Just another nerd.
Like all the other DC Direct 1:6 scale female figure, the hair on this Zatanna figure is molded plastic which is a major annoyance. But if you can get past that, this isn’t a half-bad figure. And since nobody seems to collect Zatanna, this figure which has an MSRP of $99.99 and was released in November 2009 can already be found for about $60 online.
Tapping Into the World of Comics is an interesting SlideShare.net presentation on using online tools to create comic books in the classroom. Some very good ideas in there.
Occasionally, helpful relatives buy one of my kids a telescope. Telescopes marketed at children are garbage — you’d be better off burning the money you spent on it for heat. There’s a nice Epinions article from 2001, Don’t Buy a Child a Telescope!, that outlines the problems with these toy telescopes and recommends a better method of getting children interested in observing the night skies,
There doesn’t exist a telescope that is really of any value, other than for the imagination, designed for a child under 12 years.
When we get them, they may spark an interest, and certainly a night, maybe two or more of observing the moon, maybe even Jupiter or Venus, but mostly they collect dust.
Why?
a. Because department & camera store telescopes are ALL toys that are of very little use for viewing anything except the moon (“real” telescopes cost more than US$200),
b. Until you have gained some experience, there is really very little to “see” in the sky that a child can’t see with his or her own eyes, or with the assistance of a pair of binoculars,
c. It’s much more satisfying for a child to “learn” astronomy in stages than to be disappointed and discouraged by a cheap optical instrument.
The author instead recommends a good pair of binoculars and a good skywatching book geared toward children. Very good advice indeed.
TOSBack.org is a project run by the Electronic Frontier Foundation that tracks changes in the Terms of Service of various technology companies, from cell phone companies to social networking sites and beyond.
The really cool thing is every time a TOS changes, TOSBack.org displays the old and new TOS side-by-side with all changes highlighted so it is easy to tell exactly what has changed (although figuring out what all that legalese actually means may not be quite so easy).
In my opinion, this Simpons Comics #68 cover may be the best cover in the history of comics.
