Sheldonista Cara G. sent in another submission in our on-going game of weird restaurant signs.

So far, I think Cara’s winning. “Eat Here, Get Gas & Worms”? Who was proofreading this thing?

Sheldonista Cara G. seriously upped the ante in this game of “innappropriate signage on restaurant storefronts”. Check out Cara’s entry:

Lots of readers e-mail me asking for Sheldon wallpapers for their monitors. But because of all the different screen resolutions that are out there, it turns out to be quite a task…and I haven’t had the time to devote to it.

Until now! I’ve had a tiny breathing period between finishin’ up the third Sheldon book and startin’ the next super-secret Sheldon project…so I took the last two days to make some wallpapers in umpteen-thousand resolutions. Here they are, complete with 2007 calendars!

Both are available for a Paypal donation of any amount. Just click on this button to get both:

After donating, clicking the “Return to Merchant” button will take you to the page where you can download the wallpapers. It’s easy-peasy.

If you encounter any problems in the process, just e-mail me using the e-mail address you used with PayPal, and I’ll make it right.

(…and don’t sweat the donation, if it’s not possible. I’m just curious to see how this “tipping-via-Paypal” thing works. If you can’t swing it right now, just e-mail me and I’ll send the wallpapers for free.)

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the subscription drive that “News-Free Comics” is currently having.

“News-Free Comics” collects Sheldon and lots of other great strips into one “news-free” monthly newsprint collection.

I’m not involved with it’s production or sale, but I thought I’d mention it for the Sheldonistas that might be interested.

I’ve started fiddlin’ with Google Analytics to see where in the world Sheldon readers are coming from…and I thought I’d share some early fun facts with you:

– California, Texas, New York, and Washington have the biggest Sheldon readerships by state.

– Sheldon does really well in the UK. Mostly in the greater Londonopolis area.

– Not a lot of love from France. (…clearly, these strips continue to haunt me with “La bande dessinée” readers: #1, #2, #3.)

– Germany, however, has a bigger readership than 80% of US states. Mostly from Frankfurt and Munich. Who would’ve guessed?

– A surprisingly large showing from Sweden. Given my love for IKEA’s meatballs, this brings special joy to my heart!

– Big Sheldon readerships in Toronto and Vancouver.

– The southeast coast of Australia is a little hub of Sheldonistas, with big showings in Melbourne, Canberra, and Sydney.

These little geographical tidbits will help me plan out what future comics conventions I’ll be coming to in 2008.

In fact, I can already announce one conclusion for my 2008 travel plans! South Dakota, you’re out. I’d love to see Mount Rushmore again, but I’m sorry…it’s just not working out between you and I.

Living in Los Angeles, like living in any large metro area, I occasionally encounter an odd store where you go “…what the heck is that business model??”

Today’s candidate was a store sign that said “DOUGHNUTS & CHINESE FAST FOOD!”

H…how? …wha? Who EVER craves those two things together?

Even weirder: imagine what the standard order is in a place like that:

“Uh, yeah…gimme two jelly-filled, a glazed, six with sprinkles…and, heck, throw some Moo Goo Gai Pan in there.”

[EDIT: I have to post this image sent in by Sheldonista Aaron B. It’s even funnier than the one I saw. Donuts, Chinese Food, and Liquor! It’s, like, the exact three things that I’ve never wanted to eat together…combined into one superstore!

The Saturday-only storyline keeps on rollin’…with part two, today. If you missed it, here is part one.

1.) If you’re not reading Ugly Hill, the fantastic comic strip by Paul Southworth, then here is your chance to see some of the best artwork on the web.

2.) Regarding Friday’s strip: Have you ever noticed that people that go Lincoln…never go back? You can’t just buy one Lincoln biography, apparently. It’s like an overpowering addiction to re-read well-crafted speeches and debates…again and again and again and again. I wonder what Lincoln would make of it all, were he to see the publishing industry that’s risen up around his legacy?

“Whoa, whoa, people. Easy. Seriously. Another book about my formative years in the House of Representatives? Really? I think we need to take a chill-pill, here…maybe write about Taft for a while.”

That’s Lincoln, in my head. He says “chill-pill”.

3.) Another song recommendation for those interested in such things: “Take These Thoughts”, by Chris and Thomas. If you download this song, listen to it, and then decide you don’t like it…then you and I must fight.

For those of you who are digging the Star Trek strips, allow me to direct you to some of my past favorites:

1.)The Picard Clock Radio

2.) Star Trek Mashups?

3.) Anti-Matter

4.) Klingon casual-wear

5.) The Secret Klingons in Star Wars

6.) And my absolute favorite… …WWAKD?, WWAKD?, part 2, and WWAKD?, part 3.

For TV sci-fi, you often see writers creating a monolithic culture just for expediency alone. So you end up with cultures defined by one or two attributes that are the key. The Borg “will assimiliate you”, the Klingons seek honor in battle, the Ferengi are always looking for profit, etc., etc. It works great in the hour format, ’cause you instantly know what you’re dealing with…and the story can move along.

But if you’re a true nerd, you start to wonder about the Klingon who’s really into accounting, or the Ferengi who wishes his parents would get off his back and let him do regional theater for a few years. And that’s where the current story arc came from: the idea of a Klingon that just wanted to stitch up a fabulous three-piece suit that accentuated the shoulders…made me laugh.

(Which of course led me to Wednesday’s brief appearance by “Torvak: Vulcan Party Planner”. I am so infinitely happy with how his facial expression came out. Look at him! That’s a Vulcan that’s ready to throw an awesome party. It makes me laugh just to look at him.)

Also! Thanks to Sheldon-guest-editor and even-larger-Star Trek-nerd Gary Tyrrell over at Fleen, who informs me that I spelled Stovorkor wrong. I found, like, 19 different spellings for it online…but Lord knows Gary probably has a compendium of Klingon theological works by his bedside to which he can refer. 🙂

1.) I saw a link on Digg today which made me chuckle. It’s a global map showing the countries which have still not adopted the metric system. What an awesome group of superpower nations!

Made me think of this Sheldon toon.

2.) Those of you who get the Sheldon newsletter saw this news weeks ago, but now it’s time to share it with the world! I’m talking about the cover for the third Sheldon book, “62% More Awesome”:

[Click here for a bigger image]

The cover was designed by my buddy Katherine, and has a slightly scuffed-up 1950’s-poster theme…kinda like those “Pan Am Airlines: Flying you to tomorrow, today!” posters. Hope you like it as much as I do!

The book itself features every strip since the last book, plus some strips that we couldn’t fit into “The Good, The Bad & The Pugly”. It includes the “Coffee-Cup Lid Challenge” strips between the boys at Unshelved and I….aaaand, it features the Flaco-in-Space Saturday Storyline — in an expanded format and with material not seen online! This book really does live up to it’s name.

Copies should (fingers crossed) be available at San Diego Comic-Con, so it’s another incentive to come on down to San Diego. Online, the books will go on sale first to newsletter subscribers in the next few weeks as “pre-sales”. This is mainly so that they get first crack at the limited edition Artit’s Editions. But there’s nothing stopping you from getting the free newsletter as well, so sign on up!

3.) I signed up for Facebook, which I’m already enjoying far more than Myspace. If you wanna be super best-buds on Facebook, drop me a friend request. (But make sure you mention Sheldon in your request, or I won’t know who you are.)