Next episode: MONDAY!Be here. It starts to get REAL. And keep an eye back for our weekend comics and some LoB Halloween Fan Art over the next few days!
Hm… it’s nice indeed to see Ganyon finally getting his dramatic due. And this Deryus is a Shadow Master (as he would be in my fictional Metacosmos) of the first order, able to turn one’s own fears against one. Wonder if Ganyon will figure out how to evade that trap…
“Geeks” usually weren’t “bad boys.” An exception might be Bill Gates.
Here, “bad boys” were “jerks,” “jocks”, and “gigolos” and very few women didn’t love them. The “bad boys” shared one thing in common: they were evil in one or more ways.
Well, I can’t really say that about Gates. He had a reputation for taking others’ inventions, but the question is whether those accusations were simply sour grapes or not. On the other hand, Microsoft (along with Intel, HP and others) was instrumental in replacing American computer workers with “free” labor from the East, so perhaps the “bad boy” appellation is correct.
Gates was instrumental in doing what Americans do best – finding a better way to make something. He took Apple’s original idea and made the computer accessible to everyone by bringing the costs down dramatically and promoting competition. He used an outside workforce because we in America were demanding too much. Had he not done so, the electronics industry as a whole would still be more over-priced than it is now.
.
So “bad guy”? Naw, just a smart guy who made money early in what was going to become a global economy anyway. And as things have turned out, I think he and his wife are doing much better things with it like feeding the world than others who have less money and just horde it and do things like run for political office.
Tim, you are correct. Bil Gates started the Gates foundation and is using most of his vast fortune for humanitarian efforts – clean drinking water, health education, vaccinations, etc.
He is now. In a way he’s trying to “buy his way into heaven”, but I’m glad he’s doing it. I wish he’d done the right thing before.
No, I knew many in the computer profession. What it amounted to was that the computer industry wanted “something for nothing.” And they got it.
I can’t respect them for that.
It’s not reasonable for to expect someone to take out $50,000, $100,000 or more in loans to get through computer hardware engineering, software engineering, computer science, etc., and then to whine when the worker needs something more than minimum wage.
But that is what the computer industry wanted. You had a lot of Pakistanis and Indians literally living in their cars in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Unfortunately, that idea of “something for nothing” has all but wrecked the American economy. From industry with ideas like “Free Trade” that bankrupted most of them, to at least a third of employers being flat-out dishonest in their dealings with employees, vendors, and the customers. Remember, I’m an SBO now and before that I worked in many fields and the trends by governments and business to “something for nothing” leaves a bad taste in the mouth. It’s one thing to offer things for free , like one of my books or articles that I offer for free. (The book represents a year and a half or work, so it’s not a small thing to give away, either. But I wanted people to read it as fast as possible.) Or this website, that is obviously a “labor of love.” It’s another thing to demand a worker’s wages not be paid or his/her products taken for nothing simply to pad one’s own wallet. We’ve become a nation of thieves. It’s a moral failure of the nation and after almost 20 years of that, we are literally coming apart.
Imagine if we had continued on the road we were on in 1990, with most business honest, most government honest (hard to believe today, right? But it was in 1990. No more.), the first nation in manufacturing, and the nation that held other country’s debts.
“Something for nothing” is largely what got us here.
I don’t doubt that Mr. Gates is now trying to make up for past sins. Perhaps marrying mellowed him out. Everything I’ve heard or read on the matter suggests that his wife Melinda is largely responsible for the charity work. A response to a project request some years back impressed me, and while the project was denied (saving the American Chestnut with samples of the very few remaining unblighted trees left in the Willamette Valley and Puget Sound— you will note if you research it that the efforts in recent years have almost exclusively been with European and Asian chestnuts, not in reintroducing blight-resistant American chestnuts— I know of one that wasn’t), the statement that they believed that “all human life” “was of equal value” was impressive.
I really liked that statement. While the Gates are not Christians, they are now acting in many ways like Christians are supposed to act. The Bible itself states that all people are equal in God’s sight.
It was impressive. Why? Because that idea of human egalitarian worth is the opposite of what has been pushed since the 1960s. Human life has become cheap. From environmentalists wanting 95% of humans to die off (I went to school with some of them) to today’s idea of the Rule of Law being tossed by dishonest judges.
“The Great Ganyon.” Coming from Shiarra, no less. I did not miss that moniker, and in a world populated with powerful magiks such as the Billverse … that is not an insignificant tell.
I eagerly await the day when we get to see Ganyon unleashing the depths of his power. I expect something akin to a tsunami of lightening rising up an entire mountain and dropping it upon his foe with but a mere wave of the stem of his pipe.
It’s always the quiet ones you have to really keep a careful eye upon …
maybe. Or Maybe he’s just letting Warrix do all the heavy lifting. Remember, ‘ol General Foztik is taking Maja the Gypsy to his boss, which didn’t seem to be tall, dark and ugly.
Hopefully Ganyon would learn something from his predecessor and have more sense than to turn around and drop his guard before the villain was entirely out of attack range.
I don’t see the updated colour version of the latest strip. Is it just me, or am I looking in the wrong spot? I would be disappointed if I wasn’t able to see Don’s awesome colouring of David’s artwork.
Hm… it’s nice indeed to see Ganyon finally getting his dramatic due. And this Deryus is a Shadow Master (as he would be in my fictional Metacosmos) of the first order, able to turn one’s own fears against one. Wonder if Ganyon will figure out how to evade that trap…
I suspect not as things would not otherwise be the way they are.
Could be, on the other hand they might be worse than they are if he didn’t. He lived through the experience, after all, as did Shiarra.
EVIL!
Like a mixture of lord of the rings and star wars- where gandalf replaces obi wan
Figures…..she’s falling for the bad boy bit…..
Let’s face it, geeks are sexy.
“Geeks” usually weren’t “bad boys.” An exception might be Bill Gates.
Here, “bad boys” were “jerks,” “jocks”, and “gigolos” and very few women didn’t love them. The “bad boys” shared one thing in common: they were evil in one or more ways.
Well, I can’t really say that about Gates. He had a reputation for taking others’ inventions, but the question is whether those accusations were simply sour grapes or not. On the other hand, Microsoft (along with Intel, HP and others) was instrumental in replacing American computer workers with “free” labor from the East, so perhaps the “bad boy” appellation is correct.
Gates was instrumental in doing what Americans do best – finding a better way to make something. He took Apple’s original idea and made the computer accessible to everyone by bringing the costs down dramatically and promoting competition. He used an outside workforce because we in America were demanding too much. Had he not done so, the electronics industry as a whole would still be more over-priced than it is now.
.
So “bad guy”? Naw, just a smart guy who made money early in what was going to become a global economy anyway. And as things have turned out, I think he and his wife are doing much better things with it like feeding the world than others who have less money and just horde it and do things like run for political office.
Tim, you are correct. Bil Gates started the Gates foundation and is using most of his vast fortune for humanitarian efforts – clean drinking water, health education, vaccinations, etc.
He is now. In a way he’s trying to “buy his way into heaven”, but I’m glad he’s doing it. I wish he’d done the right thing before.
No, I knew many in the computer profession. What it amounted to was that the computer industry wanted “something for nothing.” And they got it.
I can’t respect them for that.
It’s not reasonable for to expect someone to take out $50,000, $100,000 or more in loans to get through computer hardware engineering, software engineering, computer science, etc., and then to whine when the worker needs something more than minimum wage.
But that is what the computer industry wanted. You had a lot of Pakistanis and Indians literally living in their cars in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Unfortunately, that idea of “something for nothing” has all but wrecked the American economy. From industry with ideas like “Free Trade” that bankrupted most of them, to at least a third of employers being flat-out dishonest in their dealings with employees, vendors, and the customers. Remember, I’m an SBO now and before that I worked in many fields and the trends by governments and business to “something for nothing” leaves a bad taste in the mouth. It’s one thing to offer things for free , like one of my books or articles that I offer for free. (The book represents a year and a half or work, so it’s not a small thing to give away, either. But I wanted people to read it as fast as possible.) Or this website, that is obviously a “labor of love.” It’s another thing to demand a worker’s wages not be paid or his/her products taken for nothing simply to pad one’s own wallet. We’ve become a nation of thieves. It’s a moral failure of the nation and after almost 20 years of that, we are literally coming apart.
Imagine if we had continued on the road we were on in 1990, with most business honest, most government honest (hard to believe today, right? But it was in 1990. No more.), the first nation in manufacturing, and the nation that held other country’s debts.
“Something for nothing” is largely what got us here.
I don’t doubt that Mr. Gates is now trying to make up for past sins. Perhaps marrying mellowed him out. Everything I’ve heard or read on the matter suggests that his wife Melinda is largely responsible for the charity work. A response to a project request some years back impressed me, and while the project was denied (saving the American Chestnut with samples of the very few remaining unblighted trees left in the Willamette Valley and Puget Sound— you will note if you research it that the efforts in recent years have almost exclusively been with European and Asian chestnuts, not in reintroducing blight-resistant American chestnuts— I know of one that wasn’t), the statement that they believed that “all human life” “was of equal value” was impressive.
I really liked that statement. While the Gates are not Christians, they are now acting in many ways like Christians are supposed to act. The Bible itself states that all people are equal in God’s sight.
It was impressive. Why? Because that idea of human egalitarian worth is the opposite of what has been pushed since the 1960s. Human life has become cheap. From environmentalists wanting 95% of humans to die off (I went to school with some of them) to today’s idea of the Rule of Law being tossed by dishonest judges.
I think we have a winner for the “Longest Comment in LoB history” award!
It might be the mystery, the allure of the forbidden…or just being ever charming!
Hmm…I’m thinking that Deryus has anything but fatherly intentions towards Shiarra.
He looks dastardly, if I may be so bold
I can almost imagine him twirling his mustaches and tying damsels to railroad tracks…
Or then and there, leaving them bound to stakes before dragons’ caves.
That’s not a ‘twirly’ style mustache. The link below displays a ‘twirly’ style mustache.
http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m4uc21qq0Z1rnr274o1_500.jpg
“The Great Ganyon.” Coming from Shiarra, no less. I did not miss that moniker, and in a world populated with powerful magiks such as the Billverse … that is not an insignificant tell.
I eagerly await the day when we get to see Ganyon unleashing the depths of his power. I expect something akin to a tsunami of lightening rising up an entire mountain and dropping it upon his foe with but a mere wave of the stem of his pipe.
It’s always the quiet ones you have to really keep a careful eye upon …
Who knows, maybe Ganyon is the ultimate bad guy?!
3X,
Cue to thje scene in Fellowship of the Ring, “YOU SHALL NOT PASS!”. I can see Ganyon doing something like that.
maybe. Or Maybe he’s just letting Warrix do all the heavy lifting. Remember, ‘ol General Foztik is taking Maja the Gypsy to his boss, which didn’t seem to be tall, dark and ugly.
Hopefully Ganyon would learn something from his predecessor and have more sense than to turn around and drop his guard before the villain was entirely out of attack range.
I don’t see the updated colour version of the latest strip. Is it just me, or am I looking in the wrong spot? I would be disappointed if I wasn’t able to see Don’s awesome colouring of David’s artwork.
Jim,
Thanks! And I like the Avatar image.
Grrr…nevermind! I refreshed the page like four times without any luck and then once I comment it updates itself…
That just happened to me too!