A pithy comic strip about life, love, lust and puthy cats.

Est. 1985

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Clear as Mud

By Jimmy Johnson


Buy the new book, "Beaucoup Arlo & Janis!"Today's "Arlo & Janis!"
There’s nothing wrong with a good pun. The reason puns are thought of as lowly, or cheap, is because truly good puns are very difficult and very rare. They are not a pointless scrambling of words and letters, and they should not be so obvious–or so reaching—as to elicit nothing but groans and rolling eyes. In fact, puns are so difficult, an entire sub-genre of humor has grown up around them: jokes about how bad puns are. (See Pearls before Swine.) I’ve done maybe two or three good puns in my entire career. I count the above as one of them.

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281 responses to “Clear as Mud”

  1. domaucan1 Avatar
    domaucan1

    Prayers for everyone and I’m sure we can all use a few extra prayers.

    GR6, You reminded me of one of my favorite sayings:

    “It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.”

    I also like one of Yogi’s gems: “You better be careful if you don’t know where you’re going because you might not get there”!

  2. Jerry in Fl Avatar
    Jerry in Fl

    A stage in California ALSO collapsed during a performance and the videos are eerily alike although there were more people on the stage in the other video. If ufo’s are warning us of earthquakes maybe stages collapsing are warning us of volcanos erupting.

  3. Charlotte in NH Avatar
    Charlotte in NH

    Wow, a great story TR sent us from the Oxford Times. That man is surely remarkable, and very interesting … I agree with Galliglo.

    Mindy from Indy, you have more problems on your plate right now than I’ve had in my entire life! Yes, I’ve been very fortunate. You are so smart and so strong, you will handle them appropriately, but golly, it’s a pity all this stuff happened. Sigh. I will be thinking of you every day for a while.

    My husband Chris had quite a time with his ICD. We called it the Defibrillator. He was 65 to 70 years old when he developed the need for one. We got a lot of information to work on before it was implanted, one being that if and when it delivers the shock, it feels like being kicked in the chest by a horse. We found out — it really does. There was a heavy fall of snow and we were shoveling it the next day. He thought he was taking it easy but apparently overdid it. I heard a funny noise and looked around — he was leaning against the hood of the van, and sliding down it — then recovered and stood up. It happened, then it was over, just like that … leaving him rather shaken of course. In his mind ever after, he had died right there, and been brought back to life by the device.

    It happened a few times after that, not too often. He didn’t ever worry and obsess over it. I think he felt he’d experienced the worst and it was okay. BTW, people talk of “replacing the battery”. They don’t. The technician he saw regularly could measure how much electricity was left; when it got low, they removed the device surgically, at the hospital, and put in a new one. The second one lasted for years.

  4. Jerry in Fl Avatar
    Jerry in Fl

    For my neurostimulators (rub the paddles together, now apply them to each side of the head) they actually take it, left or right, out, put a new battery in and replace it. EMB, if you’re still with me I think that it may have been you who suggested that a study of Yellowstone’s geysers was underway. It turns out that there is a super super volcano beneath the super volcano. There is a video with the report with interesting animation.

  5. Jerry in Fl Avatar
    Jerry in Fl

    If you didn’t understand any of the above I refer you to JJ’s own words above the strip at the top of this page.

  6. Old Bear Avatar
    Old Bear

    I’ve learned…. That no matter how serious your life requires you to be,
    everyone needs a friend to act goofy with.* Andy Rooney

    Mindy – You can be goofy here or at least observe the goofiness.

  7. Mark in TTown Avatar
    Mark in TTown

    Jerry in FL, what I think the stage collapses are really warning us of is not to overload the structure, and to have it as well-designed by a first-class engineering team as possible.

    Mindy from Indy, I truly feel for you in this. I was site supervisor for a private security company here for about 3 years, and for about 6 months in Tennessee. People like you are very rare in this kind of work and the management comes to rely on you far more than they should. They have to, when you look at most of the human? material they hire. I never had one possibly firebomb someone’s house, but I did have a guy drive the company station wagon into a settling pond one night. I had trained him myself, walked him through all the areas where we had to go, and explained where we could and could not drive. Lucky he didn’t drown and that they did not cancel our contract. As Red Skelton used to say, Good night and God bless.

  8. Charlotte in NH Avatar
    Charlotte in NH

    Mark in TTown, It’s heartening to see you say nice things about Mindy — and you should know! I like your story a lot.

  9. Debbe Avatar
    Debbe

    Good morning Villagers..

    The meeting yesterday at The Corp was all about this Avian virus and enhanced bio-security. The paperwork brought back is unbelievable.

    First bullet warns: “everything outside your barn is considered infected!”

    Second bullet warns: “Scientist project this to last from 3 – 5 years (travels 2 – 5 miles dust in air” Ian said that’s with the wind NOT blowing.

    Third bullet: “The Corp will cover the cost of clothing and disinfectant (Lysol)”

    Does anyone remember the original smell of Lysol before they started scenting it? I do, because The Boss bought an unscented bottle of Lysol last year when we cleaned my hen house…that stuff really stinks….it’s one fowl smell (pun intended)

    They have to shower in-between hen houses too….and change shoes. Think I’ll hit The Boss up for new work shoes πŸ™‚

    And the teens are considered “not regular employees” and have to wear disposable outerwear. This will go over like lead fart πŸ™‚ I can hear ‘Skittle” now. “They want me to wear that??!!”

    Ya’ll have a blessed Caturday…

    =^..^=

  10. Debbe Avatar
    Debbe

    for those not interested, just scroll down.

    I got a phone call from Rachell yesterday evening. She asked how Ian was, told her. She then asked why I brought Ian over to #1 when Andrew had told me on the phone that he was going to beat him…that sometimes it takes a good beating to get people to think about things.

    I told her that I didn’t think Andrew would hit him…I also told her everyone has threatened to beat some sense into Ian at one time or another, including me.

    Then I said, wait a minute, are you trying to turn this around and make me look like the guilty party? Well, she said, you did bring him over to the hen house when you knew Andrew would be there. Again, I said, I didn’t think he would hit him.

    Then she called again…talked to my husband…he told her the same thing…even he at times has wanted to beat some sense into my son. But you just don’t go around beating people.

    Poor Ian, he is what he is, and this Momma Bear is not backing down. I love him and all his faults…and I was very proud of him yesterday for going with The Boss. Actually, Ian was requested to come as one of the farm managers.

    Indy Mindy…I still wouldn’t want your job….but sometimes we can’t help being around stupid people, can we?

    GR πŸ˜‰

  11. Jerry in Fl Avatar
    Jerry in Fl

    and then they moved it.

  12. Denise in Michigan Avatar
    Denise in Michigan

    Oh, Mindy! What a mess! Do what you have to do, but remember the airline instructions about putting on your own mask before helping others. You’re in my prayers.

    Debbe, bravo to you and your husband for refusing to capitulate to Rachel’s attempt to make Andrew’s choice into your fault. Only Andrew is responsible for his actions, including seeking help when he is nonfunctional. How is Ian? My thoughts and prayers for the best possible outcome here are with you all.

    I read about the discovery, Jerry, of the additional magma chamber under Yellowstone. Thinking about all the PBS programs I’ve seen on volcanic erruption and their impact on the Earth as a whole, it’s pretty unsettling.

  13. Trapper Jean Avatar
    Trapper Jean

    Ghost Sweetie, I am quite fond of grilled portobello “burgers”. πŸ™‚

    Mindy and Debbe, sounds like you both could use a hug, so{{{HUGS}}}

  14. Ghost Rider 6 Avatar
    Ghost Rider 6

    Debbe πŸ˜‰ Re Rachell…can you say “enabler”? You were right, however, not to descend to their level.

    I just read an online article about an egg operation in Iowa that is going to have to euthanize their entire flock of hens because of Avian Influenza…all 3.8 million of them. The logistics are daunting, to say the least, and plans are still in the works. They probably will use carbon dioxide, but then they have to dispose of the carcasses. Both burial and transportation to rendering facilities entail some risks.

    One should probably start now on a plan to finance one’s purchase of a Thanksgiving turkey.

  15. Granny Carol Avatar
    Granny Carol

    Mindy from Indy, just had a chance to read your long post. Whew! I don’t know about being your own boss, but is sure sounds like you deserve a promotion! And you too, Debbe, dealing with all the chicken biohazard stuff! Hope things improve soon!

  16. Old Bear Avatar
    Old Bear

    Debbe
    Sounds like you will need to set up a clean room – shower And scrub and disposable clothes before entering. Just like a nuclear plant or computer chip manufacture.

    GR6
    That is why we have Corned Beef at holidays. Been a tradition a number of years now.

    TV Dinners started because there were box car loads of surplus turkeys.

  17. emb Avatar
    emb

    This is long but I think not too difficult. Again, good perspective on the universe we are part of. It is one item at the current Cassini website. The others are more often specifically about Saturn and its rings and moons. I don’t visit it as often as I should. Since Cassini is still orbiting, with an occasional nudge from NASA, around in the Saturn system, there are new items every day or two. And we have progress: the Church admitted sometime in the last few decades that Galileo was right.

    Peace, emb

    http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/news/cassinifeatures/feature20150407/

  18. Mark in TTown Avatar
    Mark in TTown

    Interesting article on Global Warming data “adjustments” versus the actual recorded information.
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/11561629/Top-scientists-start-to-examine-fiddled-global-warming-figures.html