The Comics Curmudgeon

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Metapost: OMG CUTENESS!!!

Has the Comics Curmudgeon ever been graced by a merchandise model as adorable as faithful reader Banana’s young’un?

The only thing that comes close is this picture, though technically the kids in that photo aren’t actually modeling merchandise, but rather serving as props. Still, it’s good to boost the cuteness factor however we can. Remember, a variety of Molly the Bear merchandise is available for both big and little people.

Meanwhile, Fencepost Frank would like to remind you that he’s updated his MySpace page and that his hat is still available.

Fencepost Frank was a particularly early figure in the Comics Curmudgeon mythos, and many of you may not have been around during his heyday. This strip is actually one of the few in which he appeared, but I think you can understand from reading it the long shadow he has cast.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 17, 2006 at 12:21 am and is filed under metaposts.

96 responses to “Metapost: OMG CUTENESS!!!”

Dingo
October 17th, 2006 at 12:26 am [Reply]

In a word? Awwwwwwwww…
Sheilagh
October 17th, 2006 at 12:42 am [Reply]

Good lord. Josh, your marketing department is onto a winner there…
ben
October 17th, 2006 at 1:20 am [Reply]

Yes, child, lovely, great, now WHAT THE HELL IS AL SCUDATO’S DEAL WITH SQUID?

Squid Goulash

Giant Squid Fondue

Peel the Squid
Mibbitmaker
October 17th, 2006 at 3:00 am [Reply]

Is Banana’s kid teething?

The child couldn’t understand his gums’ hostility.
ben
October 17th, 2006 at 3:04 am [Reply]

He’s teething on SQUID, can’t you see? They’ll do it everytime!
AppleGirl
October 17th, 2006 at 3:35 am [Reply]

Banana’s adorable child is a welcome respite from the terrible Patterson children we were subjected to on Sunday!
Islamorada Girl
October 17th, 2006 at 6:59 am [Reply]

Awwwww. What a sweetie!

And the baby is adorable, too.
Chris
October 17th, 2006 at 7:21 am [Reply]

Hey, Dingo, don’t eat the baby!

#6 AppleGirl, or the horribleness that is Billy in FC today.

Three cell phones lost? What a dumbass.
jules
October 17th, 2006 at 7:53 am [Reply]

#8 Chris, I was wondering myself how a 7-year-old boy even has access to three cell phones. I knew Bil and Thel had the IQ of a baked potato, but come on.

I was also wondering why Mary Worth always refers to her toy boy by his full name and title. “I was thinking about Dr. Jeff Cory…I wonder what Dr. Jeff Cory will think when he finds out my friends and I committed murder? Sort of?”
jules
October 17th, 2006 at 7:54 am [Reply]

PS Forgot to say: Banana! What a cutie that child is!
Howard Erk
October 17th, 2006 at 8:21 am [Reply]

Stooping to using babies to shill your crap?

****sigh****

Fence Post Frank, a nation turns its lonely eyes to you.
Ianscot
October 17th, 2006 at 8:27 am [Reply]

This is yet another Family Circus about Bil Keane’s simmering resentment as he ages. Put the dialog over an 80-year-old cartoonist’s head, and it makes sense. Or, uh, more sense anyway.

If you had an 8-year-old, and you needed to be able to reach him in his room, how would the solution be a phone of any sort? It wouldn’t. The solution would be to shout “Hey Billy!” from the kitchen when it was dinnertime.
Ianscot
October 17th, 2006 at 8:30 am [Reply]

The adorable child is plainly plotting world domination on the pictured map rug.

Mussolini used to do that same thing with his finger to the corner of his mouth. Or maybe it was Doctor Evil.
treadwell
October 17th, 2006 at 8:47 am [Reply]

Billy has a friend?
Widdle Jeffy
October 17th, 2006 at 8:57 am [Reply]

Billy pays his “friend” well.

You can find a trail of dashes leading up to his glory hole.
Chet McCord, Wildlife Defender
October 17th, 2006 at 9:11 am [Reply]

Hey Howard! How’d you like today’s Get Fuzzy?

It put me down like a boy in a dress, I gotta say.
BigJoe
October 17th, 2006 at 9:13 am [Reply]

B.C. – Uh, is this funny? What is he advocating here? She sent all her kids away with a one-way ticket, abandoning them who knows where, and then murders her husband and stores him in a freezer? Ha, ha, ha, good one, Johnny!

Bizarro – I swear I saw this exact same joke somewhere recently. Anyone else remember it?
Smitty Smedlap
October 17th, 2006 at 9:13 am [Reply]

Well, looks like the fun’s over in MW. Aldo’s cold in the ground, and Mary and Toeby are back to powerwalking. Can a month long discussion on the healthful benefits of salad be far behind? We can only imagine what sort of contrived, inane plot points this walk will lead to.

Speaking of inane, I read “The Born Loser” for the first time in ages last week. Guess what — it still blows. Although if you follow the comic strip convention of “x’s” over the eyes meaning that somebody has croaked, this may be the first-ever necrophelia-themed comic strip. And the sheer lameness of this one bugged the crap out of me.
Ian Cameron, Ph.D.
October 17th, 2006 at 9:17 am [Reply]

Foob: I didn’t know that Groundskeeper Willie was Ellie’s brother! HA – HA!
Grandpas Dead
October 17th, 2006 at 9:25 am [Reply]

BigJoe: That Bizarro seems very reminiscent of something from Mutts, but I don’t have any proof of that.

The animals in Mutts usually spend August on the beach, and it just sounds like something Mooch would have said at some point.
Harry Mirth
October 17th, 2006 at 9:26 am [Reply]

“Are you thinking about Mr. Alpo Keptfresh, Ms. Mary Worth?”

“Why, no, Mrs. Toby Cameron. I am thinking about Dr. Jeff Cory.”

Isn’t it odd, Mr. and Mrs. Curmudgeon how people in Mary Worth do not speak like anyone in the real world when refering to each other. I could never live at the Charterstone, it is way too formal.
cheech wizard
October 17th, 2006 at 9:28 am [Reply]

Mary – You see, Toby, Aldo gave me roses, so it was my turn.

Ian – That reminds me – that drunken summabitch used to pee in my yard when he couldn’t find his own front door. (Ziiiiip!) Heh, heh – here ya go, Aldo – guess it’s my turn now!

Wilbur – Great idea, Ian – I bet his roses could use some “organic fertilizer” as well! (drops trou and squats)

Toby – Boys! Boys! Stop that! (to Mary) Oh, my, this is embarassing.

Mary – Not at all. I always wondered what you saw in Ian. Now I can see for myself.

Toby – Hmmmm — yes, and I guess this clears up the little matter of Wilbur’s bachelorhood as well, doesn’t it?
JudeMorrigan
October 17th, 2006 at 9:49 am [Reply]

#17 – I THINK it was in F-, but I wouldn’t swear to it. I definitely remember seeing the same joke somewhere recently though.
BigJoe
October 17th, 2006 at 9:55 am [Reply]

23 – Yes, Jude, you were right!

http://www.chron.com/apps/comics/showComic.mpl?date=2006/9/11&name=F_Minus
James Schend
October 17th, 2006 at 9:55 am [Reply]

And the sheer lameness of this one bugged the crap out of me.

Just in case you don’t remember, that “joke” in Born Loser was a fake horrible office joke in the movie Office Space.

“Sounds like somebody has a case of the mondays!”

Apparently the writer of that strip didn’t fully understand the movie and thought that this was actually a knee-slapper he just didn’t happen to get.
James Schend
October 17th, 2006 at 10:01 am [Reply]

Just to add to the last post, I used to actually work at an office where people said stuff like that. I think my favorite was the woman who was upset that they only had vending machine food available for the night shift– she called it “food porn.”
banana
October 17th, 2006 at 10:04 am [Reply]

thanks for the adorable baby comments!

However, I think Ianscot has it right. One of my sons many nicknames is Caligula.

And when I have any free time (that is, when caligula is asleep) I come to this site to read the comments. Y’all make me laugh — every freakin’ day. Thanks!
roydrink
October 17th, 2006 at 10:18 am [Reply]

GF – “He’s one tire tread away from being Flappy, the Road Squirrelâ€

I can’t stop laughing…tears are in my eyes.

That’s GOTTA be a CC t-shirt at least!
2fs
October 17th, 2006 at 10:19 am [Reply]

Wouldn’t it be great if A. Scalia drew a comic strip? And A. Scaduto was on the Supreme Court? No? Okay: uh, mildly amusing?
hogenmogen
October 17th, 2006 at 10:44 am [Reply]

FC: You lost all three phones in your room. Try calling yourself, genius.

No – don’t call yourself “genius”. I meant you, “genius” (with ample sarcasm), should call your cell and follow the sound of your Brittney ring tone to your pink flower covered designer phone. Unless you didn’t lose them, and your parents merely took them away. Maybe they were fake phones full of candy and Jeffy ate them. Any way you slice it, a wall phone won’t help.
Deb
October 17th, 2006 at 10:46 am [Reply]

Speaking of recycled jokes, isn’t today’s Pluggers a direct ripoff of part of Jeff Foxworthy’s redneck routine?

I’m pretty sure it is: http://www.amazon.com/Redneck-Extreme-Mobile-Home-Makeover/dp/1401602258
RedNeck
October 17th, 2006 at 10:52 am [Reply]

You know you are a Plugger® when you can relate the funny page to old stand up routines.
Pope Buck I
October 17th, 2006 at 10:55 am [Reply]

Good God, that’s not Fencepost Frank, it’s Killer BOB from “Twin Peaks”! Run for your lives!!!
Harry Paratestes
October 17th, 2006 at 10:55 am [Reply]

FC: So little Billy lost three phones in his room, huh. Right. I bet he dials random phone numbers every time he farts or takes a crap.
MossMoses
October 17th, 2006 at 11:01 am [Reply]

Phil Foob grows facial hair to hid his chin scrotum. Who can blame him? After all, he inherited grandpa’s chin sac? Phil needs to quit “chui laba” (blowing horn) in sleazy hotel rooms and take his rightful place in the warm, loving, saintly Patterson residence.
Harry Paratestes
October 17th, 2006 at 11:06 am [Reply]

So you want some cuteness, eh? Worth1000’s got some good contests on the subject.
http://www.worth1000.com/cache/contest/contestcache.asp?contest_id=11925&start=1&end=10&display=photoshop
jules
October 17th, 2006 at 11:13 am [Reply]

#17 Big Joe – wasn’t there also a Dilbert recently with a litterbox vacation? More literal, though. Catbert had someone actually vacationing in his litterbox, and said he was going to go have some asparagus for lunch. I can’t remember exactly how it went. Someone please tell me I didn’t dream this up! (Or I can go look it up, because more information on Catbert can be found on the internet.)
benro
October 17th, 2006 at 11:13 am [Reply]

#35 – I wonder if Phil FOOB’s chin scrotum blows out when he plays trumpet, ala Dizzy Gillespie??
MossMoses
October 17th, 2006 at 11:42 am [Reply]

36. Harry Para(chin)testes:

That cuteness contest is awesome. So you like kittens?

Who could not help but be totally smitten
by a furriful, purriful loveable kitten?
With wee, playful paws that run pitter, pat, pitter
Why the only thing cuter is a whole kitty litter.
Some Guy Here
October 17th, 2006 at 11:59 am [Reply]

The idea of Fencepost Frank burying Aldo Kelrast may be the most hilarious comic-related notion ever.
Harry Paratestes
October 17th, 2006 at 12:12 pm [Reply]

MossMoses
Yeah, I like kittens

Who could not help but to love
The toasty warmth of a comfortable glove
By such a handwarmer, I would be smitten
Especially if lined with the fur of a kitten
Matt Bruce
October 17th, 2006 at 12:43 pm [Reply]

Speaking of merch, may I suggest “Put your kneepads on, flappy” (today’s Get Fuzzy) as a new tag line?

Matt
(More information about your sister can be found on the Internet.)
Dennis Jimenez
October 17th, 2006 at 12:54 pm [Reply]

Re: 41 – Reminds me of the old line, “I just love children. I doubt if I could eat a whole one, though.”
yellojkt
October 17th, 2006 at 1:10 pm [Reply]

Deb (#31),

I noticed that too. Someone should just submit a page full of Jeff Foxworthy jokes to Pluggers, Inc. and they would have six month’s worth of material.

Did you know that Tribune Syndicate has a message board for Pluggers as well as most of its comics? Not a very active forum since the Pluggers post before mine was in August. The (DT)GT board was empty.
bootsybooks
October 17th, 2006 at 1:15 pm [Reply]

Banana, what a cutie!

Why was Mark asking everyone what happened to the big bear? He said it twice in one day.

Mark, she’s not a big bear! We all know she’s a minibear. Sheesh. This guy couldn’t find his ass with both hands.

Now the cop’s explaining bear poaching to him. I thought that was why Mark was out there. Dumbass.

*Registers total disgust with a dismissive phht*
ChefMike
October 17th, 2006 at 1:15 pm [Reply]

TDIET: there’s nothing difficult or confusing about making fried calamari, as far as I know, but then I’ve been cooking for a while. never had to turn an egg white inside out though Howzat? I think if he really wanted to illustrate a difficult recipe being explained in an overly simplified way, he shoulda had the chef explaining how to make perfect souffles Ohhh yeahhh!
FW: so we’re in for a whole week of one-liners about construction workers? what fun…go back to the doom & gloom drama that your strip has become known for
MW: “I know what you’re thinking, Mary you’re thinking about last month’s plot.” “No, Toby, I’m thinking about moving into a new plotline this week, get over it.”
MossMoses
October 17th, 2006 at 1:40 pm [Reply]

45. Bootsybooks: That is some heavy cynicism about Mark Trail. He’s speaking to a wildlife expert. Molly IS big, or at least compared to Care Bear Cousins or the Snuggle Fabric Softener bear.

Has Sheriff Rawhide ever done an honest day’s work in his life? “Stolen bear? – Sorry, I can’t help you but maybe this wildlife expert can.” It didn’t really take the wildife expert long to figure out who the culprits are. The Lost Forest Police Department is 100% impotent, lazy and incompetent, not to mention apathetic. It is really understandable that Mark Trail always takes law enforcement into his own hands.

Lost Forest is inhabited by ne-erdowells like Snake ‘n Jake. Outside of Mark Trail, there seem to be few if any law abiding citizens there and the few there are always have mental problems or character flaws. It’s a lot like Charterstone…
roydrink
October 17th, 2006 at 1:59 pm [Reply]

9 Chickweed Lane:

What Seth (the dancer/roommate) is really into… and covers up very well.

http://veryfunnyads.com/ads/24735.html

p.s. the bull’s owner is Juliette, Edda’s mother.
wayne
October 17th, 2006 at 2:32 pm [Reply]

Check out today’s beatle bailey. Beatle and sarge have been fighting again. :) I love it… that gag never gets old.
MossMoses
October 17th, 2006 at 2:39 pm [Reply]

49. Wayne, it’s not really Beetle and Sarge fighting. Fighting implies a struggle. It’s more like Sarge is free to beat the shit out of him any time he wants. Beetle never offers any resistance and ends up a twisted tangle of limbs afterwards. How does the author get away with this political incorrectness and inaccurate depiction of the military? They torture terr’ist prisoners, not their own comrades in arms.
Red Greenback
October 17th, 2006 at 2:48 pm [Reply]

I’m “all at sea” about The Flying McCoys today. Can someone please explain?
ChefMike
October 17th, 2006 at 3:25 pm [Reply]

51 Red: see he’s brought his secretary on his hunting trip, specifically for the purpose of making the bad joke about holding his calls (in this case his duck call whistles)
Fence Post Frank
October 17th, 2006 at 3:28 pm [Reply]

Who ever created the myspace page in my name, I want a share of the profits.
Hippocrass
October 17th, 2006 at 4:00 pm [Reply]

You see, this is why Mary doesn’t invite Toby to walk with her more often. She’s always ruining her sexy thought time.
Just as she’s starting to get wet, Bam! All she can think about are moustaches.
Fred P.
October 17th, 2006 at 4:23 pm [Reply]

-50

Military training must be all going to pot these days. How long has Beetle been in the army anyway? I’m guessing decades, yet somehow in all this time the military has signally failed to inculcate a martial spirit in Beetle or provide even a rudimentary trace of fisticuff ability.

Not to mention the complete absence of halfway funny jokes.
AppleGirl
October 17th, 2006 at 4:41 pm [Reply]

A moment of silence, please. It was exactly one month ago today that Aldo Kelrast walked into Wines Liquors, thus beginning his final drive away from The Naysayers.

Oh, Angry Black Woman, where are you? We miss you. Please come back. Dingo’s “illustration” was meant to honor you, I am sure of that.
Skullturf Q. Beavispants
October 17th, 2006 at 4:42 pm [Reply]

Scaduto : squid :: Carson : yak
ohyes
October 17th, 2006 at 4:47 pm [Reply]

What an adorable child.

That child deserves a future with funnier comics.
MossMoses
October 17th, 2006 at 4:52 pm [Reply]

AppleGirl, are you named for the fruit or the computer?

What a pathetic, whimpering ending this has been to a storyline that showed such great promise. I am always psyched when an episode starts out with the possiblity of someone doing harm to those smug, condescending meddlers in Charterstone. I was hoping Ms. Hand would go postal on Wilbur. Instead the story ends with her giving up on her idiotic lawsuit and finding love at the wharf. This one looked at first like Mary Worth might be molested or raped or something but it never happened. It is kind of like being a Vikings fan. Every year you get your hopes up and every year they either suck or choke in the playoffs. Damn!
Red Greenback
October 17th, 2006 at 5:07 pm [Reply]

52 Thanks.It looked like he was holding Billy’s three lost cell phones attached to a pole.
Islamorada Girl
October 17th, 2006 at 5:22 pm [Reply]

I suggest we make Li’l Caligula the Official Comics Crumudgeon Baby.
Air Forbes
October 17th, 2006 at 5:51 pm [Reply]

Curmudgeonette?
Occam
October 17th, 2006 at 5:52 pm [Reply]

#37 Jules:

The guy in “Dilbert” wasn’t so much “vacationing” (help! I’ve got “Margo-itis!) as he was hiding because he was the office snitch. Here’s the comic addy at the Houston Chronicle:

http://www.chron.com/apps/comics/showComic.mpl?date=2006/9/25&name=Dilbert

Is there any CC member with a familiarity of higher math–or anyway, higher math than I can handle, that can tell me what some of the numbers in Jason’s Sudoku board on Sunday were? Particularly these three: the upper right square–middle far right smaller square; far right middle square–upper middle smaller square; and bottom middle square–the one with FF-F8; is that “8″?

I was hoping Amend would have posted the answers to his site by now but no such luck. Thanks!
sco
October 17th, 2006 at 6:04 pm [Reply]

Where did you ever get that rug with the maps and flags on it? I want one!
ben
October 17th, 2006 at 6:21 pm [Reply]

The first one is a calculus integral — I don’t know what that one is, or the one at 6,8 — it’s been too long since I’ve done calculus.

The second one is the sum of values of “k” for k=1 -> 3, so it’s 1+2+3 = 6

FF-F8 is hexadecimal notation, FF is 255 and F8 is 248, so, 7.
Anonymous
October 17th, 2006 at 6:28 pm [Reply]

#63

The first one (with the s-shaped integration sign) is the integral of x^2, multiplied by 3 and evaluated between 1 and 2, which works out to 7
The second (with the E-shaped summation sign) is the sum of k from 1 to 3 (k=1 + k=2 + k=3) =6
FF-F8 is the base-16 (hexadecimal) equivalent of 256-128
Chris
October 17th, 2006 at 6:34 pm [Reply]

Good catch, #63…by the way, the asparagus comment by Catbert is funny because:

http://www.webmd.com/content/article/43/1671_51089
Anonymous
October 17th, 2006 at 6:35 pm [Reply]

My bust, FF-F8 should have been 15*15 – (15*8) = 225 -120 =105
ben
October 17th, 2006 at 6:37 pm [Reply]

Nope; my original answer to that part is correct.

FF = (15 * 15) + 15
F8 = (15 * 15) + 8
ben
October 17th, 2006 at 6:38 pm [Reply]

Dammit

((15 * 16) + 15) – ((15 * 16) + 8)

255 – 248

7
AppleGirl
October 17th, 2006 at 6:46 pm [Reply]

59 – MossMoses: fruit or computer? Either one is good.
Len
October 17th, 2006 at 6:55 pm [Reply]

Scaduto’s shtick about squid is just like “Piranha Club’s” business about boiled octopus. Uncle Sid’s girlfriend Effie is constantly feeding him a whole boiled octopus, which he struggles to chow down.

http://www.chron.com/apps/comics/showComick.mpl?date=20061017&name=Piranha

Noshing on tentacles with suckers. Has ‘em rolling in the aisles throughout the comics pages. Tentacles on your chin = dining with Effie or Tomainia. Testicles on your chin = being Ellie’s Foobish father.
ben
October 17th, 2006 at 6:59 pm [Reply]

The *visual* gag of a plate wobbling with a big pile of suckers and tentacles is perfectly acceptable funny-page fodder (so to speak). But Scaduto seems to think that just saying “Guess what’s for dinner? SQUID!” has the same comic effect.
jonnya
October 17th, 2006 at 6:59 pm [Reply]

I’m noticing a lot of random product placements in the comics today. A random panel sampling yielded these results:

http://images.quizilla.com/J/JO/JON/jonnyace/1161129289_products.jpg

Has the Curmudgeon sold out?
Duck It
October 17th, 2006 at 7:17 pm [Reply]

#44 yellojkt says:
Did you know that Tribune Syndicate has a message board for Pluggers as well as most of its comics? Not a very active forum since the Pluggers post before mine was in August. The (DT)GT board was empty.
You mean Milford’s own everpopular The Bucket ? I’m impressed Milford even has Internet access.
Lenore
October 17th, 2006 at 7:20 pm [Reply]

I wish you had that bear shirt for a dog. My dog never understands the hostility from the neighbor after he craps on their lawn, either.
AhClem
October 17th, 2006 at 7:26 pm [Reply]

#63, 65 et al — Where can I find this math Sudoku? It sounds interesting, in a weird sort of way.

“Hello, my name is Clem, and I’m a math geek.”
“HI, CLEM!!”
ben
October 17th, 2006 at 7:27 pm [Reply]

#77, the link is in post #63.

All the ones I’ve checked are one-digit numbers and otherwise seem to obey Sudoku placement rules, as I’d expect from FoxTrot.
ChristianPinko
October 17th, 2006 at 7:57 pm [Reply]

#29 – 2fs, I for one would applaud the switch. I can think of few things more charming than Supreme Court decisions filled with “oh, yeah!” and “soo . . . .,” and citations of Catastra v. Barfo and In re Hekkie. The only possible downside would be exposure, via the heavily revamped TDIET, to the seething magma of psychosexual rage that is Antonin Scalia’s tormented psyche. But even that couldn’t be much worse than FOOB, now, could it?
Donut
October 17th, 2006 at 8:08 pm [Reply]

Ben (78),

Actually, that’s the Dilbert link.
Here’s the Foxtrot link.
Quotey
October 17th, 2006 at 8:09 pm [Reply]

#11 – Heh.
phil
October 17th, 2006 at 8:09 pm [Reply]

If my job was to write Mary Worth or Pluggers or if I had run over a troop of nuns with a flaming school bus and I was sent to the ninth circle to write Cathy “jokes” until the second coming I must, by now, be aware of all the attention web sites like this one, (particulary this one) gives me, and respond accordingly. So let me speak frankly one-on-one with these nefarious characters, Mary Worth, we love you, Pluggers you confuse me and Cathy -….die …

(signed phil, not to be confused with all the other Phils or even FOOBboy – but phil who hates Cathy.)
Occam
October 17th, 2006 at 8:09 pm [Reply]

#77 AhClem:

The “Foxtrot” comic with the entire Sudoku board can be found at this Washington Post addy:

http://www.uclick.com/client/wpc/ft/2006/10/15/index.html

#65, 69, 70 Ben and #66, 68 Anonymous:
Thanks for your help. I appreciate it. I’m hopeless at math. I’m hopeless at Sudoku puzzles, too, but I enjoy failing to solve them.

#67 Chris:
Thanks for the referral to the “Eau D’Asparagus” article. Good giggle!
phil
October 17th, 2006 at 8:23 pm [Reply]

lol – now i’m going back and reading the comments – last Sunday a friend of mine and I started the FoxTrot Sudoku, (or whatever the f that puzzle is called). But we were on about beer number 3 and screwed up somewhere – Foxtrot has always impressed me by having real math equations and solvable puzzles that only a math major would enjoy. ps in FF- F8 the two F’s in column 2 subtract to 0 so it was really F or 15 – 8 = 7 – that one I got. ps Cathy sucks.
yellojkt
October 17th, 2006 at 8:46 pm [Reply]

Phil’s answer is the easiest. My son got all the other numbers filled in except that FF-F8 number. Now we will see if he can solve.

My wife, who is a math teacher, had some students bring it in for here since she likes Soduku. Her conclusion is that Bill Amend is a geek.
yellojkt
October 17th, 2006 at 8:52 pm [Reply]

Duck It (#75),

I had actually stumbled on this Gil Thorp Message Board. This has been comatose since April of last year. Who knew it merited two forums?
phil
October 17th, 2006 at 10:07 pm [Reply]

wow thanks yellojkt for the shout out – as for Gil – when I worked for now defunct Washington National in Chicago in ‘87 my office-mate turned me onto Gil Thorp – a “1950’s Morality Play ” he called it – he was light years ahead of his time. hey – is that you Josh?
phil
October 17th, 2006 at 10:08 pm [Reply]

ps Cathy sucks,,,
Anonymous
October 18th, 2006 at 6:26 am [Reply]

10-17 GT–Sean Pettibone and Stormy. lovers. That would never happen if Jerry Jenkins were still writing this strip.
Doug Puthoff
October 18th, 2006 at 6:28 am [Reply]

#89–Oops, I forgot to fill in the blanks, that was me who wrote.

P.S. In May of ‘03, “Cathy” and “Geech” were replaced in my local paper’s comics section with “GF” and “Non-Sequitor.” One of the happiest days of my life.
Skullturf Q. Beavispants
October 18th, 2006 at 9:54 am [Reply]

Just discovered the Foxtrot “sudorku” this morning. Being an assistant professor of mathematics, I’ve always enjoyed how the math in that strip is accurate.

Notice, among other things, that Amend followed Sudoku protocol in that the placement of the “given” entries has rotational symmetry.

By which I mean: Suppose you ignore the specific numbers. Imagine that the squares where Amend has given us the number are black, and the blank squares are white. Then the pattern of black and white squares looks the same if you rotate it 180 degrees.

The sudoku puzzles in newspapers seem to always have this property. So do crossword grids. Puzzle editors and creators are nitpicky symmetry-lovers.

I assume Amend’s puzzle is possible to solve; I’m going to go try it now.
Occam
October 18th, 2006 at 3:55 pm [Reply]

#85 Yellojkt and #91 Skullturf:

I’ll be curious if either Yellojkt’s son or you, Skullturf, can solve this puzzle. I got it down to four squares: column 4, row 4; column 6, row four;column 4, row 9; column 6, row 9–each with the possibilities of either 5 or 9. Which would mean that there would be two different (but accurate) solutions to the puzzle and I thought these puzzles had only one solution.

So maybe my math is off in another one of the math problems. Is the solution to the problem in row 7, column 6 two? Is the solution to the problem in row 9, column 7 one?

Aarrgghhh! Why doesn’t Amend just publish the darned solution?!
Skullturf Q. Beavispants
October 18th, 2006 at 4:13 pm [Reply]

Occam -

Re your last two questions: The solution in row 9, column 7 is indeed one (the sine of pi over 2, or using degrees, the sine of 90 degrees). However, the solution in row 7, column 6 is one. (Here, “i” denotes the square root of negative one, so “i squared” is negative one, and then multiplying that by a negative makes it positive.)

You must have been doing the puzzle more or less correctly. I seem to recall that the last entries I filled in were probably the 2’s, 5’s and 9’s in the central three columns of the puzzle. Though, annoyingly enough, as we Sudoku addicts know, if you make one small mistake somewhere then you’re usually better off starting the whole thing again from the beginning.

One of my local newspapers has Sudoku puzzles with four different levels of difficulty; on this scale, Amend’s puzzle seemed subjectively to be about a three (although I was hungry when solving the puzzle).
Occam
October 18th, 2006 at 5:05 pm [Reply]

93 Skullturf:

Row 7, column 6 is an “i”?! Geez, I thought it was a 2! Not only am I math-stupid, I’m blind as well!

Thanks for the info. I’ll go try it again.
Craig Shergold
October 19th, 2006 at 3:11 am [Reply]

You’ve just reminded me how much I hate puzzles.
Hippie
October 26th, 2006 at 10:45 pm [Reply]

What the heck is with the 0100, 0101 and 0110?
and how do ya do the log one?

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