If you’re outside the U.S., *today* is the last recommended day to order from Ye Olde Sheldonne Store (using International Priority).

And Americanos! Your deadline for orders is this Friday.

We’ll still be shipping after those dates, of course, but we recommend you get ’em in by then.

For those followin’ along at home, here are the “Drive” archives from the start:

#1, #2, Text Entry: Continuum, #3, Text Entry: Secrets, #4, Text Entry: Veetans, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10, #11, #12, #13, #14, #15, #16.

Open the above links in tabs to read ’em in order.

I got a few dozen e-mails, today, saying “I noticed Dilbert stole your…idea.” And I realized that this was the perfect time to talk about originality and coincidence when it comes to writing jokes.

Dilbert did not steal my idea. The simple truth is, two very different cartoonists, writing at very different times and places, came up with similar jokes. It happens all the time. And it’s not theft, and it’s not malicious. It’s coincidence. In fact, it’s more than coincidence: It’s a shared response between two (very different) people who have observed or felt something very similar. In that sense, it’s a “coincidence” in a Jungian-collective-unconscious sort of way.

But the short version is: Coincidences do happen.

Let’s be clear about the strip in question, though, as it’s important: The Dilbert joke, while leaping off the same premise — faxes are ridiculous — has a completely different punchline. In joke-writing, this means everything. EVERYTHING. How many man-deserted-on-a-island cartoons have you seen in your life? How many “rabbi, priest and a minister” jokes have you heard? Premises are cheap, and are constantly applied and re-applied — it’s the punchline that’s central in humor.

But even there, even in the joke construction itself, two wholly different minds can arrive at the exact same punchline. In the brief time that I worked in editorial cartooning at the San Diego Union-Tribune, I saw it every…single…day as cartoons came in off the wire. And I have absolutely no doubt that Scott Adams, like myself, encountered a situation where someone asked for a fax, and immediately applied the ridiculousness of that action to his joke-writing. It’s what cartoonists do, day in and day out: Look for jokes in the world around us. And with enough cartoonists writing enough jokes, sooner or later two cartoonists write very similar strips.

I guess what I’m saying is, unless there’s a clear sign of maliciousness, we’d do well to assume a generosity of spirit… rather than rush in with a big fat “Gotcha!”

Like every cartoonist, I get accused of idea theft a couple times a year, sometimes with a hilarious reference like, “Hey, I heard a joke like that on my local, Australian radio morning show in 1985 — did you steal it?” (…And they’re being totally genuine about it!) But most of the time, it’s from folks who just like to write “J’accuse!” at you. Case in point: Someone recently wrote a snippy e-mail to me, accusing me of stealing from White Ninja’s take on glasses with Sheldon’s take on glasses. Their immediate assumption was that I — the scoundrel! — had stolen the idea. But when I pointed out that the Sheldon strip had actually run way back in 2005, the e-mailer went silent. I guess it was less fun if I *hadn’t* stolen the idea, and that two cartoonists had come up with it independently. Because that’s the central crux of my point: White Ninja didn’t steal the joke from me, either! Two creative people arrived at similar jokes, independently. It…happens…all…the…time.

Let’s step back and take a broader view of entertainment, for a minute:

We are moving from a world of mass media, where we all collectively perused the same 300-500 sources of entertainment, to a world of niche-, sometimes micro-, entertainments. There are tens of thousands of webcomics alone, and probably an equal number of humor blogs, humor sites, etc., etc. No one can keep track of them all, or even have an awareness of them all. But here’s one thing I can assure you of: Among all those variegated entertainments… creative coincidence is going to happen more and more and more and more. Scatter enough balls across a pool table, and more and more of them are going to bonk.

But as I said above, unless we can see genuine malicious intent, we’d all do well to assume a generosity of spirt when we encounter two folks who have “bonked” on the same idea. Coincidences happen.

For those of you thinking about picking up a book, artwork, etc., over at the Sheldon Store, let me share some upcoming order deadlines:

CANADA

If you’re ordering from Canada and using 1st Class Mail, we’d actually recommend ordering using International Priority Mail. But if you’d like to roll the dice and try 1st Class, your deadline to order is:

Dec. 10th

USA MEDIA MAIL

If you’re within the U.S. using Media Mail, the deadline to order is:

Dec 10th

INTERNATIONAL

If you’re ordering from anywhere in the world, and using International Priority Mail, the deadline to order is:

Dec 14th

USA W/ PRIORITY OR 1ST CLASS

If you’re ordering within the U.S. using Priority or 1st Class Mail, the deadline to order is:

Dec. 18th

We’ll of course be taking orders right up to Christmas, and shipping ’em out as soon as they come in. But we’d recommend ordering sooner rather than later, and using the above dates as your deadline of last resort.

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And just a reminder: There are two particularly good deals during Decemeber:

1.) Pure Ducky Goodness, the first Sheldon collection, is just $10 from now until December 31st. Start your collection (or start a friend on their collection), and save 33% on the book!

2.) Free Book: Buy the first two Sheldon collections, and get the third one, free! Also good from now until December 31st.

I’ve put together direct links to all the “Drive” archives, so far. Here’s each entry, listed out from the start:

#1, #2, Text Entry: Continuum, #3, Text Entry: Secrets, #4, Text Entry: Veetans, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10, #11, #12, #13, #14, #15.

My suggestion: Open the above links in tabs to read ’em in order.

Relative to today’s strip, I thought I’d share this cool video showing comparative sizes of notable planets and stars.

(Alternate Bad Title: “Sale Into Adventure”)

Americans are grudgingly rollin’ back into the office today, so let’s turn to some good news with three sales on Sheldon stuff!

1.) Get Pure Ducky Goodness, the first Sheldon collection, for just $10! From now until December 31st, start your collection (or start a friend on their collection), and save 33% on the book!

2.) Free Book: Buy the first two Sheldon collections, and get the third one, free! Also good from now until December 31st.

3.) AND THE BEST DEAL OF ALL JUST GOT EXTENDED: For a 24-hour period today, all of the original art for strips will be $20-off their normal price, PLUS free shipping to ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD. But: This is only for 24 hours, Monday (Pacific Standard Time). And this time we mean it! *stamps foot*

To get your favorite strip: Use the site’s search function to type in your favorite punchline, keywords, characters, or strip. Then, once you’ve located it, click the blue “Buy Today’s Original Art” text under that comic.

Sheldonista Linda L. sent me in this fantastic picture of her and her two pugs. (Unless, of course, the person named “Linda” who e-mailed me was, in fact, one of the pugs. Can’t rule that out, on the internet.)

As Linda points out, she’s rockin’ not only the Pugs book, but the Mind of a Ninja/Body of a Manatee shirt.

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It’s pictures like this that remind me we need to make pug-size versions of The Anatomy of a Pug shirt.

Thanks for the pic, Linda!

(…and/or the pug who sent this!)

For new readers, I thought it’d be fun to re-post a video showing how Sheldon is created. The video takes you through the two-hour process in a pretty fun 12 minutes. Check it out:

How the Comic Strip “Sheldon” is Created

No “Drive” this week: It’ll be returning next Saturday. In the meantime, curl up with excessive amounts of pie, an old episode of Twilight Zone, and enjoy the weekend!

I don’t know what it says about the U.S. that, when given a long weekend around a holiday, television stations always seem to show a marathon of Twilight Zone. I imagine the station manager just pops in a DVD of season 3 at the broadcast center, gets in their car, and goes home for more pie. These marathons can’t be a coincidence.