#issue 268

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Famous Monsters of Filmland Issue 268

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Commissioner's Corner

Over the last decade, several companies that manufacture sanitary wet wipes have been marketing them as “flushable.” In addition to selling traditional baby wipes that claim to be flushable, these companies have also been advertising wipes aimed at adult consumers. As a result, wastewater treatment plant operators across the country, and around the world, have seen an enormous increase in the amount of non-biological material arriving at wastewater treatment plants and that ultimately ends up in landfills. In New York City, the amount of non-biological waste—cans, trash, plastic bags, etc…has doubled since 2008, and evidence suggests that nearly all of the additional material is sanitary wipes. 

One of the first steps in the wastewater treatment process is screening all of the non-biological solid materials that end up at our 14 treatment plants out of the sewage stream. This can include anything that was improperly flushed down the toilet, along with any leaves, sticks, or litter that is discarded on the street and ends up in our catch basins. The screens occasionally even capture more interesting things, like live turtles that have ventured into the sewer system. Traditional toilet paper is organic and breaks up in the sewer system, harmlessly passing through the screens and removed later in the treatment process. However, sanitary wipes—even those marketed as flushable, tend to be petroleum-based and arrive at the treatment plants intact causing a big headache for plant operators.

Because they don’t break down in water, sanitary wipes clog screens and cause damage to motors, pumps, and other equipment. In addition, there is a cost associated with removing the additional material to landfills. Since companies began marketing these wipes as flushable, DEP’s shipping and landfill costs have increased by as much as $3 million each year. 

Earlier this month, the New York City Council introduced legislation that would prohibit companies from selling wipes that claim to be flushable and impose stiff fines for violators. We have been working closely with the Council on this issue and with industry groups that represent manufacturers to ensure that anything marketed as flushable is not only safe for a homeowner’s plumbing, but also for our wastewater treatment infrastructure and environment.

For many families, especially those with young children, sanitary wipes are an absolute necessity and the intention of this legislation is not to discourage their use. Our goal is to ensure that consumers have the correct information about what can and cannot be flushed down the toilet safely, and that wipes should be discarded in the trash rather than flushed down the toilet.

[shadyfoxyboxy]

Sonic Comic Review & Thoughts

So this is something new that I am doing, I am going to start reviewing The Sonic Comics, this includes the main arch, the universe arch, and the Boom arch.  So this might be a usual thing or not, depending on how this goes.

Main arch: issue 268 Sonic Smack Down.

In this issue, it starts out with a flashback of sonic first meeting Breezie, on one of his many adventures when he was younger.  You can tell because the classic badniks Scratch, Grounder and Coconuts from the 1990s cartoon series "The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog" was there.  After the flashback Sally begins to brief the guys on the newest mission to get another chaos emerald.  Sally explains that Breezie is holding a fighting tournament and the winner gets the chaos emerald.  However, with the current World Shattering Crisis at hand, Rotor suggests to take the emerald by force, but Amy is against this action.  In the end of this argument, Sally explained that competeing in the tournament is the only way to secure it.  In the Casino Royal Park (or in my gaming memory Casino Royal Zone) Dr. Robotnik (aka Eggman) was shouting into the phone when he had contacted Breezie.  During the conversation, Dr. Robotnik threatened Breezie that he would do something horrible to her and her casino, but she called his bluff and stood her ground.  She shortly blew him off and attended to other matters brought to her attention by Scratch.  He brought up a change in the roster, and presented to her.  When she saw it, she was more than happy with the changes.  Meanwhile, Dr. Robotnik hired Nack, Bark, and Bean to compete in the tournament as well.  Nack said that they would do this with pay of course.  Dr. Robotnick accepts the terms, although he was not very happy about it.  He also enlists the help of metal Sonic as well.  When Sonic, Amy and Tails get to the casino, they were greeted by Breezie at the main entrance and Amy was a little less than happy with it.  Soon after the meet and great, Amy meets her fashion idol Honey the Cat.  Honey is also taking part in the tournament to advertise her new line of clothes.  However, when she learned that Amy and the others were competing as well she agreed to give them the emerald if she were to win in exchange for them modeling her clothes for her.  After Amy's fangirling, Sonic and Breezie went over the rules of the tournament.  The basic: Show up on time, Don't be late, and the fights are strictly one on one.  Shortly after, Nack and the others showed up to the casino only to just find out that Sonic, Tails and Amy were competing as well.  Bean wanted to call the Doctor and go to plan B, but Nack told him and Bark to keep a low profile for the time being.  However, Espio, being the ninja that he is, saw them and informed Vector about Nack and the others.   Upon learning this Vector told him not to worry as Knuckles was already on the case with Chip, by his side.  Knuckles was there because in a previous issue of Sonic Universe he had to shatter the master emerald again in order to keep the Dark Arms from getting it.

Thought on the issue:

I thought it was nice to see the Comics do an adaptation of the games "Sonic Unleashed" and "Sonic Fighters".  The video game references are good source materials for the comics to pull from now and again.  Hopefully the tournament will be entertaining as well as the story unfolds.  It was also nice to see some funny moments in the issue as well.  Comic relief is always good to have now and again.  Although, I don't really know if Honey the Cat will be a regular in the series or not yet.  We will see very soon.

If you guys want me to keep reviewing, let me know by liking and re-blogging.