Author / phsiii

by phsiii

Like, man, I might not be getting it…

From Dirk the Daring, an Oddly Enough:

Dirk comments, “Rooollll a another one….I think maybe I get it. Does he want a dog that can sniff out where to buy his next bag of dope?  I dunno, maybe I’m just slow.  Or I’ve taken too many hits myself.”

I’m thinking “Where to buy” or maybe just to find weed that he’s forgotten about in his apartment? Cop’s hat says NYPD and I’m told that dispensaries are on every block there (mostly unlicensed), so I don’t think he should need help finding one. And Tomlinson lives in New York, so it’s not like he’d be unaware. ‘Tis a mystery!

Lots more Oddly Enough at https://www.instagram.com/vaughantomlinson/ !

by phsiii

Mystery Machine

The ever-prolific JMcAndrew asks, “What is that supposed to be that he broke?”

As someone who has used mainframe computers since the early 1970s, I recognize it as a 9-track tape drive, probably an IBM 3420. In other words, it’s supposed to be a computer, from the era when “spinning tapes” meant “computer”.

He adds that the comic is from 1984, at which point the 3420 with its open reels was still state of the art. That’s actually the year the 3480 was introduced, which used a square cartridge instead. As a 3480 looks like a dishwasher with a tape slot, much like a VCR, and you can’t see the tape spin, 3480s and their children never caught on as a way to say “Look! A computer!” in movies and TV.

by phsiii

Not a geezer alert

billr sends:

noting, “I’m guessing some cultural reference I’m missing, or forgot (I’m an old) maybe from some movie I never watched. I know that they’ve been rerunning old comics for TMCM but I don’t see a date on this one.”

I see “2016” on the right, which actually tracks with my guess, but I leave it to the hive-mind to see if they reach the same conclusion I did.

by phsiii

“I’ll be at The Library”

JMcAndrew asks, “I’d think at age 5 Dennis would already know what a zoo is. Did Henry take Dennis to some kind of strip club and tell him it was the zoo?”

From the expression on Henry’s face, I think that might be the case, though this seems odd and inappropriate for a DtM strip!

I’m reminded of the alleged bar or strip club named The Library, a great place to spend an afternoon “studying”…

by phsiii

I get it, I get it not

Nancy is often a head-scratcher for me, and this one is no exception:

There’s some fourth-wall thing going on there, but not sure why/what: the flower isn’t changing; “three” and “four” are missing…and is there a joke in here somewhere? Wikipedia describes the strip as “surreal humor”, but there’s gotta be SOME humor for that to work…

by phsiii

It’s a miracle!

JMcAndrew sends a set of related cartoons:

The last two are obviously just different versions of the same joke from the same cartoonist, even if they’re 14 1/2 years apart. I’m not sure if that’s a bad thing or not.

These all remind me of an axiom I was taught long ago as a relationship test: Have lunch at your prospective partner’s house and ask for mayonnaise. If they present Miracle Whip–especially if they aren’t even apologetic about it–RUN.

Miracle Whip is to mayonnaise as carob is to chocolate. As someone else once wrote, “Carob is not an acceptable substitute for chocolate. It is not an acceptable substitute for anything except, perhaps, brown shoe polish.”

by phsiii

Eating your own dogfood?

(OK, that’s not really the right title but)

Another from JMcAndrew:

Why is he scratching himself with his foot? Is the joke supposed to be that his wife is feeding him dog meat and he’s mimicking dog behavior?

I dunno either. But it does make me think of the classic joke:

I was at the grocery store checkout buying a large bag of dog biscuits and a woman behind me asked if I had a dog. I was feeling a bit crabby, so I told her no, I was starting The Dog Biscuit Diet again. I added that I probably shouldn’t, because although last time I lost 50 pounds, I ended up in the hospital in intensive care.

Her eyes about popped out of her head. I went on and on with the bogus diet story and she was totally buying it. I told her that it was an easy, inexpensive diet and that they’re nutritionally complete: the way it works is to load your pockets or purse with biscuits and simply eat one or two every time you feel hungry.

Finally she asked if something in the dog food had poisoned me and was that why I ended up in the hospital. I calmly said no…I was sitting in the street licking myself when a car hit me.

by phsiii

Intense? In tents?? No idea

Random web find, at
https://www.victorianlondon.org/words/aesthetic.htm:

Text on the page:

REFINEMENTS OF MODERN SPEECH.

SCENE – A Drawing-room in “Passionate Brompton.”

Fair Aesthetic (suddenly, and in deepest tones, to Smith, who has just been introduced to take her in to Dinner). “ARE YOU INTENSE?”

Punch, June 14, 1879

100% CIDU for me. The rest of the site is interesting, including
https://www.victorianlondon.org/index.html and especially
https://www.victorianlondon.org/index-2012.htm