Tag / Scott Adams

by phsiii

Kneel indeed

Must be something there?!

Not to be confused with this classic:

That one especially made me laugh way back when it ran because 30+ years ago in a small, struggling software company, we hired a new business development guy named Neil. He was surely told a pack o’ lies about the opportunity, and came in full of attitude about his importance.

At the time, the latest processors were Pentiums, and laptops were relatively rare. I had inherited IT and our one IT worker-bee, who dutifully got him a 32MB Pentium laptop. After delivering it, my guy dropped by to comment that Neil had been dismissive of the machine “only” having 32MB. So I wandered down to his office and introduced myself. In the process, I noticed that there was still a tower PC under his desk–one of our workhorse 4MB 486 machines.

“Shall I get that out of here?” I asked. “Sure”, Neil replied scornfully, “It’s not it’s good for anything.”

“Around here, that’s a developer machine.” ” Yeah, right.”

“Neil–I’m not kidding.”

He never complained about his laptop again! He actually turned out to be an OK guy once he got over his original attitude, but the name “Neil” has made me snicker slightly ever since.

by Kilby

Would you like to look at my etchings?

Scott Adams was certainly not the first author to draw a comic featuring an Etch-A-Sketch, but this classic Dilbert strip (correction: from 1995) remains the standard against which all other attempts must be measured:

This Rose is Rose strip was published nine years earlier (in 1986), but to her credit, at least Rose can tell the difference between the devices:

As computer technology progressed, more recent comics were able to use tablets (instead of laptops), which made the misidentification more believable:

Here’s a handy guide to distinguish between the two:

Of all the strips showing kids using an Etch-A-Sketch as a “real” computer, this Jump Start is my favorite:

Not everyone is so pleased by the idea of image impermanence:

The Off the Mark at the top already appeared at CIDU (on May Day 2023) but Parisi also drew two other comics that are notable for incorporating pseudo-authentic Etch-A-Sketch artwork into the drawing. The first one is truly superb, especially for including the masterful meta-pun on “line”:

This final Off the Mark comic has a fatal flaw (morbid pun intended). The “sketchy” artwork is actually its best feature, but it would have been even better with a pair of round knobs on the monitor. The tragic defect is that the author did not bother to properly credit (or apologize to) André Cassagnes, who was still alive when this comic was published in 2008 (he died just five years later).

…
P.S. Today (23-Sep-2024) would have been the inventor’s 98th birthday.

by EditorM

Saturday Morning OYs – September 3rd, 2022

We’ve previously complained about how they use Horace and his characterization to get away with not managing to find the right level to pitch to. But that objection aside, this is a pretty nice pun!

My friend Alice used to … oh never mind!

Dilbert Classics has been running a storyline about a new employee without a head (Microsoft hired his head, which is in a jar at their headquarters). But he has a name.