Why did the chicken cross the road?

That's it!!! Nothing really special about it. Just the answer to a joke but it does have a certain ring to it. It's become a name that, at least locally, people have come to know and relate to science fiction. There's something about "The Other Side" that suggests something mysterious, unknown, a kind of "What's Out There" type of thinking. But if you really want the full story (which is brief) then here it is.

While "The Other Side" was the first business venture for Mike Wilson, it wasn't for Aaron Cox. Back in 1995, Aaron had opened his first business with a different partner in which they called it "The Loony Bin", an all cartoon retail store (are you seeing a patern yet)?

For the brief year that Aaron worked for the company, he learned a great many things about starting and running a business, but a cartoon store was not what he really wanted to do.

His original concept was to do a comic book store (like so many other people out there). So one day, in 1996 while working at The Loony Bin, he was thinking up different concepts along with different names for this new business. And while looking around, his eyes got fixated on a greeting card spinner they had in the store. And facing toward him was a row of Far Side greeting cards. And the one that stood out the most was...

WELL, there use to be a picture here. I mean, RIGHT HERE!!! Right where you're reading on this website. However, I can't show it to you now. It use to be a Far Side cartoon of that long time question "Why did the chicken cross the road". The cartoon picture shows a chicken staring at a sign across the road that says "THE OTHER SIDE. Why do you need a reason?". Unfortunately, I recently (June 2008) got an email from the office of Gary Larson, the wonderful creator of The Far Side with a very demanding... uh, demand to remove the Far Side picture from my website or else. "Or else" obviously means lawasuit since I don't have permission to display it on the web. So, until further notice, I can't show you the picture. Maybe someday I will again. In the meantime, you'll have to search through his many Far Side books in order to view this particular photo. Or else search the web for someone else who may be illegally displaying Far Side comics. I doubt you'll find many. (That's sarcasm by the way.)

And that was it. Nothing special. But I know what you're thinking...

A CHICKEN!!!!!

WHAT DOES A CHICKEN HAVE TO DO WITH IT???

Well obviously nothing. It's just the sign behind it. And inside the card it said "JUST DO IT". Well, that wasn't really any incentive to do anything, he just liked the wording on the sign and thought that would make a great title for his business. From then on, all of his planning for this future business was based around the name "The Other Side", a simple answer to a strange joke that absolutely everyone in the universe has heard.