Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson

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Ladywolf17 said, 5 months ago

c’mon mom don’t ruin our fun.
Margueritem said, 5 months ago

Mother, you doubt your son?
cleokaya said, 5 months ago

She means your bones have a more modernistic aspect to them.
Aragorn said, 5 months ago

of course calvin u shud ask for more…….. the paleontologists from the museum will not only get a dinosaur skeleton but newly discovered bone structure as well ;)
cleokaya said, 5 months ago

Mom, keep your mouth shut.
Ivy0730 said, 5 months ago

Mom’s dilemma, but Calvin will knows by himself as it unfold…what a cutie Calvin!
Gweedo Murray said, 5 months ago

Your one chance to have a boy who wont be living with you as a full grown man. DON’T BLOW IT !!!
Margueritem said, 5 months ago

Hi, Gweedo!
vibjyor said, 5 months ago

Does anyone know what was the GNP/GDP of US when this was originally published ?
Johanan Rakkav said, 5 months ago

A lot more than ten billion dollars, but still…
Kis said, 5 months ago

Okay, maybe not the Natural History Museum… but maybe the Museum of Modern Art might offer you a shekel or two…
Jor-El said, 5 months ago

vibjyor: C&H was syndicated from 1985-1995.

U.S. GDP in 1985 was $4.2 trillion. By 1995 the GDP had grown to $7.4 trillion.

U.S. GNP in 1985 was $6.1 trillion. By 1995 the GNP had grown to $8.1 trillion.

Hope that helps.

(GNP is larger because it includes GDP + Net Foreign Assets.)
green_engineer said, 5 months ago

Aim high and accept second best offer.
wolfbyte36 said, 5 months ago

I have awaken in time to see standing before mom, Calvin(yawn) and his discovery could this be the missing link, the next wonder of the world the Calvinosaur. Oh! sorry about the yawn.
JackParsons said, 5 months ago

Look at the CPI instead. Regular people do not participate in the growth of the GDP.
baneberry said, 5 months ago

Mom doesn’t realize that Calvin might have just made the discovery of the century. :D
Leonardeuler said, 5 months ago

How much is the nobel prize in dollars ??
moamesquita said, 5 months ago

a incompreensão de quem não tem olhos para ser um grande cientista dessa mãe castradora de genios
carpetinwater9 said, 5 months ago

I wonder ? Did Calvin use airplane glue? Hmmmm!
vibjyor said, 5 months ago

Jor-EL, Thanks for the figures. That means Calvin is asking for just about one five hundredth part of the US income.

Here are some more interesting figures that I found :

Wednesday July 5, 1995
guardian.co.uk

Bill Gates, founder of the Microsoft Corporation, is the world’s richest private individual, with $12.9 billion (£8.3 billion). He has knocked a Japanese real estate magnate off the top of the annual list compiled by Forbes magazine.

This was in 1995 when as you say C&H syndication stopped.

How I wish Calvin does become the richest of those days in tomorrow’s strip !
Sebastian Van Uytfange said, 5 months ago

No, mom meant that not only should the museum give Calvin more money, but also a well paid job digging for dinosaurs in some faraway place.
theIrishman said, 5 months ago

Hey Calvin, try selling it to a modern art museum instead. Looks like it would fit in perfectly with one of their collections!
prasrinivara said, 5 months ago

Or (thinking out-of-box) sell it to Canadian government (which did, in 1989/1990 give an 8-figure amount for a canvas with three vertical stripes on it–and claimed “if turned sideways it becomes a landscape, so we’d have to evaluate differently”; I actually thought of sending in to them a Japanese or Bangla flag and titling it “bullseye” and asking for a similar figure).
Macushlalondra said, 5 months ago

Mom you need to humour Calvin this time.
SQUIDBREAKER said, 5 months ago

“A”

Check yesterday’s duplex for explanantion.

Gotta go - its a great day for hockey!
bald 716 said, 5 months ago

calvin.. keep it in your own private collection and have the kids in your neighborhood pay to see it
Silverpearl said, 5 months ago

Hmmmmm. Reminds me of Piltdown man somehow. There have been dinos assembled that way too.
Lewreader said, 5 months ago

10 billion? Calvin, I have a daughter about your age
TapiocaHead said, 5 months ago

Calvin got his eyes on the prize ….
humormehere said, 5 months ago

I would love to see a Watterson strip with Calvin and HIS son…
ninmas said, 5 months ago

cleokaya, ladywolf, and wolfbyte, thanks all of ou for being friendly to jane30165, she’s kind of shy but i think she will post sometime today.
BirishB said, 5 months ago

Mommy-sore-at-us Rex … all the fun we would be having if she wasn’t?
Madruga said, 5 months ago

yeah calvin..ask for another ten billion!!! (at least =D)
pookid54 said, 5 months ago

It’ll sell….it’s very Natural History Museum meets MOMA
musicnut1986 said, 5 months ago

Kis said,
“Okay, maybe not the Natural History Museum… but maybe the Museum of Modern Art might offer you a shekel or two”

theIrishman said,
“Hey Calvin, try selling it to a modern art museum instead. Looks like it would fit in perfectly with one of their collections!”

THATS what I have been saying for the past two days! No one commented on my posts. Thanks for backing me up here.
grazer said, 5 months ago

If I were Calvin, I’d hold back on selling the Calvinosaur and here’s why…..Back in the 80s the refund on a pop bottle was 2 cents….today it’s a nickle. If he holds out for another 20 years he could get up to a dime!—and 10 cents split two ways in the year 2030 might not be all that bad the way things are going.
JonD17 said, 5 months ago

prolly gonna draw flack for this, but this ladywolf, wolfbyte, ninmas, jane 30165 scenario is getting interesting.
Wildmustang1262 said, 5 months ago

That must be an abstract sculpture! Scoffs!
ninmas said, 5 months ago

just wondering, but what do you mean interesting, jon?
Ladywolf17 said, 5 months ago

C’mon Jon, as comic readers here at this site tell me what’s wrong with welcomming new people here. Did you even welcome her? For that matter how many people here have welcomed jane 30165.
Ladywolf17 said, 5 months ago

ninmas if you or jane 30165 have any problems here, then try pibgorn, they are very friendly over there.
musicnut1986 said, 5 months ago

ninmas said,
just wondering, but what do you mean interesting, jon?

I believe he was referring to the parent - offspring/alter ego scenario, but that is only a guess on my part.
BC13 said, 5 months ago

Welcome jane 30165

Mom’s about to burst Calvin’s 10B bubble. Oh the popping sound it’ll make.
LX013 said, 5 months ago

Calvin is a good businessman!
mroberts88 said, 5 months ago

This should go well, Calvin should sell it.
JoStra15 said, 5 months ago

Maybe he should sell it to the modern art museum?
bandz said, 5 months ago

I apologize in advance as to the length of this post. But I think it’s hilarious, and I think any readers of the last few Calvin and Hobbes cartoon strips will agree. The theme fits perfectly with the current theme of these strips. – bandz

The story behind this….. It seem there is a somewhat eccentric individual who conducts “archaeological digs” in his backyard, and then sends the stuff he digs up to the Smithsonian Institution, labeling them with pseudo-scientific names, and insisting that they are actually important archaeological finds. This person is said to really exist and does this in his spare time. [I wonder if his first name might be Calvin?] Reproduced below is what is purported to be a letter from an individual at the Smithsonian, sent to the amateur “archaeologist” in response to his latest artifact submission. (If this is for real, then the writer of the letter has got to be the most tactful, patient and meticulous individual in the world.)
<> <> <> <> <> <>

Paleoanthropology Division
Smithsonian Institution
207 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, DC 20078

Dear Sir:
Thank you for your latest submission to the Smithsonian Institution, labeled “211-D, layer seven, next to the clothesline post. Hominid skull.” We have given this specimen a careful and detailed examination, and regret to inform you that we disagree with your theory that it represents “conclusive proof of the presence of Early Man in Charleston County two million years ago.” Rather, it appears that what you have found is the head of a Barbie Doll, of the variety one of our staff, who has small children, believes to be the “Malibu Barbie.”

It is evident that you have given a great deal of thought to the analysis of this specimen, and you may be quite certain that those of us who are familiar with your prior work in the field were loath to come to contradiction with your findings. However, we do feel that there are a number of physical attributes of the specimen which might have tipped you off to its modern origin: The material is molded plastic. Ancient hominid remains are typically fossilized bone. Also, the cranial capacity of the specimen is approximately 9 cubic centimeters, well below the threshold of even the earliest identified proto-hominids.

The dentition pattern evident on the “skull” is more consistent with the common domesticated dog than it is with the “ravenous man-eating Pliocene clams” you speculate roamed the wetlands during that time. This latter finding is certainly one of the most intriguing hypotheses you have submitted in your history with this Institution, but the evidence seems to weigh rather heavily against it. Without going into too much detail, let us just say that the specimen appears to be the head of a Barbie Doll that a dog has chewed on. Clams don’t have teeth.

It is with feelings tinged with melancholy that we must also deny your request to have the specimen carbon dated. This is partially due to the heavy load our lab must bear in its normal operation, and partly due to carbon dating’s notorious inaccuracy in artifacts of recent geologic record. To the best of our knowledge, no Barbie Dolls existed prior to 1956 AD, and carbon dating is likely to produce wildly inaccurate results.

Sadly, we must also deny your request that we approach the National Science Foundation’s Phylogeny Department with the request of assigning your specimen the scientific name “Australopithecus spiff-arino.” Speaking personally, I, for one, fought tenaciously for the acceptance of your proposed taxonomy, but was ultimately voted down because the species name you selected was hyphenated, and didn’t really sound like it might be Latin.

All of the foregoing notwithstanding, I’m happy to inform you that we gratefully accept your generous donation of this fascinating specimen to the museum. While it is undoubtedly not a hominid fossil, it is, nonetheless, yet another riveting example of the great body of work you seem to accumulate here so effortlessly. You should know that our Director has reserved a special shelf in his own office for the display of the specimens you have submitted to the Institution, and the entire staff speculates daily on what you will happen upon next in your digs at the site you have discovered in your backyard.

We eagerly anticipate your trip to our nation’s capital that you proposed in your last letter, and several of us are pressing the Director to pay for it. We are particularly interested in hearing you expand on your theories surrounding the “trans-positating fillifitation of ferrous ions in a structural matrix,” that has caused the fascinating juvenile Tyrannosaurus Rex femur you recently discovered, to take on the deceptive appearance of a rusty 9-mm Sears Craftsman automotive crescent wrench.

Yours in science,

Harvey Rowe
Curator, Antiquities

While we enjoy the recounting of Calvin’s childhood adventures, [thanks to Bill Watterson], this may well be a window into his continuing exploits as an adult. – bandz
Ladywolf17 said, 5 months ago

I just thought of something! Calvin you should sell your discovery at the museum that Ben Stiller worked at in the two movies night at the museum. that way your discovery can come to life at night.
musicnut1986 said, 5 months ago

bandz, OMG (that is the first time I have used that expression in a post, I simply couldn’t resist) the letter you posted is the funniest thing I have seen posted at C&H!!!

I read a couple of comics as I get started each morning and entertain myself a few times each day when I take a mental health break to see what has been posted. I just about wet myself laughing while reading your post. Wonderful. I’ll bet they would find a way in the budget to pay his way to the Smithsonian just to meet him.
grazer said, 5 months ago

Funny, well-written reading, bandz. ~Thanks!