Category / Holiday-Thematic

by zbicyclist

Saturday OYs — Some math for e day

Pi Day (March 14, or 3/14) gets a lot of play in the U.S., but doesn’t work in other countries that write dates as DD/MM/YYYY, so it becomes 14/3. An alternative in those areas is e day, after the base of natural logarithms, e, (2.71) on 27 January. So, we’re going to avoid the Pi Day rush and post some math cartoons today.

Like pi, e shows up in a variety of places in mathematics, and is associated with some of the greats in mathematical development. From Wikipedia:

“The number e is sometimes called Euler’s number …—after the Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler —or Napier’s constant—after John Napier. The constant was discovered by the Swiss mathematician Jacob Bernoulli while studying compound interest.”

Some fuzzy math from websites. The first is from Kiva.org.

This one is from MyVirtualMission.com, a site where you can virtually pretend to climb Everest or complete the Camino de Santiago as you run/walk/bike around your neighborhood. Somehow, their counter of missions (trips) has gone awry. Or maybe I did one backwards?

by multipleciduers

Sunday Funnies – LOLs, January 7th, 2024

The holidays are done, but the cartoons are not all done with Xmas and NYear LOLs!

LOL-Ewww did you say?

Does Eric Scott’s drawing style sometimes seem to have a Thurber feel?

This Santino is an almost-CIDU: commenters on his page talk about getting it only after pausing and looking at it another way, or filling in their literary knowledge.

Once upon a time (it was December, actually) Sandra sent this in, and noted it could be a LOL-semi-CIDU as it’s not first-glance obvious what’s going on. 

Actually, the editors’ feeling of confidence in one explanation faded upon discussion. Is this cat-behavior being actively performed by an animated cat-statue? Or is it a static statue of characteristic cat-behavior? 

Either way, it’s the sort of thing cat people regard with loving exasperation. The great filmmaker Agnès Varda felt like putting her cat on a monument, and did so in her short Le Lion Volatil (actuality on left, modification on right):

And as Aaron notes when sending this next one in, Falco really wants to say something about this gap-week.

by zbicyclist

NY^3: New Year’s Themed Comics on New Year’s Day from The New Yorker

It’s New Year’s Day, 2024, so why not post some New Year’s cartoons from another NY, The New Yorker? Wait. Wasn’t that yesterday’s theme? But this is a theme so nice, we’re using it twice.

1931 (i.e. first issue of 1931): some wake-up bells to start your year

1930

1932: not a cheerful New Year’s

1933: Roosevelt’s been elected, but not inaugurated. The man here is not hopeful.

1933

Similar theme from 1934:

To all our readers, commenters, editors, and cartoonists who make this possible, best wishes for a wonderful 2023 2024!

Reflect and think? Or maybe just do some things appropriate to the season. Change out that furnace filter that should be changed every 3 months. Is your toothbrush getting too long in the tooth? Check your IRA balances if you’ll need to make RMDs. Check the refrigerator for stuff that expired in 2022. Make some Hoppin’ John with those black-eyed peas in the back of the pantry. Feel free to comment on your own ways to mark (or ignore) the day.

Or, perhaps like Mooch, you’re perfect and can just take a nap.

Let’s end with an OY:

by multipleciduers

Sunday Funnies – LOLs for NYE from NYr, 2023

Some New Year’s Eve cartoons from the New Yorker archives.

1926 (i.e. first issue of 1926).

1928

1932, before our smartwatches all had synchronized time.

1934

Here’s a link to the New Yorker cartoons most shared on Instagram in 2023: NYer cartoons most shared on Instagram Not a CIDU among them, but quite a few LOLs.

by multipleciduers

Gifts from the Four Wise(?) Men

Your editors are greeting today’s holiday with some favorite comics, some Christmassy, some not. Enjoy!

Here’s one for the great CIDU cat-admiration tradition!

Seems like the reindeer might take a lichen to an in-flight snack, also.

by Kilby

Robin Bickel Redux

Even though Hanukkah is already over, Robin still has a number of Zak’s cards left over, and she wanted me to remind CIDU readers that she is not “re-using” the recipient list(s) from past years. So, if you would like a (belated) card for this year, you need to supply your (postal) address in a new e-mail, sent to “robinbickel (at) gmail.com“. Please put “CIDU” in the subject line.

Anyone who would like to may also send Robin a holiday card.
Mail them to 43 Peace Rd, Randolph, NJ 07869.

by CIDU Bill

Chacun à son foi

winterish

Bill drafted this comic back in 2019; it seemed appropriate to post it on the first day of Hanukkah.

P.S. On various occasions Robin has used different spellings (such as “Hanukah“), whereas Bill was always careful to spell it “Chanukah” (as seen in the tags). Unfortunately, Bill’s memorable “(C)Han(n)uk(k)a(h)” spelling bracket was destroyed by Comicgeddon, but there was a nice bonus panel on the subject in a Menorah post in 2018.

by Kilby

A Message from Robin Bickel

Last week Robin sent some news, following up with “…feel free to share my post with the group! I am so happy that CIDU continues to be a place where people can actually converse in a civilized manner. Sadly, that seems to be less and less the norm every day.“, and adding that she “…will be sure to share news with the group during the [coming] year.”

I’ve added some relevant links and footnotes to Robin’s message:

Hope this little note finds everyone well at CIDU land! The boys and I are doing well and as it’s already the end of November. (Where does the time go?)
I’m gearing up for holiday cards.† If anyone would like a card designed by the ever talented Zak, please drop me a line (even if you’ve gotten a card in years past).†
Aaron and Mary Cate hosted a bike-a-thon to raise money for the rare disease Charcot Marie Tooth (which Mary Cate has).‡ It was a huge success, and they’ll be doing it again next September. I’ll send out an e-mail next summer in case people would like to donate or participate. It was a lot of fun.
Zachary is still working hard making the business section of the NY Times all pretty. You can check out his Instagram at authenticzakbickel if you’d like to see his work.
Eight of us (including Aaron and Zak) went to Vienna for a week. Not only did we eat fabulous food, see amazing architecture and really great museums, we also saw the government apartment building where my father-in-law lived when he was a young child.
Happy Holidays everyone!

P.S. (†) – From last year’s holiday card reminder: send the e-mail to “robinbickel (at) gmail.com“, and put CIDU in the subject line. If you’d like, you can send Robin a card to 43 Peace Rd, Randolph, NJ 07869.

P.P.S. (‡) – The link goes to Bill’s most recent (2020) Walkathon post, in which Aaron gave some basic information about CMT and their fundraising. Please note that the link listed there for Mary Cate’s fundraising page is no longer in service.