Jade Fountain

We have eaten at Jade Fountain before but it had been a while. As always a great variety of items including their own specialties. We also biked here and back so we’re able to work off some of the calories.

As most dim sum places, folks came around with food on carts for us to choose from, but even though we were there when it opened at 10am things didn't get going till 1015. They also had a robot food trolley programmed to go to the tables. It still needed a human to mark off our choices.

Blake and Mortimer Comics

The Blake and Mortimer series was created, written, and drawn by Edgar P. Jakobs in Belgian. It first appeared in Tintin magazine in 1946, invited by his good friend Herge. Jacobs event was a colorist and eventual assistant illustrator and story developer for the "Adventures of Tintin" works but was never credited. He made seven stories, some with multiple parts, until 1977 when he became involved in other projects after the first part of Professor Sato's Three Formulae when Jacobs died and another fellow finished the art. Then the Jacobs estate allowed Dargard to continue with the series and they have published sixteen stories, some with multiple parts including one published just this year. The series has been republished in multiple languages, including English.

I received these two collected stories during the Jacobs years for Christmas one year and enjoyed them. Blake is a British officer who works for the intelligence services while Mortimer is a brilliant scientist. They met when young men, featured as a flashback in "The Sarcophagi of the Sixth Continent", and have been close friends ever since. Stories generally involve one or both of them either being sent to investigate something or becoming aware of something by happenstance. The something is generally of a danger to a significant amount of people if not the entire world. The science involved can be fantastical but no more than any thriller novel.

The adventure, mystery, and super science that is unveiled as the story unfolds is good fun. Jacobs backgrounds and distinctive foreground activity is very well drawn.  

I recently participated in a Humble Bundle that had many European comics available through izneo. Humble Bundle is a company that offers discounted video games, comics, ebooks, software and such from different publishers in exchange for a donation to a charity. I have participated in a few of them. As part of the Humble Bundle there was a one month free subscription to izneo. When I saw that they had much of the Blake and Mortimer series available with the subscription I started reading those first and was quite happy I did: Secret of the Swordfish pt 1-3, Mystery of the Great Pyramid pt 1-2, The Time Trap, The Necklace Affair, The Francis Blake Affair, The Voronov Plot, The Strange Encounter, and The Sarcophagi of the Sixth Continent. I give them four out of five stars and would have read more if they were part of the subscription.

The Good Place

The Good Place is one of those television series that breaks genres and entertains while it enlightens. It is also one of those series where not much can be given away because the reveals that occur are incredibly rewarding. The starting premise is that Eleanor (Kristin Bell) is greeted after death by the architect (Ted Danson), tells her she is in the good place, and that this is her reward for the things she did on earth. The problem is that she was not a nice person and proceeds to rope others, as the first season progresses, to be educated in ethics so they blend in better while glitches occur around them because of their abnormality in the good place. Season two, three, and four change the goals of the characters due to the circumstances also changing. It also makes moral philosophy interesting, interactive in many bizarre and comedic ways, and has topics that stick with you.

The shows are a half hour long, brilliantly written and acted, and lasts long enough at 50 episodes to tell the story to a satisfying arc. One of the best shows I have watched. Period.

The wiki link to "The Good Place" if needed but best to just watch it first. Trust me.

Larry Gonick's Cartoon History of the Universe and more

 Larry Gonick has a long and celebrated career. A mathematician by education he moved to cartooning full time. His Cartoon History of the Universe was published in installments from 1977 to 2009. I read the first two in the 1990's, third in the 2000's and this year picked up the Modern World volumes. They are a masterpiece of casual history that focuses on the pertinent events and people that influenced the history of a region or entire world. Add to that his humorous sarcasm and wit and you have a fun tour of the history of Earth.

He has also made other books, for instance a book specifically on the History of the United States, pictured above. He has also made books about statistics (which I have also read), mathematics, physics, genetics, environment, computers, calculus, algebra, biology, sex, and hyper-capitalism. His style of drawing and explanations assist the reader in learning about a variety of subjects. For instance I was quite surprised how much I learned about statistics and that book was loaned to a friend's daughter who was learning it in university. 

So if you would like a fun way to learn, give his books a try.