Recent Comments

1. over 3 years ago on Two Party Opera

   Agreed – we don’t know for certain. However, we know governments will do things for one reason and give an official statement saying the reason was something else, and, in this case, the Japanese government had a very good reason not to say “Stalin did it,” even though the Red Army made extremely rapid progress through Manchuria.

   Also, Tsuyoshi Hasegawa argued the claim (that the USSR ended the war) before Ward Wilson did.

2. over 3 years ago on Two Party Opera

   My opinion is that the nuclear bomb did nothing to bring about Japan’s surrender – it was the declaration of war by the USSR against Japan on August 8 that did it.

   Japan’s best military hope was to cause such attrition against its opponents that they would be frightened to invade. It might have worked against a democracy. It would never work against a Stalin-led dictatorship. Its best diplomatic hope was a surrender that left the emperor in charge. Stalin would never agree to that.

   The Japanese government thought it was better to surrender unconditionally to the United States than to keep fighting and give half the country to Stalin.

3. almost 4 years ago on Stone Soup

   Dear Ms. Eliot,

   During this month, I read through the entire Stone Soup archive, including the comments for my favorite current comic strip. I enjoyed your use of stories in the background of strips, such as the battles between Luci and Max for the pacifier while the adults talk. The Holly-Alix relationship struck me as being real; my favorite arc was one of those (Alix volunteers to write Holly’s book report on Tom Sawyer).

   I can just imagine Holly now. “Jan, I need you to make me famous! Al Jaffee kept working until he was 99 – you can keep this up for three more decades!” How would Holly know about Al Jaffee? Easy – in my mind, I can see Alix reading MAD magazine.

   Thank you for the past twenty-five years of cartoons, and may you leap into an even longer and happier retirement, even if some of us do selfishly want Holly’s desire to come true.

4. almost 4 years ago on Stone Soup

   Someone has to stay home and take care of Biscuit.

5. almost 4 years ago on Stone Soup

   I love the one where Holly was assigned Tom Sawyer in school, and Alix volunteered to write her book report.

   https://www.gocomics.com/stonesoup/2003/09/10

   (Note: the September 14 strip was not part of the arc.)

6. almost 4 years ago on Stone Soup

   She’s stated a desire to become an architect (September 26, 2015), and proven herself capable of earning straight A’s (March 30, 2015). It may have taken her some time to focus on something – other possibilities included archaeology and water resources engineering – but I know that she can do something once she focuses on it.

7. almost 4 years ago on Stone Soup

   I prefer seeing Holly get everything together so she can get her dream job: https://www.gocomics.com/stonesoup/2015/09/26

8. almost 4 years ago on Stone Soup

   No, but we won’t have Alix’ magic pool to look at anymore.

9. almost 4 years ago on Stone Soup

   That reminds me of a joke.

   Private Baldrick: You know my dad was a nun.

   Captain Blackadder: No he wasn’t.

   Private Baldrick: He was too, sir. Cause whenever he was up in court and the judge asked “occupation”, he’d say “none”.

10. almost 4 years ago on Stone Soup

    Weather is day-to-day, while climate is average over time. Think of climate as being similar to batting average in baseball.

    George Brett had the highest single-season batting average since integration in 1947. Mario Mendoza was as bad as a hitter as one could be and still stay in the majors. Anyone worse than Mendoza would be sent down to the minors, and Mendoza was only able to stay in the majors because he was a good defensive shortstop. Mario Mendoza is remembered only because he was such a terrible hitter.

    There would be individual days when Mendoza did a better job hitting than Brett. Despite those days, Brett remained a much better hitter than Mendoza, with a much higher average. Likewise, it snows in Atlanta once in a while, but nobody says Atlanta has a cold climate.