Frog Applause by Teresa Burritt for December 24, 2023

She had a route awakening.

That’s what she liked to say about her birthmark. Tales of persecution were better than an unstoried existence.

They don’t need to implant. People are so addicted to their phones they can’t put them down.

My two lips are sealed, so kiss off.

What would it have done if it was shaped like a daffodil?

That’s why she sent them recalculating.

If expanded into a short story, this drawing might present the obverse theme to that in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Birthmark.” (The scientist husband of a beautiful woman is obsessed with her one physical flaw, that being a small hand-shaped birthmark upon her cheek. He determines to remove it — with a tragic result.)

In a contemporary version, a rich jealous husband would demand his wife be implanted with a microchip so he could track her every movement. The result would only intensify his obsession, etc., leading to a bad end.

I think this new story could be similar in some way to that of John Cheever’s “The Enormous Radio,” presenting the dark side of modern social media connectivity.

But it’s tulip shaped. So, nothing to worry about.

I especially like the “watercolorly” style of today’s comic! Very beautiful!

Awakening into pastels, she strode into her study, sat down at her typewriter, and composed a scathing letter on onionskin to the makers of Aquanet, having breathed its poisonous fumes to the point of hallucinating government schemes and conspiracies.

very nice! V.I.P.?

Everybody else saw only an ungainly dugong. But I could see she was a beautiful female of her species.

Too late to do anything about it now, though. I had to go with this flawed creation, and hope it wasn’t TOO awful. I couldn’t tell anymore, of course. I was too close to it. As it turned out, it was quite well accepted, and did turn out to be the annual tradition I had earlier envisioned. I imagine that it will still be around after one hundred years, being placed on whatever tree my distant relatives, great nieces or nephews, erect for the holidays. I could actually track it through time, because of the Pym particles used. They impart a particular signature, which is traceable through the temporal dimensions. Everybody found it to be utterly charming. It was embarrassing to have them talk about it. Eventually, I came to see how perfectly off it was. Every part was meticulously crafted to a polished perfection, but the whole of it was nearly haphazard in appearance. I realized, finally, that it really was a master work, the result of a gift that I didn’t even know I had received. As time went on, it became a repeatable thing. So long as I did my best, the result would be not what I meant to do, but something better. It was the best Christmas ever, really.

…this is so 2003…

…now-a-days…

…just do your tracking through her phone…

…a strange coincidence happened this week…

…I thought of something…

…‘thought of something’…

…and my phone projected a presentation of it…

…I came home to tell my wife…

…but before I could tell her…

…she told me the same thing happened to her…

…that’s a coincidence!…

…the question is…

…did the AI know me so well…

…that it could guess what I’d think…

…or…

…through various means beyond my comprehension…

…fidgeted with my senses…

…and lead…

…nay…

…demanded!…

…I think what it wanted me to think what it wanted me to think what it wanted me to think…

…Merry Christmas & HaPpY Holidays to all my Froglandia friends…

Better a microchip shaped like a tulip than a tulip shaped like a microchip?

P.S. Expect a letter from Georgia O’Keefe’s estate lawyers.

Tulip placement is all-important!

Huffy Duffy over Humpty Duffy.

If you look harder, she’ll look like a blossoming….recalculating…..

The thrill of good and The Agony of Bad.

because shes a dimbulb ?

I was implanted with a dandelion microchip. See you next spring

Put your two lips against mine.

World run by men

And she would nver again struggle to find herself. Beautiful art.

Nosy neighbors – a local positioning system. Merry Christmas, T

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, Mz. T. I hope you and yours are in tip-top shape!

I love the contrast between the architectural background and the newly implanted woman. Only she and her closest, trusted associates, knew it was the first step into her becoming the latest Dr. Who. When the transformation was complete, she would adjust the microchip shaped like a tulip so that it said she was thirty miles from her actual location. She would have to think of another adjustment when the Daleks got wise to it, though.

Congratulations to the commentators today, you have ALL made my Christmas Eve Merry and Bright❗️ This interrobang is for y’all AND especially to ”T” for making it possible … ⁉️

I got a butterfly.

As if “she” matters. In broody fact, it’s not really a GPS tracking issue at all; it’s just a matter of raw, naked power over the feckless masses, hoi polloi, keeping them in line for whatever the Authority dictates….

The post-implant discomfort in her soles cause her to tip-toe with that tulip. Happy Holidays, Teresa!

MERRY CHRISTMAS, TERESA!

Piece be with you.

Time to look for the Tulip again …! HoHoHo

THIS time, when they got lost hiking a wilderness trail, she made sure that they could get a rescue party out to them. Four times was at least once too many.

…thy shall not covet…

…the greener grass…

…yet he will deceive even the chosen…

…if possible…

…news and science become …

…just another sellout to the bottom line…

…where David plays the lyre…

…

…and throws stones at glass houses…

…I’m king…

…I’m not claiming to be innocent…

…but as King…

…Uriah’s death happened under prima nocta rules…

…not innocent if I were you…

…but…

…you know…

….king…

…I therefore hereby announce the curse of Nebuchadrezzar upon you…

…you will learn you are not a giant walking over the land…

…but a leaf floating down a stream…

…{ remember you heard it here first}…

I think Teresa needs to create a new pin for her group called “GoComputer” …!

Love that sillouhette