Zach Weinersmith
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zachweinersmith.bsky.social
Zach Weinersmith
@zachweinersmith.bsky.social
55K followers 720 following 7.5K posts
Author of Bea Wolf, A City on Mars, and the comic SMBC

Website: www.smbc-comics.com
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ZachWeinersmith?ty=h
New book: http://www.acityonmars.com/
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zachweinersmith.bsky.social
Zach Weinersmith @zachweinersmith.bsky.social · Nov 10
New Book Day! Please tell the world. Read a comic about it here: www.smbc-comics.com/comic/sawyer...

Or if you just want to buy it: us.macmillan.com/books/978037...

Thanks everyone! It took me over a year to write, but I think you and/or your kid(s) will have many laughs together.
zachweinersmith.bsky.social
Kinda interesting: so I have talked to several kids under 12 from different parts of the US, and none of them were familiar with Pig-Latin. Which is a bit of a bummer since there's evidence it goes back to the 16th century or earlier. In general, there's almost no "kid-cant" familiarity.
December 26, 2025 at 12:10 PM
zachweinersmith.bsky.social
Was talking to a kid and she’d never heard of cooties. What a lucky generation. All those cooties shots worked.
December 26, 2025 at 11:59 AM
Reposted by Zach Weinersmith
dandkuniverse.bsky.social
Daniel and Kelly dive into the hearts of blue giants, massive planets, and neutron stars to reveal a surprising limit on cosmic density.

www.iheart.com/podcast/105-...
December 25, 2025 at 1:26 PM
Reposted by Zach Weinersmith
smbccomics.bsky.social
I push this joke out into the Internet knowing full well that SOMEONE has surely beat me to it.

COMIC ◆ www.smbc-comics.com/comic/mad-2
PATREON ◆ www.patreon.com/ZachWeinersm...
STORE ◆ smbc-store.myshopify.com
1-panel SMBC comic update. A mad scientist and his prisoner are in his lab, the prisoner is a women in red, strapped to a James Bond villain style torture table. The woman is speaking to the scientist, who looks frustrated. She says : "You're not actually crazy, though? How else would you build a death ray. I think you're just unhappy with how the world is and you're acting out." The caption below the comic reads "Most evil scientists are not mad, just disappointed."
December 21, 2025 at 11:30 PM
zachweinersmith.bsky.social
Quality footnote
December 25, 2025 at 5:35 PM
zachweinersmith.bsky.social
Hey econs, question:

Maybe it's just the books I read, but... why is it that even non-American authors focus a lot on American economic data? Like it's totally normal for a UK-based economist to get in depth about labor in Detroit. Is there just more data available on the US?
December 25, 2025 at 2:00 PM
Reposted by Zach Weinersmith
gretchenmcc.bsky.social
Lo, Hrodulf the red-nosed reindeer –
That beast didn’t have unshiny nostrils!

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer in Anglo Saxon meter:
allthingslinguistic.com/post/1359368...
Incipit gestis Rudolphi rangifer tarandus Hwæt, Hrodulf readnosa hrandeor – Næfde þæt nieten unsciende næsðyrlas! Glitenode and gladode godlice nosgrisele. Ða hofberendas mid huscwordum hine gehefigodon; Nolden þa geneatas Hrodulf næftig To gomene hraniscum geador ætsomne. Þa in Cristesmæsseæfne stormigum clommum, Halga Claus þæt gemunde to him maðelode: “Neahfreond nihteage nosubeorhtende! Min hroden hrædwæn gelæd ðu, Hrodulf!” Ða gelufodon hira laddeor þa lyftflogan – Wæs glædnes and gliwdream; hornede sum gegieddode “Hwæt, Hrodulf readnosa hrandeor, Brad springð þin blæd: breme eart þu!” Rendered literally into modern English: Here begins the deeds of Rudolph, Tundra-Wanderer Lo, Hrodulf the red-nosed reindeer – That beast didn’t have unshiny nostrils! The goodly nose-cartilage glittered and glowed. The hoof-bearers taunted him with proud words; The comrades wouldn’t allow wretched Hrodulf To join the reindeer games. Then, on Christmas Eve bound in storms Santa Claus remembered that, spoke formally to him: “Dear night-sighted friend, nose-bright one! You, Hrodulf, shall lead my adorned rapid-wagon!” Then the sky-flyers praised their lead-deer – There was gladness and music; one of the horned ones sang “Lo, Hrodulf the red-nosed reindeer, Your fame spreads broadly, you are renowned!”
December 24, 2025 at 11:24 PM
Reposted by Zach Weinersmith
smbccomics.bsky.social
Back of the envelope estimate suggests Jericho has 700 spirits-not-at-rest per square meter.

COMIC ◆ www.smbc-comics.com/comic/spirit-4
PATREON ◆ www.patreon.com/ZachWeinersm...
STORE ◆ smbc-store.myshopify.com
1-panel SMBC comic update. A man reading in bed is looking up from his book, berating a ghostly figure. He says : "No! I don't care! Cities have been here 10,000 years and there's literally no way to not build on an ancient temple of graveyard! Fuck off, ghost!" The caption below the comic reads : "it's hard to set haunting movies in the Middle East."
December 24, 2025 at 11:30 PM
Reposted by Zach Weinersmith
eribolax.bsky.social
Just checked the Greek and the collocation plēssō 'strike' + mēros 'thigh' occurs four times in the Iliad and once in the Odyssey:

Il. 12.162: The Trojan Asius is angry because his attack against the Greek wall is repulsed.
Il. 15.113: Ares, saddened by and preparing to avenge the death of his son
December 24, 2025 at 7:54 PM
zachweinersmith.bsky.social
Reading the Homeric Hymns and there's a passage where a woman is surprised, and the line (in translation of course) is: "she shrieked and clapped her two thighs in alarm"

It's not in a sexual context. I guess it's just a description of that thing where when you're frightened you sort of bunch up.
December 24, 2025 at 7:21 PM
zachweinersmith.bsky.social
Wait. We’re going to have a pointless battleship boondoggle and it won’t be one of these? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project...
Project Habakkuk - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
December 24, 2025 at 6:50 PM
Reposted by Zach Weinersmith
smbccomics.bsky.social
Accidentally drew Ricardo like an aging Superman. Will substantiate with backstory later.

COMIC ◆ www.smbc-comics.com/comic/compar...
PATREON ◆ www.patreon.com/ZachWeinersm...
STORE ◆ smbc-store.myshopify.com
1-panel SMBC comic update. A young child holding a bag is asking why they are the ones doing chores when adults are "way faster at them anyways." A man facing away from the camera answers : "because... Because having you take out the trash means I can do higher-value work which... Oh. MY. GOD." The caption under the panel reads : "It was a great day for David Ricardo. David Ricardo was a British economist and politician, recognized as one of the most influential economists.
December 22, 2025 at 11:30 PM
Reposted by Zach Weinersmith
dandkuniverse.bsky.social
Daniel and Kelly answer questions about kissing bugs, magnetic fields in the Sun, and microbiomes in space.

www.iheart.com/podcast/105-...
December 23, 2025 at 2:30 PM
Reposted by Zach Weinersmith
smbccomics.bsky.social
Comics like these are the real reason my kids aren't old enough to read SMBC yet.

COMIC ◆ www.smbc-comics.com/comic/anythi...
PATREON ◆ www.patreon.com/ZachWeinersm...
STORE ◆ smbc-store.myshopify.com
3-panel SMBC comic update - the first panel shows a father saying, emphatically, that he would do anything for his kids. The following panel shows a young child coming up to him, tablet in hand asking "dad, wanna hear me talk about YouTube videos?" The father then corrects his previous statement, saying he would do *many* things for his kids.
December 23, 2025 at 11:30 PM
zachweinersmith.bsky.social
This is pretty amazing: www.youtube.com/watch?v=-L8O...

If/when we finally get something like domestic robots, I wonder if companies like Disney will have an outsize role in figuring out how to make their appearance acceptable (something the various humanoid robot companies seem mediocre at)
Olaf: Bringing an Animated Character to Life in the Physical World
YouTube video by DisneyResearchHub
www.youtube.com
December 23, 2025 at 10:02 PM
zachweinersmith.bsky.social
Icymi
smbccomics.bsky.social SMBC Comics @smbccomics.bsky.social · 10d
There is a galley giveaway of SAWYER LEE AND THE QUEST TO JUST STAY HOME going on right now! bit.ly/3KnbspK
Promotional image for SAWYER LEE AND THE QUEST TO JUST STAY HOME, featuring two copies of the books stacked on each other with a yellow background. The book title and description appears in white, with the text "Goodreads giveaway of early copies" in black
December 23, 2025 at 8:32 PM
zachweinersmith.bsky.social
Speaking of weirdness of AI in the arts, one thing I noticed with these new chart-topping AI artists is that if you look at their back-catalog they release something like 6+ albums a year, much of which is only slight variations?
December 22, 2025 at 12:00 AM
zachweinersmith.bsky.social
OK, nevermind, commenters convinced me that this likely is AI. The way the hand is holding the cap is weird, plus the red sleeve doesn't make sense!

This is the kind of thing I think of as being underappreciated in the arts: nevermind the next Shakespeare, consider the entire arts gig economy!
zachweinersmith.bsky.social Zach Weinersmith @zachweinersmith.bsky.social · 4d
This ad is almost certainly human-made, but I've noticed lately that any time I see a generic style I just assume AI was involved?
December 21, 2025 at 11:53 PM
zachweinersmith.bsky.social
This ad is almost certainly human-made, but I've noticed lately that any time I see a generic style I just assume AI was involved?
December 21, 2025 at 11:44 PM
zachweinersmith.bsky.social
So, I was reading EB White's collected letters and as a young man in 1922 he mentions the then-recent essay collection "Of All Things!" by Robert Benchley as being hilarious. It... isn't. Mostly forgettable, but there is a very funny passage where he mocks the tone of 18th century epistolary novels:
December 21, 2025 at 10:43 PM
zachweinersmith.bsky.social
Has there ever been a study where an age-controlled set of the population is quizzed over time about the same period of time? Like, every year, survey a bunch of people and ask them how 1983 was, and then see how the response evolves over time.
December 21, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Reposted by Zach Weinersmith
smbccomics.bsky.social
Of course you don't need AI. You can just crunch the numbers in excel.

COMIC ◆ www.smbc-comics.com/comic/hop
PATREON ◆ www.patreon.com/ZachWeinersm...
STORE ◆ smbc-store.myshopify.com
4-panel SMBC comic update. Two parents are watching their children play, one wearing a blazer, and the other an orange collar shirt. The dad in the blazer asks "why do you think kids play all the time?" The other parent replies "play is an evolved behavior design to prepare to prepare children for actual life." The view pans out to reveal the children are playing hopscotch, but a child standing in the middle of the game says "I think we could speed up this game of hopscotch with AI" following with "I didn't ask for excuses" when another kid starts to ask how they would do that. The parent in a blazer is moved by how cute the kids are.
December 20, 2025 at 11:30 PM
zachweinersmith.bsky.social
Bea Wolf 2 is getting close, and I've never worked on anything that felt more like one of those movie scenes where the wizard does something, then falls over exhausted. But, this week I came up with "assigned seating of souls" as an alliterative metaphor for growing up.
December 20, 2025 at 6:58 PM
zachweinersmith.bsky.social
Wish every time I read a book where someone talks about the particular people "rooted" to a land they would explain what they plan to do with diaspora communities in their proposed future.
December 20, 2025 at 5:17 PM
Reposted by Zach Weinersmith
smbccomics.bsky.social
Anyone complaining about the math just needs bigger or smaller pasta.

COMIC ◆ www.smbc-comics.com/comic/aspect
PATREON ◆ www.patreon.com/ZachWeinersm...
STORE ◆ smbc-store.myshopify.com
Table referencing the astrophysics concept of Spaghettification, or the noodle effect. The caption reads "since Spaghettification is not a specific outcome but a measure of the effects of tidal forces, we should instead measure it on a scale of log-normalized aspect ratio." The table shows different L.A.R. and diagrams associated with relevant pasta nominalization, such as "couscousification" and "udonification."
December 16, 2025 at 11:30 PM