Sunday, May 25, 2008

Darkness ... Really

The darkness continues. I search in vain for a glimmer of a moon. The night before, I saw a few stars peeking down, but for some reason, it seems that they are being very timid to brighten the sky as well. I’m concerned, where is the moon? It’s been too many days. I saw it one Friday night, less than a week ago, a full summer moon that was bold and orange on the way home from church. By the time I arrived home, it was a plain white bulb in the sky.

What a scary thought to have to live without the moon, without the sun, in darkness. I can’t imagine living in the winter in the North Pole, or the summer in the South Pole. Only a few hours of sun per day would wither me. Fake light just doesn’t do anything for me. I like to feel the absorption of vitamin D to my skin, the light rays on my hair that bleaches it blonde, and the warmth. I love cold sunny days as well as hot sunny days. I love the sun.

Of course, the beauty of darkness can be enjoyed, on a limited basis. In the evening, when there are only a few hours in the day left, to be surrounded by darkness is a calming feeling. To not be able to see the distractions of the day, indoors or out. No mess or disarray to view, no tasks to be accomplished. If we were to compare it to the days of no electricity, not much was carried out in the evening hours, just small handiwork that could be accomplished by the light of a fire or an oil lamp. But with electricity, we may endure many more hours of activity after the sun goes down.

Darkness is difficult to describe because it is more of a feeling than something visual, and doesn’t have any scent, touch or taste characteristics. It is something that is seen, but then, not really because there is nothing to see, especially if there is no contrast with a light. How then, is it felt? It is not a touch sensation, but more of an emotional sensation. And how is it described? It is a mere bit of fear, a bit of the unknown. It is a feeling of seclusion, aloneness, especially if the only night noises are crickets and occasional wind sound or leaves and debris dropping from a tree and hitting the metal roof.

Now, I'm going to go into the bedroom, turn off the light, and feel the cloak of darkness around me as I rest.

Monday, May 19, 2008

Weather or Not

It’s amazing to watch the weather, especially times like last week, when there were tornado warnings and watches, threats of severe thunderstorms with hail, and flood warnings. When the weather is clear and calm, it’s just so boring. The excitement of hearing the rolling, cracking thunder and watching the bright flashes of lightning, hearing the tip-tapping and sometimes pounding of rain and hail on a metal roof is just a natural phenomenon that can’t be beat.

There are weather fans everywhere, and I’m one of them. You can watch the radar on the TV and see a storm moving towards your home or wherever you happen to be, but the direction can change, and the storm can fizzle out with no reason known to the observer. It is similar to watching a movie - you don’t know the ending until it happens.

With the horror of the cyclone in Myanmar/Burma, the recent tornado through the southeast US and the flooding of the Midwest, it makes us realize that we are not in control. We try to be, however.

By having sophisticated weather tracking systems and keeping our eyes glued to the TV for the slightest movement of the storm, and seeing the radar images in red, yellow or green, it appears that we can at least gauge it. On Fox news beginning at 9 p.m., the general news program and most advertising was suspended for continuous presentation of the storm traveling from west to east. The tornado warnings ended at 10:30 p.m. at which time The Simpsons, the regularly programmed television show, appeared. The radar picture stayed at the bottom of the screen, however.

The recent over-observance of the weather could be caused by a sense of guilt on the part of the television stations and media in general. The people of Myanmar/Burma were helpless to the extent that the media stations may not have had the technology to warn the residents. On top of that, the residents themselves did not have the tools – TV and radio – to hear and see what was coming at them. With the type of potential scare that weathercasters feel, and the excitement it brings, they are glad to be giving point by point descriptions of what’s going on. By broadcasting each second, they can feel that they provided the most warning possible, so they will need to shoulder no blame for uninformed citizens.

While we cleaned out the pantry of a few floor items and the heavier items on the shelves above to make it our safety retreat should we hear the roar of a train signifying a tornado, we still kept the TV and computer going, virtually dismissing the angry storm revealed on the TV. And while there was another storm on the way in a few hours, we went to bed without thinking more about it. The more we see on TV, with no real effect except a bright, beautiful flashing night sky with noisy thunder and rain, sometimes deadens us to the real threat. How many people have not fled from hurricanes, tornado and flood warnings in the US? What will it require, if intense TV doesn’t do it, to make us take heed?

Weather is exciting, fun to watch, and exhilarating to make it through, yet unpredictable until the show is over.

(This should have posted by midnight, Wednesday, May 14, to make up for the missed May 11 posting, but exhaustion hit and it didn’t happen. May 18 posting will hopefully happen by May 20)

Sunday, May 4, 2008

53 Years with No Change

The US election process for president hasn't changed much since 1955. Oh yes, the speed at which results are calculated, the process of using an electronic machine instead of a pencil to mark a vote, and the new varieties of ways that we can be "touched" by candidates, although remotely, has increased immensely. But the vast quantities of dollars spent on promotion, via television, radio, telephone, internet sites, email and print media, hasn't.

Take this quote from Franchise, a futuristic, science fiction short story written by Issac Asimov in 1955, about the 2008 election,

"Listen, I was around when they set up Multivac (the new computerized way to choose a president in the futuristic 2008). It would end partisan politics, they said. No more voters' money wasted on campaigns. No more grinning nobodies in high-pressured and advertising-campaigned into Congress or the White House. So what happens. More campaigning than ever, only now they do it blind."

In 1955, when the story was written, in Asimov's eyes there was a good deal of money being wasted on advertising and plenty of plastic-faced politicians trying to win votes. And maybe he saw the delegates move into more power and the disagreement of the true voters of their respresentation which may not have supported their view. Maybe he wanted to predict that with all the delegate disagreement that the almighty US government would have to capture that power by giving the vote for the president to just one voter, determined by unnamed attributes.

Franchise is an excellent story, and quite fun to see the date, November 4, 2008 in the pages of the story. found in ISAAC ASIMOV, The Complete Stories, Volume I.