The end is nigh

Harry Drabik

I meant the end of the month, a welcome date after a while away. I can tell you this. The white sand of a Florida beach is of no special appeal during wind, rain and temps in the mid-30s. Except for the vastness of oceanic nothing I might as well been looking at snow, a condition I can handle and know how to dress to do so.

A great adventure it was to haul from one U.S. end to other. Freeways make travel easier but a lot uglier. I got the impression that people existed only where skyscraper tall signs said “Here be people with gas, food, lodging.” Also not sure if freeways are the training or proving grounds for speeders. Lots of those, and as we ran into a patch of foul roads got to see more crashed cars in an hour than I’ve seen in a decade. Speed seemed to pull speeders into the median or a guard rail, the rails mostly. Seems dangerous work to repair freeway guardrails. Maybe speeders don’t hit the same guardrail twice, but it didn’t look like it.

Had to wonder why Illinois had so many wind turbines. Cross to Indiana, nope, and further south more nope. Maybe the concern is linking all those mini-generating stations into one grid, which to an ignorant me seems a whole lot more complex than dispersing from one generating point into a grid.
But what do I know other than noting turbines did not stand entirely alone in those fields. Same with solar farming which requires no tractors or fertilizer.

I wondered if there was a night shift at the solar farm. Perhaps they’d be the panel cleaners and sweepers. Someone has to, you know, for efficiency sake.

If up to me I’d elevate solar farms to be closer to the sun so the land beneath could be farmed for shade loving crops we’ve yet to engineer.

Ah, the things one learns viewing America. Of all the so-so fast feeding establishments I was surprised to see Cracker Barrel stand out as many cuts above. We’ve wisely denied them access to our eaters who we think exist to benefit the burger industry and deep fat frying folk turning a healthy Idaho spud into salty heart attack sticks. Yum.

I also noted churches. Lots of them the further south you go. Can a stereotype be valid? I know what liberated minds think, and rightly so, of religion. I get it and I’m inclined to agree.

But here’s the thing. Are things that much better if God who is far away is replaced by authorities or shepherds much nearer by? I’ve yet to see a denouncer of religious dogma not as dogmatic about that as a bible thumper. Go ahead. Look around. Maybe you’ll find some, but they are kind of rare compared to all those who readily volunteer for the God role of telling others what to say, do, wear, believe, and so on forth. If, and I’m not seeking the position, I were God I’d be very annoyed with all those who trot out their plans to fix the world, planet and why not the universe? Can’t trust God so leave it to us?

Travel is broadening. Want to know what it costs to get vehicle repairs when away from home? There is expansion in experiencing a nine dollar meal cost double plus, presumably based on the increased cost of pasta.

I noticed, too, that at most places they were keen to let you know they were NOW HIRING. Careers cashiering and table serving are aplenty with horizons advancing to managing the complexities of foods pre-programed and pre-cooked needing only a pair of willing feet to trot it to the waiting table. A drive-through solves some of that. Not all.

Perhaps the future is in small high-speed Lionel trains hurrying “satisfying” meals to our hungry mouths. The better food and therefore better meal might just be mouth or bite sized. Just the right size and amount to fit the package and delivery system.

If we think in colonial globalist ways we have to conclude all mouths are roughly same in size, so problem solved. Except for children who we can feed by liquid so they never have to fear a choking incident.

In time everyone will be a liquid eater, ideal for efficient and equitable distribution except where high heat or freezing is involved. We’d best position people to temperate areas to be safe.

For me a motel room TV is good white noise in a strange setting. How many middle-night home fixers did I waken to who all had the same problem of being expert idiots who didn’t look before buying and were then surprised to find some major issue? I’m led to believe a floor rotting away is suitable TV drama in fixer upper land.

And, you meet people like the aspiring writer perplexed by a wee problem in his utopic novel where one party of peace and justice governed over all. Delightful, but there were problems. In peace, justice fluidity people could be anything they desired, but with some exceptions. A being could change gender, physique and other physical or surface indicators but never ethnicity or color because those things were definitional.

To be honest with you, I didn’t quite follow the author’s intent, but I think I got the general drift. Although, it was confusing.

I was perplexed by the problem of being a non-birthing birthing person seeking to rise and do associated good only to be blocked by having the wrong color/identity of their birthing portion.

The same applied (so I gathered) to any of the fertilizing parts, some being honored for past suffering and others subject to censure for possible cause. I thought, maybe I’m wrong, the author’s views were simply too complicated to be useful.

Would I ever wish to inquire into the color of a person’s birthing or fertilizing parts and whether they’re “real” according to a standard as above my understanding as, let’s say, God?