This comic reminds me of a story I read the other day. A little boy was in his bedroom and started screaming in terror. The parents rushed in to see what was wrong.
The boy screamed he had swallowed a penny and he was going to DIE! To reassure him, the father did the magic trick of pulling a penny from behind the boy’s ear — he held the penny in his outstretched hand to show the boy he was safe. The boy was delighted, grabbed the penny, swallowed it, and said, “Do that again, Daddy!”
Some bright ideas work better than others.
June 14, 2016
Both the cartoon and your story are hilarious!
🙂
I can’t even begin to convey how sorry I feel for that guy and his broken boat. I know desperate times may mean taking desperate measures (short of robbing a bank) but you need to take time to think through the laws of physics, probability and back luck first. Not jump in both feet first at the first spark that ignites your fire.
There were a lot of “firsts” in my first paragraph. And with good reason. Easy does it. Not for nothing is there “on second thought” … Regroup.
The boy? That’s enthusiasm for you. Let’s hope his father had a few more pennies up his sleeve to not spoil the magic. And, being of a practical bend (I once swallowed – by accident, not design, a white button), let’s hope it won’t be too painful next time he “passes a motion”.
U
I keep thinking of ancient Athens and Pericles. Athens was in its prime when the Peloponnesian War broke out. Pericles had the bright idea that they shouldn’t fight the Spartans on land, where the Spartans had the advantage, so he had the people in the countryside come into Athens, protected by its walls, when the Spartans attacked. Food was no problem because Athens had a great fleet and it could import anything it needed. The Spartans would have to recognize the futility of invading.
It really was a brilliant strategy, except a plague broke out and killed 30,000 people, including Pericles. It was all downhill after than.
I laughed out loud! I think we have all been in situations when we tried to solve a problem, but made it even worse. You have a wonderful, endless source of these cartoons, it seems!
Collecting them is a great hobby. 🙂
Non Sequitur is my favorite comic strip, I turn to it first every Sunday. And I get lots of political stuff from GoComics. What good sources! AE
Yes, it’s a great site!
most of the cartoons – get right to the point, in short order, which takes the guesswork or the tedious reading out of long news/other articles…
a picture can say a 1000 words springs to mind…
how also that same picture in an academic art historians mind, need usually double the word count above 🙂
I agree with that. That’s why I love a good cartoon or comic — it quickly goes to the heart of the matter. Plus it makes me laugh.