Irregular Webcomic!

Irregular Webcomic! #1655 Rerun

Sun, 10 Dec 2017 10:11:00 +0000

What was the quest all about again?

N.B. This is a rhetorical question. No need to tell me the answer.

2017-12-10 Rerun commentary: I've discovered, in my various volunteer roles in children's education that children below the age of 10 or so don't really understand the concept of rhetorical questions. Whenever I use a rhetorical question, they tend to put their hands up, eager to answer.

Irregular Webcomic! #1654 Rerun

Sat, 09 Dec 2017 10:11:00 +0000

Now that's what I call a misfire.

I've sustained injuries doing legitimate science experiments, but I've never caused an actual explosion. Yet.

2017-12-09 Rerun commentary: I'm just trying to recall now what I was thinking of when I wrote that "I've sustained injuries doing legitimate science experiments". Perhaps mild RSI from playing Tetris for 8 hours straight while keeping an eye on the Parkes radiotelescope as it recorded pulsar signals. Or possibly the time I was using ultra-strong magnets to hold photographic test charts to a metal wall panel, and two of the magnets clamped together with my thumb in between. (After that incident, they replaced those magnets with less powerful ones. I've been ultra-wary of strong magnets ever since.)

Irregular Webcomic! #1653 Rerun

Fri, 08 Dec 2017 10:11:00 +0000

In the book Dr No, James Bond saves Honey from being eaten alive by a horde of crabs. In the movie, he merely saves her from being drowned as the tide comes in to where she is chained to a rock.

James Stud doesn't mess around with that stuff.

2017-12-06 Rerun commentary: Reminder for anyone who hasn't seen the film: Dr No's base is on an island, and the whole island is about to blow up, so James has to escape on a boat. And yes, that's a chef floating in the water. Most of Dr No's mooks run around aimlessly and simply jump into the ocean. James has the good sense to find a boat. (This describes the movie, as well as this comic.)

Irregular Webcomic! #1652 Rerun

Wed, 06 Dec 2017 10:11:00 +0000

I suspect most people reading this comic will get all the jokes and references here. Sometimes I'm a little reluctant to actually explain what's going on, since I run the risk of talking down to people who already know. If you did get the classical references, there's really no need to read any more of this annotation.

If you're still with me, we'll begin with "The die is cast", which is a common English translation of the Latin sentence "alea iacta est", said to have been uttered by Julius Caesar on 10 January, 49 BC. The occasion was his leading his army across the Rubicon River into Roman Italy, precipitating a war that eventually led to Caesar assuming the dictatorship of the Roman Republic. With this act, he set in motion a course of events from which there could be no going back. The "die is cast" comment in this context means that he has irrevocably cast his lot to Fate, and that he must now accept whatever outcome awaits.

From this comes the phrase "crossing the Rubicon", which is a metaphor for passing a point of no return, from which there is no going back.

The last piece of the puzzle is provided by Hungarian inventor Ernő Rubik, best known for his eponymous Rubik's Cube.

2017-12-03 Rerun commentary: The die shown in this comic is made of white LEGO bricks: a 1×1 tile attached to a 1×1 plate, which I placed in the set and photographed. I added the black pips (i.e. the spot making up the numbers on each face) in Photoshop. They look suspiciously like they're moving around slightly between the different panels, which is a good indication of that.

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