Frazz by Jef Mallett for March 06, 2012

Chemistry sets always disappointed me…..You couldn’t actually melt things or blow them up much, so I got bored…

just heard from a college freshman “daughter”-friend: for their chemistry class, they’re going to learn to make meth

My childhood chemistry set (Gilbert’s) had the ingredients for black powder, among other things.

He wants to be a mad scientist in a day!

When I was 14 we made rockets by melting the fuel over a lead pot and pouring it in 2" pipe – we also made 3 or 4 kinds of explosive. Now we’d be locked up for terrorism. It has to be a thought crime to know how now.

I burned sulfur in the 6th grade and smoked the glass room out. I was told not to bring my ChemLab® back to school ever.

Is Frazz complaining? I thought he made a comfortable living from his songs and the janitor thing was because he loved being around the kids. (Too bad the GoComics archive doesn’t go back to 2001 where the second “Frazz” strip ever sets up the situation.)

I still like to think that Frazz is Calvin (of Calvin & Hobbes) grown up. Every time he talks about his childhood it makes me think of that.

CathyDresser, people in glass rooms shouldn’t …..um…..um….. Oh never mind……

Please don’t confuse this simple experiment with making a bottle bomb. The bomb involves over-pressuring a sealed bottle; the baking soda + vinegar uses a balloon to limit the pressure and to demonstrate the amount of gas produced.

I have often thought of my junior high days when we nerds made our own fireworks. There was even a store where we could buy as little as a quarter pound of almost any chemical. Even though WW-II was still under way, only one of our group had any problems with the law – the FBI “suggested” he should stop blowing trees apart with flash powder! The rest of us were never even visited.

Anyone paying attention learns how to make bombs or other methods of destruction in the course of watching tv or reading a book. Unfortunately, it is very easy to learn this stuff, and (at least for me) easy to remember it.

I thought the premise was that he is a janitor by choice. This comic seems like it’s belittling the very important work that janitors do.

@ pschearer Remember Frazz didn’t initially take the Janitor job because he wanted to. At the school he found the inspiration he needed and became successful. Most people aren’t that lucky. There’s no way Frazz wouldn’t do the most he could to make sure the kids have the best chance they can, and that means a well rounded education.

Also, does anyone know what’s up with the archives? I was reading through them last night and today they’re gone.

@Sharuniboy: I remember WHERE DID YOU GO? OUT. WHAT DID YOU DO? NOTHING!!! Loved that book, and the funny thing is that I was a kid when I read it. (I also read everything else on my bookaholic parents’ shelves, which made for an interesting childhood.) Most days, we went out the door in the morning and came home for meals. And books, and crafts, and games we made up, with very little parental input once we were school-age. Virtually nothing “organized” by adults, except musical-instrument lessons and such. And my mom was a chemist, so we did a few harmless science experiments, such as the one in today’s strip.

I read it too, as a child…but this is how the title went:

“Where did you go?” “Out.”

“What did you do?” “Nothing.”

Translation: He hit his brother.

I love chemical reaction.I just hate when it happens when I didn’t cause it.

@TacopileverHe’s not making a bottle bomb, he’s mixing baking soda and vinegar. Hardly dangerous. Relax.