Back in a comic strip from the 80s, cartoon characters in Bloom County were watching television and were torn if they were seeing footage of a real terrorist attack or just part of an action movie. Were real people dying or were they just watching extras in The A-Team doing their jobs? Should they enjoy it or not?

This is the first drawing I made to run through a filter so naturally none of the filters made much of an improvement. I drew a roach before and it was better than this one.

This was done during work so I don’t feel crushed by it failing. At least it isn’t another Lex Luthor variation.

I thought I had posted about Corinthians before but can’t find anything. According to some of my old notes, this is the seventh time that I’ve read these Epistles but I barely remember anything. For what it’s worth, here are a few passages that stood out:

Well, this is grotesque but it’s another step in completing my Lex Luthor/ Ultra-Humanite cartoon. Here, Gerard Shugel, the future Humanite, is finally ready to rebel against Luthor.

It was a pencil drawing put through a water color filter. It’s not a huge segment but I hope it’s enough to work.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote The Lost World, one of the greatest dinosaur novels of all time. Okay, that might be because there aren’t as many dinosaur novels as quirky relationship stories but I love The Lost World. It’s usually described as science fiction but now I’m wondering. If I write a story set in the Cretaceous Period, is that automatically science fiction or is it historic?

Yesterday I filled out all the numbers but never hit the publish button. At this point, I’m not even surprised.

Here’s how I did last week:

Another week flashed by and I don’t have a whole lot to show from it. I did use the elliptical machine every day. Better than nothing.

Yesterday I finished my new year’s resolution to do 20 good deeds, 19 of which were picking up 50 pieces of litter. As in previous years, when I finish a resolution early, I set a new one, usually based on the first.

I was going to make it another 32 good acts so with the original 20, it would work out to one a week for the year. Then walking to and from work today, I picked up 81 pieces of trash, making 32 acts seem to easy.

So Resolution 21 is to do another 84 acts of service or volunteering, working out to two a week. I’m going to try something more substantial but I’m foreseeing a lot of trash in my future.

I’ve been in a race between completing one of my new year’s resolutions or being mathematically eliminated from one. I was worried but tonight I finished Resolution #14: 20 acts of service/volunteering.

I may not be writing or losing weight. My exercise goals might be far behind and I haven’t been supporting local artists or making home improvements. But there’s one area in which I excel–picking up trash.

So far this year, I donated blood once and picked up 950 pieces of trash. I’m not sure what to do next. It will probably involve garbage to some degree.

I was looking up information about state flowers and trees and found George Earlie Shankle’s State Names, Flags, Seals, Songs, Birds, Flowers, and Other Symbols.

The book would have been useful back in 1941 when it was written but is outdated in this futuristic era of 50 states.

I was sure the Buckeye be listed as Ohio’s state tree but it wasn’t adopted until 1953. No state song is listed (“Beautiful Ohio” wasn’t adopted until 1969), much less “Hang on Sloopy” (official rock song, adopted 1985). Considering the book was published when Elvis was six, not including official rock songs isn’t entirely surprising.

A few minor surprises:

When State Names, Flags, Seals, Songs, Birds, Flowers, and Other Symbols was hot off the press, only Arizona and Oklahoma had official state colors. Now 11 other states do with many, like Ohio with unofficial colors.

“Seventeen of the forty-eight states have apiarists.” Today, all of them have bee-keepers but I can’t tell how many are governmental.

South Carolina has an official state sword. I thought it would be a type of sword like a Claymore or Katana but, no, it’s one individual sword in the state senate.

I shall make it my mission for Ohio to adopt the Katzbalger as the official state sword. I wouldn’t bet that I’ll be successful.