The dog has traditionally been "man's best friend" but one must admit, the cow is the most fun, not to mention the most edible. And as a cow item collector, I feel the cow is possibly the funniest animal on the planet. Though this may be hard for some city-dwellers to fathom, I can assure you Mississippians and other inhabitants of the southeastern states were laughing at cows years before The Far Side.

"Congratulations, Ms. London," I used to joke that the OB/GYN told my mom, "It's a Realtor". My parents owned a very old real estate stable family real estate company and were from a generation where, if and when an offspring arrived, especially a male, they were born to be bred.that is, bred into the family business, or made to be the prodigal son.

It was July 16, 1954. I was just washed from exiting my mom's womb. "Congratulations, Ms. London," I used to joke that the OB/GYN told my mom, "It's a Realtor". My parents owned a very old real estate stable family real estate company and were from a generation where, if and when an offspring arrived, especially a male, they were born to be bred shaped and molded into that genetically-inherited business. I tried it a few years. It was disastrous.

I was a power-type-of-guy in Washington, D.C. in the mid-1980's. I had a cushy job, and wore nice clothes. I resided near the Smithsonian on Capital Hill, a place I rarely frequented unless company was in from out of town.

Many think cartoonists become wealthy from newspaper syndication. They don't. Newspapers only pay a few dollars per cartoon and the cartoonist splits that with the syndication firm. Not only that, of the hundreds of thousands of cartoons that are out there trying to make their way to newspaper print, only about .000000001% make it. One has a better chance of winning the lottery.

Being funny is not necessarily something with which someone is born. No, it does not hurt, but it it can prevent some major hurdles. In a nutshell, before one even thinks about trying to become funny, that is, if they are naturally not funny, is to learn about editing, and the fact that other people want the punch line and want it fast.

In today's media, a cartoon is a piece of art, and usually humor is the "end game" . This usage dates from 1843 when England's Punch magazine applied the term to satirical drawings in its pages, The anchor illustrator was the legendary John Leech. The first of these parodied the preparatory cartoons for grand historical frescoes in the then-new Palace of Westminster. The original title for these drawings was Mr Punch's face is the letter Q and the new title "cartoon" was intended to be ironic, a reference to the pompous posturing of Westminster politicos.

'Facts and figures are forgotten. Stories are retold.' -Jeffrey Gitomer