A link to a cartoon I published ten years ago this week in the long lost Ripsaw News.

Follow all the breaking catastrophes of the day on TPM’s new Catastrophe Wire.

Facebook page for our fiction project, “Novelty Theater”:

 http://www.facebook.com/pages/Novelty-Theater-by-Allen-and-Jim-Richardson/264250088092

Become a fan if you … are one. Warning: adult situations.

Was doing a wee bit of research for a fiction piece and came across this macbre bit of disaster porn:

“In the space of an instant, the boiler began to split along its bottom. As the steam found an exit, the split widened, pushing and bending the walls of the cylinder outward, snapping the great wheels from their hubs, breaking the boiler from its carriage and launching the multi-ton cylinder skyward. Accompanying it were hundreds of pieces of engine accouterments, pipes, levers, rods, plate iron, grates, etc.

The pressure wave, moving outward from what had been the engine then struck the shops filled with working men. Buildings, structures and people on the ground in the immediate area of the engine were blown to pieces or if closer to the engine, simply disintegrated. As the pressure wave moved outward it carried away heavy equipment and structure walls causing the building roofs to collapse. This surface wave, carrying iron parts, splintered wood, human body parts and other debris, continued outwards from the railroad yard and through the surrounding neighborhoods, uprooting trees, snapping limbs, blasting out windows, and punching holes in residences.”

Captured! by Robots homepage

Coming to Pizza Luce, Duluth, Tuesday, October 13th

presented by Gonzo Science and the Transistor

UPDATE: It was epic - maybe back in the spring.

“The Cartoonist and the Kid” Cartoon Art Show, featuring father-daughter cartoonists Jim Richardson and Violet Richardson

The show collects a father’s cartoons about his young child (ages 2-5), and displays her own eventual solo work, now at age 11 and consumed primarily with the dynamics of talking cats.

Friday, September 4th, 5-8 pm

Bohemia Arts, 22 N. 1st Ave. W., Duluth

Musical guests Total Freedom Rock will play a set at 6:30 pm

Refreshments will be served.

The event is free.

At the show “Beyond: Visions of Planetary Landscapes”, composed of photographs from throughout the solar system. The Art Institute invited us to take part, and we will be giving a 45 minute presentation tonight, August 4th, at 5:30pm. The title of our talk is “Astronomical Heresies: A Survey of Weird and Fantastic Ideas About the Solar System.” Only stay away if you are allergic to astonishment.

UPDATE: It was fun!

“Cool” Brad Rozman has died in Duluth. He was a friend to all of us here at Gonzo Science, and his passing will be mourned. He was the best drummer I knew, and his informal practice of the “laughing yoga” was a source of true inspiration. Rest in peace buddy. You stomped terra, as Hunter S. would say.

UPDATE: Funeral info

Monday June 1st at Landmark Funeral Home in Virginia, MN, 1p.m
call the funeral home for more details at 218-741-3225

UPDATE 2: The comments section has automatically turned off after 14 days, but if you have any other comments or memories of Brad, please send them to us at , and we will put them here. Thank you. I’ll go ahead and take this moment to mention that Brad got the nickname “Cool Brad” during his stint as the refrigerated/frozen foods buyer at Whole Foods Co-op. It was a great stage name for him as he mercilessly pounded those drums.

UPDATE 3: “Hi, this is Brad’s sister Heather.  I am having one of those days where I just miss Brad so much it hurts deep down in my soul.  I wanted to take a minute to thank all of you, his friends and the very special people who were such a big part of his short but great life.  I want each and every one of you to know that you have brought me and my parents such a great sense of comfort with your words and caring hearts.  You have helped make a horrible and difficult time become a time to remember the greatness that Brad brought into our lives.  I have heard many of you comment on his up beat nature and joyous laugh and that is what I try to think about at times like these.  I know that Brad will forever live on in each and every one of you.  We now must live our lives even fuller as we live for him as well.  Thank you again and know that you will always have a place in the hearts of Brad’s family.  82 forever!!!!       much love,  Heather”

UPDATE 4: (Sorry I posted the following late by a few days - Jim R.)

This is for the “Cool Brad” RIP Memorial page, 
thanks again for having a space where friends and family can share memories, shed tears, laugh and remember. 

Brad-  A fond memory goes back to the first time I met you,  on Madeline Island.  I had driven up with LeeAnn and already met the rest of the Ranger crew in st. cloud,  that evening while sitting around the campfire, listening to MMW, You were rocking out the ‘air drums’, getting more and more into the song,  I had just got two new camping chairs, one of them you were sitting in,  and as the climax of the song began, you were jammin so intensely that you fell right over and broke the chair,  we all laughed , but not as much as you did.

Every time I was in your presence, my fun, sneaky, gnome-ish, silly side came out, 
Your laugh was so pure and real, a big older buddha brother you are to me, and to my family, who adopted you in heart style five and a half years ago, 
You read the “Namaste” reading at our wedding, You were just four blocks away from my brother’s new house when you left this world, on that day my Nana & Papa, parents and brother where there on that day too, just four blocks away,  ….  but they didn’t know.  Now, we are all healing and helping each other cope with your loss,  by looking back at pictures, telling stories of which are all hilarious and crazy, funny and amazing. 
I
 often hear your voice and see your face during the day, and at night,   and think back to the two of us standing at the end of the driveway, on the dead end road at the MyersRanch, watching the NortherLights AuroraBorealis in her finest display in the wee hours when all is silent and only our heart beats can be heard,  deep peace….
Percussion and the rhythms of all living things, and all made living by human hands and inspired creation,  all of this you Loved,   Lukah loves playing the drum, and tambourine, and we talk of you often, even though you did not get to meet her, we know she knows you. 
On the day of your service, my Mom wanted to be there but was working, driving home at a few minutes into the service, on a dusty road in wisconsin, the only other vehicle on the road infront of her was a dump truck or work truck,  there were no words on the back,  the only marking was in the center, as she got closer she saw that it was an 82.       
You are everywhere now, in our hearts always and forever, helping us to grow and evolve and live every moment to the fullest, Love you Buns,  Keep on Shining you crazy diamond………
82……………—Papa KC

A Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition will be stopping at the Duluth Art Institute this summer. Called “Beyond: Visions of Planetary Landscapes”, the show is composed of photographs from throughout the solar system, and will feature astronomy lectures throughout the show’s stay to accompany it. The Art Institute invited us to take part, and we will be giving a 45 minute presentation on Tuesday, August 4th, at 5:30pm. The title of our talk is “Astronomical Heresies: A Survey of Weird and Fantastic Ideas About the Solar System.”

Author J.G. Ballard has died at 78. He was much admired and respected here at Gonzo Science.

Ballard would eventually be deemed worthy of his own adjective, “Ballardian,” defined by the Collins English Dictionary as “resembling or suggestive of the conditions described in Ballard’s novels & stories, esp. dystopian modernity, bleak man-made landscapes & the psychological effects of technological, social or environmental developments.”

He will be missed.

While hosting the Gonzo Gong Show at Geek Prom 2009, Jim Richardson of Gonzo Science has a bit of fun at the glibertarians’ expense.

This Saturday at the Duluth Aquarium, Gonzo Science will perform its annual duty of hosting the Gonzo Gong Show at Geek Prom. Anybody know any science jokes?

 Forwarded from Mike Van Flandern (Tom’s son and the current director of Meta Research):

Minor Planets Circulars regularly publishes names given to asteroids. Asteroid 52266 has been named “Van Flandern” with the following citation:

(52266) Van Flandern = 1986 AD

     Tom Van Flandern (1940-2009) predicted and comprehensively analyzed lunar occultations at the U.S. Naval Observatory in the 1970s.  In 1979 he published pioneering papers on the dynamics of binary minor planets.  He helped improve GPS accuracies and established Meta Research to support alternative cosmological ideas.

What this shows is that there are Tom Van Flandern sympathizers among working astronomers. Tom’s radical rethink of astronomy lives! 

This is really going to bother 6324xxx, the asshole who hijacked Tom’s Wikipedia bio.

Nice spread in PopPhoto about the still photographer on the set of ‘Watchmen’.

A little info on the comet I saw up at Split Rock.

In which Dennis McKenna corrects us on the record about his late brother, Terence McKenna. This piece was first published as “My Dinner With Dennis McKenna” in High Plains Drifter Magazine #1, November 2006.

The subject here is the Burkle Crater, located in the western Indian ocean. At 18 miles in diameter, this was no small chunk of rock to fall from the sky.

From the Holocene Impact Working Group at the 2006 Geological society of America meeting:

Chevron dunes are not formed by wind. Chevron dunes are not oriented in the direction of the prevailing wind, they can form where there are no beaches, and they contain grains larger than 2 mm in diameter. Chevrons are produced by megatsunamis originating from point sources, i.e. landslides, impact craters, and volcanic explosions. We have assembled data on chevrons worldwide. Most are best explained as the result of tsunami generated from large impact cratering events. We now have data confirming an impact origin of two chevron sources. In the Indian ocean, chevron dunes in Western Australia, India, and Madagascar point towards the 29 km Burckle Crater at 30.865S, 61.365E. The impact ejecta from Burckle crater contain meteorite fragments, impact glass, oceanic mantle fragments, and impact spherules. The impact spherules are >200 microns in diameter, consistent with a 29 km crater. The impact glasses have no K and cannot be continental in origin. In the Gulf of Carpentaria, we found impact ejecta that contain impact glass and meteoritic material: merrillite, high Ni metal, and probable melted carbonaceous chondrite [1].

This sentence suggests the wave from this impact may have raped its way through the middle east all the way to the Mediterranean.

In the Mediterranean, a megatsunami source near the Rhone delta is of undetermined origin.

They point to two other craters, here and here, both of which are smaller in size (11 and 7 miles respectively) that may be responsible for the Australia dunes, but not the Madagascar ones.
The best part about this is that they think it happened around 4,000-5,000 years ago. A list of deluge myths from around the world. The longer we keep looking, the more “myths” we are going to discover as true. Sometimes you don’t even need to look for it as when it shows up illuminating the entire sea, as far as you can see, underneath your oceangoing vessel. In my mind, this calls into question even further certain aspects of a few individuals work that has been derided by science for their heretical interpretations of mythology. Not saying that myths can be taken as literal accounts of something that happened, but that there had to be some source for the story, whether it be a metaphorical teaching, or an event that was described the best a people could understand it.

Sorry fans - it’s not in the cards. Allen and I are super busy with other projects and separated by a large geographical distance to boot. Maybe next year - we’ll see. Anyway, thanks for your interest and support over a good four-year run. We appreciate it.

Some greatest hits from last year.

It’s been great knowing you all.  I love each and everyone of you beyond any words I could possibly express verbally or mentally.  I believe each and everyone of us is here for absolutely no purpose, whatsoever; and for that very reason, I consider everyone who has played a part in making who “I” am to be that much more significant.  I would especially like to give a shout out to my parents, all the friends I had growing up, my friends in the Twin Cities, and my good friends here in the Twin Ports.  When you look out at the stars at night, it’s really hard not to think about how goddamn unimportant everything we do is.  I love you.  Oh, and by the way, you can keep up on the end of it all here.

Does it strike anyone else as weird that as soon as Ms. Olsen starts passing gas about answering questions about her obvious involvement in the death of one of our greatest living actors, the “feds” back off and freaking drop the case? The squeaking wheel gets the grease, my friends.

Yeah.. again, the whole “terrorist” thing is getting a lot more hazy as it’s becoming increasingly apparent that our own government is about as well organized as a cheerleading squad on meth. Oh, and by the way, WHERE THE F#@$ IS BIN LADEN?

A cartoon exhibition featuring everyone in town except Chris Monroe.

Friday, August 1st, 6-9pm

Starfire Screenprinting, 1131 E. 4th St, Duluth

Beer tasting by Lake Superior Brewing

Spot the Gonzo Scientist at Starfire’s flickr account.

More below, excerpted from a photo album at our myspace page:

The question mark is backwards because I’m just back from the Negative Zone, where Allen is still trapped.

Come test your mettle at the Gonzo Gong Show event. Usually hosted by the Gonzo brothers, this year Allen is away in New Mexico, and so beautiful assistant Jill Holmen is stepping up to become Jim’s third wheel beautiful assistant.

Here’s the Geek Prom write-up in the Duluth News-Tribune (may require registration esp. after a while).

Geek Prom homepage.

And let’s not forget those allegations of conspiracy.

Updated: More

2007 slide show. Allen and I are photo #2, ready to explore the Negative Zone. But where are Sue and Ben?

Costumes for film adaptation of Alan Moore’s The Watchmen have been unveiled.

See Groovy Pics Here.

Ours was the pyramid.

Story here. Money quote:

* July 17 — There will be a rally today for Duluth’s most unusual mayoral “candidate” to date, a blue puppet named Mr. Nice.

This time: as Duluth’s #1 local music experts.
Money quote:

Jim and Allen Richardson, gentlemen and brothers … produce events that mingle art, music, science, philosophy, politics and quality hors d’oeuvres.

For immediate release

The official word from the City Clerk’s office is that Mr. Nice won 13 votes in the Mayoral election. We have seven days to contest the results after the City Council certifies the vote count, and that’s what we intend to do. The feeling of the campaign staff is that ‘Nice’ and ‘Ness’ are simply too similar and may have led to some confusion among voters. In addition, to write-in a candidate, the voter had to both write in the name and fill in the oval, and we assert there may be Mr. Nice write-in voters that failed to fill in the oval. How many votes for Mr. Nice were lost this way? We won’t know without a recount. Thank you.

The Mr. Nice For Mayor Campaign