Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis for February 22, 2023

The couch beats the bed on my father’s list of happiest places.

So if Pig gets into a comfy bed in Finland with a danish and some ice cream, he’ll have it made!

Three countries with a long and hard winter? No way. I still prefer my rambling Italy.

Fun fact: In Finland, when a student earns his PhD, he’s traditionally presented with a top hat and small sword.

The supposed “happiest place on earth” is down the road a bit from us, but from the price of admission, the only happy people are Disney $hareholders!

My comfy bed when the electric blanket is just right. I think I hear it calling me now.

If my bed were in Tahiti I could be in my happy place.

Pig seems to have left his closet!

Happiness is whatever gets you through the next half hour!

What was 3rd?

Three cheers for Pig!

Pig doesn’t travel very far from his bed or the couch.

Compared to the whole world, Pig’s world is a small world (after all).

There is a Museum of Happiness in Copenhagen. I visited it in 2021. One of the activities was to write what makes you happy on a post-it and read other visitors’ responses. Another exhibit showed that happiest and unhappiest days of 2016 in the UK. The happiest was Christmas and the unhappiest was the day after the U.S. presidential election.

I’m going to my happy place now.

Number Three is the Toilet although it may arguably be higher on the list.

No way no Norway.

Love you, Pig.

Just imagine how happy the Finnish, Danish, and Icelandic beds are. Even more so when they are so warm compared to the frigid climate of at least two of those countries.

My happiest place would be inside my own wonderful bedroom.

Always wondered about the methodology of those polls.

Do you notice that those are WHITE majority countries.

Disneyland must be feeling neglected.

But it got honorable mention.

There are two factors to be considered when reviewing this so-called “happiness index” ratings every time they’re trotted out by the many advocating for high taxation and “cradle to grave” social “safety net” structures like the Scandinavian countries have:

1) The countries that rate high on the “happiness indexes” typically also have very monolithic cultures—common education, common religion (not just Christianity, but specific sects like Lutheran), common domestic backgrounds, etc. in a country smaller than many American states. In other words, little if any “red state versus blue state” tribalism, urban-versus-rural, racial strife, etc.

2) Said countries also have a built-in cultural imperative against complaining. Crankiness and complaining are frowned upon in Scandinavia, whereas it has replaced baseball as the national pastime in the United States. Exhibit A: Rat. This has serious implications for the true accuracy of the “happiness indexes.” If you interview a nation of “Pigs” (Scandinavia) and a nation of “Rats” (USA), of COURSE you’re going to come up with vastly different ratings, no matter what the government, tax rates, societal “safety nets,” etc. Further, look up the notion of Danish/Norwegian “hygge,” something that no doubt affects the national psyche. (As well as the winters that instigate the concept.) Pig seems to have THAT concept down pat, at least in this strip.

Once again, poor Pig shows his insecurities about the world! His world!

The “Happiness” saga continues.

The “Happiness” saga continues.

All more-or-less socialist countries, BTW.

So to be happy, live where it’s cold ?

My “Happy Place?” Easy. My big comfy chair in my small paid-for house. I get out of either only for necessity and even then und protest. (Admittedly, my own comfy bed is a close second, but I tend to sleep through the happiness.) 8>)

I am with you Pig.

Any uncrowded natural setting will do for me. One of the most peaceful mornings I ever spent was at the Oxbow Bend in Grand Teton National Park. An uncrowded beach is nice, too, except during hurricane season.

Yep, sounds right to me! I’ve been in the hospital since Friday, and I miss my bed and couch so much.

Does Pig get that ink all over his pillow?

100% agree with Pig, except, of course for bedtime.

The great outdoors is my happy place. Give me a beach, a conifer forest, or a river canyon and I cannot be sullied.

I could happily live in either country. Iceland especially. <3

Does Pig have SwinePox?

I see those “spots” have returned to Pig!!!They seem to show up periodically.

click those ruby shoes together and say, “There’s no place like home”

Happiness is wherever you are.

Pig’s list is by far the more practical!

A comfy bed with a Dane is even better.

Let’s just agree that rat has the most rizz out of all of them