Rockwood: The Rockwood Mailbag.

The Rockwood Mailbag

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Have you always wanted to let Team Rockwood know just what you were thinking? Do you wonder why the panels of the strip are laid out horizontally instead of vertically? Or do you have sensitive documents that will bring down the government? In any case, we want to know! Just fill out your name and e-mail address, then let 'er rip! No question or comment is too bizarre for Team Rockwood to take a stab at, and if we can get enough mail coming in, this page will be updated weekly! (Unlike the old mailbag page, which got updated about four times in two years.)

So consider this an experiment in web interactivity. Or, consider it a way to artificially inflate our hit count. Either way, just write in!

Updated on February 26, 2002
		February 15, 2002 I can never seem to get the links to yesterday's cartoon to work on the home page. Is it just my browser or are you still working out some of the bugs in the home page links? --Jeff
		Sorry, Jeff, we checked and it seems to be only your browser. And let it be known that we do actually check things like this out. We don't always fix them, but we will look at reported bad links, so if you find something, let us know.
		February 15, 2002 It has been said that artists often put something of themselves into their comics... Soooo... I was wondering, what do you look like? Is there any chance that you'll set up a page about yourself the way other comic artists have? What do you do when you're not working on "Team Rockwood" and how did you get started doing comics... etc. I know more about Bill Amend than I do about Brian Lundmark... Just curious... --James
		James, everyone knows more about Bill Amend than Brian Lundmark. Mr. Amend is a world-famous cartoonist with books aplenty in your nearby bookstore. Lundmark is a hack with dreams of grandeur. The trains rarely meet. However, it is true that each character in Rockwood has a little bit of Brian Lundmark in him. And just so you'll know this is true, we've included a picture this time. Enjoy.
		February 20, 2002 Dear Rockwood Team, If you don't think figure skating is a sport let's see you get out on the ice and do a triple Salchow-triple toeloop followed by a flying camel, sit spin with-leg-tucked-behind, back cross foot spin combination. I don't really know that the Half-pipe is an Olympic sport but after watching it I'm not going to diss it 'cause I know I could not do the jumps those folks do. So unless you're planning to post movies on the site of Rockwood Team members ice skating like the pros, don't knock the sport, know what I'm saying? Thanks for letting me rant. --Mikki
		You won't see Team Rockwood in Cirque de Soleil, either, but just because something is athletically impressive does not make it a sport. We can't do 1,000 push-ups. Does that make the 1k push-up a sport? It's notable that the title of the event is not the Olympic "sports," but the Olympic "Games." Figure skating is a competition, and a highly rated one at that, but anything that relies solely on someone's opinion to determine a winner can hardly be considered a sport.
		February 20, 2002 Wow... Lord of the Rings has been out for over two months, but there's no comic about it! What's wrong? Haven't you seen it yet? No, silly question... Are you just finding the movie so incredibly great that you can't make a joke about it, like me? Well, maybe after the Olympics... --Laura
		We've seen it twice Laura, and we're thinking about it, but it's been a busy year. We still might get around to it, but have patience. There are still two more movies to go. You don't want to burn out too early.
		February 21, 2002 Love your Olympic coverage. I do have one suggestion, if you don't like aspects of NBC's coverage (and goodness knows there are unpleasant aspects), I suggest you get cable and ask for CBC and TSN coverage! Okay, I'm Canadian so it's easier for me, but CBC starts LIVE coverage around 10:00 EST and continues (with some taped repeats) until the wee hours of the morning. TSN (short for The Sports Network - duh!) supplements the CBC coverage nicely. Their curling coverage has been AWESOME (Hey, I AM Canadian, living in Northern Ontario. The mine may have closed, but the curling sheets are open!)and they cover a great number of the non-Canadian hockey games. I don't know if you can get cable or satellite feed, but these guys know how to do it right! Keep up the great work on the strip! --Chris
		Actually, Chris, we've seen some CBC coverage in the past. It's kind of like the C-SPAN of the Olympics. And while we don't condone a lot of NBC's coverage with all of its drippy sentiments, we do have to admit that we thought they did a lot better this year, and sometimes CBC seems a little dry. Don't get us wrong, we're all for more coverage, but partially because we went to the games this year, we didn't have as many complaints this time. Well, except for you Canadians beating our men and women (which we attended) at hockey. Take off, hosers!
		February 21, 2002 So, I just got my brand new Rockwood 2002 calendar for my wall, and I can't help it, I have to ask, on behalf of the maybe 50 people outside the 716 area code who even know of its existence: What is the University of Rochester connection?? (September on the calendar features a strip from 1996 in which Mitch is wearing a University of Rochester shirt.) --Karl Wagenfuehr
		That's a long-lost reference to a joke we made about Charles Schumer that upset someone from the University of Rochester, Karl. Ultimately he was okay with it, but we slipped in a little plug there just as an inside joke between us and him. Now, if the rest of you would like to see what Karl's talking about, there's only one way to do it, and it's to get your own copy of the 2002 Rockwood Calendar. You really didn't think we'd let an opportunity like that pass by, did you?
		February 21, 2002 Alright I think I got your engineer week questions right: 1) The answer is no, her temperature will fall to 95 in just 46.8 minutes. 2) Yes, he will have 10 minutes from getting the ticket for 60 till 9:00 when it starts. 3) This one I had trouble with and might not have gotten it right, but I think the answer is No, it is not a sport. --David P.
		February 22, 2002 1. 60 seconds X 25 minutes = 1500 seconds 1500 seconds / 90 seconds = 1.66 or about 1.67 ninety-second intervals in twenty-five minutes 16.7 intervals X 0.1 degrees = 1.67 degrees lost in the first twenty-five minutes 60 seconds X 30 minutes = 1800 seconds 1800 seconds / 90 seconds = 20 intervals 20 intervals X 0.1 degrees = 2 degrees lost in thirty minutes 2 degrees + 1.67 degrees = 3.67 degrees 98.6 degrees (body temperature) � 3.67 degrees = 94.93 degrees The judge would not survive if the digger took a lunch break. 2. $100 - $60 = $40 $40 / $5 = 8 five dollar units 8 units X 10 minutes = 80 minutes = 1 hour and 20 minutes 7:30 + 1 hour and 20 minutes = 8:50 He will make it with 10 minutes to spare. 3. F = A * M F = 2 * 45 90 = 2 * 45 It is not a sport. --Isaac
		February 23, 2002 I figured out the 2002 engineer problems. A. No. Normal body temp:98.5 degrees. 98.5-95.0=3.5 degrees (35 tenths of degrees). (35)90=3240 seconds 3240/60=54 minutes. The shoveler won't get the French judge out in time if he takes a lunch break. B. Yes. Bob needs the price to drop $40. That will take him 80 minutes(1hour, 20min). Bob can buy the ticket at 8:50, just in time to see the race at 9. C. Unfortunately, yes. The equation for centripital force is F=(mv^2)/(r^2). m=45m v=(2pi)m/s r=4m F=1775.86N --Franz
		Wow. No one gets full credit! Here are the solutions: 1. Normal body temperature is 98.6 degrees (not 98.5), so a decrease to 95 degrees will result in a decrease of 36 drops of 0.1 degrees (3.6 degrees/0.1). Each drop takes 90 seconds, giving us: (36 drops)(90 seconds)=3,240 seconds 3,240 seconds/60= 54 minutes So, if hypothermia sets in in 54 minutes, the digger does not have time to take 55 minutes to eat and dig. The answer is no. Half credit to David P., who got the right answer but didn't get the right numbers and didn't show his work. Three-quarters credit to Isaac, who took the long way around, but got the answer anyway. And three-quarters credit to Franz, who got the right answer with the right number, but mysteriously computed (35)(90) to equal 3,240. 2. Bob has 90 minutes to buy a ticket (7:30 a.m. to 9:00 a.m.). 90 minutes divided into 10 minute intervals gives us 9 intervals. The ticket price needs to drop from $100 to $60, which is a drop of $40. Each interval drops the price $5, leaving us with the equation: (x intervals)($5/interval)=$40 Solving for x gives us 8. 8 intervals would be 80 minutes which --when added to 7:30 a.m.-- equals 8:50 a.m. So Bob would get his ticket with 10 minutes to spare. Three-quarters credit for David P., who this time had the right number, but still isn't showing me how he got it. Full credit for both Isaac and Franz. 3. This is the problem no one aced. Follow along... Force=(mass)(acceleration) Acceleration=(velocity^2)/r Velocity=distance/time Solving in reverse... V=(distance around the circle)/(time to go around circle) V=(2rpi)/(2 sec) V=(22mpi)/(2 sec)= 4pi m/2 sec= 2 pi m/sec= 6.28 m/s a=v^2/r a=(6.28 m/s)^2 / (2 m) a=19.7 m/s^2 F=ma F=(45 kg)(19.7 m/s^2) F=888.3 Newtons Since 900 newtons is required to make a sport, and only 888.3 newtons were achieved, figure skating is not a sport. David P. and Isaac get half credit for getting the right answer, but not the right numbers, while Franz unfortunately gets nothing for not only missing the numbers, but also mistakenly identifying skating as sport. No! No! No!
		February 24, 2002 Hey guys- due to the hilarious engineer's week strips, i assume that you are engineers...if so, what kind of engineer are u? (chemical? resevior? mechanical? nuclear even...?) --Christian Garnett
		Many moons ago, Team Rockwood was on track to end up in the aerospace engineering field. However, once the burnout set in, we could only talk about engineering as opposed of doing it. As an alternative, we entered the lucrative field of cartooning, where we don't design the markers that can be used upside-down in the space shuttle, we instead can be caught using those same markers at parties and county fairs, drawing horribly misshapen caricatures of your friends and family for nickels an hour! Please tip well.
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