To the person who only managed to eat 4 bites of their peanut butter sandwich on the way to work this morning, that parking ticket will just be insult to injury.

What they never look like emerging from the bag.

Wondering today: Why do bagels always seem to come cut just most of the way through? It's a pretty all-or-nothing scenario if you ask me. That's all for today, write your congressman.

Inspired by the wonderful (for procrastinating) site graphjam.com, this is my own first foray into using the powerful at-a-glance medium of the chart or graph to make a (possibly) humourous observation about life. You decide.

UPDATE: Cross posted this over on graphjam as well, we'll see if I meet their exacting standards.

Why do gas stations bother to put the price per litre on their signs at all?

I mean let's be honest folks: Gasoline is, for better or worse (hint: it's for worse), the most inelastic of goods - we will buy it until we literally cannot afford to put another drop in our gas tank without losing our homes. Otherwise we would have to walk or bike or something.

So then why even bother with the price display at all? Why even put on a charade and make it appear as though gas prices are somehow governed by market forces or competition or really anything other than absolute oligarchy with a dash of outright dependency?

I hereby suggest a revolution in gas signs. I propose that stations should make better use of the space. Ladies and gentlemen of the blogosphere, I pray that one day soon, stations will begin to display the current temperature instead of the current temper-inducing-price-per-litre.

At least then, during our frigid Ottawa winters, these signs will actually display something that will help us decide whether to stop and fill up, or not, rather than just making us even more depressed about the orange light glowing in the corner of the dash, reminding us we don't have a choice.

Then, instead of using the other sign space to spell out something unbelievably obvious like "WE SELL CIGARETTES" (which is mildly better that "WE SELL GAS" but only slightly less patronizing than "WE DON'T CARRY FOOD WITH ANY NUTRITIONAL VALUE"), they could instead address the lack of pricing information with a dose of refreshing corporate honesty:

Baba Haidar Natural Ethic Food: For when you want a meal, not a moral dilemma.

Bonus Observation: The business seems to have gone under, judging by the For Lease sign in the window. Hard to believe, given their attention to detail.

Signs of the Times will be a common Cutting In segment dedicated to the many funny, often stupid signs that I come across in my day-to-day rounds and just need to shaden-share. If you have a sign you think I would find funny, feel free to send me an email (sogpainting at that google email service) and I just might post it. (No signs from other sites please, originals only- honour code.)

Dear Self-Righteous Gas Station Owner:

If you should ever "enter upon" me using the washroom, we will have other, more pressing issues to attend to, I can assure you.

-A Patron Who Really Didn't Want to Have To Use Your Facilities in the First Place

Signs of the Times will be a common Cutting In segment dedicated to the many funny, often stupid signs that I come across in my day-to-day rounds and just need to shaden-share. If you have a sign you think I would find funny, feel free to send me an email (sogpainting at that google email service) and I just might post it. (No signs from other sites please, originals only- honour code.)

Today, while driving, I was reminded (once again) of the importance of proofreading vanity plates and the importance of using protection.