It has been a while since mariner submitted a post. Apologies. When one ages, there are other responsibilities one is obligated to perform. Primarily, health systems are associated with these responsibilities and have no compassion for other priorities or entertainment. So one must submit.
Except for tiny details, the mariner seems to have fared well. The tiny details will take care of themselves but, alas, he will never play football again. If any good has come from this distraction, it has been that the mariner has been weaned from television news. Not one program has made it for more than a few minutes. It has been pleasant not to have Donald in his life. Mariner’s frustrations about the electorate aside, the best commentary on Donald was published in the May 1st issue of The New Yorker Magazine by its editor, David Remnick. It is by far the most insightful, balanced and true commentary on Donald since his emergence in politics. Mariner implores you to do what you do not want to do: uplink to this article! See:
It is the mariner’s last foreseeable comment about Donald. As far as the mariner is concerned, nothing has been done as long as he remains in office. Many will complain and feign or experience actual pain but until he is removed, they have done nothing and nothing will change, nothing will heal, nothing will move forward. Any complaints, visit your electorate representatives.
The mariner’s attention to the world was slightly diverted during his visit with the health industry (yes, an industry; where else would 30 pills cost $489?). Lying in bed long hours, his mind wandered the halls of his memory to stumble on a factoid he learned in 12th grade Chemistry: there are only three chemicals that will support life: Carbon (us), silicon and Chlorine. This is because these are the only chemicals that can simultaneously bond with Oxygen, Hydrogen, Nitrogen and Phosphorus. All these years this factoid lay on the dusty, cluttered floor of mariner’s memory. It has only occurred to him at this moment that we Carbon-based types have been creating Silicon-based life since 1935: computers and electronic transmissions! So it may be true that computers may one day turn around and bite us to erase the competition from another life form. (It doesn’t pay to lose control of one’s thought processes).
Another odd thought that occurred while watching science shows which replaced news shows, is the phenomenon of Now. The experience of NOW. Mariner knows most readers are not interested in space-time physics but the mariner was freshly intrigued about his perception of NOW when listening to a CSPAN book review by Richard Muller, author of a new book, ‘Now: the Physics of Time.’ Mariner had always perceived NOW as an infinite moment, that is, it crosses the Universe like a wave comes to shore – the same wave for the whole universe, i.e., NOW on a distant star occurred at the same moment as it occurred here on Earth. Muller challenges this thought, saying that NOW is relative, just like Einstein said about relativity. Mariner ordered the book through SILO (State of Iowa Library interlibrary loan); it arrived today. The CSPAN interview can be seen on CSPAN’s website.
Well, this is enough for a first post in a while. Mariner will do his best to restore the potpourri of the past.
Ancient Mariner