My city is covered with trash. There’s no mystery nearly all of it comes from packaging. We used to eat three meals a day and not while we walked. Today, at anyone’s slightest whim, we buy doof whose fleeting pleasure we’ll forget in moments if we even notice but whose packaging will endure millennia. I said my city, but I could have said my world. The difference between scenes like[…] Keep reading →

On the one hand I prefer posting my own work here. On the other, I find Bill Burr funny and insightful and he took on population, which few do. Readers from before the pandemic know I performed open mic standup. I couldn’t think of how to joke about it. Some of Burr’s humor is dark, yet I couldn’t help laughing out loud. So I’m posting the bits of his I[…] Keep reading →

Isn’t a refrigerator essential? Isn’t life with them better? I thought so. I’ll quote my mom from my podcast to illustrate where I came from: I grew up where it was easily ninety degrees every single day. In fact, where I worked, the store if it got ninety degrees outside we got to close the store and go home because it was that unsafe. To me, air conditioning was wonderful.[…] Keep reading →

I spoke to my father in the months leading to last November’s election. He lives in Pennsylvania, a state that could have gone either way. He was concerned about the outcome. I suggested speaking to people who might vote differently than him to influence them. He wouldn’t. He would only speak to people who were voting his way. It’s easier not to face conflict, let alone resolve it, at least[…] Keep reading →

I’m increasingly calling out that recycling is a scam. When I go out to pick up my daily litter, if I see something recyclable near a recycling bin, I’ll put it in recycling, but nearly always the litter in question never needed to exist and makes life worse, like a soda bottle, chips wrapper, or other doof container. If I stumble on a situation someone else created that creates litter,[…] Keep reading →

I didn’t think of how small my building’s elevators were when I bought a sofa after moving into my current apartment. It didn’t fit. The deliverymen tried to bring it up the stairs too. They made the first landing, but couldn’t make the turn to go up the next flight. They had to take it back. I ended up paying a $300 restocking fee plus big tips for the deliverymen’s[…] Keep reading →

Environmentalists today like to try to enlist conservatives and republicans by pointing out how Richard Nixon started the Environmental Protection Agency and other environmental initiatives. As summer begins, I propose citing him to enlist environmentalists to take personal responsibility—a necessity to lead others. Would you like to influence others? Air conditioning It’s not yet summer. Have you turned on your air conditioner? I can hear them all over my neighborhood.[…] Keep reading →