How to Give Someone a Gift

in

At the end of the day, it’s impossible to give a gift without sending messages about yourself and your opinions of the recipient. How the recipient reacts to the gift also sends clear messages about them and their opinion of the gift giver.

I know a guy who gave his girlfriend the birthday gift of a cheerleader costume. They both learned a great deal that day. 

 

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How to Give Someone a Gift

in

At the end of the day, it’s impossible to give a gift without sending messages about yourself and your opinions of the recipient. How the recipient reacts to the gift also sends clear messages about them and their opinion of the gift giver.

I know a guy who gave his girlfriend the birthday gift of a cheerleader costume. They both learned a great deal that day. 

 

You can comment on this comic on Facebook.

As always, thanks for using my Amazon Affiliate links (US, UK, Canada).

How to Fight Against Conventional Wisdom

in

It’s true. Leonardo da Vinci sketched designs for helicopters, airplanes, and tanks, none of which would have worked. There are probably other examples of unworkable da Vinci designs. For all I know the Vitruvian man was an illustration of a failed attempt to invent the jumping-jack.

I’m certain he never actually thought the drawings for the airplane and the helicopter would work. They were most likely musings on what might be possible with a better power source. It’s not really fair to pick on him over that, but let’s look at his tank. My understanding is that he actually proposed building that one. It was made of wood powered by hand cranks.

Here’s a video of a full size working model.

https://youtu.be/SCwCnsfVmYc

As you can see, it would have been painfully slow, even on pavement. I bet it would speed right up when the enemy set it on fire, which they almost certainly would have done immediately because, again, it was made of wood.

 

You can comment on this comic on Facebook.

As always, thanks for using my Amazon Affiliate links (US, UK, Canada).

How to Fight Against Conventional Wisdom

in

It’s true. Leonardo da Vinci sketched designs for helicopters, airplanes, and tanks, none of which would have worked. There are probably other examples of unworkable da Vinci designs. For all I know the Vitruvian man was an illustration of a failed attempt to invent the jumping-jack.

I’m certain he never actually thought the drawings for the airplane and the helicopter would work. They were most likely musings on what might be possible with a better power source. It’s not really fair to pick on him over that, but let’s look at his tank. My understanding is that he actually proposed building that one. It was made of wood powered by hand cranks.

Here’s a video of a full size working model.

https://youtu.be/SCwCnsfVmYc

As you can see, it would have been painfully slow, even on pavement. I bet it would speed right up when the enemy set it on fire, which they almost certainly would have done immediately because, again, it was made of wood.

 

You can comment on this comic on Facebook.

As always, thanks for using my Amazon Affiliate links (US, UK, Canada).

How to Accept Gratitude

in

When I was an office manager, if one of my coworkers liked a certain kind of disposable pen I’d buy them a whole box of those pens, then tell them to keep it quiet. I told my supervisor that the goal was to make everyone feel like they were being given special treatment. It cost the company very little, because we had to buy pens anyway, and later on when something wasn’t going their way, their pen would be a reminder that my supervisor and I were on their side. It didn’t prevent all drama, but it kept a certain amount of it off of our backs.

I know that wasn’t directly related, or particularly interesting, but it did allow me to get out of writing about accepting people’s gratitude, which does genuinely make me uncomfortable.

 

You can comment on this comic on Facebook.

As always, thanks for using my Amazon Affiliate links (US, UK, Canada).

How to Accept Gratitude

in

When I was an office manager, if one of my coworkers liked a certain kind of disposable pen I’d buy them a whole box of those pens, then tell them to keep it quiet. I told my supervisor that the goal was to make everyone feel like they were being given special treatment. It cost the company very little, because we had to buy pens anyway, and later on when something wasn’t going their way, their pen would be a reminder that my supervisor and I were on their side. It didn’t prevent all drama, but it kept a certain amount of it off of our backs.

I know that wasn’t directly related, or particularly interesting, but it did allow me to get out of writing about accepting people’s gratitude, which does genuinely make me uncomfortable.

 

You can comment on this comic on Facebook.

As always, thanks for using my Amazon Affiliate links (US, UK, Canada).

How to Get Up the Nerve

in

This comic is out of order. It was written months before it ran on my website. I cannot remember why it ran out of order, but the answer can only be that I made some mistake. I would have put it back where it belongs for the reruns, but I forgot all about it until now.

Whatever mistake I made originally that led to the comics being out of order, it has been perpetuated by my own forgetfulness.

I can tell you that this comic was written while I was still in Seattle, working in an office downtown. Thus the rain and the bus (Ugh, the King County Metro Bus to work. I don’t miss that one bit). By the time it ran I was in Orlando, working at Walt Disney World. (Walking in from the massive parking lot and across the park in a full polyester bellhop costume with 100% humidity was a totally different kind of unpleasant, but at least I was surrounded by happy people. That was not the case on the King County Metro Bus.)

 

You can comment on this comic on Facebook.

As always, thanks for using my Amazon Affiliate links (US, UK, Canada).

How to Get Up the Nerve

in

This comic is out of order. It was written months before it ran on my website. I cannot remember why it ran out of order, but the answer can only be that I made some mistake. I would have put it back where it belongs for the reruns, but I forgot all about it until now.

Whatever mistake I made originally that led to the comics being out of order, it has been perpetuated by my own forgetfulness.

I can tell you that this comic was written while I was still in Seattle, working in an office downtown. Thus the rain and the bus (Ugh, the King County Metro Bus to work. I don’t miss that one bit). By the time it ran I was in Orlando, working at Walt Disney World. (Walking in from the massive parking lot and across the park in a full polyester bellhop costume with 100% humidity was a totally different kind of unpleasant, but at least I was surrounded by happy people. That was not the case on the King County Metro Bus.)

 

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As always, thanks for using my Amazon Affiliate links (US, UK, Canada).

How to Destroy Society

in

Wow. Just … wow. This comic was written eight years ago, but panel two still works without even changing the candidate’s name. It probably works better now, because most people would rather listen to Merle Haggard with Trump than with Mitt Romney. Romney seems like he’d rather listen to classical. Trump wouldn’t care what was on the jukebox as long as it was ladies’ night.

 

You can comment on this comic on Facebook.

As always, thanks for using my Amazon Affiliate links (US, UK, Canada).

How to Destroy Society

in

Wow. Just … wow. This comic was written eight years ago, but panel two still works without even changing the candidate’s name. It probably works better now, because most people would rather listen to Merle Haggard with Trump than with Mitt Romney. Romney seems like he’d rather listen to classical. Trump wouldn’t care what was on the jukebox as long as it was ladies’ night.

 

You can comment on this comic on Facebook.

As always, thanks for using my Amazon Affiliate links (US, UK, Canada).