: All vendors who were selling or displaying anything Star Wars related had been grouped together in one area that was labeled the "Star Wars Pavilion." While I was trying to walk around this area, I found myself in the middle of one spot where foot traffic was so dense I was unable to move in any direction for at least 30 seconds. After that I had had quite enough of the exhibit halls!

So, that is one of the factors in my thinking I'll want to do more than one day of Comic-Con next year; my understanding is that Saturday is always by far the most crowded of the four days the con runs every year. So, I am assuming the exhibit halls will be more reasonable to get through on the Thursday and Friday next year.

This year I wanted to experience a few of the seminars and panel discussions that are held in the many meeting rooms that are on second floor of the Convention Center, above the exhibit halls. So:

• I am a casual fan of the "Teen Titans" animated series. One of the larger meeting rooms had a session for the writers of the series and for the voice actors, in separate panels, one after the other. The room was packed with fans of the series, and sitting in on that session was very enjoyable.
• I visited a room that was showing short animations by independent filmmakers.
• I went to a panel discussion for web comic artists who are associated with the web site Keenspot. I follow a fairly large number of web comics, and several of them are part of Keenspot. So, I was curious to see and hear some of these artists, and to also hear the promised news about corporate developments at Keenspot. This session was lots of fun. For instance, for one question, the panel answered by singing opera; several members of the panel had excellent singing voices! For another question, the panel was required by the moderator to include an "interpretive dance" in their answers; the definitions of "interpretive dance" got pretty bizarre.

So, another reason I'll be wanting to attend more than one day next year will be to simply get to more of these panel discussion sessions.

Here is a quickly put together album of the usable photos I took at the con yesterday.

Brief Comic-Con report

Just back from Comic-Con. Much better experience this year (see earlier post about Comic-Con about last year.) I'll work on writing up more tomorrow.

Fire putting out from the sky

As I was getting close to home yesterday after work, I couldn't help but notice some sort of fire relatively nearby was putting out disconcertingly large amounts of black smoke.

Just before I actually got home, it was really nice to see the city's two fire fighting/rescue helicopters taking off from Montgomery Field, a general aviation airport that is very near my condo. I hadn't realized these copters were based there, so it was encouraging to know they were going to have a very short flight to get to the fire.

The fire turned out to be near a golf course that has a large pond and also borders the San Diego River, so the copters had those very convenient sources for filling their tanks before making water drops on the fire. As the story the link goes to explains, those water drops plus several ground crews put the fire out after it burned 10 acres.

The city owns one of these copters outright, but the other one will be gone after the lease on it expires August 1, unfortunately. At any rate, it was great to see what they can do, and to know the city did not have to call in the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, which is the only other source available in the county for water drops.

Comes the con

Comic-Con, that is.

Every year in July, San Diego Comic-Con International occurs for four days, including a weekend, at the San Diego Convention Center. This has over the years become a mammoth event that attracts tens of thousands from around the world and occupies the entire Convention Center.

It deals with comics obviously, but also with many other topics: science fiction, fantasy, horror, cartoons, art and artists, writers, films, gaming, television, anime, and on and on.

Last year I attended the Con for the first time ever, during the Saturday session. As might be expected, Saturday is easily the most crowded of the four days the Con runs. I was thoroughly overwhelmed by the whole thing that first visit!

Having gotten some idea for myself of the scope of the whole thing last year, I decided I'd try it again this year and hopefully have a better experience. This year's Con is running right now; once again the Saturday is the only day I really have free to go. So, this year I'm really hoping to get lots of photos and attend at least a few of the many seminars. One big lesson I learned when I went last year is that buying food in the Convention Center is a big mistake; what is offered is insanely overpriced! There are plenty of other options for getting food within a reasonable walking distance of the Convention Center. So, I'll be doing that and/or bringing my own food in a backpack. And I'll also definitely bring a water bottle with me!

The horror, the horror

I don't recall how I first became aware of this and don't know what made me recall it today, but I offer for your enjoyment one of the funniest things I've ever read, The Horror of Blimps.

A disclaimer

I am not, nor am I related to, the Jeff Craig who does "Sixty Second" movie reviews.

(It occurred to me this might be a good thing to get on the record.)

Somewhat unnerving

Coming home tonight, I approached and had to slowly drive through the aftermath of a traffic accident: fire engine, paramedic ambulance, two police cars, tow truck, shattered glass on the ground. Didn't have time to try to make out just what had happened, but it was rather unnerving because this was all only a block-and-a-half from my condo; I don't recall ever personally seeing or otherwise being aware of a traffic accident that serious that close to home.

Ants (Not in the pants)

Starting to see ants in my bathroom. That's irritating, but not entirely surprising. Just like the last time they first appeared San Diego has not had any rain in quite some time and the weather is getting hot.

I'd like to seal off their access point, of course. During the last bouts of ant invasions, I was able to do just that in my kitchen, but I have yet to find an access point in the bathroom. Will keep trying to do so. In the meantime I've broken out my container of Ortho Home Defense Indoor Insect Killer.

Another pet peeve

Image via Wikipedia

Namely, people who apparently can't be bothered to flush the toilet! Discovered evidence of that this afternoon at work. Ugh.

Essential web site for anyone who uses CA freeways

I find this site to be an absolutely vital source of information about Californians freeways: The CHP Traffic Incident Information Page.

For anyone who hasn't used it, the basic way it works is that it displays currently active incidents in each of the California Highway Patrol's regions throughout the state. CHP dispatchers in each region's Traffic Management Center enter comments and information about each incident into the CHP's Computer Assisted Dispatching system, and as these items are entered they are reflected on this site in real time.

For instance, as I am typing up this post, this site is showing for the San Diego region:

• 1 non-injury hit-and-run
• 6 traffic collisions
• and 1 traffic hazard.

The way the site works is that it is set up in 3 horizontal frames. The top frame is where one selects what information is to be displayed. For instance, if you want to see current incidents in the Los Angeles area, use the drop down menu titled "Areas" to select "Los Angeles" and that brings up in the middle frame a list of the current incidents. Click the "Type" line for a given incident, and you see in the bottom frame whatever has been typed up about it by the area dispatchers. Sometime no details will be displayed after clicking the "Type" link; this usually just means it is a brand new entry.

NOTE: The details about an incident will usually use CHP codes that designate certain situations or certain things to be done. Some browsers will display a dotted line under these codes. Hover your mouse cursor over such a line, and a little pop-up shows what the code means. If your browser does not do that, you have to go the "Glossary" entry in the "Resources" drop down menu. (For instance, 1039 means "Message or Item Delivered"; this code seems to normally be used to indicate a telephone call was made.) The Glossary also explains most of the abbreviations that are used in the incident details.

All in all, this site is incredibly valuable for trip planning, especially for checking on road conditions just before you leave.

Broadband Reports: A Web Site Review

(Truth in advertising: I am a member of the site being discussed in this post.)

Broadband Reports is a site whose main purpose is, as stated on their "About Us" page is to "provide information and communication on the subject of residential and small business Broadband connections." That is to say, they provide pricing information, reviews, and discussion forums about ways to connect to the Internet using various means of broadband connectivity such as cable, DSL, wireless, or satellite, for instance.

The site's discussion forums also cover a huge range of other topics. For instance:

• Security
• Microsoft help
• Digital imaging
• Webhosting chat

...plus a wide variety of hardware-related forums, general chatter forums, forums about the site, and on and on.

The site also posts news items that are of interest for this kind of community.

I find the site to be hugely invaluable, and enthusiastically recommend it!

(One possibly confusing thing I should mention. The site was originally known as DSL Reports. When the owner of the site decided changing the site's name to "Broadband Reports" would better reflect the actual content of the site, he agreed to keep both URLs running, and what is posted on one of the URLs is mirrored to the other one. So, if a link on the site changes you from one URL to the other, don't panic, you're still really on the same site.)

A pet peeve

Please do not refer to California as "Cali."

"Cali" is a city in Columbia that is notorious for being a cocaine trafficking center. I really can't imagine anyone in California who gives it a little thought wants the state to be associated with that.

If you must abbreviate "California", why not just use the postal abbreviation: CA? Please?

Thank you, that is all. Carry on.

Flat out amazing

Image via Wikipedia

You've likely read about/heard about NASA's Deep Impact mission to send a robot spacecraft to intercept a comet, with one part of the craft separating off and manuvering itself to intentionally collide with the nucleus of the comet. What's that? You haven't? Well, get thee to NASA's Deep Impact Mission site to learn all about it!

The fact the collision went off as planned early morning July 4 (EDT), and the science has started flowing from it is just amazing, considering the craft traveled for 172 days and about 268 million miles. So, I just want to say a big CONGRATULATIONS to NASA!

At last

The areas of bare land that are centered in this Google Maps image are what remains of a badly aged and mostly unoccupied strip mall near my home that was demolished a few years ago. (The only building that remained, as can be seen in the image, is a mortgage firm.)

The bare ground has slowly become major weed farms while the city has been going through the process of taking proposals for development of the site, getting comments from the community planning group and the city planning department, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

Since the weed farms have become such a huge eyesore, I've been happy to see that it appears everything has finally been resolved and decided on what to do with the site and development is starting to happen. I've seen bulldozers that clearly have been working with the bare patches of ground, and also seen evidence of work being done on portions of the sidewalk that borders the site.

Cripes

Image via Wikipedia

Yesterday I received a notice from my condominium HOA basically stating the entire complex has a termite infestation, including all the buildings and many fences. The builds will be tent-fumigated and the fences and many other wooden items entirely replaced.

The cost of all this? A special assessment of $600 per unit, charged as $50 per month for 12 months on top of the regular monthly HOA fee. Oh, man. I'm semi-tempted to inquire if it will be possible to pay off the $600 all at once, just to get it over with!