Editing 2674: Everyday Carry

{{comic
| number    = 2674
| date      = September 19, 2022
| title     = Everyday Carry
| image     = everyday_carry_2x.png
| imagesize = 370x310px
| noexpand  = true
| titletext = Someday I just know I'm going to encounter a problem that requires 500 flashlights and 700 knives with weird holes in them, and on that day I won't be caught unprepared.
}}

==Explanation==
"EDC" stands for {{w|everyday carry}}, which is a term for tools and other objects intended to be carried around during the course of everyday life. The notion is that a relatively small number of versatile items, designed to be easily portable, can prepare you for a wide variety of possible situations.  Typical items include such things as wallets, cell phones, small flashlights, pocketknives and multi-tools. Items specific to a person's occupation, lifestyle, or other needs might also be included.

While the concept of regularly carrying items that you might need is a very old one, the abbreviation "EDC" has come to signify a subculture, [https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/7/24/20696487/everyday-carry-reddit-knife-wallet-gun well-represented on the internet] which promotes self-reliance and preparedness for almost any situation. As with so many subcultures, this movement has spawned a thriving market in selling products explicitly intended for "being carried every day". Any internet search will reveal thousands of products, of various levels of quality and utility, marketed to people interested in EDC. Stylized pocketknives, 'tactical' flashlights, and tools purporting to fulfill multiple functions are common examples. 

Rather than carefully consider the relative advantages of each of these pieces of gear, Cueball seems to have taken the advertising of such items at face value: he's purchased them all, and attempts to carry them all with him every day. The result is that he has so many items that he not only needs to wear a heavily augmented backpack, he also needs to drag around a cart carrying boxes and a massive bag, presumably filled with the thousands of pieces of gear he's purchased. Such a strategy obviously defeats the original purpose of EDC, which is to select a set of items that's both portable and useful, but such is the result of taking internet marketing literally.

In the title text, he expresses confidence that he'll be vindicated by encountering a situation in which his massive collection of items will be useful. He also makes clear that, having bought ''all'' the items available, his collection is wildly redundant, having hundreds of flashlights and pocketknives.  While it's quite common to encounter a situation in which a knife or flashlight is needed (sometimes even two might be useful), a situation where hundreds would be useful is difficult to imagine.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is standing and straining backwards, dragging a large sack nearly the size as him, with noticeable bulges. It is placed on top of two long, flat boxes on top of a flat, four-wheeled trolley. Motion lines indicate the trolley is rolling towards Cueball and his hands are shaking. Cueball is also wearing a large backpack with multiple compartments. The backpack, boxes and sack are all labelled "EDC"]

:[Caption under the panel:]
:It was hard work collecting all the everyday carry products on the Internet, but now I'm finally ready for anything.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category: Comics featuring Cueball]]