Chance

Readers- This is a substitute for the cartoon which originally appeared here today.

Waters

Whoohee

Admittedly this cartoon may leave lots of folks scratching their heads. However, it's really just a tip of the hat to Walt Kelly's wonderful strip "Pogo," which has been a huge influence on my sense of humor, both visually and verbally.

Among my favorite sequences was the one below, which illustrated that a scary statement, if issued forcefully, could induce panic - no matter how ridiculous the premise was. For decades now, I've been laughing to myself that "the Jute mill is exploded!" any time I catch myself overreacting to stress and circumstances. It's a pretty hard thing to say with a straight face.  -Stilton