Dumbing of Age Book Twelve

Dumbing of Age

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July 9, 2026

Textbook

by David M Willis on March 21, 2024 at 12:01 am
  • 03 – Trystin' in the Wind
└ Tags: jason, robin

Discussion (131) ¬

[ Comments RSS ]
  1. Ana Chronistic
    Ana Chronistic
    March 21, 2024 at 12:01 am | #

    is it ghostwriting if everyone can literally see him doing it

    reminds me of SmugAlana and chat making a billion-dollar game together

    • APW
      APW
      March 21, 2024 at 1:23 am | #

      Judging by the eye bags, it would be zombie writing

    • Needfuldoer
      Needfuldoer
      March 21, 2024 at 3:11 am | #

      He can have a large language model generate one. Feed it the Wikipedia articles on how the government is supposed to work, pepper it with Robin’s speech mannerisms, and it might be passable enough. She probably won’t even bother to read the thing.

      • clif
        clif
        March 21, 2024 at 5:27 am | #

        I wonder if there’s enough data in Shortpacked and DOA to create a Robin chatbot.

        • Mark
          Mark
          March 21, 2024 at 6:00 pm | #

          I wonder if there’s enough money in the universe to pay me to talk with a Robin chatbot.

          • David DeLaney
            David DeLaney
            March 21, 2024 at 9:47 pm | #

            at least it would be quick

  2. Sirksome
    Sirksome
    March 21, 2024 at 12:02 am | #

    The grift never ends is the real takeaway from this class.

    • clif
      clif
      March 21, 2024 at 5:29 am | #

      Well, it is a class on how politics works.

      • Steamweed
        Steamweed
        March 21, 2024 at 9:22 am | #

        “Class, to do politics, you need money. How do you get money? Well, you’re gonna buy my new textbook, comin’ out next week, and I’ll get money from that. Also I get free labor from my teacher assistant here. ‘Kay, see you next week.”

  3. Schpoonman
    Schpoonman
    March 21, 2024 at 12:03 am | #

    I’m both surprised and not surprised that Robin managed to make Jason that weary in just one class period. He seemed pretty good at the start of class.

    • Doctor_Who
      Doctor_Who
      March 21, 2024 at 12:04 am | #

      At least now he can go home to Ruth and relax.

    • Jeremiah
      Jeremiah
      March 21, 2024 at 12:07 am | #

      You know how extroverts get energy from interacting with other people? In Robin case is more like she suck the energy of anyone that is in too close proximity like a black and add it to her own.

      • Jeremiah
        Jeremiah
        March 21, 2024 at 12:08 am | #

        *like a block hole

        • milu
          milu
          March 21, 2024 at 7:09 am | #

          *lice a black hole

          • Sillygoose
            Sillygoose
            March 21, 2024 at 12:14 pm | #

            *like a black hope

            • thejeff
              thejeff
              March 21, 2024 at 2:58 pm | #

              *like a bleak house.

              • Daibhid C
                Daibhid C
                March 21, 2024 at 4:35 pm | #

                So what you’re saying is that being Robin’s TA is as exhausting as being involved in the Jarndyce vs. Jarndyce case?

                Yeah, I can see that.

                • David DeLaney
                  David DeLaney
                  March 21, 2024 at 9:48 pm | #

                  oh _deep_ cut

              • The Chosen One
                The Chosen One
                March 21, 2024 at 9:45 pm | #

                Like a bloke howl

      • Needfuldoer
        Needfuldoer
        March 21, 2024 at 3:12 am | #

        The laws of physics say that energy has to come from somewhere.

        • Schpoonman
          Schpoonman
          March 21, 2024 at 7:13 am | #

          How much of that five gallon bag of soda syrup do you think she drank already?

          • Azhrei Vep
            Azhrei Vep
            March 21, 2024 at 7:26 am | #

            You’re coming at this all wrong.

            How many of those has Jason had to fetch for her during this period?

        • Firseal
          Firseal
          March 22, 2024 at 7:46 pm | #

          The laws of Robin say that it has to come from somewhere else.

      • Schpoonman
        Schpoonman
        March 21, 2024 at 11:33 am | #

        I’ve dealt with energy vampires before. It’s super fun when you room with one and work under another.

    • Thag Simmons
      Thag Simmons
      March 21, 2024 at 12:14 am | #

      He’ll be dead in a week

      • Schpoonman
        Schpoonman
        March 21, 2024 at 7:13 am | #

        RIP in pepperonis, Jean Luc.

    • Nono
      Nono
      March 21, 2024 at 12:19 am | #

      I’m surprised she remembered his name.

  4. Dean
    Dean
    March 21, 2024 at 12:10 am | #

    The trick is to write a new edition each year, so the suckers students can’t buy them secondhand.

    • True Survivor
      True Survivor
      March 21, 2024 at 12:13 am | #

      That insight reminds me of this comic by the illustrious Mr. Weinersmith (also in the hive network): https://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=3621#comic

      • Rabid Rabbit
        Rabid Rabbit
        March 21, 2024 at 1:32 am | #

        Uncle Randy has one as well: https://somethingpositive.net/comic/price-point/

    • Sirksome
      Sirksome
      March 21, 2024 at 12:14 am | #

      The new edition with like a paragraph of added material they won’t even be tested on and the rest are slightly relevant stock photos to fill out the chapter. That will be 200 bucks.

    • Bittersweet
      Bittersweet
      March 21, 2024 at 12:42 am | #

      A new edition with nothing changed but rearranged questions so they can’t buy an older edition or else they won’t be able to use it for homework.

      • Needfuldoer
        Needfuldoer
        March 21, 2024 at 3:16 am | #

        And the professor will know you didn’t buy the latest edition of their textbook because your answers will be correct but in the wrong order!

    • anon
      anon
      March 21, 2024 at 1:07 am | #

      other than a specific prof’s theories and such, and college credit, i’m sure there are ppl who would record and upload lectures for free, if not by the teacher themselves so there’d at least ppl getting knowledge for free (tho i guess other than discussion/clarification comments on a place like YT would have to be disabled lol)

      Then again these days i’m sure ‘educational podcasts’ are a thing lol

      (consideirng history was just memorization i’m sure listening to a podcast on facts/dates 20 times prolly would’ve helped me more than skimming a text book. well, i suppose in high school we weren’t allowed earphones during tests but that was always more to not disturb other students while we were doing it, versus someone actually bothering to actually have a ‘helpful’ recording where they could cheat with it)

      • Tan
        Tan
        March 21, 2024 at 3:07 am | #

        Harvard has a bunch of online courses for free (to audit)

    • Steamweed
      Steamweed
      March 21, 2024 at 9:27 am | #

      Nowadays the best money-making trick is to sell the subscription to the students. It’s online in separate segments, it can’t be easily dowloaded, and the questions and answers are randomized from a bank. More evil, yet, is it’s a yearly subscription, not a semesterly one.

    • M!a
      M!a
      March 22, 2024 at 2:37 pm | #

      My prof made copies of the relevant bits and diatributed them as study material to the students for like ten bucks.

      That’s right, fuck The Man.

      • M!a
        M!a
        March 22, 2024 at 2:38 pm | #

        *distributed, obvs.

  5. Rocketboy1313
    Rocketboy1313
    March 21, 2024 at 12:10 am | #

    Speaking as a TA I have had supervising Professors that felt this demanding. At least she is giving him a clear deadline.

    • BarerMender
      BarerMender
      March 21, 2024 at 12:30 am | #

      I once had a man try to hire me to ghost write a book about the stock market. He gave me three pages of material to work with. Oh, and he wanted me to write it on spec. Which he had no intention of paying if I did create a publishable work.

    • DinaJoyce
      DinaJoyce
      March 21, 2024 at 1:10 am | #

      Yeah, I feel like this is a pretty normal grad student assignment. Maybe not rhe deadline, but it really depends on the prof. I know people who have been kicked out of their programs for not conforming to expectations at least as ridiculous as this.

      • thejeff
        thejeff
        March 21, 2024 at 6:38 am | #

        Though it’s usually at least in their field.

  6. True Survivor
    True Survivor
    March 21, 2024 at 12:11 am | #

    Brilliantly opportunistic, avaricious, morally bankrupt, and with little to no apparent understanding of the means or difficulty regarding the labor and projects she demands from subordinates. No wonder Robin was a successful politician before she had that fleeting and fatal moment of empathy.

    • Thag Simmons
      Thag Simmons
      March 21, 2024 at 12:15 am | #

      Hey, it took multiple fleeting moments of empathy to bring her down

    • Thomas
      Thomas
      March 21, 2024 at 12:24 am | #

      You mean like that unpleasant man who hired someone else to write “The Art of the Deal”?

  7. BBCC
    BBCC
    March 21, 2024 at 12:13 am | #

    I remember when my politics professor found out other profs did this.

    She said professors that did that should be drawn and quartered.

    • Thag Simmons
      Thag Simmons
      March 21, 2024 at 12:15 am | #

      good policy

    • True Survivor
      True Survivor
      March 21, 2024 at 12:15 am | #

      She sounds like a good person and a cool professor, though I would hate to see what she does to any students she catches cheating on her exams.

  8. Thomas
    Thomas
    March 21, 2024 at 12:16 am | #

    Robin is awful. I hope Jason stands up to her, eventually. Also, how does she think her class will respond if they need to purchase another expensive (and shoddily written) textbook?

    • HueSatLight
      HueSatLight
      March 21, 2024 at 12:28 am | #

      she’s making a joke.

      • BarerMender
        BarerMender
        March 21, 2024 at 12:33 am | #

        Has she ever shown any ability or inclination to crack a joke?

        • Dara
          Dara
          March 21, 2024 at 1:09 am | #

          seriously this is exactly how she ran her campaign

        • clif
          clif
          March 21, 2024 at 5:38 am | #

          No-one said she realized it was a joke.

          • HueSatLight
            HueSatLight
            March 21, 2024 at 10:10 am | #

            She knows she’s making a joke.

            • clif
              clif
              March 21, 2024 at 1:02 pm | #

              And now someone has.

            • HueSatLight
              HueSatLight
              March 21, 2024 at 1:19 pm | #

              She’s asking the TA who doesn’t know anything about the subject to write a textbook in under a day. I don’t know how so many people are reading that as 100% serious, and not her having fun at his expense.

              Are all of you pretending not to understand that she’s joking, as a joke?

              • Mturtle7
                Mturtle7
                March 21, 2024 at 2:15 pm | #

                Yes, that’s EXACTLY what we’re all doing (/jk)

                (I wonder how many more layers we can put on this…)

              • thejeff
                thejeff
                March 21, 2024 at 2:56 pm | #

                Yes. Because it’s Robin. It’s practically impossible to tell where her boundaries are or how her perception of reality works.

                She hired a homeless kid who’d “hacked” her phone to run her campaign and it worked for her. Why doesn’t ordering her intern to write a textbook for tomorrow make just as much sense?

                • HueSatLight
                  HueSatLight
                  March 21, 2024 at 7:51 pm | #

                  gonna go see how many folks thought Walky really couldn’t tell the difference between Jason and Rhys Darby.

              • Arillius
                Arillius
                March 21, 2024 at 5:16 pm | #

                You’re joking, right? This is a very delusional person we’re talking about here. So yes, I totally believe that Robin, an adult who barely understands anything but the art of fucking people over, believes a textbook can be written in a day. Either a.) she has a plan to plagiarize it or b.) she doesn’t understand how difficult it is to write.

                But if you’re taking it as a joke, you’re the one whose not paying attention or reading the comic. Because Robin does this shit all the time and usually totally believes it.

                • HueSatLight
                  HueSatLight
                  March 21, 2024 at 7:47 pm | #

                  lol, fuck off.

    • anon
      anon
      March 21, 2024 at 1:08 am | #

      at this point i’d just expect robin to print out like 500 selfies and sell versions of it with her signature on it

    • David DeLaney
      David DeLaney
      March 21, 2024 at 9:54 pm | #

      Jason stands up to her: “And, class, this is an example of what? That’s right – a COUP!” *hands the chalk to Jason, falls dramatically sideways off the chair, and sprawls across the floor under that side of the blackboard* “Now we’ll see how well-prepared he was to take over the reins of control!”

      –Dave, *props her arm under her head and stares interestedly at Jason*

      • M!a
        M!a
        March 22, 2024 at 2:43 pm | #

        Do you live in Chile, by any chance? More or less what’s going on there right now.

  9. HueSatLight
    HueSatLight
    March 21, 2024 at 12:18 am | #

    i had a professor who handed out copies of the new chapter that would be in the next edition.

    • M!a
      M!a
      March 22, 2024 at 2:44 pm | #

      Go Go Gadget Prof! ❤️❤️❤️

  10. Slartibeast Button, BIA
    Slartibeast Button, BIA
    March 21, 2024 at 12:28 am | #

    Th things is, in a few years with AI, this won’t actually be at all difficult for Jason. I mean, it’s not like the textbook has to be accurate, after all…

    • anon
      anon
      March 21, 2024 at 1:02 am | #

      i mean, unless it’d be considered extortion i’m surprised they wouldn’t be like “Venmo me 50 bucks if you want 5 extra points on your gpa for my class” or so XP

    • Dday
      Dday
      March 21, 2024 at 1:41 am | #

      We’re already pretty much there, people in law already use AI to write for them. In a few years with AI, the machines will hopefully keep a few breeding pairs of us in some kind of human zoo.

      • Da Boy
        Da Boy
        March 21, 2024 at 9:47 am | #

        Considering how AI scientific work can often be summed up as “I’m pulling this out of my ass” we shouldn’t worry about AI revolution… AI-enhanced human incompetence on the other hand…

        • David DeLaney
          David DeLaney
          March 21, 2024 at 9:56 pm | #

          both of these are correct. A”I” at this point contains 0 non-stolen IQ points, and can best be described as “Markov-chained MadLibs”, filling each new word or pixel on the basis of the previous several, and ONLY those, as compared to the giant digested database of copied data

    • clif
      clif
      March 21, 2024 at 1:06 pm | #

      You can write a textbook using AI now. It won’t be any good, but you can do it.

      But the thing is, two years ago you couldn’t and they are never going to be worse than they are right now.

      • Arillius
        Arillius
        March 21, 2024 at 5:18 pm | #

        You do understand that by the *way* they make these programs, they literally can’t improve past a certain point, right? The entire make of them is to be, to a degree, random. The AI of today is extremely limited because it’s NOT AI.

  11. Slartibeast Button, BIA
    Slartibeast Button, BIA
    March 21, 2024 at 12:39 am | #

    I saw a story from an acquaintance that in her school, when you took your final exam up to the professor he would kindly sign your copy of the textbook that he’d written. If you didn’t have a unsigned copy for him to sign, your odds of passing the final dropped precipitously…

    • Bash
      Bash
      March 21, 2024 at 2:39 am | #

      Jesus that’s blatant.

    • Schpoonman
      Schpoonman
      March 21, 2024 at 9:31 am | #

      Any recourse for students?

      • Slartibeast Button, BIA
        Slartibeast Button, BIA
        March 22, 2024 at 11:50 am | #

        As I understood it, no. This was decades ago in another country, FWIW.

  12. Songbird
    Songbird
    March 21, 2024 at 12:41 am | #

    Some of the best professors I ever had would nudge us in the direction of textbooks that could be found online while maintaining plausible deniability.

    “I could never condone such behavior of course and what you do on your own time is up to you, but it has been rumored that such and such edition of X textbook has been found on occasion to be freely available online. I wouldn’t know anything about that of course.” In before they have a weblink hidden away on the board or the projector or something that’d get erased by the time everyone left the lecture. That kind of thing.

    And then you’d get the reverse, where profs would hawk their own textbooks or make buy a subscription to a web service code with the homework in order to get access to the text.

    • Mark
      Mark
      March 21, 2024 at 6:57 am | #

      I had one course that was taught mostly out of photocopies of a typescript of the main text. I don’t recall whether we bought them in the bookstore or were handed them in the first session, but we paid little if anything.

      In hindsight, one of the more interesting things about college is how different the various classes (and prof.s) are, even in a single field.

      • clif
        clif
        March 21, 2024 at 1:08 pm | #

        Also one of the most valuable things.

    • SomeGuy411
      SomeGuy411
      March 21, 2024 at 4:53 pm | #

      “I cannot condone nor recommend this behavior, or a location to do this-talk to the guy behind you”. That was…probably the funniest part of that entire class.

  13. TheLurkerAbove
    TheLurkerAbove
    March 21, 2024 at 12:45 am | #

    Good gods, this reminds me of an asshole accounting prof in my uni days. He was happy to fail people (which I did fail, not entirely his fault), and when I retook his module (he was the only one teaching it then and it was a compulsary module), he changed the textbook completely and it was one of the most expensive textbooks.

    I didn’t get the textbook, and had to get by via a lot of Google searches (Google was still usable back then). Got a C for that in the end. What a hard ass.

  14. anon
    anon
    March 21, 2024 at 12:58 am | #

    i mena, not that i support ai overall but i wouldn’t be surprised if an ai textbook of robin’s thoughts was more coherent than anything she actually wrote (tho maybe he can talk to becky and get some data fro m her lol)

  15. Pocky
    Pocky
    March 21, 2024 at 12:59 am | #

    Jason regretting his life decisions.

    a story as old as time.

  16. Dara
    Dara
    March 21, 2024 at 1:08 am | #

    christ she sounds like my least-favourite prof in grad school right here

    (yes, he did this; yes, his textbook was shite; yes, i’d like that money back but he also did the “new textbook next year” routine so you couldn’t even sell it back to the bookstore, not even for half-value store credit)

    (he was not my worst prof, i’m leaving out the incohate thumb-head who literally no one could understand. literally no one. not from language barrier; he was english as a first language. it just didn’t help when he just didn’t seem to know what sentences were in front of a class and his idea of answering a question was to repeat what he’d just said, but louder. i talked to several other students, not one of us understood a word of his lectures and we all just went off the book. or they did; i dropped the class because i didn’t have to have it.)

  17. Taffy
    Taffy
    March 21, 2024 at 1:19 am | #

    I can’t relate to anything in this strip. Not the textbook thing, not Robin’s impossible demand, not even their hair colors.

    • David DeLaney
      David DeLaney
      March 21, 2024 at 10:02 pm | #

      Not even Jason’s sartorial choice of bowtie/vest/button-down long-sleeve shirt [*] with khaki pants?

      [*] cherck back at prev strip from this slice; he’s apparently got them shoved up to his elbows now, i’m betting from sheer frustration

  18. Francoinblanco
    Francoinblanco
    March 21, 2024 at 1:39 am | #

    It is what it is

    • M!a
      M!a
      March 22, 2024 at 2:51 pm | #

      Christ I hate that phrase.

      Can’t it please be what it *ain’t* for just, maybe, a couple weeks?

  19. staszu13
    staszu13
    March 21, 2024 at 1:54 am | #

    “I’d do it myself but I don’t have super speed in this timeline!”

    Poor Jason. Probably wishes he were still a bartender

  20. James
    James
    March 21, 2024 at 3:17 am | #

    In university, I had a class where the lecturer recommended his own textbook. It also turned out that his textbook was out of print, so he ended up giving the bookshop permission to sell photocopied versions of it.

    • Matthew Davis
      Matthew Davis
      March 21, 2024 at 3:24 am | #

      Were the photocopies at a lower price?

      There are times a professor writes the book because they think the others out there are bad. But to be honest nobody in academia tends to get rich off of textbook sales that I know of. Those huge prices translate to profits for the publishers.

      • James
        James
        March 22, 2024 at 1:47 am | #

        I don’t really remember: I think they might even have been sold at cost.

        It looks like the book would have been 14 years old at the time, so I don’t think he set it for the money.

  21. Matthew Davis
    Matthew Davis
    March 21, 2024 at 3:23 am | #

    Having edited two academic books I can tell you guys right now that profs aren’t making money off of textbooks the way that Robin thinks. One of the two sells for over $100 and I didn’t even get an author’s copy :/

    • clif
      clif
      March 21, 2024 at 1:10 pm | #

      This.

  22. Da Boy
    Da Boy
    March 21, 2024 at 5:32 am | #

    Am I glad we just got photocopies of the relevant stuff for lectures…

    • clif
      clif
      March 21, 2024 at 1:13 pm | #

      For some reason the rights holders would like to close these loopholes.

  23. Axel
    Axel
    March 21, 2024 at 6:10 am | #

    My husband had a (business, I think?) professor who wrote a ludicrously expensive ‘textbook’ (coil bound printouts) every year, and changed the questions and rearranged chapters every year so they couldn’t be sold or reused. No shock he was a real piece of shit in class too.

    • Da Boy
      Da Boy
      March 21, 2024 at 6:14 am | #

      The more I hear about American… anything the more I’m getting this impression that it’s a Con disguised as a country. Everything seems designed to squeeze as much money out of people as possible O_o

      • Axel
        Axel
        March 21, 2024 at 6:22 am | #

        This was actually in Canada, where college is slightly less fucked and significantly cheaper than the USA (though still inaccessibly expensive)

        • Da Boy
          Da Boy
          March 21, 2024 at 8:55 am | #

          Oh that sucks

          • General Tekno
            General Tekno
            March 21, 2024 at 10:02 am | #

            Interesting. From my own personal experience in Canadian post-secondary where the prof wrote the textbook, it was actually a decent text and very much a case of “if you have this and read it, everything’s covered in here.”

            I had some profs too who effectively had their own via printouts with a lot of “fill in the blanks” spots, with the mindset being “you have to actually come to class to finish making these notes usable.”

            • Axel
              Axel
              March 21, 2024 at 6:26 pm | #

              I had professors who would tell us not to buy the textbook (but that they were required to assign one*), or to find and buy it with a group so in a pinch you could use it but no one was stuck with a $300 payment themselves, or that all the books for their lit classes could be found in used book stores or free on project gutenberg.

              but there were also people like that guy

              *I never asked in college, but in high school I was told they were required to provide a text book so you had an alternate way of learning the material if you missed class or didn’t get the professor’s teaching style

      • Schpoonman
        Schpoonman
        March 21, 2024 at 7:11 am | #

        That is an extremely accurate appraisal of America.

        • Schpoonman
          Schpoonman
          March 21, 2024 at 9:31 am | #

          Basically, USA is what happens when you maintain late-stage capitalism for way longer than usual before it tips into outright fascism. The irony of the parallels between 21st Century USA and late Weimar Republic Germany is that the economic downturn that’s hitting the population so hard is entirely internally generated. No treaties sucking the life out of America, just Americans themselves.

          • Da Boy
            Da Boy
            March 21, 2024 at 9:42 am | #

            Yeah I was getting an impression that you were overdue for your own French Revolution

          • thejeff
            thejeff
            March 21, 2024 at 2:44 pm | #

            What economic downturn? We’re just freaking out over inflation, that hasn’t even kept up with wages over the long term.
            Housing costs are high, which is a real problem, but unemployment is low, we’re not seeing big layoffs across industries, no real signs of a downturn. Consumer spending is still up. Surveys show that people think the economy is bad, but their own finances are good – which is not a sign of real trouble, but of a perception of trouble.

          • David DeLaney
            David DeLaney
            March 21, 2024 at 10:05 pm | #

            “no treaties” – sir appears to have forgotten the previous Prez waging economic war on his own people by imposing tariffs on foreign _imports_, and CLAIMING it would be costing the other countries instead

            • Schpoonman
              Schpoonman
              March 24, 2024 at 4:47 pm | #

              That’s not a treaty, I’m still technically correct.

      • Rabisch
        Rabisch
        March 21, 2024 at 10:44 am | #

        Cases like this are very common in Italy too. I think it’s one of those things that arises spontaneously wherever the conditions are right.

      • M!a
        M!a
        March 22, 2024 at 2:54 pm | #

        Yes. But more specifically, it’s a cult.

  24. tbf
    tbf
    March 21, 2024 at 6:33 am | #

    Should the third panel be “if I had”?

  25. UrsulaDavina
    UrsulaDavina
    March 21, 2024 at 7:50 am | #

    Alot of my proffesors wrote books the publisher takes most of the money from sales no suprise.

    • Amelie Wikström
      Amelie Wikström
      March 21, 2024 at 10:00 am | #

      Traditionally 50% of the cover price goes to the author, but maybe the rules are different for fantastically overpriced textbooks.

      • clif
        clif
        March 21, 2024 at 1:17 pm | #

        I have never heard 50% going to the authors. What country are you in?

        • Amelie Wikström
          Amelie Wikström
          March 21, 2024 at 1:48 pm | #

          Sweden, but my main sources are Stephen King and Neil Gaiman who probably only know about the US.

      • UrsulaDavina
        UrsulaDavina
        March 21, 2024 at 2:39 pm | #

        My professors said they wrote the books as a manner of securing tenure or they were actually passionate about the subject.

      • thejeff
        thejeff
        March 21, 2024 at 2:50 pm | #

        I’ve worked in book distribution – not textbook, but retail. There something like 40% of the cover price goes to the actual retail shop, the distributor gets a cut and the publisher gets theirs. There ain’t 50% left.
        I’ve seen estimates from 10% to maybe 25%. That high end is rare.
        Mostly you get a advance up front and hope someday if the book does well you’ll earn enough royalties to cover that and start a trickle of new money coming in.

  26. Furie
    Furie
    March 21, 2024 at 10:05 am | #

    Just realised that Jason has become Kif.

  27. Rabisch
    Rabisch
    March 21, 2024 at 10:30 am | #

    Wait a moment, where is Robin’s other TA? The one very prepared for that Job? Looks like Robin enjoys way too much exercise her power on Jason and only on him. I kinda hoke to see Ruth very gently explain to her that she has to treat him with respect.

    • HueSatLight
      HueSatLight
      March 21, 2024 at 1:22 pm | #

      Barry does the real TA stuff. Jason is doing penance by being a PA / butt of her jokes.

    • Daibhid C
      Daibhid C
      March 21, 2024 at 4:45 pm | #

      Ruth: You need to treat Jason with respect.
      Robin: Why?
      Ruth: I dunno, it kind of feels like someone should.

      • HueSatLight
        HueSatLight
        March 22, 2024 at 6:17 pm | #

        <- cackling

  28. Anna
    Anna
    March 21, 2024 at 11:19 am | #

    So…in the US university lectures actually use or are based on some kind “textbook”?

    I mean, my classes certainly had obligatory reading lists and/or perhaps recommendations, but never a “text book” to follow – that sounds more like school.

    • HueSatLight
      HueSatLight
      March 21, 2024 at 1:13 pm | #

      depends on the course and professor.

    • thejeff
      thejeff
      March 21, 2024 at 2:53 pm | #

      A lot depends on the field too. Iirc, most literature and history type courses would use multiple different texts, but things like math and physics would have textbooks.

      A “reading list” for Calc II doesn’t really make sense. And the texts come with problems to work through.

    • David DeLaney
      David DeLaney
      March 21, 2024 at 10:07 pm | #

      … in the US, a university IS a type of school

    • Prior Semblance
      Prior Semblance
      March 22, 2024 at 12:02 am | #

      Pretty much every class I took “required” at least one book, sometimes 2-3 but I would say more than half of my books went completely or mostly unused. Maybe I’d have used more of them if I had bothered to study more but I got my degree so whatever.

      And yeah, I had a couple professors that had written their own overpriced textbook that they required for their class.

  29. zee
    zee
    March 21, 2024 at 11:21 am | #

    My lecturers would sometimes just post the textbook pdf in the online class container, mostly during the pandemic. Even when they didn’t, I am very proud to have never paid for a textbook in my entire college career. Thank you z-li

    • clif
      clif
      March 21, 2024 at 1:19 pm | #

      Sh!

  30. Amós Batista
    Amós Batista
    March 21, 2024 at 3:17 pm | #

    Technical textbooks in Tech are the most waste of money you can spend.
    In 3 years, I have to throw a 500 pages Deitel Java book on trash, because almost entire content got outdated.

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CONVENTION APPEARANCES


September 13/14, 2025 - Small Press Expo in Bethesda, Maryland

David M Willis! avatar
David M Willis!
@damnyouwillis.bsky.social
damnyouwillis.bsky.social's user avatar
David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 5h
today in #9chickweedlane i learned i apparently gotta go see if "correlate" has an archaic definition that means something nonsense
10
1
31
 
reposted by David M Willis!
virginiabarksdale.bsky.social's user avatar
Virginia Barksdale @virginiabarksdale.bsky.social ⋅ 6h
screaming, crying, throwing up, Pete the Peacock is real, I feel lesbian God in this chili's tonight
damnyouwillis.bsky.social's user avatarDavid M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 7h
Dumbing of Age: "Can’t leave you if I stay" www.dumbingofage.com/2025/comic/b... #webcomics #webcomic
www.dumbingofage.com
Can’t leave you if I stay
jesus christ tomorrow's strip early on patreon oh my god...
2
24
 
damnyouwillis.bsky.social's user avatar
David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 7h
Dumbing of Age: "Can’t leave you if I stay" www.dumbingofage.com/2025/comic/b... #webcomics #webcomic
www.dumbingofage.com
Can’t leave you if I stay
jesus christ tomorrow's strip early on patreon oh my god...
11
7
51
 
reposted by David M Willis!
riotgrlerin.bsky.social's user avatar
RiotGrlErin @riotgrlerin.bsky.social ⋅ 9h
pam bondi as porta potties: thread
Pam bondi and he side profile wearing a dark yellow coat.
A yellow porta potty probably less shitty than Pam.
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939
4505
 
damnyouwillis.bsky.social's user avatar
David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 8h
header image - a man in a blue plaid shirt sits next to another man in a gray jacket
media.tenor.com
a man in a blue plaid shirt sits next to another man in a gray jacket
ALT: a man in a blue plaid shirt sits next to another man in a gray jacket
2
20
 
reposted by David M Willis!
brigid.bsky.social's user avatar
Brigid Keely She/Her @brigid.bsky.social ⋅ 16h
Joyce is absolutely totally straight and just wants to hang out with her best friend, who happens to be another lady. This is normal behavior and a normal biblical quote to use that has no other context. GAL PALS
damnyouwillis.bsky.social's user avatarDavid M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 21h
joyce walks down an aisle
1
9
78
 
reposted by David M Willis!
southworth.bsky.social's user avatar
Paul Southworth ☢️ 🐟 @southworth.bsky.social ⋅ 12h
A lot of songs are lowkey about being horny
2
7
39
 
reposted by David M Willis!
inflatabledalek.bsky.social's user avatar
Stuart Webb @inflatabledalek.bsky.social ⋅ 20h
OK, I said I was going to a thread of receipts together on the guy who runs Kapow, in odder to explain why I personally would recommend not giving him your business at TFN. Starting with the original post, revealing the guy loves sharing right wing fascist stuff on LinkedIn.
xjmaw.bsky.social's user avatarAlex Maw @xjmaw.bsky.social ⋅ 6m
Since you might think it's weird you got a like on this over a year after the fact, the director of Kapow just shared this on LinkedIn; i.imgur.com/hqQYWgO.png
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60
91
 
reposted by David M Willis!
rosalarian.bsky.social's user avatar
Ro Salarian @rosalarian.bsky.social ⋅ 16h
This is the best review I've ever gotten on my clothes. They will make you hot and popular. Find em at rosalarian.com/shop
Text conversation that reads: 
Pink text: i just wore my pervert shirt from your site to a party last night and it was possibly the funniest conversation starter OVER AND OVER. i could have full conversations with someoen about it and then the person literally sitting on the other side of me would look over and go HEY YOUR SHIRT SAYS PERVERT?! just immaculate, best design I've ever gotten and it also scores me a whole subway bench on the train.
Black text: This is exactly the reaction I was aiming for, both at the party and on the subway
Pink text: 100% crit rate
Pink text: i was extremely popular all of a sudden
A photo of a short sleeve button up skirt that is black with the word PERVERT scrawled all over it in white handwriting
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damnyouwillis.bsky.social's user avatar
David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 14h
Bold new hero Steve Lombard
1
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damnyouwillis.bsky.social's user avatar
David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 15h
another one of those "this food is delicious and i would absolutely eat all of it, but i have very little appetite" days
1
21
 
reposted by David M Willis!
adam16bit.bsky.social's user avatar
Adam16bit @adam16bit.bsky.social ⋅ 16h
Transformers Cyberworld is up on YouTube. For a short show to sell toys to kids, they did a good job with it. www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLVh...
header image - Transformers: CYBERWORLD | Episode 01 | Optimus Prime Crash Lands On CYBERWORLD
www.youtube.com
Transformers: CYBERWORLD | Episode 01 | Optimus Prime Crash Lands On CYBERWORLD
YouTube video by TRANSFORMERS OFFICIAL
1
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damnyouwillis.bsky.social's user avatar
David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 19h
www.instagram.com/p/DMAtlXHsyrO/ Took this as a challenge
damnyouwillis.bsky.social's user avatarDavid M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 1d
finally done it, created a strip that defies instagram more than any strip ever before
19
 
damnyouwillis.bsky.social's user avatar
David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 19h
not that giant of an axe actually a pretty modestly-sized axe
1
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damnyouwillis.bsky.social's user avatar
David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 21h
joyce walks down an aisle
damnyouwillis.bsky.social's user avatarDavid M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 1d
Dumbing of Age: "Panorama" www.dumbingofage.com/2025/comic/b... #webcomic #webcomics
www.dumbingofage.com
Panorama
i promise multiple panels in tomorrow's strip, which you can see early on patreon...
7
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damnyouwillis.bsky.social's user avatar
David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 1d
tfw you have things to do
10
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damnyouwillis.bsky.social's user avatar
David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 1d
Dumbing of Age: "Panorama" www.dumbingofage.com/2025/comic/b... #webcomic #webcomics
www.dumbingofage.com
Panorama
i promise multiple panels in tomorrow's strip, which you can see early on patreon...
11
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damnyouwillis.bsky.social's user avatar
David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 1d
yep James Gunn made a Superman film
2
38
 
damnyouwillis.bsky.social's user avatar
David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 2d
Happy 8th anniversary to just tweeting it out
5
32
123
 
damnyouwillis.bsky.social's user avatar
David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 2d
so i got photos of the makeship dina plushie proto and honestly it looks 100% perfect except sidebar the hood can pull off the head, like a real hoodie which is something i didn't even consider should i leave that as an option, or tell them to sew the hood to the top of the head
10
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40
 
damnyouwillis.bsky.social's user avatar
David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 2d
let me tell you about this head i got
4
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damnyouwillis.bsky.social's user avatar
David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 2d
LOOK OUT GUYS!!! ELMO'S IN LEX LUTHOR COLORS!!!!!
9
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damnyouwillis.bsky.social's user avatar
David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 2d
And then there were four
damnyouwillis.bsky.social's user avatarDavid M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 2d
daylight
6
3
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damnyouwillis.bsky.social's user avatar
David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 2d
okay let's go see how many extra tricerahoodie dina magnets i gotta order for kickstarter add-ons A HUNDRED AND THIRTY???
1
22
 
damnyouwillis.bsky.social's user avatar
David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 2d
Ahh, the elusive Yacht Brother
video thumbnail
3
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damnyouwillis.bsky.social's user avatar
David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 2d
"for example, both olive and i are dedicated to negging women into dating wilbur"
1
1
28
 
damnyouwillis.bsky.social's user avatar
David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 2d
Dumbing of Age: "Evacuating" www.dumbingofage.com/2025/comic/b... #webcomics #webcomic
www.dumbingofage.com
Evacuating
tomorrow's strip, up early on patreon, is pretty big...
5
5
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damnyouwillis.bsky.social's user avatar
David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 2d
trying to figure out why i have these weird shoulder pains these last few days am i dying is it indigestion am i sleeping wrong no it turns out i just have terrible fucking posture when i paint things
2
1
60
 
reposted by David M Willis!
katietiedrich.bsky.social's user avatar
Katie Tiedrich @katietiedrich.bsky.social ⋅ 3d
steak loft
a red building adorned with the words STEAK LOFT
14
29
228
 
damnyouwillis.bsky.social's user avatar
David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 2d
forbiddenqt.bsky.social's user avatarQT 🔞 @forbiddenqt.bsky.social ⋅ 2d
I now better understand many of Dorothy's choices as a character
3
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75
 

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