Month / December 2024

by Kilby

The shortest day of the year…

… will occur tomorrow (well, at least up here in the northern hemisphere):

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Most countries in the temperate zones have one 23-hour day every year’s calendar, but it falls in Spring, not in Winter.

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As opposed to both of the “Born Loser” strips, Frazz is referring here to net sunlight, rather than total duration.

P.S. Jef Mallett lives in Michigan, and must be very familiar with how short the days get in northern latitudes. On the other hand, Berlin is located ten degrees farther north than Detroit, so Mallett doesn’t have that much to complain about.

Of course, the shortest day of the year is followed immediately by the longest night:

by zbicyclist

What’s the Password?

Mark H. sends this one in: “It’s clear that this protects passwords from others, since she neither writes them down nor remembers them. But it would seem like they are also protected from her, hence useless. Maybe she has to use the “forgot password” routine each time, and so the password is never the same?”

According to NordPass, the most common passwords are still the most useless ones:

The same day Mark H. sent that in, there were two other password comics in my feed. These aren’t really synchronicities, because the jokes are all different, but why not pretend it’s National Password Day? (That’s actually the first Thursday in May.)

I worked at a company where every few weeks, a new 7 letter password would be automatically randomly generated for you. Well, maybe randomly. A colleague had gotten into a tiff with the head of IT, and his next password ended with 3 letters of his first name. The first 4 letters were an expression not allowed on vanity license plates. He was convinced there was nothing “random” about it. And, knowing the head of IT as I did, I’d bet he was right.

by Kilby

Prime Primes

Brian in StL submitted this B.C. strip a long while ago, commenting: “When I read this initially, I had no idea. There are some suggestions in comments that might be right. The “Transformers” one in particular. I still don’t know.“

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Even after reading some of those comments, I’m just not sure whether this gag works at all: it seems rather contrived.

by zbicyclist

Bonus: A Holiday Message from Robin Bickel

Robin Bickel provides this holiday update from the Bickel clan. For those of you who are newer readers, or may just want a refresher about Bill, who founded this site, can find it here.

I hope everyone at CIDU is doing well.

Here’s an update on the always entertaining Bickel clan.

Zak is now in charge of all the visual planning for the NY Times business section and does all the hiring and layout for all the business section features. He just got a dog (his girlfriend talked him into it!) so we’ll see what happens with that!

Aaron and Mary Cate are now the proud parents of Hildegard Willa. She’ll be turning 1 at the end of February and she’s already smart and feisty! I’ve included a few photos of their recent trip to Tuscany. (Hildy has already been to Montreal, Portland Oregon, Berkely, Tuscany, Orlando, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey and New York! She is very well traveled and extremely good on airplanes.)

In between grandma time, I’ve been seeing a lot of theater in NYC – 30 pays this year and I’m already making plans for next year. In the spring, Aaron, Mary Cate, Hildy and I will be travelling to London and Scotland. 

As always, I’d love to send everyone a holiday card, designed by that art director extraordinary, Zak! So send me your address and a card will wing it’s way to you [RobinBickel_AT_gmail.com]

Bill wasn’t fond of Dave Whamond‘s squirrel jokes in the corner of Reality Check, so I hope he would forgive me for posting this one. [editor, not Robin]

by Kilby

Anyone for a Tea Party?

It’s difficult to say which caffeinated drink is more popular; it depends on who and where you are (in America the answer would probably be “cola”).

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I was once offered (hot) tea at a friend’s house (in high school); he dropped a tea bag into a mug of cold water, and put it all into the microwave for a minute or two. Just like Calvin’s attempt, it was a complete failure.

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For several years a German brand of hair care products called “Alpecin” advertised its overloaded caffeine content as “doping for the hair“. This caused a fair amount of controversy, especially when the company later started sponsoring a bicycle racing team.

by multipleciduers

Sunday Funnies – LOLs, December 15th, 2024

Squirrel(s) have taken up residence in the attic of our condo building. Between the animal control fees, the carpentry repairs where they chewed through a dormer, and trimming the trees further away from the building, this will be an expensive endeavor. And, I have neighbors who scare away the red-tailed hawk who hangs around, so it won’t harm the squirrels. Seeing that squirrel in Whamond’s strip reminds me of a tagline of Bill’s: “GoDaddy and the Squirrel Must Both Die”.

Even in this very early Peanuts strip, Charlie Brown has found his signature style.

When you want to make sure nobody will send your comic in as a CIDU:

This is a combination Public Service Announcement and Christmas gift suggestion. My runner daughter started wearing a fiber-optic vest with chest light like Frazz is wearing a few years ago, and then got me one as a Christmas gift. They’re great for running, cycling, or walking at night. As a driver, I appreciate people who are lit up, so I can see them far ahead.