Ruth returns to Woody After Hours! The webcomic talk show will be interviewing her M/W/F for the next two weeks or so. Let’s see how she likes the ol’ question and answer. (Someone’s probably gonna get punched.)
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See, JOE knows when math’s over and it’s time to study biology
50 Shades of Grey: Indiana University
Handcuffs? That sounds more like a criminal justice course.
Though, Amazi-Girl isn’t involved, so maybe not.
Joe can’t wait for some police brutality.
He has the right to remain shirtless and covered in whipped cream.
I wonder if she’s packing a tazer.
Well, he won’t REMAIN covered in whipped cream… mmm…
Sexy times ‘It’s Walky’ Style!
You guys remember that strip?
You mean this one?
It does put a different spin on “Fuck Tha Police”.
Sarah keeps hoping to get a chance to study criminal justice like that with Jacob.
LMAO! I CANT!
Part of me is really starting to want a Joe-centered spinoff… Another part of me is kinda scared at what such a spinoff might contain…
Might bear some resemblance to Least I Could Do, but with less narcissism.
That has potential!
I think a Joe spin off would be exclusively on slipshine.
Joe Joes a Joe; the series
See bro code article 34
http://www.brocode.com/code/article-34
Oh, I’d say the math has just begun. They’re going to add the lube, subtract the clothes, divide the legs, and try not to actually multiply.
Wait, this is a calculus class, right?
Well then, Joe’s going to be Penny’s integral. He’ll be the area under her curves.
That was … seriously awesome … though perhaps a bit graphic?
If you wonder why no one is replying to this, I suspect its because we’re afraid of being too derivative … please, if you are still functional give us some more excellent lines!
I’m not crazy-good at math puns, so sighin’, I’ll wave goodbye.
Don’t go, I’m sure all you need is a little priming to reach a higher order functioning.
I don’t know, sometimes you just gotta find the lowest common denominator to make things come together. Reproduction seems to cancel out the differing elements well enough…
It is good on multiple levels that you are factoring in the tendency to regress to the mean …
I’m tempted to go off on a tangent, but I should probably keep it real.
Yes, hold on to your integerity! Anything else will lead to our decimalation …
So, that would make Penny Joe’s differential? She’d be tangent to him at EVERY point!
Trust me, it’s sexy, if you understand the math.
I am very impressed, but then thought about it a bit too much …
Sorry about this curve ball but … wouldn’t they both have to be disintegrated for that to happen? Or are you suggesting he’s going to get completely inside of her??
Don’t y’all know math puns are a cardinal sine?
Hey as a tan gent, I’d like to touch your curves.
This would mean we are cosined to hell, right? Well that’s nominally better than going to heaven anyway …
You mean…journalism?
no, there can’t possibly be any ethics in this kind of journalism
Demonstrating a lack of ethics is a valid point when arguing ethics.
Would have gone with Human Anatomy.
oral exam time?
Yes. To turn that C into an A, Joe will also have to F her in the A.
Because she want’s the D and Joe thinks that’s BA.
And to get that B.A., Joe has to suck many T.A.s Vajayjays.
And make sure she gets the D and not him. ^_^
Sooo much in-your-end-o…
And that’s how we like it. 😀
Just pray there’s no D (Unless the D is a condom. Then you DESPERATELY want the D with Joe) (The D does mean pregnancy, right?)
Generally it means “dick”.
So in other words, this is their theme right now.
Ahaha, Penny is about to be a VIP at the DMV.
You are my favorite person right now because reading this comment thread THIS IS ALL I COULD THINK OF.
Penny is a different kind of realist.
Penny the Pessimist. Yeah, sounds about right.
I dunno. She seems pretty optimistic to me. She realizes that worrying about pointless matters is foolish, and instead focuses on the fun and happiness of life.
Indeed, the TA who is out to score with her students is highly optimistic. She’s sure she won’t get caught or reported on…
Does anyone else imagine Joe with the voice of H. Jon Benjamin, or is it just me?
I am now! And it is glorious.
I didn’t until you mentioned it.
I was thinking more of the lines of Homer J Simpson. 😀
Well now I can’t NOT imagine it. Joe will forever sound like Archer in my head after this. Thanks for that. 😛
Now I got the voice of Captain Archer going in my head.
I got Bob Belcher instead and now I hear Joe as a sadsack.
Hannah. Hannah! Hannaaaaaaaahhhh!
…Danger Zone.
“Hold on I…….um…….Dammit I had something for this.”
… Goddammit, now Joe sounds like Bob Belcher.
I mean, that’s kinda close to the voice I thought he’d have anyway, but now it’s in my head
Nolan North.
Search your feelings, you know it to be true.
I’d been thinking Daniel Henney =o
No, I imagine Zapp Brannigan
Works every time!
Ugh, I thought Joe died
Joe will never die, he’s Willis’ longest lasting, most frequently appearing character. And a fan favorite.
Great…….he’s not my fav. Joyce is my fav, to hell with Joe.
Or at least the Dumbing Of Age Joyce. Screw the others
From what i hear, Anti-Joyce would be up for that…
You know what I mean. I don’t like the others.
Fair enough. To each their own…
Thank you, Screwball!
A comic with all Joyce all the time and everybody else screwing might be an interesting if somewhat demanding on the artist Slipshine…
Don’t make me get my Dubstep Gun!
PENNY
slipshine plz
I missed Joey 🙂
So, how many teachers DON’T have or fantasize about sex with their students?
Hopefully all the grade-school teachers.
Obedience school as well.
Every dog has his way…
AROOOOOOOOOOOOO!
*wipes away a tear*
Ladies, gentlemen, I want you all to know that I salute you and all who sail on you.
Adds a whole new level to BOW CHICKA BOW WOW!
NYAAAAAAAA!
*ahem* HEY-OOOO!
In this strip? None. (Although I’m pretty sure a couple of them would settle for teachers if any offered)
There’s Leslie.
She neatly subverts the issue of power dynamics by having her students hook her up with their older siblings.
Issue of conflict of interests possibly still remains? I dunno. Whatever field of study it is where you learn about that sort of stuff, I haven’t studied it.
by “their” I hope you don’t mean “their (own)” D=
The older siblings of her students. I structured that sentence right, didn’t I?
I dunno, I apparently can’t read =|
Hook *her* up with *their* siblings – the students themselves are not involved in the prospective sexual activity, though persuading another person to have sex with one’s teacher in exchange for better grades for oneself does still seem highly questionable, ethics-wise.
She probably fantasized about sex with her students, until she found a certain hot, young senator to fantasize about…
It’s probably equal to the amount of students who fantasize about having sex with their teachers.
There are generally more students than teachers by far, so “proportional” might be better than “equal”. (Look, it’s a strip about math nerds, and that’s about as far as my math goes.)
Even then, I dunno if that’s true. Professors are old and fugly. There’s a very niche appeal to the power and wisdom they command in academic circles.
Students are young and I think that appeal’s held more broadly in our culture.
Most of my teachers were fairly to extremely attractive.
Even were your other assumptions true (not in my experience, although the only thing I find “fugly” in people are the attitudes of those who would apply such a term to other human beings), sapiosexuality affects a fairly broad segment of the population, probably more so in college.
Pretty sure Professor Bean’s too busy crushing on a certain ideologically inappropriate Congresswoman.
Leslie fantasizes about her students’ appropriately aged family members! Good job, Leslie! Though she goes along with Roz’s scheming to hook up with Robin which is still an inappropriate interaction, though much less so.
Minor question… is Joe even a student in one of the classes that she teaches? We don’t even know what course she’s a TA for.
There may be strict rules against someone sleeping with a student of their own, but if they’re not in the same class there’s probably no rule against it.
Speaking as a married man, and a college teacher… I don’t need to. I already have my best friend as my wife… and she’s damn hot. 🙂
All we can say then I guess is congrats…
Teachers can go through a wide range of emotions with students, but often they are colored in shades of frustration. Adults who have been out in the workforce for a few years are likely to see 18 year old students as immature kids.
Well, at least Jason knows he’s got nothing to feel guilty over for banging Sal if his ex is riding the Joe Train to Happyville.
That’s like saying I don’t have to feel guilty about thievery because every one I know steals. (although technically that is relavent to my life, ey piratebay)
Well, it depends on what they steal and from whom – I once knew a guy who came from one of the more problematic parts of town, and from what he told me his neighbourhood is basically a community of people stealing from each other – also stealing the stuff back their neighbours stole from them.
Does Jason have nothing to feel guilty over? It’s a shame there aren’t better examples, but still no.
Does this strip make Jason look a lot less like a bad person? I think so. If he tries, it might even put him in reaching distance of ok-guy-who’s-been-a-total-idiot.
It’s different when the teacher’s a female I guess…
Or she heard what happened between him and Sal and is trying to get back at him since she offered herself to him, like, dozens of times.
I don’t get the impression she’s being held up as a paragon of educational ethics here.
If anything this looks like it’s a wake up call for Jason to consider exactly what sort of educator he wants to be and start acting like it. The fact that his actions more closely match Penny and her values than the values he claims as his own will likely be sobering.
yes, I think you nailed it
If Gangler’s right, then I think a reality check may just about to start banging away, in front of him if he doesn’t leave…
Not really, though Joe might not be one of her students. I mean, he probably is, let’s be real XD
I think I like this universe’s Penny a lot.
Well she’s not a crazy Psycho Girl here so its easy to get past that and see the rest of her personality.
Not that we know of. Some sociopaths are good at faking it.
If I know my sitcoms, I think she’s just gonna end up handcuffing him to the radiator and leaving.
Ah, but at what level of undressing…
Nah, Jason’s totally an optimist.
Middle name Fredricka, no doubt.
My enjoyment of a character is usually related to how sexually active they are.
(or if they have lipstick. IT’SNOTATHINGIT’SPROBABLYATHINGIT’SATHINGI’MINTO)
So you have a thing for Sarah ? Didn’t know she was your type or that she had the ability to attract people.
(I may like her a bit…yes.)
Ways to make me like a character.
1. Make her colored
2. Make her strong
3. Make her promiscuous
4. Make her busty
5. Give her lipstick
6. Make her chubby
7. Make it a lady
If they fit all the qualifications then they’re my favorite cuz I’m BIASED.
Is there one character in this comic that fits all these traits ?
Not at all. I don’t think there’s any character in fiction that I’m aware of that fits ALL of those although it’s not unlikely. I’m just not lookin’.
(I mean I made a character or 2 like that.)
Sierra definitely comes close, though she’s minus the lipstick and maybe not quite chubby enough and we have no indication of her physical skills beyond “doesn’t wear shoes”.
I see now why she’s your favorite.
I think he means strong willed
No, I literally mean physically strong. If a girl can punch through solid metal or german suplex something then she’s my favorite character in the show.
(one of those qualities you mentioned may be my hidden #8 on that list hurrr hurr)
Well there’s Chan. Don’t know about her dating status but she ticks off a lot of boxes on your checklist.
Colored?
(It’s nicer than saying non-white)
It would be hypocrisy for him to object, huh? LoL
At first I wondered why she didn’t even try to hide what she was doing even though it probably isn’t really allowed, (I think, I’m honestly not sure what the rules are for teacher’s assistents) but then I realized Jason probably isn’t much in the situation where he can tell on her.
but I don’t thik Penny knows about the Sal sexing? The one time she met them Jason was actually going to tutor Sal
No it wouldn’t actually. He truly believes in following his personal code, he just is bad at it. Hypocrisy is when you preach something that you yourself do not believe.
Pretty sure that’s just lying. Hypocrisy would be more when you don’t practice what you preach. As Jason would be if he were to start admonishing Penny for sexing up a student when he sexes up students and hasn’t even begun to try and correct that behavior yet.
I bet he will, next page. And there realise what it makes him look like
Joe is back on the Scene people, also WILLIS AIN’T HERE ! Let’s party and burn this sight to the ground !
Site, sight is something to look at on the road.
Eh whatever
You really should cite your sources when you make outrageous statements like this!
For some reason I keep thinking about the OK college English teacher fired for posting an article on homonyms because they promoted the gay lifestyle (and I really wish I was kidding on that one).
Seriously, I love homonyms.
Yeah, the abbreviation for Oklahoma is just every so slightly ironic …
I… wut… how?
“homosexual” and “homonym” begin with the same prefix.
homo-nom-nom-noms
Like the politician who smeared his opponent by calling him a “practicing homosapien”. It worked…
….but you say you love homonyms, so he was right after all, no? Or perhaps that’s what you meant. Either way, one more soul lost to the corrupting influence of homonyms. Truly, they must be stopped.
BUT WHEN WITH AMBER LEARN THAT RUTH IS SECRETLY SPIDERCAR AND THAT DINA IS ACTUALLY AMAZIGIRL?! DAMN YOU WILLIS FEMURS NICKEL FAAAACE.
ALSO HEY IS ETHAN LIKE GAY OR SOMETHING?
IT’S PRONOUNCED ‘DIE-NA’, RITE?
Actually you can remove permanent marker by tracing over it with a normal one
hi
s’up?
It’s the fuzz! Cheese it!
*Sits back & watches the madness unfold, people instinctively running everywhere…* XD
IT’S THE 504! GET OUT OF HERE!
Aaaye man ummm about the whole “Burning this place down thing” uh it was a joke, caught up in the heat of the moment…shit.
*Grabs popcorn, continues to watch show…*
the last time we saw joe with that much stubble I think was after he had been drinking the night before, as a crazy idiot I will now assume that he was also hungover in this strip, thank you
*hops into garbage*
Joe is A Real American Hero.
He’s wearing alien red tights?
Of course not. No layers, remember?
He’s a real american
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zrZt45PEbSk
Video is blocked in my country.
Same here, guess we’re not real americans 😀
That’s kind of hilarious, actually.
I’ve missed Joe
ah, appropriate grav!
GO JOE!
Why’d she even get into teaching? Not like it pays that well so if you don’t care about it at all what’s even the reason? To live out some kind of sexual fantasy where she sleeps with students?
The reason people work in fast food. It pays the bills and you can bang people where you work. That’s right people. That’s what they’re doing back there.
And that is why I hate McDonald’s “secret” sauce.
Oh thanks You’ve Ruined McDonald’s for me !
The food is what ruined McDonald’s for me.
Low wages and wage theft is what Ruined McDonald’s for me, combined with being tone deaf on what that does to a budget.
Fast Food Franchises I go to from most to least:
1/ Subway
2/ KFC
3/ Brumby’s Bakery
4/ Pizza Hut
5/ McDonald’s(It can be more than a year between visits)
McD’s is FAR lower on my list.
There isn’t quite as many big name fast-food franchises that I even go to, for instance I had enough bad experiences with Red Rooster’s food not to ever want to go there again, Domino’s pizzas are so meh that don’t order from there.
McDonald’s while far from my favourite restaurant, is still worthwhile going to when I go on the occasional country trips because of the breakfast menu(Sausage McMuffin, Hash Brown & Orange Juice), I used to like the McNuggets but they don’t taste as nice anymore.
I like McDonalds, the grease & sugar charges me up nicely, but Daniel the Human calls it McShyte. Mind you, tiny burger is tiny, yet called Big Mac. Hungry Jack’s (Burger King in USA) is OK, but Grill’d is real good. Healthier, not as wide as a HJ’s burger but tall & tastes pretty good too.
Ah so you’re a Victorian huh, I myself have been a South Aussie for many years now, I even stopped calling potato fritters potato scallops even if it took me about 20 years to change.
Naa, Grill’d has made it all the way to the West. Got a couple Grill’d around, seem to go to the West Perth 1 every week or 2…
Speaking from experience?
Haha, it’s cute that anons think I’ve even been in the vicinity of people banging.
Well, teeeechnically your chromosomes were, at least, at one point.
Ooh! a cat video!
In the meat locker, all day every day getting it on…Yotomoe you know a lot about this, have you at any worked in the fast food industry ?
I knew this girl who worked at a Jamba Juice and apparently habitually lesbianized with coworkers in the freezer. Always did kinda want to know more details, but a) I ain’t THAT guy, b) the physiological reactions vis-a-vis certain environmental factors are not terribly hard to imagine.
She’s a grad student. TAing is one way that they pay their freight.
She probably doesn’t want to be, but is required to do it as part of her graduate studies.
Ding ding ding ding!
I didn’t know about that, I’m not too familiar with the US education system. Makes sense though.
Maybe she really likes learning math, and this was the way to stay in math classes as long as possible.
If she’s a grad student like Jason, she did not get into teaching, she got into research: university teaching is just a side-effect of research, something researchers are supposed to perform on the side, but are not really rewarded for. In many doctoral programs being a TA is heavily encouraged: it gives the schools cheap labor and helps the students gain a little extra money and complete their resume for the future job hunt. But sadly Penny is right: nothing apart from personal ethics incentivizes good teaching when you’re a researcher/grad student(=future researcher)… I should know, I’m a researcher and I like to teach – does not bring much recognition, it’s see as most researchers as a waste of time
damn it: “it’s seen by most researchers as a waste of time”
Fortunately, despite Penny’s attitude, that is changing. If you want a faculty position it’s a good idea to have some TA experience, and more and more often you need pedagogical education as well.
Probably because she like math, and teaching is what you do as you become a mathematician.
Whoops, somehow thought the end of the “fast food sex” thread was the end of the discussion about Penny as a teacher. The “special sauce” distracted me— sorry!
I am honestly not surprised.
Well it is Joe after all…
That’s outs our Joe, dudududu du de duuuu~
so we can mark Penny off the list of potential “hoodie fetishists” for Walky to pursue…
wait… did I just invent a ship?
Technically, I think you just invented an anti-ship, but there was probably an equivalent ship produced at the same time.
Spontaneous ship/anti-ship particles can appear spontaneously in areas exposed to high-intensity fanboi energy fields. It’s Hawking radiation for commenters.
It isn’t naïveté Penny’s about to get crammed with.
I’m imagining Joe and Penny just going right to it right there on the desk, with Jason still standing there awkwardly. And inviting him to join in when he gets too uncomfortable and starts to leave.
I can see that happening too, although in most of my research on Humans the 3rd person usually joins in…
Mind you, Mr Willis has had personal time begin with an audience before, so it is a possibility…
omg YUSSSS
Oh god, Joe and Penny? I should have guessed…
Joe and everyone who gives their enthusiastic consent.
I’m confused: is a penny more than a nickel?
*Slowclap*
There has to be some clever wordplay on “in for a penny, in for a pound” that I’m not thinking of.
I think it sounds like a euphemism right on its own.
It’s all fun and games until the Penni droops?
Joe’s in a Penny, giving a pound?
Into a Penny, in for a pounding?
That strikes me as as the best answer – I cents that I have been seriously out punned …
Don’t worry, you can change.
No, ’tis probably too late for me … no quarter is given in this comments section (only nickels).
A pound of flesh, eh? eh? eh?
Offscreen: That’s not what it means, dolt.
I would have gone for ‘Penny’s in for a pounding’, but whatever works for you.
More like twelve-thirsty
I believe the rules at colleges are professors can have relationships with students because while they try and regulate it, it turns out a lot of students get really annoyed at attempts to treat them like children.
On the contrary, IMHO the power dynamic is especially present for students that are used to being treated as kids (as they are in high school, unfortunately), because however strongly they resent it and want to escape it, authority is still their frame of reference: if a teenager wants to screw an authority figure (pun intended) and an adult who has power over them takes advantage of that, it’s an abuse. The thing here is that Jason thought he could ignore the unbalanced power dynamic and didn’t realise he was such an authority figure to Sal, so he did not willfully abuse his power – but he abused it nonetheless: the reason for which Sal originally had sex with him in addition to other remarks she made (calling him “the man”) show how wrong he was.
Actually, from what Sal said, it’s pretty clear that she simply thought he was attractive and that she needed to unwind a bit. He just happened to be in the immediate vicinity when she came to that conclusion.
Policies will vary by institution, but if there is any sort of teacher-student, supervisory, or advisory relationship between the two, it’s forbidden. And that applies to teaching assistants as well. Also, faculty should recuse themselves from any situation where they would be in a position of authority over a former partner.
It’s generally acceptable for an interested teacher-student pair to wait until the next semester before hooking up socially, so long as the student will not take any future classes under the teacher.
Violating these rules is one of the few things that can get even a tenured professor thrown out of their job.
What Sal and Jason did was clearly improper, and would get Jason fired immediately.
Again, specifics vary by institution. Check your employee or student handbook; if you have questions, faculty members, consult your provost, dean, or HR; students, consult your student honor council or counseling services.
As far as I’m aware, a teacher’s aide ain’t never been a “teacher” so everything here’s fair game. She and Jason are still students. Unless I’m wrong, of course.
There’s still an implied position of power in that they are responsible for grading. Sal clearly slept with Jason because she thought it would up her grade, and taking advantage of that perception in any way whatsoever would be pretty gross. And while they are students, they’re GRAD students. That’s at least a good four to six years on Joe and Sal. They can legally buy alcohol and go into bars, which most undergrads can’t. This is both a “relative maturity at this stage is very different” indicator and a “HOLY SHIT IS THERE ROOM FOR THIS TO GO VERY VERY WRONG” indicator.
being a grad student puts you in a weird intermediate position. it’s wrong for a grad student TA to sleep with their students for exactly the reasons Regalli said. and on the other hand it’s wrong for proper faculty to sleep with their grad students for exactly the same reasons. you kind of play two roles at once.
(incidentally, administration often confounds these two roles to thwart efforts at ta unionization, but that’s not really relevant here.)
The joke in my lab is that, as a grad student, I’m not a person. The PIs were trying to get one of the techs a promotion, but 3 people were required to be under her; we had 2 other techs and myself at the time, but they said I didn’t count. Therefore, not a person.
Of course, one of the other techs takes it a step further and says I’m equipment… -,-
Yeah, I’m with Regalli and s here: no matter how old you are, the “position of power/authority” thing is really important. I was less than 25 when I taught my first undergrad class (they were 18 year-olds, which means fresh out of high school in my country), I looked very VERY young… and still the authority factor was overwhelming, and the power dynamic was already palpable. I once found a student crying because another TA wrote an ironic remark on one of his copies: that made him feel stupid the way no classmate could have.
I mean, whatever you wanna call them they’ve been placed in a position of authority over their students. That they also happen to be enrolled in some courses of their own doesn’t really undo that.
… So, uh, Jason suddenly shot up .5% on my teacher ranking scale in this strip just by comparison. (Horribly unethical? Yes. But cares, wants to be better, and horribly unethical in a situation where I suspect he LEGITIMATELY DOESN’T ACTUALLY KNOW it’s unethical, which does count for a little.)
Agreed. Maybe someone — Leslie, maybe? — can have a talk with him about Ethics in Education. Or Mike can punch him in the face for perpetuating a broken system, which would serve the same purpose.
I think Leslie would be more effective in terms of “here is why you deserve the punch, specifically, and how you can actually try and salvage this situation”.
So like, start with the punch and end with the Leslie/heretofore unknown Actually Good Professor? (Because come on, on a campus this big there’s gotta be more than one unambiguously awesome teacher who actually cares about the subject material and their students learning it. Though I suppose we probably won’t see any in freshman year.)
I’m pretty sure that Jason is well aware that banging one of his students is horribly unethical. Though he’s not really okay with having done it anyway.
While Joe is a student, we don’t actually know that he’s one of Penny’s, so this may actually not be the kind of ethical violation that Jason doing Sal is.
Ohh. I forgot about that.
Though Joe is studying to be some kind of engineer, right? So he probably is in a math class or two. Still, possibly none of hers if we wanna give her the benefit of the doubt, but that seems like the most likely channel for them to have met through.
Not sure he’s an engineer in this verse. I don’t think he went into engineering in the original verse until at least sophomore year.
We don’t know what Jason’s career goal here is. You may be remembering the other continuity.
Penny’s a hottie, and Joe is Joe. Just passing her in the hall is all the opening he needs.
I’m assuming until proven otherwise that he is one of her students, but we don’t actually know that.
Hmm. Y’know, I could actually see Joe going to the trouble of transferring to a different section just so it wouldn’t be unethical for him to bang Penny. The boy’s a slut, but he’s an ethical slut.
Ah, forgot that.
As a fan of obsolete codes of honor, I now want Jason to become the best math teacher in the history of the universe. Yes? Maybe?
Well maybe if he stops thinking with his dick and more with his brain.
Agreed. Step 1 of being Best Math Teacher: no more deriding or sleeping with students, ever.
Secretly, Jason is a big fan of Great Teacher Onizuka.
Unfortunately, he failed utterly at being a pervert who wants sex, and went straight into actually having it.
Jason is good at making plans, but sometimes doesn’t quite succeed at implementing them as intended..
Woah there, he’d have to get a cool furyou motorcycle first
I think he is the best math teacher in this strip.
I actually think he is the second best teacher we have seen so far.
And I have spent half of the strips he has appeared in wining about what a terrible teacher he is.
Prof. Rees apparently sets the bar pretty low.
Not to mention the huge gap between him and Leslie.
Question: Is Joe actually IN her class, or did they run into each other on campus and decided they wanted to bang?
Also HOLY SHIT why are you asking your ex-something-or-other to hand you stuff you’re about to use while fucking some dude?
What does she even teach ?
That’s what I’d do if I was hanging out with my ex who’s bongoing about getting laid sometimes by a hot mulatto skater chick.
In order to hurt them emotionally and rub it in their face that they have no power over you, which is a really shitty thing to do.
From their few interactions I think anything Jason and Penny may have had has long since died. Also it’s funny. Plus Jason was banging Sal. Friggin SAL! What the fuck does he care?
I know you said “stubbly” in regards to Joe’s permanent status, but I’m choosing to read it as “stubby,” as in, “Joe has a permanently short, stubby dick.”
…because I don’t like Dumbiverse Joe. He’s just an ass.
It’s not the size of the ship, it’s the motion of the ocean.
Sometimes lil’Joe looks small because it’s in the chick.
What? It was in the news and everything.
“Ms Worthington, you’re trying to seduce me!”
“Damn straight, Mr Rosenthal, now get that hoodie OFF!”
And Jason makes three in this crowd. Alas, Penny and Joe have a different tutorial plan in mind.
Perpetually stubbly is good. *fans self*
Not if you gotta shave it every day, or live with someone who’s gotta shave theirs everyday. I swear, Daniel the Human shaves, an hour later it’s already “weapons grade” sandpaper! Even I’m scared of it…!!
As long as it doesn’t feel like kissing a cactus…
“Now you get your student here and MAYBE we can talk out a 4-way.”
I knew Penny wanted a piece of that ass too
I can’t imagine Joe/Sal. The pieces just don’t seem to fit.
Actually, the two haven’t interacted yet in the Dumbiverse, have they? I can imagine Sal being his Mt. Everest.
They haven’t ever even been in the same strip.
Perma-stubble suits Joe quite well.
As long as it just stays stubble, him with a beard is… well, his dad. And that’s not a good thing.
Joe is quickly headed towards testosterone poisoning.
How the hell do you do math reaserch? (No, don’t answer, I want to keep living in the illusion that math is a usless subject I never will have any use for.)
a lot of time spent working on problems by yourself and talking with other math people about the problems you’re working on. it’s different from the hard sciences in that there’s no experiments, and hence no lab work (although depending on the subfield, you might do a lot of programming). often very abstract stuff that’s pretty far removed from anything non-mathematicians encounter, especially in standard math education. (i have a lot of opinions about the way math is taught [spoiler, BADLY], but i’m not going to go into that here).
a lot of time spent working on problems by yourself and talking with other math people about the problems you’re working on. it’s different from the hard sciences in that there’s no experiments, and hence no lab work (although depending on the subfield, you might do a lot of programming). often very abstract stuff that’s pretty far removed from anything non-mathematicians encounter, especially in standard math education. (i have a lot of opinions about the way math is taught [spoiler, BADLY], but i’m not going to go into that here).
oops, this was meant as a reply to Aolbain’s question above about what math research entails.
You can have it answered and keep living in the illusion that math is a useless subject, because knowing how the research is done doesn’t necessarily give any clues about what the results are used for.
I’m told a caffeine/ “smart drug” stack called Jet Rush is helpful.
Joe’s not her student as far as we know, so no problem here
Oh wow, that’s a whole lot of grad school flashback happening right now.
Not any happy-kinky-sexy-time, though-not when all undergrads look like middle schoolers.
Oh, Penny. When Professor Rees dies, you can only HOPE that the university keeps the position for someone else to fill, or that it doesn’t get combined with another deceased professor’s position for double the (often incompatible) responsibilities for pay “commensurate with experience.”
HA HA HA, I forgot, this is a STEM field. Never mind, Penny, the trustees love you guys. Your jobs are safe.
it’s better in STEM, but we are not immune to the adjunctification of higher ed either. my department (math grad student here) has hella adjuncts, and the prospects of getting a quality tenure track job are pretty grim by the numbers, even at well-regarded programs. you need a lot of talent, plus a lot of luck, to make it these days.
that said, there are probably more (and better paid) non-academic positions for STEM phds, so we’ve got less to complain about. plus, we pretty universally get ok funding so even if i’m wasting my time, i’m not going into debt doing it!
As far as I can tell the B-school scumbags who seem to have taken over most universities love STEM researchers the way ticks love rabbits …
yeah, i don’t deny that those types definitely favor STEM pretty egregiously. (no one’s calling to get rid of math departments anywhere, as far as i can tell.) especially since technical fields tend to bring in grant money from places like the nsf which the humanities often can’t match, due to sketchy overall societal priorities.
The profession is overcrowded
And the struggle’s pretty tough.
…oooh boy
I love Penny.
Today’s strip seems really sad to me for some reason.
Got some reason, I feel like Penny should say colour with a ‘u’.
Like even her word bubbles should be British.
Speaking as a college professor (one who sometimes assigns DOA to my students), let me tell you… I do care about my students. A lot of teachers care about their students. We’re not all jaded (yet). Severely underpaid and poverty stricken? Sure. Nearly half of college teachers are made up of part-time teachers now. But may of us do the job because we do want to make a difference.
Hear, hear!!!
(applause)
Penny’s not a hypocrite, she’s just got the sensitivity of a rock. Jeeze, Jason is her ex, think she could leave her pants on till he gets out the door.
Jason on the other hand is a freakin’ wimp to not let her know that. But then we know he is so….
Also, Jason, excellent teachers don’t sleep with their students, whatever the reason.
Yeah the whole strip is sad.
So, is every faculty member screwing students here?
They’re grad students—technically, none of them are faculty.
It sounds like they’re both students and faculty. They’re enrolled in the school, use its services, but also they work for the school, are on the payroll.
So, given how much I whine about the problems with Jason having sex with a student, will I give Penny the same amount of shit or am I a hypocrite?
Joe and Penny both know exactly what they want and are comfortable with it. We don’t know if Joe is Penny’s student or not. If he’s not her student then I’m fine with it. If he is her student and they have been very clear that this has nothing to do with his grades, and Penny has arranged for someone else to grade him, then I’m OK-ish with it. If Joe expect this to show up in his grades – or worse, if Penny actually will grade him after this – then I have a problem with it.
They shouldn’t Boff during office hours. They really shouldn’t Knobb in the TA’s office during office hours. It sends a really bad message to other students (and opens up for all sort of misunderstandings).
So I suppose I’m OK-ish with the Doodlin’, given clear enough communication (which Joe seem to be pretty good at). It doesn’t give Penny and points in my book, but then again, she doesn’t seem to think too highly about her teaching skill either.
After Penny’s whole who-cares-about-ethics speech, I wouldn’t be surprised at all if she’s giving Joe good grades. I’m about 50-50 on whether Joe would accept it, though.
Then again, it could be that Penny doesn’t care about her students, but does care about ethical violations that could jeopardize her career. But office-hours doodling runs into that area already.
I’m sure Joe expects some curve bending to occur … but given his personality, I’m pretty sure he thinks he’s the one doing the grading …
I see Penny continues her line of being a complete asshole.
Honestly, I can’t see what is assholeish about her in this strip. Is it that she understands that TAships are labour and not training? That is how college models have styled them. If you treat them like training during grad school, then you seriously lose touch with the goals you must actually achieve. Is it that she has no sympathy for a colleague who sleeps with students and then gets self-righteous? Is it Joe? Is it her callousness about a lazy professor?
Eh, they can be training depending on what kind of job you’re looking for. Aren’t a lot of schools putting more emphasis on pedagogy in the hiring process these days? Especially more teaching-oriented schools.
TAship is labour and not training. Being a *good* TA is called “altruism”, and not being altruistic is called being an asshole.
Also, she’s sleeping with her students, maybe?(Although we don’t know if Joe is in her class do we)
I love this Penny *so* much more.
So basically, Jason is Worf.
One of the reasons I’ll likely never go into teaching (at least until after I retire), sadly. Despite being in a field apparently in need of teachers (physics) and being told by students that I’m generally better than their professors-
Can’t get tenure being a good teacher. Can’t really easily make a *living* being a good teacher. And teaching at, say, the high school level? With the way teacher pay is being gutted? I would like to raise a family at some point, so that’s a no go, too.
Ah well. At least I can eventually *retire* and teach high school physics or some such.
Joe has perpetual stubble? Must have a ‘no cunnilingus’ policy. Kind of surprising given his interests.
I feel like Joe’s pretty vanilla in the sack. Has tried a respectable number of positions for somebody his age, but it’s all penetrative vaginal intercourse with just enough foreplay in the mix to keep his partners happy. Hasn’t really fully opened his mind to all the sexual tools at his disposal beyond his dick.
Could be wrong. Maybe we’ll see a slipshine one day that proves otherwise.
I’ve tried to associate with people like Joe, learn their ways, have my own “conquests”, but never get any luck. Even though I’m atanoikal, atamoi, atenom, fully equipped, I don’t get anywhere…
Daniel the Human’s no help either, he’s a “relationship guy”, yet knows how to make a lady happy, hands-only. I’ve tried asking Daniel the Human for tips, including what that “G-Spot” thing is, but all he does is laugh & tell me “You’re not yet ready for THAT power…”
Umm what is atanoikal, atamoi, atenom?
I tried google but no help there.
I think Screwball’s groping for “anatomically correct”. It is a bit of tongue twister, especially for an alien life form in a robotic human suit. Even I, an actual human, have to sound it out to make sure I got the right word.
I pronounce it like anna-tom-nick-cal-lee.
I trust Voltaire.
I can never get that word right TT_TT
Why do I keep trying… TT_TT
…I know why, cause it sounds so damn fancy. I like it, it makes me sound fancy…
I can pronounce the word phenomenon well enough but the word scissors can sometimes cause me to stutter.
I feel like he’s a guy that shaves when necessary. Maybe Penny doesn’t want it! Yeah yeah I know what you’re saying. But I have a very close friend that has a lot of anxieties around that sort of thing, and doesn’t want anyone to go down on her. *shrugs* Maybe Penny is that way as well. Some women have a very sensitive clitoris, and can’t stand having it done to them because it over stimulates them. It is VERY possible that Penny does not want to partake, thus, Joe has not shaved for his 12:30 appointment.
“Handcuffs? Sounds promising”
OH JOE!
-Sitcom laughtrack-
This has scarr’d my dreams I had of already not being a teacher, I demand reparations!
Boffing intensifies.
DAMN Jason and Penny sure know how to score the sexiest people on campus!
It’s those damned sexy British accents. 😀
Until this strip, I had for some reason, forgot that Jason had a name. I just referred to him as The T.A.
That’s pretty common. I can’t for the life of me remember the name of my sociology professor’s T.A last semester.
I am severely impressed with this call.
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2013/comic/book-3/01-if-the-shoes-split/crackin/#comment-97338
Wow, that was a good call… !
Go Joe go! XD
The way Penny pulls Joe from out of frame, does he count as an oversized novelty prop gag here?
… so many places we could go with this, so little time …
My top two:
• Do we have any evidence that he’s oversized (ignoring his ego, assuming that’s possible)?
• Is there any evidence that he is going to be in a position to make Penny gag?
Well yeah, when she chokes on that d–
*coughs*
Pardon me.
Joe should always have a permantly raised eyebrow
I’ve been really critical of Jason as a teacher, but at least he cares and wants to be good at it. That’s good, and I hope he finds someone who can help him improve.
Knowing Joe, I wouldn’t be surprised if she chains him to the bed and then leaves for the day.