ChronosCat

While I've encountered a few cats that like to have their head patted, in my experience most prefer rubbing their head against a person's hand (or leg). (I almost made a joke about cats wanting to be the ones doing the patting, with their heads.) Most are also only interested if they are the one to initiate it. (Which is where holding out your hand at the ca'ts level similar to what has been mentioned already in the thread is helpful, as it give the cat the choice of whether to initiate contact or not.)

Maybe, maybe not. If Jeremy's origin involved aliens (such as coming from the project that created Grace), or if it involved some other secrets the government is covering up, Mr. Verres might have just told Tedd it was DGB, particularly if Tedd was still fairly young. While Tedd has actually been trusted with a lot of secrets by this point, that trust was extended gradually and in the mean time everyone has gotten used to Jeremy; it's possible it hasn't occurred to Tedd to ask since he started being let in on such secrets. The average lifespan for a pet cat is 15 years these days, with some cats actually surviving into their 30s. Even back when Jeremy was introduced in the 2002, it wouldn't have been all that odd for a well-cared for cat to be in their teens; at the time my family had several cats that had been born in the late 80s.

I never had a problem with the Forum Courtesy Rules, but I haven't had to refer back to the post very often, and I'm fairly good at skimming. I could see how someone else might find that huge wall of text overwhelming, particularly if they just wanted to quickly double-check it. One thing I have always found it a bit annoying is that the general 910 CMX forum rules are so hard to find (it was a really strange decision to hide them in the "blogs" section). If you're revising anyway, perhaps you could include with your revised rules a link to (or summary of) those rules?

Illjwamh missed a bunch of days the first time around, so he's doing the days he missed. Although with all of history to work with, I suspect it would be possible to keep doing this for years without needing to repeat factoids.

I'm in no way trying to tell you how to think about the characters, but personally I chalk that scene up to "Early Installment Weirdness". Even as far back as when Grace and Ellen first got to know her, Diane felt like an almost completely different character to me from the one we first saw Nanase and Justin interacting with. I think if Dan were writing that scene today, Diane wouldn't have called Justin that (or talked about Rhoda the way she did).

With those shoes and socks, it reminds me of ridiculously skimpy "school girl uniforms", so maybe this is the version of the outfit they (the character and/or writers) would pretend doesn't violate school dress codes? (I honestly can't remember where I've seen outfits like this used in fiction or how I wound up associating it with those character types. There's a good chance it's mostly from movie trailers / commercials / stuff glimpsed while changing channels / etc., some of it dating back to before I was old enough to understand the appeal of skimpy clothing.) I don't know about high heels, but Nanase does have boots with enough of a platform to noticeably increase her height.

I like most of the elements of this outfit/look, but somehow everything put together doesn't work for me. However, that's not Dan's fault - I've seen similar outfits before, and it almost never works for me. I could go into a long analysis of what I like and don't like about the outfit, but I think it all comes down to a combination of the fact that it's trying too hard to be sexy without having much style going for it, and the fact that I associate the look with stock characters that that I've never liked in fiction ("queen bees" and "bimbos"* primarily). ...On the positive side, yay for starburst background in panel one! * I use the term hesitantly, but I can't think of another term for the stock-character I'm thinking of.

This is hardly necessary with Dan drawing attention to it in the commentary, but the formalities must be observed!* Yay for bubbly background in panel two! So, Dan claims that bubbles now indicate Tedd's awkward feelings towards Elliot. I wonder, is that supposed to be an exclusive meaning (i.e., Dan won't use the bubbles for anything else until he changes his mind about what they mean), and if so how long is he going to stick with it? Also, while it wouldn't have indicated the awkwardness of the situation (but then, without Dan's say-so you wouldn't know the bubbles did either) I wish Dan had used this as an opportunity to bring back proper flowery backgrounds. * Well, not really, but I enjoy harmless traditions, even when they're mostly pointless.

You got me curious, so I decided to look it up. The states are legally allowed to set their own laws regarding drinking age, but the National Minimum Drinking Age Act reduces the amount of highway funding for any state that allows the purchase or possession of alcohol by people under 21. Naturally all the states have thus put in place laws prohibiting the purchase of alcohol by those under 21 (though interestingly Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands are holdouts, with 18 as the minimum drinking age). However in many states it's still legal for those under 21 to drink alcohol (in some cases with certain restrictions). For details on the individual state laws, see List of alcohol laws of the Unites States. Fun fact: While no national or state laws currently prohibit the sale of alcohol to adults over 21, some states allow smaller jurisdictions to establish such laws, and there are actually a number of "dry counties".

I can kind of sympathize with Elliot here. Back when I was in school, I'd sometimes see some of the other kids smoking cigarettes, but not being part of that crowd I had no idea how they got them. I didn't want to smoke (this was around the time my parents were struggling to quit, so I knew better than to start) but I couldn't help but wonder how they were getting them. I imagine alcohol use was also going on, but I never saw it. ...After all the anti-drug propoganda in school and on TV, I was also a bit puzzled (and rather relieved) no one was offering me drugs let alone trying to pressure me into using them... If Elliot took enough alcohol from the fridge to provide some for everybody at the party, his parents would notice they were missing, and at least wonder if one of the kids was responsible - and this is a relatively small party. (Even the small amount Grace took was noticed; I imagine the only reason the Dunkel parents didn't suspect Elliot and Ellen were because Elliot is so trustworthy.) So the question in Elliot's mind (and my mind for that matter) is, how teens would get enough alcohol for a party without adults knowing. (Of course, Elliot is apparently not considering the possibility that an adult might actually help the teens get alcohol.)

I wasn't suggesting (and I'm assuming hkmaly wasn't suggesting either) that the bubbles are really there. In fact the whole point of the "Yay for [x] background" tradition is to celebrate the backgrounds that are only for the readers' eyes. However, usually those backgrounds have some meaning to them (for instance, a flowery background indicates romance or attraction). Bubbles, on the other hand, appear to have many possible meanings or no meaning at all... In the case of starbursts, I think it's contextual whether they're "really there" - when a starburst accompanies a transformation or a magical appearance from nowhere, I tend to interpret it as actually there, but when it's just highlighting a dramatic moment that you wouldn't expect to be accompanied by shining light, I interpret it as just for the readers. Meanwhile, Lawrence Welk reminds me of my grandparents (in fact, sometimes when I'm missing them I'll watch the show for a bit).

Yay for bubbly background in panel one! ...Hmm... So in this case the background doesn't mean anything, it's just something interesting to put in the background in place of what's actually there. I wonder, has that always been the case? It would certainly explain it's use in the "Pizza" storyline. I thought for sure it used to have a meaning, but it was a while ago and I can't remember for sure what it was; maybe Dan changed his mind, or maybe I was mistaken. (Maybe I should start taking notes...)

http://egscomics.com/egsnp/shs-08 I've been thinking this since this sequence began, but I don't think I've actually said it anywhere: I love Tedd's new glasses.

According to General Relativity, an object's speed affects it's relationship with time; one's perspective can affect how fast objects appear to be moving. So, "one second per second" could mean "My personal clock is measuring the same amount of time passing as a clock in another arbitrary location". Of course this means that how fast you're "traveling through time" depends one what you choose as your reference point! As for Back to the Future, if the effects of Marty changing history has occurred instantly across the entire timeline, there would have been no Marty to change history, leading to the classic grandfather paradox. My interpretation is that this delay in erasing him from history is a kind of cosmic defense mechanism against paradoxes; the part of Marty's timeline close to the moment of change is preserved so as to allow the new timeline to properly overwrite the old one. ...Or it's just a movie and they cared more about the story being fun and dramatic than it making sense...

I think it's relevant to the conversation about Grace's fertility and Uryuom reproduction, that according to Mr. Verres Grace could get pregnant in her human form (the one we originally saw her in, with the antennae) but not in her part-squirrel form. Of course, this comic was before the origin of Grace and her siblings was retconned, but it doesn't necessarily mean the factoid is untrue.

So, I just received a message on Tumblr from someone saying they were trying to sign up, but the "security check" never loaded (making it impossible to proceed) - and they ran into the same problem when trying to use the "Contact Us" link. I checked, and when not signed in the same thing happens to me. I notice that in the "We Begin Anew" Thread, HarJIT mentioned in April of last year the CAPCHA not working... Was that ever fixed, or have people been unable to create new accounts for over a year? I messaged the admins with the "Contact Us" link (while signed in, obviously) about it, but should I PM any of them as well? Also, does anyone know of any workarounds (or browsers the security check works in, etc.)?

I don't know about a new alternative to Tumblr, but some pretty darn risque stuff can be found on Deviantart. I think the sort of things Dan posts on Patreon and used to post on Tumblr would be well within what is usually allowed there... The only problem is that the staff can be a bit inconsistent with how they apply the rules at times (though on the plus side, as far as I know humans still play a role in deletions/appeals, they didn't leave it all to a faulty algorithm).

https://www.patreon.com/posts/felix-kitty-28504233 http://egscomics.com/sketchbook/2019-013 I really need to check Patreon or my email more often; I didn't even realize this was up until half an hour ago. My first reaction of course is: meow! Spoilered text is approximately as NSFW as the image itself.

Well, yes, but It seems to me that in the Elliot/Ashley/Tedd/Grace/Sarah group, Elliot would probably be the only one not attracted to everyone else in the group. Grace might be disappointed that not everyone in her group can be with everyone else sexually, and Elliot might feel guilty for complicating the group relationship. Also, being part of a poly group that includes Elliot but not being able to have sex with him might be hard on Sarah, and if Elliot notices that it would be another possible source for guilt from him. I suppose thinking about it those aren't insurmountable problems, but they are still challenges.

Long ago, Dan stated that Elliot and Tedd would be a couple in any universe where they were compatible sexes and orientations. And there have been plenty of indications in more recent times that Dan ships them. I'd say at this point the biggest obstacles are that Elliot spends most of his time male and Tedd isn't entirely comfortable being attracted to males, and the fact that they both have girlfriends and have never considered a poly relationship. Considering their summer clothes, this has to be some time in the future if it's canon, meaning there's time for these factors to change. Alternately this is non-canon in which case anything goes. The only problem with an Ashley/Elliot/Tedd/Grace/Sarah relationship is that Elliot sees Sarah as a sister; I would think that would make things a little too awkward.

It's not so much Tedd's toys, as his almost obsessive interest in transformation; frankly he is probably the only person we know of in the comic with as strong an interest in it as Ashley. Of course that's not enough to build a romantic relationship on; even leaving Elliot out of the picture I think the extent of the relationship she would form with Tedd and/or Grace is friends possibly with benefits (though it's hard to say until they actually interact in canon). But yes, even if Ashley were interested in Tedd and/or Grace, she's too nice to break up with Elliot unless it's really obvious it isn't working between them (and so far it is working). And so few newbies. It's really a shame that this forum style is dying out; for people who are not family and/or close friends I've yet to find a method of communication that suits me better than this style of forum. I like to be able to choose my words carefully and be able to go back and change them if I realize I messed up, I like to be able to read everything on a subject in the order it was said, and I like to be able to easily go back and look at things that were said days, weeks, or even years ago. Also, being able to not use my real name is essential, as without that mask my social anxiety would be crippling.

Although there are anachronisms, the best timing for EGS is still 2013-2014, so whether it's on TV now doesn't really matter from that point of view. More importantly, it is usually still possible to watch shows long after they're canceled, either online or through DVD/Blu-Ray/etc. collections. As for keeping things from seeming dated, my preference is to give stories specific dates (even if it's the same year it was made). There will still probably be things that make it obvious it's a product of it's time (from attitudes of the writers, to special effects in live action or the style of animation in cartoons/anime), but the details in the story itself tied to a specific time simply become part of the setting. I mean, other than how materialistic the "happy ending" is, I've never heard anyone complain about the first Back to the Future being dated. ...Actually, I tend to have a hard time understanding the complaint that stories are "dated". I mean, sure, it's amusing when a story predicting what the writers saw as the future gets stuff wrong, and annoying when stories get science/history wrong due to now outdated info... And sometimes the social attitudes of the past are hard to stomach (though a lot of those attitudes aren't as restricted to the past as those of us who dislike them would wish)... And I could keep going about specific results of a story being a product of it's time which can make it weird for future audiences... But a lot of time it seems like main complaint is just that a story written years ago that was set in "the present" is clearly set in the time it was written, not the "present" of the person doing the complaining, and that complaint utterly baffles me.

The huge breasts in the second link are a bit much, but otherwise I would consider those less risque than this image. Not based on amount of skin revealed, of course, but based on the fact that bathing suits are meant to be seen in public (and are acceptable at pools and beaches) while underwear is not. Of course, Dan has even gone so far as to show censored nudity before, but I was under the impression he was trying to avoid that (and other more risque images) on the main site these days. On the other hand, looking through the past year's sketchbooks, there have been a few other images with what is either underwear or outerwear with the same sort of cut (and not at the beach)... And Nanase Craft was just this past winter, and despite the extended sequence of "CGI outfits", there were a few strips with censored nudity (that is obviously such without needing to know the context) in that story as well. So I guess my impression of what Dan's standards for the site are were wrong.

I'm imagining they were big cupcakes, and that he ate them right after having lots and lots of spaghetti. Of course if you're comparing Elliot to teenagers with seemingly bottomless stomachs, how much spaghetti you imaging he ate is still the deciding factor there. Alternately, Elliot doesn't have a bottomless stomach despite being a physically active teenager, in which you could read that line as a joke about him considering three cupcakes a lot. It was suggested a while back (Squirrel Prophet, I think) that Tedd might actually need glasses, he just hasn't been diagnosed. Dan has also talked before about considering giving Tedd proper glasses. The commentary suggests that this is an experiment on Dan's part to see how Tedd looks in glasses in Dan's current style. ...If Dan does decide to give Tedd glasses, then my headcanon is that this story is set after Tedd gets those glasses.

So, I've been thinking... I'm anxious for Sam to reveal his lack of a desire to date / commit to a long-term relationship at this time in part because I'm concerned about Sarah's wellbeing (to an extent, though knowing Dan's writing largely mitigates that), and in part because I want Sarah free to join Tedd and Grace. Grace is also anxious for Sam to reveal his secrets to Sarah, partly for Sarah's sake and partially so Grace doesn't have to keep so many secrets. But what if there was also a bit of subconscious jealousy or at least desire for Sarah in the equation as well? (I mean, the line a bout "the perfect woman" a few strips back sure makes it seem likely Grace does desire Sarah on some level, but my specific thought here is that desire is part of the reason Grace wants Sam to tell Sarah he doesn't want to date.)