Non Sequitur by Wiley Miller for November 25, 2010

There’s a fine line between genius and insanity …

… and Danae keeps erasing it.

Somebody still checks FACTS?

Then how does that explain the book by (fill in the name of your least favorite politician)?

Okay, let’s see how many of you are going to get riled up by THAT comment!

Danae’s irrepressible optimism is incompatible with a World That Includes the Ekert!

I love it. Pure Genius, Wiley.

not riled, just fixed-

Corrected: “Then how does that explain the book by (fill in the name of your [b]favorite[/b] politician)?”

think about it….

@Nabuqud. – Wanna tell us about what datasets seem to be creatively skewed?

Scientists especially (as should all we reality-based sentients) get testy about creative data generation (sometimes just ‘dry-labbing’, sometimes politically motivated selections, sometimes outliers discarded - evidences of El Nino come to mind).

As the sainted Heinlein observed, “What are the facts? Again and again and again - what are the facts? Shun wishful thinking, ignore divine revelation, forget what ‘the stars foretell,’ avoid opinion, care not what the neighbors think, never mind the unguessable ‘verdict of history’ - what are the facts, and to how many decimal places? You pilot always into an unknown future; facts are your only clue. Get the facts!” -Lazarus Long, The Notebooks of Lazarus Long

I agree with Grog, great strip Wiley!

Aaah! Heinlein, just the greatest Sci-Fi guy, we seem to be living in his future.

Is that a fact?

Darkeforce said, about 5 myths ago

The concept of “Facts” was executed in the year 2000 by the Republicans when they had the loser of the election declared President.

Actually, some reporters did go through the ballots in question–and Bush did come out ahead.

There might be a more valid complaint for those who effectively could not vote due to faulty (or overly full) ballot boxes, but the votes cast did end up with a small Florida total–about 400, IIRC, for Bush.

Last time I checked, we have a new president. Might want to look at what he’s been doing for the last couple of years…

Danae’s just discovered what every SF writer learned a long time ago: writing is easier, and a lot more fun, when ‘research’ and ‘fact-checking’ just mean ‘make something up’! Much easier than, say, historical fiction, where you find yourself having to discover (for example) what medieval people used for underwear…

(And yes. As a bottom-of-the-food-chain SF author, I had to research that very question. Details may be found here, if anyone’s interested: http://tinyurl.com/2ul2suz . The bottom line is that in the future I resolve to keep my stories in the future!)

I’m sure I’m in a very small minority but I am a hard-core liberal who thinks the Supreme Court got Bush v. Gore right. The job of SCOTUS is to interpret the Constitution, which is not always what is best for the country. The recounts had to stop.

Funny how many people love the electoral system when their candidate wins, and hate it when their candidate loses! The fact is, the Electoral College was invented to trick Americans into thinking they get to choose their president, when in fact they don’t. If the Democrats hated the system so much after Bush won, why didn’t they change it in the last two years when they were in control??? (Oh yeah, they liked the status quo after it let them win…)

“All we want are the facts, ma’am” “All we know are the facts, ma’am”

Sergeant Joe “Dragnet”

And no, he did not say “Just the facts, ma’am”.

I like My facts! (I don’t know ‘bout all of yours)

Happy Thanksgiving Wiley! I’m thankful for such a great strip to read!

So am I Wiley. Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family.

thanks wiley!

@Puddlegum: I disagree, actually. I believe the best fantasty and sci-fi (such as Dune and LOTR) are based in extensive research of real cultures, beliefs, and myths. Sure, these are then modified to fit the world created by the respective authors, but it is still based on “reality”, if you will.

Grog….you’re so right.

Wiley….Don’t change a thing you’re doing.

DANAE, you rock…………………!!!!!!!!!!!

…wellllll…..Duuuuuh!……lol

Today, many “facts” are pulled from the same place as stuffing.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Lucy’s display of dismay in the final panel is a hoot! :D

This liberal dislikes the electoral college no matter who wins. Folks have tried to change it in the past to no avail.

One big advantage of the electoral college is to break down recounts into manageable parts.

Imagine if a presidential candidate needed to pick up 1000 or 5000 votes anywhere in the US? We could end up with a recount of every state!

Instead, we only had a recount in one contested state.