Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson for July 04, 2019

Sure, Mom, make the kid lose faith in his father.

I thought a great magician never revealed their secret.

No wonder Calvin is not good in school, Dad.

I bet that if an Amish kid asks its parents how an “English” device works, the parents’ reply will be the Devil.

All Dad had to do was look up the patent.

“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”

“Are you NOT entertained!?”

It’s only magic when Dad uses the vacuum.

Happy 4th of July!

Calvin’s better off asking cockroaches in his kitchen about stuff, since they’re around lot longer than his mom and dad!

Go, Dad!!

Mom-ever the realist…..

Party pooper!

Why doesn’t he just ask Mom these questions?

Geez, next she’s going to tell him about Santa Claus.

And this is where she begins to doubt if Calvin is a bright boy…

Okay Mom then how does it work?

Sometimes, Calvin’s dad seems like kind of a jerk. Giving your kid bullshit answers when they ask honest questions is cruel.

Today, he could just look it up on Google. Back then, it was either an encyclopedia set or a trip to the library.

Dad’s reading a book, so maybe he’s just putting Calvin off till the end of the chapter. It takes only a few words to give an explanation that’s on a kid’s level, but Calvin’s very bright and he would start down that long path of digging for a better answer. Google would help, if it existed when this comic was first drawn.

Iwouldn trust that brat with no lightbulb!!

“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” (Clarke’s Third Law) I doubt that one in a hundred people truly understand how an incandescent lamp works. That number goes down by a order of magnitude or two if the lamp is a compact fluorescent or LED.

I don’t think dad is a very good teacher.

Ha ha ha. When I was Calvin’s age I used to wonder who turned on and off the street lights.

Magic is a good an answer for electricity as any other. I mean just because we know how to create it and how to use it, it doesn’t mean we really know what it is.

It just occurred to me Calvin’s father is a patent attorney; he would need a pretty good idea of how almost everything works to research related existing patents. That means he is just yanking Calvin’s chain beyond all reason.

I love Dad’s “explanations.” My favorite was his explanation about why old photos and movies were in black & white.

Dad’s way of getting back at Calvin for all of his shenanigans. I love it!

Umm, Calvin, why don’t you watch some TV. Dad and I are going to have a little talk.

It all starts with the electrical current exciting the tungsten atoms and increasing their kinetic energy. This causes the temperature in the filament to increase and temporarily elevates electrons in the atoms to a higher energy state. When the electrons drop back to their natural state, they emit photons. Are you with me son?

No?

OK, it’s magic.

LOL at the last panel! I bet the parents had a long talk with each other after that…

and they wonder why their kid does so poorly in school, don’t lie to your kids folks!

Parental cooperation and having each other’s back. What couple hasn’t told their child that they’re going to send them to that wonderful summer camp, Camp Lejeune? And then gotten a note from the teacher about the “What I’m going to be doing on my summer vacation” essay.

Yes it is! FAKE NEWS!!!

My once-girlfriend’s father liked to take the family for a drive around the agricultural area near where they lived. She would ask him “What’s that crop” and he’d answer authoritatively. She said she was a teenager before she realized what was happening there.

Dad’s got some ‘splainin’ to do.