Aug 3rd 2012 08:13 am No strings attached
The above cartoon actually is from the same series of beach cartoons we were seeing last week. I’m throwing it out today just to change the scenery; I can’t stay. The summer has played havoc with the Web site, I know. That’s going to change very shortly. I’m going to knuckle down and get back to business around here. You’ll know it when you see it.
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Posted by jimmyjohnson / Vintage A&J
64 Responses to “No strings attached”
Bob, near Mark on 03 Aug 2012 at 8:27 am #
Now we get ads in the mail – “Sell your unused timeshare.”
They see you coming and going!
Dave in MA on 03 Aug 2012 at 8:45 am #
Hmmm, seeing you coming and going, a comment, made on the blog where the retro comic of the day has Janis in a bathing suit, a bikini no less, hmmmmmm.
I’m just sayin’ (to quote another list member).
Happy Friday everyone!
Galliglo in Ohio on 03 Aug 2012 at 9:07 am #
Gotta take time to play, JJ!
sandcastler on 03 Aug 2012 at 9:23 am #
Good for you JJ, as Mindy has taught us “another day” never comes.
Mindy on 03 Aug 2012 at 9:59 am #
I’m just sayin’, Dave.
And, sandcastler? “Another Day” did come but you weren’t here so I filed it away as “a story for yet another day.” Your fault.
Seems odd, Jimmy…Arlo all eager then for a sailboat ride and today he owns one…and never goes sailing.
I’m just sayin’….
Tom (somewhere in Georgia) on 03 Aug 2012 at 10:17 am #
Free sailboat rides? Yea! I am one lousy sailor but I keep trying. Or at least hope to. My son son claims that I only have the language down pat. (It slipped out on a Hobie Cat 25 years ago during a moment of struggle – with contrary winds and a little boy who wouldn’t sit tight.) Hey Rick- I will get back to my email soon. Busy.
sandcastler on 03 Aug 2012 at 11:05 am #
Mindy, let us pick a day to meet town in the holler at Hinton for drinks and yarns. Bring John and we can make it a threesome.
Blinky the Wonder Wombat on 03 Aug 2012 at 11:19 am #
Note how Janis readjusts her top in the second panel? It’s not necessary for the joke and JJ could have just as easily skipped it and no one would have noticed. But in the real world, that is a natural action that a woman would do after being pulled up by her arms and thus JJ drew it.
This points another reason why I think we relate so well to Arlo & Janis: JJ’s attention to details like this make them seem like real people.
Boise Ed on 03 Aug 2012 at 11:38 am #
Regarding today’s strip: Do some people actually make an audible “Poink” when they open their eyes? I guess I’ve led a sheltered life.
Robin in Fl on 03 Aug 2012 at 11:47 am #
Boise Ed
I think that’s a comic strip thing, to let you know someone’s eyes have popped open suddenly. If your eyes go poink, you should see a doctor.
dAVE. on 03 Aug 2012 at 11:51 am #
I love knuckling down and doing hard work. . . . I could sit and watch it all day!
Ghost Rider 6 on 03 Aug 2012 at 12:32 pm #
applekrite: Point of clarification…when you mentioned “eccentric, bizarre and erratic behavior” yesterday, you were talking about sandcastler, right?
Mindy (he asked innocently), does your top ever fall down?
Dave in MA on 03 Aug 2012 at 12:33 pm #
And if you don’t go poink, but instead go POIT, you may be a lab mouse named Pinky.
Dave in MA on 03 Aug 2012 at 12:35 pm #
Ghost Rider 6, there used to be a code the police used for female motorist with her top down, but it was for women in convertibles.
Galliglo in Ohio on 03 Aug 2012 at 2:26 pm #
What do you mean, Blinky? Arlo & Janis ARE real people! LOL
Bob, near Mark on 03 Aug 2012 at 2:27 pm #
Dave in MA,
You MUST know that the code around Boston, on Wednesdays, was “W.O.W.”
Jerry in Fl on 03 Aug 2012 at 3:21 pm #
“No strings attached”-nice pun JJ, but as both Andy and the warden said “Am I being too obtuse?”
Boise Ed on 03 Aug 2012 at 4:24 pm #
Dave in MA, I wonder what that code is? That happened to me, one fine summer day. I picked up a friend at the airport, in my MG Midget, and and once we got luggage and selves settled into the car, she pulled down her halter top, trying to shock me.
Bob, near Mark, what was the code on other days?
Bob, near Mark on 03 Aug 2012 at 6:16 pm #
Boise Ed,
Wednesday was the official day. Click on the link and scroll down to “Controversies”.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opie_and_Anthony
Mark in Boston on 03 Aug 2012 at 10:43 pm #
W.O.W. is three words you can say individually with no controversy. Saying them all together to someone who doesn’t know the code? It’s the kind of phrase that somehow just SOUNDS like it means something improper.
Now, the oldest thing in my house? My house. (Built in 1810.) Second oldest is my 1896 Steinway Model A.
Ghost Rider 6 on 04 Aug 2012 at 6:44 am #
They seem to be developing a cat lover vs. cat hater dialogue over on that other web site this morning. I just thought of a comment I could make over there that would probably blow it wide open, but as you all know, I’m not that kind of guy.
Jean from Dahlonega Ga aka Trapper Jean on 04 Aug 2012 at 7:34 am #
A couple of years before Katrina my husband and I had a chance to take a short vacation in New Orleans. The first day we were there we got “kidnapped” by two people working for a timeshare company. They told us up front that we didn’t have to buy in, but if we listened to the spiel we would get a coupon book and help them, since they got paid by the head, as it were. They were right! We listened, we looked, we got coffee and king cake, and we got a nice coupon book! Several dinners at pretty good restaurants, a cruise on a river boat, and an afternoon at the New Orleans Aquarium were just some of the things we got, and on our last night there we handed the unused coupons to a family with several small children. The last we heard they were ooh-ing and aah-ing over what they could now do. No, we didn’t buy the timeshare, but we did get a pretty good deal!
Ghost Rider 6 on 04 Aug 2012 at 7:51 am #
Hi, Trapper. We haven’t heard from you nearly often enough recently, either. Hope you’re doing well.
Galliglo in Ohio on 04 Aug 2012 at 9:15 am #
Missed you, Trapper!
sandcastler on 04 Aug 2012 at 9:27 am #
Welcome back Trapper.
GR6, thanks for your vote of confidence, nice to know you can be counted on.
Oldest thing in our house is a one hundred and two year old bedroom set. It came with my wife, who by the way is much younger than me-
Now about W.O.W., it is every women’s choice but, I would never cover ‘em up honey.
TruckerRon on 04 Aug 2012 at 8:36 pm #
This summer heat seems to be taking a toll on this site… less than 30 posts in over 30 hours! So, please read this excellent column with 50 ways to beat the heat:
http://bit.ly/MFX6Zn
It’s a classic!
curmudgeonly ex-professor on 04 Aug 2012 at 9:40 pm #
Oldest: a very few (maybe 5?) BC Greek coins I bought on a whim. I have no idea of exactly how far BC they are, but the seller was knowledgeable, so I’m sure they aren’t very valuable in the cash sense. Some things you acquire just because you like ‘em.
John on 04 Aug 2012 at 10:05 pm #
I thought it was 50 ways to leave your lover?
applekrite on 04 Aug 2012 at 10:22 pm #
Ghost Rider 6,
When I said eccentric, bizarre and erratic behavior I must have been talking about you, Mindy and a few others. I haven’t read enough yet, to figure out all of you. By the way, I believe Sandcastler’s own words describing himself were homicidal, depressed, and maniacal so I’ll have to go with that description until I learn more.
Jerry in Fl on 04 Aug 2012 at 10:38 pm #
Whoops! We let official watermelon day go by (Aug 3) without recognition. By chance I did eat watermelon yesterday. I remember when I was a kid we looked forward to the watermelon truck coming around so we could pick one out for about 50 cents.
Ghost Rider 6 on 04 Aug 2012 at 11:10 pm #
applekrite: Good luck with that figuring out thing. For reasons I won’t go into, I recently looked back at some posts from November of 2009. I noticed some from both Mindy and sandcastler, and their comments were just as, ah, unique then as they are now.
In fairness to sandcastler, if he ever was actually diagnosed as homicidal, depressed, and maniacal, he was probably just having a bad day. Mindy, though, I believe is pretty much the same every day. But we won’t actually know that until yet another day gets here.
Bob, near Mark on 04 Aug 2012 at 11:46 pm #
John, quoting Paul Simon on an episode of The Muppet Show, it was “50 ways to love your lever.”
Jean from Dahlonega Ga aka Trapper Jean on 05 Aug 2012 at 8:42 am #
Bob, near Mark, I thought that quote was”50Ways to Love Your Liver”.
Thanks, guys! It’s good to be back. I’ll just say there’s been some health issues, the worst symptom being extreme tiredness. Even typing can be a chore. Hopefully that’s going to change and I’ll be able to keep up with GR6 and Mindy again!
Bob, near Mark on 05 Aug 2012 at 9:01 am #
Trapper Jean,
If you love your liver, here’s a list of ways to keep it happy.
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:dcmWpDzFgI4J:coryreddish.blogspot.com/2011/04/50-ways-to-love-your-liver.html+&cd=7&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
Mindy on 05 Aug 2012 at 10:43 am #
Gee, applekrite, sandcastler and I are among the “normal” ones in here. And, Ghost? I represent that comment! I was going to smack John for the “50 ways” comment but now Bob, near Mark has gotten the “lever” version stuck in my head and I can’t shake it out! I can’t smack Bob, though, so I suspect I’ll go outside and wreak havoc on something. Anyway, applekrite, rest easy. No one has gotten mugged or murdered in here yet.
John in Virginia on 05 Aug 2012 at 10:50 am #
I started to say, “Cry havoc and let slip the Mindys of war,” but common sense pulled me up short since my dearly beloved would have thought I was likening her to dogs. More fitting would be, “Do not cry havoc, where yo should but hunt with modest warrant.” How’s that, Baby Cakes?
sandcastler on 05 Aug 2012 at 11:45 am #
If I represent “normal” the lines on this sloop are Fubared and we are assured of crashing on the rocks.
Bob, near Mark on 05 Aug 2012 at 12:07 pm #
Mindy, if you insist on wreaking havoc, I’ll take June Havoc, please… the real-life “Baby June” from the musical “Gypsy”, and the sister of Gypsy Rose Lee.
Let me entertain you!
Ghost Rider 6 on 05 Aug 2012 at 12:10 pm #
Trapper: Good luck with that keeping up with Mindy thing. But take as much time as you need between key strokes. We’ll wait for you.
Something tells me another skirmish in The Great Bamboo War is shaping up.
Mindy on 05 Aug 2012 at 3:32 pm #
I have to Google “Baby June” now, Bob. Although I doubt that I’ll find her as attractive as you would. Which works out well.
Ghost, the battle, rather than a skirmish, was joined with great gusto, a friend of John’s merely shaking his head when I rush onto the field shouting, “Havoc! Havoc!” And then the rain started. I’ve been told that “burned” motor oil [why can't anyone just say "used" and get it over with?] will get into the root system if poured onto freshly cut “wounds.” I may burglarize a lube change place tonight since EPA rules keep them from allowing them to do take-outs. How stupid. If that doesn’t work, radiation therapy has been suggested.
sandcastler, remember, there is FUBAR, SNAFU, BOHICA and IHTFP. Jimmy Blog [what a name for a tavern!] is the last of the pair. The three. The four. I’ll get it right by Christmas.
Mindy on 05 Aug 2012 at 3:33 pm #
Baby Cakes! Baby Cakes????? I just caught that! Oh, John, you poor creature….
Lost in A**2 on 05 Aug 2012 at 4:31 pm #
I’ve long known the colloquial use of ‘havoc,’ and the quote from Shakespeare, although I did not note it when reading “Julius Ceasar” and so thought it from one of the medieval plays, but until today I had not known it was an actual command to soldiers.
Once again, the folks here have inspired me to expand my store of knowledge.
phil in Missoula, MT on 05 Aug 2012 at 4:37 pm #
It IS quiet around here. Only 40+ posts for the weekend. Where is everyone?
It is hotter at the moment in Missoula than Houston, according to my weather gadgets. We’re headed for a high in the mid-90s, so a good day to stay inside. A lot of people float down the Clark Fork or the Bitterroot Rivers, but that’s likely to lead to sunburns today even with sunscreen.
But, if you happen to be in Montana next weekend, Kenny Loggins, Paul Revere and the Raiders and others will be playing (from their wheelchairs maybe) at Rockin’ the Rivers festival near Three Forks, between Bozeman and Butte. Three Forks is near the junction of the Jefferson, the Madison and the Gallatin Rivers and is the official headwaters of the Missouri River.
Ghost Rider 6 on 05 Aug 2012 at 4:44 pm #
Mindy, I in fact started to comment on “Baby Cakes,” but I decided at the last moment this might be one of the occasions when discretion was definitely the better part of valor. I can imagine a number pet names that John might have for you, but somehow Baby Cakes just isn’t one of them.
Also, it’s good to see you’re up on your military acronyms. But you left out FUBAB.
Re Bamboo Battle: Remember that Homeland Security has no sense of humor at all when it comes to trying to obtain radioactive isotopes.
Ghost Rider 6 on 05 Aug 2012 at 4:54 pm #
Lost in A**2: It also helps, when giving troops the “Havoc” command, to remind them, “Pillage first, then burn.”
Lost in A**2 on 05 Aug 2012 at 5:29 pm #
Somehow, I don’t think they would need the reminder.
Way back when, there was an afternoon television show that featured that band in their frock coats on a beach. Only now do I wonder if they were, in fact, on a beach. Even a sound stage would be hot in that get-up.
Mindy on 05 Aug 2012 at 5:43 pm #
Hi, Trapper Jean! Completely overlooked your post! Sorry, welcome back! I need help keeping these guys in line!
Boise Ed on 05 Aug 2012 at 6:50 pm #
Jean from Dahlonega Ga aka Trapper Jean: I, too, attended a timeshare spiel once when I was in Las Vegas, and I came away glad I did. Sure, the talk was boring and useless on me, but the view from up there was awesome, and I came away with having seen that great view, having a free lunch snack, and getting $50 in gaming chips.
John in Virginia on 05 Aug 2012 at 7:16 pm #
Mindy got a lousey t-shirt but that got ripped off in the ensuing melee. {Lord! I do so love to start those rumors, especially if there’s a grain of truth in them!}
Lost in A**2 on 05 Aug 2012 at 7:27 pm #
John, that’s not a ‘rumor.’ However, it does invoke certain … images, some of which are probably not based on fact. But GR6 can dream, no?
Ghost Rider 6 on 05 Aug 2012 at 7:33 pm #
Note to Fevered Imaginations Out There: Mindy is not good about providing details, so go ahead and begin making up your own, based on John’s input above.
And yes, that’s me…just a boy with a dream.
John in Richmond Texas on 05 Aug 2012 at 9:54 pm #
We had to do a timeshare spiel too. about 18 years ago when our daughter got married, our son-in-law arranged a big 10 day Hawaii island hopping wedding/vacation – part of the deal was a couple, any couple, had to go to some timeshare’s shopping mall office for a pitch. We had to do it, because their rules said you had to be 25 years old. We told the guy that it was about the last thing in the world we would ever do (or wanted to spend money on) and it was kind of funny because it was our young son-in-law with the money. (he went on to do lala.com and color.com) The guy was polite and we filled in high marks in his comment card and we obliged him by sitting with him for a little while, so it would look good to his boss.
Phil – it was nice and cozy around Houston today, it was rainy and overcast, almost wintery.
Lost in A**2 on 05 Aug 2012 at 10:41 pm #
(Was your son-in-law the guy who rented out a lawn mower?)
TruckerRon on 05 Aug 2012 at 10:48 pm #
phil in Missoula, MT: I know Three Forks MT fairly well having picked up numerous loads of minerals from the Luzenac America plant there. I felt sorry for the folks in the center of town having to put up with so many trucks coming through on their main street, especially my last full year of driving when some yahoo managed to roll his rig at their I-90 interchange.
Mary from Mt on 05 Aug 2012 at 10:51 pm #
Phil – would love to be at rocking the rivers but alas we’re still in the harvest field! I went to the first one so many years ago, and haven’t made it back since. Don’t you love the fact that even though it might be hotter here than in Houston it cools down nicely at night? But then I’ve never been to Houston, maybe it cools down nicely at night there too.
On a different subject- got my fingers crossed that Curiosity lands safely on Mars.
Lost in A**2 on 06 Aug 2012 at 3:07 am #
Today’s xkcd is titled “Curiousity” and is about a Mars landing, but until I read “Girl Genius,” I didn’t know why: the authors included a note congratulating NASA on (for?) the successful landing.
BTW, GoComics did not offer the text of today’s comic on first viewing. I saw the text the second time, when I used the button to clear my trail.
Rick in Shermantown, Ohio on 06 Aug 2012 at 4:59 am #
Today’s strip:
I still have a dumb phone, I do not own an iPad or similar device, and I do not use a laptop. If I traveled in my job, I would need one of those, but I am in an office all day.
Moreover, I discovered the joy of large screens and ergonomic keyboards and mice long ago.
To help stall the onset of carpal tunnel, I recently bought a voice recognition program – one very smart purchase.
Jerry in Fl on 06 Aug 2012 at 6:14 am #
Lost, the raider’s show began with them riding dune buggies on Panama City Beach and wearing t-shirts with Panama City Beach on them. They were in the area often and I had a now deceased cousin who was very much a raider’s groupie.
Jean from Dahlonega Ga aka Trapper Jean on 06 Aug 2012 at 7:07 am #
Now that I think about it, we listened to a time share spiel not long after we got married. (back in the dark ages) It was for a vacation home in a lake community not too far from where we live now, but back then would have been far enough to count as “away from home”. The little houses looked rather like mushrooms-the stem part held the entryway and a sort of mud room and the living quarters were the cap part, and was mostly one big room. Needless to say, we passed on the opportunity to invest, but we did walk away with a $75.00 gift card to Rich’s department store. We needed some things for the kitchen.
Jean from Dahlonega Ga aka Trapper Jean on 06 Aug 2012 at 7:08 am #
Oh, and Mindy, not sure what I can do, but always happy to help!
phil in Missoula, MT on 06 Aug 2012 at 8:08 am #
Rick in Shermantown:
The company I worked for were fiends for preventing carpal tunnel and other similar injuries. Since I did IT work and was using a mouse 9 hours a day, they wanted me to alternate right and left hands, which wasn’t a particular problem. I got and Aero2bic mouse http://www.aerobicmouse.com/ for my left hand. They are a little pricey (or spendy as they say here in Missoula) but lord, I loved that thing. I prefered it to the right hand mouse. I would have loved to taken it with me when I retired, but my cohort who was left handed also coveted it.
John in Richmond Texas on 06 Aug 2012 at 8:09 am #
Lost in A**2 – oh yeah, that’s right, that’s in his wikipedia, yeah, he was in Houston Baptist University when he came to our daughter’s high school to judge some debate club thing and that’s where they met
Lost in A**2 on 06 Aug 2012 at 8:12 am #
Cool!
Rick in Shermantown, Ohio on 06 Aug 2012 at 8:13 pm #
phil in Missoula, MT:
Thanks for the tip on the Aero2bic mouse.
It looks as if it will work even better than this one that I have been considering: http://www.alimed.com/penguin-mouse-24264.html?gclid=CJPQ9OvLmK4CFRLGKgodslKPHw