Cigarette butts on the beach can be quite useful

I've always felt a little annoyed that so many smokers seem to think they have the right to litter at will, tossing their butts on the ground any old place, or flicking them out the car window.

Perhaps it's because smokers are already feeling so ostracized what with lung cancer fears, graphic anti-smoking ads, secondhand smoke regulations, cigarette taxes, and sitting outside shivering in the cold, adding "littering" to the list is simply no big deal.

Whatever the reason, one place you'll find a ton of cigarette butts is at the beach. The beach, after all, looks just like one giant ashtray. (It also looks just like one giant kitty litter box, but that's a topic we won't discuss today.)

In my negativity, I've always found the cigarette butts to be a nuisance. It took my 3-year-old daughter to show me how they can actually come in handy, for castle decorating: