Welcome to FOOTNOTE Academy.
You are already enrolled. Orientation was completed on your behalf. Nobody took attendance, which is how we know you were there.
The tuition is $0. The accreditation is none. The cat is very sure of himself.
The School of Applied Obviousness began, according to its entirely fictional history, in 1929 with a chalkboard in the break room at Standard Provision. Somebody wrote down a rule. Nobody wrote down why. The chalkboard became a Department. Hector, our head of HR, became Registrar. The Chancellor appointed himself. I am the Chancellor. The motto is Certificamus Obvium - we certify the obvious. Footnote has tenure, because of course he does.
Footnote took no notes and still knew where everything was. Naturally, he became the mascot.
That's the joke. There is a useful idea underneath it.
Each FOOTNOTE story looks at something familiar: a rule, a phrase, a target, a habit. The Academy is where we stop for a minute and ask what we actually noticed.
One comic. One story. Three questions.
The classes are the stories. Each issue is one Module: read, look twice, then answer. Three questions. Up to nine points. No lecture hall. No group project. You’re welcome.
Some answers will sound sensible. Some will sound like a meeting you have already survived. The point is to look twice before you choose.
I'm not building a credential. I'm giving us another way to play with the ideas. A little humor can get a question past the defenses that a training deck never reaches.
Each episode is a Module. Four completed Modules make a Course and a Certificate of Completion. Eight make an Advanced Certificate in Applied Obviousness. These are part of the comic, not professional qualifications or academic credit. Please do not attach one to a job application unless you enjoy explaining yourself.
You can take the Modules at your own pace. One a week. One a year. The strips will wait. Start with Module 1, where a yellow line on the floor has outlived everybody's memory of why it is there.
There is no login. Your progress stays in your browser. Copy the progress code after a Module so you can keep it or bring it to another browser. The Academy does not collect your name or email for enrollment; the name you put on a certificate stays in your browser too.
The official quizzes and your transcript live at the Academy. The stories stay here at The Interrobang. Read one, take the quiz, and see what the cat thinks you learned.
Visit FOOTNOTE Academy: https://academy.theinterrobang.net
Tuition: none. Accreditation: none. Recognized by the cat.
What rule have you followed for years without asking why‽
Subscribe to The Interrobang for the next FOOTNOTE story and its Academy Module. Enrollment was automatic. The reading is still your problem.
© 2026 Brad E. Bailey. All rights reserved.