WebComics: MacHall and ThreePanelSoul

It's been a heavy news week, with offensive songs, the murder of a beloved Spielberg character and a tragic motor accident. All of which is depressing, so I'm not going to talk about it. Instead I'll introduce you to two of the internet's most talented residents: Ian McConville and Matt Boyd.

Ian and Matt are two of the biggest and most loved players on the WebComic scene, starting out with MacHall when they were both in college in 2000. MacHall chronicles the lives of a bunch of college students living in res at Bowling Green State University. The geek factor in the humor is high, and even though the comic stopped posting in September 2006, the archives are well worth the read. Seeing the evolution of Ian's artwork and Matt's scripting is truly something special.

One of MacHall's later strips

Both Ian and Matt have long since graduated and moved on to be successful members in their respective fields, obviously this puts a large amount of strain on one's free time and they've switched their WebComic energies to ThreePanelSoul. TPS is a very different format, having only three panels in each strip, which provides a very different flavor to their earlier offerings. The strip's humor is matured, clever and completely unique (and yes, i know 'completely unique' is redundant... give me a break, will ya?).

Awesome example of Matt's brilliant sense of humor 

So have a click through to MacHall and ThreePanelSoul the next time you're looking for something to do online, it's more fun than harvesting crops, I promise you.

In the news:

Supersonic Freefall - this dude is going to attempt to break the sound barrier in free-fall i.e. without a plane.... I think this is possibly the craziest (read stupidest) thing I can think of.

Researchers develop a robot that folds towels - it might not sound like much, but this is a huge breakthrough in robotics, read the article to find out why.

After 27 years, a New High Score For Asteroids - I can't believe people are still playing this... competitively yet.

Solar cells: UQAM researcher solves two 20-year-old problems - heralding a new age for cheap, renewable energy.  I definitely think it's time for sunny South Africa to take advantage.

Synapse on a Chip - a new kind of computer memory that mimics brain neurons (yes i know there isn't another kind). Soon to bring big advancements to a peripheral near you.

Transhumanism and Superheroes - possibly the simplest, most concise explanation of post- and trans-humanism I've read. Great stuff, give it a read.

And there you have it... another post. It's April, but I'm still looking for my hill.

-Odd

"Everything is funnier at 2am."