Check out this business card, autographed by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in which he’s apparently telling someone that “The Valley of Fear” is going to be the final outing for Sherlock Holmes, which of course it was not. I’ll bet it goes for way more than the projected $8000-$12,000. This is one of those moments where I wish I had a ton of disposable cash.
Year: 2010
Arctic Drilling
In the spirit of the notion that the unexamined life is not worth living, I’m starting to rethink my devout opposition to drilling in the arctic.
This may seem like an odd time to do so considering what’s gushing in the Gulf of Mexico. How could I possibly reverse my position when we’re seeing what an oil spill can do to the environment and the creatures that live in it? Okay, but…anywhere there’s an oil spill, the environment’s gonna get FUBARed, right? Shouldn’t two major considerations be (a) accessibility to the source of the leak and (b) whether people are going to be impacted as well? I mean, yeah, an oil spill in the arctic would be a terrible thing, but at least it would be way easier to fix it. Wouldn’t it be BETTER for the environment overall because the damage would be minimized? Plus you don’t have people’s lives and economies going down in oil-soaked flames.
Like I said, I haven’t decided yet. But I’m starting to see the other side of it. I know the negatives, and I agree that the best case would be developing alternative energies. But if the current fiasco isn’t spurring development in that direction, I’m not entirely sure how cutting off another potential source of oil is gonna do it.
Feel free to convince me one way or the other.
PAD
Random Stuff
Originally published April 9, 1993, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1012
Back to bits and pieces—
God Hates Math
Get this: Abby Nurre, a math teacher at a Catholic school in Iowa, has been fired from her job. Is she incompetent? Was she making sexual overtures to a student?
Nope. She was fired because, in the privacy of her own home on her own home computer, she joined an atheist website. And administrators at St. Edmund’s Catholic school, which seemed to feel that this was somehow their business, fired her for it. They even want to deny her unemployment benefits. I don’t know which is more disturbing: That they monitored her home computer and invaded her privacy, or that they’re under the impression that one’s religious beliefs somehow impact on numbers. Hot news flash, you idiots: Whether Pythagoras believed in multiple gods, one god or no god, A squared plus B squared is still going to equal C squared.
I firmly believe this country is over-litigious, but I hope this woman sues their áššëš.
PAD
Random Thought for the Day
One of the last things air travelers will see when they go out of Denver Airport will be a twenty-six-foot statue of Anubis, the Egyptian god of Embalming and the afterlife.
What, Osiris, the god of death, wanted too much money for the recreation rights?
They couldn’t use Ra, the sun god? Or even Nut, the god of the sky? (“Denver: We’re Nuts for Flying.”)
PAD
Casting Trancers
Originally published April 2, 1993, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1011
The casting office was fairly small. Black-and-white glossies of hundreds of actors lined the walls and the floor, a permanent smiling audience.
The actor who had entered was a little taller than I was, and quite a bit slimmer. He was dressed in crisp black slacks and a black shirt buttoned to the neck. He had curly hair, a beard, and a face that was rugged, if not classically handsome. The casting director turned to me as the actor stuck out his hand to shake mine firmly. “Peter David,” said the director, “this is Ron Perlman. He’ll be reading for the part of Caliban. Ron, Peter here is the writer.”
When They Make a List of the Top Ten Bad Umping Calls of All Time…
…right up around the top will be the blown call that just cost Armando Galarraga, pitching for the Detroit Tigers, a perfect game. The 27th batter for Cleveland was out at first by a step, a fact that was evident to everyone in the field and in the stands and the announcers calling the game (and made abundantly clear on the replays). The only one who was unaware of it was the first base ump, who called him safe.
The ump may have to get out of Detroit very, very quickly.
PAD
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