Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson for February 20, 2009

tabbylynn: I answered your qestion, look in yesterday’s comments.

That boy Calvin is a killer. ;-)

Actually, he wants you to be subordinate.

I am actually in a house without TV. I went from having every channel to having none. I do not miss it at all, oh of course I do, during big sporting events, but man, I am amazed at how easily I let it go.

cleokaya says:

I am actually in a house without TV. I went from having every channel to having none. I do not miss it at all, oh of course I do, during big sporting events, but man, I am amazed at how easily I let it go.

~ Oh man, now you’re sub average.

And we had doubts about Calvin’s math skills. He can even do fractions.

TheSpleen says: And we had doubts about Calvin’s math skills. He can even do fractions.

Yup, he’s a math genius alright! It just depends on what he’s counting.

Next he’s going to wonder where his 1.4 siblings are.

Yesterday I looked the ball of the opera, it is too expensiv to stay there live!

Years ago we had 12 channels all of which went off the air at midnight. There were no warnings for sexual content and coarse language because there was none. The programs espoused the values that our parents were trying to instill in us and we didn’t need channel blockers to keep us safe. Somehow I think those might have been better times.

I paid you 2/9/09.

Why have you stopped sending me comics?

Nothing worse than being sub-average. Especially if it keeps Calvin up util 10:30.

jefzzz - I remember the old 3-channel days (4 if you had an educational channel), and somehow I think drinking, smoking and “backseating” out back of the farm pond behind the windbreak was just as much fun as anyone has today with the internet and cable tv… ummm, but somehow I don’t think that’s what you were saying exactly…

How come Calvin can’t add 3+8 even with pen and paper but can get his times right in this strip. It must be the thought of watching television for 7 1/2 hours straight.

I think the last thing Calvin needs is 7 1/2 hours of TV a day. We only use our TV to watch DVDs.

Now that the government has mandated HDTV, I’m thinking of giving it up too. Too much of nothing on the boob tube.

Quoth the TV viewer:

I love TV … I love TV … I love TV … I love TV … I love TV … I love TV … I love TV … I love TV … I love TV … I love TV …

…

There’s nothing wrong with television that can’t be fixed with a golf club.

I grew up without a TV and don’t own one now. I keep getting pestered by cable companies about buying their services and they don’t get it why I won’t. No need, news on the net has me covered, the rest of the time I’d spend on TV I’d rather spend with webcomics and chat. :)

Yes, back in the day, what was the logo that appeared at the end of tv shows, “Seal of Good Practice or something that indicated the show was wholesome entertainment. And remember back in the day, for example married (fancy that, married) couples (Like I Love Lucy for example) slept in twin beds WITH ACTUAL PAJAMAS ON?! And America wonders why there’s so much trash on tv these days! Thosse shows were great, and you didn’t need swearing, nudity, etc. to enjoy them!

@Yukoner - I hear you and agree fully.

I, too, noticed Calvin’s sudden acquisition of math skills and was wondering….. I guess it’s all just in how the subject is presented. Teachers take note. Yukoner and Anobium, AMEN!!

margueritem, I also missed your delightful cheery presence with my morning coffee yesterday. Welcome back.

I wouldn’t watch the programs without closed captioned on the TV. If the closed captioned is on, I would watch anyway.

I’m glad to see our family isn’t alone. Our (analog) tv is for DVDs. We wouldn’t mind having a flat screen, but don’t want to pony up the money. No cable, no satellite, so now no TV. Between DVDs and internet, we’re covered. I might consider cable if we could only have (and pay for) the channels we want, but don’t care to have the trash that comes with the package deals.

anobium625-A 12 ga. shotgun does wonders also.

doctortoon - and even the “good” channels seem to be mostly reruns (with all due respect to David Attenborough, how many times can we watch any given nature special before we have the script and sound track MEMORIZED?), with 10-12 minutes of commercials in every half-hour segment. It’s not going to take much more for me to send the cable company a pink slip of their own.

Me, too, Doctortoon. I have about a jillion channels of sattelite so my wife can watch The Gong Show…I mean American Idol.

Cable TV takes away precious family time, or quality time you could spend with yourself doing something creative or relaxing. And you end up watching stuff you never wanted to. I use my TV only for DVDs, and don’t miss the cable at all.

Subaverage! Luv it!

margueritem and cleokaya, did you miss the point here? It’s not that you’re sub-average. It’s that now the rest of us have even more to do to keep the average up! Ohhh nooooooo! Even more mind-emptying, soul-sucking “entertainment”!

Hey, I thought Calvin had a hard time adding 9+4.?

What a blessing it is to be considered ‘sub-average’ nowadays.

cleokaya, you traded it for broadband internet which streams all networks right? ;)

I got rid of the cable TV service in 2004, that’s 5 years ago and while Discovery channel had some good programs it’s not worth paying $60 a month for. I got a converter box so I could still get over the air stuff when analog TV goes away, but I’ve only had it on twice, once to test it and once to watch the inauguration.

Yukoner, Drystyha, anobium, JonD17, et. al. I remember the three-networks-sign-off-at midnight days (makes the opening of “Poltergeist” kinda hard for the yung ‘uns to get), but I’m not sure it was necessarily better. Painting a rosy picture of an idealized world and presenting it as reality isn’t the best thing for people either. Note that the first TV pregnancy that showed was on a cartoon (Flintstones) - but that, and showing married couples sleeping in separate beds didn’t stop sex or unplanned pregnancies. How many of yuo wondered why your own parents slept in a double? Thanks in part to that era of TV, I was an adult before I realized that family dysfunction and even family violence was the norm for some 75% of the kids I grew up with. I’m also amused by TV snobs (I never watch it (or only PBS) so I’m so much better than those philistines).

Back on topic, Calvin’s destined to be a politician - his math only works when it’s to his advantage.

There’s nothing wrong with TV. Yeah, there are a lot of trashy and worthless shows, but, get this, there are a lot of trashy and worthless books, too. Does that mean all books are bad? Of course not. Having a rap song laden with expletives doesn’t devalue Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.

There are still wholesome shows. There are still interesting shows. There are still funny shows. There are shows that make you think, shows that teach you new things, and shows that help you relax. I think the only reason people criticize television is because it’s “easier” than reading a book, which somehow makes it wrong. You people talk about television like it’s the spawn of Satan and I really don’t see a reason for it.

The key to good entertainment, like anything in life, is moderation. Watterson is criticizing the people who spend all day watching TV, not anyone who enjoys it.

Yukoner says:

Years ago we had 12 channels all of which went off the air at midnight. There were no warnings for sexual content and coarse language because there was none. The programs espoused the values that our parents were trying to instill in us and we didn’t need channel blockers to keep us safe. Somehow I think those might have been better times.

~~~

I totally agree with you Yukoner. I love those old shows from the 50’s and 60’s.

We have a TV with a couple of channels, but my parents are pretty smart. They only kept all the boring channels they liked to occassionally see like CBC news and such, so I was never interested in watching TV. Not watching TV has become a good habit with me, so even at age 14 I have never really cared to waste time watching shows. The internet, however, is a completely different story…

Quoth Bart Simpson: “Damn TV ruined my imagination, just like it ruined my ability to… uh… well, you know…”

With very few exceptions, my favorite shows are no longer around. It is sad.

@runar, TV back then presented simpilar, I don’t quite know how to phrase it. But TV was better than, and maybe there were dysfunctional homes back then but everything wasn’t as broadcast for the world to see, etc. etc. but now we get all this information blasted in our face everyday, there’s no morality. The media won’t leave people alone in times of grief or tragedy, they’ve got their cameras in everybody’s face, honetly, it’s disgusting! I mean come on, viagara commercials in the middle of the day for kids to see, commercials for feminine products, etc., etc.

I hope you get my point and I’M DONE PROSELYTING!

Calvin merely miscalculated: doesn’t he have any math homework to do ???

Panel 3 and 4: Calvin seems a little silly, still counting on his fingers, but such a big mouth !

runar says: “Back on topic, Calvin’s destined to be a politician - his math only works when it’s to his advantage.” this is true. if it will help him, he knows all about it, regardless of what the subject is.

Gotta keep up with the Smith and Jones, get me one of those ARM Mortgages too, and a second mortgage and 5 credit cards and a personal loan!

Do you realize 1/2 your friends are below average? . @DrystyhaPro –It seems all the products to regulate your bowels come at supper time.

tabbylynn says:

i hate the cold. it is to cold. :) Marg. where are you today?

~Hi, Tabbylynn! I went hiking this morning at 8:00 am, so I had to get up much earlier than usual. We hiked for an hour and 45 minutes, which included a hill with a 7% grade. I just rode my bike 10 miles, so now I’m finally sitting down to the comics. How’s your day going? I’m guessing that you live in or near New Orleans if you get Mardi Gras off. That’s one holiday we never had. ;-) Do you get to go to the parades? One of my friends down there goes to Barkus, and has sent pictures, very funny.

Hey glad to here from you. i live in new Iberia. good while from new Orleans. i am not sure why we get off but we do. i used to go to the praids, but i quit. i dont care for it. dont like seeing adults act worse then kids. i just dont get into it.

over here we watch too much tv. my brother gets in from school at 2:40 and turns it on, it does not get turned off till 11 or 11:30 most nights sometimes later. i am mostly reading, but when house is playing i am watching tv. i cant help it.

I definetely agree with everyone’s comments. i only don’t watch tv because nothing entertaining is ever on. if i had a choice between watching every Disney show ever made, or one old cheesy, black & white horror film, i say give me ‘night of the living dead’ and I’d have so much more fun.

margueritem and all: my computer is having issues and it is not letting me get past this page and i cant move hardly. so i will most likely not see any of these comments or comics (sniffs) till i figure out what is wrong with it. will let you know when it is back up and running right. will miss all of this.

Go for it bmonk.

avemaria: You traded it for broadband internet which streams all networks right?:)

Actually, no…I traded it for a woman who raised her children without TV and had no desire for TV, except as a vehicle for watching DVDs. I was happy to give up TV for the love of my life.

I agree with RRaMom and others, I wish I could pay only for the channels I want. I don’t watch a lot of tv, but my husband can’t live without it. It is sort of cheap entertainment, and public library is too, (free except for late fees) so we use those a lot. Also the museums programs where I work, they are good.

Several good comments here. I also wish for “good” programs. I miss Andy Williams Show, Dick Van bleeep (when comedy was real), Perry Como, etc. We never had TV in the bedroom. I did have one put in after my husband died, but after a couple of years, had it taken out. I also have been one who normally didn’t have it on during the day, but now I have it on for “sound comfort”, but have other things to occupy my time. There is a lot of bad with TV, but there are good things to watch, such as History, Discovery, etc. TCM shows the movie classics. And so on. No one has to watch anything they don’t want to because there are some neat buttons that say “off”, and “channel change”! Reading is even better because you get to use your own imagination, instead of what someone else thinks.

Have a great weekend everyone!

tabbylynn says:

margueritem and all: my computer is having issues and it is not letting me get past this page and i cant move hardly. so i will most likely not see any of these comments or comics (sniffs) till i figure out what is wrong with it. will let you know when it is back up and running right. will miss all of this. Tabbylynn, don’t worry, we’ll all still be here when you get back

westiewest Great-grandma says:

Several good comments here. I also wish for “good” programs. I miss Andy Williams Show, Dick Van bleeep ……….. WOW!!, now there is a hyperactive censor-bot!

tabbylynn: We’ll miss you. I hope your computer gets fixed soon.

that’s right calvin put some peer pressure on him!!!

JonD17: LOL I just saw what they did to my comment!!! I guess I spelled his name wrong and they thought I meant something else. Never been bleeped before!! How funny!!

Being the Average Family

Learning to Manipulate

Learning to Manipulate

So NOW Calvin can do math… only when it benefits him huh?