Monday, February 9, 2009

Today's Hi and Lois

Scary eyeball? The mothership? Today's Hi and Lois seems to suggest a trend involving unrecognizable objects on walls. What's especially poignant here is that there's no need for a thermostat in the strip (yes, it's a thermostat) — Lois' brisk "BRR . . IT'S COLD IN HERE" sets the scene nicely. (Husband-tip to Hi Flagston: when your wife and kids shiver, do not stop to check the price of oil.)

The Honeywell thermostat, the work of Henry Dreyfuss and a masterpiece of industrial design, is the distant (very distant) ancestor of the Flagstons' thermostat. I saved a Honeywell thermostat when we had our furnace replaced several years ago. What was a Honeywell thermostat is now a Honeywell paperweight.

Related reading
All Hi and Lois posts

comments: 2

Anonymous said...

I interviewed at Honeywell in Minneapolis in 1991. Each person I was introduced to that day began the conversation the same way -- "Has anyone told you about the Honeywell 'Round' yet?" Yes indeed, the very first person I met with that day had given me a brief lecture on the company's flagship product.

So, apparently that is the term of affection given to this thermostat by members of the Honeywell corporate family: the 'Round'.

Michael Leddy said...

Thanks for sharing this piece of history, Anon.