RIP Peter O' Donnell

Gacked from rozk

Peter O'Donnell, the creator of Modesty Blaise, has passed away peacefully at 90.

I loved his early books and liked most of his later works, and the strips were almost unfailingly intelligent. I wasn't a huge fan of his politics, which never really got out of the cold war, but in most other respects he was one of my favourite authors.

I'm wondering if there will be a sudden flurry of interest, if Tarantino will finally make the MB film he was allegedly thinking about, etc. etc. and praying that his estate don't sell off the rights in the manner of the James Bond franchise, with endless crappy novels.

Later - found by speakr2customrs

http://www.mi6.co.uk/news/index.php?itemid=8545&t=mi6&s=news

Election

With less than 24 hours before the UK elections begin (and the council elections in most constituencies) I might as well add my voice to everyone else who is saying that if you don't vote, you have no good reason to be upset about the results. Parties win because people vote for them - you might think that your preferred candidate doesn't have a chance, but if you don't vote on that basis it's a self-fulfilling prophecy.

One other thing worth pointing out is that you don't necessarily have to vote for the same party in the national and local elections. This seems to be a tough one for many people, but local council politics are a very different thing to running the country. Think of the Government vote as your strategic vote for the long term; The Council vote is your tactical vote, and actually more likely to have an immediate effect on your life.

later feorag points out that if none of the candidates appeal a spoilt ballot is a way of expressing a protest - but make sure it can't possibly be interpreted as a vote for any candidate!

XKCD blog

If anyone didn't know, there's an XKCD blog as well as the strip. I've set up an ID for the feed as xkcd_blog

For Dr. Horrible Fans Everywhere

Doctor Horrible reinterpreted in the style of an 8-bit video game...

http://www.doctoroctoroc.com/8-bit-dr-horrible/watch.html

Not actually a playable game, unfortunately.