Crankshaft by Tom Batiuk and Dan Davis for March 09, 2025

To quote the poet e.e. qummings, “ecco the ugliest suburban skyline." Ed’s comments are refreshingly on the mark.

Funny how the nannybots consider mr. qummings’ actual surname to be a naughty word.

In the summer of 1971, my father and I went to Texas. Mom’s youngest brother, Bob, was in the Air Force and he and his wife lived in a new housing addition in Live Oak, a San Antonio suburb. All of the land had been cleared to build the houses. The only trees in the addition were planted by the home owners. They were mostly the size of saplings. Bob was 26 months other than me. We were like brothers when we were growing up. He was the same age as my older brother.

“It looks like a new housing development is going in.” Yes, that explanation does help the viewer understand the, er, artwork.

If there’s no wood… Maybe they need some form of Viagra?

or peace in Peacedale

I’ll bet that plenty of wood would have been used in the construction… though not wood from the trees that were cut down.

And it’ll make great fuel when the wildfires reach Ohio.

I agree with Ed on this one. Some new developments are really ugly. Not a tree in sight – no distinguishing features and all the houses look the same – ugh. Builders should plant new trees and bushes wherever possible.

Sadly there is no more Elms on Elm st. Or Chestnut trees on Chestnut st. !

On the mark, indeed. Great Comic today

The late great consultant Jerry Weinberg described what he called the “Pinebrook Ploy,” a way to hide the absence of something in plain sight by including the missing thing in the product name. He described a housing development in his home state of Nebraska, where flowing water is as rare as trees, trees are as rare as hills, and the lay of the land lets you see to the horizon in all directions… named “Pinebrook Hills.” After all the things that aren’t there.

Since then I have noticed this kind of marketing everywhere. Just across the state highway from me there is a McMansion development calling itself “River’s Edge Reserve.” It is, at is closest approach, a quarter mile from the river, built on former cornfields with no view of water. And ever notice that the clunkiest, slowest, most awkward-handling SUV’s always have a little badge on the back saying Sport? For that matter, the whole term “Sport-Utility Vehicle” is a Pinebrook Ploy, as these station wagons disguised as off-road trucks are neither sporty nor particularly utilitarian.

“There’s not a lot of wood to be found in Woodlawn Estates.”

It’s caused by the endocrine disruptors in the plastic building materials.

Ed has made a very valid point!

anyone notice that a lot of strips that usually have a sunday strip didnt publish today ?

Around here, the only thing planted in “Woodlawn” are deceased people, and no, there are NOT many trees there.

Sometimes the A.I. is too tightly set!

“They tore down paradise, put up a parking lot”

Maybe we could create a tree museum and charge the people a dollar and a half just to see them……..

Oh Ed you silly old fool, there is lots of wood in Woodland Estates. Wood framing, wood joists, wood rafters, wood floors, wood trim. See there’s plenty of wood, even your wooden head driving through. Trees, no, but lots of wood.

Around here (Southern California) they leave the trees along major roads and cut down everything thus hidden from the road. Then, at the end, they cut down the trees along the road. Voila! An instant huge razed area appears, ready for overdevelopment.

Too bad. I grew up in a little town with no housing developments. Most everyone’s house had character, and every street was lined with trees. And yes, many of the streets had tree names, Walnut, Oak, Beech, Maple, you name it. Today we live in a development, and the only trees are in the park. At my age, no trees in the yard is fine with me.

The worst I saw was when they cut down a forest and called the industrial park Woodland Park

I lived on Orchard View Drive before the orchard was flattened to build Orchard View Estates.

No live wood , wildlife or rattlesnakes!!!

There is a Woodland Hills Mall in SE Tulsa.

Sad truth, open spaces are not so anymore. Where there was an orchard, now theres just another bank. Remember the trees.