Is that a child? Is that an elf?? What is he doing, at all? What is that teal-blue highlight on the truck-tractor?
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Yes, he’s an elf. And he’s painting that truck teal blue. If you look closely you can see the pointed ears.
He’s one of Santa’s elves. Even on holiday he’s still making toys.
Just because he’s making toys on his beach getaway doesn’t mean he’s WORKING. It’s entirely possible that he makes toys in Santa’s workshop because he enjoys making toys. How does the saying go, “find a job doing something you enjoy, and you’ll never work a day in your life”
Yeah, but it’s cute, at least worth a grin. And if you remember Elves vs. Claus 533 U.S. 983 (1996), you know that the working conditions are terrible, so it seems unlikely many enjoy the job.
He SEES you when you’re sleeping. He KNOWS when you’re awake. So get back to work, you lazy elves. There’s no sailing West this week.
@james d pollock it’s more like “Find a job doing something you enjoy, congratulations your relaxing hobby is now something you HAVE to do whether you want to or not and is no longer fun.”
I’d say Philip and Pete have it.
Incidentally, we Canucks, despite some disputes by lesser nations*, consider the North Pole (postal code H0H 0H0) to be Canadian territory and therefore consider Santa and his elves to be Canadian citizens.
North Pole, Alaska, where letters to ZIP Code 99705 pile up, isn’t even in the arctic for Pete’s sake!
“Major in college in something you love and you’ll never work a day in your life, because nobody is hiring for that.”
@ phsiiicidu – I don’t know anything about that case, but there was another labor disagreement that happened 15 year before that:
Geezers will remember that President Reagan firing the elves is based on the real-life incident when Reagan fired all the air traffic controllers. For that, a grateful nation named Washington DC’s airport after him.
[explitive deleted] Washingtonians still call that airport “National”, and ignore the insane idolatry of the congressional morons who dictated the renaming.
P.P.S. Congress also considered renaming the Brandenburg Gate after Reagan, but ultimately declined, upon advice of counsel. Surprisingly, the reasoning had nothing to do with the (patently obvious) lack of jurisdiction, but rather that such an action might encourage the Germans to give similarly inappropriate recognition to Helmut Kohl.
@ Kilby
congressional morons
Warning! Tautology Alert!
@James d Pollock
“find a job doing something you enjoy, and you’ll never work a day in your life”
I remember my Dad giving me an illustration of the mad, snobbish, class system in the UK:
There are two men.
One reads books for a living and does gardening for leisure.
One does gardening for a living and reads books for leisure.
Consider how different their “status” is.
Well, if you want to make a living as an artist you’ll spend very little time doing your art and lots of time doing marketing, sales, and writing grant proposals. You might be better off getting a 9-to-5 job and doing art in your spare time.
Mark, wouldn’t it be easier to just take that 9-to-5, and label the job title with “artist”? The way Subway franchises hire “Sandwich Artists”?
James: I suppose I did that as a computer programmer, after studying Donald Knuth’s book “The Art of Computer Programming.”
My Bachelor’s degree was in music, but I did not read Paul Hindemith’s “The Craft of Musical Composition” or become a composer. Who wants to be a craftsman when you can be an artist?
“Computer artists” tend to work in the movie industry, though. Only a small number of them are doing programming. When programmers got tired of being called “programmers”, they demanded that we call them “developers” or “software engineers”. Oh, and the “computer artists” who aren’t working in Hollywood are working for game publishers, and most of them aren’t programmers, either. They days when one person whipped up the art AND the sound AND the code for a game went away sometime in the 1980’s. Now everybody’s a specialist.
And then there’s “architect”. And used to be common to see “system analyst”.
“Developers” became so heavily used that it casually reduced to “devs”.
“Architect” and “architecture” are used by analogy, but they are real concepts in computer science. I suppose the alternative to taking over an existing word would be either making up a word, turning a phrase into a word like “bit” from “binary digit”, or taking over a word from German or Latin.
For example, we refer to the “architecture” of the IBM 360 computer. This architecture has been very influential; almost every modern computer has 8-bit characters, 16-bit and 32-bit integers, and is byte-addressed.
“Don’t you mean the ‘design’ of the IBM 360?” you ask. No. The 360 models 30, 40, 50, 60 and the others were designed each in its own way to implement the 360 architecture.
Strangely when working as a craft artist – charging more seems to sell the items better.
Among other items we made to sell, I used to make hand stitched small bears that sold for US$5, sales tax included. (They were circles of fabric, drawn together and stuffed for head, body, arms, legs so went fairly fast and did not cost much to make – they had small plastic or wood accessories on them to make them into various characters – baseball batter or catcher, cook, baby, etc. He worked at times doing assorted wood working techniques and in various other media including cut paper – silhouettes and scherenschnitten. We could make maybe US $150 as a high amount selling at a craft fair.
Robert started weaving on a small loom a few years before the pandemic started. He had been trying to sell them online through an Etsy site. (When he started Etsy was actually only handmade items, not like today when all sorts of purchased junk is being sold.) We did a reenactment related event at a local 18th c/19th c house where in exchange for demonstrating one;s craft one could sell items made – and they did not have to be period items being made and sold. I thought he would not sell anything based on what he was charging – but he did and at a similar recent event, again sold a number of items which added up very nicely – not supporting, but very nicely. (I demonstrate period embroidery and do not sell my work, but he is pushing me to do small pieces to sell.)
Strangely when working as a craft artist – charging more seems to sell the items better.
I found the same thing when selling my services as an English teacher in Brasil — at the time (90s) I would have been happy getting about $10-15 /hr, but I was advised to charge no less than $30, and almost no one blinked at it, and somehow it was just seen that I must be better than those charging ~$20. A few did haggle, but I think they would have haggled regardless of the starting price, so better to have a nice high price (and as I got wilier, I could anticipate those who might haggle and start even higher, so that in the end everyone was satisfied). Regardless, my instinctual starting price was too low, as there are long dry periods in the private tutoring market, holidays, etc., and then there is travel between students to consider, and lesson preparation, so while I felt that $10/ hr would be a good income, I wasn’t considering that in reality it would work out to more like $5/hour when everything else was factored in, so I’m very thankful to the good advice I got, and that I followed it.
@larK – a rule of thumb I encountered a long time ago was that you charge people out at 3x what you pay them
larK – It makes no sense to me – perhaps people think something is more desirable when it costs more?
One big difference is that now we can take credit cards – when last we did the general craft shows it was cash only, now with Square we can take the cards also. But back when we used to do shows we were selling things for US$25 at the top end – and most items were US$10 or less – my hand stitched bears were going for US$5 – including sales tax (and I have boxes of them left plus the fabrics to make them).
Another differences are that he is weaving at the event (he has a smaller loom to bring to do same – loom is NOT period correct, but that is okay at the specific events he brings it to). Also the events which feature the crafts like this are in higher income communities than where the craft shows that we used to were held.
(When weaving at home he is doing so in his “loom room” – currently reverted to its old purpose – the living room as we still are enjoying our Christmas tree and decorations. By agreement I get it back as the living room from mid December to mid January – it is his loom room the rest of the year. I went to start taking down the tree decorations today and he said to leave it longer as he has the small loom setup and he can use it in the kitchen instead – and the decorations look so nice.
Comics I Don't Understand 
Yes, he’s an elf. And he’s painting that truck teal blue. If you look closely you can see the pointed ears.
He’s one of Santa’s elves. Even on holiday he’s still making toys.
Just because he’s making toys on his beach getaway doesn’t mean he’s WORKING. It’s entirely possible that he makes toys in Santa’s workshop because he enjoys making toys. How does the saying go, “find a job doing something you enjoy, and you’ll never work a day in your life”
Yeah, but it’s cute, at least worth a grin. And if you remember Elves vs. Claus 533 U.S. 983 (1996), you know that the working conditions are terrible, so it seems unlikely many enjoy the job.
He SEES you when you’re sleeping. He KNOWS when you’re awake. So get back to work, you lazy elves. There’s no sailing West this week.
@james d pollock it’s more like “Find a job doing something you enjoy, congratulations your relaxing hobby is now something you HAVE to do whether you want to or not and is no longer fun.”
I’d say Philip and Pete have it.
Incidentally, we Canucks, despite some disputes by lesser nations*, consider the North Pole (postal code H0H 0H0) to be Canadian territory and therefore consider Santa and his elves to be Canadian citizens.
North Pole, Alaska, where letters to ZIP Code 99705 pile up, isn’t even in the arctic for Pete’s sake!
“Major in college in something you love and you’ll never work a day in your life, because nobody is hiring for that.”
@ phsiiicidu – I don’t know anything about that case, but there was another labor disagreement that happened 15 year before that:
… with predictably tragic ending:
Geezers will remember that President Reagan firing the elves is based on the real-life incident when Reagan fired all the air traffic controllers. For that, a grateful nation named Washington DC’s airport after him.
[explitive deleted] Washingtonians still call that airport “National”, and ignore the insane idolatry of the congressional morons who dictated the renaming.
P.S. Speaking of (misspelled) expletives:
P.P.S. Congress also considered renaming the Brandenburg Gate after Reagan, but ultimately declined, upon advice of counsel. Surprisingly, the reasoning had nothing to do with the (patently obvious) lack of jurisdiction, but rather that such an action might encourage the Germans to give similarly inappropriate recognition to Helmut Kohl.
@ Kilby
Warning! Tautology Alert!
@James d Pollock
“find a job doing something you enjoy, and you’ll never work a day in your life”
I remember my Dad giving me an illustration of the mad, snobbish, class system in the UK:
There are two men.
One reads books for a living and does gardening for leisure.
One does gardening for a living and reads books for leisure.
Consider how different their “status” is.
Well, if you want to make a living as an artist you’ll spend very little time doing your art and lots of time doing marketing, sales, and writing grant proposals. You might be better off getting a 9-to-5 job and doing art in your spare time.
Mark, wouldn’t it be easier to just take that 9-to-5, and label the job title with “artist”? The way Subway franchises hire “Sandwich Artists”?
James: I suppose I did that as a computer programmer, after studying Donald Knuth’s book “The Art of Computer Programming.”
My Bachelor’s degree was in music, but I did not read Paul Hindemith’s “The Craft of Musical Composition” or become a composer. Who wants to be a craftsman when you can be an artist?
“Computer artists” tend to work in the movie industry, though. Only a small number of them are doing programming. When programmers got tired of being called “programmers”, they demanded that we call them “developers” or “software engineers”. Oh, and the “computer artists” who aren’t working in Hollywood are working for game publishers, and most of them aren’t programmers, either. They days when one person whipped up the art AND the sound AND the code for a game went away sometime in the 1980’s. Now everybody’s a specialist.
And then there’s “architect”. And used to be common to see “system analyst”.
“Developers” became so heavily used that it casually reduced to “devs”.
“Architect” and “architecture” are used by analogy, but they are real concepts in computer science. I suppose the alternative to taking over an existing word would be either making up a word, turning a phrase into a word like “bit” from “binary digit”, or taking over a word from German or Latin.
For example, we refer to the “architecture” of the IBM 360 computer. This architecture has been very influential; almost every modern computer has 8-bit characters, 16-bit and 32-bit integers, and is byte-addressed.
“Don’t you mean the ‘design’ of the IBM 360?” you ask. No. The 360 models 30, 40, 50, 60 and the others were designed each in its own way to implement the 360 architecture.
Strangely when working as a craft artist – charging more seems to sell the items better.
Among other items we made to sell, I used to make hand stitched small bears that sold for US$5, sales tax included. (They were circles of fabric, drawn together and stuffed for head, body, arms, legs so went fairly fast and did not cost much to make – they had small plastic or wood accessories on them to make them into various characters – baseball batter or catcher, cook, baby, etc. He worked at times doing assorted wood working techniques and in various other media including cut paper – silhouettes and scherenschnitten. We could make maybe US $150 as a high amount selling at a craft fair.
Robert started weaving on a small loom a few years before the pandemic started. He had been trying to sell them online through an Etsy site. (When he started Etsy was actually only handmade items, not like today when all sorts of purchased junk is being sold.) We did a reenactment related event at a local 18th c/19th c house where in exchange for demonstrating one;s craft one could sell items made – and they did not have to be period items being made and sold. I thought he would not sell anything based on what he was charging – but he did and at a similar recent event, again sold a number of items which added up very nicely – not supporting, but very nicely. (I demonstrate period embroidery and do not sell my work, but he is pushing me to do small pieces to sell.)
Strangely when working as a craft artist – charging more seems to sell the items better.
I found the same thing when selling my services as an English teacher in Brasil — at the time (90s) I would have been happy getting about $10-15 /hr, but I was advised to charge no less than $30, and almost no one blinked at it, and somehow it was just seen that I must be better than those charging ~$20. A few did haggle, but I think they would have haggled regardless of the starting price, so better to have a nice high price (and as I got wilier, I could anticipate those who might haggle and start even higher, so that in the end everyone was satisfied). Regardless, my instinctual starting price was too low, as there are long dry periods in the private tutoring market, holidays, etc., and then there is travel between students to consider, and lesson preparation, so while I felt that $10/ hr would be a good income, I wasn’t considering that in reality it would work out to more like $5/hour when everything else was factored in, so I’m very thankful to the good advice I got, and that I followed it.
@larK – a rule of thumb I encountered a long time ago was that you charge people out at 3x what you pay them
larK – It makes no sense to me – perhaps people think something is more desirable when it costs more?
One big difference is that now we can take credit cards – when last we did the general craft shows it was cash only, now with Square we can take the cards also. But back when we used to do shows we were selling things for US$25 at the top end – and most items were US$10 or less – my hand stitched bears were going for US$5 – including sales tax (and I have boxes of them left plus the fabrics to make them).
Another differences are that he is weaving at the event (he has a smaller loom to bring to do same – loom is NOT period correct, but that is okay at the specific events he brings it to). Also the events which feature the crafts like this are in higher income communities than where the craft shows that we used to were held.
(When weaving at home he is doing so in his “loom room” – currently reverted to its old purpose – the living room as we still are enjoying our Christmas tree and decorations. By agreement I get it back as the living room from mid December to mid January – it is his loom room the rest of the year. I went to start taking down the tree decorations today and he said to leave it longer as he has the small loom setup and he can use it in the kitchen instead – and the decorations look so nice.