PA Comic: Wednesday, Dec 14, 2011 - Scalzification

Rankenphile

Rehab

Why would you have a sandwich after ice cream?

Kinda thought this would be the usual comic and cast we look for here too, just with someone else drawing it.

Sterica

Instead of trying to be cute, I'm just going say that this isn't very good.

Tarranon

critical daddy overload

Rehab

Rorus Raz wrote:

Instead of trying to be cute, I'm just going say that this isn't very good.

These aren't the droids we're looking for?

'Cause you know, Star Wars reference!

Henroid

I liked it.

JustinSane07

I don't understand the punch line.

jackal

The reference is to:

Proper User Policy apparently means Simon Says.

Wasn't funny then either.

Sterica

If I remember correctly, some Unix command or something that lets you do stuff. Someone can better explain it than I.

It awkwardly jams in a second, out-of-place punchline that was done by XKCD years ago. I mean XKCD even used sandwiches.

SabreMau

It has an official website with additional explanations and details.
http://www.sudo.ws/

Sudo in a Nutshell

Sudo (su "do") allows a system administrator to give certain users (or groups of users) the ability to run some (or all) commands as root while logging all commands and arguments. Sudo operates on a per-command basis, it is not a replacement for the shell. Its features include:

• The ability to restrict what commands a user may run on a per-host basis.
  
• Sudo does copious logging of each command, providing a clear audit trail of who did what. When used in tandem with syslogd, the system log daemon, sudo can log all commands to a central host (as well as on the local host). At CU, all admins use sudo in lieu of a root shell to take advantage of this logging.
  
• Sudo uses timestamp files to implement a "ticketing" system. When a user invokes sudo and enters their password, they are granted a ticket for 5 minutes (this timeout is configurable at compile-time). Each subsequent sudo command updates the ticket for another 5 minutes. This avoids the problem of leaving a root shell where others can physically get to your keyboard. There is also an easy way for a user to remove their ticket file, useful for placing in a .logout file.
  
• Sudo's configuration file, the sudoers file, is setup in such a way that the same sudoers file may be used on many machines. This allows for central administration while keeping the flexibility to define a user's privileges on a per-host basis. Please see the samples sudoers file below for a real-world example.

WMain00

Yes, it's the beginning of the terrible guest comics. Clench your buttock cheeks tight and hold on, it's going to be a bumpy ride.

Darkewolfe

Who was responsible for this awkward comic?

Actually, if the mods are able to post a byline or something on these, it would be nice.

UncleSporky

I think it would've been perfect if it ended with the dad saying "just this once" and no other text.

I know we've gotten used to stinger jokes after the main one, but I don't think it's always necessary and in this case I'd say it hurt the overall comic.

Prolegomena

Sometimes we bold for emphasis, sometimes we don't know why

Ashoka

All of the above.

Also, the kid is creepy. I like how the Dad looks like Kevin Smith though.

Brolo

I'm just... not at all a fan of this.

Gaslight

Rorus Raz wrote:

Instead of trying to be cute, I'm just going say that this isn't very good.

Instead of trying to be generous, I'm just going to say that it's pretty damn terrible.

SyphonBlue

The kid looks like he (she?) is at least 15.

mjrusso45

This is crap.

Ivar

The sandwich part is completely unnecessary and doesn't make much sense without the first part of the joke

ThreeCubed

Gonna agree with everything else that's been written here.

Come back, Mike!

Roger Wilco

I've spent the morning going to other forums and writing "no no, Mike is on vacation. This was a guest artist."

TychoCelchuuu

Penny Arcade isn't like dinner or something. If the person who knows how to cook food isn't around, we might need the person who can't cook to try desperately to throw together dinner, because if we don't eat dinner, that's bad. We might even need to invite a terrible chef (but a good writer) over to make us dinner. With the comic, though, it's different. We can just... you know... not have Penny Arcade for a little while. Things can stop. They don't need to actively get bad.

Dark Raven X

No one commented on the kid's face in panel 1? And hand in panel 2?

El Guaco

SyphonBlue wrote:

The kid looks like he (she?) is at least 15.

I get labeled as that grumpy old guy for complaining that boys these days have girly hair. I honestly cannot tell if this is a boy who needs a haircut, or a girl with man hands.

Gaslight

TychoCelchuuu wrote:

Penny Arcade isn't like dinner or something. If the person who knows how to cook food isn't around, we might need the person who can't cook to try desperately to throw together dinner, because if we don't eat dinner, that's bad. We might even need to invite a terrible chef (but a good writer) over to make us dinner. With the comic, though, it's different. We can just... you know... not have Penny Arcade for a little while. Things can stop. They don't need to actively get bad.

That's easy for us to say, but PA has had an uninterrupted streak of comics every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for how many years? I'm sure they feel I powerful sense of obligation to deliver something. PA is a business, after all, and its clear that they treat it professionally.

Durkhanus

Man...

That boy has three arms.

Ashoka

Durkhanus wrote:

Man...

That boy has three arms.

That's no moon boy.

mjrusso45

Gaslight wrote:

TychoCelchuuu wrote:

Penny Arcade isn't like dinner or something. If the person who knows how to cook food isn't around, we might need the person who can't cook to try desperately to throw together dinner, because if we don't eat dinner, that's bad. We might even need to invite a terrible chef (but a good writer) over to make us dinner. With the comic, though, it's different. We can just... you know... not have Penny Arcade for a little while. Things can stop. They don't need to actively get bad.

That's easy for us to say, but PA has had an uninterrupted streak of comics every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for how many years? I'm sure they feel I powerful sense of obligation to deliver something. PA is a business, after all, and its clear that they treat it professionally.

Treating it professionally would involve someone from PA reading this comic and sending it back for a re-write. I'm not even going to comment on the artwork, since that's a style/taste thing, other than to say I don't think that was very good either.

jackal

It is frustrating. If he had left out the last five speech bubbles it would be passable (but bland).

Arikado

Artwork is ok. That's about it.

TychoCelchuuu

Gaslight wrote:

TychoCelchuuu wrote:

Penny Arcade isn't like dinner or something. If the person who knows how to cook food isn't around, we might need the person who can't cook to try desperately to throw together dinner, because if we don't eat dinner, that's bad. We might even need to invite a terrible chef (but a good writer) over to make us dinner. With the comic, though, it's different. We can just... you know... not have Penny Arcade for a little while. Things can stop. They don't need to actively get bad.

That's easy for us to say, but PA has had an uninterrupted streak of comics every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for how many years? I'm sure they feel I powerful sense of obligation to deliver something. PA is a business, after all, and its clear that they treat it professionally.

If I've provided an uninterrupted stream of delicious meals over the years, that doesn't mean I should get my friend serve shit if I'm going to be out of town on Wednesday. PA is a business, but it's a business built on delivering awesome comics to the fans, not on putting ANYTHING AT ALL up according to schedule. If we had all paid our subscription fee, then yes, I guess they would be contractually obligated to give us this our daily comic even if they had to resort to making it awful, but Penny Arcade is free! If it doesn't happen for a day, we can live with that!

I think Tycho should've just done a comic edit. I've done a bunch and they're pretty easy. And replacing the words in an already drawn comic can lead to a perfectly good new comic!

XenoZergie

Seriously, what is going on in the third panel?

I have all of the Old Man's War books by Scalzi and enjoyed them thoroughly but a three panel comic is apparently not his forte.

The "kid sees Star Wars for the first time, tries to use Jedi mind tricks on parents" gag is not new or particularly funny, but relating it as a personal experience is kind of cute/heartwarming.

However, as others already noted, the second "joke" in the third panel is terrible and is completely out of place.

Lucky Cynic

I'm not tearing into the artist, but I'd like to see some Kurtz guest comics. PVP is great and all but I'd like to see what sorts of fun he'd have with PA.

Yes I know about that comic.

jackal

It is different for us. If they didn't post a week of comics we would still come back because we are already here, but we are a minority. Most of their readers have a routine where they check PA three times a week. If they didn't post anything some percentage of those people would fall out of the routine and they would lose readers.

Ashoka

Lucky Cynic wrote:

I'm not tearing into the artist, but I'd like to see some Kurtz guest comics. PVP is great and all but I'd like to see what sorts of fun he'd have with PA.

Yes I know about that comic.

Screw Kurtz, gimme Kris!

kingworks

Tycho, my friend, you are not white trash. This is coming from a white southern boy descended from people who still live "in th' holler."

Talk to me after you've eaten roadkill. (deer x 2, rattlesnake)

Fandeathis

I suppose this is better than no comic at all, but barely.

Lucky Cynic

So yeah, who is going to be getting a print of this?

Me? Pencil me down for four or five.

UnknownSaint

I'm trying to figure out if this is ironically bad. Maybe it's a satire of nerdy web-comics like PA and XKCD. Genius.

(Seriously though Mike and Jerry should have screened this shit. Then again, I can imagine it would be pretty difficult to turn something down after you requested a guest comic.)

agilemania

A bad guest comic is like a piece of macaroni artwork made by someone else's kid.

I feel bad for Scalzi. I love his books, but this was just a complete failure. Even Bill Amend's post-PAX groaner (http://penny-arcade.com/comic/2009/09/09) was better than this.