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

Est. 1985

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On Pretty Good Authority

By Jimmy Johnson


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Today’s retro A&J is more antediluvian tech humor from barely five years ago. Presumably today they would both have a smart phone and would both be entitled to their own set of facts. Speaking of smart phones, I’ve discovered a strange phenomenon. My new phone has about four times the square footage of my old flip phone, but I’ve noticed it’s easier to lose! Maybe because it looks like a dozen other gadgets lying around the house. I’ve give some thought to what we discussed yesterday, the future of our retro feature, and I think I have come up with some ideas. I hope you’ll find them rather painless once implemented. Maybe we’ll run some experiments next week.
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220 responses to “On Pretty Good Authority”

  1. Sandy Combs Avatar
    Sandy Combs

    You might want to consider getting a case for your phone. Not only will it be protected, it will stand out a little better. If you’re hard on your phone, an Otterbox might be just the thing. If you’re careful, there are dozens of cases out there that can reflect your individuality. I bet you could even have one made with Arlo and Janis on it!

  2. Mark in TTown Avatar
    Mark in TTown

    Get one that’s brightly colored so you can tell it from your tv remote at a glance.

  3. Alan Winston Avatar
    Alan Winston

    I think the more different ways we use our phones, the more different places we might set them down “for a moment.”

    And dang, if they’re so smart – why can’t they just follow us around?

  4. TruckerRon Avatar

    There was some bantering about dowries; this turns that on its head with “bride prices”:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTpqyelYcnk

    While the PC crowd would certainly go after this production for its take on Polynesian culture, the following quote tells what the Hawaiians involved in it had to say:

    “Whitaker was initially quite concerned about the inherent racism of the piece, and was relieved when all the locals in Hawaii apparently loved the story. There is no record of concern on Whitaker’s or any one else’s part about the film’s sexism (even eight cows still commodify Mohanna), and it is interesting that apparently no revisionist readings have been offered.”

  5. Steve Avatar

    Remember the good old days when the phone was attached by a cord to a big heavy thing on the hallway table, which was itself attached to the wall by another?

    As Arlo once said, “I remember when people were beaten to death with telephones.” — JJ

  6. Steve from Royal Oak, MI Avatar

    Back then, when you were “On the phone” you were on the phone.

    Jimmy I had a holster for my old flip on my belt, but it kept falling off. I still have the flip as a backup and I just put it in my pocket. However the smart phone is much easier to break. Invest in an Otterbox. It makes the phone a little bigger, but if you drop the phone it doesn’t break.

  7. Mark in TTown Avatar
    Mark in TTown

    Steve from Royal Oak, MI: When I used an Iphone I had an Otterbox for it. The one weak point in the system was the belt clip that the encased phone clipped into. The hinge was made of the same plastic as the holster and the pins were too small to be durable. As a big guy, I caught the thing on door frames and chair arms and eventually the pins would just break off. When they did, there went the phone. I reported this to Otterbox and they actually sent me 3 more holsters as replacements. All of them eventually broke just like the first.

  8. Ghost Rider 6 Avatar
    Ghost Rider 6

    So, Jimmy, your new smart phone looks like a toaster or a hair dryer?

  9. Steve from Royal Oak, MI Avatar

    Mark: I have a Droid and my wife and kids all have Eye-Phones. None of us use a belt clip. I think that I did not have mine for a week and I broke mine.

    My daughter’s phone was either stolen or broken all of the time without the otterbox. I think she has a new purse that holds it and it has not been stolen as much anymore. She lives in Chicago, so I guess that is life in the big city.

  10. Jackie Monies Avatar
    Jackie Monies

    Mine gets lost, stolen and broken. I have three right now all with Otterboxes, none really working. I need to go visit ATT. Again. As Forrest Gump said.

  11. Jackie Monies Avatar
    Jackie Monies

    See reply on dowry on yesterday.

  12. Mark in TTown Avatar
    Mark in TTown

    Jackie, do NOT get a Galaxy Note 7. Those have been having problems with exploding batteries.

  13. Jackie Monies Avatar
    Jackie Monies

    Mark I am holding a Galaxy Note 7 in my hand. I think the new unused one is too along with the broken one.

    That is why I need to go see them maybe tonight. There is an office here in town.

  14. Sideburns Avatar

    When I’m at home, my phone is either in my pocket or on its charger when I’m not using it. I have a dashboard mount in the car, so that I can use it as a GPS, and a charging cord because that app uses a lot of power. Away from home, it’s either in my pocket or in use. I never, ever put it down anyplace else.

  15. Mark in TTown Avatar
    Mark in TTown

    Jackie, yours can’t be Note 7’s because they just released them in the last 3 weeks. You’ve had yours longer than that. The Note has a little stylus you can write on the screen with, hence the name.

  16. sandcastler™ Avatar
    sandcastler™

    “I hope you’ll find them rather painless once implemented.” Management speak for you will either get over it, or just surrender.

  17. Ghost Rider 6 Avatar
    Ghost Rider 6

    “The floggings will continue until morale improves.” 🙂

  18. sandcastler™ Avatar
    sandcastler™

    I don’t mind a good flogging, just as long as it is done publicly in the Village Square.

  19. Jackie Monies Avatar
    Jackie Monies

    Got one shipped to me enroute. Think it is new one. My geek friend up here said both on recall?

  20. Tom in Glendora Avatar
    Tom in Glendora

    I have a bunch of links to the very earliest days of Jimmy’s online experience.

    Like this one, which, I think, is his very first attempt from 2004

    http://www.arloandjanis.com/index517-18.htm

    Hope this attempt at a link works.

  21. Ruth Anne in Winter Park Avatar
    Ruth Anne in Winter Park

    Tom: thanks for the oldie but goodie!

    I don’t know if it’s as bad everywhere else, but in central Florida the political ads are starting to make me happy to see car ads. (Well, maybe not that guy in Melbourne that yells a lot.) By the end of next month I might even be able to tolerate the obnoxious prescription drug ads.

  22. Tom (formerly) from the Front Range Avatar
    Tom (formerly) from the Front Range

    J.J.

    I assume your Galaxy is an Android phone. I don’t remember Samsung doing any Windows models.

    To locate your phone easily even if you have it on “vibrate”, go to Google Search and type, “Find my phone”.

    If possible it will locate your phone to within a couple of meters and pinpoint it on a map. You’ll have the option of ringing your phone that will cause it to ring at maximum volume.

    If the phone is totally lost, stolen or otherwise exposed and cannot be retrieved, you can lock the phone and/or erase all the data on it.

    I’m sure the IPhone has a similar utility but I’ll never know. I’m sticking with Android.

  23. Mark in TTown Avatar
    Mark in TTown

    If you remember Symply Fargone, who formerly appeared here, I found a neat photo of him with his custom bike. I hope the link will work:

    https://scontent-atl3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/14089172_10208968588405216_7623700074565399816_n.jpg?oh=e949b0a41dacca788ea1cd758753755d&oe=5872B9FC

  24. Smigz Avatar
    Smigz

    Thanks, Tom in Glendora!

    Mark and Ruth Anne, love that t-shirt!