Author Archives: Anton

curious about causality

Without trying, I can think of five webcomics authors who changed their pronouns long after they started posting: Dana Simpson (Ozy and Millie), Joey Alison Sayers (Thingpart and now Alley Oop), Allison Shabet (Deadwinter), Elli Stephens (Goblins), and now Maelyn … Continue reading

Posted in cartoons | 4 Comments

polyglot priority

A genie offers to make you fluent in twenty or a hundred languages, living or dead. How do you choose? The greedy algorithm: add whatever language most increases the number of people, living or dead, with whom you could have … Continue reading

Posted in language | 8 Comments

hope you don’t mind if I sit this one out

Looks like I’m staying home alone until a vaccine comes; it’s what I mostly do anyway, though I miss the weekly card games. As a libertarian, I do not presume to know what’s best for others. So, lucky me, I … Continue reading

Posted in medicine, politics | Leave a comment

early webcomics gallery

Joe Average’s first anniversary strip features characters from 37 other strips. Can you help me name them? Some have fallen off the Web. Nukees S.S.D.D Look What I Brought Home (?) Superosity Road Waffles ? Life at Bayside (?) Bobbins … Continue reading

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Scribbles: The Ensmoothening, Part III

Many of the curves in this chart have some unsightly wiggles. That’s because, when a function of degree 2 or higher tries to approximate a piecewise constant, it tends to go back and forth across the target. So here instead … Continue reading

Posted in curve-fitting | 1 Comment

supply issues

I’ve had a number of mugs printed by Zazzle, and most of them came out gorgeous; but last summer I was peeved enough by a delivery cock-up to want to take my business elsewhere. Recently I got around to doing … Continue reading

Posted in merch | 1 Comment

pull the other one

This week I’ve had a flood of mail with titles like VIDEO OF YOU! and YOU GOT RECORDED!. A tweetmate asked me to save and share one, so here it is.

Posted in spam | Leave a comment