Recent Comments

1. about 6 hours ago on Doonesbury

   “FDR broke tradition by running for a third and fourth term” How much of a tradition was it really by that time in history? Andrew Jackson was probably the last two-term President who had the health, popularity, and party support for a third term but declined to run. In the century between Jackson and FDR, there was a finite number of two-term Presidents. Lincoln and McKinley were assassinated in office. Cleveland was so unpopular after his second term that his party abandoned him. Wilson fully intended to run for a third term but his stroke and declining health prevented it. And Grant actually did run for a third (non-consecutive) term but didn’t win his party’s nomination.

2. about 8 hours ago on Peanuts

   Adults partially appeared in Peanuts in some early strips. Look up May 16 1954 as the oft-cited example, in which Lucy is surrounded by adults (visible from the waist down) at a golf tournament.

3. 2 days ago on The Fusco Brothers

   I’m reminded of that every day when I look in the GC comments section. People revel in letting others know how old they are here.

   Only problem is I tend to see very few people posting who are younger than Gen X, which is the last generation who grew up reading newspapers. As the newspapers die, so will followers of newspaper comics. The commenters on “Big Nate” appear to be one of the groups (at least among the comics I read) who appear to skew younger.

4. 2 days ago on Broom Hilda

   Too expensive. His rates have ballooned.

5. 2 days ago on Frazz

   You could have stopped with the first sentence, no need to provide evidence of the “book and its cover” variety. As for the Ramones, they’re not my favorite but I’ve always found their songs to be fun if repetitive (in agreement with Jef’s observation in today’s strip).

6. 2 days ago on Pickles

   It was in fact with the advent of Parcel Post that this trend was made possible. Postal regulations enacted on Jan 1 1913 created Parcel Post which (among many other things) allowed for “harmless live animals” to be shipped through the mail, provided that they would be delivered within such a timeframe that they would not require food or water. Since postage (determined by weight) was cheaper than train tickets for children. accounts of children actually being shipped tended to be for relatively short distances due to the requirement to be fed and watered. The actual intent of the law was to permit shipping of live bees and other insects. Later that same year the Post Office made it clear that Postal employees should not accept children for shipping, though some were still shipped for a few years afterwards.

7. 2 days ago on Peanuts

   “The Dwarves tell no tale; but even as gold stars were the foundation of their wealth, so also it was their destruction: they swept too cleanly and too deep, and disturbed that from which they fled.”

8. 2 days ago on Red and Rover

   I became infamous for refilling my Super Soaker at family events from the melted ice in the beverage containers.

9. 3 days ago on Non Sequitur

   Look up “gong farmer”

10. 5 days ago on Pickles

    I was just thinking the same thing! The storylines segue together perfectly. I wonder if Dick Tracy is on the hunt for stolen gold stars?