For Mothers Day, a bit of both-parental sentiment from Bliss:
Probably obvious, but for the record, it is Susan (the character shown) herself who is trying to give up caffeine.
The Hax advice column this accompanies is here.
TBH, I don’t entirely understand this. I mean, I understand the heartwarming message about group loyalty and generosity — but not whether there was actually supposed to be anything funny.
Wait, could this be heading for an idiom-origins story about “bought the farm”? No? Nah!
Comics I Don't Understand 
Does anyone know how long the usual lead time is between when Nick Galifianakis comics show up next to an article by Carolyn Hax, and when the comic then appears at GoComics? There hasn’t been a new Nick & Zuzu comic since March 22nd; I was beginning to think he had lost his syndication arrangement.
P.S. FYI – That link to the Carolyn Hax article crashes into the Post’s paywall.
P.P.S. The “loyalty and generosity” shown by Beetle & Plato (and presumably everyone else in the barracks) needs to be read with a grain of salt, and knowledge of Zero’s personality. Those donations were probably made in the hope that when the farm is saved, Zero will be called home to help manage it, so that he will no longer trouble his army colleagues with his profound stupidity.
This may work as a “gift link”–
https://wapo.st/3wuRimO
If you get stuck at the paywall, and if the gift link doesn’t work for you (I’m a subscriber, so all these work for me) here’s the headline and subhead:
“Carolyn Hax: In-laws stalk the live stream to check couple’s attendance at church
“Out-of-town in-laws look for this couple on their church’s live stream and make snarky comments when they don’t attend.”
IMO, the church is also at fault here, for showing the audience in the livestream. Usually they just show the sanctuary / chancel and maybe the choir.
zbicyclist: That’s an excellent point. If nothing else, it’s a great way for a burglar to determine who’s not going to be home for the next hour!
@ mitch (3) – Thanks. I meant the FYI just as information for other readers (and not as a nudge, since I never intended to read the article), but the gift link was nevertheless very useful. A quick review of several “related” articles (spanning 2020 – 2023) proved that in the past, the “Nick & Zuzu” comics have usually shown up at GoComics either on the same day as the article in the Post, or one day later. However, in this case the article is currently only two days old, so there is still every reason to hope that the GoComics feed will be updated soon. (The real question is whether Carolyn Hax was on vacation from March 22nd until last Thursday: I wasn’t able to find any of her articles from 2024.)
And a tiny funny that Zero truly believes it was a miracle – it would never occur to him that his barracks mates would put money in there. Which is kind of laughing at the stupid guy, but with a fond smile…at least for me.
I am presuming you mean Carolyn Hax’s column? We get her column in our daily and Saturday “Newsday” (not in Sunday)newspapers, but there are never any cartoons/comics with it or related to it.
Meryl, yes it is Carolyn Hax’s advice column. At WaPo (which I guess should be considered the base or original publication avenue for it) it is accompanied by a sketch from Nick G, which may be very closely or quite tangentially related to the column topic. (BTW, the two were formerly married.) But as you point out there are other publication routes for the column (I get them in an email newsletter), which may or may not include the drawing. And then again, Nick’s drawings get separately published at GoComics, without the Carolyn column appearing there, and not even a link to the specific instance of it.
“surveil” is not a word recognised by the OED.
“surveil” is not a word recognised by the OED.
Oh?
Mitch 4 – Thank you.
@ Brian (11) – The majesty of the authority is undermined by the source of their reference: “The earliest known use of the verb surveil is … from 1960, in Federal Supplement (U.S.)” … Strunk & White would have been horrified to learn that we would one day be accepting usage tips from government bureaucrats.
P.S. Galifianakis is still illustrating new Hax articles at the Post (now in color!), but it has been over ten weeks since a new cartoon has appeared at GoComics. I think it is time to admit that the powers that be have terminated the arrangement, so I have removed “Nick & Zuzu” from my daily link list. Disappointing, but it was nice while it lasted.
Regardless, the assertion that is not recognized be OED isn’t correct.