Ravy 2011 Pg. 38.

If you don't click here now, it may be too late.

Ain't nothing like forgetting those tiny little details that causes you to have to do a last minute mad dash to fix things.

Win 8: Fail Great.

I know it's too soon, but I am annoyed within five minutes of using it. Greeted with the touch interface. Click on desktop and goes to what looks like Win Vista. Want to play Solitaire? Click on the Start button and go right back to Touch. Click on Explorer to get to Libraries. Then you can get to My Computer. Now I'm really annoyed because I now have to dig through many folders to find Solitaire. Then I realize that I have forgotten the filename used. You see the name you see in the Start menu is not what is used in Programs and other folders.

There's MS Paint. Just as buggy as it is in Win 7. XP Paint still works. I transferred it over it open and works fine. Except the fact it adopts all the bugs too.

I only tried the Ink Pad app, much to my dismay I couldn't close it. I'm guessing that there is supposed to be a button on whatever pad device Win 8 is going on the closes apps, but you still need that close button in the app itself. Had to Ctrl-Alt-Delete to close it.

I've only tried it for an hour, not loaded any other programs, and don't have any drivers. I'll continue looking at it and report back.

Download it here:

How Other Comics Annoy Me Personally: Part One.

Another multiparter, This one is tentatively planned for three. No promises.

As a reader of several webcomics, there are things in the web design that annoy me. When talking about it I'm not doing it as a programmer. I'm going to say my peace as a consumer. (What's that saying? Those who can't... criticize?)

The first is on navigation. There's more than one comic, so how do you navigate to those others? Sometimes funny symbols are used. The symbols blend into the background. Java scripting and Flash is used and therefore is not usable because they are blocked by the browser. With text sometimes the background color obscures the text link. People will use words not native to themselves. And I'm left guessing what it is I have to do to find the previous comic. Other times you can't find home link in the real tiny text on the bottom left underneath all the blogging.

Is there any real solution to archives? Drop down menus, calenders, lists, to just flat out nothing at all. I understand that there may really be no silver bullet especially for those letting a free service do that archiving for them.

Don't blind the reader. And don't give them an epileptic fit. Use colors that let the text be readable. Bright pinks, reds, yellows will send me away getting the eye drops and an insulin shot. Don't send people from a really dark page to a white page. That really hurts my eyes. As an example go to Page 50 of Season 20. Click on the Dr. Wily logo at the top. Just remember, you don't have to click on it. It's not like I have your cat or anything.

Hiding the comic. I hate this. I go to website that is abstemiously about a comic strip. Instead I'm greeted by the cartoonist's Bob Zany like zeal in selling merch. So you have to scroll down to read the comic. Keep the comic above the fold. So that it can be read first thing. Have some title graphic, some links that you think are important, but please center the comic at eye level. If you must tell us about how much up some other cartoonist's ass you nose is or how you can't get enough of some obscure Japanese video game; PUH-LEASE put it below the comic or a link to some other page.

Don't put the comic on some other page. I'm going to your comic's home page I would like to think I'm going to see a comics strip. I don't want to have to click on “current/newest/latest comic” just to have to click on link to click on a thumbnail view to click on another thumbnail to get blinded because now I'm staring center of a white background.

And why are there still “click here to enter” pages that are just “click here to enter?”

Ravy 2011 Pg. 37.

Click Here.

I do an occasional comic for my Facebook friends. Yes, I still have some. I call it Penelope for Your Thoughts. It's news with Cajun Bob Vivant:  Penny Bell. The format I use is is a news broadcast with Op and Penny. (Ravy is currently on another assignment.) I've been using that system to kind of explain in long, drawn out, and painfully inaccurate ways on how I make these comics.

“No Great Economic Sacrifice;” Are You Kidding Me?

Tooling around trying to find something on the radio to listen to, I fall upon a daytime talk show. The guest on at the time was talking about the War on Terror. He made a point that there has been no call for economic sacrifice. He meant stuff like Victory Gardens, scrap metal recycling, buy war bonds, and bring back the Steel Penny. While true, the guest hadn't thought it through and I was ticked that the host hadn't challenged that statement.

I'll pick up the slack.

There has been great economic sacrifice. One way is the call to duty by the military. The military is essentially divided into two main parts: Active and Guard/Reserve. The Active Duty's impact on the economy is that when a unit deploys that's anywhere from 100 to 1000 people no longer participating in the local economy for at least a year. That number of people not buying food, gas, clothes, music, books, movies, manga, going to baseball games, dry cleaning, military surplus, and going to strip clubs. That can really hurt a small community that is completely dependent on the military customers for its business. And businesses can go away for good leaving employees without jobs.

I will put myself into a potentially hazardous situation and say the when a Guard or Reserve unit deploys, that can even be more detrimental. Why? Who makes up one of these units? Unlike an Active unit that is made up of people from all over America, and in some cases all over the world. A Guard unit is made up of people from the local towns, cities, counties, and states. These people are not soldiers 24/7. When not doing the two weekends a month and two weeks out of the summer; they are going to their day jobs. People like plumbers, carpenters, truckers, managers, telemarketers, cops, firefighters, lawyers, judges, politicians, and strippers.

These citizen soldiers are activated and become full time soldiers for at least two years. A year to train up and deploy then redeploy. And a year on the actual deployment. That's two years of not participating in the local economy. Especially if you are making less as a soldier than a garbage collector. On top of that businesses have just lost several employees and now must scramble to fill those positions. It costs a business a lot of money to hire someone, even just temporarily to fill a slot. These businesses are losing customers because they can't fulfill the customer orders. Those customers are losing business because they are scrambling to fill slots left open by deploying Guard/Reserve employees.

Two years later the citizen soldier comes home gets their job back (hopefully, I've heard stories) and one year later does it all again.

So even though you are not seeing a flood of ads to join the Army in the national interest, doesn't mean that there hasn't been a call for great economic sacrifice.