by multipleciduers

Sunday Funnies – LOLs – August 2, 2026

The fun part of this one is figuring out what real cereals Nathan Pyle is referring to:

I had dessicated grape chaff for breakfast this morning.

I may have the citation wrong here. This is a comic that resurfaced among the ones I’ve saved over the years, but this one was saved without citation, and may not be from Bug Martini.

by zbicyclist

95 Years Ago in The New Yorker

July, 1931. The Great Depression is in full swing. Still over a year until the 1932 election. The New Yorker has always had a subscriber base with a richer demographic than average, but these cartoons from the 7/4/31 and 7/11/31 don’t show much awareness of the Great Depression.

Another ping-pong related cartoon. Was there a ping-pong boom in 1931?

What is that device?

by zbicyclist

The Odyssey

The distance from Troy (near modern Çanakkale, Turkey) to Ithaca is a bit over 600 miles. At a rowing speed of 4 to 5 knots, that’s not a terribly long journey, without the involvement of the gods.

If we went from Troy, New York to Ithaca, New York by water (Erie Canal, then portage to Seneca Lake) it would be about 250 miles — shorter, but the same order of magnitude.

One person decided to use the modern Turkish city and make up alternative lyrics to City of New Orleans.

I just finished re-reading the Odyssey. I used the Samuel Butler translation, which is prose and emphasized the story more easily because it abandons any attempt at poetry. I’m also cheap: it’s available for free at Project Gutenberg.

Yesterday, I saw the movie, which didn’t disappoint. Highly recommended. Of course, there are many plot points which diverge from Homer, but overall I think that improves the flow — especially the ending.