Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for April 10, 2016

Ain’t 21st technology grand? (Have a fun and awkward vacation in New York, Luann.)

If I was her father, I’d be terrified. All that modern communications technology would just mean you’d have a front row seat to her untimely demise if she met with foul play. And you would be unable to call the NYPD because calling 911 would get the local gendarmes and they may not know how to suddenly contact the NYPD.

I’m excited for this week

To me, it looks like Luann and Bernice will be so busy with so-called ‘social’ media that they won’t have any time to get into trouble. Or to actually see much of New York, for that matter.

“Here’s a pic of me and Bernice standing in front of the Museum of Sex. Now we have to hurry so we can stand in front of …”

There is no middle ground so far here. Either doom, gloom, horrible things are going to happen, Oh NOOO!! Or let Luann and her BFF grow up and take advantage of this opportunity to grow, to learn, to yes have fun, to be responsible. In the Big Apple. I take the middle ground, or stake it out. Let her and Bernice go, let them grow and have fun, learn, do nutty things, be in the Big Apple, but at the same time Luann is doing the responsible thing. Her dad and mom are being given the opportunity to have virtual 24 hours access to her. Give her the benefit that she has enough sense to make sure they can keep in touch, enjoy vicariously and while being scared, also be proud that their little girl is growing up.

“Hello, tech support? My daughter is going to the Museum of Sex with Ecstasy and she used to have Quill but that went kaput and now she and Bern and Pru’s friend Romeo who isn’t a “he” anymore are touring NY and there’s a Muncher in there too and they’re in a big strange place and it’s scary and we’re both worried and we are supposed to keep track of her in the cloud but don’t know the first thing about it and lost the password and so can you help us?"“Yes sir, good afternoon, my name is Sureshnivenkatanarasimha — I mean, John. Have you tried rebooting?”

-It looks much smaller on my screen…

Have we ever seen Luann in a black top before, let alone one with more shape and without the sleeve length being frumpy if not long?

I’m surprised that the Sunday strip is following the week’s storyline. I enjoy the Sunday strip standing alone.

Ha ha! I can relate! But my young mentors are 12 and 24! Good thing I taught them that teaching and sharing is a two way street! Rock on, Greg & Co.!

Right now, Frank is thinking “couldn’t you just leave us a plain old, dialable phone number that we could call you at when we start panicking?”

Let’s hope that Greg doesn’t do the obvious thing and have them both come home pregnant. One would be enough.

This is the Luanniverse. Neither will.-And we wouldn’t know for a month anyway … which could be July or August the way the calendar works in this strip.

They could send him postcards, the Twitter of the last century!

No new guys.

Will she be staying at the Four Seasons or Howard Johnsons?

Frank & I are equally confused.

I hate to think what she left out if she got the instructions down to a single page for all that. When I wrote out directions for my mother on how to make use of both cable TV and a VCR, it went to three pages.

Ha! Way to “Cut the Umbilical” Lu. Odds are Your phone AND Your notepad will get STOLEN within five minutes of Your arrival, but have “fun.”

Sounds like she is doing all the things they say not to do, for safety. Mom & Dad where were your warnings…

I can empathize, sympathize, synchronize and sensitize and socialize with Frank here. I found it complicated enough just to create an access to GoComics.

usually Sunday’s topic is totally different form the week story

“obvious thing” ? what strip are you reading? not this one!

I just got the Mel Brooks collection, I loved his flicks, Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein and Spaceballs.

That’s my brother, he has to write all the steps for using tech. I just do the obvious things and they work for me. Not to say I don’t have to go online for help every now and then.

I’m older than Frank,never done any of what Luann wants him to do except text a bit,and I could do it all easily.What dolts some parents are.

I’m lucky. I never wanted to be on Facebook. I worked very hard to lose contact with people I didn’t like. I wasn’t going to mess that up. As my daughter also holds no love for Facebook, I don’t need to create an account to watch her account.

I guess Luann didn’t plan on bringing phone. Luann, you dial a number and actually talk; remember?

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/18/nyregion/pay-phones-in-new-york-city-will-become-free-wi-fi-hot-spots.html

Are there any pay phones left anymore? I haven’t seen one in ages. I remember years ago just as cell phones were taking off and the phone compnaies were getting rid of their pay phones and they were offered For Sale – All you had to do was go pick up your money once in a while when they filled up! RIGHT!

Delayed response to a conversation that was here about a week ago on teachers who have other successes. This just came out and is related (also may interest music lovers here):

http://www.bu.edu/today/2016/greg-blonder-professor-of-engineering/

I think he might have been referring to a roll of dimes in her fist in case she needs to punch someone.

Been a reader for many years…..Since Luann and Quill are on the outs….Don’t know what’s in store for this relationship, but don’t you think it’s about time for Aaron Hill to show up?

DeBlasio’s NY is not as safe as it has been in the past 20 years or so. He is too afraid of hurting someone’s feelings.

This is an instance where one can play “tether-ball”. When one seeks to “have a ball”, whether on an excursion or attending an event, they can easily be “tethered” to a gadget/device, to update their social media, or in efforts to keep in touch with someone.

…and have to hope the P.O. (or you) remember that they brought the stamp/post price back down to 47¢…they’ll probably go: “Oh, yeah! We did do that, didn’t we?”.

“Technical Difficulties”“Reach Out And Touch Someone”“You Can Blame Ma Bell, Blame Ma Bell” (♪)“Kiss And Digi-tell”“Computer World” (♬)“One Day Update At A Time”“Status Quo, Is Me!”“Virtual Insanity”“UNIVAC Loves You!”“She’s An ENIAC, ENIAC, I Know!” (♪)“Holding Down The FORTRAN”“Java The What?”or“You Can Call me Hal” (♬)

With technology these days, it feels like everyone I know lives in my living room. A friend can travel thousands of miles away and as long as they keep updating Facebook and Instagram it’s like they never left at all!

Going in time for the NY Primaries?.Stay off Fifth Avenue.

that was exactly Apple’s intent when they introduced the iPhone …. to sneak a “personal assistant” into the consumer’s life thru the guise of being “just a phone, but oh, it also does THIS and THIS”. Very smart … less threatening to call ti a phone, even if that’s now like 5% of it’s usage.

FORTRAN, COBOL, EVIAC, UNIVAC? Boy, you guys are really trotting out the ancient history! Try Objective C, C++, PHP, XML, Ruby on Rails, Rust….Skylake, Broadwell, A9, hmm probably a ton I’m missing there. I took a FORTRAN class around 40 years ago! :-)

@Brdshtt: Exactly. “Phone” is just another app that the amazingly powerful little computer in your pocket can run. And it’s not even the most popular app, at that.

You sound like me. I’ve built more computers since the 70’s than I can even remember.

You guys speak things that just zip over my head. You are like my hubby and many of his friends from his Bell Labs DMTS days (Later they went to Principal MTS but that does not have the same class…) Thank goodness i have some other things i know that you and they do not.

Who the hell says “I created an album in the cloud so you can see my pix”? Is this CSI Miami?

As luck would have it, I just bought a roll of 100 49¢ Forever stamps just a month ago…

So hang on to them until the postage rate inevitably becomes 50¢ again in the future. I’m still using up the “free” 48.5¢ ones I got for trying out stamps.com; debating on whether I should set them aside and go get a roll of 47¢ “forevers” …

They’ll get to NYC. Quill will show up unannounced at some point. Meanwhile, LuAnn will have discovered that she likes Pru a LOT more than she does Quill. Awkward moments ensue.

One of my all-time fave movies!

And the person at the other end of Frank’s phone call could just be Jake from State Farm.

I never learned to knit, but before my eye got this bad cooking was a big thing for me. A friend had two highly rated Chinese restaurants and some of the recipes they used were ones i created, ditto a well considered catering service, and a couple of cookbooks used recipes i developed. Even with things to help me like a black wok, tools to hold items i am slicing so that i do not slice myself, working lights, special knives, an ulu and ulu bowl cooking becomes a bit too much of an eye strain. A person woukd think that making craft jewelry would be more exhausting for my eye, but i can substitute touch for sone aspects of that hobby. That said yesterday we finished off a lovely red lentil, veg, and dried sour plum soup i made. I am still afraid of stir frying with all the glare, though.

Now, there is something i do not think we have encountered in Luann: the pursuit of crafts and everyday skills that begins at about their age, and fills needs and wants in life, as well as being relaxing and rewarding.

Heh, heh! It’s too bad they can’t credit you the two cents’ difference, for future mailings! Or you could walk up and let them know that you actually can now give them your two cents, on a few things….

And thus the COBOL Effect begins…-Soon, it will be back to the BASICs…

Sour plums add an interesting aspect to an Afghan or Persian lentil soup. People who taste such soups think there are carrots and some unplaceable acidifier giving a hint of tang. Since we can not get the right types here we buy them dried from Fastachi. This time i had some tasty parboiling water from the first step for some collards sautéed w garlic, onion, and ginger, so i decided to modify the recipe to use that as the cooking water which is why carrots and celery also went in but the red pepper was reduced.

My usual recipe for the soup has 6 large cloves of garlic minced and 2 medium large yellow onions minced, sautéed in 4 Tablespoons EVOO till golden (I like the Frantoia for this.). Then add 6 to 6.5 c water, 16 dried sour plums sliced, a teaspoon of turmeric, half teaspoon of dried red pepper (chili), and a little noniodized sea salt (It can be adjusted upward later to taste.). Bring to boil. Reduce to medium and add 2 cups sorted and rinsed red lentils. Stir and cover, cooking 40 to 45 minutes w regular stirring and addition of more water if needed. Puree w an immersion blender, add a heck of a lot of freshly ground black pepper to taste, adjust salt if needed. Serve. There, i hope i did not forget anything! Anyone here who wants to try it is welcome to do so!

Heck, maybe Luann will try it. ;-)

Along the line of young people learning skills, Steve says that the children of a Finnish friend of his attend a school where anyone 15 or over is expected to wear clothing they have made themselves on two designated school days each week!

Today’s strip reminds me of the commercials where people were actually trying to put things in a real cloud, with a slingshot! And when the group of ladies we’re trying to post instamatic pictures on “their wall”…albeit a “living room” one… and a couple of people were playing “Candy Crush” with some peppermints and a hammer….

I want to see more of Bernice roommate and put a closure on Quill and Pru.

Ohhh, that sounds like good stock!

meanwhile, Quill does his version of Summer Stock in Spring ;-)

The strangest a la King i ever made was with grilled shark. That was after Mom died and someone gave us freshly caught shark fillets. It really worked. (The shark was over the top without something to mellow it.)

I have always wanted to serve a stew or soup in a bowl made of a well crusted bread, but somehow have never gotten around to trying it.

I am amazed at Luann’s thoughtful preparation (and Frank’s trepidation). Did she forget anything else, I wonder?

I am actually wondering if Pru is really gay or is she pretending to be gay? You would think Quill would have mentioned that!

A reasonable thingvto do!

“Leader Of The Packed”^Ha, Ha, Ha!

Following your “BASIC Instinct”?^Heh, heh!

Wow, that IMSAI is a real relic. I never had a Z-80 system, though I worked with plenty of them Kaypros and the like. My thing back then was the 6502 (Apple II processor). That was the first chip I learned assembly language on.

If you look at

http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/onthetown/newyorknewyork.htm

The differences they have from Luann and Bernie include: Lu and Bern are not sailors; Lu and Bern have a week instead of a day; Lu and Bern are not seeking dates with women; and Lu and Bern probably have less chest hair. Otherwise, you will find similarities.

to Templo:

Luann is going to have the fun part of the vacation. The awkward part will be Frank and Nancy’s. too much technology can be confusing.

SPOILER ALERT

The adventure begins, at last, complete with misspellings…

Why anyone would want to go to that pos hell hole is beyond me!