This started as a standard Yautja (Predator) render, for a comic I’m creating for Tausha on deviantArt, that pokes fun at fangirls.  While I was at it, I decided to try and actually make it look like a comic, and this is the result, courtesy of a Photoshop action.

I’ve added a new section to the catalog, “Free Backgrounds”.

As each new landscapes/backgrounds pack is created, one image from it will be released under Creative Commons licensing, free for artists to use that image in their own work as long as they keep the attribution link.

You can view the catalog of free images here.

I got a new computer for my birthday, and can get back into creating renders for tubes.

One problem with everything was a sales system that worked.  The one I originally purchased for the site wasn’t nearly suitable for digital downloads.

For the moment, I’ve resolved this by opening a store at Renderosity.

This will allow me to offer a storefront that’s relatively secure for both you and myself.

To celebrate the new computer, I’ll be releasing some background sets through the store.  The renders will be ultra-high resolution images, but I’ll be including packs of clip art from real-life photos as well.

All this talk of bailing out financial institutions is an insult to every one of us.

When mortgages started crashing, the Government refused to help homeowners at first, then gave them a paltry amount that in no way could stem the tide.

Companies have been going down, and the Government has done nothing to help them, because the stock market is supposed to be a gamble, and the companies lost.

But now, we’re supposed to accept the Government will happily fork over $700 billion to a handful of select companies, whilst at the same time taking over some of the biggest ones out there?

A common refrain over the past several years has been a perceived silence on the part of Muslims condemning terrorism. That’s been expanded to include criticism of the same perceived silence over the more extreme interpretations and implementations of Sha`ria law.

Wandering around the ‘net, I’ve found there are a lot of “moderate” Muslims who have been doing just that - criticising the actions of those who take Islam to lengths others (especially in the west) find abominable.

I should start a section of my blog just to point out how many badly written headlines and stories are in the media.

Except it would take all my time and energy, and I have much better things to do.

So I’ll just mention my latest find in the “Dumb Headlines” category, from CNN’s website.

24 corpses found shot in Mexico

Hmmm.  This is some new kind of serial killer, perhaps, who goes around shooting dead bodies?  CNN goes on to reinforce this particularly wonderful example of headline murder in the very first paragraph of the story:

It is said that the measure of a man is not so much by his deeds in life, but by how he is seen after he dies.

If that is true, Petty Officer Harris must have been a man I should regret never having met.

The Washington Post ran a story, back on September 3rd 2008, in which PO Harris’ mother described him as a “Renaissance Man”.  I never knew him, but if the ~400 people in attendance at his funeral today at Arlington National Cemetery are anything to go by, he was that and more.

It’s been a while since I was able to go on a PGR Mission, but thankfully circumstances have conspired to make them possible again.

Today, with the family’s permission, we were able to escort them to Arlington National Cemetery to lay to rest Specialist Michael Gonzalez.

Specialist Gonzalez hailed from Spotswood, New Jersey, and was assigned to the 340th Military Police Company in Baghdad. On August 28th 2008, he was killed by an improvised explosive device.

The first parts of the mission were carried out by PGR members in New Jersey itself. Four of them also escorted Specialist Gonzalez, his family and friends, to ANC today, driving all the way down.

So Tropical Storm Hanna is busy making its way up the coast towards us - if the predicted track is anything to go by, it’ll be a few miles to the east of us in about four hours time.

DC, as usual, is losing its mind in panic mode. We’ve already seen the panic buying at the local grocery store. Like people didn’t have a clue this might be coming while Gustav was still ambling around the Gulf Coast!

The DC area is really weird when it comes to inclement weather conditions - especially the local drivers. I call it “Dinosaur Syndrome”.

I’m not sure which is the more enraging right now.

That a hotel seems to have a company policy to refuse accommodation for any service member in the UK.

Or that the (parent?) company has the gall to call itself “American Amusements” with such a policy in place.

What

The

Fuck?

Such a policy sure as hell isn’t “American” (unless you count certain unmentionable crazies who qualify as “American” solely on the fact it’s their citizenship, not their philosophy).

From “American Amusement”’s website:

American Amusements Ltd is one of the UK’s fastest growing and most successful Leisure Company’s.