Is there any more to the joke than the anachronism of the “ancient site” having a wheelchair ramp alongside the staircase (and a bit of matching signage)?
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Nope. The anachronism is the humor.
So much for unblemished young virgins…
As someone who grew up when The Far Side was new, it’s a pity we didn’t have the web back then. The strips provoked a lot of discussion, and it was well known that some people just didn’t “get” the comic. So many strips didn’t have punchlines, so much as they just showed images of absurdity.
One of my Far Side books includes notes, and several times the wrong caption was printed with the cartoon, or left off entirely, probably lending to some of the confusion.
@maggiethecartoonist – Was that “The PreHistory of the Far Side?” I loved that book.
Imagine the comments and memes if the internet had been around for “Cow Tools.”
Some years ago, I took a tuktuk up to a Buddhist temple on the top of a mountain outside Chaing Mai, Thailand. It was a shock to see a lot of the signage had Pepsi logos on it.
If that is supposed to be a wheelchair ramp, then how (assuming the existence of wheelchairs then) it is supposed to work? It looks to me like it would be easier to haul the thing up the stairway, perhaps with help from a ratcheted rope or cable.
Yeah, not only too narrow but also too steep.
I thought of the wheelchair ramp as being part of the sacrificial thing. If there were someone in a wheelchair up by the altar, I’d be the one who says, “Don’t worry, I’ll help you down. Hold on tight because here you go! WHEE!”
Back when they still let tourists climb the main pyramid at Chichen.Itza”, there was a rope mounted on a series of metal poles in the center of the stairs. Holding onto the rope was a big help when ascending the stairs, but it was an absolute necessity when descending. Those stairs are extremely steep.
Since ancient temples are often pictured as having a tall series of stairs, it seems only fair that they should be handicap accessible.
The FS panel is dated 1991. Just the year prior the Americans With Disabilities Act became law.
Lately Facebook has been recommending me The Far Side page/group out of nowhere and I must admit I found a few of those comics more absurd than funny.
Grawlix, I found it rather disturbing that that FB Group was just outright called “The Far Side”, and did include a few cartoons from Larson’s past, but would also include others, without saying much about it. So you could also see confused newcomers getting led astray, and talking as though all these were Far Sides.
So then it looked like the admins were willing to do something about it, and for a couple days there was a “Cartoon Side” (or was it “Comic Side”?) group. But it wasn’t like other clean-break name-changes I have seen, as it was like a cover page that then led to another page with the old name. So I’m unsure at this point of the status.
Further on that… The Facebook thing I mentioned is called Comics Side, and is a FB “Page”. And it seems to print or link/share material from two different Groups called “The Far Side”. So my sense of seeing one then it switching to the other was not actually about a name change.
There are even more Groups listed in connection with this Page. I can’t tell if the “see all” means “all the groups actually managed by this Page or its Admin” or just “all the FB thingies our search tool thinks are related”. But here is a screen of that:
Oh and, before jumping to “see all” I should have reported on the initial Groups listing for this Page, which includes the group statement for one, with its revealing note about Far Side “like” comics.
Comics I Don't Understand 
Nope. The anachronism is the humor.
So much for unblemished young virgins…
As someone who grew up when The Far Side was new, it’s a pity we didn’t have the web back then. The strips provoked a lot of discussion, and it was well known that some people just didn’t “get” the comic. So many strips didn’t have punchlines, so much as they just showed images of absurdity.
One of my Far Side books includes notes, and several times the wrong caption was printed with the cartoon, or left off entirely, probably lending to some of the confusion.
@maggiethecartoonist – Was that “The PreHistory of the Far Side?” I loved that book.
Imagine the comments and memes if the internet had been around for “Cow Tools.”
Some years ago, I took a tuktuk up to a Buddhist temple on the top of a mountain outside Chaing Mai, Thailand. It was a shock to see a lot of the signage had Pepsi logos on it.
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/jgwmkp1zsuccrfh6pl3ey/KRUGER-ALBUM5-HS300-0057.jpg?rlkey=t4hglowz4t2euetxnbrd4iy6f&dl=0
The dragon has obediently removed its shoes!
If that is supposed to be a wheelchair ramp, then how (assuming the existence of wheelchairs then) it is supposed to work? It looks to me like it would be easier to haul the thing up the stairway, perhaps with help from a ratcheted rope or cable.
Yeah, not only too narrow but also too steep.
I thought of the wheelchair ramp as being part of the sacrificial thing. If there were someone in a wheelchair up by the altar, I’d be the one who says, “Don’t worry, I’ll help you down. Hold on tight because here you go! WHEE!”
Back when they still let tourists climb the main pyramid at Chichen.Itza”, there was a rope mounted on a series of metal poles in the center of the stairs. Holding onto the rope was a big help when ascending the stairs, but it was an absolute necessity when descending. Those stairs are extremely steep.
Since ancient temples are often pictured as having a tall series of stairs, it seems only fair that they should be handicap accessible.
The FS panel is dated 1991. Just the year prior the Americans With Disabilities Act became law.
Lately Facebook has been recommending me The Far Side page/group out of nowhere and I must admit I found a few of those comics more absurd than funny.
Grawlix, I found it rather disturbing that that FB Group was just outright called “The Far Side”, and did include a few cartoons from Larson’s past, but would also include others, without saying much about it. So you could also see confused newcomers getting led astray, and talking as though all these were Far Sides.
So then it looked like the admins were willing to do something about it, and for a couple days there was a “Cartoon Side” (or was it “Comic Side”?) group. But it wasn’t like other clean-break name-changes I have seen, as it was like a cover page that then led to another page with the old name. So I’m unsure at this point of the status.
Further on that… The Facebook thing I mentioned is called Comics Side, and is a FB “Page”. And it seems to print or link/share material from two different Groups called “The Far Side”. So my sense of seeing one then it switching to the other was not actually about a name change.
There are even more Groups listed in connection with this Page. I can’t tell if the “see all” means “all the groups actually managed by this Page or its Admin” or just “all the FB thingies our search tool thinks are related”. But here is a screen of that:
Oh and, before jumping to “see all” I should have reported on the initial Groups listing for this Page, which includes the group statement for one, with its revealing note about Far Side “like” comics.