Category / (Not a Cidu)

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

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.

by Kilby

Bonus: Macanudo Misfires, Too

Macanudo has been extremely dependable since I started following it several years ago: whimsical, sometimes poignant, but often surreal (and occasionally CIDU). Like Rubes, this makes it all the more noticeable when a strip just doesn’t work, like this one:

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The slapstick “flattening” might have worked if the strip had ended at the third panel (shifting “Are you OK?” into the second dialog balloon), but including the partner’s desperation and anguish in the fourth panel transforms the remnant of humor into a simple tragedy, leaving nothing to laugh at or feel good about. Thankfully, the hiatus was just for one day.

by Kilby

Coffeeholic Cartoonists, Unite!

Coffee is consumed compulsively by many people all over the world, but cartoonists (who are notorious for keeping odd hours) seem to be especially susceptible to the allure of the drink’s stimulating properties. Given the excessive amount of publicity that many syndicated cartoonists produce for free, it’s remarkable that none of them has managed to land an advertising contract.

Garfield drank his first cup of coffee two weeks before he discovered lasagna.

Similarly, Horace (or perhaps Samson?) has a serious addiction:

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P.S. Stahler’s “Moderately Confused” panel was the original inspiration for this entire post; Shannon Wheeler’s Too Much Coffee Man is not just the title, but also the main character of his entire feature.

Here’s a B.C. strip that Brian in StL submitted and was posted two years ago. Brian commented back then that: “It’s not entirely clear to me what’s going on. In a way, the first panels look like the preliminary sketches a cartoonist does. So is the coffee affecting him? Or is Jane now able to ‘focus’ since she‘s had coffee?“

Opinions differ on optimum methods of preparation:

Scientists have been researching the heath effects of coffee for decades; this editorial cartoon by Pat Oliphant was published in 1981:

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P.S. I was amused by the similarity in viscosity.

Here’s another Dark Side of the Horse (it won’t be the last):

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P.S. Spoiler alert: Foreshadowing!

by multipleciduers

Sunday Funnies – LOLs, December 8, 2024

Radio has certain requirements. Sports announcing, too. Dead air is the enemy. Some of the most painful examples to me are long bicycle races (4+ hours) that end in a sprint stage. So until the last kilometer, not much is going on if there’s no breakaway. But 4 hours must be filled with announcing, regardless. Particularly painful if there’s only one announcer, not two.

A quick look around my dwelling shows 6 books that I’m partway through but intend to finish, a couple of which I haven’t make any progress on in at least a year. (Not counting ones I don’t intend to finish, or haven’t started.) Should I invoke a statute of limitations on these 6?

The New Yorker has posted a page of the magazine’s cartoons which were most liked on Instagram.

This one pairs nicely with Parisi’s one above.