Oh wow, is it actually going to let me post an update?  That would be so cool.  (copied almost verbatim from my new Tumblr, that I made with Blogspot wasn't letting me log in.

Planning to start posting a weekly-kind-of summary of current events called Happy/Sad/Weird.  In it, I would summarize all of the news that I have read over the week into a few blurbs and invite commentary.  Like so.

Happy: The reproductive revolution.  Women choose not to be baby factories, ALL OF EARTH’S PROBLEMS ARE SOLVED.  Eventually, guys.  The effects aren’t gonna happen overnight.  

Sad: Google Syria right now. Result: Syria is a nightmare hellscape of blood, screaming, and the tears of the innocent.  Weapons go in, tanks with children tied to them as shields come out.  Russia and China don’t care.  They just want to sell guns.

Weird: Giant spiders attacking people in India.  They aren’t poisonous, but would you want a giant spider flinging itself at you, fangs out?  Apparently, unlike most gentle arachnids who would rather flee than bite a being hundreds to thousands of times their size, these guys get enraged and attack anything that moves near them.

This is just a sampling of what caught my attention in current news.  Any thoughts?

I also want to feature an extinct animal on my blog in every post.  I love extinct animals.  Especially dinosaurs and marine reptiles.  I think we should start with my favorite dinosaur, Troodon.  

When I was little, I drew my first comics, starring human-sized, bipedal, omnivorous dinos that relied on intelligence to outwit a bully tyrannosaur.  I had seen them on a tv special, but did not remember what they were called.  The dino was never mentioned in books, so I for a long time I figured I must have been thinking of ostrich or raptor dinosaurs and drawing them wrong. Later I found out that the oft overlooked animal was Troodon! 

This roughly man-sized, feathery little predator captured my heart because it was one of the smartest- if not the smartest- dinosaurs of all time.  Of all time!  I have always preferred bipedal dinosaurs, and meat-eaters at that, because the big plant eaters remind me of cows.  Few things are more boring than cows, you guys.  Seriously.  Troodon was a little guy compared to other dinos, meaning it probably lost kills to enterprising Tyrannosaurs and had to be careful at all times to avoid becoming a meal itself. This might seem silly, but the idea of tough little Troodon making it in the big scary world of dinosaurs gave me confidence in facing the big scary world of public school.  

Things That Are Trying to Kill You, Part One:  Teflon

Specifically, Teflon cookware.
Are we so afraid to scrub a pot that we would rather ingest foul-tasting toxic film with every meal?  Also, the scratches your cooking utensils gouge into the flimsy Teflon layer will harbor bacteria, mold, and allergens like wheat gluten.  In short, Teflon is trying to kill you.

There are alternatives.  People have been cooking in cast iron since the day it was discovered all those millenia ago. We have fashioned it into the lighter and more durable stainless steel.  And we have revived the very first cooking vessel: ceramic.  All of these are non-toxic cooking options that do not get gouges or peel.  You may be surprised to find out that they are incredibly low maintenance and durable!  Let's review.

Stainless steel pots are actually quite easy to clean.  Boiling water is fast an easy because steel is a metal and conducts heat very well when not layered with weird chemicals like Teflon.  Used as a skillet it must be greased in some fashion, and if forgotten on a skillet food will burn and leave a stain, but this is easily removed. Just spray the mark with oven cleaner and wait a day.  Then you can rinse with dish soap and the marks will wipe off easily.  If one application doesn't work, two or three will finish the job.  Oven cleaner is magical. Superficial scratches on steel do not harbor filth like the deep gouges that Teflon acquires.

If that still seems like too much work, get a ceramic pot.  Nothing sticks to ceramic.  It takes a wee bit longer to heat up, but it cooks very evenly and almost never burns the food.  Ceramic is a breeze to clean and you likely won't ever scratch it because you won't have to scrape anything off of it in the first place.

I just want to point out that I am writing this simply because I hate Teflon.  No one paid me anything, I just like ranting.  Speaking of ranting, it really should not be so hard to find a pangolin stuffed animal.  Pangolins are awesome.  Pangolins, for those who don't know, are real live animals that live in Asia and look like the pokemon sandshrew.

Maybe you saw me at Art-A-Whirl?  I forgot to say I would be there.  Shame on me.  But I will be at Minneapolis Zinefest this year!  You should go.