by zbicyclist

Saluting (?) the Pharmaceutical Industry

“On April 26, 1954, [70+1 years, -1 day ago] six-year-old Randy Kerr was injected with the Salk vaccine at the Franklin Sherman Elementary School in McLean, Virginia. By the end of June, an unprecedented 1.8 million people, including hundreds of thousands of schoolchildren, joined him in becoming “polio pioneers.” For the first time, researchers used the double-blind method, now standard, in which neither the patient nor person administering the inoculation knew if it was a vaccine or placebo. Although no one was certain that the vaccine was perfectly safe—in fact, Sabin argued it would cause more cases of polio than it would prevent—there was no shortage of volunteers.”

by zbicyclist

Handy

Mark H. sends this in: “OK, I get that Lolly is sneaking a peek at Polly with her ancient boyfriend / lover, and that Polly catches her at it. But is the last frame Lolly raising her hand for a turn? What happened to her engagement to Alistair?

Or is she vicariously joining in on the action?

This whole May (March?) / December thing seems to be one of McEldowney’s fixations. Kind of like Woody Allen…”

by zbicyclist

Beetle … juiced?

JMcAndrew sends in a few old Beetle Baileys, noting “Mort Walker was a weird guy.”

Putting some spring in his step?

Why would Sarge have done that? Or was this Beetle’s practical joke?

JMcAndrew: “At some point I’m going to write a thesis on all the homoeroticism in Beetle Bailey. This happens too often to be a coincidence. Here’s a sample.”

JMcAndrew: “I’ve been on somewhat of a Beetle Bailey kick lately but it really is a fascinating comic. This one is some nightmarish body horror on the level of David Cronenberg.”

And then there’s Sarge’s famous gourmand appetite:

JMcAndrew: “A 4000-gallon pot would have a diameter of 96 inches (8 feet) and a height of 140 inches (approximately 11.67 feet).” Would that cook properly?

No tour of Beetle Bailey would be complete without one in which Beetle slacks off:

JMcAndrew commented: “Apparently Beetle Bailey has been murdered and his body has been stuffed inside this filing cabinet. How else could he get inside of it and close the drawer?”