the strip. He is also the Lagoon's mayor from time to time. Later strips imply that he's been in jail. Other ventures of his included using steroids on an oyster to get him to produce a pearl a day (eventually, Megan, not knowing that the oyster was Hawthorne's, took it to make a Martha Stewart-style oyster provencalê for dinner). In earlier strips, Hawthorne would shed his shell once a year and simply strut around naked (nothing but his rear-end is seen). He also enjoyed mooning scuba divers and his friends and running around singing "I feel pretty! Oh, so pretty!" However, it later seems that he has removed his can for good and walks around in the buff, and his friends don't show the disgust they did in earlier comics. His crab hole has been portrayed several different ways. Early on in the strip it was shown as a posh cave mansion with chandeliers, rugs, china cabinets, and luxurious furniture. It has been portrayed as the typical bachelor pad, housing a beat-up couch and socks and pizza crusts that move on their own. Although little is known about his past, he once revealed to Thornton that he was born in Las Vegas. He hates Windows computers, and therefore Bill Gates as well, once taking great pleasure in pinching his toes. Thornton The sleepy, hibernating polar bear of the strip. His first appearance was early on in the strip, when he apparently fell asleep on an iceberg and drifted into the lagoon. He has made it a point to show up every year to hibernate on the beach, sometimes not returning to the North Pole at all. He was much more active in early strips, as he was depicted waterskiing and attending windsurfing classes. He struggled with homesickness when first introduced, saying that piña coladas reminded him of the snowdrifts of home. When asked why he kept returning to the lagoon, he replied that the snowdrifts reminded him of piña coladas. He was shown once at the North Pole, accompanied by Hawthorne. There, his polar bear friends simultaneously guzzle Coca-Colas and the 'pole' has been replaced by a Starbucks. Among other things, he sometimes serves as a guinea pig for Ernest's experiments, once testing a mousse that made his hair fall out (he apparently has a tattoo on his butt that he got in the army). His relationship with Sherman has