The Pearls Before Swine cartoon by Stephan Pastis on February 18, 2026 has the following dialogue:
Rat: Well, Carrie looks like you and me can
be friends. Mind if I go check your car?
Carrie: What – you judge people
by the kind of car they drive?
Rat: The number of bumper stickers.
Rat (holding sign):
0 = IDEAL
1 = FINE
2 = RED FLAG
3 or More = CERTIFIED NUT JOB
Rat: She had eleven.
As shown above, some vehicles even have more.
There is a very detailed 29-page pdf article (with 78 references) by Alan Crawley at Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science on June 7, 2023 [pages 1 to 29] titled Clap, Clap, Clap – Unsystematic Review Essay on Clapping and Applause. The first two paragraphs of his Conclusion are that:
“Clapping and applause are two different behaviors. The first is a nonverbal phonokinesic manner that mechanically produces an acoustic sound after bursting a bubble of air between both palms of the hands. Different from clapping, applauses are claps that convey a meaning of approval, most usually used in a rhythmic, repetitive sequence.
This may be the first literature review on the complex polysemic and multipurpose behavior of clapping, and even it tried to bring several interdisciplinary lenses to study the same behavior, many historical and current aspects of how it functions, its variations, frequency, and so many more aspects still are yet to understand.”
Functions of applause are to:
Approve
Celebrate
Show Support
Cooperate
Intimidate
Section titles in Alan’s article are:
Introduction
Definition
Is a Clap a Gesture?
Evolutionary Origin of Clapping
Development of Clapping During Ontogeny
Clapp as an Expression of Soft Biometric Data
Clap as an Expression of Language and Inner Thought
Clap as a Social Act
Clap as a Contagious and Synchronized Act
Why is Synchrony Important,
and How Does It Work in Humans?
Clapping and Social Hierarchy
Synchrony Unity and Equality
The Role of Culture in Applause and Claps
The Subjective Experience of Receiving Applause
Conclusion
The cartoon came from here at OpenClipArt.
4-H is a national youth development program administered by the Cooperative Extension System under the U. S. Department of Agriculture. The name refers to a focus on personal qualities of Head, Heart, Hands, and Health. 4-H clubs provide youth opportunities related to agriculture, civic engagement, healthy living and STEM.
Back on August 19, 2012 I had blogged about watching A 4-H speech at the Western Idaho Fair. 4-H clubs have speech contests for teenagers (and younger children). State (or provincial) university extension services responsible for 4-H clubs have detailed instructional materials about giving presentations, which are useful for all teenagers. Here are some examples:
California
There is a 58-page pdf article from the University of California revised on January 28, 2021 and titled 4-H Presentation Manual.
Kansas
There is an 11-page pdf article from Kansas State University – Extension Harper County titled Thinking of doing a Talk or Demonstration at 4-H Day? WHY NOT! Here are some helpful hints! Another 6-page pdf article from July 2019 is titled Kansas 4-H Preparing and Using Visual Aids – Fact Sheet 7.0.
Maryland
A 26-page pdf article from February 2021 is titled the Maryland 4-H Public Speaking Guide.
Montana
A 64-page pdf article from the Montana State University Extension in 2016 is titled Montana 4-H Clover Communications.
North Carolina
A 18-page pdf article from May 2019 is titled North Carolina 4-H Presentations.
Orgeon
A 16-page pdf article from Oregon Cooperative Extension in January 2017 is titled 4-H Presentation Guide.
South Dakota
A 22-page pdf article from May 2019 is titled the South Dakota 4-H Public Presentation Guideline.
Texas
A 21-page pdf article from the Texas Agricultural Extension Service on June 1999 is titled Public Speaking…4-H Style. Another 16-page pdfarticle by Iris Kalich from the Texas Agricultural Extension Service is titled 4-H Public Presentation Guide: Method demonstrations & Illustrated Talks. And a 61-page pdf article from Texas A & M Agrilife EXTENSION is titled Explore Public Speaking Project.
Wisconsin
A 16-page pdf article from the University of Wisconsin Extension: 4-H Youth Development on December 2023 is titled A Parent’s Guide to Public Speaking.
Alberta
A 22-page pdf article from 4-H Alberta on September 2005 is titled Speaking Your Way to Success. And another massive 142-page pdf articleby Hugh Phillips from 4-H Alberta on October 2005 is titled 4-H Speak Pack – Communicating Effectively….the 4-H Way.
The 4-H emblem came from Wikimedia Commons.
The xkcd comic by Randall Munroe on February 6, 2026 is titled Dinosaurs and Non-Dinosaurs. As shown above in my colorized version, there is a 2x2 table with horizontal categories for ARE DINOSAURS or ARE NOT DINOSAURS, and vertical categories for SEEM LIKE DINOSAURS or DON’T SEEM LIKE DINOSAURS.
This cartoon is discussed at Explain Xkcd. The box with orange at the upper right for ARE NOT DINOSAURS but SEEM LIKE DINOSAURS are mosasaurs, plesiosaurs, pteranodon, dimetrodon, and quetzalcoatlus. And the box with blue at the lower left for ARE DINOSAURS but DON’T SEEM LIKE DINOSAURS just are birds.
On January 19, 2024 I blogged about The Joy of 2x2 tables, or charts, or matrices.
There are lots of mediocre articles about writing, but fewer excellent ones. An article by Lorelei Lingard in Perspectives in Medical Education on April 8, 2015 (Volume 4, Number 2, pages 79 and 80) is titled The writer’s craft and introduces a series. She has a PhD in rhetoric and is a professor. Articles in the series cover topics ranging from titles, to verbs, to sentences to paragraphs.
One on April 9, 2015 Volume 4 Number 2, pages 53 and 54 is titled Enlisting the power of the verb. A second on January 26, 2016 (Volume 5 Number 1, pages 39 to 41) is titled Get control of your commas. A third on May 23, 2016 Volume 5 Number 3, pages 179 to 181 is titled Bonfire red titles. A fourth on December 8, 2016 (Volume 6, Number 1, pages 51 to 53) is titled Mastering the Sentence. A fifth on April 10, 2019 Volume 10 Number 2, pages 98 to 100 is titled From semi-conscious to strategic paragraphing. A sixth on December 18, 2019 (Volume 18, Number 9, pages 57 to 59) is titled Pace, pause & silence: Creating emphasis & suspense in your writing. A seventh on November 3, 2021 (Volume 10, Number 6, pages 347 to 351) is titled When English clashes with other languages: Insights and cautions from the Writer’s Craft series. And an eighth on March 8, 2022 (Volume 11, Number 4, pages 228 to 231) is titled Writing for the reader: Using reader expectation principles to maximize clarity.
For example, in Bonfire red titles Lorelei says:
“….A title is like a front door: it serves as advertising for what’s inside your research paper. Have a look at the last title you wrote for an academic manuscript. Is it a red door or a white one? Does it draw readers into your work or encourage them to walk by?
Titles must achieve two goals: quickly grab the reader and faithfully describe the paper. This likely explains our common addiction to the ‘colon title,’ in which what precedes the colon is meant to be catchy and what follows is meant to be descriptive.”
The image of a writer was adapted from one at the Library of Congress.
Back on September 7, 2021 I posted about Don’t AWE your audience by using Acronyms Without Explanations. Always define acronyms because they are a form of jargon. There is an excellent article by Neil M. Davis in Medical Writing magazine on December 2020 (Volume 29, Number 4, pages 16 to 19) titled Medical abbreviations with multiple meanings: A prescription for disaster.
For example, HD can mean Hansen Disease, Hodgkin Disease, or Huntington Disease. And NBM can mean Nothing by Mouth, No Bowel Movement, or Normal Bowel Movement. NE can mean No Effect, No Enlargement, or just Not Evaluated. The general link for that magazine (which has freely downloadable articles) is here.
My cartoon was modified from this one at Wikimedia Commons.
Dick Van Dyke turned 100 on December 13, 2025. And he published a book with a series of stories titled 100 Rules for Living to 100: An optimist’s guide to a happy life. An article by Sarah Lemire at Today on November 18, 2025 is titled EXCLUSIVE: At Almost 100, Dick Van Dyke Won’t Sit Still – and Is Eyeing 1 More Big Role. She notes that he had a 75-year career. There is another article by Liz McNeil in People magazine on November 25, 2025 titled Dick Van Dyke ‘Feels Pretty Good for 100.’ Here’s Why He’s Optimistic About His Centennial Birthday (Exclusive).
On pages 105 to 113 there is a great story, titled Tell Your Hardest Story:
“In December 1973, I found a seat in a circle of chairs in a grim, fluorescent-lit meeting room at the Brentwood Veterans’ Hospital. Around me were military vets, young and old, all hospitalized for drug and alcohol addiction and gathered for regular group therapy. I was there as a visitor, doing research for my role as an alcoholic in The Morning After, a TV movie being shot elsewhere in the facility.
It was weird for these guys to have a Hollywood actor eavesdropping on their raw, real-life stories of struggle, I could tell. Right off the bat, I needed to assure them that I would be a sympathetic listener. ‘The subject of my movie is very personal to me,’ I began, ‘because I myself am an alcoholic.’
Their faces flickered with surprise. At the time, only my family and a handful of other people in my life knew about my drinking problem.
‘So, I understand some of what you’re going through. But really, I’m here to listen and learn.”
Then Dick decided to go public.
“The story got picked up across the country. As expected, when Mr. Goody Two-shoes admitted his addiction to the world, the public was shocked. Friends and colleagues from wherever I’d lived and worked called to offer sympathy and encouragement, reporting that they, and everyone they knew could barely believe the news. Within a week, I was getting letters by the thousand – people were moved and incredibly understanding. Many detailing how alcoholism had impacted them and their loved ones.
That reaction spurred me to go even more public. I appeared on The Dick Cavett Show, one of the best interviews I’ve ever done, and I told my story onstage in Washington, DC, for a press conference with other celebrity alcoholics. I am told that rehab facilities still show The Morning After to this day.
…. Each time I put a new layer of it into words, I feel a release of the power that alcoholism had over me. I was separating myself from the disease, seeing my experience as a battle with the disease. Telling my story was giving me power and freedom.
Each of us has our own hard stories of crisis and struggle. When we hold them in, out of fear or shame, they control us. But when we tell our stories, we’re in the driver’s seat. And when we share those stories, even just among our friends and family, we are literally helping one another to survive, just like that brotherhood of vets.”
Pages 9 and 10 have a story titled Make Your Own Rules. On page 10 Dick has the following weasel words about his rules and stories:
“I readily admit that you might find variations of the same rule emerging in multiple stories here. That’s because my life, like everyone else’s, has its personality-specific ongoing themes – questions that pop up, over and over again, in different contexts, old challenges that look different in each new light, wisdom learned and forgotten and learned again.
I might also add that, for some of these stories, there’s not exactly a rule or even a specific question. Sometimes that’s because I know there’s some nugget of meaning in the story, but I haven’t figured out what it is. Maybe you can! Other times, it’s just a funny story, plain and simple. Because don’t we all sometimes just need comic relief?
Finally, if you’re inclined to count up these rules to see if there are exactly one hundred, as advertised in the title, your math might disappoint you, just a little. Quality over quantity, as the saying goes, right? I can assure you that this book will deliver enough main rules, sub-rules, ancillary rules, and multipart rules to last you a lifetime, yes, all the way to one hundred!”
His book doesn’t bother to number those stories or even give us a Table of Contents. I got suspicious about whether there really were a hundred, and then wrote down the following list of all the story titles (grouped ten at a time):
Don’t Act Your Age
Make Your Own Rules
Examine Your Head
Learn to Fall
Find Your Passion in Your Past
Tolerate and Cherish Your Little Brother
Face Your Fear
Find “The New You” Inside “The Old You”
Find Your People – A Story in Several Parts
Figure Out Who You Aren’t
Don’t Litter: Tips for Safety and Hygiene on Family Road Trips in the 1950s
Don’t Count on “The Big Break”
Hone Your Bit (Every Job Is Training for the Next One)
Don’t Do Live Morning TV
Some Secrets You Shouldn’t Tell
Eggs Again? Some Failures Are Just That
Dance with Chita
Go Nuts (But Maybe Not That Nuts)
Suck Up to the Landlady
Speak Up for Your Family
It Doesn’t Take a Good Boss to Do Great Work
Accept Your Limitations
Win an Oscar
Stay on the Phone
Make Christmas with What You’ve Got
Don’t Trust Machines
Reconsider the Boogeyman
Tell Your Hardest Stories
Play Against Type
Retire on Your Own Terms
Remain Anonymous
Start a Band
Commit to Play
Save All That Artwork
Believe in Fate
Take Your Doubts to the Desert
Accept “Rescue” with Grace
See the Pattern to Get Past It
Help Someone Find Their Voice: Do’s and Don’ts
Reimagine Your Legacy
Read the Fine Print
Learn from Animals: 3 Species, 4 Rules
Get a Good DJ
Write It Down
Bond Through Crisis
Be Someone’s Baker
Get Frank: A Meditation on Old Rifts
Remember the Good Stuff, Leave the Rest Behind
Reminisce While You Can
Get a Great Sidekick
Clear the Air
Get a Second Opinion (and a Third and a Fourth…)
Learn from Teaching
Cross Off Regrets
Learn from Shame
Never Call “Cut”
Don’t Match Jimmy
Don’t Live in the Past
It Pays to Go to the Gym
Build a Slide and Grandkids Will Come
Transmogrify Halloween (On Family Traditions)
The Clothes Make the Gnome
Stay Tall Inside
Hand Over the Keys
Read While You Can
Do Get All Judgy (When You’re Watching TV)
Learn a New Way to Fall
Carpe Chita
Remember Honestly
Live with Regrets
Your Purpose Doesn’t Need to be Grand
You Will Not Be Alone
Save the Afterlife for After Life
You Can’t Protect Your Survivors
Find Your Arlene
As you can see, there are just seventy-five. The book could have more honestly been titled Seventy-Five Rules from My 75-Year Career: An optimist’s guide to a happy life.
The wreath was adapted from one at OpenClipArt.
