And thanks again!

To all the noble readers who posted reviews on Amazon, *completely* unprompted by me!  Really, that warms the cockles of my cold, cinderlike heart ...  (yes, I have a heart.  I'm not saying it's original issue or anything, though.)  Reviews are crucial to reassuring the timid buyer.  I can say "this book won't give you cooties, please, just read the sample and see!" all I want, but everyone knows the author is biased.  So again, thanks!

Thank You!

If the Amazon servers are to be believed, I've already sold 11 copies of my book!  You guys are the best invisible friends a blogger could hope for...

Now, go out and tell all *your* invisible friends about the book!  Have loud conversations about it in public places!  Buttonhole strangers in elevators!  Woohooo!

Sunday Funnies

-Schlock Mercenary The Gav ambassador makes drunken confessions.
-TwoLumps Ninjas steal leftovers.
-Girl Genius The Jaegers are ready to rumble.
-No Need For Bushido Uso is dead, and Yori needs medical attention.
-Delta Bravo Sierra The dangers of asking the cute chick out.
-xkcd
-Amya Accel really wants to leave now.
-Commander Kitty After being thrown into a wall, Commander Kitty feels like a spacer!
- Banished Rak meets a bounty hunter.

Not Updated, fie!

-Dresden Codak Dead computer has been resurrected, so new comic will appear soon!
-Lackadaisy No comic, but new art.
-Gone with the Blastwave Waiting patiently for the December January February March ah hell with it, he'll update whenever Iron Sky releases, I guess.
-My Ninja Family
-Argghhh-onauts is nekulturny.

Confession

Yes, your Humble Snarkatron has been keeping secrets from you--but no longer!  It's time to come clean.

Secret #1: I'm a writer.
Secret #2: I just published my first book, a fantasy, and it's available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble as an ebook.
Secret #3: Read more at my writing website!

QuickSnarks

-Annexation: The Forces of Good (that would be the no-annexation folks) are currently ahead by over 400 votes compared to the morally-compromised sign-stealing pro-annexation people.  As I recall the area in question has around 10,000 people and over 7,000 have voted, which is pretty good turnout.  They don't certify the results for another week, alas, so I won't know if my freedom to keep an attack goat on my property has been preserved until then.  (gnaws nails)

-Penn State: Your Humble Snarkatron obtained her graduate degree from Penn State.  It appears the child molestation happened well after my departure from Happy Valley, and I never had much to do with the football program (except to craft some Rabelaisian curses, at gunnery-sergeant level, when I discovered my vehicle had been towed, at 11:30 pm, in order to clear the parking lot so the alumni could park their RVs in comfort for an upcoming game.)  I can say this--Penn State was hard core about keeping student athletes on their chosen academic track.  As a teaching assistant I (briefly) had a student athlete on my rolls, and I was required to give semi-quarterly letter grade evaluations of said student.  Fortunately the student switched classes because that would have been a major headache, given we didn't assign *letter* grades until the end of the semester.  However, I did notice that football was the graven image of Penn State's idolatry, and it isn't very surprising that concealment of a heinous crime took place if exposure would have threatened the program.  There's still more data coming out, and the main witness who supposedly witnessed an actual rape is changing his story in interesting ways.  I spent six years at Penn State, and while JoePa and I weren't best buds he didn't strike me as the kind of man who would cover up child rape for any reason.  Even football.  I guess we'll find out more as things progress--but I like Sarah Palin's idea involving rope and a tree for Sandusky.

-Lack of Posting Lately:  Yes, I have been lax.  However, I have a really good excuse.  Expect an announcement Thanksgiving Day--and if you can't wait that long, go here.

I want my yard sign back, you SOB!

Tomorrow is Election Day.  Not much of national, or even state import going on.  But locally, oh my.  See, I live in the Wild Frontier, outside a proper city.  Unincorporated county land.  Works great.  Sure, when I need a cop I call the Sheriff, but other than that it is mostly remarkable for the lack of stupid regulations.

I like it that way.

Not everybody does.  One particular busybody has been trying to make ALL of us out here join the nearby city, for the last ten years.  The annexation initiative is on the ballot.  I won't bore you with the ins and outs of why this is a spectacularly bad idea--it is enough that Snarkatron Disapproves.  And, I had a nice official sign stating words to that effect in my yard. 

Note the tense.

Some microencephalitic hominid decided to remove it tonight, lest it pollute the eyes of other voters and make them think dangerous, anti-annexation thoughts.  This is the Pacific Northwest, and drainage is a way of life.  There is a serious, moatlike ditch protecting my property.  To remove the sign, said drooling idiot had to trespass on my property.  HOW I would love to kick them in the shins for their audacity!

Instead, I made another sign.  It isn't nearly as pretty, but it gets the point across.  Especially the fine print at the bottom.  "Go ahead, steal this sign.  I'll just make more."  Have people completely forgotten what democracy means?  Do they ever wonder WHY we have elections, if all the good people think exactly the same things?  Never mind don't answer that ....

More expensive for whom?

So now Official Government Apparatchiks are floating the idea that really you don't need to take those scary preventative screening tests so often.  You know, the ones that detect early cancer?  So maybe you can treat it before it kills you?  You see, it's expensive.  Quoted from the link:

• The screening tests themselves are often expensive.
• Screening tests often produce false positive results, so additional (often invasive and always costly) testing will need to be done to confirm or deny the diagnosis.
• If the diagnosis is made, treatment will be applied which is often dreadfully expensive.
• The diagnostic testing is often “too sensitive,” such that it may make a positive diagnosis for a very early condition that, if it had been left alone, may not have done serious harm. The cost of treatment will therefore be wasted.
• The screening test, the confirmatory tests, and the treatments that will be applied as a result of screening all carry the risk of complications, and the treatment of these complications can be extraordinarily costly.
• If the patient’s life is saved by the screening test and subsequent therapy, that patient (who is often an Old Fart like DrRich) will persist, for several more years, to soak younger, worthier Americans for Social Security and Medicare payments; and worse, will ultimately develop some other expensive medical problem everyone else will have to pay for.

Snarkatron is not aware of any value assigned by the Death Panel for the individual patient's life, which is usually of IMMENSE value to said individual and worth all the costs of screening and treatment.  If the government is going to refuse to pay to save my life and deny me the ability to pay for it myself, they are going to be in a world of hurt. That money isn't wasted from my perspective, just from the Death Panel's.  So, let me keep my money!