Just ask the question! in A small but passable life.

Just one question. Probably the only question the 180 million people who didn’t vote for the dumbass want to know. I can picture it. A room full of reporters. Some of them on air live or online live. White house aides standing by to snatch the microphone away from undesirable reporters asking the wrong questions. The president spots a new face in the room. Early twenties, female. pale skin and blonde hair. He puts on his best smarmy pervert grin and points to her and says- “How about you?” She stands up, receives the microphone, and says in a loud clear voice- “What the fuck is wrong with you?” He doesn’t, for once, know what to say. So he doesn’t say anything. He just points to the next reporter, at random. That reporter stands up, receives the microphone and asks- “Are you really stupid or just putting on an act?” He has been silenced. He turns around and walks out.

I could go on, but you get the drift of what an awakened media could do. That is, ask the real questions.

I finished reading “We’re Doomed. Now What?” by Roy Scranton. The subtitle of the book is- “Essays on War and Climate Change” There really wasn’t anything in the book I hadn’t heard before, from multiple sources. The best essay was probably the last in the book- “Raising a Daughter in a Doomed World” Pretty powerful stuff.

Two quotes I’ve written down from the book:

“Postmodern cyborgs engaged in apocalyptic biopolitics.” And, “Slow down. Do less.Do the one thing that matters, rather than the fifteen that don’t.” -Scranton

Guy McPherson keeps moving the date of the beginning of inevitable collapse back in time. It now stands at 2025. Which, if one stays current on trends and data points, could be true. And wouldn’t be surprising because the predicted feedback loops are becoming more pronounced. And methane is still the wild card. And the ultimate irony is that after all emissions have ceased, after the collapse of civilization, and after the particulates currently aloft in the atmosphere settle out and no longer diffuse the solar energy, the global temperature may raise as much as 4c to 5c in as little as two weeks.

The title of the book should have been- “We’re Fucked. Now What?” But hey, political correctness and marketing norms, right?

Remember Abby Hoffman’s “Steal This Book” ?

So yeah, things around here are going well. Thanksgiving dinner was great. I’ve got the Christmas lights up.

Daughter has booked her flight out here and back. She’ll be here for three weeks. We plan on doing a lot of hiking. It will be good times.

Highs in the low 70’s and bright sunshine make for perfect lying by the pool days. So that’s what I’ve been doing most every afternoon. Lying by the pool listening to NPR. A purposeful life. Indeed.