A couple of things today. I received another awesome piece of art from the funny Darrin Stephens who draws the lovely comic strip Labbugs! (You’ll also find this drawing posted on the “Fan Art” page)
Also, I will be attending the Tucson Festival of Books March 9-10 at Tucson’s University of Arizona (still working out travel, lodging, etc, but it WILL happen), and I’ll be tabling with an enormously talented group of woman who write Romance Novels. Check out who I’m tabling with!
Amber Scott – http://amberscottbooks.com
Amber Polo – http://amber@amberpolo.com
Belinda Boring – http://www.belindaboring.com/
Brenda Whiteside – http://brendawhiteside.com
Clarissa Ellison – http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/shadowman-erin-kellison/1102991105
Deena Remiel – http://deenar116.wordpress.com/
Donna Hatch – http://donnahatch.com/
Erin Quinn (aka Erin Grady) – http://www.erinquinnbooks.com/
Gini Koch – http://www.ginikoch.com/
Kris Tualla – http://www.kristualla.com/
Lacey Weatherford – http://www.laceyweatherfordbooks.com/
Lynn Rush – http://lynnrush.com/
Michelle McKissack – http://www.michellemckissack.com/
Morgan Kearns – http://morgankearns.com/
R. Boschee – http://www.rebeccaboschee.com/books.htm
Sandra Lee Smith – http://sandraleesmith.com/
Sharon Hamilton – http://sharonhamiltonauthor.com/
Tami Vinson – http://www.tamivinson.com/
vijaya schartz – http://www.vijayaschartz.com/
wendy ely – http://www.wendyely.blogspot.com/
King, I see no reason why “practical” and “really frickin’ scarey” are mutually exclusive. Especially in the case of Russians (re: the Russian general who recommended clearing a mine field by marching troops over it. Don’t know if that ever really happened, but the fact that people think it’s entirely possible should speak volumes.)
The king’s observation may be why we haven’t been contacted publicly yet. Our media scares the potty out of them. It’s your fault there’s no first contact, Chris.
@Muzhik: Hadn’t heard that story, but it really does seem totally plausible given the other things they got up to in WWII. Like sending soldiers out in waves where the second wave was unarmed and told to get their weapons off the corpses of the first wave (they didn’t have nearly enough guns to go around), and anti-tank exploding dogs (didn’t work, because they of course had to train them with Russian tanks, so in the actual field the dogs ignored the German tanks and tried to blow up the Russian tanks, d’oh!).
Actually, now that I think of it, I think I remember something about special convict brigades made of criminal and political prisoners, which were generally used for anything where they just needed to throw men at something to die. Human mine clearing seems like exactly the sort of task a convict brigade might be assigned to.
I’ve never heard the expression ‘could give 2 shits’ before to mean ‘don’t care’. Non-Americans say “couldn’t give a shit” so already the “could” sounds odd to us, and this version is even less common, so my first reading of the text had me thinking he was actually talking about wanting a big date with Potty-bot. Kind of detracts from the pathos. Just saying.
The “Give Two Shits” expression is decently common here in Australia at the very least, not sure about elsewhere
And he’s back to the cup! Woo.
Beyond the door? MIB 2 hammerspace dimensional airport.
The two-shits thing is common in Scotland too. As for the use of “could” we tend to say “could’nae” – eqivilent to couldn’t. I think the use of “could” instead has arisen due to “couldn’t” sounding clumsy when spoken in some accents – particularly American ones.
The origins of Draak-Sim Rotations revealed! Love it when details like this get explained 😀
I have to go along with the advice to ‘drink up’. It’s not just space cowboyin’ that seems more reasonable with a couple of oz of bourbon on board.
@Muzhik
I’ve heard that before, but I’m skeptical. Google isn’t providing a whole lot of sources, but the explanation presented here seems plausible.
http://www.balagan.org.uk/war/ww2/snippet/human-mine-sweepers.htm
“Actually, now that I think of it, I think I remember something about special convict brigades made of criminal and political prisoners, which were generally used for anything where they just needed to throw men at something to die. ”
Yes. There was more to it than that, though. How do you keep such brigades in line?
You issue weapons only right before a battle, when they’re in open terrain, and covered by groups of NKVD (KGB/ FSB forerunner) interior troops with machine guns. If they retreat, or attempt to turn their guns on their Marxist oppressors, they would be machine gunned by the NKVD.
There is definitely a Russian mindset, but the record shows that this particular flavor is utterly cross-cultural within Marxism. I am therefore hesitant to describe it as “Russian” in any meaningful way.
The Tucson Festival of Books is held at the University of Arizona.
@David, right you are sir. Fixed!
At last, this whole draak-sim rotations thing explained!
@Aidinthel, after reading your link, I have to agree with the quote from Frank Chadwick via Ian Galley, esp. given what I’ve read about Zhukov. It also reinforces my original point: practical AND really frickin’ scary.
As for his comment about the Soviet’s “inexhaustible” manpower, I’m reminded of a photo of a Soviet brigade marching through Red Square for some parade. Each and every one of the soldiers looks fit, trim, and **not wearing glasses**. The article accompanying the photo pointed out that in any similarly-sized group of American soldiers, you’d find a goodly number who would be wearing glasses, with big black frames that don’t break in combat. Obviously this was proof of the Soviet’s physical superiority over the West. OR (as the article pointed out) it was proof that, unlike the American army, the Soviets were too poor to buy glasses for the soldiers that needed them.
One more thing: King says that no one who has gone through the portal has come back. That’s not quite true: on an insignificant planetoid somewhere far away, there are three “retrieval experts” from the other side who have been paralyzed and kicked silly by Qwahntoo. Once Pierrot and Emily free themselves from Qwahntoo’s clutches I’m sure one of these experts can be convinced to lend their credentials to the team.
Dmitri looks remarkably less tired than he did in the last strip. Did he get a quick cat nap between conversations, or should he have bags under his eyes?
@Muzhik, true! The Ites know what’s beyond there too!
@Herandar, he should. I will change it…. at some point. Eek!
There was *some* limit to Soviet craziness. Their nuclear engineers only came up with the idea of a doomsday device ship, loaded with the most powerful nuclear explosives, cruising the shallow parts of the North Sea. It would be equipped with a system to detect hostile nuclear explosions in the USSR then go kaboom. The explosion would be big enough to vaporize a huge amount of water down to the sea bottom, and the irradiated water and sea bottom muck would spread around the world. Might even crack the Earth’s crust a bit. Fortunately the Soviet scientists also thought “Holy shit! That’s too crazy even for us!” and quietly filed the concept away.
Even crazier is a similar doomsday device was in “Dr. Strangelove” and the people who did the movie had no idea the Soviets had really contemplated building one.
Bags under eyes added!