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

Est. 1985

Extra, Extra!

Walking in Circles

By Jimmy Johnson

I’m afraid there’s more truth in this 2009 A&J Sunday strip than I’d like to admit. By the way, did you know the comic panel Family Circus will celebrate its 15th anniversary next February? What’s that? You could have sworn Family Circus has been around longer than 15 years? You’re right. It has. The world’s most widely syndicated comic panel began publication Feb. 29, 1960, a “leap day,” hence it is coming up on its 15th “birthday.” It originally was named “Family Circle” because of the distinctive circular format, but the Women’s magazine Family Circle objected and the name was changed.

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55 responses to “Walking in Circles”

  1. Ghost Avatar
    Ghost

    Re 9-4-19 retro cartoon: In the bottom center panel, Arlo should have checked on Janis rather than just waving at her, as she had apparently fallen onto her left side while hanging up clothes.
    OK, been up since Oh Dark-Thirty, sitting in a waiting room in Tulsa, no breakfast in solidarity with Jackie…that’s the best I could do. 🙂

  2. Ghost Avatar
    Ghost

    Re 9-4-19 real-time cartoon: Has Arlo has noticed the vending machines in some men’s restrooms?
    Perhaps I should take a nap now.

  3. Ghost Avatar
    Ghost

    Once, my uncle came out of a cafe’s men’s room chuckling. I looked at him questioningly, and he told me someone had written on the wall next to the vending machine “Don’t buy this chewing guum; it tastes like rubber.”
    Yep, a nap it is.

  4. emb Avatar
    emb

    THIS IS A GRAFFITO.
    THESE ARE GRAFFITI.

    WHAT IF ELOHIM DOESN’T WANT TO BE EVERYWHERE? [This one suggests others.]

    Peace,

  5. Ken from Framingham Avatar
    Ken from Framingham

    I love comic strip history tidbits and tributes. BTW, I highly recommend “Cartoon County” by Cullen Murphy. The son of Prince Valiant’s John Cullen Murphy tells about growing up in a Connecticut cartoonist enclave in the 1950s and ’60s. Fascinating.

      1. Mark in TTown Avatar
        Mark in TTown

        http://www.comicsrevue.com/

        And the publisher of this might be reviving Nemo magazine. Named for Little Nemo in Slumberland. It also covered comics history and tidbits.

  6. Rick in Shermantown, Ohio Avatar
    Rick in Shermantown, Ohio

    My late grandmother-in-law was born on Leap Day in 1896. Because turns of the century have no leap day, she did not have a true birthday until Leap Day 1904.

    She passed in 1999.

    1. Steve Evans Avatar

      Except for 2000, which did have a February 29th. I remember reading all about it as there was an explanation, but my head hurts too much to remember.

      1. Rick in Shermantown, Ohio Avatar
        Rick in Shermantown, Ohio

        Correct. I didn’t mention it because she passed too early.

        I don’t remember the entire explanation, but I recall that the thousands need a 29th to keep the calendar synched with Earth’s orbit around Sol.

  7. emb Avatar
    emb

    In the G&S operetta “The Pirates of Penzance,” first produced in 1880, 21-yr old Fredric was apprenticed as a kid to the pirates until his 21st birthday, which he would reach [if Gilbert counted right] on 29 Feb. 1940. Not their best work but good; sometime in recent decades, someone did a Broadway version, which good Savoyards consider a disaster.
    Peace,

  8. Jackie Avatar
    Jackie

    Eating gluten lactose free plus low sugar low fat low carbs leaving out almost all fruits like peaches. Plums, apples, pears. Etc. Creates an interesting eating challenge. Not on any weird diet, just trying to eleminate all stuff that affects my gut.

    Naturally this is hard to shop locally like none. We usually make a once weekly stop for me in Tulsa at Sprouts but today I was too nauseated from my early morning test.

    Have not gotten Ghost into Trader Joe’s yet or Whole Foods. He does not like reading labels we have determined. Or browsing. I have to admit these type stores are overwhelming if it isn’t your style cooking or eating.

    1. Mark in TTown Avatar
      Mark in TTown

      I don’t buy much in Whole Foods, but they have a smoked cheddar which beats Kraft and Sargento sliced cheese all hollow. They also have a shredded Italian cheese blend which is much better than that powdery stuff that passes for Parmesan. Good luck with your diet, Jackie. I told Ghost of something I have started using for my lunch while working. It is a meal replacement called Soylent which the Walmarts are selling here. It is 400 calories per bottle, vegetarian, no milk so it wouldn’t trip your lactose intolerance. The only varieties the Walmarts carry are Chocolate, Strawberry and Vanilla Cafe (with caffeine). There are other flavors which you can buy direct or through Amazon.

  9. Steve Evans Avatar

    The video store strips remind me of a scene in The Holiday where Jack Black takes Kate Winslet to a Blockbuster and picks up various movies to explain the scores that were used. After her picks up The Graduate, the camera turns to Dustin Hoffman, who says ” I can’t go anywhere”.

    Returned to Jury Duty. Pace picked up then ground to a halt. They used video testimony which turned into some unplanned humor. One of the witnesses seemed to com out of the set of Duck Dynasty.

    Still waiting for Joe Pesci to march into the courtroom and quickly end this thing. I’d settle for Marisa Tomei at this point!

    1. Mark in TTown Avatar
      Mark in TTown

      Your comment about the Duck Dynasty witness reminds me of a trial I saw as a kid. My grandfather liked to go down and watch the trials in City Court, and I recall one where he took me along. The case involved two men who had allegedly gotten intoxicated and then decided to hold target practice in the back yard. (This was in Tuscaloosa, AL, and firing guns in the city limits was illegal.) One witness was testifying as to what he saw. At one point the judge asked him if he actually saw the two men firing the guns. The witness answered, “No sir, your Honor. When they came out with the guns I went out through the window.”.

        1. Steve Evans Avatar

          Thanks. There is no court recorder as the trial is recorded. However the jury is never seen.

          I have made a few faces at the judge forcing her to turn away so that she didn’t erupt in laughter. I realized a couple days ago that a cousin of her married my Grandniece. I doubt that woul have gotten me excused

  10. TruckerRon Avatar

    Jackie: You might find the diet at this link useful:

    http://www.gidoctor.net/fodmap.php

    I followed it several years ago when a medication adversely affected my gut; most of the foods you’re avoiding are high in the things it says to avoid… and it lists foods that are low in them. It helped to have both lists when shopping.

  11. Jackie Avatar
    Jackie

    Thanks Trucker. I am following Fodmap or trying to. I have followed it (or tried to) several times in past. It is even thought to be applicable to those with autoimmune diseases! I first heard of it from gastroenterologist, rheumatologist and endocrinologist but this time I put myself on it. Oncologist had never heard of it.

    Cancer and chemotherapy does a number on your digestive system!

  12. Jackie Avatar
    Jackie

    Mark is that Soylent drink like the Soylent Green potato chips Lays introduced?

    Fodmap includes so MANY vegetables and fruits offlimits because of their fermentation in your gut that most processed foods are off limits.

  13. emb Avatar
    emb

    Today’s F&E is almost profound. So is 9 Chickweed Lane, but cannot post 2 URLs. Peace,

    https://www.gocomics.com/frank-and-ernest/2019/09/06

  14. Jackie Avatar
    Jackie

    Wish I knew how to copy and paste, i could join the club. I never click on stuff in Facebook Messenger and I seldom click on anything here. Maybe some do?

    1. curmudgeonly ex-professor Avatar
      curmudgeonly ex-professor

      See if I have this: 1) highlight the address to be copied
      2) press ctrl and x
      3) go to new screen in which you want to paste the address noted
      4) on that new screen, at the desired place with the cursor, press ctrl and v

      Clearly, have the new screen available beforehand – different tab.

  15. curmudgeonly ex-professor Avatar
    curmudgeonly ex-professor

    eMb, I thought the same about F&E; it was a lot deeper than usual.

    Re: above comment: how can on get this place to allow indentations?

  16. Ghost Avatar
    Ghost

    If the 9CL baby’s parents remain that randy throughout the pregnancy, the little sprog will likely be delivered thinking it’s spent the previous nine months on a carnival ride.

  17. emb Avatar
    emb

    Brooke’s lead characters are always at it, his art is the sexiest around, but he never shows as much as a dot on a blouse. In the most explicit current panel, the reader’s view is from above Amos and Edda’s bed. All you see is the bottom of their sheet, with their bare feet sticking out, Edda’s outside, toes up, and Amos’s inside, toes down.
    Peace [piece?]

  18. Jackie Avatar
    Jackie

    It is so miserably hot in Oklahoma I am hiding in house until fall arrives. The fact I am miserable due to chemo and medication side effects is coincidental but it does allow me to be miserable in a/c.

  19. David Reaves Avatar
    David Reaves

    Staying in the AC here in Texas, too. Dawn is the only time that the temperature outside is tolerable– but as soon as the soon pops up, the temperature pops up, too. Lot’s of projects that I would like to work on a little bit, but too hot to do anything. :/

  20. Ghost Avatar
    Ghost

    Ego and Superego walk into a bar. Bartender says, “I’m gonna need to see ID.”

  21. Old Bear Avatar
    Old Bear

    Brooke also uses hands expressively –

  22. Ghost Avatar
    Ghost

    Caption on t-shirt seen on InterWebNet today: If You Wear Cowboy Clothes Are You Ranch Dressing?

    In my case, no. I’ve adopted a more “Western style” of clothing since arriving in Oklahoma, although not from wanting to be “stylish”. At least to hear Jackie tell it, I look fairly good in Western jeans, but more importantly to me, I find jeans to be very comfortable trousers that can be anything from super casual to quite dressy, depending on what they are paired with. And no one was more surprised than I that I’ve found Western boots to be both nice looking and comfortable. This summer I’ve been wearing jeans and boots with short-sleeve sports shirts and ball caps. As the weather cools (if it every does around here), I’ll be keeping the jeans and boots and transitioning to long-sleeve dress shirts or Western shirts with sports coats or blazers. (I’m still thinking on a Western hat.) So no, no one is likely to confuse me with a real cowboy, notwithstanding the six-year-old boy I once encountered in Wally World here who exclaimed, “Look! A cowboy.” (I of course replied, “Howdy.”)