Thanks to Boise Ed for sending this in! He says We have a dry desert and a guy and his dog, looking over the ridge at another guy who apparently reeks and is holding a magenta rectangle. I can see the reeking guy attracting the dog, but what’s with the magenta rectangle?
To slightly disagree, I don’t think the guy is supposed to be reeking. Those wavy lines are probably heat or visual distortion — appropriate if he’s in a mirage.
This is the “Semi-CIDU” marked for this post. It’s Cynthia’s friend who says “Lots of firsts that day” but mostly it was Cynthia herself experiencing those firsts.
BTW, what do you think of the drawing techniques used to show us the girls are their younger selves in the last two panels?
[This was a Friday strip. The Saturday strip that follows continues the flashback, and gives an explicit answer to the Semi-CIDU question we posed; so we’re withholding that one until people have had a chance to comment on this post, and then will put it in comments.]
Bonus Barney. This is the “CIDU only because of a cultural reference you may not already know” marked for this post.
If you’re familiar with the story of Boggs, do you think the summary in the fourth panel is seriously in need of some amplification/clarification?
From Ooten Aboot, with an illuminating commentary:
In 1874, a similar culture clash happened in real life when Montreal’s McGill University challenged Harvard to a two game “football” match. To McGill, “football” meant Rugby, while Harvard followed “Boston Rules”, a version of Soccer with limited catching and carrying of a spherical ball. The solution was to play one game under each set of rules. Harvard won the “Boston” game, while the Rugby result was a 0-0 tie. Nevertheless, Harvard apparently liked the McGill style and adopted similar rules, so that encounter with McGill may have been the origin of American Football as it known today.
Does he want to be enabled, and is expressing disappointment that she doesn’t provide that? Or do we understand enabling in its largely negative pop-psychology sense, and take it that he’s reassuring her she hasn’t contributed to his problem?
I don’t use webthings that include photo filters, but I’ve seen the results, so I’m willing to believe that they can be used to morph her original picture into that horrific result. And I think I get the #NoFilter tag joke–there’s ONE filter she’s not using. But the progression of images doesn’t seem to support that: if the last one was lacking the flowers, then it would make sense.
Once again we were very happy to receive a note from Robin Bickel the other day, with some family news and a renewed Hanukkah card invitation, which we would like to share with you.
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Quoting:
Hi! Hope all is well over at CIDU land! Hard to believe a year has sped by.
We are all doing well here. Aaron is now officially a married person. For readers of the NY Times, Zak is now in charge of all long range visual planning for both the online and print business sections while his boss is on maternity leave. That means that all feature pieces are designed by him including hiring and art directing the illustrators.
Please let people know that Hanukah cards, designed by Zak, are once more getting ready to be addressed! So if you’ve moved or would like to be added, just let me know.
Happy Holidays!
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If you are already on the list, there is nothing you need to do, if your address has not changed. You should email to Robin if your address has changed, or if you would like to newly join. The instructions to get in on this tradition appear below, but by now it would be a big scroll, so here they are:
Email me at robinbickel at gmail. Put CIDU in the subject line so it will be easy for me to quickly find you. And if you’d like you can send me a card at 43 Peace Rd, Randolph NJ 07869 but you are under no obligation to do so. I like sending cards and it would make me happy to be able to send a very small thank you to all of you who have been such good friends over the years. (Please don’t delay only because I have to give Zachary a count of how many cards to print)
[2021 post]
We were very happy to receive a note from Robin Bickel the other day, with some family news and a renewed Hanukkah card invitation, which we would like to share with you.
Cheers,
Mitch and Winter Wallaby
Quoting:
On a personal note, Aaron, our oldest, is finally engaged after being with his girlfriend for 11 years. I am assuming the wedding will take place before another 11 years pass.
Please let everyone at CIDU know that I am so glad that the site is thriving. Bill would be so proud!
And finally, Hanukkah card time again. Let people know if the got a card last year, they are good. If they got one last year and moved since then, let me know the new address. And if you didn’t get a card and now deeply regret it (which obviously you would!), send me your address and join in the fun. As always, cards are designed by the mega talented Zak. (as an aside, if you get the print edition of the NY Times, turn to the front page of the business section on Saturday or Monday. That’s his work. He does other days also and other pages too, but those are more random.)
If you are a new CIDU reader who is missing some context here, you are invited to look at our page about “Bill Bickel and the history of CIDU“, also linked in the left menu.
As Robin says above, if you received a card last year, and your address has not changed, there is nothing you need to do to remain on the list and to receive a card this year.. If you would like to join their list, the instructions are for convenience reprinted below, though you can find them, along with additional background and the original invitation message, at the end of last year’s “Hanukah Cards (from Robin Bickel)” post.
Excerpted:
Email me at robinbickel at gmail. Put CIDU in the subject line so it will be easy for me to quickly find you. And if you’d like you can send me a card at 43 Peace Rd, Randolph NJ 07869 but you are under no obligation to do so. I like sending cards and it would make me happy to be able to send a very small thank you to all of you who have been such good friends over the years. (Please don’t delay only because I have to give Zachary a count of how many cards to print)
This sequence (two four-panel stories) doesn’t seem to address a more fundamental policy matter than the details of pepper supply. Are they not aware of this patron planning to eat that big sloppy deli sandwich at his desk in the Reading Room?
/
The next episode:
(Yes, I’m aware that the strikeout in the post title doesn’t seem to work in Cell or Tablet display preview. So maybe change it to something about “Burying the <strike>lede</strike> lead.”)