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Dilbert Newsletter 51.0

daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Scott Adams)
Mon Oct 20 10:57:59 2003

Date: Mon, 20 Oct 2003 10:52:25 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Scott Adams <dilbertnewsletter@unitedmedia.com>" <dailycomic#2.52419.363837363936.1@ummail3.unitedmedia.com>
To: dilbert-redist@mit.edu

           
            Dilbert Newsletter 51.0

       "A Little Ray of Bitter Sunshine"




To:     Dogbert's New Ruling Class (DNRC)
From:   Scott Adams (scottadams@aol.com)
Date:   October 2003



DNRC Status
-----------

There are 699,614 members of DNRC. Each of you is so smart you 
can communicate telepathically with plants, which explains why you 
rarely go outside.

Non-members, the so-called in-duh-viduals, will someday be our 
domestic servants when Dogbert conquers the world. And that means 
dryer-warmed underpants every morning.


Important Muscles
-----------------

One of the most popular machines at my gym is a bizarre-looking 
contraption designed to strengthen your gluteus maximus. It might 
seem like a frivolous California vanity thing to you, but it's more 
practical than you think. For example, if your spouse hogs all the 
bed covers, just clench the sheet with your butt muscles and hold 
on. Your spouse will be grunting and tugging while you appear to 
be sleeping peacefully, never letting on that there's a 
struggle going on below the surface.

Or suppose you were kidnapped and your hands and feet were tied, 
but you were smart enough to wear stretch pants. Your butt, 
properly trained, can be a fierce fighting machine. With a little 
practice you can learn to disarm a knife-wielding ASSailant.

A huge, muscular butt can also make you appear taller when you're 
seated. That's a big advantage at business meetings. No one will be 
the wiser until you stand up and butt-slap the overhead projector 
against the wall when you turn to leave.

I started using the butt machine myself, with the ultimate goal of 
making it easier to hold tools for home repairs. If you have only 
two hands, and you're already holding a flashlight and a 
screwdriver, you need at least one more set of opposable cheeks to 
keep the pliers nearby. As a bonus, I figure it will discourage my 
neighbor from borrowing my tools.


Quotes From Induhviduals
-------------------------

Observant DNRC members continue to send me true quotes of 
Induhviduals. Once again I have put them together to make an 
excellent story:

"Allow me to throw precaution to the wind," the pointy-haired boss 
began, "and speak from the seat of my pants. Sometimes I can't talk 
my way out of a wet paper bag. I'm still burned from my sunless 
tanning lotion, but I don't mind because it was only one step in a 
very large pie. Around here, one hand shoots the other unless you 
have all your ducks crossed. I didn't want to throw a wrinkle in 
the puzzle, because that's not my cup of beeswax. I prefer to nip 
it in the bucket. Sometimes the best you can do is some excremental 
improvement, and even then you need to watch people like a sponge."

                     The End


Now in Paperback!
-----------------

The wondrously economical paperback version of DILBERT AND THE WAY 
OF THE WEASEL is here! Don't pay extra for unnecessary book cover 
stiffness. Be smart and get the paperback version. If you forget to 
bring a bookmark, you can just tear off a chunk of the cover and 
you're back in business. Can't find pillows on the airplane? No 
problem. This book is so soft that you will be tempted to spoon it. 
Better yet, you can even read it!

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=newsletter1-20&path=tg/detail/-/006052149X



Mystery Cartoonists
-------------------

Speaking of weasels, I convinced five top cartoonists to do my work 
for the week of October 20-25, so I could get paid for doing 
nothing. Amazingly, they fell for my story about the "creative 
challenge" and even acted happy about it. I almost sprained my arm 
patting myself on the back for this one.

Each mystery guest cartoonist left clues to his or her identity, 
but to check your guesses, go to http://www.dilbert.com the day of the 
strip's publication.


Results of Dilbert's 2003 Weasel Awards
---------------------------------------

The second annual exuberantly non-scientific Weasel Poll results 
are in. 35,874 people voted. I'll be spending the next few weeks 
publicly embarrassing the winners. They are...


Tally      Weaseliest Organization
------     ----------------------------------------

7950       Recording Industry Association of America
6322       White House
4470       Democratic Party
3989       ACLU
3859       Organized religion
3039       Fox News Corporation
3008       Republican Party
1860       Congress
1323       New York Times


Tally      Weaseliest Country
------     ------------------               

12739      France
10761      USA
5845       Saudi Arabia
4668       North Korea
801        Iran
509        Canada
219        Germany


Tally      Weaseliest Company
------     ------------------
                
12854      Microsoft
7645       Halliburton
7220       MCI WorldCom
2425       Kmart
1313       Merrill Lynch
1173       HealthSouth
1017       Freddie Mac
970        Salomon Smith Barney

 
Tally      Weaseliest Profession
------     ---------------------

10309      Politicians
7854       Lawyers
6234       News media
6059       Tobacco executives
4217       Oil executives
1043       Accountants
      

Tally      Weaseliest Individual
------     ---------------------
         
13959      George W. Bush
5104       Michael Moore
3057       Yasser Arafat
2820       Jacques Chirac
2141       Saddam Hussein
1883       Tom Daschle
1105       Arnold Schwarzenegger
1095       Al Franken
1023       Ariel Sharon
932        Bill O'Reilly
695        Ann Coulter
483        Charles Schumer
400        Sean Penn
383        Jayson Blair
230        Richard Grasso
195        Gerhardt Schroeder
188        Bill Bennett
146        Jack Grubman

             
Tally      Weaseliest Behavior
------     -------------------
  
18877      Blaming fast food restaurants for making
           you fat
5748       Religious extremism
4688       Creating computer worms/viruses because 
           no one will date you
3997       Driving a Hummer
1487       Using cell phones in restaurants
1077       Using speaker phone in cubicle



Induhvidual Tales
----------------------

Here are some inspirational tales of Induhviduals, submitted by 
DNRC members. As usual, I suspect that many of them are either 
urban legend or lifted from past Dilbert Newsletters that I've 
forgotten. But that doesn't make them less funny.

---

Management started having meetings to plan what the new 
organization would look like after the upcoming layoffs. Our 
pointy-haired boss was invited to the first two meetings but 
suddenly the invitations stopped. A day before the layoff 
announcements he said, "I'm sure that the layoffs won't concern 
our division because they haven't asked me for any names yet. In 
fact, they don't even invite me to the meetings anymore!" (Guess 
who was on top of the list?)

---

My co-worker went to get her driver's license renewed at the 
Florida Department of Motor Vehicles.  The line was long, as 
always, and she took out her cell phone to make a call.  The clerk 
called out to her and the other people in line, "You cannot use 
your cell phone in here; it makes our computers run very slow!"

---

I work for a government contractor and was recently in a meeting 
with a bureaucrat who was explaining a new IT system.  Describing 
how useful it was, he claimed that it would meet our needs "99.9 
times out of a thousand."

---

I was at a high school football game when an induhvidual nearby 
asked, "How many quarters are there in the game?"  
---

My principal was interviewing a candidate for a job as guidance 
counselor and said, "Your references are so glowing it looks like 
you can walk on water." The candidate was a paraplegic in a 
wheelchair. 

---

I worked with a woman who had a nose job. She said, "I wonder if my 
baby will have my new nose or my old nose?"

---

I overheard two students emerging from an "Introduction to Social 
Work" class. One said, "I can't stand this class. All the teacher 
ever talks about is her family. I hate hearing other people's 
problems!"


Dilbert Calendar for 2004
--------------------------

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=newsletter1-20&path=tg/detail/-/0740736531

 
CATBERT Merchandise
--------------------
 
http://www.cafeshops.com/dilbert/165527


Cubicle Hell box calendar
--------------------------
(No Dilbert, just my ugly face on the cover and your contributions 
of Induhvidual stories and quotes)

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=newsletter1-20&path=tg/detail/-/0740736922/qid%3D1062095552/sr%3D8-1



Dilbert Fodder
---------------

What's bugging you about your job?  Let me know and you might see 
it in a Dilbert comic or newsletter.  The best comic fodder 
involves workplace peeves, devious strategies, frustrations of 
dealing with others, conflicting objectives, unintended management 
consequences, and of course my favorite - idiot bosses.

And I love True Tales of Induhviduals.

And if you're seeing any new management trends that need to be 
mocked, I can help.  Send your (brief) suggestions to me at:

                scottadams@aol.com.  
                
                IMPORTANT: Put "Dilbert" at the end 
                of your subject line so my spam filter
                won't bounce it back.


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Scott Adams
scottadams@aol.com


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