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Comic Strip of the Day

CSotD: Get off my computer, the bridge of my nose, my lawn

Published: March 11, 2014 1 minute 12 comments

Sheldon
Dave Kellett on what may be the most annoying feature of an increasingly annoying Internet. 

As it happens, I ranted about LinkedIn almost exactly a year ago. I signed up because everyone said you had to sign up, then realized there was no real point in it and tried to escape, but, like Sheldon's grandfather, I was stalked and pestered long after I had canceled and deleted my account. I had to actually contact them and demand they leave me the hell alone, which seems to have finally worked, though it took a little while.

There are people who claim to have found work through LinkedIn, but they seem to fall into two categories:

(1) People who make money by telling other people how to find jobs. Or set personal goals. Or organize their lives. These people work well with LinkedIn because they are also in the business of pretending to offer something of value which is, it turns out, mostly just annoying. 

(2) People who would have also found work without LinkedIn. When I was unemployed four years ago, I didn't make a secret of it, and I got a lead from a former colleague that didn't pan out, a freelance job from another that filled a nice gap after my unemployment ran out and then an actual job offer from a third former colleague that is now my main source of income. 

I suppose all those people may have had LinkedIn accounts, but they were also people who really knew me and the quality of my work. That's how real-world networking works, and the rest comes under the dual categories of busywork and bullshitting yourself, which are linkedin.

And speaking of Dave Kellett, he appeared with his co-conspirator, Frederick Schroeder on MSNBC, promoting "Stripped," which is about to launch:

 

As noted before, they screened the nearly-completed film at the Billy Ireland in November and it's definitely worth it if you have any interest at all in the medium. This page tells who they interviewed and it's not just an impressive list but also one that reveals the breadth of their project.

And that MSNBC interview is both informative and a hoot. The actual trailer is on the StrippedFilm.com page.

 

Speaking of pending purchases

Slow140311
I count on cartoonists like Jen Sorensen, aka, "award-winning Jen Sorensen," to keep me from slipping into complete Andy Rooney dotage, and here she throws me a fashion lifeline just two weeks before my annual eye exam, after which I will finally be ditching the "boat owner" semi-aviator frames I've had … well, probably since (multiple) award-winning Jen was wearing feet-pajamas.

Mind you, this appears to be a compendium of frames I should not choose, but that's close enough. As it happens, I had just eliminated the pundit tortoise-shells yesterday because I caught a shot of Jeff Goldblum in them and he looked like a total dork.

Actually, he looked like George Will.

Which, y'know …

I just tried to find a pic of Jeff Goldblum looking like he was about to star in a George Will biopic and discovered that he is apparently the King of Eyeglasses. If you do Google Images for Jeff Goldblum, it looks like he modeled for every unfortunate choice of frames featured in Jen's cartoon and some she didn't think of.

There are even some pics of him with no glasses at all, which means there is essentially no way to avoid looking like Jeff Goldblum.

The trick, then, is to choose the right Jeff Goldblum. Fergawdsake not the George Will one. The Fly one is better than that.

 

Juxtaposition of the Day

Rwo
(Rhymes with Orange)

Edge
(Edge City)

Actually, Edge City has been in an arc about road rage for several days, and I've been much amused. I have to admit that, while I don't flip people off or do other crazy stuff, I do keep up a running commentary that I need to remember to tone down each spring when I start opening the car windows.

There's a particular stretch of road between the center of town and the Interstate which I take to get to the dog park and which is also much used by people of what I — or, really, any competent driver who wanted to get somewhere this goddam week if you don't mind — would consider to be an overly cautious nature.

The dog keeps a fairly low profile in the back seat until we are through it, which I only noticed recently. 

Ajtv

That made me think of this A&J from 2000, but it could be worse. I mean, at least the dog isn't going to pick up any bad habits, other than perhaps cringing for no reason.

By contrast, one of my sons observed, at the age of about 12, that if a certain compound word associated with the works of Sophocles had never been invented, I probably wouldn't be able to drive at all.

He seemed to think it was pretty funny.

Eeesh. I think I'd rather he cringed.

220px-sophocles_pushkin

 

Mike Peterson has posted his "Comic Strip of the Day" column every day since 2010. His opinions are his own, but we welcome comments either agreeing or in opposition.

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Comments 12

  2. My experience with LinkedIn was simpler. Pretty much immediately after signing up, they started sending me lots of regular email, and it wasn’t long before I just started trashing it unread. It didn’t take long for the mail filter to notice that and start assuming that it was spam. I haven’t seen an email since, which was fine by me, because they really did seem more annoying than it was worth.

  3. Mark, I have not seen those in decades. And I invoke my rights under the Fifth Amendment not to say in what context I saw them then.
    Yes, Brent, I checked my spam filter to see if they were still sending me things, because that’s where they were going. But apparently the second or third angry email actually got them to stop.

  4. I tend to provoke road-rage from what I consider incompetent drivers. That is, most of the people on the road. So I am curious: what behaviours lead you to think of people as “overly cautious”?
    (The question sounds snarky, but it really isn’t. I really would like to know what people are thinking in certain situations. I’m probably going to have spend roughly $2K exploring the matter.)

  5. My daughter got a job through LinkedIn. An aquaintance of mine was looking at the LinkedIn group for my daughter’s college (she graduated in 2013) and saw my daughter, contacted me and it led to a job. Without LinkedIn, the recruiter might have thought “Oh that woman I used to be on a committee with has a daughter, I wonder how old she is and where she went to school and whether she’s looking for a job.” but she wouldn’t have followed through on such a vague idea.

  6. “Overly cautious” to me includes things like driving five miles below an already conservative speed limit, waiting until every car in sight on a very long stretch is past before making a left turn, not knowing that, while you aren’t allowed to pass a stopped school bus, you may (with caution, of course) pass a municipal bus, waiting to start at a light until you have three car lengths between you and the next car, that sort of thing.
    Decent example, SusanKatie, but given alumni magazines and Facebook groups, it could have happened other ways. And I got a call the other day from a young broker who had graduated from my alma mater and was doing some fishing. In fact, my alma mater could give LinkedIn lessons: It is harder to shake than the posse trailing Butch and Sundance.
    And happens to also be Kellett’s alma mater, come to think of it.
    So, sure, someone actively looking might want to put their name in every pot including that one, but I’d recommend using a gmail account they can then delete once they have a job.

  8. No altie designs, Jed. Those are clearly designed for mainstream cartoonists.

  9. Thank you, Sir.
    I try to observe the speed limit, no matter how conservative. I also try not to block curb cuts (driveways, parking lots, cross streets). People go around me to get to the red light (yes, it is, in fact, red) and fill in those gaps. I *really* don’t understand why.

  10. Glasses – Zenni Optical. I love ’em. Hope the plug isn’t out of line.
    I hope “overly cautious” doesn’t include using the 3 second rule on a highway at 70+ MPH. I try to leave that amount of space whenever possible and frequently have people pass me on the right to fill in that safety gap. Where they are going and why they think driving in such a manner will help them get there in significantly less time is beyond me.
    If I could have gone faster, I would have!
    Regards,
    Dann

  11. Insane drivers are a separate topic. Though, if you want to have fun, there is no 3-second rule in Montreal, and it is quite exciting to barrel down the autoroute at plus-freeway speed with four feet between you and the cars in front and behind.
    You just have to not think about the fact that, if anyone even taps their brakes, you’re all gonna die.
    Oh, and don’t tap your brakes.

  12. Really, there is no “three-second rule” any where. “Bumper-to-bumper at 80MPH” seems to be the norm just about every where in the US.

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