Fifty One?

Grand Union flag from Colonial Williamsburg

One of the most interesting things that I've heard about the election is Puerto Rico.  I've studied history and I know much of the history of Puerto Rico, how it became American territory as a result of the Spanish-American War.  Its citizens are US citizens and don't need a passport to travel to the US.  The island is a commonwealth (not a territory) and its residents don't pay US federal income tax--they also cannot vote in presidential elections or send voting representatives to Congress.

For years Puerto Ricans and others have been uncertain of their status within the United States.  Some want things to remain the same as they have been.  Some want the island to become an independent nation, while others want it to become a state.  I saw an article on BBC about this and then read a blog post by a cartoonist I follow this morning.  I'll quote from the cartoonist (Dave Kellett of Sheldon and Drive) first as he captures some of my sentiments.

I remember my first time reading through the history of 1800's America: And seeing the constantly, constantly, constantly evolving US flag...as state after state got added, and the stars had to be reconfigured in all sorts of ways. But even as a schoolkid, I thought those days of an expanding union were behind us. That, after Hawaii's addition in 1959, that was that. 

So maybe it's the schoolkid in me, getting excited at this. A bit of youthful idealism in the idea of America. But I can't help but be excited at the possibility of Puerto Rico as the 51st state.
--from Sheldon Comics.com, Statehood by Dave Kellett

Artist rendering of possible 51 star flag, source: Wikipedia

I also remember reading about the expansion of the United States, but realizing that it was all in the past.  Alaska and Hawaii were admitted long before I was born, so they've been part of the union for as long as I've been alive.  I also enjoy science-fiction, and there are sorts of future ideas for the expansion of the United States--but I've known most aren't that realistic.  It has seemed like the US would never change in size.  Of course jokes have circulated for years about Canada being the fifty-first state, but the US did try to conquer Canadian territory during both the American Revolution and the War of 1812--all to no avail.

Voters in Puerto Rico have supported a non-binding referendum to become a full US state. 

The measure will require approval from the US Congress, but President Barack Obama has said he will respect the vote. 

Almost 80% of the island's electorate took part in the referendum, the fourth in the past 45 years. 

With almost all the votes counted, almost 54% voted to change the island's relationship with the US. 

And in reply to a second question on what future they favoured, nearly two-thirds wanted full statehood. 

--from BBC.co.uk, Puerto Rico wants to become the 51st state of the US

Newest Canadian province of Nunavut

I enjoy dating world maps via the addition of new countries or provinces to the world.  In the past century there were of course many changes during and after the world wars.  But more recently there was the vanishing of South Vietnam, the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the creation of the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1993, the dissolution of Yugoslavia in the 90s, the creation of the Canadian Province of Nunavut in 1999, East Timor's independence in 2001, South Sudan's independence in 2011.  I think it about time the US map became datable via a change.

Yes, I know there are many hurdles ahead if this is to happen and it won't always be easy.  This is mainly the geography nerd in me getting excited.  I think it would be exciting to see a change like this happen during my lifetime.

Additionally Puerto Rico has the San Juan National Historic Site already administered by the National Park Service.  I've never had a chance to visit the site--but I would definitely like to see it, perhaps while visiting the newest state someday.

US 51 Star Flag (proposed by New Progressive Party of Puerto Rico), source: Wikipedia

My wife's reaction to the news has been very different than mine.  She insists that fifty is the proper number for the states and that the only way to add one more is if we get rid of an existing one.  Sadly she is voting for California.  She explains that California won't become independent, it will just need to trade status with Puerto Rico so that California becomes a commonwealth and the number of stars on the flag remains the same.

~Matt

PS Along with Dave's blog post above also check out today's Sheldon comic strip.  It is a great webcomic strip to read anyway, but today's is specifically about Puerto Rico.  After you read that one go back and dig into the archives a bit and see if you like the strip, I think you might and thus might find something new to read each day.

Pointy Things

Why am I writing about pointy things?  Well, a book was just made available for pre-order today, a book by one of my favourite authors.  There are only a couple authors on my "must order" list when they write a new book.  There are several that I like to order, but those I can hold off if necessary.  David Weber, Jim Butcher, and Howard Taylor are all on my short list of books that I must order when they come out.  Their genre's are slightly varied also: military sci-fi, urban fantasy, and comic space opera graphic novel.

I've enjoyed Howard's comic strip Schlock Mercenary for quite some time.  I know that I started reading in college--and at least once during my initial read of the backlog I stayed up all night reading new (to me) installments.  I also pre-ordered his first book back in 2006 and greatly enjoyed it.  In fact I also blogged about that, ;-).

Well I came home to find that my book had arrived. Which book? I'm glad you asked. Schlock Mercenary: Under New Management. I must apologize though, the Amazon page doesn't have much really. I would link to the order page on the main Schlock site, but alas orders aren't being accepted yet. I preordered my book and as a result it was signed! :-) But you can't make regular orders yet--I'm not sure when, but it might not be until all of the preorders have been shipped, including the sketch editions. I headed down to the library after work and read the book. Sure I'd read them before, but it was still great! There was some new content, plus it was printed on glossy pages in beautiful crystal clear colour. Ahhh... 'Tis a sight to behold. I'll definately be ordering the next book when it comes out. [Obligatory link to original post--which has more content.]

 At the time I bemoaned the fact that while the book was great it didn't start at the very beginning of the saga, with the original strip from June 12, 2000.  Of course as Howard says on that page if you start reading there you get to watch his "artwork evolve from bad to, well, marginally less bad. It's your call. Thanks for clicking in!"  Personally I think that it is quite worth it--and I did end up ordering the first two books when they were produced.  I've actually ordered each and every book when it has come out.  Last year the pre-order for the last book was scheduled to open while I was gone on my honeymoon!  Now I love my wife and wouldn't have derailed the honeymoon for Schlock Mercenary (as amazing as it is!), but I thought it was worth asking to see if something could be done.  I've seen pre-orders sell-out in the past and didn't want to get left out just because I was out of the country at the time.  I'm frequently hesitant to do things like this as I work with the public and describe actions like this as "guesty" (not a complimentary term), but the occasion was worth it.  I drafted an e-mail to the Taylors and waited...

I have a slightly unusual question. I just read earlier today that the pre-order date of Schlock Mercenary: Emperor Pius Dei has been pushed back.  I had been planning to order a copy of the book as soon as orders were open (I have all the others--mostly sketch editions) and was hoping to be able to get a sketch edition.  However, I won't have internet access on June 27.  I'm getting married on June 25 and will not be back from the honeymoon until July 3.  I was wondering if there was any way that I could arrange to reserve a sketch edition because of these unusual circumstances.  I remember previously that sketch editions have sold rather quickly.
I understand if it isn't possible, but I assumed that I couldn't hurt to ask.  Thanks.

Amazingly I got a reply back the next day:

Hi Matt,
We'd be happy to hold a copy for you. Just email us when you're back from your honeymoon and we'll help you place the order.Thanks for supporting Schlock,--Sandra Tayler

Let me just say, they didn't need to say yes, but they did.  I've always enjoyed Howard's comics, and his books, and they have great customer service also.  I would highly recommend that you check out the comic strip if you enjoy sci-fi and/or if you enjoy humour.  You'll find it at www.schlockmercenary.com.  Or you can borrow my books--if you live nearby and promise to take care of them (no bent spines!).

~Matt

PS I almost forgot to mention, one of the great things about the books, besides being able to read without having to use a computer is that you get to read bonus stories that aren't available anywhere on-line!  Go order a book today, especially the pre-order for "Sharp End of the Stick."  And you thought I'd forget to explain the title of this post, ;-).

Ragnarök

Yes, the Norse myth of the end of the world--or at least the battle where all of the gods die. My sci-fi universe is set in the future (quite common actually, ;-)) though I haven't yet nailed down when everything is set. At one point I toyed with the idea of time travel, a mysterious society, and a future destruction of civilization (which might be undone by said timetravelers). I abandoned the idea years ago, but while researching for another project I recently discovered the writing I did on the subject.

I've been thinking about starting a webcomic, partially set in my sci-fi universe. Here is a sample for a prologue to the comic. If this project gets off the ground it will be quite a while from now, knowing how long it takes me to plan things. But I think this might be possible. I'm not an artist, but I think I can make the plots work, and I can make a drawing style similar (but obviously not as good) to that seen in The Order of the Stick (or Miah's Stickromancer for those who read the forums) work with my limited talent.

I think this might be a fun way to explore concepts that I wouldn't otherwise explore in my writing at this stage--some of those ideas that appear too scientifically unfeasable (i.e. time travel) or too fanboyish (from my creation of the universe in high school where it was heavily based on Star Trek and Star Wars technology). Perhaps it wouldn't ultimately be canon, but it would plunge the depths of my writings.

Anyway, 'tis just something I'm working on. Tonight as I watched Eureka I started listing the causes of the destruction of Sol's planets. No, not complete physical destruction (for all), but decimation of the population. When I say Ragnarök I mean that the vast majority of human civilization throughout the stars will be wiped out. A bleak future. What would you do if you knew something like that was coming and it was impossible to stop? That, I think, is the key to an interesting narrator for this project. :-)

~Matt

A Good Day (no spoilers)

Overall today wasn't bad at all. Sure I was at work for eight hours, but I pretty much got done what needed to get done and I got some good exercise in. I wish there was a way to compare what my arm and/or other muscle strength is now compared to three months ago before I started this job. I know that I've definately lost weight. Though college I weighed about 180-190 lbs. Now I'm about 160, and I know it didn't happen before this job. Pants that fit me perhaps a bit snugly a while ago, but still well enough are now quite loose. At one time I was wearing 36, now I think 32s are in order--because most of my pants that are now loose are 34. I'm not obesessing over the weight or anything, but 'tis nice to know that I'm healthier now. That is the one good aspect of this job--exercise that I normally wouldn't go out and seek on my own.

Well I came home to find that my book had arrived. Which book? I'm glad you asked. Schlock Mercenary: Under New Management. I must apologize though, the Amazon page doesn't have much really. I would link to the order page on the main Schlock site, but alas orders aren't being accepted yet. I preordered my book and as a result it was signed! :-) But you can't make regular orders yet--I'm not sure when, but it might not be until all of the preorders have been shipped, including the sketch editions. I headed down to the library after work and read the book. Sure I'd read them before, but it was still great! There was some new content, plus it was printed on glossy pages in beautiful crystal clear colour. Ahhh... 'Tis a sight to behold. I'll definately be ordering the next book when it comes out.

My only complaint is that the book starts in 2003, while the strip started in 2000. The artist (Howard Taylor) believes that before that date his art was truly horrible. I'll definately admit that it isn't nearly as good as it is now--he has greatly improved over the years. However, the storylines were still awesome, regardless of artistic quality. You can't beat the opening strip for impact! Click on that one link if not any others, please? Well at the point at which the book starts (if I recall correctly) Howard basically reset the strip in some ways. He didn't restart the storyline, but he included many recaps and other devices to make the previous sections superficially unnecessary. *shrugs* I'm just a story nut. I want to someday have all of Schlock printed and bound for my reading pleasure. Hopefully eventually Howard will agree. :)

Then tonight after I came back from the library I watched the two hour season finale of Lost. Yet again I was amazed. I was left with many moments of "ohhh!" and "wow!" I did recognize a couple of the actors from prior appearances, but one actress I think I must have seen in another show because she doesn't show up online as having guest starred on Lost before. But great acting from all concerned.

There were also many, many questions. I am continually amazed at how the producers steer this show onward (as of the finale it has been about 65 days since the plane crash in the pilot episode) and it changes, yet it remains intriguing. I'll definately admit that they could have kept to the somewhat simple survivors of a plane crash motif of season one and it could have become stale. Or they could have gone too crazy and totally changed the show. It has definately changed, never stagnated, and yet remained fascinating and utterly addicting! I can't wait for season three, but I must. I definately won't preorder the season this time as I'll just have to wait for it to arrive. I'll just save my money and go buy it once it comes out. Perhaps with a coupon at Borders...*shrugs* We'll see.

~Matt

PS Well great news on the Schlock front. I might have missed something, but this book won't be the first forever! Here is the post if you're interested.

Q: Will you ever put the first 1000 strips in print?
A: Absolutely. Pending the success of Schlock Mercenary: The Blackness Between (the book we plan to ship in November 2006), I’ll start work on Schlock Mercenary: Step Away From The Tub of Happiness sometime in January of 2007. That volume and its companion (currently untitled) will be much larger than the current books. Hopefully by November of 2007 we’ll have all 1000 early strips packed into two books. I don’t know what the price will be yet, and I’m not going to pre-announce anything else about this project until I’ve got a solid handle on SM:TBB.

400

Yes, I finally have 400 books entered into my book database program. I use the book collector program at Collectorz.com. You can download a free trial that lets you enter up to 100 books. I did this a while ago and soon realized that I needed to have the full program so I bought it long before I'd entered 100 books. ;-) One of the benefits of the professional version is that you can export to html. You can see my library here on my website. I don't have the 400 book version converted to html yet, so the list you'll see via the link is a bit out of date.

These 400 books are merely a fraction of all the books that I own. I conservatively estimate that I own 1,000-1,200 books (possibly as many as 1,500?). However, most of them are burried in my storage unit where I cannot get to them easily. Last summer I removed a couple boxes to enter into the program. I've also entered the few books that I've pulled individually out of my storage unit and the many books that I've bought since moving to Kentucky. So the 400 aren't just the ones I've bought or anywhere near my true total.

I'm really looking forward to the day that I have every one of my books entered and can download my list to a handheld computer (like a Palm). Then when I go to a bookstore or a used book sale I'll know exactly which books I already own! I'll even know the format and condition of my books so I'll know if I need to get a new version (say it is the only book of the series I have in paperback and I find a hardcover at a book sale). I wish I'd found this a couple years ago so that all my books could have been entered before I moved, but alas that didn't happen.

Well I'm off to the museum in a few minutes, so I'll have to keep this short and fairly close to on-topic. I was off today and I'm off tomorrow. It is wonderful to sleep in finally! :-) Today was a day to pay bills. I also transfered some money into savings (it has been too long since I've been able to do that!) and wrote out a tithe check (I'd been saving money from the past few pay checks so I didn't have to write many tithe checks--I don't write very many checks at all actually).

Tomorrow is Free Comic Book Day! I apologize for not blogging about this sooner. If you have the time check out the site tonight and find a store near you. Go! Participating stores will have free comics and some even have other events going on. I'm planning to take a couple of my nephews along. It should be great fun. I'll be wearing my Schlock Mercenary T-shirt. :-)

~Matt

Long Overdue

But at least there aren't any fines for late blog posts, eh? Not like the library, but I don't get free books for blogging so perhaps the library is better after all :-) When you read the Superheroes and Villians episode LIV you should notice a reference to this period (or unperiod?) of my blogging. ;-)

Well I have several items of note, I'll start with the most recent first. My birthday was this Tuesday. I've now been residing on this terrestrial ball for twenty-four years! *sigh* I feel old (I know I'm not objectively old, I just feel like I am), I'm sure 25 will feel quite strange.

Along with that comes news of a couple birthday presents. The first is pictured to the right and below. When I moved out I left my mom with some of my favourite shirts that I didn't really have any reason to wear any more. After all I've been out of high school for six years this June, why would I want to wear a senior shirt from my high school anymore? Especially when it is on the other side of the country. Well my mom and dad went the extra mile and made me this quilt/bedspread for this birthday. Wow, I was quite surprised when I opened the package. I hadn't expected anything like this! Included are all of my school shirts--from my elementary schools, junior high, high school (including Academic Decathalon, PE, and my senior class shirt!), as well as several of my favourite Habitat animal shirts and a couple others. (I just realized that many not know about Habitat shirts. Their factory used to be located in Colorado--before they moved to Mexico--and we would buy "damaged shirts there." Usually there was little wrong with them, but the prices were great. Their shirts feature all kinds of wild animals and they usually make shirts for companies like Bush Gardens and other similar venues. All of the animals you can see on the quilt/bedspread are from Habitat shirts) You can also notice that she took smaller logos from the shirts and put them between the other squares, 'tis wonderful!

Oh, and the second picture is a bit messy because I just threw it on my bed for a picture, no thoughts being directed towards neatness at that particular moment.

The second "present" also comes from California. Last year my youngest older sister informed the family that she was pregnant. This is Erin, the one I lived near during college. Well her due date was early March, so of course I hoped for her baby to be born on my birthday. One of my nephews here was born on March 10th and I always tease my eldest sister Laurie about "waiting four more days." Well I now share a birthday with my 18th nephew! :-)

Now strawberries. Strawberries are my favourite food. I cannot get enough of them! This was fine growing up in California with stands literally just down the road. We always had plenty during the season and my parents would fix strawberry shortcake and strawberry pie. Mmmmm...delicious! Well moving to Kentucky has made finding decent strawberries difficult. Nowhere grows strawberries like Southern California, nowhere! Working in bigg's as I have I pass by the produce department every day, so I finally had to buy a box of strawberries for myself. These are huge California berries (I didn't take this picture until I had eaten most of them) that while not as good as those purchased from the stand weren't bad at all.

To make sure that my precious berries wouldn't get eaten by the rest of the family I labeled them very plainly: "Touch and Die! ~Matt" Of course then my sister had to leave her own note: "Not only did I touch them--I thoroughly licked and drooled on them : )" She is an evil person isn't she?

Okay, the job. Well they hired me telling me that I would be doing carts mainly and that housekeeping would come eventually--I shouldn't worry about such duties right now. Well of course it was housekeeping duties that I started off doing--then came carts, ;-). Now I do both fairly regularly, but they each have their ups and downs.

Carts is outside which can be good in nice weather, though it is more physical. But on the plus side I get quarters! The carts at bigg's connect to each other via small chains. To unhook a cart to use you need to place a quarter in the device on the handlebar. Once you return your cart and lock it into place your quarter pops out. It is a great way to encourage people to return carts to the cart corrals. Plus it keeps carts together when we cart people have to bring them in. Well sometimes people don't retrieve their quarters--and in that case we cart people get to keep them! My best day so far is $8.00!! My lowest was $.025 because I only retrieved one cart that day--every other day has been at least one dollar. Currently I have $45.25 in quarters in a jar. I'm considering saving until the jar is full and then I'll splurge on something, or many somethings! :-)


The other side of my duties is housekeeping. Once an hour I have to walk to about twenty places around the store and scan barcodes. Basically this ensures that I'm visually inspecting the floors of the stoor at least once an hour. In between the "logs" (as these scans are called) I go out and clean up reported spills, I clean the bathrooms, and I go out and help to bring in carts so as to retain my sanity and not just stand around bored. Sometimes I give myself a mission to find some product so that I can beter familarize myself with the store. The bad part of this job is that the store floors are quite hard (harder than the asphalt and concrete outside) and my feet are always sore after a shift indoors. I need to get new reliably waterproof boots anyway. I might make sure to get some gel insoles at the same time to help me out!



Now for some webcomic news. As you may not know I read an ever increasing number of webcomics. Yes, I definately have taste and there are many that I've tried that I'll never touch again. But I also have a good sized bookmark folder waiting for me to sort through, and if I like the comic, I want to go through and read all of the archives. I recently found three awesome strips by the same author. Nip and Tuck is about a pair of fox brothers. They're rednecks, but wonderfully sensible and conservative! Tales of the Questor is normally only published once a week I belive, but it is a larger full colour spread. It is an epic fantasy tale that often leaves me thinking that the author is a genius because he catches and plugs many potential plot holes before they can begin to leak! I've finished reading all of Nip and Tuck but I'm not quite yet done with Questor. Now another reason I'm enjoying it is because of the spiritual implications. I haven't figured out if it is true fantasy, sci-fi, or allegory--whatever it is it is awesome. Finally you have Under the Lemon Tree/Goblin Hollow (I'm not sure which is the real name). I've only started going through this one--but a while back it crossed over with another strip I read. It features Ben the bear and all the physical manifestations of his subconscious. It looks like great fun.

Please go and check these wonderful webcomics out, and if you can help the artist out by buying something. I'm very definately adding these to my list of comics I want (nay need! ;-)) to buy in book form.

Well thanks everyone for bugging me. I've been somewhat worn out for the past few weeks with many 14:00-22:00 and 15:00-23:00 shifts. Plus once I put something off like the work part of this post that action becomes habit and hard to break. ;-)

~Matt

PS Thanks to Wikipedia for the shopping cart image. The article alco contains a reference to the kind of carts that we use at bigg's:

Sometimes the customer has to pay a small deposit by inserting a coin, which is returned if and when the customer returns the cart to a designated cart parking point. Some retailers sell "trolley tokens" as an alternative to coins, often for charity. The mechanism can often be unlocked by inserting a keyinto the slot to open the lock.

We don't sell tokens, but they give them to the cart control employees so we don't have to use our own quarters to unlock and lock carts.

Um...stairs

Yeah, I, uh, fell down the stairs tonight. I was standing to the side to let my sister and nephew walk up and when I turned to start down again my foot must have come down wrong. The next thing I knew I was sliding down the stairs, bumping hard on each one and unable to grab anything to slow my descent. Yeah, it wasn't too much fun--I wouldn't recomend the experience.

Work today was slow--we did have 165 people, but that was mainly due to several school groups (mostly well behaved). I'm just glad we didn't do as bad as Monday (94)--our first day below 100, :(. Well I have to stay awake so that I can switch laundry loads, but at least I've got some webcomics I can read. :-) Of course I'm also back into the Deathstalker series (having checked all the volumes out from the library), but I'm mainly saving those for work.

~Matt