Grrl Power #348 – Ride the green pony
Originally I thought I’d put the PPO in Sydney’s hand since it’s red like the apple in her daydream, but I didn’t want it to look like Sydney was sticking him up or about to accidentally blow a hole in him and the building so I had to change it to the wad of paper.
I hope the advice Aurelius is giving Sydney is remotely sound. In terms of “making a living off your webcomic” I’m doing extraordinarily well (with a big thanks for all the continued support over at Patreon and from the Amazon and Paypal links) but that’s still a far cry from financial adviser territory. (There’s probably fewer than 10 webcomics that meet that bar) But I had him give some at least common sense sounding advice. I’m sure among my readers there are a few people who actually know what they’re doing when it comes to investing.
Normally I like putting (cramming) a bit more content on each page, but I knew the week I was working on this page had a camping trip planned for that weekend. I knew I wouldn’t get any work done for the 3 days on the trip and it happened to work out that I could do this page with Sydney slowly zoning out while Aurelius talked about money, which was slightly less work than usual.
Here’s the link to the new comments highlighter for chrome, and the GitHub link which you can use to install on FireFox via Greasemonkey.
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"Mature"Mature subject matter and occasionally something explicit but usually safe. Can't guarantee the ads are safe though.
Dongs Ahoy!Full frontal and backal. Lots of skin, sex on some or all pages, explicit or otherwise.
Cute horsie :D
That must be the fastest “first” comment ever. I’m guessing you’re an eBay sniper as well…
*Ka-click*
Nope, just luck: was actually watching “Bludgeoning Angel Dokuro-Chan” and thought would have been too late
PIPIRUPIRUPIPIRUPIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!
Yup, that’s the one! :D
Was directed to it in an Anime Thread on the DCUO forums (no warning about what happened within the first 80 seconds of the first episode though o_O)
I found that entire anime delightfully hilarious. At one point I had the theme song memorized and would often randomly shout Pi Piru Piru Pi Piru Pi just to confuse people. But yeah, I had no warning on the series either. Still, after some of the anime I had watched before that, I wasn’t horribly shocked. Go watch Angel Sanctuary sometime. That’ll make you grow up fast.
Just a shame it was only 12 episodes long :(
‘Fun violence’ (like in “BADC”) is okay, but don’t like ‘violent violence’
Suck a Raccoon is going to have a nervous breakdown before he graduates high school :P
His reaction will be interesting when she brings up her comic shop.
how dus he not already know with her very high prophile super powerd ad in the middle of what must be the most watched press conference in history?
Maybe he was working and doesn’t watch the news?
The TV station would have aired the clip of the press conference several times during the day & evening. Chances are that he probably would have seen it after getting home from work. If he’s good at his job, he’ll try to catch the news often, as many events WILL have some kind of effect on the portfolios his clients hold.
Keep in mind that we have already seen two people with no damn clue about yesterday. Its entirely possible he didnt bother to watch the press conference because that has nothing to do with his job and he already knew what it was supposed to be about. He is a financial adviser, not a stock analyst, he doesnt need to be glued to the news looking for any advantage possible.
Yup, financial advice never changes
Noting that Aurelius DID mention “collectors items” as a valid form of investment.
Be most interesting to see how much his perspective on this differs from Sydney’s. I kind of suspect that detailed discussion on the matter will be a major eye-opener for both.
Yes, ‘collectors items’ is always sound advice, what those items may be changes from generation to generation
Anyone want to buy some Beanie Babies?
Anyone wanna buy some ultimate rare 1st edition yu-gi-oh cards?
that’s be an awesome pic, Halo with Yugi-oh hair streaks (and outfit, modified slightly)
Yea a financial advisor that misses news like the President declaring war on cheap electricity in the name of global warming might have been recommending the energy sector, which was one of the few bright spots of the US economy despite his efforts.
Sydney and collector’s items? Yeah, I can see that work.
That’s what the second floor of the shop really is: Sydney’s “investments”.
Sydney: Hey, Joel! With all the business we are getting now, we could clear out some of the crap, er, collectibles we have in storage up there. And you thought we’d never be able sell all those Green Lantern DVDs. Hmm, where did I put the Superfriends Beta tapes?
Joel: We only got the GL crap ’cause they were bundled with those JLU disks. Hey, when did we get a copy of Detective #1 or is this a reprint?
Sydney: Oh, that’s an original. A lady walked in with it and I got it for a song.
Joel: With your singing, she gave it to you just to shut you up.
Oh no! A link to a new-to-me web comic: I feel the siren call of an archive binge pulling me in.
You evil man you.
I read it. It was really good to start with, but then it got a bit stale and old. He really tried to push an “idealistic” solution to everything, which sounds good, until it is in every story-arc.
Loving how her pupil slowly expanded in panels two and three, and then her iris retracted to a point in the last panel :D
Oops! Meant panels three and four :(
Gawd that name.
Lovely, isn’t it? Recognize a few of the names, but some are new (to me), namely ‘Ixion Roach Ruin Shadowfax’
Ixion is a FFX summon (https://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Ixion)
Ixion is from final fantasy, Roach witcher, Ruin darksiders, Shadowfax lord of the rings
Ixion is also a person from Greek mythology, who in a very roundabout way, was the father of the centaur race.
Haven’t played FFX in years, haven’t played Witcher or Darksiders, but should have recognized Shadowfax but wasn’t sure about that one :(
Epona is from Legend of Zelda (as well as being the Celtic goddess of horses). And yeah, would have loved a Shadowmere & Binky in there as well, possibly a Joshua (or more politely Susan). Trouble is, the given name barely fits in the space, if everyone adds their favourite missed horse, There’s need to be another panel to name it :-).
Yes, knew that one (haven’t played but have read a few webics that mentioned it)
Ixion is also the name of the time-traveling train from Dark Cloud 2.
Needs a “Binky” in there :3
Even slipping in Seabuscuit could help.
Somewhat disappointed in Sydney for not fitting a “Shadowmere” in there somehow.
Blame DaveB for not having the room :P
He should have fitted in ‘Phar Lap’ as well :(
She has to have names left over for the second horse……..just saying.
Can’t forget “Agro!”
How can Shadowfax be new?
Said ‘new to me’, and forgot about ‘Shadowfax’
You could have used the mystery Green for a Granny Smith, or the TeleOrb for a Golden Delicious (or that new lemonade apple)
Actually, yellow gives her true-sight, so might actual break her internal illusion. Mind you, she might start going “Sword of Omens, grant me Sight Beyond Sight”. Nah, she has probably already done that.
Just holding it doesn’t automatically activate it
Better to stay away from the orbs altogether. Even if she grabs a ‘non-leathal’ one if she gets in the habit of grabbing them in her fantasies too often then there grows the chance of her grabbing the wrong one or someone thinking she is grabbing to attack and reacting appropriately.
Also, she hasn’t had her orbs so openly about her that often so her daydreams wouldn’t include using them as props.
Is this one of those meetings where I just sign the paper and hope nothing bad happens? Also, when do we get those fancy paperclips and odd shaped stress balls? I’m only interested in those.
It’s generally not a good idea to deliberately and casually screw over an entity that can shoot a hole through an aircraft carrier.
And slice through a tank “like butta”…
Yes, that’s actually a direct quote from the comic itself.
I was gonna say… :D Sydney might not be intrinsically intimidating, but her boss sure is, and Max strikes me as the type to look after her people in a no-nonsense, no evidence remaining kinda way!
Tried to find that song (‘Ride The Green Pony’) but found a painted pony instead
Well, that a horse of a different color…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lN75xqpqCGE
“Ride a painted pony, let the spinning wheel tu-r-r-rn…”
Wonder how many people know what’s being referenced?
Gambling, of course
A carousel actually…
Anyone else wanting to see Sydney’s outfit in panel five?
yes….yes i do
I’m sure we’ll see it when Syd shows everyone around her new … castle !?
next month’s “vote incentive” is decided!!!
Yes. All the yes.
Glad to see I’m not the only one :D
Shouldn’t Sydney just use the money to get some help for that ADD of hers?
What, you mean more drugs? There is no cure for it
You talk like thats a simple thing to deal with. you don’t just chug meds and have done with things like ADD. despite what Americans thinks.
But the agency has some really advanced stuff there. Which reminds me – why won’t Dabbler make a cyber leg for Peggy?
It has been explained: Dabbles. doesn’t. trust. humans. with. her. tech!
That and Peggy would strike me as the sort of person to refuse special treatment that would be useful to all Vets just because she happens to have contacts they don’t
Yes, that too
For that matter, having just *one* cyber leg limits what you can do with it. Or maybe Peggy would rather wait twenty years, then get a new leg grown thanks to super-tech spin-offs. Heck, Peggy might have decided that having to keep using a regular prosthetic leg would be less annoying than spending six months to two years learning how to use a new cyber leg. Could be a bunch of reasons, in other words.
True. If you give someone a cyber leg and don’t calibrate it to match her natural strength and speed, the first time she runs with it, it’s going to rip itself off. The best way to go would be to replace both legs and augment the hips as well.
See, that’s the thing a lot of people don’t consider about the Six Million Dollar Man. He only has ONE bionic arm, and they never said they reinforced his spine or shoulders, so how does he pick up and throw cars? Realistically speaking, he shouldn’t be able to. Without an augmented spine, he’d get a compression fracture of the spinal cord.
Read the original books. “A man barely alive”, they rebuilt most of his body from scratch including large portions of his skeleton. A few details that differ from the TV series, his bionic eye is a camera, he can’t see with it. Also since he’s only a head, torso and one arm, he’s got a oxygen system inside his body and can stay underwater for nearly an hour.
Right. That’s the novels (which I haven’t been able to find, unfortunately). I was referring solely to the TV series (which I am aware was quite different).
Yeah, the novel that was based on (“Cyborg,” Martin Caidin) was somewhat more realistic about Austin’s abilities.
Somewhat.
Well as to the dabbles doens’t trust humans bit, if she is building the leg froms cratch specifically for Peggy, she would have the ability as its engineer to decide exactly what is in it and more importantly, what is NOT in the leg.
And what’s to stop some other human from nicking the leg after a nasty battle (or the reason for the battle) and retro-engineering it to learn some of the secrets: that’s why Dabbles doesn’t let anyone get her stuff (Harem will find out that the Tickle-gun was a boob-trap soon enough)
Because she wouldn’t put anything in it that would be worth retro-engineering in the first place beyond miniaturization? And nerve impulse readers, gotta have those to make it work. But still, just wouldn’t be worth it to have a battle just to get a cyber leg. Plus, mammary trap it to burn out if Peggy doesn’t key a code to take it off.
And what happens if Peggy forgets the code? Or simply to enter the code?
Dabbles like them, but she doesn’t trust humans with her stuff, and as long as they don’t ask then there is no conflict or hurt feelings
Doesn’t matter how advanced they are. mental health is not something you can “fire and forget” drugs at to make better.
as someone who has ADHD himself, i can say that it’s even more complex than that, since it’s a combination of mental health and a metabolic disfunction in the brain (dunno if I used the right word, guess someone will correct me if I didn’t….) And since so little is known about the actual workings inside the human brain, most “helpful” medication available right now generally turns you into an emotionless humanoid ice cube, gives you serious headaches, or something else which is very annoying/uncomfortable (at least in my personal experience).
My wife was bipolar (type 2) literally her whole life…I can seriously vouch that truth about how little drugs can really help an incurable problem like that. And don’t forget that most drugs have serious side-effects (admittedly rare, but dangerous or lethal); the prescribing doctor has to carefully judge both drug & dosage to every individual patient & there’s no certainty of getting it right.
…A little follow-up info about what I mean:
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=dangerous+drug+side+effects
I think the BIG logical flaw is the notion that a drug “returns the mind to a normal function level”. which is A) ignorant as hell and B) an impossible thing to quantify
Firstly, I said “get some help”. I didn’t say “get some drugs”
Secondly, Why did you immediately think and assume that my comment is about taking drugs?
hmm, yes, that you did.
Because it’s kinda the standard reaction of any (western medicine) Doctor to prescribe drugs/pills/medicine/whatever-you-wanna-call-it to someone with mental health issues (again, only my personal experience so far), and thus it’s become the standard expectation of most people. I dunno if it’s different in other cultures….
i mean: yes, you did say “get some help”, not the other thingie
Okay, what sort of non-drug help were you thinking of? And remember, there is no cure!
Hmmm…
Dunno. The first thing that comes to mind is somewhere on the lines behavioral conditioning. But that’s just me.
Surprisingly enough, there’s actually some evidence that reading a lot can temper the effects of ADD/ADHD. As someone who actually has ADHD, I can use anecdotal evidence to support the supposition. When I was in school, I was diagnosed with pretty bad ADHD (at the time, just lumped under the hyperactive label).
With that said, I read on average 50+ books a year (mostly non-fiction, educational stuff). I’m getting ready to turn 42 tomorrow, and for the most part, most people don’t realize I even have ADHD. Unless they know me well and can spot me getting distracted, it’s usually not even an issue anymore.
Same here (except a year older) but stopped reading books because they tended to make me angry reading about some of the things that were happening (specially to the female characters) and not being able to do anything (this was after “Number Of The Beast” and ‘learning’ how they are not ‘just’ books but a portal into other worlds, same with TV and movies)
By the way, hope you have a great day for the anniversary of your escape from the Womb :D
ADHD is basically caused by the brain working…differently. I strongly suspect that it has, traditionally, been either advantageous, or it is the side effect of a set of traits that offer significant advantages to their possessors. Either way, it is caused by something in how the brain itself is wired, and the only real way for Sydney to treat it is to have a business partner and/or secretary to serve as a sort of auxiliary brain–somebody to keep her organized, so she can function.
Hey, wait a minute…that sounds like Joel!
“I strongly suspect that it has, traditionally, been either advantageous, or it is the side effect of a set of traits that offer significant advantages to their possessors”
hmm…
sooo many generations ago we did not had cities and walls, and had to deal with wild animals on a daily basis. not hearing a twig being cracked (or whatever the appropriate word) could mean that you would be eaten by a wolf or a mountain lion…
i call that “an outdated software”
there is no KNOWN cure, at most.
even if its not a permanent fix it is still somewhat of a help.
Just because we don’t know one, doesn’t mean there isn’t one at all.
and chad can suppress it apparently.
To end it, its a web comic, WITH SUPER POWERS!!! some of which are surely capable of affecting one’s brain functions.
Bah, screwed up those quotation tags but good…
The addiction I really need to drop is women, ciggies are far healthier.
Several orders of magnitude cheaper, too :D
if you said that few years ago i would disagree but now… damn…
have you heard of “scum manifesto”?
and then there are the less extreme but still dangerous rape accusers.
i am not saying all the women are like that, but if you are in america, its like walking in the minefield. even worse its spilling out and spreading in the Europe too!
Oberon, your comments make me think of this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zEFzqBiduw.
Despite the humour, it is unfortunate (at least in the United States) this has become a very real and very large problem.
I heard the comedian Gallagher phrase it quite aptly: “When someone you love is having trouble, drug ’em.” Sad, but true.
It’s not even really a new phenomenon…It’s already been a widely-recognized problem in society for a few decades at least.
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=dangerous+drug+side+effects
Check this one out.
https://youtu.be/eSdNMRtvq5g
Just a new version of snake oil, really.
Don’t worry, they are targeting sugar and salt next as the next ‘evil addiction that must be purged’
Next thing you know, they’ll be fighting against the addiction of breathing air…
>:-(
Can remember when they first used the other chemical compound formula for water, the out cry and calls for it to be banned (or at least federally regulated)
First was back in 1983, the most well known was from 1994. It’s still circulating and showing up in legislative circles from time to time.
https://www.dhmo.org/facts.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dihydrogen_monoxide_hoax
I’m not a big fan of medication. The list of prescription drugs I’ve taken in my life is blood thinners for a couple months after a certain medical issue, and nothing else. I don’t even take painkillers – I take tylenol to keep down a fever when I’m sick and that’s about it, ever.
That said, I don’t really think it’s productive to think of meds or pharma companies attacking society. The real problem is people not wanting to take responsibility for their own problems, and accusing other people of malevolence is just as much a symptom of that as overmedicating is. The motives of other people who you don’t have strong cause to trust are generally irrelevant to the way you live your life, and if they aren’t, then you’re probably in need of a lifestyle change anyway, IMO.
Personal responsibility is very important. But offering a ‘medicine’ to treat, just as an example, restless leg syndrome, which may have as one of many side effects death, is irresponsible. And RLS is often caused by another medication, and so now we have a cascade of medicines and issues:
Medicine A to treat issue X;
Medicine B to treat issue Y, a side effect of medicine A;
Medicine C to treat issue Z, a side effect of medicine B;
Death.
@Oberon:
I need to take issue with this – where is this mandated? Surely the directors have a responsibility to the corporation, not its shareholders. This is the legal obligation in the UK, for example.
Company bosses might want us to confuse the two concepts (because they are usually major shareholders), but there’s no need for us to play along.
Some writers consider this idea to be a major problem.
I find the article you linked to be a fanciful opinion piece, not based in fact. Look at some of what it says:
Note that the line of reasoning here is completely concerned with “guides prepared for directors of corporations prepared by law firms and other experts.” Guides, not actual law. The actual law differs from this opinion, as I will detail.
Another quote:
That statement is utter bullshit. Many companies/corporations go through one of the several forms of bankruptcy. Most do it to preserve shareholder value as much as possible. Prosecutions resulting from going through bankruptcy are typically limited to those cases where the prosecuted officer(s) of the company were engaged in activities such as embezzlement.
The smallest amount of research can provide you with a far more complete answer than I can. Try this.
Citations of law:
eBay v. Newmark
And here’s one on Wikipedia, Revlon, Inc. v. MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings, Inc.
Here you might argue that the circumstances are described as being limited. I’d respond that while they are so described, there is an example given for when this fiduciary responsibility must be exercised, there is no example at all given for when it may be ignored.
I could go on, but the point is made and you may do your own research from here on.
I’ll agree, if this is also your position, that litigation concerning the legal obligation to preserve shareholder value is not terribly prevalent. You typically won’t find a company being sued for some form of charitable donation, for example, even though it could be argued that this is a direct reduction of shareholder value. And the reason is because it’s too easy for the company to claim that this is simply another form of marketing of their brand, which hopes to return more profits than it cost to fund, just as an advertising budget also hopes. But that does not mean that the legal obligation does not exist.
Thanks! Interesting info.
You are correct. But, IMHO, that is the (flawed) opinion of one judge in one jurisdiction. There are other parties with legitimate interests: customers, the company’s own R&D, employees, and the wider public interest (such as public health) – shareholder value should not trump everything else.
If it really does, then the only way to account for these other interests would be stronger laws to force corporations into line. I doubt those that advocate this position want that.
Actually, he’s right about the shareholders. Corporations exist solely for the benefit of their stockholders, the directors job is to ensure that the company acts in a way that maximizes share value for the owners. How well they do this tends to vary.
Which of course makes perfect sense. People don’t pool their money into a business out of the goodness of their hearts, they’re looking for returns. Expecting anything else is ridiculous.
One of the problems with drug research is they often make a drug to do one thing and in researching it discover a side effect that becomes the real prescription reason for it. Viagra was made as a heart drug but as they ran clinical trials they discovered it was not better than what is already on the market for hearts but also the side effect it is prescribed for now.
Penicillin was discovered by accident, as are most of these minor effect drugs.
So, there’s generally exactly one reasonable set of advice for investments, _especially_ for new investors, but it applies to basically everybody. This is common knowledge among any savvy silicon valley tech employee. Basically, you invest 100% in low-cost index funds, like this “Gone Fishin'” portfolio:
https://www.investmentu.com/content/detail/gone-fishin-index-fund-portfolio
Planning like that works up to at least ~$30M USD in assets. (I don’t know anybody who has more, so I don’t know if they do the same thing or something different). Trying to play the market any other way almost inevitably ends up with you giving a lot of your money to high-frequency traders who make a few cents off every trade or to your mutual funds by way of high fees.
Still say, the best, and safest (both being ‘relative’ terms), is to put the money into a bank, preferably one that doesn’t charge you for the privilege
A bank is good up to about 250k in the US. The FDIC doesn’t pay more than that of the bank fails. When you’ve got more than that a passive index fund of some sort has better return on investment and is marginally safer.
You really shouldn’t trade regularly since everyone charges fees and odds are you’ll sell low and buy high. The only exception I know of is fields you know well without relying on private information.
I’d only invest in companies I care about really, unless I had some idea that my metallurgist company was about to create adamantium. Other than that, I’d “invest” in people. But then that’s my “giving a shit” acting up again and keeping me from having the gobs of cash to do anything substantial.
It’s safe, again up to the FDIC insured amount, but it’s far, far from the best. Any investment advisor who can’t get you at least ten times what any bank will pay in interest on a simple savings account isn’t worth retaining. And even shopping CD rates (which is a huge pain in the ass, as there is always a bank offering an “introductory rate” which lasts between 3 months and a year and then plummets. You’ve got to be constantly shopping and making sure that any CD coming to term is cashed out and moved) won’t bring you half of what a competent advisor can and should.
The investment house I use pulls in ~10-18% for me annually, and my bank pays me something like 0.03% on checking and something still less than 1% on savings. I pretty much maintain the savings account only to make all my transactions free, eliminate the $30 annual fee for the safe deposit box, etc. They offer some vehicles which provide higher rates but have penalty points which I’ve managed to cross in the past, wiping out all benefits and even putting me behind, so I no longer bother with those.
no, because banks pay horrible interest- barely anything at all these days.
a decent whole life policy pay around 8.75% these days, and you can set them up with a ranged interest tied to stocks- so that if the market goes up between 0-15% you get the interest, but it will never go negative.
for a new investor, any managed investment where the company only gets paid a percentage of the profits you make (and NOT on fees) is a good plan
Don’t give a crap about the interest, just want the money to be safe
Artax Ixion Roach Epona Ruin Shadowfax Sleipnir Sparkle Ed, Esquire
A.I.R.E.R.S.S.E., E.
This was supposed to be its own comment.
Banks usually pay interest at or below the rate of inflation. Which means you could actually lose money by keeping in the bank long term.
Very good advice.
Sydney should start by investing in the 401(k) offered through work, if they offer one. Not only is there sometimes a small company match of 1-5%, which is free money, but it’s all tax deferred. That lowers your taxable income, which is always a good thing. Then she can start thinking about other investments, and low load index and mutual funds diversified amongst small cap, large cap, and foreign markets. That way a hit in one sector doesn’t hurt your entire portfolio, and you can adjust and recover over time. Notice how gold was almost untouched in the latest market adjustment?
And it was largely an adjustment, despite all the whinging about concerns over China and whatever. The market overall has been in a bit of a bubble for a long while now, and it might (some would say ‘should’) see similar adjustment in the near term. As long as you’re not approaching retirement historically these kinds of fluctuations are not horrible things. As you approach retirement you start shifting from high(er) risk investments to low(er) risk investments, because you have both less time to recover and less ability to recover if your income is significantly reduced by exiting the workplace.
For higher than that invest like Warren Buffet and buy property from the govt via corrupt or incompetent govt workers. Or even better like George Soros who paid $33 million to support rioters for the Ferguson liquor store robber to be a distraction from his activities, most of his earnings came from making money off things being destroyed/degraded.
The best financial advice I’d ever gotten was to use four weeks of income for my monthly budget, not 1/12th of my yearly income. The difference between the two is my “crap happens” fund. If crap doesn’t happen for three years, move it into a mutual fund that provides lots of dividends.
The second best financial advice was never to take a personal loan on anything except a house and a car. Anything else, if I don’t have the money, then I don’t need it.
Thanks, Dad. :)
Yup, it’s something mum taught us as kids: if we can’t afford to pay cash, it’s not that terribly important (not counting medical emergencies, but fortunately how medical system is fairly good, two members of the family have had cancer surgery within a year of each other, and no bills)
Credit has a place. If you can borrow $100,000 at any reasonable interest rate and open a business that makes $30,000 more per year than you would make at another job, then it is well worth taking on the debt.
Loans to start up a business it not the same thing as using a credit card to pay for a $90 pair of shoes where the interest is more than you can afford on the repayments to the card
Sound advice there. Have just started using the four-weeks rule myself, these past two months. so far, so good
In the modern (UK) educational climate, I’d be sorely tempted to say personal loans only for house, car and university. (Oh, and credit cards for rent when life gets really mucked up – but i guess that comes under ‘housing’)(Although, I assume your Dad meant a mortgage). But, really, we just need to fix the funding system for universities.
While always happy to see Tolkien’s Shadowfax, I am sad his more educated xkcd form Shadowfacts got missed :p
And just to get recursive, did you know that Tolkien probably named Shadowfax after an even cooler horse called Freyfax, from one of the Icelandic sagas (Hrafnkel’s Saga)? #Shadowfaxfacts…
Tolkien treated Anglo Saxon, Icelandic & Norse literature much like we’d treat a buffet. “Oh, that looks nice, I’ll have some of that, and some of that, ooh can’t leave those behind”.
Mind you, he didn’t actually rip anything off, just used it for names and starting points (including the famous “Where is the horse and the rider” line). As a case in point I’m told if you look through the Icelandic sagas you can find the names of all twelve dwarves (and Gandalf) from the Hobbit.
yep, ‘gandalf’ is literally Old Norse for the ‘magical elf’ – gandr being a type of spoken magic, and ‘Alf’ (like in Old English) being ‘elf’.
The dwarves are in the poetic Edda rather than the sagas, if I recall, in a scene where Odin gets set between two fires for nine days, and ends up reciting a lot of lore and then destroying the human who imprisoned him as punishment. Even though it was his wife, Frigg (yep, it’s named after her), who tricked the mortal into imprisoning him in the first place. Frigg. Always. Wins.
Other useful things: all the wizards are based on different elements of Odin’s personality (excluding the film version of Radagast. which do not get me started on), and Mordor, judging by Tolkien’s own sketches, are based on architecture from Birmingham…
All authors are prolific lifters from the culture they work in, yes. and Tolkien was a medievalist whose work in the field is still of great significance. His “Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics” article, redefined the field and remains influential to this day.
What’s with chicks and horses?
No comment (just don’t google ‘horse dongs’)
You had to go there? ಠ_ಠ
Of course :D
Just don’t expect me to go with you.
PHAH! Girls like riding horses for the same reason they like riding motorcycles: A.It is fun, and B. It is a giant vibrator (See A). I know this, because I grew up in an area where many girls raised and rode horses, and they used to talk about which “gaits” were their favorites in front of my poor teenage virgin ears, just to watch me blush.
Okay, seriously, I’m starting to suspect you guys are messing with me!
Can any actual women confirm any of this!?
The placement of the two names, Sleipnir Sparkle… DaveB, do you read the Infinite Loops?
Not familiar with that, no.
Sleipnir makes me think of Girl Genius, no idea why she was a minor character in that.
Sleipnir is Odin’s 6-legged horse
8-legged.
Another fun page!
My only complaint is that it is sort of a stereotypical girly thing to want a horse. I mean, what’s next – when she goes on that spending spree will she buy lots and lots of shoes?
True about the shoes as stereotype not reflecting reality. In mine and my girlfriend’s house shoes and boots belonging to me outnumber hers by exactly 3 to 2. I counted. It was pretty easy, as I only have three pairs.
That said, I’ve been with her for twelve years, so tend to extrapolate from her specific behaviour what a stereotypical female would do…
Not just a girly thing, plenty of guys would love to own a racehorse, or a battle horse, or Mister Ed
You don’t own friends.
Maybe YOU don’t.
So you support slavery then do ya? If you it’s wrong to own a human how can you own a four legged person and call it your friend? Friends aren’t kept in cages or on leashes or in barns or behind electric fences.
I have two cats and I’d love to let them roam if it wasn’t for the fact that humans are monsters…….and my youngest is happier inside where the entire planet can’t eat him and his shadow has a hard time creeping up on him. My eldest is a lil escape artist, tho he prefers that I go out with him so he can play tag. He tried running completely outside once, but he just couldn’t figure out that the glass door was closed. That was entertaining.
*sigh* You are ruining it for all of us sociopaths out here! Why, some of my best friends are currently chained up in my secret room in my basement. Or have I been watching too many episodes of “Criminal Minds”?
Dude, thats just WRONG, secret rooms are for wives.
and for yanderes to hold their sempai in there…
or for a random rogue to hold a gem polisher slave in there. (don’t really expect anyone to get it)
Wouldn’t be ‘owning’ Mister Ed of course of course, but giving him food and lodgings (he still has to pay rent though)
Going by what I recall of ‘Mister Ed’ from TV, he is a far worse pain in the @$$ than Sheldon Cooper could ever be, and certainly a lot less productive.
At least Ed is easier to ignore :p
Not by much.
Every tomboy I know (all two of them) likes horses.
my neice has 5 pairs of shoes crammed under the computer atm. She is also wearing a pair, and has a couple in her closet. My mom has im not sure how many, its been awhile since I checked since I dont much care about that sort of thing, but I know its more than three pairs. Meanwhile I have a pair of sloppy old boots I wear for general use, and a pair of nice boots for work.
Well, dude here and I’ve got 4 pairs of shoes. Not counting the sandals, or the water shoes (that I never wear).
But that’s partly because I have heavy work work shoes, slightly dressy work shoes, and a crappy pair of sneakers I bought at the discount shoe store that I should probably just throw away. Shoes I actually wear by choice are the hiking boots or the sandals.
Or, no shoes whenever I can get away with it. Does that count as a form of footwear?
Oh yeah, and also slippers that I wear at night so I don’t step in the juicy hairballs/cat barf in the hallway.
Sydney doesn’t do a lot of stereotypically girly things, let her have this one. :)
Don’t worry DaveB, you’ve already well established she’s a MLP fan…so extrapolating that to loving Horses in general is no stretch… And Sydney can claim the BRO side of the argument if she wants to…
Leaving out the “stereotypically girly” end of the argument, horses have been a sign of ‘having money’ since pretty much forever so it only makes sense that it would at least pass through someone’s head if they suddenly came into a large sum.
Then account for how many things we *didn’t* see go through her head, and this probably wasn’t even the most ridiculous.
She also hasn’t yet realized that unless she buys (at the very least) a house with a big, fenced-in yard, she would have nowhere to keep the horse unless there were stables for rent in the area where she lives.
Remember, she lives in an apartment (for now, anyway). Some landlords don’t mind cats, dogs, birds, fish, or even reptiles, but as far as I’m aware, most of them draw the line at horses. ;-)
“horses have been a sign of ‘having money’ since pretty much forever”
yes and they still are, although “modern” people prefer mechanical ones, preferable held in an beautiful casing of a known mark. for example”ferrari”.
well, if i was to make a guess its because when they ride horses that can better fantasize about being princesses or something? or if male knights in shining armour.
alright… is there anything to say that wont make me look like an asshole..
i can’t think of anything… well, i guess that’s it for now.
Horse would be amazing?
I see what you did there.
It would have been funnier if she was trying to “feed” him the Flight orb, and was slightly floating in the air while daydreaming.
Sooo……Cowboy bebop fan then? ;-)
Apparently riding a horse is like sex for women…
Even more so if they don’t ride side-saddle…
She wants to ride him………
The financial advise is perfectly fine. Personally I would add have him advise Sydney to buy some gold, silver, platinum or something like that, just so you have something material that definitely won’t lose its worth. You see, dollars are only worth something as long as someone is willing to accept them as payment, while gold etc. on the other hand has an economic value, because there is a demand for it for various technical devices (or tooth crowns). And they are not as risky as collector’s items, because a collector’s item’s value also depends on what other would pay for it.
But stocks are fine, just so long as you know what you’re doing. DON’T GAMBLE!!! There are BIG players out there who definitely won’t lose to you. They have computer programs that do about 1 Billion transactions per second and they are hoarding fantastillions of Dollars. You WILL lose against them. You can buy stocks from big companies from whom you know that they are profitable and then keep the stocks for a few decades, so your money will be safe (because the $ is NOT safe). You will profit in the long run from stocks if you keep them for that long as long as the company doesn’t go bankrupt.
Also it was VERY good of you that you had him tell Sydney to clear any debts and credit cards first, because apparently a lot of Americans have those things (which are essentially parasites if you are lazy at paying the debts) and go bankrupt sooner or later. So you are being a very good role model for all of your readers.
Penny stocks are usually fun if nothing else.
No, gold (and even diamonds) only have value because greedy sods have put a value on it (it’s one reason the Pre-Columbus South Americans got wiped out by the Spanish: they had no value for gold or silver other than as a nice metal to work with, but the Spanish were filled with greed for the other-wise inferior metal)
You DO realize that gold & silver have real industrial value to them, right? They are very good electrical conductors & have other useful properties that go far beyond mere “perceived value.”
Yes, they do now, but just look at what happens to old copper pipes and wiring
They get stolen by tweakers looking to sell it as scrap to fund their next drug fix?
I suspect that Silver probably is a better investment than Gold. There’s less interest in keeping the price inflated, for one thing. Plus, Gold tends to be what EVERYBODY grabs when things get tough, to sell off when the price is good..
Investing in precious metals is the financial equivalent of sticking your head in the sand. Many financial vehicles will pay you dividends for owning them, with gold you have to pay someone to guard it. Sure, gold has a use in industrial applications. But in most applications that gold is used, copper works just as well. Gold’s price is based solely on its rarity and its perceived value, not its industrial utility.
Furthermore, many people believe gold will retain some worth in a doomsday scenario. If society has collapsed, and people are scrambling to survive, your stocks will become valueless. But so will gold. You can’t eat gold. It makes lousy tools. There won’t be much electricity for it to conduct. You can’t build anything with it. And if I’m in survival mode, I have nearly zero need for ornamentation. If I’m not willing to trade you a chicken for dollars, what makes you think I’m willing to trade a chicken for gold?
Don’t think I know what I’m talking about?
My link got left off the last post. Here it is. https://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-buffet-thinks-investing-in-gold-is-stupid-2013-04-18
The doomsday scenario people plan with gold is the tribe, that Martin Luther wrote a book about financial scams in the 1500s that still happen today, destroying economies to buy hard assets which is most of history. If Soros does to the dollar what he did to the British pound when it was reserve currency you can buy stuff like the banking tribe if you have gold.
“You can’t build anything with it.”
you can… its just it may not last very long.
Could’ve made it a green or yellow apple instead, perhaps. We don’t even know what the green orb does!
…or would that have been equally bad and is that a hint? O:
Two words.
Charles Schwab.
The second I got my backpay from the VA for 7 years of waiting to get something for my honorable medical discharge. The first thing I did is follow my mom’s millionaire boyfriends advice.
Honestly if you can get at least 8k to invest that’s a good start. But at 21k, they can have professionals invest for you. In a 3 yr period I went from 23k to 45k. And honestly. If you just leave it be till retirement, it’s a good way to get a good retirement fund started, or at least a little nest egg (in 40 yrs (when I hit retirement age)). And the more you put in, over time the more it’ll grow.
So yes. Mutual Funds, and Investment Banking is a sound idea. And also not blowing it on weekly parties, a fleet new expensive cars, mansions, or highly expensive disposable income is a good way to not end up destitute [I actually read that on a cracked article. On a group of people who studied why so many lottery winners end up poor again after winning large sums of money a few years ago.]
Sorry. 5 years [2006 to 2011. Felt like 7 though XD. I’m actually glad that it was only 5, and not any longer than that. That would’ve sucked so bad.]
I have to agree wholeheartedly on the “paying off your credit cards” part, I finally managed to do that last year after carrying tens of thousands for years, and it’s been incredibly liberating. From now on nothing goes on the cards that I don’t have the cash to cover, and if I can’t cover it, I wait till I save up enough to do so. The scariest part about big debt like that is when you lose your job and have to choose how to spend your unemployment: make a credit card payment or pay your rent.
Paying off credit card debt is like getting a raise. I did it once and it was amazing, and I never put anything on credit cards anymore unless it’s an emergency or something I know I can pay off right away.
I’ve had to do it twice (the first time was poor fiscal management, the second time was a whole load of emergencies that hit me all at once). I’m currently debt-free – in fact, one of my credit card companies owes me money – and I intend to stay that way this time. The only thing I put on credit cards anymore is gas for the car, and I pay that off every month.
What about online purchases, like MMO subscriptions or e-shopping? Don’t those require credit cards?
Debt cards are almost identical to credit cards, except they pull the funds directly from your bank account and don’t charge interest. (Though there may be a flat service fee.)
GUYS! GUYS! If we’re only $20 from the $3,500 patreon goal!!!
But Unknown Orb #2 is Red!
…
(WHEN ARE WE GONNA FIND OUT WHAT THOSE DO!?)
We already did: it resets time to before she needed to use it
if she needs it, it most likely already too late, so no. that wont work.
Even the detailing on the glove. THAT is some deep-immersion say-dreaming. Loving it.
*day-dreaming
Is it me or do the advisor and the horse have the eye color? Which is a very nice shade of brown, so I can’t blame Sydney for borrowing it for her daydream.
That… was the point :D
From Dave’s Under-the-Comic Blog: “…I thought I’d put the PPO in Sydney’s hand…”
Good choice, says I…Since Mr. Shrapnell has no super powers, let alone any above-human invulnerabilities, he’d probably start running & screaming (assuming that he knew what the RED orb does).
As such, his next consultation with Sydney would probably take place in the looney bin (she’s already demonstrated the willingness to “go looney-tunes” on someone, as Anvil & Vehemence can attest) while Sydney’s in a straight-jacket, unable to hold any of her orbs at all. She did say that she has “the odd spark of clarity,” but as we’ve seen already, her sparks of clarity are pretty odd.
Odder than that other Spark, Agatha Heterodyne? Heh, who knew that ‘Heterodyne’ was already in the spell-checker? o_O
Heterodyne is a real word, not just something Foglio made up.
It’s in there because “heterodyne” is actually a thing, as opposed to something they made up for the comic because it sounded cool.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heterodyne
Did not know that, thank you
Yeah its kinda crazy how many people dont think about paying off their debts first. Instead its all about what fantastic exotic item they can splurge on first. That has always been my dream plan if I ever won the lotto. Pay off all my immediate family’s debts THEN work on buying cool stuff for myself. (By cool stuff I mean a decent house I can pay off, and a brand new vehicle) Then work on investing it properly.
Paid off my debts 5 years ago. It was a very freeing moment. It is amazing how much more money one has, when one is willing to live within one’s means.
its no longer july we need a new vote incentive :)
This first paycheck is not going to last long…
No worries Dave. I’d say the advice Aurelius is giving Sydney is very sound.
I take it she was one of those girls that never got the pony she wanted.
Artax Ixion Roach Epona Ruin Shadowfax Sleipnir Sparkle Ed, Esquire
A.I.R.E.R.S.S.E., E.
The only quibble I would have is that, mutual funds are a good bet, but the safest and most secure investment is *indexed* mutual funds. If the market tanks you still lose money, but that’s true with any investment. Time and again, studies have found that the micromanaging finance types can’t reliably break even against the indexed mutual funds. Sure, you occasionally get really great years, but those gains are inevitably offset by tremendous losses in the long run. Unless you’re a multi-billionaire or something, it’s very difficult to beat the markets with any level of persistence.
Basically, when you’re investing, you want the risk adjusted rate of return on your investments to exceed the interest rate on any debt you possess. If you financed a house at extremely low interest rates, you’d probably be better off keeping that mortgage and instead investing in low risk securities.
Typically, the savvy route is to use a combination of indexed mutual funds and treasury bonds. Treasury bonds have pretty abyssal rates of return right now, but they’re basically 0 risk assets. Because, I mean, if the US government goes belly up, there’s not much of an economy left, now is there?
The financial adviser is going about this all wrong. To keep a nerd’s attention for that long on something super boring you have to make a connection the way that Maxima does or find a way to make them want to engage in learning about the boring stuff. I have actually found that for people who play a lot of table top and rpg style games then a nice viable option is to treat each major step as a quest line. Give her bullet points of what things to take care of to start the next aspect of what she needs to do so it doesn’t overwhelm her.
If she is indeed making that much money, I don’t see why she wouldn’t buy a new car. Unless she’s making less than minimum wage, she’s already making over 17k every two weeks. :p
When he says not to buy a new car, I don’t think he’s picturing a Honda. Plus it’s always better to buy near-new anyway (unless it’s the summer of 2009, but it isn’t).
Indeed. He’s probably picturing a Koenigsegg, or a Saleen, or a Pagani, or a Lamborghini, or some other incredibly expensive sports car. Despite her ADHD, Sydney seems to me to be the type who would prefer to drive something more practical.
If Sydney feels the need for speed, she can fly!
Because you don’t know what tomorrow will bring. I’m putting about 30% of my pay check into my retirement and long term investments right now. I don’t need a new car, nor a bigger home, nor 65″ UHD TV. Yes, as far as I know, I’ll be continuing at my 40k/year job until I retire, but I have no guarantee that will be the case. Better to make due with what I have and save for later, and enjoy the fact that my investments currently yield about 5k of income per year in dividends, which I only have to pay 15% tax on. :)
As a self-employed small business owner, it’s entirely possible she _is_ making significantly less than minimum wage.
It always annoys me how apples are ALWAYS depicted as red, when in my experience the vast majority are some form of green or a mixture of red and green…there really aren’t that many red types.
My favorite type are really dark red Red Delicious apples, so that’s on me.
XD I wasn’t meaning to just pick on you. I see it everywhere. If an apple is in a movie or show or webcomic etc, it’s red. If it’s in a store or on a tree, it’s more likely to be green.
What about yellow apples?
What about horse apples?
What about dese apples? :p
You mean them apples?
No,dem apples.
what about DEEZ NUTS?!
Now, evr’ting’s just gettin’ nutz.
Green apples are usually depicted as being unripe (poor poor Granny Smith :()
Hear, hear! Red Delicious are my favorite as well.
I prefer honey crisp. Crispy, juicy, delicious…
*runs to fridge*
Oh yes, love Red Delicious, but Royal Gala are just as good, sometimes betterer
I like me some spartans. Just something about the taste and texture is better.
Ah, you’re talking about apples. Out of context, that comment sounded extremely TMI-ly weird.