Bill Thompson.

I like lots of stuff: classic pulp heroes, Fantasy role-playing games, toys... So, I decided to make a series of websites showcasing some of my favorites things.

No, I enjoy wasting my time creating websites for stuff I hate... Certainly I really like all this stuff!

Life? I never have figured out whether that is a breakfast cereal or a board game... Maybe it's a magazine... I dunno.

I have been accused of it from time to time.

Yes I did.

At one time all my sites were hand coded using Notepad, the text editor that comes with Windows. I used a text editor because at the time every HTML code application I attempted to use created the most mangled code imaginable. I could even put my own hand code into one of these things and it would mangle the most beatiful, compliant code into uncomliant trash. So,I gave up and continued to hand code with a text editor. I have since moved on to a version of Linux called Ubuntu, but I still do most of my coding by hand although not in gedit (the text editor in Ubuntu). I have found an HTML editor that works like a text editor yet has all the tools needed to make HTML coding easier. It does exactly what I want it too and it doesn't add or replace code like other editors tend to do. This editor is called Arachnophilia and if you are a webmaster or designer I urge you check it out.

Yes and it mangles my pretty code and besides, I actually like coding by hand.

Here and there. I usually grab hundreds of pictures from the various websites I visit during the research phase of each project. Sometimes I scan my own images. I then resize and manipulate the images I need to suit my purpose.

Be my guest, but a word of warning... I suggest nicely that you not hotlink to my images and steal my bandwidth. If you want to use one of my images right click it and save it to your hard drive and then upload it to your own server and link to that file. You have been warned.

Bandwidth theft or "hotlinking" is direct linking to a website's files (images, video, etc.). An example would be using an <IMG> tag to display a JPEG image you found on someone else's web page so it will appear on your own site, journal, weblog, forum posting, etc.

Bandwidth refers to the amount of data transferred from a website to a user's computer. When you view a webpage, you are using that site's data transfer to display the files. Since web hosts charge based on the amount of data transferred, bandwidth is an issue. If a site is over it's monthly bandwidth, it's billed for the extra data or taken offline.

A simple analogy for bandwidth theft: Imagine a random stranger plugging into your electrical outlets, using your electricity without your consent, and you paying for it.

Because weirdscifi.ratiosemper.com is not an image hosting service for message boards. Because weirdscifi.ratiosemper.com is not an image hosting service for online auctions. And because you are stealing my bandwidth you asshole.

If I have to bear the extra traffic then the images should be doing MY bidding. Yes, MINE MINE MINE. Other people are using bandwidth I am paying for, and they are getting the benefit? Look, if you want to use one of my images as your user icon or something, then fine, I don't care, but at least have the common decency to save the image to your own server instead of wasting my bandwidth. You were warned not to do it, but you did it anyway. I don't care what a nice person you think you are, or that it got you banned from some board or blog for posting indecent pictures... Cry me a river. It wouldn't have happened had you not hotlinked to the image.

The GIMP

I taught myself. At first I looked at the code of others and created simple pages. Then I went and got a book on HTML. I learned a lot just trying to get my pages to validate with W3C standards. I am still learning.

Any.

For many years I used Internet Explorer exclusively as my browser of choice but, due to recent issues, I no longer do. I now use a highly modified version of Firefox. I do still test my pages in Internet Explorer along with 5 other browsers including Opera and Lynx (a text only browser).

I don't recomend any one browser to you. You go out and try different browsers until you find one you like.

I used to host the site on my home computer with my own webserver. Now the site is hosted by a friend of mine on his server.

No, go get and pay for your own web host, leech.

Yes this is an award winning website! I awarded myself these fine web awards:

Why not? Just because I made them up and awarded them to myself doesn't make them any less valid than all the other meaningless site awards infesting the web. Oh by the way, you just won them too. Feel free to take the images and put them on your own page. Don't bother emailing me, because I don't care.

At least once every week. And by "once every week," I really mean "when I get a chance." And by "when I get a chance," I really mean never.

Because I haven't gotten around to it yet. It takes time just to keep the existing pages updated much less work on adding in complete new sites. I work when the mood hits me, when I feel artistic, or a great idea comes to mind. Sometimes it occurs after I find a cache of pictures during a google search. But after a while I get out of the mood for whatever reason and I have to take a break.

Aww, hell, I don't know... I guess it depends on what I find myself most interested in at the moment... many times I have rediscovered something from my childhood that I thought was cool or whatever and begin researching it. My notes usually end up being a new web site.

So? install the plugin, or not, you have control over your browser not me.

No. Go away, idiot.

No. Those are nostalga ads. They are meant to be like the old comic books ads from back in the day, such as the old Charles Atlas body building course, and add to the ambiance of the site. If you don't want to see them, then just hide them with an ad blocking utility. If you use Firefox, Adblock Plus will do the job. Just because a site has ad banners doesn't mean the webmaster has "sold out."

Yes I did. Internet scum bags were using deep links to some of the media files I had which was driving up the bandwidth to unacceptable levels. Most of the hosted subpages had to be taken down to make it stop. I promised to come back in a limited form and this is the result. I have linked to either official sites or to some of the best fan sites available. These pages much better than the ones I had, anyway. A few of my favorties are still here, but don't expect them to be updated any time soon.