We visited the La Brea tar pits.

They do a lot of scientific research there.

For example, they stick sticks into the tar.

And here’s a wonderful picture of synergetic awfulness.
How does it look like if you combine awful stuff from the geological world with awful stuff from the realms of consumer society?
Well… awful.

[Addendum: We just had a tar-pit-like incident with our boiling Coke.]