Happy New Years Eve 2013

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(C)Copyright 2012, C. Burke. All rights reserved.

40 log sin(x)

This might explain it better.
Happy New Year 2013

Here and There

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(C)Copyright 2012, C. Burke. All rights reserved.

When it comes down to it, it's not a very difficult question to answer. You don't even need a map.

Next Blog

No, not my next blog. The ones I have are more than enough.

On the top of this page, there lies an innocuous link labeled "Next blog", which has nothing to do with this page and everything to do with Blogger, going back to the days before Google owned it.

Sometimes, out of boredom usually, I would click on that link just to see what was next, and then again and again until I dead-ended on a page where the link mysteriously vanished. (I never looked into how to get rid of it on my page.)

I would find some interesting insights into people's lives and hobbies while occasionally being perplexed by the foreign languages which would present themselves. It was the kind of internet reading experience which gave rise to the phrase "surfing the web".

Well, for good or ill, any time I click on that link now, I get Education sites, usually math-related. I don't know if that's because this is a math blog or because I have math pages in my blog roll. Who's to say?

But the link is there if you want to try it out.

And if you find any fun or interesting pages, come back here and share them!

Merry Christmath 2012!

A Bonus Comic
(C)Copyright 2012, C. Burke. All rights reserved.

Merry Christmath from (x, why?)!

Merry Christmas 2012

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(C)Copyright 2012, C. Burke. All rights reserved.

Wishing your families all the one-ders of the holiday as you gather 'round the binary Christmas tree. And that's no blarney.

Merry Christmas from (x, why?)!

A Christmas Stars Activity

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(C)Copyright 2012, C. Burke. All rights reserved.

If the numbers aren't relatively prime, then you won't use all the dots. Just move to the next dot, and make a second star, and third, if necessary.

It's the End of the World

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(C)Copyright 2012, C. Burke. All rights reserved.

It's time to call Leonard Bernstein!

It's Snow Problem

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(C)Copyright 2012, C. Burke. All rights reserved.

She's right. That's definitely less than a cubic foot. So it isn't going to waste.

Update: Sorry, but I have to add the keywords, "Do you want to build a snowman?" 8-)

12-12-12

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(C)Copyright 2012, C. Burke. All rights reserved.

And remember: If it's gross AND in your face, it's Gross, Point Blank!

See also: 11-11-11 and
10-10-10.

Getting Connected

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(C)Copyright 2012, C. Burke. All rights reserved.

I've been meaning to do this follow-up for over three years now. I'm sure some of you wished I'd waited longer.

For that group, the bad news it that there isn't any witty comment here because everything I thought of writing, I'm putting it follow-up follow-ups.

See also: Recharge

Getting Real

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(C)Copyright 2012, C. Burke. All rights reserved.

It doesn't get more Real than squaring an unknown value and calling a math teacher a moron.

(x, why?) Comics at Math Fail.com

A handful of (x, why?) comics spotlighted in mathfail.com. I'll return the shout-out by noting that one of those selected was Almost Right, which had a "Spiked" variant follow-up the next day.

What Sheet?

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(C)Copyright 2012, C. Burke. All rights reserved.

Statistically speaking, most likely true.

Also true: It's not one of Mr. Burke's worksheets if there isn't at least one typo.

Humor in Education

The Encyclopedia of Educational Technology (San Diego State University) has posted an article Humor in Education, featuring a comic by yours truly, with a link back to my blog. The Math and Religion comic seems to be popular with folks who ask permission to re-use my comics. (Obviously, I don't know what's popular with the people who repost without asking, unless they link back to the site and I see a whole lot of pings from one source.)

In the Center of the Thunderstorm

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(C)Copyright 2012, C. Burke. All rights reserved.

Yes, that's "I" in the center of the storm.
I was going to use "Religion" to get a whole pantheon in there, but I still had "Thunder" left over from a couple weeks ago.

For the record, the picture was taken at New York ComicCon, and the dude next to me is made out of wax. And my T-shirt has the Iron Giant made up like Iron Man.

Happy Thanksgiving 2012

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(C)Copyright 2012, C. Burke. All rights reserved.

I'm thankful for the library of images I've built up over five years. And yet it still look well over four hours to assemble all this!

Certainties

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(C)Copyright 2012, C. Burke. All rights reserved.

We did have one year recently where that intersection was actually null. But only that one year.

Congruent or Supplementary?

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(C)Copyright 2012, C. Burke. All rights reserved.

Unfortunately, my only student named "Watson" is in Algebra, not Geometry.

Veterans Day 2012

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(C)Copyright 2012, C. Burke. All rights reserved.

And to every man and woman my father ever introduced me to at every American Legion and VFW Post I've ever been in in my life: "Thank You".

Belong To

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(C)Copyright 2012, C. Burke. All rights reserved.

And it's one heck of a union. 8-)

What's in a Name?

So I've been thinking a bit about the characters in my comic. I'm sure most of you have noticed that I've rarely used their names. There are a few reasons for that. First, as I try to conserve space with word balloons, they can fall to the wayside. Second, I don't talk like that, using a person's name in the middle of a conversation with them. Sure, maybe to get their attention at the beginning or if there are multiple speakers, then I might talk like that, but not usually.

And then there's the reason that you've probably guessed: some of them don't have names, at least not "officially".

What makes it official? I guess using it in a comic. I can't say why it is that I don't want to pin them down. I'm sure I had a reason. And some of the characters were created to be in the background, and yet somehow got elevated in status (i.e., they were reused).

I believe two regular characters have complete names, and then there's a partial: Mike Keegan, Ken Wayne, and Michele, whose name has only one "l" in its spelling for the simple reason that the first time it was mentioned, I literally could not fit the second "l".

(By the way, that landmark event happened one day after another landmark event -- when the main characters ceased to be albinos. No seriously, I used color in the comic, just not skin tone, but that yard had so much color to it that I had to do something. But also note that Mike is wearing a plain white T-shirt in the pool. That fair Irish skin!)

In my mind, Michele's last name was something like Roberts or Robertson, for no particular reason, except that I looked up their heraldry a few years ago for a possible comic (I think it had something to do with pool towels or beer steins or something), but that never went anywhere. "Richards" was another possibility, and while it might sound Fantastic, since Michele's first name is actually Mary, it'd be as if I wanted to channel a Mary Tyler Moore character. (Not my intent. Although I did allude to Marlo Thomas once.)

As for the rest of the math department: I've informally referred to them as "Annette" (or "Annie") and "Barbara", but haven't gotten around to saying it. Then again, there's another member of the math department that I've been wanting to add just for a one-shot gag. No name and no image yet. Short shrift, you might say. Oh, and still off the record, Annie's the blonde.

The rest of the minor characters have first names or no names, with the exception of the sub, Quinn Jonas. His name isn't a pun, or a reference to the Jonas Brothers (which I thought about). It's more of an allusion to a sci-fi character for a plot thread I started and then dumped early because it wasn't going where I wanted it to go. But he's a good foil, like the young science teacher, but he's a sub, so he's only there when I need him. And out subbing elsewhere when I was out subbing elsewhere.

So, my dear readers who have stayed here thus far, (no comma in that clause), should I mention their names? Should I give them names? Make a Bio page on the Archives site? What to do?

TL/DR: No names? Wassup wit dat?

Alternative Solutions

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(C)Copyright 2012, C. Burke. All rights reserved.

I have heard this time and again. About time I used it in a comic.

And for the record, the "just about" is there because if the problem deals with geeky trivia, the answer "Buffy" is never incorrect.

Added note: And for the one or two of my readers who might have been curious about this: I typed the text so that it appeared on the Smartboard, and then used the marker to write the answer for added authenticity.

Three Limiting Factors

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(C)Copyright 2012, C. Burke. All rights reserved.

I love it when a Venn comes together.

Those three factors influence this comic (well, not the money, except for when I'm spending time making money) and a lot of other things I do, or more likely, don't do. So I enjoy when three things happen at once, like a movie with friends, or Comic-con, or a sci-fi convention.

Hurricane Sandy

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(C)Copyright 2012, C. Burke. All rights reserved.

The school I work at (Yeah! I'm back!) is not being used as a shelter, In fact, it's located in Zone A, which is the mandatory evacuation zone.

Another school, closer to my house, is being used, as it was last year during Hurricane Irene. I did volunteer to work there, but as events unfolded, it wasn't possible. Besides the fact that I'd be walking home 25 blocks during the worst of the storm, with trees coming down (or staying there as an extra evacuee), I have a couple people staying at my place instead.

So stay safe, everyone. And a big Thank You to all the workers, especially my fellow teachers who were called upon to volunteer.

A Candy Mystery

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(C)Copyright 2012, C. Burke. All rights reserved.

Happy Fifth Birthday to (x, why?)! Have some candy to celebrate!
... oh, darn, we're out again ...

I really never expected to be doing this five years later.

Movie Night, A Long Time Ago ...

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(C)Copyright 2012, C. Burke. All rights reserved.

Go that way! You'll be malfunctioning before you reach the bottom of the stairs!

No math here. But Halloween's coming, and I did a Star Trek comic last Friday.
And I was inspired a bit by some nice people on Twitter.

Stick Trek: Logical Fallacy

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(C)Copyright 2012, C. Burke. All rights reserved.

Just the Captain, Science and Medical Officers of a general science-fiction strip trekking across the wilds of an alien planet ... (whistles) ...

You know, I was quite surprised to see that the last one of these I did was almost exactly two years ago. It didn't seem that long.
Previously: Redshirts and Chekhov's Gun.

Substitution, Part 3

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(C)Copyright 2012, C. Burke. All rights reserved.

Because if you hold it straight out, your face becomes the backboard.

The 0'Factor, Episode 13

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(C)Copyright 2012, C. Burke. All rights reserved.

I was getting a now-or-never feeling for this strip.

I haven't done one of these in two years, so on 10/11/12, I give you installment 13.
No, I didn't plan that one at all.