"Futility"

And the same exact sentiment goes for fireworks, since this post falls between Xmas + NY's celebrations. Neither of which I'm particularly paying much attention at all to this year. Except it's awful hard to ignore explosions, which more and more these days makes me think of people in other places around the world who are traumatized by real ones as the war pigs play with their toys. Here in 'Murica we call it entertainment. Really there just isn't anything man-made that doesn't pale in comparison to what's already in existence out there in the natural world. Except maybe cheesecake, I'll give us that.

Done ostensibly as a classroom demo, this panel underwent a few revisions: obviously having the lights on while unplugged was an issue, and the inclusion of the thought-bubble seemed in retrospect a bit too much, and so both were edited out of existence in the final print version.

And yes, while most of our Xmas trees are down, most Alaskans still have their lights up. Let's hear it for one of the subtle benefits to taking leaks off the porch at subzero temperatures during the long darkness of winter: having indoor plumbing would mean missing out on so many opportunities to just simply take a moment to revel in the wonder.

UPDATE: A hat-tip beaver tail-slap to Wickersham's Conscience for making my morning with a perfect addendum to this panel + post