Frazz by Jef Mallett follows the adventures of an unexpected role model: an elementary-school janitor who's also a Renaissance man. While he's sweeping the hall, he's whistling Beethoven. Or Lyle Lovett. He paints the woodwork in the classrooms; he paints a Da Vinci on the cafeteria wall. He's a trusted authority figure who is every kid's buddy. He took the janitor's job while he was a struggling songwriter, and when he finally sold a hit song, he decided to stay on at school. Frazz appears in 200 newspapers worldwide, including the Los Angeles Times, Seattle Times, Chicago Tribune and Detroit News. "A few years back, I wrote and illustrated a children's book," says Mallett. "When I was traveling around reading it at school assemblies, I noticed that often, the most respected, best-liked grown-up in the building was the janitor. And I thought, 'Hmm, there's a comic strip in that.'" Often praised for its intelligent wit, gentle spirit and effortless diversity, Frazz won a Wilbur Award from the Religion Communicators Council in 2003 and 2005 for excellence in communicating values and ethics.
© Jef Mallett - All Rights Reserved.
Frank & Ernest by Thaves
Fred Basset by Alex Graham
Comments (36) (Please sign in to comment)
Randy_B
said, about 1 year ago
It’s not going to be a leisurely, pleasant trip over the top. To keep the chains taut at the top of the arc, you’ll have to be swinging at a scary high rate of speed.
Igor Smetlavich said, about 1 year ago
A concussion?
Fairportfan2 said, about 1 year ago
Ummm. Let’s say the chains are ten feet long.
.
You’d need to be generating 2G of centripetal acceleration – 1G to cancel gravity, plus 1G to keep the chains taut..
.
2G is 64ft/sec^2 Acceleration is V^2/r So V^2 is 640ft/sec, and V is roughly 25 ft/sec, which is 17 miles/hour.
surfstuff55 said, about 1 year ago
I remember Mythbuster tried to accomplish this. Didn’t happen: therefore CAN’T.
davidh48 said, about 1 year ago
I tried this many times, loved it.
Acceleration stops as you near apogee, then it’s all downhill.
Since we can’t play “Crack the Whip” or “Red Rover”, what shall we do, being “old”?
LameRandomName said, about 1 year ago
When I was a kid I discovered that you could get the swing up REALLY high, with the chains almost horizontal and jump off while you were still accelerating in an upward arc; which when combines with the acceleration downward would cancel out most of your velocity by the time you hit the ground, resulting in a landing with about the same force you’d get from jumping up in the air and coming back down again.
Interesting demonstration of vector mechanics, but the really great part was how much it freaked out the teachers.
lightenup
said, about 1 year ago
LOL! I totally tried to see if I could swing around – a great childhood memory!
wecatsgocomics said, about 1 year ago
@lightenup
Bones all healed up by now?
Mstreselena said, about 1 year ago
@surfstuff55
I thought of Mythbusters also, even with rockets it didn’t quite work.
Respectful Troll said, about 1 year ago
I vividly recall swinging so high the chains lost tension and instead of the smooth glide down, I dropped several feet until the slack was gone. Thank goodness for a strong grip as more than once the seat went out from under me and it was only blessings and/or luck I didn’t break my back. Still, the comic gave me a big smile for the memory. Ahhh…the adrenaline addictions of youth.
C
TrapperJohn said, about 1 year ago
Sorry, don’t get it. Panel 3 is confusing.
Cartoonacy said, about 1 year ago
@TrapperJohn
Think of the first four panels as consecutive frames on a filmstrip. The girl is trying to talk Frazz into pushing her hard enough so that she’ll swing all the way over the top and around (i.e., the first four panels aren’t really happening, they just represent her description of what she’d like to happen). His response is in the final panel.
No Habla said, about 1 year ago
@Fairportfan2
You only need 2 G if you want full body weight tension over the top. Much less will do, 1.05 G would generate 5 lbs tension for a 100 lb kid…
JanCinLV said, about 1 year ago
Mythbusters left out one important thing. They forgot it was a child who goes over-the-top. They have stated in the past that “Buster” weighs 185 lbs., the size of an adult. I have seen several children accomplish the over-the-top swing. Granted, never with the smooth perfection of the one described above. As C Downs said, there’s always an abrupt drop after crossing the bar.
burleigh2 said, about 1 year ago
@Fairportfan2
While that may be true, how much force would you have to shove her at the bottom of that to ensure 17 mph throughout the entire top arc? THAT’S the part that makes it scary…