237

Talisman
Posted on April 11, 2016 by David M Willis

237 thoughts on “Talisman”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    she was gonna eat those cookies in bed but it reminded her too much of doing the same to Billie

    1. SmilingNid

      No she tossed her cookies on Billie.

      1. Clif

        And missed.

    2. Mr. Random

      …. The cookies… Or…

    3. LeslieBean4Shizzle

      **slowclap**

  2. Cerberus

    The cookies are in Billie’s spot in the bed, that’s just heartbreaking.

    1. SmilingNid

      Hurts see characters we love hurting.

    2. Shiro

      I’m sad now.

      1. Fred

        Hello sad

        1. hof1991

          Hello Darkness my old friend.

        2. Thorn

          My old FRED, amirite?

        3. heyman

          It’s time to talk to you again

    3. gkheyf

      see, now you made it sad. we were all having a fun time watching ruth spiral, but you had to go and make it sad

    4. Tabitha Desanto

      But on the upside it did get her moving.

      1. SmilingNid

        It may not seem like much but it really is a big deal sometimes just to act human.

    5. Plasma Mongoose

      Cookies sure are a crumby substitute.

      1. Znayx

        Sad comic puns are unavoidable. That’s just how the cookie crumbles.

  3. Hawke

    The silence.

    It burns me.

    1. SundaesChild

      “No sound apart from the ring of the tinnitus of silence…”
      -“Death Dream,” Frightened Rabbit
      Go listen to it…maybe not quite immediately. You might need to space out your feels.

  4. David Herbert

    Cookies, the best bed mate, though not the cleanest.

    1. Vagabond J

      The rats will get ’em, don’t worry.

    2. SundaesChild

      *insert appropriate Archer quote*

  5. Lapin

    Well, that just broke my heart a little.

  6. Stephen R. Bierce

    *plays the Big Bopper’s “Chantilly Lace” on the hacked Muzak*

    1. Stephen R. Bierce

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNrpAgTXiC4 <- Lost in the Fifties tonight…

      1. quarktime

        …and a pony tail, hangin’ down…

    2. Sokol

      Ah, the classics. Nothing but the best.

    3. Vagabond J

      After everyone finishes their nostalgia trip to the 50s, Vagabond J makes a request for some music possibly unfitting to the strip at hand.

    4. Willoughby Chase

      Yehudi Menuhin plays the Adagio to Bach’s Violin Sonata Nr 1 in G Minor.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkZvyA69wCo

  7. ChrisHerself

    Awww.

  8. Misteline

    Imagine if she rolled over in the night…

    1. pjeseb

      *CRUNCH*

      OH GOD BILLIE WHAT HAVE I oh it’s just the cookies.

      1. Plasma Mongoose

        The only crunch Ruth is used to hearing is the sound of femurs cracking.

        1. Disloyal Subject

          Some people’s skulls are too thick to beat them to death with their own bloody femurs unless you go for torso hits.

      2. AngryBamboo

        OH GOD THE COOKIES!!! WHY COULDN’T IT HAVE BEEN BILLIE!?! WHY!?

        1. TheEighthShader

          NOOOOO, THE RAMEN BROKE

  9. Tabitha Desanto

    Sorry Ruth, but i gotta say those cookies are not a good replacement for Billie spot on the bed.

    1. Vagabond J

      Was it the crunching sound when you roll over them or you just don’t like ginger snaps?

  10. gkheyf

    she just did that telekinetically thanks to the cookies, didn’t she?

  11. Mr. Random

    Huh. Where have we seen that hairstyle before?
    Oh right!
    Joyce!

    1. Idontcarenomore

      Think Billie put her hair up when she made her change her shirt and go ‘do her job’.

  12. Vagabond J

    How dare she not eat those cookies.

    1. Luzahn

      Enchanted cookies of +1 sanity. Too useful to eat.

      1. Vagabond J

        Oh, I better leave them in my bag full of awesome stuff that I’ll never use!

        1. Chris2315

          It’s okay, the +1 sanity is a passive bonus you get simply for keeping them in your inventory.

        2. SgtWadeyWilson

          What else is a bag of holding for?

      2. Michael Haneline

        I actually have a bunch of cookies from a festival in an MMO still in my character’s bag years later because the spell they cast is awesome but once I use them all there is no way to ever get more.

    2. Plasma Mongoose

      Too Awesome To Use trope applies.

      1. Disloyal Subject

        I dunno. That applies to we fools who go through entire games not using healing potions ‘in case we need them [all] later.’ The cookies are providing benefit even unconsumed.

    3. quarktime

      They’re better when they’re stale.

      Dunk ’em in Scotch. Yum

  13. Spliced

    You know you’ve had too much when you wake up next to cookies Ruth

    1. Slartibeast Button, BIA

      No, if she’d had too much she would have tossed them.

    2. Znayx

      You know you’ve had too much when you wake up with cookie crumbs inside you.

      …No, I don’t mean inside your stomach.

  14. RaijinK

    The ginger’s naps with her gingersnaps.

    1. Spliced

      That’s my kind of joke

    2. gkheyf

      mind~blown
      (mathematical approximation)

      1. TheEighthShader

        If your mind is blown, 1=1.
        1=1, your mind is now blown.

        1. a snow ʍousɐ

          p→q
          q

          does not imply P

          or does it???? now that would blow my mind

        2. TheEighthShader

          Affirming the subsequent!

    3. Plasma Mongoose

      A few more wordsw and we have ourselves a tongue-twister.

      1. SgtWadeyWilson

        Well, with how often the aforementioned ginger snaps, I’m sure those words will get here soon. Too soon.

  15. Tacos

    Well now I’m sad.

  16. cesium133

    I tried making a ginger snaps recipe that someone posted here a few weeks ago and failed miserably (I burned the hell out of them.) I’d trade cookies with Ruth if she doesn’t want them.

  17. Cerberus

    This comic speaks to me way too strongly right now (pharmacy fucked up and now I’m looking to be out my anti-depressants for the week during which there’s a bunch of important things happening I can’t let slip through the cracks).

    Been there exactly where she’s been before where it’s murder to get out of bed but you know you have to.

    1. transgressingwaffle

      That’s happened to me before. Often my pharmacy will give me a couple of pills to get through the week. Maybe yours can help you?

    2. Shiro

      I’m sorry, and please insert encouraging stuff here because I’m shit at this, honestly, but know that we’re all pulling for you <3

      1. Orion Fury

        [Insert Generic Platitude Here]

    3. Slartibeast Button, BIA

      I hate when that happens. Stretching out the pills and wondering how long the lag is before the crash happens.

      1. Cerberus

        I did that. The FUBAR’s lasted longer than those could last. Now it’s just the crash but I have to be extra-functional tomorrow cause we’re being observed for renewal of our accreditation. Luckily I still have my anti-anxiety otherwise I’d be crewing my own arm off.

        1. Leorale

          Good luck on the renewal. I hope your pharmacy can give you some extras to tide you over if they haven’t already (they do that with some of my meds but not the protected substances). I find that chocolate helps a little, because it’s also a stimulant, and because it scares away dementors. Thinking of you.

        2. Cerberus

          Yay! Pharmacy called today and apologized for FUBAR and has approved some emergency supply I can pick up today! So happy!

        3. StClair

          and you don’t even have the pills yet! \o/

        4. Slartibeast Button, BIA

          8-)}

        5. thejeff

          That’s great.

        6. Leorale

          YAY! No withdrawal for you.

        7. ischemgeek

          Yay! That’s awesome!

    4. caesaria82

      *hugs* Stay strong, you got this!
      I know this feeling well, when getting out of bed feels like an impossible task, I’m sending you all the good vibes <3

    5. Rycan

      They won’t give you anything to tide you over?

    6. Historyman68

      That’s been happening this week w my gf’s insurance being a pain in the ass about getting ADHD meds. Multiple times the pharmacy said “it’ll be ready at 5:30” and then when that time came was like “actually you won’t be able to fill it for another two days.” And then her pharmacist gave her the wrong prescription! Yeesh.
      So, sympathy. I can only imagine how much worse it would’ve been if they’d have been antidepressants instead of adderal.

    7. Bagge

      *Sympathy via light touch* Just let me know if there is anything I can do over the internet.

    8. Spencer

      *hugs* I know how hard going without medication is, and I know you can do it.

      Remember, when things start going dark, that isn’t you thinking it and it never was.

    9. Arian

      *hugs* We love you, Cerberus. You can make it.

    10. BenRG

      That’s bad news, friend. Try to stay grounded and, no matter how bad or freaky things seem to get, know that there are those thinking about you and wishing you well.

  18. Doctor_Who

    Man, if Mary reacted that badly to Ruth being in a lesbian relationship, imagine what will happen when she learns Ruth is experimenting with cookiesexuality.

    1. tim gueguen

      As long as those cookies are kosher the Bible doesn’t rule against cookiesexuality.

      1. Slartibeast Button, BIA

        Except for Passover.

        1. quarktime

          Only if they’re leavened.

        2. SSG

          Which would be all cookies other than, like, Manischewitz macaroons.

    2. Fwip

      That is a fast path to a nasty infection.

    3. Plasma Mongoose

      Adds a whole new meaning to the term “Caught with your hands in your cookie jar”.

  19. Durandal_1707

    Hey, the title word doesn’t actually appear anywhere in the comic. Isn’t that breaking a rule or something?

    1. No Name

      No, see, if there are no words in the strip, then the title will refer to an object in the strip, like here.

      1. Slartibeast Button, BIA

        Also, sometimes after Willis has picked the title he rewrites the dialog without that word, but doesn’t change the name.

        1. Sunny

          [citation needed]

        2. David M Willis

          I did say that.

          Does not apply to this strip, though. It was wordless, had to come up with something.

        3. Achallenger

          wait up, you can just conjur citations in this forum? that makes things so much easier

        4. Slartibeast Button, BIA

          I can call spirits from the vasty deep!

        5. StClair

          So can I, so can any man;
          But do they come when you call them?

          (not exact, but it’s from memory)

  20. No Name

    The question is, are the cookies or the ponytail the talisman?

    Also, that outfit looks awfully familiar….

    1. Clif

      The answer is yes.

    2. Kamino Neko

      It’s what she was wearing on the first day. Not sure if she’s worn it since.

      1. Cephalo the Pod

        She wore it the night she first kissed Billie. Back in…Book 3?

        1. Slartibeast Button, BIA

          http://www.dumbingofage.com/2013/comic/book-3/01-if-the-shoes-split/pie/

  21. DT

    If she puts those cookies on her back while she walks around, I will smile greatly.

  22. Shiro

    On the bright side, now maybe this is the first step in Ruth getting all her shit together?

    1. caesaria82

      This was my instict about this as well, but we’ll see I guess.

    2. Kelly

      eh, could be, but managing to do that once, hard as it can be, isn’t necessarily a sign that things are going to get easier/better. I know.

    3. Historyman68

      At least getting her hair all together?

    4. Spencer

      She looks drunk as hell in one of the preview panels.

    5. Leorale

      I think she’s working on getting her half-hour together. It’s one step at a time.

  23. Dr. T

    I got to say that I prefer that character design on Ruth anyways, so I’m glad that she is using that hairstyle. The feels, however, are not entirely welcome.

  24. caesaria82

    I…. love this? I mean, at first I thought it was sad, but I’m now interpreting it as kinda hopeful! She’s sort of using the cookies as a crutch, but at least it gets her out of bed and ready to face the day. Baby steps!

    Or idk, maybe I’m just a hopeless optimist. But I really kinda love this one. (I’d probably also love it if it was just plain sad, in terms of storytelling, but the optimistic undertones are really doing it for me^^)

  25. Larkle

    Do the cookies just symbolize guilt in general?

    1. Leorale

      I think they represent Billie, who still cares about her.

  26. Jay Eff

    *Reads Alt Text*
    I almost thought that said “TailsWOMAN,” which sounds like a screen name for a particularly devoted fan of Miles Prower.

    1. Sunny

      Still not as confused as me. I was wondering where the Mass Effect reference was, then I looked up to the url and saw the comic title, only then did it click.

      1. Kamino Neko

        You’re saying Ruth is FemShep in disguise?

        1. Spencer

          Well they’re both angry redheaded Canadians.

          oh god now I’m hearing Ruth’s voice as Jennifer Hale.

  27. QWERTY

    For Billie

  28. tim gueguen

    I love the way Ruth looks in that fourth panel for some reason.

    Ruth should go for a braid. And a Chinese style shirt. And replace Billie with a girl named Akane.

    1. Slartibeast Button, BIA

      This is Dumbing Of Age. Panda attacks are over in PVP.

    2. Orion Fury

      I’m assuming that’s a Ranma reference, but could work on another level, since Akane can also mean ‘deep red’.

    3. Jay Eff

      “The role of Joe Rosenthal will now be played by Tatewaki Kuno.”

      1. Plasma Mongoose

        Ruth is the pigtailed girl?

        1. tim gueguen

          She’s the closest fit in this comic. Red hair, apparent martial arts skills, a temper, and has an elder who apparently is an insensitive asshole.

  29. Noone

    I love this comic, keep up the good work.

  30. Slartibeast Button, BIA

    She had to wash that girl’s cookies right out of her hair.

    1. Willoughby Chase

      At least she did not toss those cookies.

      1. Roborat

        You sure, it looks like she was in the last panel.

  31. not someone else

    I am not much of a Billie/Ruth person, I can’t empathize with their relationship very easily… but those last four panels. I am so happy for her. Making that first choice to stand up and take care of yourself takes a lot of willpower.

    1. Sam

      Even though she isn’t entirely happy still, it is a big step to do these things for herself for sure!

      Even though Billie and Ruth’s relationship dynamic wasn’t great, Billie was very good at helping with getting stuff done so it is encouraging that a reminder gives Ruth the willpower to do this stuff.

  32. spriteless

    This coincides with my doing things. Pretty serendipitous.

  33. Jabberwocky

    Ah, the ponytail is a Billie thing, I take it.

    1. Kyle Voltti

      that was my take away

      1. Orion Fury

        I think Billie has said that she liked it up.

    2. Idontcarenomore

      Yes, I think when she put Ruth’s hair up and made her change her shirt and go ‘do her job’.

      1. 3oranges

        Yeah. For comparison the strip is here:
        http://www.dumbingofage.com/2015/comic/book-6/02-that-perfect-girl/eh/

        1. Bob

          Thank you!

  34. Leorale

    Is it bad that I found this strip encouraging progress? Like, she got out of bed and showered and everything, while very depressed. That’s very hard! There have been days when I’m proud of doing that much, you know?

    1. Slartibeast Button, BIA

      Especially given that in a dorm taking a shower risks having to deal with people while going to and from. People are exhausting. Even ignoring them takes effort.

      1. Historyman68

        And then imagine if she goes outside and there’s a problem that’s her responsibility to deal with! Better to stay inside and retain plausible deniability.

  35. Kyle Voltti

    would people say her hairstyle is reminiscent of Billie’s?

    1. Needfuldoer

      Billie’s hair doesn’t go flat at the top like hers does. Besides, she had it up like that yesterday.

    2. Leorale

      It’s how Billie put Ruth’s hair up. It’s also a nice flat shelf, she could put a beer on it.

  36. Jacques Cornelius Parrot III

    I would’ve eaten the cookies, that usually helps me feel better when I’m sad

    1. Dana

      I can see two reasons why she wouldn’t. She wouldn’t want to lose that object from Billie, and when you’re that depressed eating can be haaaard.

      1. Gordon

        Or it can be way too easy.

    2. Heavensrun

      One of the differences between sadness and depression.

  37. Cass

    Don’t bang cookies, Ruth, the sugar’ll give you a yeast infection.

    1. Jay Eff

      I’d suggest Bread, but something tells me it would just have the same effect…

      *dodges rolling pins*

  38. Hidalgo Alejandro Eduardo The 89th of Scottland Kalamazoo

    That moment when you notice, on the shower panel, the water streams are right below where her eyes would be.

  39. StClair

    won’t cry, can’t cry, things need doing.
    (repeat)

    (not me, Ruth.)
    (… aw heck. also me.)

    1. SundaesChild

      I know that mode all too well. “Just keeps moving, even if it’s not very fast. Keep. Moving.”

  40. Idontcarenomore

    Good for Ruth. She’s up, cleaned herself help, maybe getting in a little studying. It’s sad.
    But also optimistic?

  41. Josh Spicer

    Ruth, you’re gorgeous. Why you gotta be so anti-people?

  42. Tomas

    This comic is ideal for fart noise embellishment.

    By the way, will we ever see Sal’s care package? Did she get the same kind of cookies as Walky, but fewer of them?

    1. Needfuldoer

      She got the same kind, plus a note that says “Give these to your brother, they wouldn’t fit in his box”.

    2. Spencer

      I’m actually really hoping that Linda sent her a hair care product.

    3. Slartibeast Button, BIA

      No, it is symbolic, like the briefcase in Pulp Fiction.

      1. Heavensrun

        Wait, so it has the Holy Grail in it?

  43. Auroki

    I like how Ruth looks in a ponytail~ Let’s hope our beloved dictator of an RA makes a great comeback~!

  44. Shaunock

    No chicken fingers?

    DAMN YOU, WILLIS!!

    1. Orion Fury

      You’re surprised?

    2. inqntrol

      Walky is the only one that can get chicken fingers.

      1. Slartibeast Button, BIA

        Sal gets stuck with the chicken lips.

        1. Disloyal Subject

          Jason isn’t that cowardly.

  45. modulusshift

    Whoever noted that we had an impressive streak of consecutive comics including trans characters, it ended. How many strips was it?

    1. 3oranges

      While I’m looking things up it turns out we had 1 with Jocelyne, 7 with Carla, and then another 13 with Jocelyne.

  46. Bagge

    She kept the pony tail that Billie made for her.

    *sad*

  47. nobodybasically

    For some reason, the first four panels remind me of Ruth’s Walkyverse counterpart’s heavy-handed anti-premarital-sex backstory.

    Which mean Ruth is really regretting rushing into a sexual relationship with those cookies.

    1. Slartibeast Button, BIA

      She has lost her precious frosting?

  48. NinjaNick

    Those cookies aren’t gonna eat themselves. 😛

  49. JukeboxHiro

    Willis, I come here to escape my life, not to witness it

  50. RonMexico

    Dang. I don’t like seeing Ruth remotely happy. Suffer more!

  51. Fwip

    Just let it burn and endure. It’s a fire that goes out eventually, when it uses up its fuel. Not much else you can do but let it burn.

  52. acher4

    That was so cute and hopefull, it kind of melted me heart. 😀

  53. nibblrrr

    I just wanted to make a “who is the talis-man you speak of”-joke, but i see willis kinda beat me to it in the alt-text…

    1. Cephalo the Pod

      But who is this Talis-Woman he speaks of?

  54. Willoughby Chase

    Ah, tears and cookies on a cold October morning.

  55. JessWitt

    Aw, scene change already? But I want to know if the waitress joins the Brown sisters on their merry break-in.

    Anyway, Ruth’s ponytail is nice.

  56. Bagge

    On the bright side, this means Mary valiantly succeeded in putting a stop to the evil lesbians’ sinful fornication.

    Oh wait, that was not the bright side.

    1. Emperor Norton II

      Thank you for for giving our day that extra bit of sunshine by pointing out the extra level of sadness.

      No wait, what we meant to say was [redacted] you, you [redacted] [a whole lot of redacted] for reminding us just how depressing it is that she’s still essentially being blackmailed by that bigot.

      1. Emperor Norton II

        (Oh, and just in case: Bagge and I like to make silly jokes around each other. I am not actually angry at Bagge.)

        1. Bagge

          After all, every Emperor need his fool to point out that he is naked.

        2. Emperor Norton II

          …I came up with 12 different responses to this. Not a single one of them weren’t inappropriate in one form or other.

          You win this round, Bagge! *grumblegrumble*

        3. Bagge

          Marry n’uncle, and yet the fool remains fool and the emperor remains emperor.

        4. StClair

          I applaud this foolishness, for ’tis in the finest tradition of the profession.

  57. Teddae

    it’s a real nice way to depict having to go through life when you have depression. i like it.

  58. 2K

    Rise… https://youtu.be/Ts9UrfgnPEw?list=PLiQm319eSpZOzySeq0ggAGIy7sJDBe9rn

  59. Ncocha

    Last Panel – What am I looking at?
    Did she just remove her fake hair extension?

  60. Spencer

    I only ever seem to be able to sympathize with Ruth when she’s in the throes of depression.

    I remember stuff like this, how it felt hopeless to get up. Medication really helped me and now it all feels so far away, like it happened to a different person.

  61. BenRG

    Poor Ruth! She’s got such a menagerie of issues, I barely know where to begin! She’s lonely, has self-esteem problems the size of a major nation-state and clearly lacks the self-confidence and sense of security needed to get help.

    It’s so sweet that she’s sleeping next to Billie’s gift and putting up her hair in the way Billie liked as a sort of way to be near her by one remove.

  62. Shadow Eagle

    i’ve never seen so many sweater vests

  63. Falling Star

    That last panel is either adorable or heartbreaking. I can’t figure out which.

    1. Schpoonman

      Yes.

    2. StClair

      Yes.

  64. DarkoNeko

    that ponytail is a nice secret lover secret sign ~look at me, I still think of you~

  65. OnyxIdol

    Been there Ruth, I fell ya.

    1. Leorale

      Same. It felt about like this. Everyone who is like “does this mean she’s getting her life together?” is able to think about the future a whole lot more than Ruth or I can. She’s getting this half-hour together, though!

  66. TheEighthShader

    That shower nozzle looks like a shotgun.

    1. unixrevolution

      How many shotguns have you seen?

  67. Charles Phipps

    I am, at least, glad Ruth is moving beyond Billie. Those two weren’t good for one another and once they can just let go of the pain, Ruth and she will both be in a better place emotionally. I’m also supporting Carla/Ruth and am in no way biased. 🙂

    1. Spencer

      #GingerSnaps

    2. thejeff

      If you think this strip at all shows Ruth moving beyond Billie, I don’t know what comic you’re reading.

      1. Spencer

        She needs to start, though. She can’t just live for Billie. Hell, she wasn’t even planning on doing that.

        Yesterday it took Billie forcing her up and tying her hair for her. Today she did it herself. That’s a good sign.

        1. Emperor Norton II

          “She needs to start, though. She can’t just live for Billie. Hell, she wasn’t even planning on doing that.”

          And there-in lies the conundrum. Yes, Billie is not actually -good- for her*, the way we think what a good and healthy relationships mean. But even so, she’s shown a capacity for caring about Ruth. And Ruth could very possibly have been in an even worse place right now than she already is. Including being dead.

          I guess the best way I can describe this is: Billie is the person that is currently putting pressure on a bleeding major artery to stop Ruth from dying right now. But what Ruth really needs is something/someone to actually close the wound and get it treated. And Billie lacks that medical expertise to do that.

          *Although I’d say that Ruth is even worse for Billie.

        2. thejeff

          I agree with my Emperor.

          But mostly I was saying that I don’t see it in this strip. Yes, she got up on her own, but she was pretty obviously using reminders of Billie to do so – both the cookies and the ponytail.
          I’d call that clinging to Billie, rather than moving beyond her. I also don’t think their relationship is at all over – whether they’re officially broken up or not.

  68. HiiroArana79

    It makes me think of captain hero crying in the shower.

  69. smooti

    Hey! The fact that she didn’t need Billie there physically making her do these things is a sign of improvement. Not… a lot of improvement, but something at least. You take the small victories when you’re as far into depression as Ruth is at this point.

    1. Slartibeast Button, BIA

      He was getting dressed. Men who’d done isolated duty all agreed, you had to keep the standards up or things went to hell. Miles had been awake three hours now, and had his trousers on. In the next hour he was either going to try for his socks, or shave, whichever seemed easier.

      – The Warrior’s Apprentice by Lois McMaster Bujold

  70. Guairdean Beatha

    Every time our Bard flips from one scene to another I hear the voice from the old Western Serials announce: “Meanwhile, back at the ranch.”

  71. hof1991

    Sad, but hopeful. Ruth gets out of bed, showers, get some work done and even cares about how she appears. She puts on her ponytail armor. Now she is ready to kick some ass – hopefully Mary’s.

  72. dave

    Poor Ruthless.

  73. MrSpkr

    Depression. It’s a bongo.

    1. MrSpkr

      Bongo? Ugh. Let’s try again.

      “Depression. It’s a [term for female canine].”

      There. Hopefully, that worked better.

      1. Spencer

        It’s always a magical moment when a user first discovers the bongo filter.

        1. thejeff

          And then they often experiment. Which is always fun.
          As much as I like the bongo filter, the SJW one is my favorite.

          Though I’ve started using “bongo” elsewhere in the hope it’ll catch on, which I doubt the other one would.

        2. Slartibeast Button, BIA

          I have just discovered that the filters don’t apply to the RSS feed. Saves me having to ask what that second filter is.

        3. TheEighthShader

          I love SJW.

        4. Slartibeast Button, BIA

          Would VFP SJW be a good name for a Culture ship?

      2. Slartibeast Button, BIA

        There is a long history of calling depression “the black dog”.

  74. Noxx

    Going with older Sisters for soundtrack times
    https://youtu.be/UI3yKorifpY

  75. Paul

    What is being censored to “glistening phallus”? I do not want to post a long list of obscenities just to find out.

    1. Slartibeast Button, BIA

      A controversial TLA (Three Letter Acronym) sorta like Societal Judgement Worriers.

    2. Spencer

      The abbreviation for Social Justice Warrior.

    3. trlkly

      Seems counterproductive, since it’s still insulting. I actually prefer being called the other one, since I can say, “yeah, I care about social justice enough to argue about it on the Internet. So what?”

      “Glistening phallus” just comes across as a gendered insult to me. It’s just calling me a dick.

      1. Slartibeast Button, BIA

        Might be the idea is to make guys complaining about them look like gay guys, which they would likely consider a bad thing. Just guessing.

        1. David M Willis

          the idea was it was a funny pair of words

        2. Lord Stoneheart

          I always thought it was something that made the speaker just sound ridiculous. Usually because the context would make it sound like they were saying something like,

          “The problem with the world is all these glistening phalluses ruining comics!”

  76. Slartibeast Button, BIA

    Remember that these are not Ruth’s first emotional metaphor cookies.

    1. Slartibeast Button, BIA

      Argh! http://www.dumbingofage.com/2013/comic/book-3/04-just-hangin-out-with-my-family/cookie/

      1. inqntrol

        Nothing like “sharing” cookies with your sibling.

        1. Slartibeast Button, BIA

          I don’t think Sal feels that way about Dorothy.

  77. Tenn

    Ruth, that stool sample is going to remain a Type 1 no matter how many times you look at it.

    1. Silly Name

      That was disgusting. And informative.

      But mostly disgusting.

  78. Foxhack

    Does she want ants? Because that’s how you get ants.

    Sorry.

    1. heyman

      Nah, these are in a ziploc bag. Sweet and sour sauce dripping from the foil wrap is how you get ants. Also donuts, I think.

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