(x, why?) Mini: Trial

(Click on the comic if you can't see the full image.)

(C)Copyright 2020, C. Burke. "AnthroNumerics" is a trademark of Christopher J. Burke and (x, why?).

I guess there would be a lot of ''bial'' tossed around at a two-sided proceeding.

My newest problem with Shape characters. Sometimes the entier face of the shape is just the face. Sometimes the face is the face and body. As a result, it's slightly unclear -- out of context -- if they are wearing face masks or bikinis.

And if you didn't see that, can you now unsee it?

And I still think this Octagon shape for the cops is the most amusing unstated running gag. (Unstated, except for the hashtag.)

Come back often for more funny math and geeky comics.

(x, why?) Mini: Annually

(Click on the comic if you can't see the full image.)

(C)Copyright 2020, C. Burke. "AnthroNumerics" is a trademark of Christopher J. Burke and (x, why?).

As a teacher, I'm used to having my progress probed annually. And it's a lousy feeling.

No, I don't know why my mind went here. But, as stated on the comic itself, this is as close as I'll get to doing this kind of humor in my comic. Likewise, any "bathroom" humor would likely involve singing in the shower.

It's not that I'm against it. If we ever meet in at a quiet party at a con, there may be all kinds of bawdy humor mixed in with the regular conversation. But there are plenty of outlets for that kind of stuff. And they likely do it "better". And once you start down that road, it's hard to come back.

Me? I'll stand at one end of the road and stick my tongue out at the travelers. That's as far as I'll toe that line.

Come back often for more funny math and geeky comics.

Shameless Plug

(Click on the comic if you can't see the full image.)

(C)Copyright 2020, C. Burke. "AnthroNumerics" is a trademark of Christopher J. Burke and (x, why?).

Looks like they're ready for some kind of ''revoltage''.

You have to hate those Shameless Plugs!!

Speaking of Shameless Plugs: I have a new anthology of flash fiction published by eSpec Books called In A Flash 2020, and it's now available in paperback and as an ebook.

Among the twenty stories is The Feast of Groggry, the Cronaut, which features a time traveler to the future. He does not meet any robots there.

On the other hand, there is a future inhabited by retro sci-fi robots in the tale Revoltage. The robots above, "Tomorrow's Teachers of Tommorrow", were the picture in my mind of the boxy and cylindrical AI robots of the future. I've never given names to these machines, but the AM series came from two sources: I think therefore I AM, of course, and the bandwidth where some of us used to get our music. (I can include my kids in this, thanks to Radio Disney.) As for the model number 388, it's a reference to Comic 388: Recharge, which was their first appearance, back in 2009.

Come back often for more funny math and geeky comics.

(x, why?) Mini: Obtuse

(Click on the comic if you can't see the full image.)

(C)Copyright 2020, C. Burke. "AnthroNumerics" is a trademark of Christopher J. Burke and (x, why?).

No matter how well-intentioned you think your joke is, there's always someone who is going to be upset.

There was a lot of this going on on Twitter yesterday. This was my contribution. One of them, anyway.

Come back often for more funny math and geeky comics.

(x, why?) Mini: Bottom of the Hour

(Click on the comic if you can't see the full image.)

(C)Copyright 2020, C. Burke. "AnthroNumerics" is a trademark of Christopher J. Burke and (x, why?).

Originally, I wasn't serious about doing an update on what bottom of the hour means. Joke's over, I guess.

If you face an older clock, the 12 is at the top of the hour, and the 6 is at the bottom. So half-past is the bottom of the hour. After that, you start getting closer the next hour. Like the Romans with their I before V (even after C). By the time the hand is on the 8, you'd be "twenty to" or "twenty of" instead of "twenty past".

The concluding portion of the comic came to mind because I was going to make an "Okay, Grandpa" joke in the dialogue. Or maybe Great Grandpa if I wanted to invoke a different period of history.

While my uncles served in the U.S. Navy, my Dad and oldest brother were Army. My knowledge of Bells comes from Capt. Jack McCarthy who hosted not only the St. Patrick's Day Parade coverage in NYC but also afternoon cartoons on a local station. Popeye cartoons, of course. He'd come on TV every afternoon and announce "Six Bells and All's Well!" And with cartoons, it definitely was.

Last "bells" reference. Keep in mind, this was told to me by an Army vet I looked up to, when I was maybe 7 years old, and he heard it from a Navy vet. So consider this some intra-military rivalry jocularity:

The announcer on Naval radio gave the time: "It's six bells! For you Army soldiers, it's 1500. For you Marines, the big hand is on the 12 and the little hand is on the 3."

Come back often for more funny math and geeky comics.

School Life #17: Game Swap

(Click on the comic if you can't see the full image.)

(C)Copyright 2020, C. Burke. "AnthroNumerics" is a trademark of Christopher J. Burke and (x, why?).

Sometimes it seems like I'm writing fanfic with my characters. Indulge me.

For any newer readers, Daisy was "no-touch" before the pandemic as well as no eye contact.

Speaking of the pandemic, I had it in mind with the separation and the gloves. And I was actually finished the comic before I realized that they weren't wearing masks. Sigh.

Come back often for more funny math and geeky comics.

AM/GM

(Click on the comic if you can't see the full image.)

(C)Copyright 2020, C. Burke. "AnthroNumerics" is a trademark of Christopher J. Burke and (x, why?).

Next update: what does ''Top and bottom of the hour'' mean

Most raido dials I've seen (ones which still exist) generally leave off the last zero to save space. However, that would've made the joke a little more confusing.

As it is, in NYC some of the major AM stations over the years have been at 660, 710, 770, 880 and 1010. Of those, it was not uncommon to hear references to 66, 77, and 88. (Not so much with the other two.)

I could have added in the FM dial, but that would've just confused things (that is, me) more.

ObMath: The AM-GM Inequality states that for any set of non-negative real numbers, the arithmetic mean will be greater than or equal to the geometric mean.

Update: Great twitter response: I did a comic about radios and didn't include the Harmonic mean. Fair enough: it's 853.8. So I could have gone with the HM-GM-AM Inequality instead.

If we're going that far, I could through in the quadratic mean, which is 1045.3, At this point we have the HM-GM-AM-QM inequalities.

But now we're getting away from my old AM/FM radio. The most bands I ever had was my TV radio, which had to VHF bands, but no UHF.

Come back often for more funny math and geeky comics.

Chemistry Websites

(Click on the comic if you can't see the full image.)

(C)Copyright 2020, C. Burke. "AnthroNumerics" is a trademark of Christopher J. Burke and (x, why?).

I didn't expect much reaction.

Last week, I ran a Twitter poll with a Chemistry joke. It actually got more responses than any poll I'd done previously, 387 people, mostly saying K. A few good tweets, too.

I'm a little out of my depth with Chemistry jokes, but mix the good and the bad, and it all balances out in the end.

Speaking of balancing, if I remember my classes correctly, if you have 6 molecules of water, you should get four of the final compound.

Come back often for more funny math and geeky comics.

In A Flash: 2020, by Christopher J. Burke

In A Flash: 2020, by Christopher J. Burke (2020)

Excuse the blatant plug, but if I can't promote my book here, where can I?

Over the past few years (since before In A Flash: 2016, which contains a story of mine), I have been writing flash fiction on and off. Naturally, I've been working toward longer pieces, but there was a market for these. Twenty stories have been collected into this anthology. Note: this book reprints the story from the previous volume.

There are, in total, 20 flash fiction stories that range from fantasy to science fiction to "realism". The Realism is sort of a "catch-all" section gives you horror, noir, and pirates. (Not at the same time.)

$1.99 for the ebook. The paperback is forthcoming.

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Flash-2020-Christopher-J-Burke-ebook/dp/B08CWQTYBR

Dihedral Group

(Click on the comic if you can't see the full image.)

(C)Copyright 2020, C. Burke. "AnthroNumerics" is a trademark of Christopher J. Burke and (x, why?).

Reuse a gag? I'll even put them in Order for you.

I was going to wait until next week to post this, but I couldn't wait. (Plus, it was quick for posting.) There will be something on Twitter in a few days.

A dihedral group is the group of rotational and reflectional symmetries of a regular polygon. If the polygon has 12 sides, as the dodecagon in the comic, then it has 12 rotational symmetries, because you can map it onto itself with every 15 degree rotation, and 12 reflectional symmetries, one for each of the rotations, plus the original. This gives it a total of 24.

In general, for any n-gon, the order number will be 2n.

And, of course, since January, the store now has a screen, and everyone is wearing masks.

Come back often for more funny math and geeky comics.

(x, why?) Mini: Bathroom

(Click on the comic if you can't see the full image.)

(C)Copyright 2020, C. Burke. "AnthroNumerics" is a trademark of Christopher J. Burke and (x, why?).

Like there isn't a Fortress of Solitude inside his Fortress of Solitude!

Long-time readers know that back in high school (a long time ago, in another century), I used to draw my own Stick comics, starring Super-Stick-Man. Those were scanned (poorly, really) a long time ago in this comic. However, you'll have to check out the Comic Genesis site for them.

Of course, if this actually is Super-Stick-Man, then this would be the Stickball-Bat-Cave. (Just read it. It'll make sense. Maybe.)

This is about as close as I get to "bathroom" humor.

Come back often for more funny math and geeky comics.

School Life #16: Three-Piece Suit

(Click on the comic if you can't see the full image.)

(C)Copyright 2020, C. Burke. "AnthroNumerics" is a trademark of Christopher J. Burke and (x, why?).

Three months ago, I made a ^joke^ about ''three-piece suits''. I didn't think ''trikinis'' would become a thing.

Melissa's mask has an ice cream cone decal. It's from the stand where she works. Vanessa's obviously came with the suit. Sven and Vaughn just have generic masks that they probably wear whenever they leave the house, so they probably stay in their house playing video games. But, c'mon, it's summer. You have to sneak off and see your girlfriend, right?

Teen boys, overeager or under-confident. I remember which one I was. Both, but usually not at the same time.

I'm not sure where the story lines would have taken the characters over the past few months.

However, if I pursue this, the boys will likely have a growth spurt this summer. As long as it doesn't look dopey.

Come back often for more funny math and geeky comics.

First Round of Edits

(Click on the comic if you can't see the full image.)

(C)Copyright 2020, C. Burke. "AnthroNumerics" is a trademark of Christopher J. Burke and (x, why?).

I'm just hooking up words and phrases and clauses so that that I don't have a bunch of short, choppy sentences with repetitive subjects and no transitions between paragraphs.

Or something like that.

It seems that Michele has been bitten by the writing bug while she spends so much time home in the apartment.

Come back often for more funny math and geeky comics.

(x, why?) Mini: Sub Talk

(Click on the comic if you can't see the full image.)

(C)Copyright 2020, C. Burke. "AnthroNumerics" is a trademark of Christopher J. Burke and (x, why?).

If I understand the definition correctly, sub 3 is doing it, too.

I discovered what subtweeting was when I discovered a student of mine doing it while accusing me of doing it.

I couldn't complain. For one thing, she seemed to find it amusing. For another, a bunch of students found my twitter account and decided to follow me, mostly looking for "dirt" or any material with which to make fun in class. (I told them that I used the account to talk to other teachers and they'd all be bored.)

The one thing that did occur to me was that since they followed me, I knew what their account IDs were, and I could see who they followed and who followed them. The people who followed them were mostly others in the school. So I could see read their tweets and see what they really thought about me.

I only lurked. I didn't "like" or respond. And I certainnly didn't "stalk". The only two conversations I remember when some of them passed around my twitter handle, and made fun that I chose "mrburkemath" (Hey, it's branding. You know?), and another where a few complained about how difficult a test was, with one young lady complaining that she wouldn't have been able to finish it if another boy hadn't done it for her. (I don't remember that she passed.)

Most of them stopped following me within a few months. My tweets did, in fact, bore them. One or two, I think, still follow me, but I don't think their accounts are active any more. I think most of the students moved on to other platforms.

Come back often for more funny math and geeky comics.

Unplanned Absence

I wasn't planning on taking a break from posting this week. It just turned out that way.

This past Sunday evening, I received the first round of edits on my anthology from my editor. That has required my attention. For one thing, my natural inclination would have been to join the previous two sentences using the conjunction "and". However, it seems that I overdo that a bit. Not my fault (Narrator: totally his fault), it's just the way I tend to talk, so I write that way.

Now, that's just one thing to look out for. There's other work that needs to be done. Writing is rewriting. And one of the stories definitely needs some rewriting.

I'm not editing the entire day. On the other hand, pretty much all the time in front of my PC is spent with these files. When I've reached a limit for the day, I'm too tired to start thinking about comics or any of my blogs.

So everything is in a little bit of a holding pattern for the moment.

By the way, did I mention that I have a flash fiction anthology coming out?