Well, I'm really glad someone said it about these depressing little books (They are primarily insulting to men, btw, since they revolve around the conceit that men are so crap that the mere sight of one putting the toilet seat down, or noticing his wife's existence, is enough to send women into a masturbatory frenzy).
Cartoon is from the uber-smart and uber-geeky XKCD, which is one of Mr Ashbless' favourite websites. Comedy with added mathematics.
(I can't bring myself to say "added math" ... In the UK we say "maths." Plural.)
UPDATE: You can read Violet Blue on the joy of geeks here.
You go with the maths, lady. Something about 'math' always made me feel slightly queasy.
ReplyDeleteThat cartoon made one of my favourites. Someone online shouting up to his girlfriend, 'I'll be up in a minute. Someone is WRONG on the internet!'
A lesson for me, if not us all.
I love this cartoon strip!
ReplyDeleteHadn't come across that strip, but it's cool. Two quick thoughts/ideas to share:
ReplyDelete- I'm currently reading a supernatural detective novel where the central idea is that 'magic' is an extension of maths and magical things can be done if you happen to have the right equation (which come to think of it is a bit like engineering or IT). That's an interesting concept and one that can perhaps be applied in other contexts...
- something to share - in the circles I move in, Savvie and Lacey is popular. Not sure the strip is still being produced but there's an archive file on savvieandlacie.com.
All the best
F
Funny how arbitrary these things are. We USians say "math," but for statistics we say "stats." We say "econ" [EEK-on] for economics; you?
ReplyDeleteThough EEK-on, to my knowledge, is just in the context of academic courses (e.g., "I have EEK-on homework"). We don't talk about the "econ" of online commerce and so forth, AFAIK.
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ReplyDeleteGo math(s) geeks!
ReplyDeleteFulani, the oldest use of the maths=magic theme I know of is in Lovecraft's "Dreams in the Witch-House"(1932):
"Perhaps Gilman ought not to have studied so hard. Non-Euclidean calculus and quantum physics are enough to stretch any brain; and when one mixes them with folklore, and tries to trace a strange background of multidimensional reality behind the ghoulish hints of the Gothic tales and the wild whispers of the chimney-corner, one can hardly expect to be wholly free from mental tension."
(Note fine use of a semicolon.)
:-)
Not heard of Econ homework, Jeremy, but that doesn't mean it isn't in use (it's a long time since I was given homework! I did do Stats though). We did have Home Ec (for Home Economics - i.e. cookery) whien I was a wee lass.
We have "home ec" in the States, too. In our school, I believe the class behind me was the first one in which boys were invited to take home-ec electives. As a young feminist, I applauded this (though as a die-hard klutz I still, given the choice, would have opted for drawing-and-painting-type electives rather than anything involving kitchen equipment—or, for that matter, "manly" shop tools).
ReplyDeleteI got Fluffy interesting in xkcd because of the romance comics. She also tries to get some of the math and science jokes, but there is something to be said that they makes some of it so accessible.
ReplyDeleteI've had a couple times when she's wandered into the bedroom, "What does this mean?"
As long as you CAN explain, t'Sade!
ReplyDeleteI am pretty much dead center for xkcd's target audience. :) I get the programming, science, and even the theoretical jokes. I even get the romance. A bit rusty on the cryptography ones, but oh well. I be a geek. :)
ReplyDeleteI mean, I write the programs I write my stories in. ^_^
"I write the programs I write my stories in."
ReplyDeleteAh - I know someone else who does that!