I'm traveling tomorrow, so I'll let this reader email speak for the cartoon:

Part of my job is writing stuff for personal injury attorneys, and your e-hole cartoon brought to mind this study from the University of Utah:

http://www.hfes.org/Web/Pubpages/celldrunk.pdf

It turns out that people who drive while using the cell phone (or, more specifically, text while using the cell phone) are actually more dangerous than those who get behind the wheel while stinking drunk. So those who text and drive at the same time are not only e-holes, but complete irresponsible dickheads as well. You just know that someday some bond trader is going to slide into a school bus full of handicapped kids while blackberrying his clients.

Coincidentally (but not that much really), I was in the parking lot of an insanely busy shopping center today, attempting to make my way across a crosswalk. A woman talking on a cellphone while driving a Lexus SUV cruised right through the crosswalk in front of me. I don't think she even noticed I was there. I couldn't believe how many people had cellphones pressed to their ears while navigating this incredibly treacherous parking lot, with people and cars popping out from every direction. It was hard enough getting around without any distractions.

Back in May, a friend in Chicago pointed out that Lil' Gus looks like Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. That was before he became a household name for being a stupendous doofus, as he did this week.

I just heard from another reader who's made the Blagojevich-Gus connection, so I figured I should post the photo comparison again:

Uncanny, isn't it?

Except the SleazeBlag doesn't seem to have a cowlick problem, and innocent Lil' Gus would never try to sell a Senate seat.

Right now, Slowpoke: One Nation, Oh My God! is getting crushed on Amazon by Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World.


I saw a full-page ad for this in the NYT the other day. I heard the author's advance was over $1 million. Cats + libraries + small towns in Iowa = some serious bank.

Um, I think my book probably has a cat it somewhere... did I mention it makes the perfect gift?

Looking at flat-screen TVs in a store the other day, I was reminded of how when I was in kindergarten, my babysitter had one of those giant wooden console sets. This would have been around 1978-79. At the time, it struck me as the quintessence of suburban splendor (though not in those exact words per se). Now the ultimate TV of the bourgeoisie looks like the monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey. My, how times change.

So I could receive emails like this one:

Subject: toilets

Hey Jen- I didn't get a chance to email this on time, but wanted to say I have figured out how to keep those stupid toilets from flushing while you're sitting on them: cover the sensor with toilet paper until you stand up! For the wall-mount ones, this may involve putting a dab of spit on the toilet paper and sticking it to it, but for the kind that are mounted on the plumbing, you can just lay the paper over it. It's also pretty likely that it will flush once you remove the paper, but I just had one today that wouldn't, but it flushed twice after I left the stall. Yah, still some work to do...

B. John Krapper,
Schenectady, NY

Related post below.

I realize I haven't been blogging very often lately; aside from being busy, I've also been suffering from a bit of eye strain, which I believe I contracted from spending WAY too much time reading about the election online. So I'm trying to keep my internet activities to a minimum these days. As someone who practically spends all day online, I am finding this difficult.

I studied a bunch of old WPA posters for inspiration for the title panel of this cartoon. Please note the Depression-era Mr. and Mrs. Perkins gazing upward in hope.

Re: the last panel -- I truly do hate those automatic flush toilets. They routinely flush as you enter the stall, or in the midst of your transaction, with no provocation whatsoever. Then, when you want them to flush, they don't. I often find myself doing the flush dance, waving my hands and feet around, trying to trigger the motion sensor, and then administering a karate kick to the tiny black button on the wall that initiates a manual flush (if the commode even comes equipped with such a button). I assume I am not the only one going through these ordeals.