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10/05/2004 Archived Entry: ""

Cartoon break -- and this time it *is* on the Presidential debates: Pat Oliphant's "Rules of Duels"; Tom Toles' "Lowered Expectations"; Stuart Carlson's "Incidental Contact"; and, Ted Rall's "Remodeling Plans". Onto other cartoon topics: Chip Bok's "Dissidents"; and, Stuart Carlson's "Road to Nowhere".

For those who are SF fans...James Hogan writes about his new in-the-works novel: "We've signed a contract with Baen Books for a new novel. Tentatively titled "Echoes of an Alien Sky," it tells of inhabitants from a future cooled, life-supporting Venus exploring the ruins of the extinct civilization that once existed on Earth. The strange thing is that as the Venusian scientists piece together more of Terran biology, the more it seems that the two families of life are too closely related to be coincidental. Some conclude that the Terrans must be their ancestors. But how could that be, when it is shown conclusively that the time scales cannot be made to match, even remotely? And yes, we do get to see part of the story through the eyes of Terran characters who are real, through interleaved chapters forming a separate flashback thread. It turns out that although separated by a large gulf of time, the two groups of characters and their experiences are linked in an unexpected way." Brad and I befriended Jim over the course of several SF cons. Although I would not call Jim a libertarian, he is extremely sympathetic to the political ideology -- considering its major flaw to be "idealism," an overly utopian view of society" -- and he numbers quite a few libertarians among his friends.

ALERT: An ebay scam has fit UK and seems poised to cross the Big Pond to North America. As the Register notes, "Scammers are impersonating eBay sellers in an attempt to hoodwink users of the online auction site into handing over payment for non-existent goods. If the person who wins an auction on the site doesn't pay up, the second highest bidder of an auction may be offered the option to purchase goods at his offer price." If you receive anything that purports to be from ebay, click onto your account by going through the verified URL for PayPal and it will note any offers or problems accompanying your account.