Are you reading the comics?

The world is full of comic strips. Most require some significant drawing skill, and gain a lot of their attraction from the pictures as well as the words. But one of my favorites is drawn almost entirely with stick figures. It's allure comes not from the drawings (though they are remarkably good for the style), but rather from the depth of the thoughtfulness that the writer puts into his work. 

I know, it's a bit geeky, but I am talking about xkcd, by Randall Munroe.  It can be very tech-oriented (perhaps one of the reasons I like it), but it is also very creative. Consider this take on James Bond and centrifugal force:

 

It can also be very heartwarming. Here is one of my favorites:

 

When my daughter headed off for college, I had this one printed on a t-shirt for her:

Even the footer on the home page is good:

Warning: this comic occasionally contains strong language (which may be unsuitable for children), unusual humor (which may be unsuitable for adults), and advanced mathematics (which may be unsuitable for liberal-arts majors).

xkcd is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 license, which is why I can reprint them here.  Nice.  I am a big fan of the Creative Commons license.

New strips appear Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Well worth bookmarking.