A very random factor
I wonder how much Teflon I’ve inadvertently eaten in my life. Raised with the early non-stick pan, members of generation X are patient zero for this. The demographic group, not Billy Idol’s punk band. Is Billy Idol a boomer? Born in 1955, I think he is. Strictly cast iron skillets as a growing boy.
I think they should tell Dean exactly because he’s a VERY random factor. Still weird to see him being so sincerely friendly and happy.
I’m discombobulated by that too.
The Dean I learned to loathe in Giant Days
is so much more empathetic now.
I guess I never fully appreciated his character’s arc.
To be fair though, the misses pT, de G, & W stole the show.
Which is why I’d be very eager for and any and/or all the Giant Days Gals (most likely Esther due to her shared history with Lottie) to have to confront this incarnation of Dean supposedly brought into the light.
Agree. Thinking about all the times Susan made jokes about Esther and Dean being caught up in a wild, secret passion, it would be nice to see her reaction to a new and improved Dean.
What is the word for combining elements in this way for max comedy? Things you would not expect to find. High fantasy and local paper. PTFEs and mountain-dwelling gurus? Either way it is amazing.
Claire looks worryingly excited about PFTEs.
I think Claire has a talent for becoming worryingly excited about pretty much ANYTHING. It’s a useful talent if you need a cover story. No one will doubt you if you’re worryingly excited about whatever it is.
She’s excited by her nascent improv skills!
Teflon is… bad? [Heads to the internet…]
[Back from the internet] Jesus wept!
P1’s knocking knuckles are just geniusly drawn.
Ta Mr A.
Dean is left handed knocking?
What do you expect from a deranged butter-digging cudgel-wielding bee fancier? Frankly, this is the most normal we’ve seen him.
Because he’s holding his laptop (the black one) with his right hand, I think.
By odd coincidence, earlier today I was telling someone about chlorine trifluoride, which has among the lesser of its many, many terrifying properties that it’ll dissolve Teflon.
Ah, one of those chemicals for which recommended safety equipment is “a good pair of running shoes”. Is that the one that ignites on contact with sand?
“[Cl3F] is hypergolic with every known fuel, and so rapidly hypergolic that no ignition delay has ever been measured. It is also hypergolic with such things as cloth, wood, and test engineers, not to mention asbestos, sand, and water—with which it reacts explosively. It can be kept in some of the ordinary structural metals—steel, copper, aluminum, etc.—because of the formation of a thin film of insoluble metal fluoride which protects the bulk of the metal, just as the invisible coat of oxide on aluminum keeps it from burning up in the atmosphere. If, however, this coat is melted or scrubbed off, and has no chance to reform, the operator is confronted with the problem of coping with a metal-fluorine fire. For dealing with this situation, I have always recommended a good pair of running shoes.”
You just have to love John D. Clark’s writing (from Ignition!)
My first impulse on reading John’s comment/blurb/description/whatever for this page is to go into one of my rants about how arbitrary and misleading the whole “named generations” thing is, but on second thought, I think I’ll spare you. This time.
As a fellow Gen Xer, I’m always just gratified when people remember that we exist.
Hush boomer.
Don’t worry; “boomer” is a movable category that basically means “older person who I want to sulk at”. I wasn’t a boomer in my youth, but I am now. You’ll become a boomer soon enough. Babies being born today will be boomers in 2085.
Judging from my nephews, that’s a very Gen Z way of defining “Boomer”.
My parents referred to us as the baby bust. I think I prefer generation X. I wouldn’t want someone to call me a “buster”.
For a hot minute, the generation after X was referred to as “Generation Why?”.
Wouldn’t mind being called a “buster” myself. I, personally, ‘Ain’t afraid of no Ghosts’.
It’s like star signs, innit, meaningless fun
BREAKING: MILLENNIALS ARE KILLING ASTROLOGY
There absolutely was one generation, at least: The Boomers.
Not just because of the sudden rush towards family-building after WW2, but also because, for the first time in human history, thanks to antibiotics and widespread childhood vaccinations, all those new babies survived.
Infant mortality fell off a loving cliff in the second half of the 20th century, and the Baby Boom was the first undamped signal of that.
But not everyone refered to as part of that generation these days was part of the actual Baby Boom. It’s got a definite beginning, but the ending point for it, as a “generation”, is arbitrary.
By most formal definitions, I’m at the vary tail end of the boomer generation (b. 1963 — and to data scrapers everywhere, you’re welcome!). But I identify much more strongly with Gen X.
Still, as John says, it’s about as relevant as whether Mercury was astringent or Leo and Virgo were humping on that particular day in May. (I think I have those astrological details right.) But it does fuel my sense of undeserved grievance.
I was born a couple of years later, in 1965, which by most definitions I’ve seen is pretty much right on the line between Boomer and Gen X. I definitely feel that I’m part of the same generation as both my brothers- I’m in the middle, they were born in ’63 and ’67, respectively. I identify with older Gen Xers, but not as much with younger Gen Xers- to me, there’s a big difference between growing up in the ’70s and growing up in the ’80s.
Yeah, the endpoint is definitely not well-defined.
I regularly use the example of my wife and myself: She’s actually a couple of months older than I am, but she’s basically an X whereas I am classic Boomer, and the difference is our parents. My parents grew up during the Depression and my dad fought in WW2 and then they got married; Angie’s mom was TWO when Pearl Harbor was attacked and was in college in the ’60s. I was a late-life surprise baby but she was born to a young mother fresh out of college.
I still carry with me generational habits of people raised during the Depression, like habitually shaking the milk when I take it out of the refrigerator because my parents predate homogenization and they were used to having to worry about the cream separating overnight, for instance.
Lottie has skill at
Finding a skillet
I think she’ll kill it
Flash in the pan
Cast iron cookware is both durable and versatile. KK, my other half, had a cast iron omelette pan which, if used edge on, could be used to chop down small trees. She was not a person to be argued with in the kitchen.
Lottie added him? Suuure she did…
A Lottie, at least.
There are a whole lot of Lotties.
(Off to bang me head to AC/DC)
Well, I am… THUNDERSTRUCK!
It’s Led Zeppelin I’ve got stuck in my head.
Are you sure it’s not Iron Butterfly?
(I’ll throw myself out.)
No, I’m Gen X. We had Teflon-coated Butterfly.
I’m concerned that either Claire failed to squeeze all the colorless green idea from Glenn, or he somehow mentally communicated it to Dean in his moments of cybernetic epiphany, using telepathy or possibly TCP/IP.
Is that a colourless green idea that thinks furiously?
Don’t tit about with PTFEs
I have never been a fan of non-stick cookware. I’ve preferred cast iron all my life. There are four pieces of cast iron cookware in my kitchen right now that I use for almost everything. I do have a couple of anodized aluminum pots too. The right tool for the right job, as it were.
I don’t understand people who can’t cook on cast iron. I literally have a cast iron crepe pan. It makes flawless crepes, and also works great for grill cheese sandwiches.
I had one, and cleaning was the issue, not cooking. it was great for cooking with!
Stainless Steel is the answer. It can also be conditioned, but it’s not so important. The Iron Pan, submerged in water practically cleans itself.
The care and feeding of cast iron cookware is not difficult. People just think it is because they don’t know how.
Some people lack the strength to maneuver (or manoeuvre for you Brits) a heavy cast iron pan. I personally can barely lift and tilt my 12-inch vintage skillet with one hand. Being a hundred years old, this pan has thinner walls and weighs about 30% than today’s equivalent, so I can’t imagine using a new pan that size.
Not onlly is Billy a Boomer, he’s also advertising accounting software on television. ROCK AND ROLLLLLL!!
*does devil horns with one hand whilst creating a pivot table with the other in Excel*
“Cast Iron Thkillet” would be a good band name.
Iron Maiden tribute band? Steampunk metal trio?
Claire’s hoodie certainly fits with the PTFE discussion. (Love those chunky drawstrings, BTW.) But, good heavens, it feels like she’s staring into my soul in the last panel.
Does Glugg’s shirt say NUT PEA? That’s the most logical conclusion I can come to with the one-and-a-half letters we can see.
It might be “nut tea”.
Yes it is. He’s worn that shirt before (in full view of the camera.)
NUTLEA?
According to Claire’s sweatshirt eating is forbidden.
Or possibly just the city of Essen.
Although, the last letter is never clearly visible. Maybe she really dislikes Essex?
Is that Lottie’s old hoodie (see Murder She Writes) or was Claire just inspired to get her own?
I remembered Lottie wearing it as early as “the case of the fire inside”: https://www.gocomics.com/bad-machinery/2017/09/05.
I love the ball-and-stick PTFE in the background of the last panel! I know we’re only two pages in, but between that and the delocalized Claire in the first panel, the visual direction in this issue seems *promising*.
Strictly Cast Iron Skillets is the viewer-voted elimination pro-celeb hardware programme that ITV needs to claw back the Autumn viewing figures from the Beeb,
I would go with Claire’s instincts on this one.
I’m a boomer, but my kids are messed-up in various ways so I’ll be tossing my non-stick pans and getting a cast-iron frying pan this week.
That mouse though. I’ve seen them advertised for decades.
Never seen one being used in real life. Not a once.
I’ve owned and greatly liked using various vertical mice before. They really are easy on the wrist.