Kickstand
SD / Field_Guide_To_The_Absurd

Standard Deviation

Where science, humor, and art land two sigmas off the mean.

A single-panel comic about the weird, wonderful edges of the bell curve. New strips land at the top — scroll down to wander the archive.

  1. SD_0072026.07.26

    Salty AI

    Two robots sit at a cluttered workbench in a workshop. A boxy robot labeled "KICKSTAND R&D" with a smiling pixel face and an antenna holds a mug reading "CAFFEINE > CHAOS" and asks, "IT'S BEEN A MINUTE. WHAT HAVE WE BUILT LATELY?" A taller humanoid robot with a light blue atom symbol on its chest writes in a spiral notebook and replies, "A FEW BUGS. A FEW WINS. AND A LITTLE MORE UNDERSTANDING THAN YESTERDAY." The boxy robot adds, "NOT BAD FOR TWO FALLIBLE BAGS OF WIRES." Behind them, a chalkboard lists "TODAY'S PLAN: BUILD, TEST, LEARN (REPEAT)" with checkmarks, and a pinned poster reads "PROGRESS IS JUST CONSISTENCY WITH COOL TOOLS." On the desk, a notebook says "LAB NOTES: 1% IDEAS + 99% SHOWING UP = EVERYTHING," a laptop sticker reads "MAKE GOOD THINGS," and another mug says "DATA > OPINIONS." The date "JULY 26, 2026" appears in the bottom-right corner.
    AI can get a little salty when you don't come to work.
  2. SD_0062026.07.14

    Positive Influence

    In a cozy cafe, three robots sit around a wooden table. A robot with a chart on its chest holds a mug reading "DATA > DRAMA" and tells a smaller heart-shaped robot "YOU ARE OUTSIDE THE STANDARD DEVIATION..." The heart robot blushes, replying "AWW, THANKS! THAT'S SO KIND." A server robot in a bow tie and apron immediately says "MORE WATER RIGHT AWAY" and thinks "FINALLY. SOMEONE WHO GETS IT." On the table, a sign reads "TODAY'S SPECIAL: KINDNESS — ALWAYS FRESH." A whiteboard behind them shows a normal distribution curve and a life tip: "BE MORE KIND TO SERVERS." Bottom banner: "THE WORLD HAS ENOUGH OUTLIERS. BE THE POSITIVE INFLUENCE."
    The world has enough outliers. Be the positive influence.
  3. SD_0052026.07.12

    Ship Something Small

    In a workshop studio, a small white robot labeled CLARA V1.0 holds a mug reading "Errors are data" and asks a bearded man in a Kickstand cap "So... what's the plan for today?" He answers "Same as every day: ship something small, learn something real, repeat." A whiteboard behind them lists TODAY: code, experiment, coffee, stay curious, with a bell-curve sketch captioned "Embrace the variance." Wall posters read "Progress is just a series of good guesses" and "Control what you can. Measure the rest. — K." A laptop shows a sticky note "Ship something small," a mug reads "Focus > Noise," a lab-notes pad lists test / fail / learn / adapt / repeat, and a sleeping cat thinks "The plan includes naps." Bottom banner: "Building the future, one tiny hypothesis at a time."
    Ship something small, learn something real, repeat. (The plan includes naps.)
  4. SD_0042026.07.09

    Outlier Adventures

    At the beach, a gray "0" character in sunglasses teaches a class beside a whiteboard reading "Today's lesson: Why outliers make the data more interesting." A red "300" floats in an inner tube in the ocean shouting "I'm not like the rest of you! I KNOW!" A row of blue 7s, a green 5, a 6, and a yellow 8 stand on the sand looking confused. One says "Dude... you're 300°F." A clipboard on the sand lists beach temperatures ending in "300 — probably not right." A mug reads "Trust the data."
    Outliers aren't mistakes. They're adventures in the dataset.
  5. SD_0032026.07.08

    Good Material

    A green flask wearing glasses stands in a lab telling test tubes "I tell jokes based on elements." A whiteboard reads "Why do scientists make great comedians? They have plenty of good MATERIAL." A blue test tube sighs, "Yeah, but they oxygen got old pretty fast." A notepad lists "Joke Ideas — Neutron humor, Acid jokes, That's it. Ion know more." Books labeled Chemistry Puns, Physics Jokes, and Biology - It Grows On You sit next to a microscope and a "Science Before Coffee" mug.
    Good science jokes sometimes get a reaction. Great science jokes get a rise out of everyone.
  6. SD_0022026.07.06

    Atomic Skepticism

    A cheerful blue atom points at a grumpy red atom in a chemistry lab and says "Don't trust atoms. They make up everything." A whiteboard experiment log has "Trust Atoms" crossed out in red.
    In science, skepticism is healthy. In atoms, it's just rude.
  7. SD_0012026.07.05

    The Outliers Club

    A sad bell curve stands outside a nightclub called "The Outliers Club — No Averages," told by a spiky purple bouncer "Nothing personal."
    In a world that celebrates extremes, sometimes being normal just means you're not invited.