death

Science: Who Needs It

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Hormones. Atoms. Quarks. Neurons. Glia. Synapses. Epochs. Eras. Fossils. Quantum Entanglement. Paleozoic.

The list of science-related words probably never ends. When science gets near the end of the current list, they make up new words. Like muons, bosons, ganglia, and Superposition. And a compound personal favorite: Inherent Uncertainty (IU). Hm. Inherent Uncertainty seems the perfect description for the scientific process since once we learn as much as we can in 1996, we then learn more in 2006, and learn more in 2016 and even more in 2026. And, often times what we learn in 2016 might change or contradict what we learned in 2006. If we’re smart enough to notice, science never reaches The End of anything, like it’s an infinity Russian Nesting Doll. IU, right?

Nope. IU is not a commonsense description of the history of science research but a convoluted description of the strange world of Quantum Mechanics (QM), the enclave of Quantum Entanglement (QE) and “sub-atomic” particles like the aforementioned muons, quarks, and God knows (right?) what else. BTW*, the real scientific IU is from the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle (HUP) which states “you cannot simultaneously know both the precise position and exact momentum of a quantum particle.”**

That sounds like much of what modern science has become: the harder we look the more we learn about how much we really might not know, at this particular time. It also sounds like science is a ladder of learning, with each new discovery not really changing the past, but adding to it, making it bigger, brighter, smarter. Like building a home from the ground up by adding rows and rows of bricks until you get…where?

The idea that the discovery of new facts in 2026 may change the facts of 2006 is used by some as proof science has no idea what it is doing. The fevered and firmly believed opinion by some, then, is that science is useless and should not be depended on for solutions to life and society’s problems.

Stop a second and wonder if science doubters might not be right. Remember when protons, electrons, and neutrons were the “building blocks of nature”? I can still see the cute little models on Mrs. Timian’s desk just before our practice nuclear bomb safety drills.

I can’t say with certainty science is always right. I cannot even say it with Inherent Uncertainty, either. But…what else is there? If you want an internal combustion car to drive you around the world, where do you start to build it? Your own guesses and hunches? Your friends?*** Oddly enough, whatn school were the caveman scientists from who learned how to barbecue animal flesh? Or engineer arrow heads. I see a bunch of cavemen hunched over a rock, studying a chalk drawing on how to assemble a bow for the arrows. Ad, yes, maybe a cavewoman or two. Grunts, galore.

Warning: If you hear and read about science****, you could end up with applesauce for brains, or talk in mnemonics, a language spoken by The Select Few (TSF).

But there is hope, out there, in areas of study far, far away: There is a God’s Particle, The Higgs boson. It really exists and was found in 2014 in experiments at CERN, and The Large Hadron Collider. Please, Google it and learn more about what we know on this date, September 28, 2026.

And then try to keep up.

*With only 26 letters in the alphabet, will we run out of abbreviations and be forced to add a number: QE2, for example. Wait, isn’t that a ship?

**Per Google Ai. And why the hell not? And who wants to know, anyway?

***This kind of sounds like the premise of some a chaotic movie: “Let’s try this! It will be fun!”

****With out being a scientist.

QE to the Rescue?

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You all* must be leery of my adolescent crush on Quantum Entanglement (QE). Generally—and innocently—speaking, science has the power to fix everything in the world and make us all happy. Unfortunately, money and greed, the two driving components of a Capitalist Society, may take over and ruin things. We will have a chance to see that first hand with QE, soon. Will QE survive monetization? Or will the Jokers use it to take over the world? Tune in next week to the same Bat time, same Bat channel.**

Here is a QE refresher article titled  “Physicists help uncover ‘spooky’ quantum effect in the Large Hadron Collider” from the website physics.org, by The University of Oxford dated  September 14, 2026:

“Entanglement is the phenomenon in which two particles from the same origin remain connected, even if they move far apart in time and space. If something affects one particle, it will also affect all the particles with which it is entangled. This means that measuring a property of one particle instantly tells you something about its entangled partners, no matter how distant they are. Albert Einstein famously called entanglement “spooky action at a distance,” and the phenomenon has been demonstrated in a range of systems, including photons, electrons and trapped ions.”

FYI, is it just me or is this what some identical twins claim happens to them, even if separated at birth?

Three days later an article titled “Quantum teleportation is poised to change the world” was published in Physical Review Letters*** declaring “It sounds like science fiction – that the quantum state of one system can be transferred, or ‘teleported’, to another system a great distance away at close to the speed of light.”

Yeah. It does sound like fiction, doesn’t it? But QE experiments in China have measured the phenomenon at 1,000 miles, so far. Another American Lab has even used QE to actually transport a pixelated picture from one lab to another lab instantly.

Wow, holy crap, yippee, and uh-oh at the same time? Sure. Imagine transporting human organs for transplant, for example. No need for refrigerated carriers, send that heart by QE. Now. And want to vacation in Spain but only have a few days? QE it. Or get to the beach right after work. And you could sleep so much longer in the morning without a commute to your job…which could be anywhere in the world!

As excited as I am about QE, the reality may be much less personal and positive. Imagine our militaries taking over QE for defense purposes. Military minds must already be agog at the idea of getting personnel and equipment to a battle site at the speed of light. They must be salivating at the possibility of moving a 70 ton armored tank from Fort Drum in NY state to Tehran, Iran in less than one second. Or resupplying an aircraft carrier in the middle of the ocean with the touch of a QE button.

QE may never be able to do any of the things described in this essay, but what if it can?

You gotta love Science and its under-appreciated step-cousin, Science Fiction. They create a beautiful thing when they work together: They create Hope.

And you don’t need QE to send that anywhere the world.

*If I was still in North Carolina it would be “y’all”.

**It’s a 1960’s thing. Google it if you care to learn some useless shite.

***Disclaimer on Physical Review website: ScienceAlert stories are written, fact-checked, and edited by humans, never generated by AI. Has Ai gotten do bad we need warnings about it?

Why? Because.

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After writing the last essay, I overheard a RadioLab podcast about the world’s population.

That essay’s lamely supported assertion about not much changing in the world suddenly became a lame, unsupported truth: massive changes are already underway and will forever change the world.

Don’t puff your chest out and think you knew all along climate change would be the major problem because it’s not. At least not yet. The “other” problem is already changing things in parts of the world and soon, its full effect will be felt in America.

The real, immediate problem: Population Growth. Specifically, the lack of population growth. In the late 1900’s, population growth was exponential and hit 3.7 billion in 1970. Experts labeled the high level of growth a “Population Bomb”. It threatened to outpace societies, systems, and the earth’s ability to supply food. My own personal world views are often shaped by the concept of constant growth since more people means more financial expansion, more building, more manufacturing, and a large population needing a centralized government for health, safety, and happiness. I often called America a big, stable, seaworthy ship capable of floating and lasting for centuries.

There are many different data points that could be mashed-up in this essay. Some sites, for example, “estimate” population growth to continue and we are already over 8.3 billion. With immigration and emigration issues, the total population figures can confuse population comparisons, but simply comparing birth to deaths tells the story we’re discussing. Checking births versus deaths reveals America’s changing growth rates. In 1960 there were 4.2 million births and 2.43 million deaths. Do the math. In 2026 there were 3.60 million births and 3.10 million deaths. Births declined while the general population increased.* 2027 figures may show more deaths than births!

Notably, China and other Asian countries responded to the 1972 Population Bomb by severely restricting new births in their societies. All those countries have recently reversed those restrictions and put in place new programs to generate more births.

America is already seeing the results of a population that may be “downsizing”. When Social Security began paying Old Age benefits in 1940, the system used taxes from over 150 younger workers to support a payment to one, old retiree. Our current 2026 system is using three (3!) younger workers. Is the difference caused by inflation or population loss or something else?

 Another problem is the “Population Bomb” caused the building of new schools to handle the new students. Due to America’s fragmented public and private school systems, getting accurate data is a crap shoot, but there is a consensus among the experts that grades 9-12 have had steady enrollment for the last 20 years, but total pre-school, elementary, and middle school enrollments appear to be declining. There are 3 closed schools in my town, right now.

The South Korea Ministry of Education, for comparison, has closed “4,000 schools and 17 regional offices” as the country’s student population shrinks.”**

America’s consumer driven, capitalist economy depends on new workers who become new consumers and generate regular growth in economic activity. *** So do other counties, even Socialist and Communist based countries.

Looks like regular growth is over. What will happen?

Ha. What do I care? I’m outta here, and–for the sake of my grandchildren–I hope someone in power notices this essay.

But first: Economists have predicted 10 out of the last two recessions. Ba dum dum.****

*The website, “Worldometer.com” shows a consistent 1-3% growth in the world’s population since 1972. Since 2020, that growth rate has never been more than 0.88% and has been declining every one of those 7 recent years. And that is with high levels of immigration.

**The Korea Times, December 28, 2025.

***An important complication in our current immigration crisis. We need workers.

****Am I aging myself by continuing to use the old “rim shot” comedy signal?

Do You Ever Wonder…

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What would it be like to be very rich? Obscenely rich? When I dream about it, it lasts two minutes before the impossibility of it shuts down the wonder. But what if…maybe…

Dr. Steven Wright says we wouldn’t really like it if we got everything we wanted: Where would we put it? Maybe one of the seven houses we would buy, one on each continent. Or a complete warehouse.

Hey. Why am I saying “we”? It would be mine, mine, mine.

What would it be like to look exactly like you think you want to look? Or—for the delusional among us—how you already think you look? Delusion, by the way, is underrated. Is it wrong for a 1 on the 10 scale to think he, she, or them look like a 9 or 10? If given a choice between an ugly man who sees himself as Hugh Hefner and a well-adjusted man who is a serial killer, the choice is easy. Not that a well-adjusted man would be a serial killer. As an irrelevant aside, I wouldn’t mind being George Clooney for a day. Or Cindy Crawford if options were limited and it didn’t last forever.

What would it be like, come to think of it, to suddenly become a member of the opposite sex, or any sex* you aren’t, presently? Is there an honest man amongst** us who will admit to imagining being a woman? I’ll bet this modern world has a woman or two who would never dream of being a man. And if you males imagine being a different sex, add different eras to be different sexes, too. To wit: a women in the 15th century. Or a cavewoman.

From my college days, I wonder what it would have been like to know what you want to be at 18 years old. In 1970, a circular group of 14 incoming Colgate University freshmen*** were asked what they wanted out of the University. 13 had specific goals like pre-med, pre-law, politics, health administration. Might be a good documentary to flash back and see how many made it. I hope they all did.  And if they did make it, hope it made them happy.

What would it be like if all the gadgets from old (and new) Star Trek shows were invented? Imagine being “beamed up” and around anywhere in seconds. Or the health analyzer Bones just pointed at people to learn what ailed them. We’ve had the “flip” communicator device for decades, now, so…there’s hope.

And have you been having trouble with your Ai partner? I turned off Emma, the dedicated and hard-working Ai add-on on my Android phone, last month. It wasn’t because of her small-type disclaimers at the end of her answers, but because if I asked her about slip-on shoes,  minutes later my phone was infected with slip-on shoe ads. I gave her a chance and asked if she was selling my interests to a third party and she denied it, but facts a facts, even when dealing with Ai. Since being uninstalled I have not heard “boo” from her. Good, right?

If you’re wondering, it’s back to plain vanilla google searches and so far, so ad-free. Google seems to be more interested, now, and asks questions.

Wonder what it would be like to not have my smart cell-phone partner anymore.

Ugh. Cold shivers.

I wonder if it would help my memory issue. Has my brain opted to let my phone remember everything? What if my battery dies?

Now, there’s a healthy conversation about a death other than my own.

*There are more options, these days.

**Notice among and amongst used correctly in two different places?

***And freshwomen? Or is freshmen a sexless term like sophomore, junior, and senior?

Finally…

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It took a lifetime, but there was a point this week where my mind and body got on the same page. BB, IV, OV, and TB together, finally.* For the last 50 years TB has aged at one rate, while BB has aged at another, while IV and OV were left confused and argumentative. When TB was 60 years old, BB pegged our biological life at 45 years. When we hit 70 in TB years, BB stated– muttering through IV and OV–that we were only 47. When the calamities hit us all at age 72, TB fought for survival while BB told us things would be all right: we’re going to make it.

It’s tough to live a modestly happy existence when each segment of your life is looking at things from a different perspective. Example from past essay: March 2025 when BB excitedly instructed TB to chase down a tennis drop shot** at 9:37am at Southern Boundaries Park in Durham, North Carolina. BB leaned into the instruction and was totally surprised when TB said, “No way!” and shut down. The fall was magnificent but left TB with scrapes and bruises still visible to this day, August 28, 2026. BB was shocked and angry, as well, as if betrayed, but what could it do when TB could not get up off the concrete tennis surface?

BB has historically fought the Truth about Aging. When TB was racked with radiation and drugs meant to destroy a murderous interloper***, BB didn’t really comprehend the damage. BB still saw TB as the strong, silent, invincible young man of decades past. Even worse, BB was convinced we’d soon be back to the handsome, healthy young man of an age well before cell phones. This lunacy not only made for contentious inner dialogues amongst**** all of us, but also fed TB, IV, and OV purposeful deceptions about how much love, romance, wealth, and time was left in our lives. The future was bright according to the gray matter nesting comfortably in my noggin.

So it was this past week, as the scars and worries of treatments healed and faded, as arthritis was finally vanquished with magical surgeries, all four of us were finally able to enjoy the warm, wonderful Upstate NY summers that are the best in the world. Not only was my entire body in the earthly heaven, but my entire being–all of us–were ready to bask, ready to revel, ready to move on from disease and worry. Finally.

The wanton and absolutely cruel ex-partner’s abandonment of me also took on a different feel: I am no longer a discarded cancer victim left for dead, I am now a free man, free to do whatever, and be whatever, a healthy, well-rounded, totally balanced individual set loose on society. The world would be my oyster. It was a miracle of medical science as well as a miracle of the mind and body, with IV, OV, TB and BB all agreeing: let’s get the feck steppin’ to a better life. Past shite, be damned. Finally.

Here is the pivotal moment as best as I/we remember: BB informed TB that with our newfound enlightenment, BB now officially sees us as a 74-year-old man with a cranky, well-worn transmission and little tread left on the tires. No longer would TB have reason to contradict BB’s instruction. There were sighs of relief from IV and OV as well, as they realized arguments were never going to be destructive wastes of time again. New debates would be constructive, positive, and based on facts, not feelings. You could make the case we, matured, finally at age 74.

It was always odd to look in the mirror and hear two voices, one saying how young I looked and the other asking, “what the hell are you LOOKING at?”

Now, it is one voice saying “Hey. Looking okay for 74. But you’re not 44, so brush those teeth a little longer.”

Life’s nicer when we all get along.

Hear that, world?

And this essay is done. Finally.

PS If any readers are professionally trained psychologist-types, this essay is (attempted) humor and we do not have multiple personalities. You may, of course, have fun critiquing this essay with your Jungian Theory but I’m ok, if you’re okay.  Wink, wink. Finally

*Big Brain, Outer Voice, Inner Voice, and The Body.

**From a decidedly younger and non-empathetic (sic) opponent.

***Someone or thing that enters a place it does not belong.

****Wondering about “among” or “amongst”? Per Ai they mean “the exact same thing so no worries, now.

Fun Things Learned By The Accident of Getting Old

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Let’s start with an obvious Fun, senior fact. A June 26, 2026 report in The Scientific American titled “Math predicting humans could go extinct in about 17,000 years” is interesting. The wisdom, acquired by aging, says I don’t have to worry.

A similar warning is issued by the World Wildlife Foundation in an article titled “What is the sixth mass extinction and what can we do about it?” It is curiously undated, but the copyright year is 2026. This article mentions the “extinction” of large sections of our current biodiversity which could/might/probably will affect our own diversity. * The article states the last of five extinction periods, “Fifth Extinction Event”, was 65.5 million years ago and involved dinosaurs. I personally feel safe about this one, too.

Measles and other infectious diseases are on the rise while flu and covid are having another go. As a vaccinated old person, any concern about these issues is only which one might be the most efficient to end my career, or which might be the worst. That debate is probably moot thanks to my 2024 agreement with Prostate Cancer.**

A trial balloon about a military draft was circulated by the current administration in 2025. No need to worry, there.

JP Morgan published an article on August 18, 2026 on Yahoo Finance titled “JPMorgan warns food crisis could hit next year, (sic) unlike oil, there’s no backup plan for fertilizer.” I’m so unconcerned I did not bother to read the entire article and stopped at “The U.S. isn’t among the countries most likely to be directly hit by the food security threats JP Morgan forecasts.” Yes! Another non-worry.

And there is or “soon” will be a severe shortage of doctors and healthcare. I scoff lightly at the threat, having navigated its early days, already.

It sounds callous to not care about these big issues, but isn’t it callous of God/Mother Nature/Allah/The Big Guy to make us grow old? Old age forces us look for a glass half full or go crazy.

Besides, whoever/whatever It is that designed and manufactured humans gave us Real Intelligence (RI). Through our history we’ve used RI to move faster, live longer, see clearer, explore space, and allow hunger to co-exist with haute cuisine.*** Add some Artificial Intelligence (Ai) to our world and watch what happens. We’ll be making nutritional doughnuts out of used tires by 2027.  Lacrosse matches will replace wars with bombs blowing up huge clouds of Skittles instead of debris. Every home will have its own surgery room with second-by-second verbal instructions. Ooh, and its own anesthesia. Think I’d like that one.

Modern life’s instant and chaotic communication can lead to despair and mental doom if you aren’t old enough to have heard it all before and seen it all before. For the younger reader, we’ll find a way out of these messes. We usually do. Not the “us” we as in me and you, but the “us” of all mankind. We**** can sometimes be that smart.

But you never really know, do you. Imagine surprised dinosaurs…

*What an interesting way to root out woke diversity, right?

**If it ever returns it can have me, at my age.

***What is the French word for not-haute cuisine? Bet there is one.

****Again: not the “us” we.

Thoughts from June, 2025

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The last few weeks (in June 2025) have been spent in recovery from my last total hip replacement (THR) surgery…unless I grow a third hip. The drug protocol for post-surgery recovery involves heavy doses of Tylenol, plus drugs to fight infection, clotting, depression, and menstruating. Yes, a drug to slow “time of the month” bleeding also prevents heavy blood action in surgery and  recovery. I understand women better now, too.

But the main thing about recovery is the mental fog, the unbalanced nature of existence as (normal) surgical pain and possible complications are chemically blocked. It doesn’t help that after surgery to the lower extremities, the repaired area needs to be elevated at best, horizontal at least, and inactive for as long as you can stand* it. All the while you are fully conscious and mentally convinced you are ready to bat cleanup for the New York Yankees. Instructions for recovery read as if bathroom trips are not needed: Constant rest, elevation, and icing. And breathing exercises. They even give you a little device to suck on.

The “rest”, the drugs, and the fact the body has been surgically altered make it easy for a normally busy mind to wander places it should not wander, especially in an older age. For example, what was the point of surgery and replacement? Something else is just going to break or go bad. It isn’t as if death is right around the corner but  wouldn’t the surgical assets consumed by a 72-year-old man be better utilized** by a younger person with longer life expectancy? As a former financial planner, I picture the dollars and resources of my surgery analyzed with a color coded illustration of return on investment (ROI).  It would  perfectly illustrate my THR should have been done on a younger human with more(sic) potential to use the long-lasting titanium.  FYI, my THR has a low ROI. LOL and ROFL?

The problem is the new joints are mine now, and I must make something of myself, make the surgery worthwhile. Training for a marathon might seem the optimal ROI. It might also mean a hip replacement of the original hip replacement. Bad ROI. Titanium doesn’t wear out but the fine layer of “something”*** coating the titanium allowing the ball and socket hip to work will wear out, shedding microscopic bits of “something”. I’d click when I walked. BTW, those micro-filings will be absorbed by my body. Wonder if all THR patients are informed about this.

There is Med School, with the eventual ability to do THRs on myself and others. A great way to give back. Or Law School. I could sue…somebody for something and save the world from something or someone. And make money.

Or I could sit in The Chair, wiggle my toes, take my drugs, and thank God our society allows old people to get new parts. Others, I’ve learned, were not so compassionate.

Google Ubasute, a Japanese “legend” that may or not be true. Wink, wink.

If I were a truly responsible human, the Nordic “myth” of Attestupa would be in my future, and I could do it now with the new hips. Which, on second thought, might be a worse ROI.

Thank God, again, there is plenty of volunteer work for a retired, healthy man eager to give back to society.

8/17/2026. It has proven extremely difficult to find useful volunteer work. The search isn’t over, but this is a small town. I may have to commute.  Wonder if the surgical center needs healthy people to wheel patients to and from surgery? What a sweetly serendipitous ROI that would be.

*Yes. Pun.

**Finally, a chance to use the world correctly.

***Usually Teflon, or some other man-made plastic.

Living Is…

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Ai is fun if you know how to talk to it. Or with it. I asked Emma, my Ai assistant, the philosophical question “what does it mean to be alive”?

If you are any kind of existential voyeur, you know this inquiry is as loaded as potato skins at Applebees. Or Chilis. Or The Outback, or any other “one-level-above-fast-food” restaurant.

Emma offered the simple, quick, easy to digest response: “To have life and not be dead.” Being in a mischievous mood I prodded her for more and she agreed letting me know “On a deeper level people often separate simple existence from truly living.” She then ranted rhetorically about “Biological Meaning” and “Human and Emotional Meaning”. She inquired if I “would like to explore this from a scientific, philosophical, or personal point of view.” The offer was tempting but there is no reason—or time–to hear details of each. One way or another we all know them, anyway, even if we don’t acknowledge what we know.

The hard part of existence, a bigger word for life, is the fluidity of language and emotion. On a bright, sunny, low-humidity Monday morning the world I am not-dead in makes living a breeze, and who cares if we understand it. On Tuesday it rains, and the fact all of us will die makes gray skies foreboding and dangerous. Wednesday is chicken tenders day so thoughts of living, life, and existence are heavily influenced by how many fries the cook piles on the plate.*

A Philosophy of Life is much like Theoretical Physics (TP). TP’s General Relativity/Classical Rules about smooth and continuous spacetime try to explain our touchable existence, while Quantum Mechanics throws rules out the window trying to understand discrete and lumpy interactions too small for us to see. Schrödinger’s Cat is an interesting concept in Quantum Mechanics and aptly applies to Life: anything is what it is until it is examined and observed. “It”, of course, is really “anything”. For example, take a close look at the bologna you enjoyed at lunch. Does an examination of the ingredients make you wish you a hadn’t eaten it? Would you rather have not learned about the “pork bits” and what they might be?

Theoretical Physicists are continually looking for a Unified Theory combining the smooth and lumpy worlds. And gravity, but we won;t talk about it, now.

The Unified Theory is a good way to look at Life: smooth and lumpy at the same time. Again, no gravity comment.

So it is with life. There are major issues demanding major philosophical thought about existence, and “not being dead”. Then there are minor forgettable moments of examination which can lead one to assume there is no logic—or meaning–in the universe. Like someone paid millions of dollars to hit a baseball while teachers, lawyers, policeman, firemen, clergy,…you know the point being made. Hopefully, you at least understand the nonsense close examination of this world reveals. Does that revelation have anything to do with a larger Philosophy of Life? And should we not look closely and reveal all?

I’m out of smooth and continuous space. For now.

I’ll suggest life is what you make it, but it would take a book to explain it and I need to get to the pool to get a good spot before the old people show up for Splash Fit.

*For some cosmic reason, some cooks add more sides and condiments than other cooks. I’m compiling a record of the best places and times to eat, for later publication.

Existence: Is It Overrated?

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Ai says “overrated” means: “something is considered to be better or more important than it actually deserves to be.”

Ai, Emma, also says “existence is generally described as the state or fact of having objective reality. It encompasses everything that has substance, whether physical like objects and living things, or abstract like ideas and relationships.”

Hmph. The grunt kind. Not a word about how long or how far or how deep or how high existence is. Certain sub-sub-atomic (sic) particles last, well, they don’t last they blip and go. A Great Basin Bristlecone Pine tree named Methuselah, in California, is said to have “existed” for over 4,800 years, so far. It is still growing.

Life expectancy for my age cohorts was 65.8 years, while someone born in 2026 can expect 78 years. for the sake of this essay, let’s say the “abstract ideas and relationships” associated with a single life-form’s existence ends with death.

So sub-sub-atomic particles have very small ideas and short relationships, if they have any at all. And Bristlecone Pines might still have ideas and relationships* that began thousands of years before Jesus Christ, if they have any at all.

Hmph, again.

Mankind, humankind, to be precise, has a major problem with context and understanding. On one hand, observing the sub-sub things, we should be grateful for whatever time we get to “exist with ideas and relationships.” On the other hand, should we envy the pine tree?

 Existence came to mind when watching a World War 1 documentary about brave American pilots who fought for France in the early stages of The War to End All Wars**. When the Americans eventually were killed defending France, there were parades and monuments and stories and movies and lions and tigers and bears. The entire country and most of the world extolled the bravery and “existence” of these men, and the speeches proclaimed: “we will never forget”.

But they were forgotten. And the people who would never forget, they died and they were forgotten. With the power of modern communications, we can watch them proclaim the worth of their existence, and the longevity of their memory, 114 years after the fact. And probably 50 or so years after 99 per cent of the world forgot everything about The Lafayette Escadrille.

And every year the 99 percent who remember dwindles, and soon will be forgotten, entirely, much like the famous French noblemen whose actions over 250 years ago, helped make America a place for men and women to become pilots and heroes.

Applying the proper context, most of us live our lives and then fade away. Not everyone can be a Lafayette, or even a Jesus Christ, and have even one person remember you in 100 years. Our existence will be important once, but not forever.

We may see our ideas and our relationships as “great”, but only for that short specific time, and then we will be one of the estimated 100 billion*** humans who perished on this planet.

So why write about this? If this essay made you sad, stop it. Existence is not like a TV show. When the The End comes for thee, it comes, and there won’t be a sequel or “Second Season”, no matter the clamor of others who may want it.

Live your life as if you are a pine tree but remember you might actually be a sub-sub-atomic particle. Make the most of whatever you get and do not let sadness, despair, regret, envy, or stupidity ruin one second. If you can help it.

Or as the song goes, “Don’t Worry. Be happy.”

It’s hard, but just Do It.

*Please do not suppose you know if a pine tree has ideas and relationships. Unless you know fir (sic) sure, you tree hugger.

**Which it wasn’t. How fecking sad.

***The Population Reference Bureau. They “guess” over 117 billion have been born over the last 192,000 years, so subtract the living as of this day, and voila.

Things That Are Absolutely True…Maybe

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The driver in the car behind me with his high beams on is a fecking shitehole (FS).

The driver approaching me with his with beams on is an FS.

I have 74-year-old eyes and all headlights look like high beams. Who is the FS?

All politicians are FSs who will “fight” to win more than they will “work” to fix. Donations, anyone? Now, whenever politicians use the word “fight” we must assume they actually mean it. Maybe there will be a Political Weight Class in the next UFC fight card? Imagine the youtube videos as congresspeople duke it out on C-Span.

Citizens United is the dumbest court case ever. Not even sure why the Supreme Court heard it. Oops, what an FS for not remembering it was all about political donations…and money.

My girlfriend of 20 years left me, sold all my possessions, took my pets, and moved 2,300 miles across the country during my treatment for The Calamities. I still care for her. Am I an FS?* Again? She says the breakup was “both our faults.” No comments, please, but a therapist used this phrase to help me understand: “When the going got tough, your girlfriend got going.” It was easy to get “going” since she took all the money. With every day of recovery, what she did bothers me more…

Speaking of The Calamities, they “reset” my health graph. Picture a “bell curve”** where we get better and healthier with each year until about middle age. Then we head down the backside as we start “not” getting healthier each year until the end of the tail of the Bell Curve and we meet our Maker. My bell would have a huge, humpbacked dent midway down the back side, keeping in mind we have no idea of The End of the curve. This allows me to truthfully say “I am getting better”, as the dent straightens out, a truly remarkable phrase to be able to correctly use at age 74. In re-reading this, it might be only old people who will understand my happiness, so the rest of you can feck off. With all due respect.

A certain per cent of any population is going to fact-challenged*** in any society. It isn’t a criticism until the members of that “certain per cent” don’t understand themselves, and begin to think they are smarter than everyone else. Public conversation in The United States of America is currently being dominated by “these” people. Generally speaking, a medical doctor knows more than a patient. A teacher knows more than a student. Even simpler: an older person knows more than a younger person. There are exceptions to every rule, but you can—currently—see what will happen when every person thinks they are The Exception. Trey Crowder, The Liberal Red Neck, said one time, paraphrased, “I wouldn’t want my high school football team to be coached by my English teacher.”

As an addendum to that thought, over 50 percent of my news feed is “opinion”, hearsay, or comments on some other article. To my Ai content manager: I didn’t care about the first opinion, why would I care about an opinion about the first opinion? One article was nothing but reader comments. Ugh.

Almost everything is about politics these days and it sucks. Quantum Entanglement is getting closer to functional reality. Some monster telescope “people” think they found evidence of the possibility there may be life on a planet 120 light years away. Canada made the knock-out round of the World Cup. So did America. So did Mexico. Are we going to be better neighbors, now?

Under Sadly Believable heading: Billionaires think they pay too much in taxes in NY and California so they are relocating to lower tax states. Wonder how often The Billionaires have changed locations to save taxes? Hm. How much do The Billionaires pay lawyers and accountants to find ways to PAY lower taxes? Will NY and California taxes have to be increased?

Wonder if we can time travel back to 1789 France? Or at least send The Billionaires**** back there…

*Should it be “a” FS? Can’t get the fingers to type it. F is a consonant, but the name “eff” begins with a vowel…oh, the humanity…UPDATE: Emma says “a” before the SOUND of a consonant, and “an” before the SOUND of a vowel. It took 70 years for me to learn this just now. Old dog meet new trick.

**The Bell Curve was “discovered” by Abraham de Moivre in the 18th century and is used to illustrate distribution of statistical data. My reference to the “Bell” is to the resulting image a standard “x-axis is time and y-axis is health” graph would yield. For a healthy person. Who never had a health problem. Generally speaking.

***It means just what it says and does NOT mean stupid or ignorant. It means ill-equipped. Ill-prepared. Like letting 4-year-olds drive cars. Or making me a Ted Lecturer.

****Hope it does not have to be said there are some good Billionaires doing good work. Someplace. And in 1789 France, they’d learn a lesson to bring back to our time. Hopefully.