On a happier note...

A happy birthday to shaenon. Sadly the site doesn't have a gerbil...

Australian Engineering!

Fer fucking fucks sake!

...I was thinking to myself the last time any of my relatives saw scientists telling them what to do they were telling them to go to the showers to get gassed … that was horrifying beyond words, and that’s where science — in my opinion, this is just an opinion — that’s where science leads you.

Ben Stein, serious competitor for Asshat of the Century

Sunday Trade: Kane

Greetings From New Eden: Kane vol. 1 by Paul Grist

Kane is a police detective in NEPD. He's just recently returned to the job after enforced leave. Leave brought while he was cleared of shooting and killing his partner. See Kane's partner had been bought by local mob boss Oscar Darke. Of course all the evidence Kane had of that disappeared. And sure he's been reinstated but most of the rest of the precinct's rank and file would like to see him dead. Which makes things fun for his new partner Kate Felix.

Grist is likely more familiar to people as the writer and artist of the odd and cool super-hero book Jack Staff. The Kane series has many of the same concepts, except with police tropes instead of super-hero ones. Grist takes standard stories and twists them with quirky and cool additions. Every character, no matter how minor, seems to have hidden depths and story just waiting for a chance to shine. And his main "villain" Darke is a constant reminder how a nuanced bad guy with actual motivations for his actions is better than the HA HA I AM EVIL most writers settle for...