Category / (Not a Cidu)

by zbicyclist

Independence Day

It’s interesting that the white character in this comic from 1976 is named Nate. Much later, Nate Bargatze will have a similar theme in this now well-known SNL skit:

On a serious note, it is always worth pondering the end of Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Speech:

“With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.”

by zbicyclist

Sunday Funnies – LOLs – June 29, 2025

Again, Again!

JMcAndrew notes: “He’s pretending to be having a medical emergency? A seizure? Allergic Reaction? As a way to entertain his grandchild on video chat? Why?”

Parisi is 64, about the age to have young grandchildren. I’ve done this with my grandchildren, who are always amused, and usually want me to do it again.

JMcAndrew sends this in: “I have to agree with Ditto. It’s ridiculous that they only have 3 birthday candles and her plan was to just hope her 6-year-old wasn’t perceptive enough to notice. Is the family in such financial hardship that they can’t afford some new birthday candles? This is sad more than funny but I like how mad Lois looks here as she cuts the candles in half.”

In honor of the past week’s heat dome:

by zbicyclist

Saturday Morning OYs – June 28, 2025

Mark H. sends in this censible comic: “This one is just a specimen of five days worth of penny / money puns. 6/17-6/21 could all appear as a single “Oy” section.

I wouldn’t change a thing…”

Mitch4 sends this in: “Quite a bit of phonological compression required, but despite not looking much alike, I can buy it that “Namaste” is a good sound substitute for “Nah, Imma stay” (where “Imma” in turn is a contemporary short form for “I’m gonna”).”

Membership is in creasing.

by zbicyclist

Sunday Funnies – LOLs – June 22, 2025

Boise Ed sends this in: “For years, the doctor has been on Ed’s (no relation) case about his weight. Nothing to do with me, no sir.”

Alt-text: If you think curiosity without rigor is bad, you should see rigor without curiosity.

chemgal sends this in: “For those unfamiliar with the strip, it’s worth noting that she is the mother of the young streaker, and the coach chasing him is his dad. Her very chill attitude contrasting the wide-eyed stared of the other spectators is what made me laugh.”

by zbicyclist

Saturday Morning OYs – June 21, 2025

A couple of movie-related OYs

JMcAndrew sends this in: “IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes have no results for anything called “The Immortal Weekend”. Does Brutus think this is a pornographic movie?”

Maybe just hoping.

Now some food-related:

On group bike rides, you call out a hazard as a courtesy to the riders behind you so they don’t hit it. So, you might call out “road kill” or “squirrel” or “skunk” … or “lunch”.

JMcAndrew sends this in: “Did someone spike it with LSD? Probably should call 911 if all these people were exposed and exhibiting symptoms.”

by Kilby

What’s in a Shirt?

As these first two strips show, Charlie Brown’s shirt had already become an icon just six months after Peanuts began syndication, and Schulz created a number of gags on the topic.

There is danger in innovation:

Nevertheless, the rewards can be satisfying:

Do clothes make the man?

Mark Parisi frequently uses Peanuts characters in “Off the Mark“, and has produced a number of gags based on Charlie Brown’s shirt.

This one is directly from Parisi’s OtM website, because it predates the archive at GoComics:

Reworking the coloration produces an alternative gag:

As this screenshot from one of the TV specials shows, Schulz was well aware of Charlie Brown’s selection dilemma:

by zbicyclist

Calendar Girls

JMcAndrew surfaced these Beetle Bailey comics with somewhat the same girlie calendar.

“I’ve seen hundreds of Miss Buxley being sexually harassed comics. I’m still surprised that the syndicate let Mort Walker put fully naked woman in the strip.”

Of course, a calendar is pretty useless for telling you if this is Wednesday or Thursday. But he’s just looking for an excuse.

The others JMcAndrew sent in show that same calendar post, but with strategic additions:

It’s curious that the number of days in a week vary across the calendars.

This type of calendar used to be a common site; it seemed every gas station had one hung up. I can’t remember the last time I saw one hung up.

And here’s today’s vocabulary lesson:

JMcAndrew wonders: “Are they watching a cooking show where they make Jello?”

by zbicyclist

When Can You Say You’ve Read the Book?

Opinion time: Is an audiobook reading?

Or, better, when can you say you’ve experienced what the author meant to say?

Book

e-Book

Condensed book (Reader’s Digest used to do these, but stopped in 1997. But there seems to be a revival.)

Graphic novel of the book (e.g. Neil Gaiman’s Coraline and Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower have been done this way)

Audiobook

Condensed audiobook (still around)

Cliff’s Notes

Movie (there are HOW many versions of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol?)

Wikipedia plot summary

There’s a line to be drawn SOMEWHERE, but where do you personally draw it? There also hybrid experiences: A couple of months ago, I got an audiobook of David Copperfield, but then did about 1/3 of the book by reading it. This meant that while I was reading, I was often hearing the voice of the audiobook narrator in my head.

For some of us, it might not be a choice: