Recent Comments

1. 4 days ago on Monty

   Wait … don’t I remember hearing that in the 1970s on an “elevator music” radio station?

2. 4 days ago on Calvin and Hobbes

   Now I have the same expression on my face as Calvin.

3. 19 days ago on WuMo

   YES! That was the “technology” used for the 1956 remote!

4. 19 days ago on Strange Brew

   Regardless of who pulls rank on who, what is the real miracle is that those who prefer the freeway name to the assigned route number (and vice versa) understand both!

5. 20 days ago on Strange Brew

   I have lived in SoCal my entire life, and in L.A. since 1989, and I have heard those freeways referred to both by name and by route number.

   So … not always.

6. 20 days ago on WuMo

   Some were (for example, the one for my first Sharp VCR in 1982) but as early as 1955 Zenith had a wireless remote that used photocells, invented by Eugene Polley (as referenced earlier by prrdh). It was limited to turning the set on and off, muting the audio, and changing channels.

   The next year, Zenith improved on the idea by using ultrasonic signals for remote control.

   Infrared came along in the 1980s, which is what most people think of as remote control (although my TiVo uses RF).

7. 20 days ago on WuMo

   Really? I never before saw the red light on the bottom, in my 68 years of kicking around the planet. Learn something new every day!

8. 21 days ago on WuMo

   I think the real problem is that the traffic signal was apparently installed upside down.

9. about 1 month ago on Monty

   Good.

10. about 2 months ago on Prickly City

    Although I cannot post a link since GoComics changed their policies about that, I will say that Merriam-Webster only partly agrees with you, sir.

    It’s in their “grammar and usage” section under “commonly confused” and GoComics should apologize for making it necessary for you to find it yourself.