Man, BB has some coolness today.

First, Cory agrees with me about Andromeda (the creator of whom was kind enough to follow up with me for my teeny tiny plug of a day ago); then, scrolling down from this pleasant surprise I note a pointer to some new Scott McCloud stuff, a link to a site of pop culture Nuke imagery, and, rounding things out, (in my new favorite genre of website) Man’s Conquest of Space, a look back on how we developed our current enormous Mars fleet of cargo and personnel transports.

Modern Drunkard Magazine bends an elbow to bring us the high life. Cheers!

Slim Devices, Inc. makes and sells the ~$250 SliMP3 (I choose to say it ‘slimpy’) – a dedicated network port for accessing your MP3s from your home LAN.

No word on a wireless model. But it uses perl!

I guess the limitation that I see is drawn from that tiny display – paging thru 5000 songs might take some time.

From a strictly economic perspective, $250 buys a LOT of CDs to burn mixdiscs on -and your $89 DVD player does MP3, right? You geek.

Free downloads – TrueType core fonts for the Web: well, actually, no, it’s not, anymore.

Which is messed up. I was reluctant to start using Microsoft’s fonts in page design, but they are excellent fonts. Now, years later, yank! Don’t bruise your ass in the fall!

I suppose that it’s possible they might have some replacement in the kitchen. But someone’s boss instructed them to fix the site so it reads as it does today.

Tom Tomorrow highlights this Trib column on Bill Mauldin, the greatest editorial cartoonist in the history of the form. Mauldin’s old, disabled, and seriously alone in a nursing home in Orange County, California. The Trib story offers points of contact for well-wishers. WWII vets particularly are encouraged to drop a line.

Plus, this is probably the only time you’ll read a plug for the OC Register on Tomorrow’s website ;).

Seriously, think about sending the guy a card – we did it for Sparky, and his brilliant gentleness was what moved us to gratitude. Mauldin helped people deal with a big, ugly world of hell and blood fifty years ago – it’s worth a thank you card.

Here’s how. Send a card or letter to:

Bil Mauldin
c/o Gordon Dillow
Orange County Register
625 N. Grand Ave.
Santa Ana, CA 92701

UPDATE
Bill Mauldin died on January 22, 2003 of complications from Alzheimer’s. This site, and specifically this entry, has become a clearinghouse for both messages to the cartoonist prior to his death and condolences thereafter.

Several correspondents asked me to put them in touch with the Mauldin family in order to arrange for flowers or memorial contributions.

His grandson, Bruce Mauldin, has asked me to post the following information. I’ll add it here and in the comments on the original entry as well as emailing the people who commented originally.

Here’s Bruce’s information concerning services, donations, and so forth.

Mike:

Thank you for allowing my grandfather’s “friends” to accidentally post their thoughts on your web page. It really does mean a lot to see them.

I have actually received several emails since posting to your site. Interestingly enough, my father Bruce [Sr.] (Bill’s son) was a Colonel in the Army, and his Executive Officer from his assignment in Savannah, GA from 1976-1979 contacted me (I was just 13, but do remember him well). It really is a small world!

To answer your question, flower arrangements can be sent directly to Arlington Cemetery. The information is as follows:

Arlington National Cemetery
Arlington, Virginia
Wednesday, January 29th
Bill Mauldin Funeral at 2 PM

If anyone wants to contribute monetarily, it would have meant a lot to Bill (and Charles Schulz, god bless them both) if donations could be made to the Bill Mauldin Wing at the National D-Day Memorial in Bedford, VA. The address is as follows, as well as their website:

National D-Day Memorial Foundation
202 East Main Street
Bedford, VA 24523
http://www.dday.org/

Please make sure that the donations are earmarked specifically for the Bill Mauldin Wing, and not the general construction fund.

Again, Mike, thank you for keeping your site up, and making it available. I’m sure your bandwidth is being stretched to it’s limits!

Take care, and best regards!

Bruce P. Mauldin, II

Rooster at the Hitchin’ Post at Esquire.

Oh, goody.

Never grow up, David. Just keep being strange and mean and funny as hell.

The Morning News – Is Gotham the New Interstate? by Dimitri Siegel gets down with fontographer Tobias Frere-Jones.

Note to self: hyphenate last name with basic Fench word. Perhaps I’ll be hired, or spotlighted.

Michael Stylo-Whybark
M. David Craie-Whybark
Michael David-Whybark (no, breaks the rule)
Mike Croissant-Whybark

Hm. Maybe ye olde moniker de famille is too complex for this game. Perhaps

Michael Baguette-Bark
Michel Salo-Ibark

That’s it! Now, I really must locate my tiny, diamond-shaped antique specs…

The Civic War (08.06.02) by chad of strikeslip.org.

No word yet on Stonewall Jesse Jackson’s role in the conflict.

Dan Anderson at BrainLog points to a debunking of the standard crap we hear from nattering robo-twits every time bogus product litigation comes up. Bottom line? The lawsuit, and the award, are justified.

On a side note, too much coffee man also debunked this particular totemic icon of our bootlicker buddies; sadly, his site makes the strip impossible to find.

In researching grad schools, I have learned that the newly revised UW Tuition Rates are insanely complex.

See, starting this fall, there are no fewer than SIXTEEN possible rates – each of which will be hiked every quarter for the next year.

Taking the hikes into account, that’s up to SIXTY-FOUR varying rates a given grad student might find themselves paying over the upcoming academic year, depending upon which quarter it is and which school they are enrolled in.

Determining which rate is for you is, naturally, left for you, potential consumer or ensnared enrollee, to sort out.

One potential effect is that in a particularly popular course, each student might be enrolled from different program, and therefore each student is paying a different price for the exact same product.

How modern! How abusive! How arrogant!