Principia Comica: Teh Blog

A Christmas Update Update

Rima Basu — Sat, 25 Dec 2010 20:57:00 GMT

I was distracted by grading and am now trying to finish off papers and working with the lofty goal of being done with applications before the start of the new semester. Thus, updating the comic is on the back burner until approx. the second week of January at which point I'll have a few weeks to fall behind on readings (kidding! As if I would do that...) by doodling before the inevitable "Sh...are we half-way through the semester already?" moment.

In the meantime, enjoy a guest comic from Kelly Szpara who was showing off her new stylus to me yesterday while foaming at the mouth about getting herself an iPad.

Finally, a new character!

Rima Basu — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 12:30:00 GMT

Who's the woman at the desk? Why, that's Portia O'Sire.

You can read more about her on the About page and you can see that she's considerably neater and more organised than myself when you compare her office:

With my own shelf and desk:

This isn't even including my other book case, the rest of my desk, or my carrel space, all of which tend to be on the chaotic side unless I get the urge to clean due to procrastination.

A Bit Familiar?

Rima Basu — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 12:29:00 GMT

Some Aussies may recognise that this view of Orbis City is based off the view you get of Perth from King's Park.

There's also something else from the previous panel that may strike some readers as familiar, which you'll find out next week.

A day behind

Rima Basu — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 13:57:00 GMT

Yes, the comic was a day late.

I've been falling behind so my safety of net of comics is gone and I'm now working week by week, but still intend to update every Sunday, but sometimes that might mean I'll be a day or two late. However, there'll still be a comic every week unless I really get behind.

Just to give you a sense of what else is taking up my time this semester, I'm taking:

PHL2132: Ethical Naturalism after Wittgenstein
PHL2009: Aristotelian Ethics, the first half-millenium
LIN1000: Intro to Linguistics

And I'm auditing PHL2190 (Reference and Communication) as well as TAing and working on grad school applications.

I like to keep busy.

It's not quite sunday, but...

Rima Basu — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 19:25:00 GMT

PhilosφNinja is a Go! Check it out at http://www.philosoninja.com

This project started out as the smallest nugget of an idea in January 2010 due to this comic. Then it began to ferment, mutate, and grow a life of it's own until I was forced to put everything else on the backburner this summer and figure it out. The result of this should unfold before your eyes on a weekly basis that I hope to stick to.

I currently have a backlog/safety-net of 3 comics and I hope to keep it that way i.e. always working at least a month ahead so I won't fall behind. But, at the same time I am a grad student and a 22 year old in the city so there is always the possibility that I may fall behind and require extensions

I hope you all enjoy PhilosφNinja, I certainly enjoy working on it!

Spread the word, get a poster here

Two More Long Months

Rima Basu — Sat, 18 Sep 2010 22:17:00 GMT

This time in two months the agonisingly long wait until the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part 1) will be over (well, technincally at 11:59pm itll be over) and I'll be standing in line for the midnight release while fidgeting uncomfortably for hours surrounded by other Harry Potter fans.

In the mean time, I've updated the Butterbeer - Done Proper website with new pictures HERE courtesy of Angela Li from our Butterbeer Night back in August.

Website Updates - PhilosoNinja

Rima Basu — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 21:27:00 GMT

In preparation for the new comic series starting in October the website has had a slight makeover.

The look is still the same that you'd expect from Principia Comica but the header has been updated, the archive has been organised better and there's the new link to "Characters" where you can read a little bit about Psi and her daimon Phi and some content here and there has been fiddled with.

I've been meaning to take scans of the work in progress but my lack of a scanner has been getting in the way, accompanied by my laziness to go to the library and scan. However, I can provide the following sample panel featuring Psi and Phi (the thought bubble) which gives you a sense of the style of PhilosφNinja. However, keep in mind that it is a sample and not an actual panel, Psi does not look the same as she is drawn below:

Since I shall be beginning my Masters program at the University of Toronto in September you can expect more updates in the form of sample and possibly the sketch versions of actual panels since I will be near enough to a library/scanner to trump my general laziness.

Butterbeer - Done Proper

Rima Basu — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 04:07:00 GMT

Butterbeer - Done Proper has had 61,318 hits, which, simply put: is awesome!

I'm super pleased that the recipes getting out there and people are enjoying Butterbeer (hopefully with Thai food).

Random Thought #287

Rima Basu — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 18:33:00 GMT

No new comic this week, instead, just the following thought which kept bugging me while I was at the TSO last night for Verdi's Requiem: how difficult it would be to steal a pipe organ?

If any pipe organs go missing in the Toronto area I swear it wasn't me!

I'm not hatin' on you!

Rima Basu — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 23:28:00 GMT

You may have noticed that the last few comics have been specifically about Epistemology, and if your induction skills are any good you might have even guessed that one explanation would be that I must be taking an Epistemology course this semester. Congratulations, you're right!

My courses this semester:

GER100 - Introductory German (continuation from last semester)
PHL333 - Issues in Epistemology
PHL375 - Contemporary Moral Philosophy (Moral Semantics)
PHL475 - Adv. Topics in Moral Philosophy/Seminar in Ethics (Practical Reason)
PHL497 - Individual Studies (Rationality and the Nature of Human Agency/Action)

Fun times.

On a completely random note: you should watch Caprica.

It's friendly enough for non-BSG watchers (it may even help if you haven't seen BSG) and it has a very promising premise. I wasn't completely sold on the pilot, but after watching the second episode my interest has been engaged. I'm hoping that there's more "the emergence of Artificial Intelligence" rather than "Polytheists vs. Monotheist Terrorists" - one can hope?

An Epistemologist's Pick-Up Line

Rima Basu — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 18:10:00 GMT

No new comic this week, instead:

Hey, are you a proposition? Because I'm an epistemic operator and I'd like to penetrate to all the known consequences...

Source: Dretske, F. "Epistemic Operators". The Journal of Philosophy 67:24 1970, pp. 1010

Philoso!Ninja

Rima Basu — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 17:45:00 GMT

There are three philoso!ninja's in this picture:

More David Hume

Rima Basu — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 21:38:00 GMT

Butterbeer - Done Proper

Rima Basu — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 02:38:00 GMT

I know I haven't updated the comic in a while, but to make up for it, here's a new Butterbeer recipe:

Tuesday evening we had another Butterbeer night during which we decided to try a few modifications to our tried and true “Butterbeer (Done Right)” recipe. And lo' and behold: we succeeded in giving the butterbeer a head! This is something that has eluded us for some time now to the point that I was willing to give up on the project and just say that it was magic. But, these muggles perservered and I’m here to share the results with you.

The original butterbeer recipe can be found here.

Before we begin, you’ll need your supplies:

Attempt 1: Small Success
If you replace the half and half cream with butterscotch ripple ice cream instead and whisk it at high, then you will get some head:

Attempt 2: Failure
Using cool whip and trying to mix it in does not work. It looked disgusting, and this picture does not do justice to how disgusting it looked:

Thus, it had to be poured down the drain:

P.S. Yes that is a Slytherin ring that I'm wearing.

Attempt 3: Massive success!
Instead of half and half cream if you use whipping cream then you’ll succeed in getting a head on the butterbeer. The trick is to pour in all the ingredients (apple cider, strongbow, butterscotch) except the whipping cream. Whisk them all together and taste. You should make it a bit more butterscotch-y than you would prefer because the whipping cream will cancel that out. Then, while whisking on high, pour in the desired amount of whipping cream until nice and foamy. Pour into goblets and enjoy!

This recipe has been published as a site here

Never Mind the Buzzcocks Doctor Who Special

Rima Basu — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 16:02:00 GMT

I'm not completely slacking off...

Rima Basu — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 23:39:00 GMT

Chances are I won't be updating with a new comic until at least the 20th. However, in the mean time here's a random doodling of Darth Vader:

The Wonders of Tea

Rima Basu — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 21:49:00 GMT

My fellowship at the Jackman Humanities Institute just got a whole lot more awesome thanks to Ceylon Tea. Or should I say, Cylon Tea?

Before you ask: Yes. Vandalism is okay when it makes things awesome.

Edward Cullen is watching you pee

Rima Basu — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 02:21:00 GMT

Today, I was waiting in line at one of the female washrooms at my university and out of boredom I was just looking around when I saw a picture of Robert Pattinson stuck to the ceiling tile above one of the stalls.*

My first thought was "stupid twi-hards, is nothing sacred anymore!" However, I then realised that perhaps, just perhaps it was a clever commentary on how creepy Edward Cullen is. If your vampire lover watches you while you're on the loo, that's a deal breaker ladies!

I really hope that someone was that clever, and that it wasn't just someone who wanted to stare lovingly up at Edward while using the loo.

(Image that was on the ceiling)

_________________________________
*I was tempted to take a picture of it, but then I realised how sketchy it would look to try and discretely take a picture on my mobile in a washroom

phiLOLsophers

Rima Basu — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 14:51:00 GMT

More HERE. Endless amusement, that is, until the captioned pics runs out.

h/t to Perry Ge.

Comic Update

Rima Basu — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 00:52:00 GMT

Grad School applications means that for the next 2 weeks I won't be updating the comic. The next comic will be published on Nov 7th, and possibly a hand-drawn one about either Rawls and Nozick, or Kant, or, something completely different.