Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson for December 05, 2023

  1. Img 0910
    BE THIS GUY  over 1 year ago

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

     •  Reply
  2. Missing large
    codycab  over 1 year ago

    Dad sure has his secrets.

     •  Reply
  3. Calvinosaurus
    The Calvinosaurus That Calvin Wanted To Discover  over 1 year ago

    Hopefully Dad finds a good ad blocker.

     •  Reply
  4. Bluedog
    Bilan  over 1 year ago

    Great, just what we need. Educated people voting.

     •  Reply
  5. Win 20210604 06 54 44 pro
    baraktorvan  over 1 year ago

    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.

     •  Reply
  6. Plsa button
    Richard S Russell Premium Member over 1 year ago

    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!

     •  Reply
  7. Brain guy dancing hg clr
    Concretionist  over 1 year ago

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

     •  Reply
  8. Gocomic avatar
    sandpiper  over 1 year ago

    Yea, Dad!! I’m with him.

     •  Reply
  9. Gocomic avatar
    sandpiper  over 1 year ago

    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.

     •  Reply
  10. Dd523a5d6e8bd3838bdffadf19b6652f
    leopoldenoch  over 1 year ago

    far right, indeed

     •  Reply
  11. Grandpa hef
    Jeff0811  over 1 year ago

    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.

     •  Reply
  12. Snake on a hat 2003
    BigDaveGlass  over 1 year ago

    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.

     •  Reply
  13. Missing large
    mbakerbr549  over 1 year ago

    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


     •  Reply
  14. Large img 1248
    Zykoic  over 1 year ago

    He must be reported to ThinkPol.

     •  Reply
  15. 704fe3d1 4a7d 495f a742 2d8456861f60
    admiree2  over 1 year ago

    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.

     •  Reply
  16. Missing large
    snsurone76  over 1 year ago

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

     •  Reply
  17. Fbofw elly screaming faces
    French Persons' Savvy Selection of Screaming Elly Premium Member over 1 year ago

    Heretic? Or a witch?

     •  Reply
  18. Missing large
    Calvinist1966  over 1 year ago

    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.”

     •  Reply
  19. Zh7uxue
    GreggW Premium Member over 1 year ago

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

     •  Reply
  20. Img 20230511 134023590 portrait 5
    markkahler52  over 1 year ago

    And now, Today’s World
.

     •  Reply
  21. Avatar 2475
    Troglodyte  over 1 year ago

    Give up already, Dad. It’s hopeless.

     •  Reply
  22. Img 1504
    Felix Raven  over 1 year ago

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

     •  Reply
  23. B3b2b771 4dd5 4067 bfef 5ade241cb8c2
    cdward  over 1 year ago

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

     •  Reply
  24. Professor irwin corey
    Dobby53 Premium Member over 1 year ago

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

     •  Reply
  25. Professor irwin corey
    Dobby53 Premium Member over 1 year ago

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

     •  Reply
  26. Dscf0345
    colddonkey  over 1 year ago

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

     •  Reply
  27. Rip01 copy
    Hamady Sack Premium Member over 1 year ago

    Too bad about all the surveillance cameras, Dad.

     •  Reply
  28. Millionchimps1
    tripwire45  over 1 year ago

    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).

     •  Reply
  29. Badger avatar
    Twelve Badgers in a Suit Premium Member over 1 year ago

    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.

     •  Reply
  30. Photo
    DawnQuinn1  over 1 year ago

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

     •  Reply
  31. Missing large
    david_42  over 1 year ago

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

     •  Reply
  32. Th 2659328858
    Just-me  over 1 year ago

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

     •  Reply
  33. 250
    ladykat Premium Member over 1 year ago

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

     •  Reply
  34. Lifi
    rossevrymn  over 1 year ago

    Mr. Calvin later found the Q Anon site.

     •  Reply
  35. Missing large
    old_geek  over 1 year ago

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


     •  Reply
  36. Panda 2024
    Redd Panda  over 1 year ago

    Perhaps Dad is weary of being surveilled night and day.

    This is a 20 year old strip.

     •  Reply
  37. Missing large
    tbm3572  over 1 year ago

    first time Calvin has ever made me google a word.

     •  Reply
  38. Chief wahoo
    aerotica69  over 1 year ago

    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?

     •  Reply
  39. Dr g 01 2020
    sheilag  over 1 year ago

    Watterson saw the 21st Century clearly
 ;-)

     •  Reply
  40. Nate10
    BiggerNate91  over 1 year ago

    Dad must really appreciate the invention of InPrivate browsing.

     •  Reply
  41. Me 3 23 2020
    ChukLitl Premium Member over 1 year ago

    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.

     •  Reply
  42. Cowboy
    Robert4170  over 1 year ago

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

     •  Reply
  43. Cropped narragansett indian logo
    The Pro from Dover  over 1 year ago

    I’m kicking

    I’m screaming

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

    We’re kicking

    We’re screaming

     •  Reply
  44. Img 3761
    Zebrastripes  over 1 year ago

    My father never had a checking account and a CC.

    Paid cash and his money he stashed!

    LOL

     •  Reply
  45. Missing large
    Sherlock5  over 1 year ago

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

     •  Reply
  46. Rankin badge   tartan 2
    jrankin1959  over 1 year ago

    This kind of subversive? Hey – count me in!

     •  Reply
  47. Screenshot 2025 01 07 144350
    gantech  over 1 year ago

    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.

     •  Reply
  48. Hat 2
    Paul D Premium Member over 1 year ago

    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.

     •  Reply
  49. Guy
    Guybrush Threepwood  over 1 year ago

    I might be Calvin’s dad.

     •  Reply
  50. Missing large
    g04922  over 1 year ago

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

     •  Reply
  51. Missing large
    Bruce1253  over 1 year ago

    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.

     •  Reply
  52. Ssejhill hiker sq
    ssejhill  over 1 year ago

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

     •  Reply
  53. Giphy downsized
    Angry Indeed Premium Member over 1 year ago

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

     •  Reply
  54. Imagescaxtkub3
    Calvins Brother  over 1 year ago

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

     •  Reply
  55. Missing large
    gigi20  over 1 year ago

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

     •  Reply
  56. Missing large
    Bill The Nuke  over 1 year ago

    I have shelves and shelves filled with books.

     •  Reply
  57. Missing large
    dbradway1  over 1 year ago

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

     •  Reply
  58. Misty morning
    SavannahJim Premium Member over 1 year ago

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

     •  Reply
  59. Missing large
    jdsven  over 1 year ago

    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.

     •  Reply
  60. Photo
    j.l.farmer  over 1 year ago

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

     •  Reply
  61. Missing large
    John Jorgensen  over 1 year ago

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

     •  Reply
  62. April older
    Lola85 Premium Member over 1 year ago

    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.

     •  Reply
  63. Avatar
    Rick Smith Premium Member over 1 year ago

    Watterson sure saw the future, didn’t he?

     •  Reply
  64. P 00316s
    James Lindley Premium Member over 1 year ago

    His dad suddenly gained coolness points for being subversive.

     •  Reply
  65. Missing large
    Moore 1  over 1 year ago

    Bet the book is 1984

     •  Reply
  66. Froggy with cat ears
    willie_mctell  over 1 year ago

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

     •  Reply
  67. Dscf3970  2
    crazeekatlady  over 1 year ago

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

     •  Reply
  68. Missing large
    rayloholdridge  over 1 year ago

    This is prescient for 1993.

     •  Reply
  69. Kirby close up with poppies behind   close cropped
    mistercatworks  over 1 year ago

    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.

     •  Reply
  70. Missing large
    Bradzilla  over 1 year ago

    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.

     •  Reply
  71. Aoh14gg4wxgbh 6tyrahqzsn7pwgb7ewydxd7wlb4kg pw8=s96 c
    TommyEfreeti  over 1 year ago

    Watterson’s read the future well.

     •  Reply
Sign in to comment

More From Calvin and Hobbes