CSotD: More Humpday Humor

Not feeling all that political today, but I got a laff out of Tommy Siegel‘s piece because it coincides with a sudden deluge of similarly dismissive editorial cartoons explaining that, despite all evidence to the contrary, those darned college kids are all anti-Semites, including the Jewish demonstrators.

I don’t mind it coming from the usual suspects, from whom it’s no surprise, but I’m also seeing it from people who I would expect to read a broad spectrum of reporting and perhaps even drop by a campus before announcing their opinions. I suppose it means I’ll have to address it some more, but this isn’t the day.

Besides, I don’t have any new insights on the topic. The people who have visited campuses say the kids are peaceful, while if opposing Netanyahu’s policies is anti-Semitic, then half of Israeli voters are anti-Semites.

But I do like the way the woman in Siegel’s cartoon assumes there’s nothing about climate change on the Internet and therefore the kid can’t possibly be aware of it.

Similarly, Mike Smith (KFS) takes a swipe at Taylor Swift fans. Contrarywise, it seems to me that the ones who care this much likely got hold of the album as soon as it was available and anyone who hasn’t heard it yet doesn’t really care that much.

BTW, the critical response to the album reminds me of when Magical Mystery Tour came out and people were stunned that not everything the Beatles did was transplendent. But a while later, they agreed that, indeed, several cuts were excellent.

Various singles from MMT have become classics, but even fans rarely play the entire album. That’s no more a “failure” than is winning a silver medal at the Olympics.

Anyway, I guess Taylor Swift released an album of 31 tracks not each of which sets new standards in music. C’est dommage.

Never mind. Let’s turn to the comics page:

The funny pages are full of thoughtful laughs, and Edison Lee (KFS) reminds us that, in the words of Billie Holiday, “Them that’s got shall have, Them that’s not shall lose.”

It’s hardly news: When my grandfather got a scholarship to college, his father, an immigrant who worked the loading dock at the mines, thought it was a waste of time because he had no wealthy connections to set the lad up after graduation.

The notion of college as a finishing school for spoiled nepo babies is a theme in both Tom Brown at Oxford (1859) and, as seen here, Stover at Yale (1912).

Both novels, however, have more admirable characters who, though poor, work hard and do well, and my great-grandfather lived long enough to see his boy reach heights he’d never predicted.

On the other hand, my grandfather would point out that, when he was coming up in the days after WWI, the pie had not yet been divided and served out.

It’s not so easy to get a piece anymore.

Speaking of literature, Monty (AMS) is in an amusing story arc about reading cereal boxes, but, as it happens, both Tale of Two Cities and War and Peace were indeed serialized, if not cerealized, before being released in book format. As was Tom Brown at Oxford, for that matter.

In the days before broadcasting, newspapers and magazines were chock full of lengthy reading material, and, while much of it was pop culture stuff, some classic literature also made its debut in periodicals. Even the light pop culture included some good, entertaining material to be read in the evening by the hearth, like tales of Sherlock Holmes and Tarzan.

But then I also remember when the backs of cereal boxes had interesting material to read, though not quite on that level, and admittedly much of it was descriptions of cool toys you could order for a few box tops and a modest fee.

I enjoy Existential Comics, but, even though I read a lot of philosophy in college, it’s frequently over my head. Nothing wrong with that: Challenging niche humor is all too rare, and I don’t understand every xkcd either.

But while, according to the footnote at the strip, these philosophers are Plato and Zeno, you don’t have to have read either of them to have pondered this question yourself, and I like the genie’s answers.

It is often observed that men tend to marry women who are like their mothers, and given that Mrs. McClellan has a bit of a (now-matured) hell-raiser streak, it’s little surprise that Amelia is one of Wallace the Brave (AMS)‘s best friends.

I love Rose, too, but she’s easily played.

Juxtaposition of the Day

The Buckets — AMS

Red and Rover — AMS

I suppose any playground merry-go-rounds you find these days are old and will soon be replaced by nice, safe toys, the same way they replaced the boards on swings with canvas slings to make it harder to bail out, and how amusement parks dismantled the fun houses with the barrels and spinning floors and other opportunities to fall down, go boom and laugh.

I note that both cartoonists draw the somewhat more modern merry-go-round that had better rails to grab onto. I remember being a little guy who needed some help just staying aboard when the big kids began spinning it.

I also remember a dog who would happily climb the ladder and slide down the slide with my boys. However, unlike Rover, he didn’t think much of the merry-go-round experience and would step off before it got going very fast.

And if the dog stayed on the merry-go-round, the result might be as seen in Adam@Home (AMS). This seems like an excellent rule in theory, but I can’t imagine it working in real life, for the reason explained in this 2002 Arlo & Janis:

I daresay young Katy will never again see dog vomit, even if she has to back up to get a running leap over it.

For those thinking Gumbo is in danger from eating mulch made from cocoa beans, relax. Turns out there isn’t enough theobromine in your flower bed to do any real damage. And he’ll likely bring it back up anyway.

If he doesn’t, it’ll come out in its own good time. Don’t try to induce vomiting with salt.

Dogs are salty enough already.