What is a Vet?

I first found this short essay (it's almost a poem), What is a Vet? somewhere on the Net about a dozen years ago, in the last 90s. I immediately put a copy of it on a website that I ran.

That site is no more, but I thought it important enough to copy it over to my new pages, even if it has nothing to do with Math.

My original source credited the work to Father Denis Edward O'Brien, USMC . However, he might have only written the few lines on the bottom. If anyone can find the author of the top portion (or show me that it is, in fact, all one poem), I would appreciate it.

Have a Happy Memorial Day. Enjoy your barbecues and beach parties, but take time out to remember those who made all that possible.

Subtlety

There are some who believe that humor should be crafted with the precision of a scalpel, not the blunt force of a sledgehammer. Then, there are days that I want to reach for that sledgehammer. Not that I'm usually accused of being subtle with my humor, except for the occasional quip meant to fly by many and be caught as an extra by a few.

What brings this on is yesterday's comic. I liked it simplicity, and the fact that it didn't take too much of my time. I spent as much time on the math in the comic as I did on the artwork. And I proudly showed it off around the Teacher Center yesterday.

And no one got it.

It looked like a regular mathematical illustration from a textbook, which in a way, could be a compliment. (heh, I almost spelled that with an "e" instead of an "i".) The pun was in the title, which everyone seemed to bypass like so many students skipping directions. At least we had a few "Oh, now I get it!" moments.

Now, where did I put that sledgehammer ...

Clouds

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(C)Copyright 2010, C. Burke. All rights reserved.


Partly cloudy? Really? What part?

Looks like a 3% chance of a bad storm.

Eigenvectors

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(C)Copyright 2010, C. Burke. All rights reserved.

No, I'm not proud, Mary.

Yes, I have been reading Spiked Math.

With Goals Like These, Who Wouldn't Want to Work There?

Corporate slide shows, particularly those that try to defend who "they" are and what "they" are doing and where "they" are going, can be tedious to sit through, and make you wonder if you want to be part of "them".

But with Key Corporate Goals like these, who wouldn't want to work there?

FYI: if you haven't noticed, Luke Surl's comic is in the bloglist in the left column on this page.

The Law of Fives

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(C)Copyright 2010, C. Burke. All rights reserved.


THAT'S the POWER of FIVES!



And, of course, 1 and 4 have been buddies since Client No. 9, while 2 and 3 have been friends since the first comic.

The 0'Factor, episode 11

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(C)Copyright 2010, C. Burke. All rights reserved.


"And are you a reciprocal girl?"

You know, I just checked the "OFactor" tag to see if any of the links were broken, and I didn't realize that it has been over a year since the last time I used this bit. I've used the character, but not the bit.



UPDATE: As of 2:00pm, the Comic Genesis link isn't working because they have not updated the website yet. Apparently, they are having a problem with their servers.

UPDATE 2: As of this writing, the backlog at CG has fallen from 9800 to 7, but I'm still not updated. I'm debating initiating another update manually, but that would put me to the back of the line. Granted, it says the line isn't very long, but that number hasn't changed in a while.

Ellipse?

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(C)Copyright 2010, C. Burke. All rights reserved.


And when you add the square root of -1 and the square root of -1, you get ...

Now on twitter...

Updates are now on twitter:
http://twitter.com/mrburkemath.

Why?
Darned if I know.

Someone asked me to, basically. Whether or not I actually remember to use it remains to be seen.

Copying . . .

I was just grading some work and some recurring thoughts filled my mind.

I have some problems with copying. Not the fact that they actually are copying -- that's a given. It's a byproduct of required groupwork that forces the frustrated to do all the work and allows their "partners" to copy. That's neither here nor there at the moment.

No, my biggest problems actually are with the quality of the copying.
Once upon a time, you copied the work because you were too lazy to do it yourself, but you still wanted a good grade. These days, they're too lazy to copy it well because they don't even care about the grade.

As a result, I have to put up with the following:

Writing equations, expressions and even words that look kinda/sorta like the original but acutally aren't even close;

Writing only half of the work -- usually the left half or the right half, which really makes the development of those equations (if they have equal signs at all) rather amusing;

Copying from classmates who are even more clueless about the material. I guess if two of them have it and there's only one of me, it's two against one and they must be right;

Students who truly believe that they achieved something and that they must be really smart because they have four correct answers on a page, none of which they found on their own, nor could they find again were I to give them a fresh paper;

and, finally, one of my colleagues continually asking me, "And this surprises you, Burke? Why are you always so surprised?"

Venn Diagram

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(C)Copyright 2010, C. Burke. All rights reserved.


This is the set of fun problems. This is the set of relevant problems. This is the set of jokes that don't backfire...

How Smart Is It?

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(C)Copyright 2010, C. Burke. All rights reserved.


Yes, I've been wanting to do this since they hooked it up last week.

And remember, the board is only as smart as the teacher using it,

and I really don't like what you may be inferring from that!

The Five Stages of the End of the Term

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(C)Copyright 2010, C. Burke. All rights reserved.


Many students are still in denial, but the bargaining is coming Real Soon Now.

Mothers Day Flowers

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(C)Copyright 2010, C. Burke. All rights reserved.


Maybe she wanted cosine flowers? Those would have been cos(t)-ly.

Suggestions for Comic 500 anyone ??

I'm closing in on the 500th (x, why?) comic. I have time, but unlike previous centennial comics, I don't already have an idea brewing for this particular milestone.

I was able to play around with the numbers 100, 300 , and 400. And for the 200th strip, I did a crossover of two different storyline.

Nothing about the number 500 is jumping out at me at the moment. At least I still have 30 strips or so to go, which means school will be out and I should have more time on my hands.

EDIT: Okay, I have a bad memory and should have checked first.

The Crossover strip was my first anniversary comic. The actual 200th comic was bad puns featuring the co-medians.

Policy on Re-using Images

I don't mind seeing my comics reposted around the Internet on people's pages and blogs. In fact, I love it when someone likes something that much that they want a copy. However, I'd like to make a few rules which I'm asking everyone to follow when it comes to linking and copying images.

If you want to link to a picture on my site, please link to the page, not just the image. That way, if someone wishes to comment or contact me, they can.

If you want to repost the picture on your site, as long as its a free website, go ahead, but, please, link back to the page, and let me know that you are using it. I don't mind seeing my comics reposted, I just like to know about it. I might even link back to your site from here. (Note: "might", that's another issue).

If you want to use one of my images for a non-commercial purpose, contact me. You'll probably get a "yes". (Note: "probably")

If you want to use one of my images for a commercial purprose, ask me. I'll read it. I'll probably get back to you. No guarantees.

That's about it. If you aren't sure, just ask. I like the feedback and the comments. Thanks.

Metaphor

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(C)Copyright 2010, C. Burke. All rights reserved.


And a simile is like a silly me.

That punchline was supposed to have been used in one of the two followups to this strip, neither of which were ever done.
(I guess I can still do one of them.)

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Happy Cinco de Mayo! Have a parabola!

I can probably use one after my twice-postponed observation is finally over.

Are We There Yet?

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(C)Copyright 2010, C. Burke. All rights reserved.


Don't make me turn this car around! It'll take forever to get home!!




Edit: if you click on the comic, you'll see a considerable larger version on the main website. I don't know why this version is so much smaller.

Things Are Looking Up

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(C)Copyright 2010, C. Burke. All rights reserved.


This is the kind of pun my characters couldn't do. So I made new ones.
Any similarity to other characters is giving me far too much credit.