Summer continues, but here is an old A&J from 2009. At least the door is open, and the lights are on.
At Your Service
By Jimmy Johnson
Recent Posts
Ghost of Christmas Past
This holiday Arlo & Janis comic strip from 2022 is similar in concept to the new strip that ran yesterday. I thought the latter ...
Spearhead
I have produced a number of comic strips related to Veteran’s Day. Especially in latter years, I have tried to emphasize the universal experience ...
Dark Passage
Remember: it’s that weekend. The return to standard time can be a bit of a shock in the late afternoon, but I rather enjoy ...
What’s old is old, again
You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to build a web site, but there are similarities. Everything needs to be just right, or ...
Back to the ol’ drawing board
I don’t have a lot of time this morning. I wasn’t going to post anything, but I’m tired of looking at that old photograph ...
Thursday’s Child
On Sunday, I teased you with the suggestion there are more changes coming here. There are. They will appear soon, and I think you’ll ...
162 responses to “At Your Service”
with ice cream on the side….
Note to Bill in Bossier, Ghost says to tell you “Hey, we just went through your city on way back to Oklahoma!”
We unfortunately had another .mediocre seafood meal in Louisiana, although Ghost said his roast beef po boy was pretty good. It seems places went down In the several years since I ate in them. Sadly.
Back home in Oklahoma and reading about Comic.cons. wondered aloud if Jimmy was going to any this year? Ghost said ask him.
Jimmy are you going to be at any comic.cons this year?
Recent pleasantry: I just – this afternoon – made contact with an acquaintance whose last contact was 60 years ago! It was especially satisfying because I was able to track her down via genealogy sites even though a critical site had misspelled her maiden name [so I could not find her there], and I didn’t know her married name, either. Being logical can pay off….
Locally, we had 7.3″ of rain a week ago (in 2 or 3 days) and another 2.8″ just yesterday. Rivers are flooding. Great for those growing rice or raising frogs, I suppose, but really, really sad for those living in low areas. Prayers for them.
TR, alternate answer: pi * (12/2)^2
Problem fails to define if 12 miles is a straight line of sight in any direction from his tower, or the total combined distance Ranger Rick is able to observe from two compass points 180° opposite.
TMFKas: Are you perchance an attorney? 🙂
Mrs, Rick and I saw “Dunkirk” this afternoon.
Superb movie.
TR, no.
I would like to see “Dunkirk” too, and I haven’t been to the movies for years. Glad to see your recommendation, Rick.
The cataract removal surgery is over and done with, and boy, am I glad! Results are good although not spectacular. I didn’t think I was seeing that badly before, but there is a nice improvement. All went smoothly and I had no pain — was indeed awake through the operation but as Ruth Ann told me, I didn’t care. They made me so relaxed and comfortable, it was quite enjoyable. Nurse Maureen kept bringing me heated blankets while getting me ready — lovely, and blankets stayed on in the operating room. My only gripe at present is that lots of eyedrops have to be applied, by myself, for no one else is here. I am learning to do it pretty well and am not too skittish about it, but it sure breaks up my day. It’s tedious and time-consuming.
That’s GREAT, Charlotte! I am glad you told us.
Miss Charlotte, I am so glad your cataract surgery went so well. Applying all those drops were the hardest part for me too. Llee how is your brother doing?
Laura, he’s doing well. 🙂 Thank you all for sending good thoughts.Sounds like the dr is pleased so far. Robert tried to smile at his wife yesterday afternoon. Made her day.
And look at today’s strip! Momma used to get mad at us reading comics (or anything fun) instead of “educational” books. Look at this Mom-comics do teach! Thanks Jimmy 🙂
Back in Oklahoma and hotter here than Hades too. I need to go out and water some plants. Things did not get watered while we were gone.
This house is so nice and cool. It is tempting to just stay in and do laundry. Gasp!! Laundry as the cool activity.
Well, it is supposed to rain today, don’t know when. Then we have hot and sticky instead of just hot, just like Alabama summertime.
Got to do laundry myself later today.
But first a fun thing. Found somebody selling the Complete Far Side set on Craigslist for $30 (for what retails over $100) and will be going to pick it up. In a public place in broad daylight, of course.
Trucker Ron,
I had the same question as TMFKAS, radius or diameter. Since the earth is a spheroid, that also has some bearing on the total area. The the distance along the surface is longer than the straight line sight distance. Probably more importantly, there are various wrinkles (hills/valleys) in the surface that also increase the surface area. My guess is that the multiple-choice question likely included a correct answer that approximated the area assuming a planar circle. 🙂
Of course, if the problem said the ranger could only see out the window on one side of the tower, then the triangle guessers would be right. But, they’d need to know the width of the window and the distance from the ranger to the window to solve (that’s making the assumption that the two triangles have the same angles on all corners. Knowing that the angles on the inside then allows the sides of the outside to be calculated . The height of 12 miles is given. Finally, since the triangles both are isosceles, the area can be safely calculated.
Seems the page editor has problems with parenthesis and brackets… here’s another try
Trucker Ron,
I had the same question as TMFKAS, radius or diameter. Since the earth is a spheroid, that also has some bearing on the total area. The the distance along the surface is longer than the straight line sight distance. Probably more importantly, there are various wrinkles
including hills/valleys in the surface that also increase the surface area. My guess is that the multiple-choice question likely included a correct answer that approximated the area assuming a planar circle. 🙂
Of course, if the problem said the ranger could only see out the window on one side of the tower, then the triangle guessers would be right. But, they’d need to know the width of the window and the distance from the ranger to the window to solve– that’s making the assumption that the two triangles eye to window and eye to distance have the same angles on all corners. Knowing that the angles on the inside then allows the sides of the outside to be calculated –to get base width–. The height of 12 miles is given. Finally, since the triangles both are isosceles, the area can be safely calculated.
–no, I don’t have anything else to do right now… 😀 —
Trucker Ron and David in Austin,
A well defined problem is 90% of the solution.
This one reminds me of the physic test question, “using a barometer how do you find the height of a building?” The answer was expected to be a calculation in a change in barometric. An enterprising? student proposed measuring the height of the barometer and the shadow it casts. Then applying the calculated ratio to the building shadow to arrive at the building height.
Find the building superintendent and give him the barometer in exchange for the height of the building.
Get a stopwatch and time how long in seconds (t) it takes the barometer to fall to the ground. Then h = 16 t^2 should do it at least as accurately as measuring air pressures.
I remember where I was, in summer school in Moundville, AL. We watched it on a black and white school tv.
https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/19437446_10154578610056472_5245560854043576970_n.jpg?oh=029289b5c1ef598fd1554af46c4cb77c&oe=5A0838DF
We went to a neighbors apartment to watch since we didn’t own a tv back then. Gasp!
Of course, had an accident taken their lives I would have been paying out benefits to their families under the Federal workers compensation program. So I should have been watching. I don’t like watching things go wrong, reading is bad enough.
By the way, the cover up on the Mercury fire extended to the official accident reports filed. I found out about cover up when everyone else did. Much later.
Excuse senior moment, Apollo 1 fire that killed the first astronaut crew for moon landing.
Obviously, this guy loves his work: http://abcnews.go.com/US/american-airlines-dedicates-boeing-777-91-year-mechanic/story?id=48699313
I wanted to watch it, but my parents insisted that we drive home from my maternal grandparents’ home as it was happening. Nor would they tune the radio to the newsfeed; they wanted to talk about something boring to my teenage mind.
Here’s something I’m glad I never encountered while driving:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ga98rDSN0TE
That’s in Russia’s Republic of Dagestan where the government has declared an agricultural disaster.