Alt.callahans is a virtual usenet bar where joys, sorrows, and opinions are shared in a (generally) friendly environment. And shaggy dog stories! People post their most dreadful (best; same thing) puns. Frequently when one is posted, this brings back punish responses. The thread usually dies when the definitive pun is posted. This is one such topper — originally posted by Matthew T. Russotto. You do have to get into a science fiction mood. Thiotimoline was an endochronic substance proposed by Isaac Asimov.
It seems that Trevor isn’t the only one to obtain a little thiotimoline and cross the bridge between the universes of “Mirror, Mirror, Off the Wall” (I will not try to reproduce the backwards writing here). One of the other people to cross that bridge was Josie Bauer’s counterpart. Now Josie/backwards was much the same as the Josie Callahan’s regulars know and love, but with a few significant differences. While Josie is a timecop, Josie/backwards is a time-criminal (or a daybreaker as they call them over there). And often, in order to avoid being caught by her world’s timecops, she slips across the bridge. Normally she’d merely stay out of sight, but she’s such a humor lover that she was irresistably drawn to Callahan’s on a Punday Night. The Patrons pride themselves on being a pretty observant bunch, but they didn’t catch on to Josie — until the winning pun of the night was offered. Doc Webster told such a stinker that Josie/backwards forgot herself, and the fact is that while the time cop Josie groans at great/awful puns, the outlaw Josie wails.