Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for February 03, 2012
Transcript:
Mark: "Dear Mark: Love the QR code, could you show another?" Zonker: I got that one, boys! Here's a QR code for donorschoose.org, a cool site that connects you to public school classrooms in need! And that's not all! Your donation to the charity will be doubled if you enter the code word "zonker"! Mark: You mean "Doonesbury," don't you, Z? After our title character? Zonker: No, they insisted on "Zonker." Much wider appeal.
BE THIS GUY almost 13 years ago
Sorry, Mike, Zonker just has more charisma.
Blood-Poisoning Vermin almost 13 years ago
Yeah, and when’s the last time you heard someone say he was “too doonesburied.”
lmchildress almost 13 years ago
Are those things real?
andrew_c almost 13 years ago
QR codes are the probable successor to barcodes (you can’t encode enough information in a barcode). At the moment the’re still mostly being used for novelty stuff like this, though.
watmiwori almost 13 years ago
Art conceals art. Business conceals information.
pksampso almost 13 years ago
LIsa, they’re absolutely real.
Knightman Premium Member almost 13 years ago
I have started to see them everywhere lately on a lot of products,
rmacprivate almost 13 years ago
Hmm, I wonder what dot configuration you could put in that code so when it’s scanned it would show a mustache over whatever is being displayed.
IncognitoPenguin almost 13 years ago
I wonder if they’ll triple the donation if you type in “Viscount St. Austell-in-the-Moor Biggleswade-Brixham” instead?
lemon868 almost 13 years ago
That was worth a facebook post!
Darryl Heine almost 13 years ago
The Chicago Tribune didn’t carry today’s Doonesbury strip because of thoughts it was related to fundrasing or something like that.
eggman01 almost 13 years ago
Chicago Tribune elected not to run today’s strip on the grounds that Trudeau is promoting his “self-interest” by soliciting funds for a favored cause. I would certainly agree if he were making money from the donations, or if he was soliciting funds for a political candidate.
Actually Doonesbury has pretty heavily promoted dark-horse political candidates in the past. John Anderson in the 1980 race got a huge boost from two weeks of strips. But there was no direct appeal for contributions, and certainly no QR code or website. So this may be a first in that regard.
It still seems like a strange call by the Trib to me. But I’m not annoyed at them this time – they ran yesterday’s strip which suggested that people bypass the paper and read the strip online for free. Which is a pretty snarky thing for GBT to do, frankly.
BE THIS GUY almost 13 years ago
Everything ok, DT?
ptvroman almost 13 years ago
Chicago Tribune today did not print the script.
From the paper, "The comic strip broke from its satirical mission in order to deliver a direct fundraising appeal for a specific charity that the author favors. The Tribune’s editorial practices do not allow individuals to promote their self-interests
Bucinka almost 13 years ago
Plus, “Zonker” is easier to type, especially on a phone.
yumitori almost 13 years ago
I love that Zonker is the voice for improving education.
Incidentally, while the QR codes have limited distribution around here, they are much more common in some parts of the world, such as Japan. So Doonesbury readers are in on the ground floor of what is one of the coming things.
kaffekup almost 13 years ago
Not to be outdone in the embarrassment division, Georgia (as usual) had a Congressweasel (Gingrey)actually walk out becouse the President was “politicizing” the prayer breakfast…My sister says that, as a doctor, he already thinks he’s God & therefore doesn’t have to pray..Seriously, though, am I the only one who thinks it’s a shame we have to support public schools through charity?Can I make a donation to repair my favorite bridge?When I discuss the “Buffet Rule” with friends, they say fine, let him send all he wants to the IRS. That’s not the point. You can’t run any country on charity. We need to pay for the things we need as a society.
Dtroutma almost 13 years ago
DOD maling received yesterday had qr code next to the stamp in the machine franking; hmmmm, wonder what it said? We can assume charge codes to P.O. etc, but, who has readers and ability to break down these codes?
Greg Johnston almost 13 years ago
The code does work (or you could just type donorschoose.org into a browser) – and I’m surprised people are unfamiliar with them. Are they not common in the States yet? I see them everywhere up here (Calgary, Canada), ads on buses, papers, even the zoo uses them on displays – you can use a QR scanning app on smartphones and it typically decodes to a website address you can then tap on to open the page.
Rather shabby of papers to not run the strip because of “promoting a favoured charity” – I mean, really? That’s a bad thing? Promoting ways to help public schools? Perhaps a little Procustean in the application of their rule, me thinks. I think it more comes down to is papers like the Chicago Tribune and Denver Post just not liking the political slant of Doonsbury (skewering all stripes, but rightly finding more to target on the right).
FriscoLou almost 13 years ago
Ooooh, I love Trudeau’s new do gooder format.
GTphile almost 13 years ago
You can put one on your business card and others can scan it with smart phone and have your website with all your contact information entered into your phone, all at once.
BE THIS GUY almost 13 years ago
Ok, DT Pi, don’t make me come out to the Inland Empire looking for you.
edonline almost 13 years ago
“Zonker appears to have gained weight.”
Several cases of the munchies will do that to you. :)
natureboyfig4 Premium Member almost 13 years ago
Public schools already get plenty of “donations” from taxpayers. If they’d quit squandering money on children who refuse to behave/learn and union members who refuse to work/teach, they’d have plenty to go around.