The Website of Terry Colon, Illustrator (Cartoonist, Humorist, Writer and Webonaut)
Samples of published work
More samples at Laughing Stock
7/2/09 And Now...
As Monty Python used to say, "and now for something completely different." A gag cartoon. Which hopefully doesn't make you gag, though that pun might.
6/30/09 Fool's Gold
"The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools." -- Herbert Spencer
If fools don't learn from their mistakes, have you helped or hurt by saving them from themselves time and again. Might it encourage them to ever greater folly? Sometimes it takes tough love to straighten out the misdirected. Or as Shakespeare put it, "you have to be cruel to be kind."
Maybe bailing out failure, overpaying and risky investing might seem to many a necessary evil, but perhaps we'd better not to make a habit of it or... read the quote again. To put it another way, can you say moral hazard?
6/22/09 It's Summer!
Whether the days will be hazy and lazy or there'll be a hot time in the city time will tell. At any rate school is out and many mind turns to vacations, the great outdoors, tramping through the woods, goggling mother nature and generally pestering the wildlife. In other words, camping.
Thus the new main picture featuring the same. These were done a few years back for The Roof-Rack Chronicles written by Ron C Judd. So, get up, get out, and enjoy the sunshine while it lasts.
Changes that Changed Everything
The 10 Greatest Inventions of All Time?
Telephones, lightbulbs, steam engines and airplanes are inventions that changed the way we live. Inventing inventions like the cam, horseshoes, and pottery separated the men from the boys, and from the animals. Still, if you think the wheel was the ultimate killer ap you may want to consider the following ten world changing innovations.
1. Talking
2. Pointed stick
3. Broken rock
4. Watching the grass grow
5. Living with animals
6. Processed food
7. Recording
8. Two plus two equals four
9. Metal discs
10. Imaginary metal discs
6/11/09 Rock in a Hard Place
Infrequently Answered Question #34: What's the difference between a meteor and a meteorite?
A: A meteor is a space rock flying through the air burning up. In other words a shooting star if you will. A meteorite is the same rock after hitting the ground. So, a meteor is a meteorite on the move, a meteorite is a meteor at rest on the ground.
It's like the difference between freeway traffic and a parking lot. Both are just a bunch of cars, only in one case they're on the move and in the other not. Though even at freeway speeds these cars rarely burst into flames like a meteor. Then again, when there is gridlock both groups of cars are basically unmoving. Those in the traffic jam have the addition of frustrated drivers hot under the collar behind the wheel. Which is still not hot enough to cause them to spontaneously combust like a meteor.
I think we've answered that well enough, now for a few stickier questions. What's the difference between a stone and a rock, a stick and a twig, and a bush and a shrub?
6/9/09 True Enough
weasel words (WEE-zel wurds) noun. Disclaimers, caveats, howevers.
You know, ifs ands or buts. In print the asterisked small type that gets you off the hook. On radio it's the real fast-talking bit that amounts to, "Maybe, perhaps, but your results may vary and besides it doesn't apply in all cases."
Now the question is why blame this sort of deception on a weasel. It stems from the idea of weasels eating eggs where they poke a tiny hole and suck out the good bits leaving the shell intact. So the egg looks like a full egg even though it's empty.
So, with weasel words you get a promise that seems like a promise only it's an empty promise.
6/3/09 Smaller Than Bigger Than Life
If you're a history buff perhaps you've been watching the PBS series WWII Behind Closed Doors: Stalin, the Nazis and the West. As you may know, Joseph Stalin translates as Joe Steel in English. Which might explain his iron fisted rule. All the same it was a pseudonym. A sort-of street name revolutionaries often adopted.
His given name, depending on your source, was Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili, Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili, Joseph Vissarionvich Djvugashvili or Joseph David Djugashvili. I can only imagine the disagreement comes from translating Cyrillic spelling to Roman spelling. You know, how CCCP equates to SSSR which we further alter to USSR.
All the same, there is something wrong with the casting in the series, and perhaps with some folks perception of Stalin. The actor playing Stalin is a big man, Stalin was not. Take a look at the following picture.
In the pic, Stalin, Churchill and Truman all look to be about the same size. Truman and Churchill were shorter than average, they were not big men. Stalin was not a big man, a burly Russian bear. In fact, he wasn't Russian. Stalin was born in Georgia, the country not the state.
So, while his reputation might be bigger than life, in real life he was just life-sized.
