July, 1931. The Great Depression is in full swing. Still over a year until the 1932 election. The New Yorker has always had a subscriber base with a richer demographic than average, but these cartoons from the 7/4/31 and 7/11/31 don’t show much awareness of the Great Depression.
Another ping-pong related cartoon. Was there a ping-pong boom in 1931?
What is that device?
Mitch4 sends this in.
So, what sort of seed would be used?
The general theme of car parts stuck in the ground also occurs in Sally Forth’s current storyline. I’m not going to explain any of the time-traveling aspect of this, though.
The inspiration is perhaps the Cadillac Ranch in Texas.
Today’s vocabulary test.
The distance from Troy (near modern Çanakkale, Turkey) to Ithaca is a bit over 600 miles. At a rowing speed of 4 to 5 knots, that’s not a terribly long journey, without the involvement of the gods.
If we went from Troy, New York to Ithaca, New York by water (Erie Canal, then portage to Seneca Lake) it would be about 250 miles — shorter, but the same order of magnitude.
One person decided to use the modern Turkish city and make up alternative lyrics to City of New Orleans.
I just finished re-reading the Odyssey. I used the Samuel Butler translation, which is prose and emphasized the story more easily because it abandons any attempt at poetry. I’m also cheap: it’s available for free at Project Gutenberg.
Yesterday, I saw the movie, which didn’t disappoint. Highly recommended. Of course, there are many plot points which diverge from Homer, but overall I think that improves the flow — especially the ending.
There’s limited continuity expected in a gag strip, particularly between Sunday and the rest of the week, but there’s an interesting contrast between the Sunday strip and the Monday strip here: (7/12 and 7/13)
Reminds me a bit of that meme where you are supposed to punctuate this sentence:
Woman without her man is nothing.
Are trust falls still a thing in workshops? I do remember one time when the person doing the catching was surprised when the person fell sooner than they anticipated, and they both hit the ground. Luckily, the damage was limited to bruises and future teasing.
Mitch4 sends this in:
My favorite are the historical markers that talk about towns that WERE there at one point, but there is no current sign of the town. Nothing to see here, folks!
Mitch4 sends this in:
Yes, this comic is often confusing, but to me this one should be understandable (except the life cycle of caterpillars is often too short; 7 to 14 days is common). Is this some mythical creature?
My first thought was that this was part of a series, but this is the previous one, which has no connection (and could be treated as a CIDU in its own right). Guau translates as wow or woof.
Or, maybe the next one is part of a series. But no, although this one’s more straightforward.
The artist lives in Mexico City, if that explains any of the cultural references.
Did I miss some subtle shift in the meaning of a period — which used to be the dullest of punctuation marks?
So many comic elements here: dog, dog eating at a table, bones on the counter, Trix, silly rabbit. Can’t quite get this one to add up.
Comics I Don't Understand 