John Jarvis

Read the other Real Stuff stories and listen to Mark's interview with Dennis Eichhorn here.

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As North American oil production continues to outpace pipeline capacity, shipment by rail is increasingly common, and critics worry that safety regulations have not kept up with the expansion and could lead to more disasters like the derailment and explosion in Lac-Mégantic, Que.

[After reading "Knock Knock," Bukowski wrote a letter to Dennis, which Dennis ran in Real Stuff #2:]

Read the other Real Stuff stories and listen to Mark's interview with Dennis Eichhorn here.

Well lookee here, some details about the new Best American Comics, edited by Jeff Smith (Bone) have leaked, including that it just so happens to feature a cover by Hark! A Vagrant cartoonist Kate Beaton!

Inside you'll find work by a whole bunch of wildly talented folks, including Kate Beaton, Vanessa Davis, and Michael DeForge.

Interesting story with a lot of details.

Pretty scary -- and cool.

Remember, it's not any one thing that's worrisome; it's everything together.

Lessons from Japan's response to Aum Shinrikyo:

Yet what's as remarkable as Aum's potential for mayhem is how little of it, on balance, they actually caused. Don't misunderstand me: Aum's crimes were horrific, not merely the terrible subway gassing but their long history of murder, intimidation, extortion, fraud, and exploitation. What they did was unforgivable, and the human cost, devastating. But at no point did Aum Shinrikyo represent an existential threat to Japan or its people. The death toll of Aum was several dozen; again, a terrible human cost, but not an existential threat. At no time was the territorial integrity of Japan threatened. At no time was the operational integrity of the Japanese government threatened. At no time was the day-to-day operation of the Japanese economy meaningfully threatened. The threat to the average Japanese citizen was effectively nil.

Just as important was what the Japanese government and people did not do. They didn't panic. They didn't make sweeping changes to their way of life. They didn't implement a vast system of domestic surveillance. They didn't suspend basic civil rights. They didn't begin to capture, torture, and kill without due process. They didn't, in other words, allow themselves to be terrorized. Instead, they addressed the threat. They investigated and arrested the cult's leadership. They tried them in civilian courts and earned convictions through due process. They buried their dead. They mourned. And they moved on. In every sense, it was a rational, adult, mature response to a terrible terrorist act, one that remained largely in keeping with liberal democratic ideals.

Hey it’s my Birthday this Saturday! Instead of getting me a gift you could get either of my books which are now available as ebooks!
On TopShelf
On Comixsology

You can read Chester 5000, online here (NSFW), and there’s an 8 page preview of We Can Fix It , A Time Travel Memoir, here.

Or you could just help me spread the word by reblogging this or telling a friend! Thank you!

KISSES,
Jess