Fact-checking Crankshaft

Today's comic:

If nothing else, it gives you a look into the unrepentant DC fan. Not the cool DC of today, with Batman and . . . well, with Batman. But the old days when Flash comics had stories like "The DA Flash Weighed 1,000 Pounds." From the issue description:

Okay. Of course. With a pin. Is that really #115 in his hand? Seems like it.

But Flash #115 came out in 1960. "Amazing Tales #15" came out in 1962. This doesn't make sense. On the other hand, I think this comment over at one of the pages devoted to dissecting Crankshaft speaks for many:

Good point.

370 It's been a trying time for those disinclined to believe in conspiracies. All the confusing details about the missing airliner seem to support the idea of nefarious doings, but there's nothing conclusive or convincing. A few days ago we learned the pilot was upset because a political leader had been jailed on trumped-up charges, as if that would make someone kill everyone on the plane by climbing too high. then sitting at the controls for seven hours until he ran out of gas. Occam's Razor, and all that. On the other hand, you should be suspicious of any explanation that feels right, because you're looking to confirm something you want to believe. All of which is a roundabout way of saying "this is my preferred explanation of the day." Fire in the cargo hold, says this Wired article.

Why the sharp left turn?

This is being debunked by those who say the turn was pre-programmed into the computer, which was today's piece of news. "Pre-programmmed" suggests it was done in advance as part of the Nefarious Plot. Or it could mean the pilot or co-pilot entered it intentionally during the emergency, right?

Everyone is learning just enough about how planes work to remind you that most of us don't know anything about the subject.

GO BRAGH ETC Was there a Dark Side to green cupakes? I don't know why, but this strikes me as BS. You know, Blarney Sociology. NPR:

I'm not Irish, so I didn't grow up with a folk memory that said people died with green mouths. I assumed things were green because that was Ireland's symbolic color. You know, the "Emerald Isle" and all that. But where did that term come from? It was first used in a poem by William Drennan, whose daughter married John Andrews, son of a family of successful flax merchants. (This is off the top of my head, but you can check Wikipedia if you like.) (Kidding. Cribbing it all from the entry.) One of their descendants was Thomas Andrews, the designer of the Titanic. And now you know . . . well, there really isn't a story here, at all. Let's move along.

DESIGN Thank you, Mr. Craig Ward, for raising the issue of tiresome minimalist movie posters.

Read the whole thing. I find them annoying because A) they're always served up by aggregator pages that insist they're stunning and incredible, and because they only work if you know what the movie's about. For example, would you go see a movie based on this poster?

Of course! JAWS was awesome! Here's a real minimalist Jaws poster. Cute. But JAWS is not cute. The original has teeth and imminent mayhem - and it's actually rather minimal by 70s standards.

Hey, here's another minimalist poster I just made:

They might get that one in France. At least it has the star's name.

TECH This headline might be a bit extreme: "Popcorn Time is Hollywood's Worst Nightmare, And It Can't Be Stopped." Except that Popcorn Time is Hollywood's Worst Nightmare. Also, it can't be stopped. TechCrunch:

The article says it's Napster for movies, but your average teen torrenting like mad might give you an odd look: Napster? What's that? It's more like Netflix for pirates. These things will flourish until there's an app that lets you stream to your TV anything that's available at Redbox for the same price. Even then they'll thrive, because some people don't want to pay for anything.

ARCHITECTURE Via a Gizmodo story that pleads with cities to stop commissioning interchangeable Calatrava fishbone bridges, a site devoted to - well, let them tell it.

VotD Man tells dog not to get up on the bed. Man suspects dog is not obeying his wishes when he is gone. Man leaves camera running. Man gets 7 million hits in four days.

Man wishes he had enabled ads.