This is actually a true story, although no doubt without the pun. Texas is not a state with a large Jewish population (about half a percent of the total population of the state, according to a 2015 tally in the[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
Writer Peter Packer wrote (among other things) 25 of the 83 episodes of the original Lost In Space television series. One of these was the without-a-doubt worst episode of the series: “The Great Vegetable Rebellion.” Actor Jonathan Harris (“Dr, Smith”)[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
A real sixpence coin hasn’t been in circulation since 1980 (the internet tells me). An 1893 “Victoria jubilee head” is not only valuable for being over 90% silver but also for being exceedingly rare. Although there are sixpence coins (worth[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
As the season turns toward thoughts of A Christmas Carol, I thought this one appropriate. Technically, I suppose, “gruel” is both thinner than most of us would think of as our usual bowl of oatmeal, and it could be made[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
Artificial-intelligence researcher Robert Wilensky (1951-2013), in a 1996 speech, said: “We’ve heard that a million monkeys at a million keyboards could produce the complete works of Shakespeare; now, thanks to the Internet, we know that is not true.” Both ideas,[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
This comic is posted just about in time for the current Silly Season, but its origins go far back. I may one day have to tell about my experience as a local, county, and state delegate during the 2004 insanity.[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
As I mentioned in the previous strip, I was a temp assigned to an HMO to enter data from their customer surveys. I was hired in late September, and they were sure that I’d have enough work to keep me[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
Back when they were still known as HMOs (“Health Maintenance Organizations”), I worked for one as a temp. Their survey wasn’t quite this blunt, but it certainly didn’t include all of the options that I’d have offered for various questions.[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
The secret to the “601” will be known to anyone who has seen the still-brilliant 1971 film The Andromeda Strain. (Do not, repeat, NOT attempt to watch the horrifyingly bad made-for-TV remake!) When the scientists studying an extra-terrestrial organism ask[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
For those of my readers from overseas (or Americans who attended public school anytime from about 1988 forward), the 13th Amendment to the constitution abolished slavery. That’s the theory, at least. And there endeth the political lesson. Please open your[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…