The Great Works

We know that at some point the sun will go supernova and destroy the Earth.  Our planet and everything on it is not permanent, and will be completely vaporized some day.  Whenever I’m reminded of this, my next thought is what about Shakespeare?

Gone.  I have the complete works in little blue hardcover books.  That will be gone.  Every version, hard copy and digital, will be gone.

One thought is how to preserve these works and other great works.  Shakespeare is not my favorite, but I do like him, and regardless of where he sits on my personal list, his work should be saved.  Now that I’m sitting here writing this I assume we could just send a digital file of all of the works of humanity into space and let that be the end of that.

But the second point, and the more important point, is that these works have value here and now.

On a related tangent, I remember the day my 84 year old father had just come home from knee surgery.  I wondered if he he given up on humanity yet?  At what point in a person’s life is it appropriate to stop caring about the fate of his fellow man?  As we sat there around his bed, my step mother told us a story that a college professor friend of hers had a class where not only had none of the students read Shakespeare, they’d never even heard of him.  College students.  It was at that point I personally gave up on humanity.  But my belief in human achievement remains strong, maybe stronger. 

Humanity has done many great things.  I think they are worth preserving beyond the existence of earth.

Cancer at Work

 I work in a big office building on Park Avenue.  There is a Captivate screen in the elevator.  It displays little pieces of news and of course, ads.  Why else would it be there?

So I have to watch ads on the elevator at work.

One of the ads says that we should be supportive of people who have cancer.

We need an ad for that?

There’s people that when they find out a co worker has cancer say, “Fuck that guy.  He has cancer?”

I don’t understand any of this.  

Lucifer’s Hammer By Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle

Published in 1977, it is dated as hell.  That’s really what makes it fun — no cell phones or internet.  

It reminded me of The Stand, as it starts with a large cast which over the course of the plot wind up in one of two camps.  

The authors take their time to develop this cast of characters and enough time regarding the scientific stuff to make that interesting.

Then it is all out adventure.

If you’ve ever spent time wondering about what it would be like living in a post apocalyptic world, this is the book for you.

On the down side, the good guys are white and the bad guys are black.  There is a very important black character on the good guys side, and the bad guys do have their share of whites.  I fear a careless reading would make one believe the authors are racist.  I’d love to discuss this with other readers if the chance ever arose.

Definitely a fun, vintage, sci-fi read, if that’s what you’re into.  

Ojo

 Why does the Spanish word ojo sound obscene?  Especially in the context of, “My ojo hurts?”