Recent Comments

1. about 19 hours ago on The Other Coast

   Rampant consumerism and a throw-away society are much to blame. Americans average 4.4 pounds of trash per person per day. And that’s not even counting donated items or the millions of “personal landfills” (overstuffed homes, sheds, and storage units) or donated items. (Nor did it count the 12 pounds° of toxic liquid that the average driver sets on fire every day.)

   Litterers are obviously part of the problem, but an even bigger issue is the vast quantity of crap that gets shipped around the globe. One of this country’s chief exports is trash – not only trash and recycling that we send away for other nations to handle, but also donated items that exceed the demand for used (or new, but unsold) goods. Even with the best of intentions, the overwhelming volumes will often result in items being swept away into unintended places.

   IF you actually care about the issue, buy as little as possible and always opt for used when it’s available. AND make sure that you know and follow your locality’s recycling rules (for example, NO plastic bags in the recycling bins). And when you come across litter, don’t just grouse about it – pick it up and dispose of it properly!

   ° The average American motorist averages over 14k miles of driving per year (O.M.G.!!!), the average fuel economy is a paltry 25 mpg, & a gallon of gasoline weighs about 8 lbs.

2. about 20 hours ago on The Middletons

   Truly. A golf villa?!

3. 1 day ago on Steve Breen

   I’m definitely not young, and my premise is not unsound. I merely expressed it with complete incompetence. Obviously, TikTok, like all social media platforms, is rife with misinformation. But that is not why the U.S. government fears TikTok. They are afraid that the Chinese government could force TikTok to spread propaganda or misinformation that is intended to cause harm. And to date (at least according to the reports that I have seen) there is no evidence that China has exerted such influence. The U.S. government does not care whether or not TikTok is causing or could cause harm; they only care that the current ownership could allow a foreign government to manipulate the platform.

4. 3 days ago on Rubes

   While it’s not outside the realm of possibility that you live in a place that is so backwards that zero recycling actually takes place, the metals (aluminum in particular) by themselves have enough value that in most places at least some of the materials are indeed recycled. And in a lot of places, the sorting and separation of all materials that can be reused in some way is impressively thorough.

   Recycling is struggling, however, because such a high proportion of people can’t be bothered to actually sort properly. The biggest problem tends to be plastic bags – they should never be put into recycling bins, as they jam the automated equipment. Food waste is also a major pollutant in the recycling stream.

5. 3 days ago on The Middletons

   If the dairy industry really cared about clarity, they’d call their product “bovine mammary gland secretion”.

6. 3 days ago on Steve Breen

   In what way has TikTok gone overboard? There’s been no evidence that there has been the spread of misinformation, just that China could foreseeably use it to spread misinformation.

7. 4 days ago on The Other Coast

   What’s wrong with wet dog smell? It smells like… dog, of course. What’s not to love?

8. 4 days ago on The Argyle Sweater

   Nice Nike Swoosh & Golden Arches. The latter is particularly apt for this ’toon, as junk food consumption is a sure-fire way to cause gastrointestinal distress.

9. 5 days ago on Frazz

   Overdressed, by Elizabeth L. Cline, is a worthwhile read. I just started Wasteland, by Oliver Francis Wallis; I do not anticipate that it’ll be particularly uplifting. (Quick little tidbit from the early pages – Americans generate an average of 4.4 pounds of waste per person per day! U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.! F*ck the planet!!!!)

10. 5 days ago on Frazz

    It’s yet another case of corporate evil being little more than a reflection of consumers’ desires. Clothes sell better when they aren’t a true reflection of reality, so the size that is shown on the tag is almost always smaller than the actual size of the clothes – pants, say, that have a 38" waist will be labeled anywhere from 34" to 36", but never as their actual 38". That’s why, if for some twisted reason you’re buying new clothes instead of pre-worn, ya gotta go into an actual store (though if you do the right thing and shop almost exclusively at thrift stores and the like, there’s a good chance that they won’t have fitting rooms…).