Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for January 24, 2010

Another good one…

Hmm, I think he’s implying he’d like to introduce some kind of “fluid” to Drew’s “eggs” but I’m not quite sure…

Thats a good one, gimmickgenius.

Alex is looking softer, prettier, less stressed. What makes us think that he’s not “hitting” on her?

^Because in the first panel it shows him looking at Drew, and Alex isn’t in the picture at all.

I’ve never caught up with the premise that the lighter-haired blonde (Drew?) is considered hot and the slightly-darker-haired blonde (Alex?) less so. They both have equally attractive faces and body forms. (Subject to the limitations of the drawing, I guess.)

(Yale ‘70 btw)

Hard Knocks U. - class of ‘64

If there’s anyplace that someone would try to hit on somebody by using the boiled egg into a bottle trick, it would be MIT. After all IHTFP does stand for “I have tricky flirtation projects”.

someone is FINALLY taking the p.o.v. of a young woman who is both bright and “hot”….the dilemma of the person others routinely hit on because of her looks. As used as Alex had been to rejection and the feeling (compared to Drew) of being less-than, beauty-wise - so is Drew used to being hit upon by everybody and his brother. She has reason to envy Alex her love affair with Leo. How will Drew, handicapped by good looks, know the heat & arm-candy seeking dudes from Mr. Real Deal? I like this egg-man she has just dismissed.

ok, anybody out there know the trick for getting the egg back out of the bottle?

(you’re welcome to join in, Garry…) :)

Whoa! Another way to get egg on your face without actually having it happen.

maybe it’s the nose, jojoba2yaleperson, that seems to be the major difference…..or maybe the girl that doesn’t get hit on has this offensive body odor that is undetectable through cyberspace but all-too-apparent amongst the tantalizing aromas of boiled hot dogs in the MIT cafeteria

How to get the egg out of the bottle: turn the bottle upside down and step into a decompression chamber.

A bit (or is it a LOT) of water, swirl around, invert to get the egg in position, and (gently) heat the bottle; either the egg ejects, or the bottle shatters, don’t remember which…

Michle – In panel #3 he addresses Drew by name. “Hey, check it out, Drew….”

A confession - back in the day, 30-40 years ago, one of my standard pick-up lines with beautiful women was to wonder aloud how frustrating it must be for a great-looking woman not to be taken seriously in the intellectual arena. Worked very well on the Drew types, if I do say so myself.

Of course, I was much less enlightened back then.

Trudeau clearly read the most recent volume of Rheologica Acta, which deals with the study of viscosity. The first article in this issue is entitled: “Extensional rheology of a shear-thickening cornstarch and water suspension”.

Just get out the hoover and place tube over the neck of the bottle or alternitavely eject from docking port of the space station should empty it in micro-seconds!

I think the Keith Richard look with women shows character.

Joe – Yup!

ArthurAllen -

would probably work, but my budget doesn’t allow…

pbarnrob -

seems plausible - I haven’t tried it that way.

Barry Morgan - the vacuum cleaner might work, but could get a bit messy…

my solution (from some book of science tricks from about 40 years ago…): tilt the bottle so the egg is blocking the neck, and blow into the bottle. enough air gets trapped behind the egg to blow it back out. (this assumes that the surface of the egg is still moist enough to act as a lubricant - if not, see “Barry Morgan”, above)

going back to Barry Morgan again - I think setting the hoover on “blow” instead of “suck” (get your minds out of the gutter!) would work better.

You can all wake up, now…

To get the egg out of the bottle:

Use a long knife to reach into the bottle. Cut the egg into small pieces. Invert bottle, extract any pieces not instantly removed by gravity.

In the absence of a long knife, a long spoon can be used to muddle the egg to the same end.

I have always found Alex to be cute – she doesn’t need to be beautiful.