Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson for December 21, 2011

As a kid I was told to rase my feet to lighten the load. Worked,as no bridge ever fell. lol

Sounded plausible to me.

The old..“try’n fail” method..sure..

See today’s B.C.

<< Yesterday, TACOPIELVR wrote: “@Hobbes: Am I thinking it was very rare seeing Snoopy and his doghouse in that angled perspective? I only remember seeing him on the top of his doghouse from a straight on side view.” >>Hi TACOPIELVR(Please let me know if I’m mispronouncing your name.)For about the first 10 years of Peanuts, Charles Schulz usually drew Snoopy’s doghouse in a perspective view, like in the strip that I posted yesterday. But then he began to make a transition to the side view for a couple of years, sometimes intermixing the perspective and side views in a single strip. At the same time, he was making the transition from Snoopy lying inside the doghouse to Snoopy lying on top of it. Here is a great strip from that period, which illustrates both transitions simultaneously:Click here: Peanuts (August 1959)However, the strip that I posted yesterday is very rare in another respect. I’ve reproduced the link below, and if you look closely at the first panel, you will see that Snoopy is lying on top of the doghouse with both of his ears visible, one on each side of the roof. Here, Schulz has revealed how Snoopy uses his incredibly strong ears to try to keep from falling off the peaked roof (which doesn’t always work):Click here: Peanuts (July 1959)

OK, now for the obligatory attempt to relate my comments on “Peanuts” to today’s “Calvin and Hobbes” strip, in order to justify posting the comments here, rather than over at “Peanuts.”Let’s see………. Snoopy and Hobbes are both animals…….. no, that’s pretty lame, and besides, Hobbes isn’t even visible in today’s strip.How about this……… The names “Calvin” and “Hobbes” and “Snoopy” and “Schulz” all contain six letters………. Hmmm………. I think this still needs work.Maybe this………. Snoopy is sometimes in the doghouse and sometimes on top of it. In today’s Calvin and Hobbes, Calvin’s Dad may soon be in the doghouse because Calvin’s Mom is right on top of things……….. Now, maybe we’re beginning to get somewhere.OK, OK, I think I’ve finally got it……….. Bill Watterson’s “Calvin and Hobbes” is a portrayal of the world as seen through a six-year-old boy’s eyes, and as seen through the eyes of adults. Watterson continually intermixes these two perspectives, just as Schulz continually intermixed the two perspectives of Snoopy’s doghouse during his transition period………… There it is, a true masterpiece of incredible depth and insight.Click here: Peanuts (1969)

Writing is also incredibly hard work for Calvin. Here is another strip that we skipped over during the current rerun cycle:Click here: Calvin and Hobbes (September 1986)

Dad knows everything!

Thanks, bluskies. I generally try to avoid the Interstate when I can, because I’ve heard that some of those bridges may be about to collapse……..

Do we know what Calvin’s dad does for a living? Is he an engineer?

Actually, from Mom’s response, I would guess not. She suggests that he doesn’t know the answer.

LOL, The Weight. Now that funny!

Calvin got the creative imaginations thru gene.

@Hobbes: I don’t remember seeing Snoopy’s name on the front of the house, say when Schultz showed people approaching the front to do some work in the house, or even when good old Charley Brown would serve him dinner.

Charlie Brown. I hate auto correct.

@HOBBES: I started reading Peanuts around 1960., Calvin and Charlie. Snoopy starts with S, Hobbes ends with S. Hobbes is like the Bizzarro World Snoopy, or more likely, the AntiSnoopy.

Saying “I don’t know” sure doesn’t sound like as much fun as manufacturing something to mislead Calvin.

Calvin that was a very good question….lol but I don’t know the answer either…lol!!

I’ve heard the song before, but what’s the name of the band ?

My dad told me the same thing when I asked him…So it MUST be true.

Testing to destruction is a valid engineering method

Calvin might just consider it as a career option

We do get hints of where Calvin gets his imagination from: Mom plays along with a “real” Hobbes, even though she cannot see him, and uses Calvin’s gross food sense to get him to eat, and here we have Dad coming up with plausible but wacky explanations for the world.

Well, it makes sense to me, so I believe it. And I studied engineering in high school!

My philosophy of If you can’t dazzle – baffle has been validated.

gee. i always thought that was how they did it.

It sucks to be the guy driving the last truck though.

Sounds logical to me.

be smart Cal’s

makes sense, actually . . . although seems like a lot of hard work

First thing they teach you in engineering school.

I’ve always loved Calvin’s dad’s explanations. They sound like some of the same BS I’ve told my kids over the years.I’ve actually used some of his explanations on my children.

How DO they know the load limit?

Didn’t it come out once that Dad was a patent attorney?

@Florchi,Did the kids have to hold their noses so they wouldn’t run through the tunnel?

@kbyrdleroy123,We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it!

This is my favorite Calvin or all time (I’m an engineer). I began collecting all strips including Dad’s wisdom based on this comic. (BTW to an earlier poster, Calvin’s dad is a patent lawyer, a fact Bill Waterson tried to avoid for the longest time, but revealed when Dad was reading Calvin bedtime stories from work and read from one of his legal briefs)

I think all Dad’s (self included) love to pull our kids legs and see which outrageous explanation is accepted.

And I think all Mom’s don’t see the fun in this!! ;) Must be their protective instinct or sumpin’.

:D

It seems the nut doesn’t fall too far from the tree.

“Load Limit 10 tons”“You load 16 tons and what do you get,another ‘collapse’, and deeper in debt.”

4 years: My Daddy can do anything!

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6 years: My Dad knows more than your dad.

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7 years: My Dad knows a lot…a whole lot.

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8 years: My father does not know quite everything.

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12 years: Oh well, naturally Father does not know that either.

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14 years: Oh, Father? He is hopelessly old-fashioned.

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21 years: Oh, that man—he is so out of date!

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25 years: He knows a little bit about it, but not much.

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30 years: I must find out what Dad thinks about it.

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35 years: Before we decide, we will get Dad’s idea first.

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50 years: What would Dad have thought about that?

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60 years: My Dad knew everything!

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65 years: I wish I could talk it over with Dad once more.

@Hobbes – Thanks for all the explanation, very insightful. I didn’t actually know that once upon a time Snoopy’s house was in perspective view, lol.

LOL, I laughed at this one!

Well said Missus!

xxx

I still wonder: what if the bridge is rebuilt with inferior materials by mistake?

The first time my children saw buffalo I asked them if they knew what sound they made. I said "cows “moo” and horses “neigh”, what do you think buffalo say? No suggestions came forth so I told them, "buffalo go “buff”, "buff. My wife gave me one of those looks but didn’t say anything. I don’t really remember how long I let that one hang. They still get a kick out of it when it is brought up.

<< The Life I Draw Upon wrote: "@Hobbes, Merry Xmas, and a Happy New Year. Can you believe it’s already 2012? >>Hi The Life I Draw UponI’ve been on this site for a little over a year now. In some ways it seems like the time has gone quickly, but on the other hand, it’s sometimes hard for me to imagine a time when I didn’t know that there was such a thing as a Dogsniff or a Santa Grog.No matter how quickly time passes us by, it’s a real privilege each day to be able to return with Bill Watterson to 1986, where Calvin and his best friend are permanently frozen in time.I hope you have had a good year, and I also wish you a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Materials are probably tested in the lab not in the field. There’s probably a computer program now so you do’t have to do any work at all. I just hope it’s correct.I enjoyed everyone’s stories about funny family expressions. But generally it’s best to answer children as accurately as you can. “I don’t know” is acceptable or “Let’s look it up”.And I do have a sense of humor.

well I didn’t say anything about your weight

LOL!!!!!

;-)

The dad probably never graduate from school…just saying

I remember working for a company which built bridges when this comic came out. Every single cubicle had this strip posted in it the next day.

Calvin’s dad is indeed a patent attorney, as was Bill Watterson’s father.

It’s really good that he asked dad, but kind of funny that he would never think to ask his outer space monster teacher that question. :-) That relationship is completely adversarial.

exactly how they test airplane wings for the certification process

My absolute favorite Dad comment. It is both so completely logical and so very, very wrong.

I love how Calvin’s dad answers questions. My favorites involve sunrises and sunsets.

for the first time i dont know what to say …. hey what did happin to your dad jonny

very nice i even belebved it