Friday, October 31, 2014

Decomposing Numbers

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(C)Copyright 2014, C. Burke.

They're decomposing numbers ... there's less of them every year ...

Happy Halloween!




Thursday, October 30, 2014

Math Horror Movies: The Strange Case of ...

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(C)Copyright 2014, C. Burke.

Secant you will find what Man was Not Meant to Know.

SPOILER ALERT: Hypotenuse comes out on Top!




Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Math Horror Movies: Little Shape

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(C)Copyright 2014, C. Burke.

You don't meet nice shapes on Skid Row.

Don't feed the plant! Plus a Constant.




Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Math Horror Movies: Attack!

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(C)Copyright 2014, C. Burke.

Coming to a Theta near you! It's got a Killer soundtrack and high Rotten Tomatoes score!




Friday, October 24, 2014

Signs

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(C)Copyright 2014, C. Burke.

Happy 7th Birthday, (x, why?)! Back? After seven years and 921 comics (more or less), I'm not going anywhere!

Funny thing about using song lyrics. Thanks to the Internet I can check on the lyrics I'm not sure about, and discover that the ones I've "known" since I was a kid aren't actually the words, but they've been stored that way. As for "Signs", I discovered that every site had one of two distinct sets of lyrics. My "understanding" was somewhere in between, but still incorrect. Glad I checked. I learned that lesson all the way back in Comic #99 -- before I uploaded it, thankfully!

Starting Year 8 ... now.




Thursday, October 23, 2014

(x, why?) Mini: Algebra Problems

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(C)Copyright 2014, C. Burke.

There are Algebra problems and then there are Algebra problems!




Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Seventh Birthday Coming Friday!

Hard to believe that nearly seven years have passed since I started making these comics to pass the time and to keep my sanity. And then I started to lose a little sanity trying to keep to a schedule. So much so that I even had vacation strips running for a week!

But (x, why?), which started on this blog and then migrated -- for better exposure, I guess -- to the Comic Genesis site, is having a 7th birthday, or it is an anniversary, on Friday.

I guess it isn't too hard to believe that a webcomic can run for seven years. Many of the webcomics I read back then (or shortly after I started) are still running. It seems to be a "thing". And this "thing" is taking me places, giving me ideas. Keeps me writing, and getting me to do a little bit of programming. Okay, so I haven't done any actual programming in a few years. Now, it's more about maintaining the links and fixing anything that breaks.

Personally, there are a few things I'd like to do. I'd like to have an Archive page that updates automatically as I gave up on mine a long time ago. I'd like to understand how to write an RSS feed because even though blogger and CG both have them, my own domain does not. If I wanted to post everything there, I would lose the feed. Thankfully, there's always twitter and Facebook and Google Plus. Hell, lately I've even started updating my Pinterest pages.

I'm still having fun, even if the demands on my time prevent regular updates three times per week. (I hated to discover that it takes me almost a year to do 100 strips!) But I'll keep at it.

So be here on Friday for the seventh birthday. I just hope I have the time tomorrow to finish a comic.

Sunday, October 19, 2014

(x, why?) Mini: Break the Plane

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(C)Copyright 2014, C. Burke.

Why are planes always parallelograms? Doesn't that get confusing?

I've wanted to do this every Sunday since the season started, and then I forget until the last minute ... so I say, "That's okay. There's Monday Night, too!", but that hasn't worked out recently, either. So here it is.




Friday, October 17, 2014

Max & Min

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(C)Copyright 2014, C. Burke.

Some thought that they could have Max without Min, but he knew his boundaries, and Min was always there.

Belle and Mr. Whiskers have been here for a while now, too. I think that this is their sixth appearance in seven years.




Thursday, October 16, 2014

A Hand Up

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(C)Copyright 2014, C. Burke.

They also needed someone to make the coffee, apparently.

I've been wanting to get these characters back into the same building for a while. Every time that I have a good (or reasonable) idea for a gag, I put it on hold because they aren't in the same place. But the sub jokes have run their course, and I keep losing the notes I make for when they get together. There's only so much that can happen at a bowling alley.

Co-incidentally, I am currently back in my old school, but this may only be a temporary situation. However, wherever I wind up, for now, I think these characters need to be together. I don't keep much of a storyline with these "gag-a-day" individuals, but I like to be consistent for those reading along.

And, yes, I checked. It seems the A.P.'s rank is only given as "Leader" (or, I should say, the source material's rank).




Sunday, October 12, 2014

Cosplay

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(C)Copyright 2014, C. Burke.

Numbers of Cos(play) would be totally rad!.

Hopefully, there are enough buried references to math, sci-fi and this very comic to keep people guessing/wondering/analyzing for a while!




Wednesday, October 08, 2014

More Filling, Less Great?

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(C)Copyright 2014, C. Burke.

You shouldn't be drinking so much anyway. They're doing you a favor!




Monday, October 06, 2014

(x, why?) Mini: Law in What Order?

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(C)Copyright 2014, C. Burke.

Observation #1: I'm not sure in those are shapes in the alley, or the chalk outlines.

Observation #2: With their police hats on, those guys are *octagons*, just like STOP signs are.

These police men, er, ... units, er, ... shapes first appeared last Halloween in a Math horror movie.

I just missed out on having these cops appear on "10/4" (like they should have but, you know, Real Life) and they're a few too late to be comic 911 (it's 914).




Wednesday, October 01, 2014

Hooked on a Flowchart

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(C)Copyright 2014, C. Burke.

Have you ever known anyone who just does the chant waiting for someone to jump in with the words. Have you ever been that person?

Flowcharting: a lost art. It doesn't have to be complicated, but it shouldn't be too "clever", either. Mostly, it should be readable so people in your audience can understand it (not everyone involved in a project is an expert coder). Readability, and easy understanding, are why I incremented the counter at the start of the loop instead of the end, and why there are two decisions instead of using a remainder function (Modulo) to see if the counter is two more than a multiple of four (or one more, if I incremented the counter at the end of the loop.) Going for the punchline, not the coding specs.

And, like Ken, when the chant starts, sometimes you wonder if it'll actually end.

October, already? Anniversary month.