What will be the average age of those who understand or not the above cartoon? Who remembers Dinah Shore? See the USA in your Chevrolet. Black humor? Dark humor? I think gallows humor might be better but then there are probably many who would not know what a gallows was for.

I found this in several blogrolls without clear attribution. I don’t even know if it is a joke or not. It appeals to my poorly developed sense of irony.

Vint Lavender, Jeff Boschee and Vincent Ray taking their bows and singing a song after having fun Friday night at the Billings Studio Theatre. The play was about love, life and death, the Packers, ice fishing, Leinenkugel beer, and friends, which seemed to cover most of what is important amongst at least some guys from Wisconsin. And these guys did it well, not the most authentic accents, more like Minnesotan, if my memory serves me, but they were funny, very funny,  and obviously enjoyed playing with each other. Bobbi Hawk added to her directing plaudits.

Still on for another week. Go and see  it and wear your Packer gear proudly. Once a cheesehead, always a cheesehead.

While walking on Ocean Boulevard in the cool of the evening earlier today I saw a number of street lights covered on the beach side. Naturally I was puzzled.

When I asked some kind looking ladies of a certain age who happened to be walking behind me they pointed to this sign pictured below.

I guess every one in Ft Lauderdale is allowed some privacy.

“History doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme.”—Mark Twain

I thought this was a quote from Kurt Vonnegut but I was wrong. I’m sure I read it in something Mr Vonnegut wrote but perhaps he borrowed it from Mr Twain. Maybe this will lead to some traffic in the other direction south of the border.

Those of us left behind are pretty sure it is both and more. Newspapers need talent to do stuff just as much as any other entertainment venue. Chances are our Council members, not being paid that much anyway, think of the trip as part of their “perks,” and the Mayor needs to get his name and maybe a picture in some kind of media, just the usual political theatre. Heck, just a website might be enough.

Besides, everyone knows that Sutton’s Law has been amended: you remember the bank robber, Willie Sutton, some years ago, when finally caught was asked “Why he robbed banks?” He replied, “Because that’s where the money is.” Of course, the money no longer is in banks, but it can apparently be found under the cushions where our congressional masters sit in Washington DC. Hence the need for the amendment of the law and hence the need for our City Council, with begging bowls in hand, to go to Washington DC. And we know they don’t answer phone calls or emails do they?

While we’re on pleasure trips disguised as business, it turns out the Gazette also had one of their premier columnists, the very shy but extremely talented Dr Alan Muskett, write up one of his medical convention junkets in his wise monthly column, called simply Plastic Surgery. In addition to being a certified plastic surgeon he is also a certified member of P.O.E.M., the Professional Organization of English Majors.

He doesn’t give lame excuses for going on trips. He tells it like it is. He goes on these occasional trips to see how others are doing his particular kind of surgery and compares and contrasts what he sees with what is being done right here in River City. He also gets to exercise his humor organ by noting that “Between [I'm sure he meant to say 'among'] the wives and industry reps, there were enough over-sized breast implants that, if dropped on Afghanistan, would crush the Taliban.” Or maybe Dave Barry is writing his stuff. And he has some good things to say about Billings and how we practice medicine.

Just in case you can’t get tickets to any of the more high class football bowl games coming up on New Year’s Day here is a suggestion if your travel plans take you in the vicinity of Green Bay, Minneapolis, Milwaukee or even Chicago: Here is the bumper-sticker above.

And a short note about last year’s game finally made Good Morning America three days later.

2. You don’t believe in Santa Claus.

3. You are Santa Claus.

4. You look like Santa Claus.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Now that is an Awesome Creator. We humans cannot create a soul, but we can alter its external appearance as Dr Muskett points out in his recent column in the Gazette, wherein he uses a well known mythical animal to illustrate dealing with the difficult problem of rhinophyma, or Big Red Nose.

I grew up in a small village in Wisconsin. One of my neighbors suffered from this condition. He also happened to be a card-carrying alcoholic, so I naturally assumed that the one followed the other and therefore the one caused the other. Not so says Dr Muskett. Well, I owe an apology to Mr Elmer Hackbarth, now late these many years. Sorry Mr H.