Light summer

A light summer. That is what everybody in my building hope for. A light summer with no record breaking temperatures. no heat waves. If I would be a regular beachgoer, as I used to be I would pray for the heat. But under these circumstances I am not doing it. There are two main reasons.  

One, I am paying the piper for spending all those previous decades under the sun. All those beautiful tans I had resulted in skin cancer. Thank God, not a serious type but still cancer. They say skin cancer is one of the easiest to cure. We'll see. Every time I go to the dermatologist, and he/she finds something not very kosher their explanation for the cause is simple: sun damage. So, I am being very understanding to my situation and not wanting to cause any more problems, I am staying away from the beach as much as I can.

Also helpful that neither my wife and Abigail are much beach fans. Sitting under the sun or umbrella and venture into the water for 5-6 hours just don't sound very inviting to them. I just don't understand these people. Don't they realize how good that is? They like the beach as much as I like to wander around a mall for 4-5-6 hours!

The second reason why I hope for a light summer is that all our window air conditioners were removed or not allowed to be installed because the exterior work being done on the building. If we are lucky that work will be completed by late fall and then the air conditioners will not be needed. So we are praying for a light summer.

Now, was this not an interesting little article?

Sunday

 Sunday. again!

Ancestry

Ancestry.com is a company that claim to search out and present us with our family history pretty far back. Well, far back in this country it is only maybe 200-300 years if at all. Where I come from that is nothing, because my country is over a thousand years old.

I keep getting (unsolicited) mail from these people telling me that they can dig up and informed me of my family's history. I am a good guy and don't want to tell them that they have no chance doing this. I was not borne here, I came years ago and in the process I altered my name. My parents and all other relatives stayed in Europe so there are no traces of them anywhere on this side of the globe. I'm sure if I would pay them they would present me with a family history of someone with the same name from Nebraska or Oklahoma wit absolutely no relation to me. 

Watching their commercials I came to the conclusion that anybody who came with the Mayflower or are decendents of black slaves or Irish or Italian emigrants who came through Ellis Island are the only ones who might hope for a detailed family history. If they would expand their services worldwide I might take them upon it. Since I have no living older relative (my mom knew everything) I have no way of knowing my family's history. Since I have no offspring all my knowledge will just stay with me. Sad! 

More innovation?

I will talk a little more about innovation. Moving with the times is a normal thing. Work methods are continuously improving. More mechanized, less people needed, more modern etc. In the ancient days there was the Church that frowned upon certain modernization. Somehow, they instilled into their faithful that changing the old ways were against God. And people believed it.

Today the unisons play a similar role. They are against any change that would cause their members to lose their jobs. I do know the construction industry, at least building construction. Their work methods did not change probably in the last 40 to 50 years. I worked on construction in the early 1960s then in the 1980s. In that 20 year span I did not see any improvement at all. Now, I am just a sidewalk superintendent but what I see things are still the same.

It is fine that unions look out for the employment of their members but at the same time they should not stand in the way of progress. When the steam locomotives were phased out the railroad unions forced the railroads to place the now defunct firemen on each train and called them brakemen. This the price of modernization. When New York City was trying to use driverless subways, the union argued that what about the now unemployed engineer? Now, we don't have driverless subway trains.

Innovation

Life is a continuous improvement. What was new yesterday is old and obsolete today and by tomorrow it is ancient. Years ago, I bought a computer, and I purchased a guarantee with it. Granted the guarantee came handy because in its first year its hard drive had some problem, and they replaced the computer without any argument.

I renewed this guarantee for the second year and by its third year they only offered telephone consultation. When the fourth year came by and I heard nothing from the company I called them. They said they were not offering any guarantee or warranty any longer. At my inquiry their response was that my computer was old. Four years old and they consider that old? this is ridiculous. Who will go out and by a new computer every three or four years and goes through the hassle of setting it up?

I am sure businesses are not replacing their computers that frequently. The one I had in my office, I am sure was more than four years old. But this a gimmick. This is how they force us, the defenseless poor consumer to spend more money. Nowadays there must be at least one computer in every household. This world is built on email communication. Lack of computers make life much more difficult. It was proven during the pandemic when schools were holding classes online. 

The families of every student at least in New York had to have a computer in order for their children to participate in class. The computer companies are salivating at these numbers and when they say that a four year old equipment is too old they just want to make us feel defenseless and bad. The other thing is that just when an old bloke like me gets used to my computer an upgrade comes about and starts to make my life more complicated. Oh, they also let you know that these upgrades are standard on the newer models.

The American way!

Texas

It is terrible what happened in Texas a week ago. 19 innocent children, two teachers killed by a maniac, for what? The good thing is that he was also shot dead at the scene. T. he bad thing that they are making a political issue of this catastrophe. Politicians have no shame. That is a known fact. Instead of uniting and work on gun laws they are immediately pointing fingers at each other. The democrats want to come up as the good guys and blame the republicans to be the bad guys and the republicans vice versa.

This is ridiculous. While they are arguing people are getting killed. And that thing in the White House instead of making an angry and strong speech babbles on and on without making any sense. He is visiting Texas, will promise the world and then will forget to deliver. This country must admit that the NRA is stronger than any federal agency. No matter what happens the NRA lives on and fights for the availability of guns. No matter how many kids get killed the NRA will not see it as something bad. Their slogan that guns don't kill people do is a shame and irresponsible.

I would like to know how many civilized European country have such gun laws as the United States has. What European country permits its citizens to walk around with guns on their hips. And most of those countries are much older than we are, and their constitution is also older than ours. But none of those say that the population has the right to arm themselves. Only the US with its 200-year-old constitution is still sticking to that chapter. Shame, shame.

How many people will need to be killed before they realize how wrong that Constitution is. Maybe another attack on the Capitol will open their eyes. That January 6 attack had them running scared like chickens. Can they imagine how little, innocent children must have felt? I wish it upon them to experience that same fright. 

Mars

The other day I read an article where it was aid that NASA is taking Mars very seriously. They seems to have a timeline which is rigorously followed, and according to that schedule the first human trip is to take place in the late 2030s.

This is what made me think. The late 2030s are 2037, 2038 and 2039. At 2037 I will be 100 or 100+ years old and then on and on. The trip is to take about 500 days, that is another year and a half. So, what are the chances that I will be around to see a Mars landing? Probably slim to none. And this made me very sad. In today's time planning 20-30 or more years ahead is no big deal. No big deal for Abigail, but some of it is impossible for me and my friends.

Look at it like this, I can not get a 30 year mortgage. Banks know that I will not be around to see the end of it. I am at a very peculiar age. Impossible to plan for the future. When I buy some contraption and it comes with a lifetime warranty, I ask whose lifetime, the contraption or mine? Thinking about he future I ask, what future? For me next week is the future.   

I know that a favorite question of human resource people of new job applicants is "where do you see yourself in five years?"  If I were asked that question my answer would be: hopefully alive! And that is why I did not volunteer for the Mars mission.

 Landing on Mars in late 2030s makes me very sad