Comics I Don’t Understand

First of the Season

Cidu Bill on Nov 8th 2009

Filed in Bill Bickel, Jan Eliot, Stone Soup, comic strips, comics, global warming, humor | 23 responses so far

23 Responses to “First of the Season”

1. John B. Nov 8th 2009 at 12:42 pm 1

   More bullcrap yet again. Yawn.

2. John Small Berries Nov 8th 2009 at 12:43 pm 2

   I’ve never seen this strip before, so what’s with the giraffes? Do they live next to a zoo?

3. Mitch4 Nov 8th 2009 at 12:58 pm 3

   What’s the role of the “water the lawn” line in this instance?

4. Dave Van Domelen Nov 8th 2009 at 12:59 pm 4

   I think the giraffes are intended to mean that their neighborhood is reverting to savannah and wildlife is migrating into it.

   And at least this isn’t as stupid as all the “it’s really cold out lately, so global warming must be false” strips/editorial cartoons. (Hint: global warming means things get more extreme in both directions. A little warmer on average means the hot gets hotter and the cold gets colder…just slightly less so.)

5. Cidu Bill Nov 8th 2009 at 01:14 pm 5

   Dave, aren’t they the exact same gag just looked at from opposite angles?

6. Fett101 Nov 8th 2009 at 02:34 pm 6

   “Climate Change” is the preferred terminology these days.

7. Mark M Nov 8th 2009 at 02:57 pm 7

   Wait, I thought one of the rules of this site was not to be critical of a strip?

8. S.P. Charles Nov 8th 2009 at 03:00 pm 8

   I don’t think this is “critical of a strip” as much as “critical of the inaccurate and severely-overused ‘global warming = hot’ gag.” Sort of like ChadWatch.

9. David N Nov 8th 2009 at 03:02 pm 9

   I like the green leaves on the tree - leaves fall based on seasons, and are not impacted by a record temperature or two. (color yes, falling no) Good luck watering a tree to keep it green.

   Besides, I heard the entire universe is cooling so enjoy global “warming” while ya can!

10. Daniel J. Drazen Nov 8th 2009 at 03:15 pm 10

    OK, the two giraffes in the second panel made me think “Noah’s Ark Joke” and explains the reference to watering the lawn — who needs to if there’s going to be another global deluge? The tie in with global warming, aka climate change, I don’t get.

11. Markus Nov 8th 2009 at 04:12 pm 11

    Well, the way I see it, it’s a joke. A simple and absurd one, yes, but a valid joke. Do not try to interpret to much “the author didn’t get what global warning really means” into it. Just imagine the fact of global warming and it’s probable consequences are widely accepted. In this light, it gave me a chuckle, because whatever global warming will lead to, it will not make big wild animals wander into inhabited suburbs.

    Markus

12. Jeff S. Nov 8th 2009 at 06:10 pm 12

    Daniel, there are 3 giraffes in the 2nd panel… 2 on the left side and one eating leaves from the tree on the right.

    I saw this strip this morning and thought it was a chuckle as well. I use ‘chuckle’ since the phrase ’slight lol’ was frowned upon by some members.

13. furrykef Nov 8th 2009 at 06:23 pm 13

    Wait, I thought one of the rules of this site was not to be critical of a strip?

    That’s not quite the rule. The rule is not to disrespect artists or their series. That doesn’t mean that every joke they make deserves respect.

    (Also, the rules for respect seem to be loosened a bit for The Family Circus and Funky Winkerbean, within reason.)

    - Kef

14. Rebecca Nov 8th 2009 at 08:39 pm 14

    Dave Van Domelen: Actually, for the average temperature to increase, the colds can’t get colder, mathematically speaking.

    Climate change might mean that weather patterns become more unpredictable and extreme but things are in fact getting warmer, not colder.

15. Dave in Boston Nov 8th 2009 at 09:40 pm 15

    Rebecca: yeah they can. Suppose we have a simple-minded place where the temperature is 10C at night (12 hours) and 30C during the day (also 12 hours). The average temperature is 20C. Then someone waves the climate-change wand and it’s 5C at night and 40C during the day; the average temperature has risen to 22.5C.

    The real world’s not so tidy but you can easily have the same effect.

16. Fett101 Nov 8th 2009 at 11:46 pm 16

    “Besides, I heard the entire universe is cooling so enjoy global “warming” while ya can!”

    10 to the power of 100 years? I might find the time to watch ‘Lost’ by then.

17. Todd Nov 9th 2009 at 03:13 am 17

    I’m amazed at all you liberals getting ticked about this strip. These are conservatives who cannot be convinced of the veracity of global warming, even when the trees are still green in November and giraffes have moved into the neighborhood.

    As I understand global warming, the pollutants in the air are trapping the heat in earth’s atmosphere, and eroding holes in the ozone layer, allowing more heat to come in. Hotter summers, warmer winters.

    The additional heat is causing evaporation of the ocean, causing more moisture to be in the air. The additional heat and moisture mix to cause more hurricanes and whatnot.

    The reason I personally reject global warming is because they now call it climate change, which is too general to be anything but meaningless.

18. mkilby Nov 9th 2009 at 04:05 am 18

    “A rose by any other name is still a rose.” It doesn’t matter what you call it, the increase in CO2 content is an objective fact, with measurable consequences. As for this comic, well, it’s just a comic. No real reason to get worked up about it one way or the other.

19. Nicole Nov 9th 2009 at 09:11 am 19

    The funny thing was that it was almost 70 in upstate New York yesterday .. and it will be again today.

    Todd … the reason they relabeled global warming is because of all the pundits and cartoonist dismissing global warming simply because they had a lot of snow or a particularly cold week in winter. See .. global warming CAN’T be true … it’s January and 20 degrees out. Because the effect of global warming is far more subtle than just warming, and trying to convey that subtlety in a sound bite that most people get their information from is impossible, relabeling global warming to climate change made sense.

    One other point … the basic cure for climate change is to reduce pollution. So lets say that climate change is an epic fail. We have still reduced pollution … that in and of itself is a fine goal

20. Rammy M Nov 9th 2009 at 11:46 am 20

    I don’t think this is a case of “the Cartoonist doesn’t get it”.
    The comic show that there are (in this cartoon world) real effects from “global warming”: it’s November, but it’s so unusually warm that “their neighborhood is reverting to savanna” and they need to water the lawn, but Despite that, the guy is not willing to accept that the climate has indeed changed.

    There are many prominent people that are “blind” like that.

21. furrykef Nov 9th 2009 at 12:51 pm 21

    I’m amazed at all you liberals getting ticked about this strip. These are conservatives who cannot be convinced of the veracity of global warming, even when the trees are still green in November and giraffes have moved into the neighborhood.

    I know you’re not necessarily stating otherwise, but I thought I’d point out that being a liberal or a conservative doesn’t change what the facts are. Science is science; it has no political agenda.

    The reason I personally reject global warming is because they now call it climate change, which is too general to be anything but meaningless.

    So a rose by any other name doesn’t smell as sweet?

22. furrykef Nov 9th 2009 at 12:57 pm 22

    By the way — it’s taken me a couple of views to pay enough attention to notice — what’s with the second panel? I understand that it’s supposed to be a cross section of the fence, but it looks like what they’re actually doing is holding up a single plank of wood.

23. Ted in Fort Lauderdale Nov 9th 2009 at 01:27 pm 23

    The other issue is that the comic assumes that everyone lives where it should be cold now. Some of us live where it is (and usually still would be) shorts and t shirt weather, where the leaves don’t fall off the trees (well, I have a gumbo limbo that’s shedding leaves pretty badly into the pool right now, but they grow back as fast as they drop), and where we _do_ water all year (in fact, more during “winter”, since that is our dry season). So initially I didn’t get anything from this at all, until I mentally reset to make the assumption from their phrasing that all that they were saying was not as it was supposed to be. It wasn’t really amusing anyway, but that didn’t help…

    (OK, I understand that _most_ of the country is normally starting to get cooler (chilly?) by now and that for most people, white Christmas doesn’t usually involve going to the beach - it does give us around here some disconnect from the rest of you…)

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