tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-40530497630523797462011-12-16T10:35:37.030-08:00Whatever I feel like writing about, in 4000 characters or less. (Or possibly more.)FourKCharshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00115172297139782392noreply@blogger.comBlogger171100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4053049763052379746.post-55374706927867582772009-04-03T16:47:00.000-07:002009-04-03T16:48:06.288-07:00

What? This is still saved as a Draft? Sorry, I thought I had posted it already. Let's try this again:I realize it's been a while since I posted on Four Thousand Characters, or produced any more of those ASMIC! cartoons. (And don't get me started about Way of the Dodo! I don't seriously expect to be coming back to it any time soon.)I can say that I've been busy. I'm pleased to be able to report

FourKCharshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00115172297139782392noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4053049763052379746.post-23238401704961215752009-01-14T16:14:00.000-08:002009-01-27T18:57:52.389-08:00

It's January 2009. As I'm fond of pointing out, we were supposed to have flying cars and cities on the moon by now.Well, I don't know about Lunar colonies yet, but flying cars may be here sooner than you think! (Again, I know we've been hearing that for years. Just trust me on this.)According to CNN, a team of British inventors are planning to take their prototype flying dune buggy on a trip from

FourKCharshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00115172297139782392noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4053049763052379746.post-28991552190800583802008-12-12T08:30:00.000-08:002008-12-13T08:27:42.123-08:00

(I've been out of work for an absolutely ridiculous amount of time. So I'll have to ask you to excuse the following, which is written out of sheer mindless frustration. I'm having a really bad month.)I've read that archaeologists recently dug up a mysterious stone tablet in the Middle East. No one really knows for sure where it came from. Faintly visible on it is an inscription that roughly

FourKCharshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00115172297139782392noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4053049763052379746.post-28246605807685300802008-12-10T16:15:00.000-08:002008-12-19T15:52:13.859-08:00

I hate for this blog to start turning into a beg-fest, especially considering how long it's been since I posted anything. But I'm at one of those places where money is getting very tight right now. Certainly I'm not going to ask for something for nothing, so let me draw your attention to a few things.First, I've got a stack of antique books, which I've had advertised on Craigslist since they were

FourKCharshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00115172297139782392noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4053049763052379746.post-90775722538393047502008-08-29T17:44:00.000-07:002008-08-29T17:48:24.177-07:00

In 2003, I applied to a creative position with an advertising agency. I wrote this to include with a collection of writing samples that I sent to them, in order to show them how versatile I could be. I never heard back from them.I had planned to write a fictitious software manual, based on the manual for the last major project I worked on at my last IT job. But in the interest of not skirting

FourKCharshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00115172297139782392noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4053049763052379746.post-63530986923996831092008-08-28T18:37:00.000-07:002008-08-28T18:52:05.724-07:00

Okay, yes, as I've said before, I created this blog to be an online portfolio for whatever writing or cartooning samples I might happen to produce. The following doesn't fit into that category. I did not make this, I just found it on Current.com and thought it was cool enough to draw attention to:Hopefully, this isn't a glimpse of what lies ahead for America!

FourKCharshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00115172297139782392noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4053049763052379746.post-80053543133708779272008-08-18T10:32:00.000-07:002008-08-18T10:38:13.695-07:00

Safari users,The setting is just for show:"Block Pop-ups," doesn't.

FourKCharshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00115172297139782392noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4053049763052379746.post-65375885920031858412008-08-16T12:43:00.000-07:002008-08-17T09:55:32.531-07:00

You know that old expression, "You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar?" Well, it turns out that you can catch more fruit flies with pear juice than with vinegar.Yes, sad to say, I've had a few uninvited houseguests to deal with. Those little bugs are far more annoying than the annual ant invasions of my childhood. Plus, I 'd swear that they're equipped with stealth technology. You

FourKCharshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00115172297139782392noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4053049763052379746.post-13458057552271695162008-08-01T10:13:00.001-07:002008-08-01T10:25:43.079-07:00

. . . Just not here.Yeah, this is one of those "I'm not dead" posts that you sometimes see on an inactive blog or webcomic.I'm working on another project that isn't for this blog. It's still in the early stages of development, but I'm hopeful that I'll be able to bring it to fruition in the not too distant future. I'll let you know more about that when I've got something to report.Also, I've set

FourKCharshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00115172297139782392noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4053049763052379746.post-28664901788987317612008-06-30T08:54:00.000-07:002008-07-10T10:12:28.373-07:00

It's odd. I can write. I know I can.Between 2003 and last year, I wrote any number of "news" articles for the Way of the Dodo site, not to mention the commentaries that accompanied most of the comics. At my last IT job, too many years ago now, I used to write software manuals for some of the more complex programs I created. Around that same time period, I was contributing regularly to the church

FourKCharshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00115172297139782392noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4053049763052379746.post-18096207658033892812008-05-19T10:27:00.000-07:002008-05-19T10:28:13.320-07:00

A while back, I read an article about yet another government official taking yet another threatening posture toward Iran. I have to wonder if I'm the only one who finds such chest-beating disturbing. Apparently one unending quagmire of a Middle East invasion is not enough for some people.I dealt with my frustration by jotting down a tongue-in-cheek list of my Top 10 reasons why we're probably

FourKCharshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00115172297139782392noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4053049763052379746.post-87034810500672708572008-04-29T13:05:00.000-07:002008-04-29T14:20:37.311-07:00

As I've said before, GMail is pretty good at filtering Spam out of my inbox. All I have to do is glance over the contents of my Spam folder a couple of times a day, make sure there's nothing important in there (there usually isn't), and delete everything.However, one item caught my eye this afternoon. With the exception of a few small omissions, I submit it here exactly as it appeared in my Spam

FourKCharshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00115172297139782392noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4053049763052379746.post-32054101746171248862008-04-19T14:45:00.000-07:002008-04-19T14:46:30.200-07:00

"MAKE MONEY ONLINE!""Earn $$$ while you brush your teeth!!""BIG BUX CAN BE YOURS!!! You don't even have to haul your lazy backside out of that chair! Click NOW!"These days, it seems that the Internet is full of sites that promise to let you make money online, usually for little or no effort. You've got your work-at-home programs, legitimate and (all too often) not. You've got sites that claim to

FourKCharshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00115172297139782392noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4053049763052379746.post-33053541459456555872008-04-09T13:49:00.000-07:002008-04-09T14:07:22.718-07:00

Well, I said I might post some cartoons as the mood struck me. It's striking, so I'm posting.The following are part of my Amateur Night gallery on Shareapic.com. Amateur Night is a 2008 revival of a 2002 revival of an idea I've been carrying around in some form since the early 1990s. It was my first attempt at newspaper syndication, when I was trying to break into that field. And now it

FourKCharshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00115172297139782392noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4053049763052379746.post-48999132914767431942008-04-01T16:05:00.000-07:002008-04-01T16:14:36.615-07:00

To be honest, at first I wasn't too sure I should believe this news. After all, what day is this?But CNN is now reporting that Wal-Mart has decided to back off and let the Shank family keep the money. You can find the article here. That's great news, and I applaud Wal-Mart for putting people ahead of money. See, guys? Doesn't that feel good?Still, I have to wonder. The next time some big

FourKCharshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00115172297139782392noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4053049763052379746.post-82692235654004969472008-03-30T17:02:00.000-07:002008-03-31T15:38:40.836-07:00

Say that you're in charge of a multi-billion-with-a-b-dollar corporation. You've got stores around the world, with new ones opening almost daily. Your company's name is a household word. Sure, there's some criticism of your practices. You're getting a bad reputation in some circles. Critics harp on you over the way you treat your staff, where you get most of your merchandise from, things like

FourKCharshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00115172297139782392noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4053049763052379746.post-45527813771841307952008-03-23T13:24:00.000-07:002008-03-24T07:57:56.344-07:00

So here I am, getting ready to join the twenty billion or so people with blogs or Livejournals or some such on this Internet thing. Which is especially scary when you consider that there are only a little over six billion people on Earth.And yes, I freely admit that I'm one more wannabe writer who's latched onto the idea of using a blog as a creative outlet. So bear with me while I ramble a bit

FourKCharshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00115172297139782392noreply@blogger.com0