Tuesday, April 21, 2009

One if by Fire

My view of our beautiful world started to develop at very young age.  I was fascinated by space travel, science, chemistry, biomedical engineering, and computers.  My dad bought the Apple II plus (with 64k memory upgrade and the 80 column card) sometime after 1978 and I loved messing around on it. I'd have to say that played a large part in bringing me to my current profession in IT.  I was also fascinated by race cars, motorcycles (Evel Knieval), fighter airplanes (all jets and the P51-D Mustang), fire, and guns.  I had a chemistry set and knew what the good things were that you used to be able to buy at the drug store or local supermarket.  I did quite a bit of experimenting.

Mostly with fire.  I'm lucky that I did not burn down my parents house or our neighbors house.  We (I had accomplices which will remain unnamed) messed around with gasoline, kerosene, lighter fluid, firecrackers, homemade smoke bombs (sugar & saltpeter cooked on the stove to just before it explodes into flame), sparklers, caps (great source of a pile of highly flammable powder), old school flash bulbs (magnesium wired to explode with brilliant light), and of course all sorts of matches. 

I loved World War II movies or anything with really fast cars or airplanes on TV. My view of the world started to change and become, lets say, more adult around 1984.  The first taste I had of mankind's true nature and place in the world of the future came around 1984.  There was the American version and the British version.  I'm not sure which one came out first, but I do know that the first one I saw was The Day After.  Next came Threads which was even more realistic in many ways since it delved far more deeply into what the future might be like if there are mammals around to see it.


This is one of the many reasons why the following article is no surprise at all to me:


To be a child of the 21st century is to know what the future holds.  I am a child of 'Generation X' who studied Computer Science in college with a minor in Environmental Science.  Yes, that's right I used to think I might use computers to save the world or something.  I guess now I am just content to say 'Fuck It' since there is nothing I can do that will prevent our inevitable future from arriving.

I'm just trying to enjoy every new day like the gift it is, content to know that I have no control over the forces that control our future.  That is not to say that we should not reduce consumption and our ecological footprint as Americans, but just know that the end is near and there is not a thing you can do about it...

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