An Emily Flake cartoon in the August 3rd New Yorker:
There reference here is to people with transgender self-identification, though in fact pluots are biological hybrids, parallel to intersex people. There might also be an allusion to white people who self-identify as black (posting on this blog here).
Today’s Dilbert, with a brainstorming session at the office:
b (#1)
All they need is a magic slogan, in three words, clearly explaining everything the new product does. Labels — names — aren’t good at doing this task, and slogans (which are primarily designed for conveying emotions) are even worse than labels.
And yes, Alice, “Keep Doing It” is in some sense already taken. Several times, probably.
Today’s Rhymes With Orange:
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A fine pun for a Sunday. But you do have to know about this:
“The Tears of a Clown” is a song by Smokey Robinson & the Miracles for the Tamla Records label subsidiary of Motown, originally released on the 1967 album Make It Happen. It was re-released in the United Kingdom as a single in September 1970, where it became a #1 hit on the UK singles chart. Subsequently, Motown released “The Tears of a Clown” as a single in the United States as well, where it quickly became a #1 hit on both the Billboard Hot 100 and R&B Singles charts. (Wikipedia link)
On YouTube:
In today’s Comic Kingdom News, this Bizarro cartoon and a note:
Dan Piraro (“Bizarro”) launched a new T-shirt campaign that benefits the Jane Goodall Institute. Twenty percent of every sale goes to Jane Goodall Institute’s global youth-led community action program, Roots and Shoots! It’s a limited-time campaign that only runs until Aug 10.
(Follow the link above for the details.)
Another instance of the Ascent of Man cartoon meme we’re seen many times before.
Today’s Zippy, with two sets of names to savor:
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First, there are the preposterous Dingburger names: Flexo Sodafiber, Glassine Bookpaper, Flemish Spindleplunger. Then there are the products, their mascots, and their names. Commerce and pop culture.
Two cartoons this morning with plays on proper names: a Mother Goose and Grimm playing on Simon & Garfunkel, a Bizarro playing on the Big Bang theory and possibly also The Big Bang Theory:
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(If you’re puzzled by the odd symbols in #2 — Don Piraro says there are 2 of them — see this Page.)
This week in Antwerp, Belgium, the 14th International Pragmatics Conference. A giant conference, the 26th through 31st, with eight plenary speakers, a variety of panels, a great many lectures, and poster sessions.
I will have a small presence on the program, thanks to a paper my colleague Elizabeth Closs Traugott will be presenting:
Derailing Default Interpretations: Investigating the My Hobby webcomics by Randall Munroe (ECT in collaboration with AZ)
Click here to view the slides: IPrA handout
A Tom Gauld cartoon in the latest (July 18th) New Scientist:
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Bacteria crossed with children’s picture books.
