Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson for December 05, 2023

I hope Calvin doesn’t report his Dad to the NSA.

Dad sure has his secrets.

Hopefully Dad finds a good ad blocker.

Great, just what we need. Educated people voting.

Ummmm, cash? I don’t think I have had cash in my possession since at least the Great Recession. I have used the debit card just about everywhere.

We’re getting to the point where we won’t even need cash any more. However, for some insane reason, stores still expect me to sign my credit-card receipts. Why? Does anybody ever look to make sure that that’s my actual signature? What a waste of time!

Check the book out from a library with someone else’s library card?

Yea, Dad!! I’m with him.

Sometimes events overwhelm logic. About 5 yrs ago, I carelessly lost my big box store card on the way to car. By the time I got home a hour later, finder had driven 8 miles to another type of big box store and hit if for over $700 in lawn gear. When I called the card company to report the loss, the adjuster said that the charge would be cancelled. But he brightened up when I told him that, had the clerk checked purchaser against the photo on the back he ‘might’ have noticed she did not even closely resemble me in any physical detail. So the loss fell on the store not the card company. Always wondered what manager said to the clerk.

far right, indeed

Generally the one place I use cash is to save $.10+ a gallon on getting gas. In this state they charge more for credit or debit cards. It saves me about 3 or 4 dollars when I fill up. I save up the difference and use it annually for our anniversary.

Ray Bradbury was ahead of his time regarding books….

What was Fahrenheit 451 mainly about?

Plot: Set in a future society where books are banned and “firemen” burn any that are discovered. Follows the protagonist, Guy Montag, a fireman who begins to question his duty to the state and ultimately has to choose between his personal beliefs and his loyalty to the government.

When you think about how long it’s been since this first came out in the paper and the way things are now… Makes you think for a minute… I hope…

He must be reported to ThinkPol.

And Bill was thinking about this 30 YEARS AGO! No wonder he wrapped up his strip earlier than most guys do. Too great a chance of living off of the grid and wearing tin foil hats.

Maybe he should try “War and Peace” or “Moby Dick”. That ought to cure his “subversiveness”.

Heretic? Or a witch?

Yesterday on “Fred Basset”, I commented on comic strip animals being able to read. This was because Fred was reading a book his owner had been reading about dog illnesses and was starting to imagine he was ill. I then mentioned Hobbes as a strong example of a comic strip animal who is able to read. Besides reading Calvin’s comic books before Calvin, he also reads some of Dad’s books. One story arc had him borrowing a book from Calvin’s Dad – without his knowledge of course – about tigers so that he could teach Calvin to be like a tiger. Also, Hobbes seems familiar with the writing of both Orwell and Kafka:-

“Who would have thought Big Brother would go commercial?”

“Without a good night kiss, you get Kafkaesque dreams.”

Guessing he’s never going to go for e-books.

And now, Today’s World….

Give up already, Dad. It’s hopeless.

Wow, and this was in 1995. What would his dad do today?

I think cash and offline pursuits are going to make a comeback specifically because they’re harder to trace.

Walk into a book store or grocery store and write a check if you what to see a clerk’s brain lock up.

Over at Bloom County today …..Oliver runs into his old slide rule. Whoa…tripping down Memory Lane there.

That is the problem if you’re not government they look at you as a subversive.

Too bad about all the surveillance cameras, Dad.

Now the “powers-that-be” want us to use digital currency, consume digital products, and abandon cash and physical media for some of the reasons Calvin’s Dad said. Not only do they want to exploit us for economic reasons, but those related to politics and social activism as well. Calvin’s Dad wasn’t old fashioned, he was ahead of the curve. We all need to follow his example (at least in this instance since he also has traits that make him a pain in the neck).

He wants a hardcover book so he can “carry it around and reread it later?” That makes no sense. Hardcover books are heavy and pointy, making them the most annoying sort for carrying. I never had much use for them. Even before e-books were a common thing, a mass-market paperback was lighter, softer and fits in the hand; and the cardboard of the covers, though thin, was durable enough that you could reread it as many times as you wanted, so long as you didn’t stab it with a steak knife or leave it in a puddle of water (both of which would have adversely affected a hardcover book, too). Calvin’s dad isn’t making a lot of sense here. At least, not until the third panel.

Republicans would have him arrested and his book burned. It is probably the book “1984”…and BTW Big Brother IS watching you,,,big time.

We have 22 book shelving units and a couple thousand books. My wife just bought me Neil deGrasse Tyson’s latest.

I like the tactile sense of holding a book as I read it.

I love the feeling of reading a new book. I will be buying two for myself as Christmas gifts.

Mr. Calvin later found the Q Anon site.

Reading a book paid for with cash? No doubt full of misinformation and conspiracy theories…

Perhaps Dad is weary of being surveilled night and day.

This is a 20 year old strip.

first time Calvin has ever made me google a word.

I never have understood why the pop-up ads are always for things I ALREADY purchased. Not items of similar interest, the exact same item. Like, how many pierogi presses do “they” think I need?

Watterson saw the 21st Century clearly… ;-)

Dad must really appreciate the invention of InPrivate browsing.

Until they get federal banking upgraded for legalized weed, you sill need cash at that store, where your i.d. is entered to their computer before they let you in. Resistance is futile, you will be assimilated.

Sounds like Calvin’s dad never bought a smartphone. Does he even use a credit card?

I’m kicking

I’m screaming

We’re a couple of hippies transformed from the ’60s

We’re kicking

We’re screaming

My father never had a checking account and a CC.

LOL

I would think Calvin would think it was cool if his dad was subversive.

This kind of subversive? Hey – count me in!

COGLEY: You Kirk?

KIRK: Yes. (Notices the piles of books everywhere) What is all this?

COGLEY: I figure we’ll be spending some time together, so I moved in.

KIRK: I hope I’m not crowding you.

COGLEY: What’s the matter? Don’t you like books?

KIRK: Oh, I like them fine, but a computer takes less space.

COGLEY: A computer, huh? I got one of these in my office. Contains all the precedents. The synthesis of all the great legal decisions written throughout time. Bah! I never use it.

KIRK: Why not?

COGLEY: I’ve got my own system. Books, young man, books. Thousands of them. If time wasn’t so important, I’d show you something. My library. Thousands of books.

KIRK: And what would be the point?

COGLEY: This is where the law is. Not in that homogenised, pasteurised, synthesiser. Do you want to know the law, the ancient concepts in their own language, Learn the intent of the men who wrote them, from Moses to the tribunal of Alpha 3? Books.

KIRK: You have to be either an obsessive crackpot who’s escaped from his keeper or Samuel T. Cogley, attorney at law.

COGLEY: Right on both counts. Need a lawyer?

KIRK: I’m afraid so.

If you want to terrorize a clerk, use cash. Even with the cash register doing the math for them, they still have to count out the change … and some of them struggle with that.

I might be Calvin’s dad.

Ahh.. Dad is a conservative values guy… and Calvin calls him a subversive. Cal is going to be a good left wing Dem.

I’m afraid that many stores have sensors that read your phone when you walk in the store. They know who you are, how much time you spent in each section and can tie that to the store cameras. You have no privacy. Best to act as an average Joe. There is way too much data for anyone to look at. Even the algorithms can only pick out the unusual for further review.

Subversive??? Did he buy a copy of Fahrenheit 451?

His dad dreams of becoming the leader of a mob complete with torches and pitch forks.

That’s how I bought the complete Calvin and Hobbes collection.

I hope the library doesn’t share my check-out list.

I have shelves and shelves filled with books.

And this was drawn, what, 30 years ago. Prescient.

Really depends on the book he was buying. Was it, “The Secret” or “The Anarchist Cookbook”?

His dad’s kind of a head of the game on that, considering targeted adds you now get on-line based on your purchases or browsing history.

His dad helped keep a bookstore open. He shouldn’t be embarrassed and hide. I am sure the bookstore owner appreciated his business!!

Was data mining already a thing back then? This strip seems so prophetic sometimes.

I had to give up reading real books because, even with glasses, the print was getting too small. Thank goodness for Kindle where I can increase the font size, but I still miss actually turning real pages.

Watterson sure saw the future, didn’t he?

His dad suddenly gained coolness points for being subversive.

Bet the book is 1984

That’s why you have to live in the present.

Um, I think I am Calvin’s dad in the Witness Protection Program. Now they’ll have to move me, again.

This is prescient for 1993.

Go, Dad.

Few people ask you about what you are reading when you are reading on a device. I frequently get comments on the author or title when I read a book in public places. No batteries, readable in any light that I can see by and with a trade or resale value.

For those who have mentioned ads for the exact thing you searched for popping up, etc, I encourage you to check out DuckDuckGo. I also encourage you to check out the many articles on their website that explain why that happens and how to adjust various settings on your devices to stop it. You’ll be glad you did.

Watterson’s read the future well.