Looking for a song to fit your romantic situation? Randall Munroe has the answer:
In the alt-text, Munroe notes The Pina Colada Song covers the entire space in the course of the song.
John Atkinson helps us understand some of the common vocabulary of Valentine’s Day.
Abraham Lincoln was one of H.T. Webster‘s personal heroes, and today would have been his 215th birthday. Whenever an appropriate weekday series was scheduled for February 12th, Webster occasionally took the opportunity to draw a birthday tribute. This example (taken from “The Best of H.T. Webster“, page 253) originally appeared in 1919 (on what would have been Lincoln’s 110th birthday):
This video from the Smithsonian Magazine shows a couple of alternate designs that were proposed for the Lincoln Memorial, along with five surprising facts:
1) Lincoln was an accomplished wrestler; and …
2) … is the only President to hold a patent for his own invention;
3) … stored papers in his top hat;
4) … attended seances in the White House; and
5) … established the Secret Service.
…could a groundhog hog, if a groundhog could hog ground?
…unless of course Phil beats the believers to the punch:
Here are four different approaches to affecting the prediction:
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?
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.
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:
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.
OK, I see there is some sort of getting-even irony here. But how is it performed? Is there really a diamond bracelet? Who is getting it, if there is one, and how is that a revenge? Or if the oddity is merely due to an omitted “not”, would that mean the husband was expecting to receive a bracelet?
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.
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.
Comics I Don't Understand 