Tom the Dancing Bug offers a bit of commentary on the Trump defense that lying in contract negotiations ought not to have legal consequences as long as you pay back the loan which you got at an interest rate based on your lies.
It’s an interesting defense to claim that commercial real estate transactions are based on bullshit, because it’s true, but it’s like the kid who gets caught drinking and defends himself by naming all the other kids who were at the party and didn’t get punished. Yet.
And, BTW, when multimillion dollar projects are pitched on private golf courses with restricted memberships, there are indeed victims.
Juxtaposition of the Day
You might think this was some weird coincidence, but if you compare their tails, you’ll note that Parisi’s passenger is a hamster, while Craig has drawn a chipmunk. Also, Parisi’s hamster is being checked in by another hamster while Craig’s is being checked in by Art Spiegelman.
I did put them in order such that the chipmunk answers the question addressed to the hamster.
Zits (KFS) makes me grateful to have gone to college in simpler times, when costs were more in line with what people could afford and there wasn’t anywhere near the emphasis on self-packaging. You just took the SATs and ACTs and tried to get good grades.
I’m a big believer in Voc-Tec, because not everyone wants college, but if the pressure of parents and guidance counselors is too much, at least take a gap year to figure out if you want college or just want to please your folks.
I’m also grateful that fewer high school superintendents brag at graduation about the percent of kids headed for four-year colleges. Those who still do should have to reveal how many kids from the previous class had flamed out freshman year.
I don’t know how far in advance the Duplex (AMS) works, but Jerry’s been a lot less confrontational for the past year or so.
I could never get 10 minutes into the show, but I once saw three fifth grade girls in the principal’s office sorting out a quarrel, and their furious accusations and palm gestures told me what they were watching after school every day.
That sure was some educational TV!
Correction: I pulled yesterday’s strip, so you get that one at no charge. Here’s today’s. Also at no charge:
Had to check the comments at Arlo and Janis (AMS) this morning to see how many people pointed out that Aphrodite is also named Venus and thus unavailable. As a name. She was the Goddess of Being Available.
Which is why people from Venus — assuming you have some — are called “Venusians.” Because “venereal” was already taken. The more proper adjectival form is Cytherean and if you think I’m making this all up, click here.
For my part, I capitalize “Moon” when Luna is the one I’m writing about. It’s a personal choice, a bit of eccentricity, what you might call a Luna tick.
Juxtaposition of Automotive Humor
Tommy Siegel and Dan Kirkwood — the New Yorker
Presented for your consideration in order of silliness. And if you had a sofa made entirely of poultry, it would be your chicken divan.
Matt is commenting on TikTok, obviously, though there have been questions about whether China is adding trojan horses to all sorts of things, including the giant cranes used at shipping facilities. Plus there’s how paranoid people are about Siri and Alexa and life in general.
Come to think of it, I have a sensor temporarily plugged into my car that reports my driving habits to Flo so she can set my insurance rates accordingly, so why wouldn’t it also let Xi Jinping know if I’m braking too sharply?
As for Siri and Alexa and ads popping up on your screen, that should only be of concern to people who have never been pregnant, because when you are pregnant, you suddenly start seeing pregnant people everywhere. It’s like you had a sixth sense!
My car has a screen the size of a pack of cards that tells me what’s behind me, and I can get driving instructions on my phone, as long as the thingie plugged into my car doesn’t tell Flo I’m phoning while I drive.
I recently had a loaner for 48 hours with a giant screen on the dashboard and I’m only alive today because I couldn’t figure out how to turn the thing on. Reminds me of a press release the Maine State Police sent my paper about a woman stopped for speeding and then ticketed again for having a laptop on the passenger seat showing an episode of the Gilmore Girls.
At least it wasn’t the French Connection or Bullitt.
Today’s Alex reminds me to print out my passport application, take a selfie and go to the post office so I can go have drinks at the AAEC Convention in Montreal this fall.
I’m really happy to be going to Montreal, since I haven’t been there since I moved south in 1999, but I’m really unhappy with the world, since I used to pop up through customs nearly on a smile and a wave.
Plus, unlike Alex, I’ll probably pay the registration for the conference. I’ll try not to pay for my own drinks.
I’ll betcha this Dogs of C Kennel (Creators) was drawn during football season. Things seem to have calmed down. But this ties into recent conversations about how our parents felt about the Beatles, it having just been the 60th anniversary of their first appearance on Ed Sullivan.
And she’s still famous. There was a kerfuffle this week when Forbes noted that there are no billionaires under 30 who are not nepo babies, which sounds astonishing until you see that it’s “for the first time since 2009” which takes a lot of the snap out of it.
Besides, the usual dividing line for identifying wunderkinder is 40, and Taylor is 34 and didn’t inherit her billion. But then the story in Forbes — though not all the stories that quoted Forbes — pointed out several self-made billionaires in their early 30s. Which removes the rest of the hot air from the non-story.
Anyway, in 14 years, Robert Zemeckis and Steven Spielberg will probably give their kids the money to make a funny, nostalgic film about Taylor’s fans.
I think you meant “loaner,” although the car could have been a loner, too.
A KITT/Batmobile combo. “I drive alone”
Fixed, thx. If I weren’t a loner, I’d have someone checking my spelling at 6 am.
We loners often have large screens. For siiting and watching all by ourselves.
Taylor is 34.
They both are! (Thx, changed. And it proves the point even more.)
While we’re playing “Let’s Correct Mike”, I’ll add that Rory and Lorelai are Gilmores, not Gilmours.
And the Arlo and Janis shown is from yesterday, although Mike’s comment strongly suggests he is referring to today’s. Check the label again for the word “decaf.”
Okay, I’ll have to do a “correction” not a “clarification” on that one. Pulled the wrong strip. And I’ll correct the Gilmores while I’m at it. But Aphrodite, despite her reputation, is still not available.
The word for “moon” in Italian is “luna,” as well as in Latin. So the word for “moon” still would be “moon.” The defense rests.
Words change when they cross the language barrier, though. In English, a dog can be any old hound; in French, a dog, or “dogue”, is an English bulldog. In French, a tampon means any kind of pad; in English, it mostly means a feminine hygiene product. In English, a chum is your friend, most often a member of the Hardy Boys, and a bloke is any old guy you hang out with at the pub; in Quebec French, a chum is a girl’s boyfriend, and a bloke is a derogatory term for an English dude.
So – luna can be generic in Latin, and still be a specific exotic name in English.
I’m hoping Tom’s point is that the concept of a crime being victimless is meaningless when trying to determine whether punishment is necessary, because the implication otherwise isn’t great.
Bizarro did his (their?) take on the stuffed-cheeks gag not quite four years ago, but with squirrels. I saw this shared on social media just a few days ago (otherwise I wouldn’t have known to go look for it), so maybe there was just something in the aether this week.
https://comicskingdom.com/bizarro/2020-09-21
“Venetian” is already taken as well.
When the chickens take over the farm, that is a chicken coup.
We only use “moon” to refer to other moons out of laziness.
The proper term is “natural satellite”
It’s like how our star is the “sun” but stars that have planets orbiting them would also be their sun.