In Other Words: the Ball is Dropping

(Click on the cartoon to see the entire image.) (C)Copyright 2008, C. Burke. All rights reserved.


Happy New Year 2009!

I shouldn't do these when I'm tired. I'm sure that someone will find a mistake in the strip.

Here, in New York City, the ball will be dropping from Times Square tonight at midnight, give or take a leap second. (Hmmm, that would've been a good cartoon.)

And without timing it, I'm ending 2008 with cartoon 208 and I'll begin 2009 with cartoon 209. Yeah, I live for that kind of stuff.

Interest

(Click on the cartoon to see the entire image.) (C)Copyright 2008, C. Burke. All rights reserved.


And I thought we could transcend all our differences...

It's been a while since I've been really, really mathy in one of these strips, so allow me to explain the Continuous compounding interest problem.

Basically, if you saved $1 at an interest rate of 100% (great rate, isn't it?! That's why so much of math is theoretical although it has alleged practical applications -- but I digress), after one year that $1 becomes $2.

However, if that interest was compounded ever six months, after one year you would have $2.25 instead.
Every four months would yield $2.37.
Every three months would yield $2.44.
Every two months would yield $2.52.
Every month would yield $2.61.
Every week would yield $2.69.

And so on. As you see, the more often the interest is compounded, the more you get.
It is conceivable that a bank could compound your interest every hour or every minute! (There's that "theoretical" stuff again -- find me a real bank that does that, and I'll show you a bank that's looking for a big bailout. Okay, finding those is really easy on my end.)

It would seem that your $1.00 could grow into millions given enough compounding, but in fact, it'll never yield more than $2.72, and not because of greedy corporations, but because the smaller and smaller decimals you are dealing with will converge on a number beginning with 2.71828 18284 59045 23536.

A guy named Euler gave this number the imaginative name "e", not to be confused with the most frequently occurring letter in the English language, which just happed to be the first letter of his last name.

Sunday Comic: Super-Stick-Man 33: the Fire Starter

Dateline: Stick-World!
Jaywalkers and arsonists in one day? Life can be busy when you're a superhero.

Go to the comic and follow the exciting story!

Christmas Treats

(Click on the cartoon to see the entire image.) (C)Copyright 2008, C. Burke. All rights reserved.


Christmas is about more than the giving and receiving.
It's also about the baking and the eating.

A Christmas Proof

(Click on the cartoon to see the entire image.) (C)Copyright 2008, C. Burke. All rights reserved.


And, really, what more "proof" do you need?
Cue Josh Groban singing, "Believe"



I wrote this proof on the blackboard my first year teaching in an 8th grade honors math class in the last five minutes of class on the day before Christmas break.
Strangely, now that I teach in high school, I haven't been able to use it as I'm never at the right point in the curriculum for them to follow the "logic".

Reading My Mind

Today was the last day of classes before the Christmas break. I had a couple of cases of mind reading in school today. It was odd, feeling like someone was inside my head.

In the first case, it was Statistics class. The conversation strayed from scatter plots and onto cable TV and finally the Boomerang network. I made some old-person comment that that was all I watched. A student spoke up and said that all he watched on Boomerang was Tom & Jerry. I didn't know which ones he was referring to, so I said, "You have to watch the old ones, the MGM cartoons where they didn't talk, but Tom did sing."

Well, at that remark another student started laughing. At first, I thought he found it amusing that Tom sang or that they were silent or something like that. But, no, the student opened his mouth and started singing:

Is you is or is you aint my baby?

What the--? Yup. That was the EXACT song I was thinking of. By Louis Jordan, if I'm not mistaken. (And I don't think I am, because it's on the cast album of Five Guys Named Moe, which I saw on Broadway sometime last century. But I digress...)

The second case happened while I was on duty standing in front of the cafeteria, making sure no one stole it, given the absence of the majority of the student population by that point in the afternoon. One of the security guys was talking about music when Tom Petty's name came up. I mentioned that Petty was one of those guys that I didn't know how much I liked. When he appeared at the Super Bowl and sang a bunch of songs that I knew but I didn't know that he was singing them!

Anyway, I said, "Do you know where I saw Tom Petty for the first time?"

I asked if either of them remembered U-68. Channel 68 was in New York City was a UHF station that showed old kiddie fair until it became a low-rent version of MTV in the mid-80s. Well, I just had to mention U-68 and the other security guard said,

"Yes! Alice in Wonderland!"

For whatever reason, when U-68 first launched (and keep in mind, most of New York City could not get cable yet and wanted, but didn't have, their MTV), for whatever reason, Tom Petty's video "Don't Come Around Here No More" was in heavy rotation. The video was a parody of Alice in Wonderland even though the song has absolutely nothing to do with Alice in Wonderland. (If it does, feel free to point that out.)

Anyway, just a couple of weird moments. Strange when people get inside your mind.

Okay, back to the cartoon's tomorrow.

Discuss amongst yourselves.

It's late, but it's up.

The fault for this one being late is totally on me (as opposed to the ones that are primarily on me but I blame on secondary sources). However, it's still Monday in most parts of the world, so it isn't really late.

Butter

(Click on the cartoon to see the entire image.) (C)Copyright 2008, C. Burke. All rights reserved.


And she uses real butter, not that margarine from the commercials that says "Butter".

Sunday Comic: Super-Stickman 32 -- the Safe Cracker

Dateline: Stick-World!
There's a new safe cracker in town and he's sneaking into homes and stealing the family jewels. Can our hero stop this nimble-fingered felon?

Go to the comic and find out !

"Ken-Do!"

(Click on the cartoon to see the entire image.) (C)Copyright 2008, C. Burke. All rights reserved.


Ken needs to work on his art style. And add that any resemblance to real people is totally co-incidental. Not that I would put words in his mouth. Or anybody else's mouths. Nah. Not me.

200: Keystone Komedy

(Click on the cartoon to see the entire image.) (C)Copyright 2008, C. Burke. All rights reserved.


The Miller's a nice guy. If you're ever in Tuxedo Junction, he's the man with the mandolin. He'll play it when he's in the mood...

I figured that for the 200th strip I should return to the bad puns that made me infamous.

Irregular

(Click on the cartoon to see the entire image.) (C)Copyright 2008, C. Burke. All rights reserved.


Yes, there is something highly irregular about this!
Thanks to Lnthomp for suggesting this crossover (whether he was serious or not!), and to David Morgan-Mar for approving of it.

Someone Else's Bad, Geeky Math Pun

If you are reading this, you either like geeky, math puns or are a member of my family or, possibly, both.

If it's the former, then you have to take a look at today's Argyle Sweater, which I saw in the Daily News today.

Not only is it based on math, but it has a geeky 80s (good Lord, was it really the 70s???) cultural reference to it as well.

Sunday Comic: Super-Stickman 31 -- The Biker Gang

Dateline: Stick-World!
Okay, I'll let this one speak for itself, except to say, there's a math pun in here that I haven't used yet the 197 previous comics. Mabye, subconsciously, this is why.

Go to the comic and find out !

The Case Book of Sherlock, PI: Part VI

(Click on the cartoon to see the entire image.) (C)Copyright 2008, C. Burke. All rights reserved.


Personally, I'd go with French and The Brain From Planet Arous myself.

The Case Book of Sherlock, PI: Part V

(Click on the cartoon to see the entire image.) (C)Copyright 2008, C. Burke. All rights reserved.


To sum up: If your brain is in your head, and your head is in the game, and the game is afoot, and you have a foot in the door, and the door is ajar . . .
Then your brain is in a jar.

Elementary.

The Denouement tomorrow!

The Case Book of Sherlock, PI: Part IV

(Click on the cartoon to see the entire image.) (C)Copyright 2008, C. Burke. All rights reserved.


But when you realize how smart he is, you know that there's a lot in his head.

Updates every day this week!

The Case Book of Sherlock, PI: Part III

(Click on the cartoon to see the entire image.) (C)Copyright 2008, C. Burke. All rights reserved.


I guess that this continues tomorrow...

Updates every day this week!

The Case Book of Sherlock, PI: Part II

(Click on the cartoon to see the entire image.) (C)Copyright 2008, C. Burke. All rights reserved.


"Lettuce" begin with the Transitive Property: if a is b and b is c then a is c.
If your head is in the game and the game is afoot, then your head is indeed in your foot.

Updates every day this week!

The Case Book of Sherlock, PI: Part I

(Click on the cartoon to see the entire image.) (C)Copyright 2008, C. Burke. All rights reserved.


Who are the IV? Find out in the next IV days!

Updates every day this week!

Sunday Comic: Super-Stick-Man: Plan B

Dateline: Stick-World!
In the storeroom of Lolli Pop's Candy Shop, the fiendishly fat and excessively obese Rotundo has revealed his new identity as Captain Corpulent along with his grand plan to rule the world! Okay, yes, he's in the storeroom of a candy shop, but every plan for global conquest has to start somewhere, right? Better to start small and not but off more than you can chew!

How much can Rot--, er, Capt. Corpulent bite off and chew?
Go to the comic and find out !

File It Under "Wood"

(Click on the cartoon to see the entire image.) (C)Copyright 2008, C. Burke. All rights reserved.


And the Chief said, "File it under 'Wood'."


I first pictured this cartoon months ago, but decided not to do it.
And then I heard this song on the radio in the car at least five times in the last couple weeks -- and I'm not usually in the car long enough to hear a lot of music.
So if it's still getting airplay, it's fair game.

Thanksgiving Leftover

(Click on the cartoon to see the entire image.) (C)Copyright 2008, C. Burke. All rights reserved.


Well, I had to have one joke left over from Thanksgiving.
And I needed to explain away some of last Thursday's cast as hallucinations.

Work vs. Time

(Click on the cartoon to see the entire image.) (C)Copyright 2008, C. Burke. All rights reserved.


It seems to me that "Once begun is half done" and "The last 10% of the job takes 90% of the effort" just don't seem to add up.

By the way, this graph was made with the aid of Create-A-Graph, although I had to do some touch-up work on the background.