Auntie Matter's come to town!

There were so many interesting news stories out there today in the collective consciousness we've dubbed the Internet.  Briefly, here's the news that snagged my attention on this chilly November day:

Coolest news first; ladies and gentlemen, we have antimatter!  Which, apparently we've actually been able to create for a while now, but never for more than an instant or two.

Scientists have long been able to create individual particles of antimatter such as anti-protons, anti-neutrons and positrons – the opposite of electrons. Since 2002, they have also managed to lump these particles together to form anti-atoms, but until recently none could be trapped for long enough to study them, because atoms made of antimatter and matter annihilate each other in a burst of energy upon contact.


Me being the comic book fan that I am, I naturally start thinking of the Anti Monitor as the next logical step in the antimatter journey.

Anti Monitor!

Also, if anyone can come up with a better pun about antimatter and/or dark matter, leave me a comment.  "Auntie Matter" took an embarrassingly long time to come up with.

A copyright lawsuit between the estates of Superman creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster and Warner Bros. is once again moving forward.  The outcome of this case should finally answer the question of who actually owns one of the most iconic creations in American history.  Not to mention set up a precedent for pretty much EVERY other creator/publisher conflict in comic books.  Which could potentially cause chaos on a heretofore unseen level.  Should be interesting.  (I first read about this on Bleeding Cool, for the record.)

NPR is still under fire for, well, firing Juan Williams.  They were the first on the "American Idol, but with Really Important Ramifications," choose-your-own-defund-adventure thing that the Republicans have been working on.  Thankfully, the sneaky defund play was tidily defeated by the lame duck Democratic majority still in the House.  A movement to defund after the new year could be a whole different story.  Hopefully they'll have forgotten about NPR by then and will be back to just hating minorities in general.

It may snow this weekend here in Bellingham.  Possibly even tonight.  Goddammit.

Also in Bellingham, it looks like City Council's going to push the implementation of "traffic safety cameras" onto a half-dozen areas.  They're expected to make an announcement next Monday during the scheduled meeting.  I gotta say, as someone who's been covering this story pretty closely, this really doesn't sound like a good idea.  The monthly operating costs on each of these cameras alone is equivalent to a decent middle-income salary, and it's all going out the door to third-party contractors in Arizona.  Not to mention that both sides of the local political spectrum seem pretty united against the cameras.  This probably won't end well.

So that's what got my attention today.  What'd I miss?