Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis for May 10, 2013

Fortunately, I listened to enough 1970’s rock and roll records that I didn’t have to move in order to read today’s strip.

No need to get a mirror! Don’t move anywhere!

Rat: Do you think it’s possible to move people with a comic strip:

Pastis: You mean affect them emotionally?

Rate: No, I mean get them to move. Like, to look at something in the mirror.

Pastis: Please don’t tell me you reversed my comic strip.

Rat: Hey… you’re finally moving people.

Gee, I thought if you played the strip backwards, it would say, “Satan is good” or “Send Rat lots of money” or some other devious message.

Leonardo Da Vinci just disowned me. . ..

Waste of time… I’m starting to lose faith….

I read it just fine without a mirror or other interpretation. However, I feel the need to say that rat is so annoying to me.

it says “quit your job and go on welfare”

thank you, Duck’s Breath…

What do you need a mirror for? I just read it fine!!ANOTHER useless talent I have!

….ti htiw rettam eht gnihtyna ees t’nod I ?tahW

I had no problem reading it.

Linux / Gimp / Image/ Flip Horizontally. I didn’t think of a mirror until could read the strip. Does that mean I’m a geek?

swrawkcab ro dednah tfel gnitirw ecitcarp dluow I sessalc loohcs high ni srouh esoht lla ni derob saw I nehw. yademos ydnah ni dluow ti that wenk I

REASON: people would probably bring it up to a mirror in real life because it’s in a newspaper. not on the computer xD

langchris70 said, 8 minutes ago

!oga sraey 52 ydaerla siht did ytnuoC moolB

Berke Breathed did this “drawkaB” strip also…still cool.

I didn’t need a mirror. I’ve been able to handle both upside down and backwards for years.

I didn’t need the translation…I’v always been good at this.

My keen powers of observation and acumen combined to note that the wall’s baseboard was not reversed.

I work in a small engine shop and learned a long time ago have to read model numbers off engines with a mirror because they always but them in a place you can not see them. I also learned to read upside down back in school so I could read the answers in the teachers book when she had it open on her desk. She good mad at me when she found out that I could read upside down. This was child’s play for me.

I didn’t move, I can read backwards. You have to develop skills to be lazy :oD

Only had trouble with “mean” for some reason. Maybe I just needed some coffee.

I would say “WOW” and that is written backwards………..

Ouch, that hurts..

Paul McCartney is dead?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

and here’s another strip I just quit reading….

Me too. Alas, poor Pastis. Time to start looking for a real job.

Nah, didn’t work. I didn’t move an inch. You’ll have to do a lot better than that to get me to move, Rat.

I beleive it says “I buried Paul”

Thanks! Exercise! Had to go get the mirror. =^..^=

!OOT 3M

If this is a true backwards strip it should have run yesterday!

I got tired of this after the first panel.

rats, now i gotta re-aim my rearview mirrors!congrats, Steph, made Go Comics front page!

Y’all realize that with your backwards writing, you’re driving people whose native language isn’t English right around the bend, don’t you?

I just opened the strip in Preview and flipped it horizontally – what’s the big deal?

Hat tip to Outland… Berkley did this a couple of times..

er.. Bloom County.. it was still Bloom County then

Well I think some of these comments mirror Rat’s cynicism.And I loved that it made me get off my butt to pick up a mirror!

I was in the sign business, so I can read backwards and upside down.

Bring back the zebra on the island!

Ok, I admit it. I copied this one and moved it to Paint so I could flip it horizontaly in order to read it.

not wasting my time on this one.

This is like reading Asian comics.

You needn’t be ambidextrous. I’m right handed, but when I was a kid I found that I could mirror-write better with my left hand.

Can you say, Stupid joke?

Nice work Stephan!

¡ǝןdoǝd ’ǝɯıʇ ǝɥʇ ɥʇıʍ ʇǝb – ʎɹnʇuǝɔ ʇsɐן os sı buıʇıɹʍ pǝɹoɹɹıɯ

Excellent strip!

xxx

Opening the file in photoshop and doing a transform-flip horizontal doesn’t require you to move from your seat either even if the strip is legible otherwise :)

Maybe some people need a moment to reflect on this…

80 comments by mid-day. It’s got people talking, if not moving.

Next he’ll be doing the strip in anagrams. Oops! did I say that out loud?

I knew an elderly gent who used to make large purchases in stores, and have exact change out for the clerk—reading upside down and adding the list of numbers before the clerk could do it right side up.

…or I could copy the strip, open Microsoft Word, paste the strip as an image, then flip the image horizontally. Took less time than studying the panels and reading them (although it took more time than scrolling down to the “answer” in the comments). :-)

Every once in a while, being dyslexic comes in handy…

During the cold war era, I volunteered in an Air Force center, where I had to write on the “back” of a huge clear window, to plot the courses of aircraft. This also required printing letters, numbers and words backwards. Still can read it. Why did these brain cells live while more critical ones die of old age, or just end it all by jumping to their deaths out of my ear?

!elur scixelsyD

Well, I didn’t go find a mirror…. just opened the strip in Photoshop and flipped it horizontally!!! :-)

How about I reverse that beer can up yur nose Rat-boy

I liked this strip! It was fun reading backwards.

?HTW

Just noticed that the writing between the panels is flipped, also. I would say he drew the strip like normal, then flipped it in Photoshop.

od ot desu elttil saw I nehw did I tahw si tahtbut didn’t know how to change it into type-written.

I copied and pasted into Photoshop and flipped it — barely moving a muscle — ha ha!

I’m dyslexic, so I read very slowly. However, I can read upside down, backwards, or both just about as fast as I can read the usual way. I’m guessing that is because I have to concentrate on the letters as I go.

I used to hold my books upside down in reading class so I wouldn’t go too fast and get too borded with how slow everyone else was. Teacher tried to give me trouble, until I read the next paragraph with fewer flaws (and better inflection) than the classmate just before me….

This was annoying first thing in the morning.

Irfanview. Three clicks.

Print Screen.Paste.Vertical flip.

Didn’t even have to lift my butt from the chair.

Life is good.

Every old fashioned . . . or just plain old . . . teacher can read upside down and backwards. Today’s script just brought back the memories . . . lol.

To Rat: Z3Y

I’m pretty good at reading backwards.

Can people really not read mirror writing? I’m not trying to be rude, I’m just curious.

Go into Microsoft Paint (or whatever drawing program) and flip it horizontally.

I can read backwards, upside down, or both with no difficulty…

It took me TWO minutes to read all that.

Wouldn’t it be a bit difficult to take the monitor to a mirror? If you can’t read backwards writing, take a screen shot and flip it in an image manipulation program.

I had Soooooooo much trouble reading this