Thanks to larK who sent this in from the 30 August issue of The New Yorker, and can’t see the sense in the sorting of blames and reasonings in the caption.
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The joke is that most of us in the States are indoors in one way or another at all times, so temperature forecasts are meaningless. Nevertheless, many people obsess about them.
My main problem with the cartoon was that, upon reflection, it is clearly describing a winter scenario, and the fact that they published it at the height of summer confused me to the point of having to take a moment of reflection to understand what they were on about.
A freezing house cannot be achieved in summer because of a “cheap” husband — A/C is expensive! Crazy hot office? The A/C must be broken, and while some people might be happy about that, the normal state of the office in summer is freezing to the point of having to wear sweaters! Yeah, maybe it’s been a while since we’ve been in the office, but still, describing winter in the height if summer is very confusing…
I want to meet Cheryl.
I recall a Piers Anthony novel in which, in the afterlife, there will still be television news programs, but ALL of the news being broadcast 24/7 to your set is ALL about what you yourself are doing/thinking/experiencing. This is just another idea trip about microslicing an audience down to its smallest possible size of one individual.
I really didn’t have a problem with this. It’s just hitting on the common complaint of people can’t agree on a good temperature setting. And I’m not bothered by the time of year this appears to take place.
It is a weather forecast for an audience of one, the ultimate goal of individualized TV. After all, who cares if people the next town over are hot or cold?
As for the date, remember New Yorker cartoons can have long lead times. They’re still publishing the backlog of cartoonists who have been dead for years.
Shrug, out of curiosity, which Piers Anthony novel is that?
Grawlix: IIRC, the Anthony novel was ON A PALE HORSE (1983).
Thanks for the info.
larK (“A freezing house cannot be achieved in summer … A/C is expensive!”) — Have you ever been to Phoenix? It can be 110º F outside and all the downtown buildings are 60º F.
Yeah, but it’s a dry cold.
Boise Ed — you misquote me to set up a straw man! I am wounded, sir, wounded!
“A freezing house cannot be achieved in summer because of a “cheap” husband — A/C is expensive!” [emphasis added]
Sorry, larK. So I guess your point is that a freezing house can be achieved in summer if no “cheap” husband is involved?
Which is exactly what threw me reading this in the height of summer — yes, freezing houses and office spaces and commerce spaces are routinely achieved in summer, so I thought that’s where this was going, complain that men wearing suits (literally) make the rest of us suffer; all the wasted energy so they can wear their stupid suits… but then because of a cheap husband?? Wait, how does that work? And I’m off the garden path until it finally dawns on me that this cartoon must be taking place in winter! Which then raises the question of just why would they do that, publish a cartoon meant for winter at the very height of summer, when it is almost impossible to conceive that the world won’t always be locked in this heatwave of muggy warmth…
(Yes, they might have a backlog of cartoons, but surely being an editor is more than just queuing up the cartoon backlog with no thought — I could write a short script to accomplish that)
Carl Fink –
But even if we are inside most of the time – we still have to know how to dress for the weather to get to and from the vehicle one is traveling in.
Comics I Don't Understand 
The joke is that most of us in the States are indoors in one way or another at all times, so temperature forecasts are meaningless. Nevertheless, many people obsess about them.
My main problem with the cartoon was that, upon reflection, it is clearly describing a winter scenario, and the fact that they published it at the height of summer confused me to the point of having to take a moment of reflection to understand what they were on about.
A freezing house cannot be achieved in summer because of a “cheap” husband — A/C is expensive! Crazy hot office? The A/C must be broken, and while some people might be happy about that, the normal state of the office in summer is freezing to the point of having to wear sweaters! Yeah, maybe it’s been a while since we’ve been in the office, but still, describing winter in the height if summer is very confusing…
I want to meet Cheryl.
I recall a Piers Anthony novel in which, in the afterlife, there will still be television news programs, but ALL of the news being broadcast 24/7 to your set is ALL about what you yourself are doing/thinking/experiencing. This is just another idea trip about microslicing an audience down to its smallest possible size of one individual.
I really didn’t have a problem with this. It’s just hitting on the common complaint of people can’t agree on a good temperature setting. And I’m not bothered by the time of year this appears to take place.
It is a weather forecast for an audience of one, the ultimate goal of individualized TV. After all, who cares if people the next town over are hot or cold?
As for the date, remember New Yorker cartoons can have long lead times. They’re still publishing the backlog of cartoonists who have been dead for years.
Shrug, out of curiosity, which Piers Anthony novel is that?
Grawlix: IIRC, the Anthony novel was ON A PALE HORSE (1983).
Thanks for the info.
larK (“A freezing house cannot be achieved in summer … A/C is expensive!”) — Have you ever been to Phoenix? It can be 110º F outside and all the downtown buildings are 60º F.
Yeah, but it’s a dry cold.
Boise Ed — you misquote me to set up a straw man! I am wounded, sir, wounded!
“A freezing house cannot be achieved in summer because of a “cheap” husband — A/C is expensive!” [emphasis added]
Sorry, larK. So I guess your point is that a freezing house can be achieved in summer if no “cheap” husband is involved?
Which is exactly what threw me reading this in the height of summer — yes, freezing houses and office spaces and commerce spaces are routinely achieved in summer, so I thought that’s where this was going, complain that men wearing suits (literally) make the rest of us suffer; all the wasted energy so they can wear their stupid suits… but then because of a cheap husband?? Wait, how does that work? And I’m off the garden path until it finally dawns on me that this cartoon must be taking place in winter! Which then raises the question of just why would they do that, publish a cartoon meant for winter at the very height of summer, when it is almost impossible to conceive that the world won’t always be locked in this heatwave of muggy warmth…
(Yes, they might have a backlog of cartoons, but surely being an editor is more than just queuing up the cartoon backlog with no thought — I could write a short script to accomplish that)
Carl Fink –
But even if we are inside most of the time – we still have to know how to dress for the weather to get to and from the vehicle one is traveling in.