I will be at gencon this weekend! Come find me at booth #1537 with a bunch of my great cartoonist friends!

Hey there! I am pleased to announce that I have a new album out! It is instrumental metal and is about our oncoming climate apocalypse. Check it out below, and if you like what you hear, feel free to purchase a copy!

leash your dang dogs!

Welcome to The Great Hall of Poets, our regular monthly feature showcasing the talent of Middle-earth fans. Each month we will feature a small selection of the poems submitted, but we hope you will read all of the poems that we have received here in our Great Hall of Poets. So come and join us by […]

TheOneRing.net is hosting a series of four VIRTUAL 5K RACES in May. Each race will reflect a leg of the Fellowship’s journey through Middle-earth (though not in actual miles, of course). A new race will be posted on the first four Fridays in May. The 5k races (3.1 miles) can be run or walked at […]

(This March 17 story corrects stock symbol of Zoom to ZM.O, not ZOOM.PK in the last paragraph)

Sometimes it's hard to tell Mom how much she means to us.

Other times it's hard to tell how she still puts up with us.

I like to think it's because of all the care and consideration that goes into the mother's day cakes we give her, though.

Or, ok, maybe it's something else.

 

Just remember: I LOVE ALL YOU MOTHERS.

And if I could get every one of you moms out there a cake of your own, it would be this one:

Awwww YEEEEAH.

Happy weekend, everyone!

 

Thanks to Cathy S., Laura F., Deanna N., Carol D., Ginny H., Raziel P., Anony M., Breanne R., Barbara R., Chrissy D., Jonna S., & Cathi C. for the cakes only a wrecker could love.

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Feeling like you could write a better message for Mom than these bakers? Then here's a cute way to do it:

Message Capsules In A Bottle

("Infmetry" is the name of the manufacturer. I know, it confused me, too. :p)

This little bottle has 90 note capsules inside, each held closed with a gold ring. You can write 90 things you love about Mom, then have her open one per day for the next few months! This size is $13, or you can get smaller bottles of 25 capsules each for $10. These would also be sweet for birthdays or anniversaries!

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Looking for a good homemade Mother’s Day gift? :)

Comics Curmudgeon readers! Do you love this blog and yearn for a novel written by its creator? Well, good news: Josh Fruhlinger's The Enthusiast is that novel! It's even about newspaper comic strips, partly. Check it out! Funky Winkerbean, 5/7/20 OK, I am ashamed to admit this, but: I genuinely do not have a handle […]

British medical journal’s editorial says the Brazilian president’s disregard for lockdown measures is damaging

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The biggest threat to Brazil’s ability to successfully combat the spread of the coronavirus and tackle the unfolding public health crisis is the country’s president, Jair Bolsonaro, according to the British medical journal The Lancet.

In an editorial, The Lancet said his disregard for and flouting of lockdown measures was sowing confusion across Brazil, which reported a record number of Covid-19 deaths on Friday, and is fast emerging as one of the world’s coronavirus hot spots.

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Scientists identify thousands of extreme events, suggesting stark warnings about global heating are already coming to pass

Intolerable bouts of extreme humidity and heat which could threaten human survival are on the rise across the world, suggesting that worst-case scenario warnings about the consequences of global heating are already occurring, a new study has revealed.

Related: One billion people will live in insufferable heat within 50 years – study

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The broadcaster, 58, on God, privacy, Mini convertibles, the rudeness of Madonna and her school nickname, Vanessa the Undresser

Even aged two, I was a child of great perspicacity. At nursery we had to answer the register by saying “Yes, Auntie” or “Present, please”, which I found deeply confusing. First, I thought, you’re not my auntie. And if I’m asking politely for a present every day, where on earth is it?

Vanessa the Undresser was my nickname at school, and I put that down to my parents. When a sex scene started on TV I was banished to the hall. I’d stand with one ear against the door desperately trying to work out who was doing what to whom and in what position. Thus was aroused in me an unshakable thirst for sex in all its permutations. I’ve never tired of it, menopause or not.

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The story of global conflict is all the more powerful when it isn’t seen in black and white. Artist Marina Amaral explains her latest work

On a stretcher lies a patient; his ashen face protrudes from under a green blanket, eyes closed. Two uniformed women carry the stretcher, wearing face masks. It looks as if it’s a lovely day: the sun is shining, the shadows dark, the sky blue. But this is not a happy picture. Is the casualty even alive, or has he already been taken by the killer virus that has wrapped itself around our planet like a python, squeezing the life from it?

The photograph was taken at an ambulance station in Washington DC. Within the past couple of months? It could have been, if it weren’t for the uniforms (I don’t think today’s nurses wear lace-up leather boots) and the stretcher. In fact, it was taken more than a century ago, in 1918, during the Spanish flu epidemic, which killed so many millions. The photographer is unknown, forgotten. But the black and white picture was recently “colourised” by Marina Amaral.

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Teenager remains in hospital as two men are arrested after collision on Streatham High Road

A 16-year-old cyclist is in a life-threatening condition after being hit by two cars in south London.

The boy was critically injured in the collision in Streatham High Road shortly before 11.20pm on Friday.

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In days when face-to-face interaction is so 2019 and millions of people all over the world are zooming in with other people, it is only natural that the people on the internet will find a way to get the cats involved too. 

So, they created a fake screenshot of a zoom call by taking a pic of a cat in a steamy position, put it in a video call frame, and adding a photo of another cat shocked by it. 

And the result? Simply brilliant. And hilarious. 

The talented Instagrammer, Chaz Hutton has found a creative way to describe the perils of life with a series of brutally honest graphs to make you chuckle.

We have gathered the funniest ones he created about animals. 

Rumiko Takahashi designs Sesshomaru, Inuyasha's daughters for reunited Sunrise team

Out-of-studio recordings continue from cast, crew's homes

How many tales of mistaken identity end with accidentally stealing someone's car for 45 minutes? This guy noticed something was off after he noticed the car seats. Good thing there weren't any kids in them. People make incredibly stupid mistakes all the time, like this woman who had groceries delivers and failed all over the place.

Puns are a lot like a party guest with a guitar: usually not welcome, but excellent when deployed appropriately. We can't really tell if we love or hate puns, but there's certainly a time and place for them. If you're in need of more wordplay, here's a smattering of puns to fill the pun void.

While we don't always have the intended answers, we can at least be smart asses about things. Technically correct jokes have the benefit of making the teller feel smart while there's not really any new information needed. These silly puns and clever jokes are technically accurate, so you can't say they're completely wrong.

Work in any field long enough and you'll see your fair share of wonderfully unprofessional "not my job" moments. There's slides that go right off buildings, misspelled signs and extremely lazy line painting, just to name a few. It makes you feel good about yourself to see people's majestically incompetent "not my job" moments.

Now this is just our kind of funny misunderstanding. Mom overhears her daughter on the phone, pieces together what she heard, leaps to a big assumption, and bam, assumes daughter is pregnant. Naturally, the resulting picture was absurd and totally avoidable. Good stuff. 

This week, you can download desktops featuring the new cover art and stills from the trailer, then get a discount on the Steam edition of the Dresden Files Cooperative Card Game in anticipation of its launch on the Switch! Ready? LET’S DO THIS THING. Living Social We’re expanding out social media presence! You should already [...]

Taking deep breaths and forcing a cough can help clear mucus, but these techniques are unlikely to prevent or treat coronavirus infections – here’s why

Getting less sleep for five nights in a row can make you view other people’s expressions more negatively, including facial reactions seen over video calls

An AI-powered application lets you create real-time deepfakes during video calls, making you appear to be speaking as anyone from Albert Einstein to the Mona Lisa

A long-standing hypothesis suggests the BCG vaccine also serves to generally enhance the immune system, meaning it could protect against covid-19, and trials are under way to find out

Lessons learned from natural disasters and the military can help guide our responses to help people's mental health during the covid-19 pandemic

Looking at how many more people are dying than usual gives an idea of the coronavirus pandemic’s true effect – and suggests a far higher death toll in many countries

Brain implants have revealed that we replay conscious experiences while we sleep, with the same patterns of neurons firing during sleep as in waking life

Telling Lies is a game where you sift through video calls to solve a mystery. Half the time you don't know what you should be doing, but that's part of the fun, says Jacob Aron

Many ancient monuments are claimed to be aligned to celestial phenomena, but we now have the first statistical evidence this is the case for the Egyptian pyramids

Of course, the first comment on the comic is this BS: Nobody gets to be a billionaire without creating something that millions, even billions, of people want and pay for. If you don’t like billionaires, then trying living your life without everything they’ve made possible for you. Reassuringly, that commenter will never be a billionaire, […]

Contrary to popular belief, people do order fish sandwiches at Arby's.Senate Democrats recently learned one of their own is among that rare crowd when Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) forgot to hit mute when driving through an Arby's drive-through last month. Manchin pulled up to the fast food spot in his home state, asked for a King’s Hawaiian Fish Deluxe sandwich, and later learned his mistake after staffers texted him, he tells The Wall Street Journal."It's a big piece of fish and it has a big slice of cheese," Manchin described to the Journal. "They were just jealous they weren't getting the good sandwich." Manchin himself may be jealous that unlike West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice, he doesn't have a sandwich named after him at his local Arby's.Manchin is far from the only lawmaker who's been "busted," as he put it, for forgetting to hit mute. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) says his children have repeatedly walked by and told him to "tell [House] Speaker [Nancy] Pelosi to say now is the time to start forgiving student loans." Several described overhearing "colleagues exercising on ellipticals, doing sit-ups, dealing with children, or taking other phone calls," they tell the Journal. And many of them have admittedly skipped showers on days they know they don't have to be on camera. Read more about congressmembers' at-home habits at The Wall Street Journal.More stories from theweek.com The full-spectrum failure of the Trump revolution Unemployment is a catastrophe — but it could still be worse Trump reportedly got 'lava level mad' over potential exposure to coronavirus

California Governor Gavin Newsom announced Friday that he had signed an executive order to mail ballots to the state’s 20.6 million registered voters, citing potential health risks due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.“There’s a lot of excitement around this November’s election in terms of making sure that you can conduct yourself in a safe way, and make sure your health is protected,” Newsom said Friday. In March, the state allowed ballots to be mailed in for its primary, which saw a record-high of 72 percent of all ballots that were cast by mail.California Secretary of State Alex Padilla, who heads the state’s elections, commended the move “It’s great for public health, it’s great for voting rights, it’s going to be great for participation,” he said. California already allows for generous absentee voting, passing a 2002 decision which gives voters the option to request permanent voting by mail, regardless of the reason.While Newsom’s decision applies only to the November election, it could set a precedent for other Democratic states, with voting by mail quickly becoming a partisan issue. It comes after the state’s lawmakers and local officials requested the measure, saying coronavirus will severely hamper voting efforts, a complaint echoed by prominent Democrats.“Why should we be saying to people, ‘Stand in line for hours,’ when we don’t even want you leaving the house?” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in April. But President Trump has repeatedly slammed calls for mail-in voting, saying last month that it lets “people cheat” and involves “a lot of dishonesty.”Newsom said that his order would still allow an “appropriate number” of in-person voting sites, saying that some voters, including those that are disabled, require technological help to cast a ballot.

From the moment COVID-19 started spreading in the U.S., you probably heard recommendations to wash your hands after contact with what are called high-touch surfaces: elevator buttons, public fauc...

Women and children are experiencing unprecedented levels of abuse and violence at home as stress and anxiety continue to mount due to the pandemic.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai has told employees to expect to work from home for the remainder of 2020, but will open offices for certain exceptions.

Abayev and members of his search team rummage the steppe for remains of the Red Army soldiers who fell in the autumn of 1942 in fierce fighting with Nazi troops pushing toward the Caspian Sea south of Stalingrad. Stiff resistance by the Red Army stopped the Wehrmacht onslaught in the steppes of Kalmykia, and months later the enemy's forces were encircled in Stalingrad and surrendered, a major defeat for the Nazis that marked a turning point in World War II.

President Trump said he had watched the video of Ahmaud Arbery being shot and found it “heartbreaking,” but he has confidence in the Georgia legal system.