February 2018 Wallpaper

Google versus Apple

Google admits to being influenced by Star Trek and wants to bring technology to everyone, while Apple never admits to being inspired by Star Trek and would try to sue Gene Roddenberry over his ideas, if he were alive.

Trek Tattoos

I realized I never took pictures of my tattoos after they healed.

Here's my right arm and the reason I got the tattoos in the first place. After failing to find a nice Medic-Alert bracelet to wear, I thought a tattoo would be just the thing! I decided to use the Star Trek Medical symbol used in all the movies and all the 24th century series. Emergency personnel always check for bracelets, so they should see my tattoo if I'm unconscious or out of it.

I figured I needed to balance it with a tattoo for the left forearm. This one uses the the Communicator badge from all the 24th century series. So, it could represent any of those series or crews. The delta is also a perfect replica of the Original Series insignia, so it also represents them! The only series it couldn't represent would be Enterprise, but five out of six isn't bad!

I really like them and any time a nurse or doctor sees them, they always remark about what a great idea that is!

Homage or Plagiarism?

Or... Can a writer be homaged?

Here's the origin of Deathstroke the Terminator from Tales of the Teen Titans 44, published July, 1984. Words by Marv Wolfman, art by George Perez.



Now read this page from Deathstroke 0 published September, 2012, art and words by Rob Liefeld.



Notice any similarities?

I did. Actually, it was the image of Addie Wilson firing guns in front and behind her at pop up targets from Deathstroke 0, that made me remember the same image from Tales of the Teen Titans 44. I recognized the similar character poses in that panel and thought Liefeld was paying homage to George Perez. Paying homage to an artist involves the new artist recreating a scene or panel, or in most cases, a cover that looks the same as one the artist being homaged has done.

Here, for example purposes, are a few covers that pay homage to George Perez's New Teen Titans 1. First, the original.


Here's George homaging himself.

Joe Bennett homages George Perez.

So, you can see each artist duplicated the cover of New Teen Titans 1 in his own style using the same or similar characters. That's an homage.

I'm not a Liefeld fan, his art has never appealed to me. But I'm also not one of the Liefeld haters who decries him with every chance he gets.

It wasn't until I went back and re-read Tales of the Teen Titans 44, that I realized he also used Marv Wolfman's exact phrasing in a couple of instances. He didn't vary the scene much from the original, as you can plainly see. He even uses the same pop-up target dummies for Addie to blast that Marv did. As I said, the similar character poses could be construed as an homage.

It's possible that in preparation for Deathstroke 0, Rob went back and re-read the original origin and perhaps some of that came out unconsciously when he put it on the page, but lifting dialogue word-for-word smacks of plagiarism to me. I think Marv Wolfman deserves a check for his work on the issue.

Perhaps this is one of the reasons Rob was having problems with editorial, prompting him to quit DC.

Troubling Aquaman News...

According to this article at Bleeding Cool, Aquaman is in a pretty big sea change...

...that Ivan Reis will move to draw Justice League Of America, replacing Jim Lee on the comic, and keeping the Geoff Johns Aquaman team still together, but on his one of his other comics.

But it seems that, deprived of Ivan Reis on Aquaman, Geoff Johns will also be leaving that series.

Between them they have done what many saw impossible, totally and utterly revived the reputation of Aquaman in the DC Universe, away from being a joke, to a character who is taken very seriously indeed.

Noooooooo! I knew in the bottom of my heart that Ivan was going to get Justice League. I just knew it. He's an amazing artist and deserves it. But now Geoff Johns isn't going to write Aquaman either?? Not Ivan and Geoff!! That's almost too much to bear... Ivan still gets to draw Aquaman as part of the League, but it's not the same as a whole book by Ivan featuring Aquaman. Seriously bad news.

I remember wishing when Brightest Day was going on that Geoff and Ivan would get an Aquaman regular series. I had kinda hoped for 50 issues of Geoff and Ivan's great work, but it looks like all we'll get now is 17. So sad. And what about the reintroduction of Jackson Hyde, who's better known as Aqualad?

And no word on the replacements yet.

I don't envy whoever gets the task of following Geoff and Ivan on Aquaman... It's a very hard act to follow.

Aquaman Rumors

This article was found online at Bleeding Cool today:

A couple of months ago, Bleeding Cool received the news that Jim Lee would be leaving Justice League and DC were looking for a replacement both inside and outside the company. We now understand they have settled on Ivan Reis. It makes sense, he has a great relationship with writer Geoff Johns, Reis’ work can be compared to Jim Lee, and it all keeps things happy families.

I sincerely hope this is one rumor that turns out to be false. I don't know who else can do justice to Aquaman. I mean, I understand, Ivan is my favorite artist, and I know he can't stay on Aquaman forever. It does make sense he'd get a shot at Justice League (which he would be totally awesome on!), but I don't want Aquaman to degrade in artistic quality. Every month he turns in page after page of incredible layouts, great storytelling abilities, and dynamic characters!

Please be false, please be false, please be false, please be false...

Movember

It's finally over! People said I looked like Freddie Mercury... I'm not sure if that's a good thing.

Baby Dolphin Update

A while back I posted on my Google+ account a link to pictures taken of a female baby dolphin who was found with her umbilical cord still attached, but no mother. It looks like she's getting along ok! The people caring for her have an incredible opportunity. Can you imagine being able to raise this sweetie to adulthood? But I imagine as soon as she's big enough, they'll introduce her to other dolphins so she can learn from her own kind. I would hope, anyway. I don't know what the protocol would be here.



Enjoy!

The Legend of Aquaman Special

Back in 1989, I wrote a letter to the Editor of the Aquaman Special I recently posted a wallpaper from. In something that was rare at the time, I received a personal reply from then-Editor, Mark Waid! His entry on Wikipedia describes his career better than I could:

He is best known for his eight-year run as writer of the DC Comics' title The Flash, as well as his scripting of the limited series Kingdom Come and Superman: Birthright, and his work on Marvel Comics' Captain America. From August 2007 to December 2010, Waid served as Editor-in-Chief, and later, Chief Creative Officer of BOOM! Studios, where he wrote titles such as Irredeemable, Incorruptible and The Traveler.

And he wrote lots of other cool stuff from DC as well!
First, check out the cool envelope!



And the back of the letter!



And the front of the letter! When you hold the letter up to a light, the characters on the back look like they're holding up the DC Bullet! Very cool! I don't have a copy of the letter I sent, but I think you get a sense of a few of the things I asked him about!



I remember being excited about plans for Aqualad, and knowing that Ocean Master could have returned! It was sooooo cool to have gotten this letter! Even better than an autographed comic!

Enjoy!

Star Trek in the real world

From the Edmonton Journal:

A team of Vancouver-based scientists have created a hand-held device that will help doctors diagnose sick patients in a quick test that identifies the bugs patients are carrying by separating human DNA from virus DNA.

Finding a virus's DNA from a throat-swab test is similar to "looking for a needle in a haystack," says Andre Marziali, a physics professor at the University of British Columbia, because the sample is crowded with human DNA. He and his team are hoping his medical "tricorder" invention — a portable, battery-powered device that can pinpoint the specific DNA signature of the virus — will help the medical community.

"Researchers often can't identify viruses that are infecting someone because of the amount of human DNA in the background. That is exactly the situation they're in now," Marziali said. "What this can do is it can pick out specific DNA sequences for analysis. This is huge.

"We have an incredible ability to reject background DNA."

Marziali's work was recognized as one of nine UBC advances that will "transform" the world in the university's Next Big Thing in 2011 report. His team is still developing the technology by testing accuracy and speed, but they anticipate the tricorder could be available in as early as three years if they obtain appropriate funding.

The device will have various ways of taking samples from patients — such as blood tests or throat swabs — that can be placed in the main instrument for real-time analysis.

Marziali couldn't suggest a cost estimate for the tricorder, but noted its success depended on being inexpensive because users would need to buy cartridges to hold samples.

The device is developed using the similar technology to the Aurora, a machine used by forensics researchers to extract DNA from the dirtiest of samples, including dirt and tar.

Marziali is president of Boreal Genomics, a company that currently sells the Aurora.

Marziali and his colleague, Lorne Whitehead, co-invented the computer-sized product — which was also used by RCMP to test forensics samples — in 2009. He said the researchers are the first to use electric fields to clean and untangle DNA.

Doctors are about 70 per cent accurate when diagnosing patients during flu season, which is why the tricorder's accuracy would be extremely beneficial, said Dr. Don Low, chief microbiologist at Toronto's Mount Sinai Hospital.

"There's no question it would be useful to the medical community," he said. "It would have an incredible use at the front line as a utility in doctors' offices, walk-in clinics and in the emergency department."

Three influenza strains — including H3N2 — are currently circulating across the country this flu season and Low said symptoms can be extremely similar, making diagnosing and determining appropriate treatments — from bed rest to antibiotics — a challenge.

"If a patient comes in with a sore throat, fever or cough, there's a good likelihood it's influenza. But we don't know if it's influenza A, or influenza B, or if it's one of the viruses circulating. These different kinds of viruses are closely related to each other," Low says.

"It's really empiricism, and only if you're lucky will you get a laboratory test to confirm for deny it," he added, noting that samples taken to a lab could leave doctors waiting up to five days before results are received. "By that point, you've decided how to manage that patient. With 70 per cent sensitivity, you're misdiagnosing."

Low said the device would also help doctors quickly discover if their patients have sexually transmitted diseases or other infections, aside from the common cold or flu.

For his part, Marziali is convinced the device would also be of use in other markets — such as security and pandemic control — and in remote areas where access to doctors and hospitals are limited.

A Medical Tricorder... how cool is that??

Poll Results!

The last poll asked which DC Comics initiative you were most excited about. 57% and taking first place was DC Comics being priced at 2.99!

14% were excited about the new DC Earth One Graphic Novels!

14% were excited about the new slate of DC movies, of which Green Lantern will be the first!

And another 14% are looking forward to DC Universe Online, which started this month!

And the option that garnered no votes at all, the Digital Comics initiative!

My guess is not that many people are interested in digital comics yet. Thanks for participating and look for another poll to start soon!

Trek Fish

My buddy Craig surprised me last week with this unexpected gift!



Craig and I have similar views about religion. I don't put stickers on my car (I don't even have a Dealer sticker), but if I did, this would be the one! And it's very accurate... Trek is the nearest thing to religion for me!

Thanks again Craig!

Aqua-Hoodie!

This great new hoodie came in yesterday! Because today was casual Friday, I was able to wear it to work! I was pleasantly surprised by how many people recognized who the hoodie was styled after! And a co-worker also had a treat for us. He was given an Official Vancouver 2010 Olympic Relay Torch from a member of VANOC! We were able to strike a pose and have a picture or two taken for posterity. Very cool!

A Week Early!

Birthday celebrations have begun and my friend Liz was kind enough to get me a Future Shop gift card (which I will use toward the purchase of The Watchmen Absolute Edition on DVD) and Karen and Brendan got me this:

I can't believe they made such a thing! Call it a puzzle cube all you want, but I think Mr. Rubik knows where this idea came from... And since I could only ever get two sides complete, it stays safe in the package for the time being. And it came with a talking Star Trek birthday card! Bonus Trek collectible!

I've got awesome friends!

New Car!

My Kia Sephia needs work and at this point in the car's lifetime, I think it'll cost more to fix than it will ever be worth, so I considered purchasing a new vehicle. I looked online and really couldn't find a lot in my price range, but there was a Suzuki model that looked pretty good... It was a matter of seeing how I fit in it. I'm happy to say I fit just fine! It's a Suzuki SX4 Sedan Sport model. It actually has way more head room than the Kia and the trunk is huge! It's completely loaded with heated seats and mirrors, smartpass entry system, 9 speaker stereo system, 17" alloy wheels, and bunches of other cool things! And at a price I can reasonably afford! I pick the new car up Tuesday after work!

Must Have January!

The DC Universe: The Source just made my day! Here's artist extraordinaire, George Perez, homaging himself! And on nothing less than the (1 in 25) variant cover for Blackest Night Titans #3! Featuring Aquagirl and Tempest (the former Aqualad!!) Blackest Night versions, to be sure, but it still counts for this Aqua-fan! This is going to be my birthday present to myself and I can't wait! SWEEEEEEEEETTTTTT!!

Things I Don't Understand...

Halloween is on the way! Thankfully, I already have my costume planned out. But while I was online, I ran into something that I just don't quite understand. Here are the pictures...


Now, I can understand owners wanting their pets in the Halloween spirit and dressing them up, but dressing your dog up in a dogsuit?! I don't think they need that. If anything, specialized Scooby-Doo and Astro collars for the pet to wear would make more sense. I don't get the whole dog-in-a-dogsuit thing... Perhaps it's because without the whole suit, humans are too stupid to figure out who the dog is supposed to be? I just don't know. If I wanted to dress my dog up as Krypto (Superman's dog), I'd get a cape to put on, rather than a whole suit with a fake head. But that's just me. What do you think?

Must Have...

DC solicitations were out today and they revealed something I will be spending a lot of money on next March...

DESIGNED AND SCULPTED BY TIM BRUCKNER
DC Direct’s exquisite new statue gallery series, featuring dynamic interpretations of classic superheroes, continues! Award-winning sculptor Tim Bruckner has transformed his original designs of the most recognizable DC characters into some of the most outstanding, upscale statues DC Direct has ever produced. Each statue features a base that captures the character’s interaction with the surrounding environment. The second in a series of six statues scheduled to be released in 2010, Aquaman, King of the Seven Seas, rises from the depths on the crest of a brilliant blue tidal wave, trident in hand.
This limited-edition, hand-painted, cold-cast porcelain statue measures approximately 10.5” high x 6.5” wide x 6.5” deep and is packaged in a 4-color box with a 4-color Certificate of Authenticity.
Limited Edition. Manufactured to order.

Wow! It's simply gorgeous! A definite must-have for my ever-expanding Aquaman collection!