TBH, this Rae the Doe isn’t really a LOL; but it needed to go in a list-post as not fully justifying a standalone daily post or even a bonus. What’s special about it is that you don’t often see a genuinely informative infographic as panel or strip of a regular comic (that is, excluding those that purport to bring you facts every day). Also, the artist’s note is endearingly unassertive, as usual (yes, she does put in notes somewhat often).
Happy Belated National Peanut Butter Day (January 24th).
BCN does Alice!
No, I kan’t make any sense of this Calvin and Hobbes:
Comics I Don't Understand 
I did not understand that “Breaking Cat News” strip when it first appeared, and I have no idea why it has anything to do with “Alice”. Is the couch supposed to be the Group W Bench? It’s probably supposed to be Wonderland (and not the Restaurant), but I still don’t get it.
P.S. I haven’t been to an American ice rink in the last 45 years, so I don’t know whether those “trainers” are common there, either, but I did see them the last time I was at a German rink, only instead of snowmen, they were penguins and polar bears.
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Hobbs simply says a phrase too long for Calvin to repeat.
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Right, it’s not that Alice, but Alice in Wonderland (or maybe Through The Looking Glass). In one of those books, Lewis Carroll has a character pose that riddle asking how a raven is like a writing desk.
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@Lord F, it’s like Cab Calloway in “Minnie the Moocher” ending up with a phrase the band can’t echo back to him.
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Woops, that clip doesn’t end that way! But some versions do!
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Critique of Pure Reason, probably.
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Probably, but we kan’t be sure.
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@Danny, this cover by your namesake Danny Kaye does that bit. “Go ahead!” he challenges them. Trigger warning: He is trying to show off his ability to use a few foreign-language phrases, or imitate accents; but some of that comes off today as painfully close to doing mocking imitations.
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Lewis Carroll’s Alice? I thought it was referring to Alice Otterloop! Those last two panels could easily be Alice, Dill and Beni.
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“Why is a raven like a writing-desk?” is The Hatter’s riddle from “A Mad Tea-Party”, chapter 7 from Alice in Wonderland. Carroll originally intended it to be an unanswerable riddle, although people have come up with various solutions over the years.
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Some examples include:
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In the Bizarro, SA Crunch has the wrong arm insignia. A single red chevron is E-4 (Petty Officer 3rd Class). For E-2 (Seaman Apprentice) it should be two white diagonal lines.
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My grandson tried the irritating echo game. I didn’t tell him to stop, I just made him say how much he loved Sophie (his little sister) how he couldn’t live without Sophie, how much he wanted to kiss and hug her.
He decided the game wasn’t that fun after all.
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Thanks, Ken.
In the time since this appeared, I think I’ve seen it discussed a couple of times, including presumably Wayno’s blog but also another. But I don’t recall that uniform detail coming up!
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Here was the appearance at Comic Strip of The Day, but it doesn’t say much: https://www.dailycartoonist.com/index.php/2024/01/05/csotd-visions-and-revisions/
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Considerably more discussion from Prof. Zwicky: https://arnoldzwicky.org/2024/01/04/seaman-apprentice-crunch/
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And Mitch was correct that of course it was covered on Wayno’s Blog when it first appeared (as all his daily’s are): https://waynocartoons.blogspot.com/2024/01/ringing-in-new.html . But was incorrect in saying the uniform/rank issue was not discussed: “A few sharp-eyed readers informed me that these characters are wearing the uniform of a Petty Officer Third Class. My photo research was clearly a little sloppy here, but to be fair, “Petty Officer Third Class Crunch” would have crowded the caption box.”
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There are some days when many of the comics in my AppleScript list are dull or even incomprehensible. There are other days when many of them are hilarious, or at least funny. This set is in the former set. I suspect the variability is about my head, not the actual comics.
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Fun fact: a defibrillator actually comes pretty close to turning your heart off and then on again.
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I don’t quite get “granite”. The “gran” part is obvious, but the “ite” IDU.
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Brian, they’re dividing it differently than you; and duplicating the /n/. It’s “gran” plus “knit”.
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Repeating things: this is the “two ronnies” version
As for the Raven/desk Carrol himself, after been asked continuously gave this possible answer:
“because it can produce a few notes, tho they are very flat and it is nevar put with the wrong end first”
but the editor corrected “nevar” in “never” ruining it….
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Wouldn’t a future Cap’n Crunch be more likely to start off as an Ensign or even Lieutenant rather than in the enlisted ranks?
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Funny, I doubled the “n”, but I got “gran night”, as in, this is an exciting night (in) for Gran…
But I guess “Gran knit” was probably what was intended…
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@Powers (23) I suppose that’s why he is making such a statement about getting command. The one detail that irked me was not the uniform but the eyebrows should be on the hat
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@GiP, thanks for that 2 Ronnies clip! Perfect variation!
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Here’s another “granite” comic, this one using the favorite pun on that word:
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As to the echo game – short of annoying child being at a reenactment we are doing, unless one of our niblings gets married and has children there are none in our “grandchild generation who would do this” as we have not been fortunate enough to have children we will not be dealing this game. Oldest niece is 33 and youngest niece is in her teens, (with another niece and 2 nephews between) – but none of them even seem to date so doubt we will have another generation in either family. Teddy bears – yes. Cabbage Patch kids – yes, (most of both are mine), but grandnieces/nephews – not so much,
I do remember playing it with my younger sisters – especially middle sister – using it as an answer to “I know you are, but what am I”.
As to old books – I generally don’t sniff my books, but definitely will not do so now. I have a collection of old (and some new) books by Louisa May Alcott and about her. (Also a piece of the room at her desk where she wrote “Little Women” etc – they were doing work on the house and selling pieces of the what had to removed – Robert bought it for me and It sits on my dresser in a small glass dome.) Also older needlework books.
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