Time.

This thing isn't getting updated nearly as much as I had originally envisioned it. My grand purpose was to have this blog updated daily with something new that we could all sit back and reflect on and have your mind blown about. Yes, you are completely free to admit it. My articles have completely revolutionized the way you perceive the world. Or not. That's okay too. (You mean the one about toilets wasn't all that fascinating? How dare you...)

But when I came up with an excuse as to why I haven't been updating that often, the one thing that first came to mind was that I just simply don't have enough time. Of course, upon further reflection, I realize that isn't the case at all. And that despite our time being taken up by trivial things every day, we have more time than we possibly know what to do with.

Both Marty and Doc Brown are shocked.

Years ago, when our ancestors were farmers (and not being inbred as to continue a royal succession that continues to this day in parts of the world), they would have to work from sun up to sun down. In today's society, we have the luxury of being bored. We occupy our time with all sorts of distractions but at the end of the day, that's all they are. Distracting us from the fact that we have too much time.

And to top it all off, time is going to kill us all. It's the one thing that will exist long after we're all dead and gone.

I spent a while attempting to understand time. Unfortunately, what I ultimately realized was that despite all of Doc Brown's insistence, time travel is not possible. Then again, they also said that about merging a fork and spoon together and we've all seen how that turned out.

Time is one thing that we really need to take advantage of while we have it. We spend most of our weeks wishing away time so that we can reach the weekend, but those are so many moments that we just want to pass up. Everyone hopes for a job or a life where every moment has meaning, but it seems like for now we'll just have to take advantage of the ones we have. Because really, far too many moments in time are taken for granted each day. Unless you get that time machine working. In which case, shoot me an e-mail.

Electric.

So this afternoon after arriving home from work, I switched the light on in my house, grabbed the remote, turned on the TV, and sat behind my computer. Probably something that most people do when getting home. Yet, the realization never occurs of how complicated all that stuff is.

Electricity has been around forever. People were experiencing it probably since the beginning of time when they'd cuddle up to their wolly mammoth and suddenly experience a static shock. So why did it take several thousand more years until CGI Ben Franklin realized the potential of all this and flew a kite in a thunderstorm?

(The real question is who is that other guy and what the hell is he trying to do?)


The point is that the way we've been able to harness energy is simply fascinating. Trying to picture a world without it harkens back to August of 2003. I remember sitting at home all day long, doing absolutely nothing, before I made the decision to go to bed early as a result of having nothing to do. (And for those of you asking why I didn't just read a book, I don't know how to read.) At any rate, once I came to that decision, the power was restored and I could once again bathe in the cold, harsh rays of florescent lighting. Even so, it made me realize how dependent we all are on electricity and the uninterrupted supply that we currently enjoy.

One of the reasons I decided to start this was recognizing how quick we are to take the enjoyment of something without respecting where it came from. (I learned that idea from Jeff Goldblum in Jurassic Park. This is pretty much the same thing as dinosaurs.) I don't need to know precisely how everything works, but I feel I should at least attempt to realize how difficult all of this is to maintain. A generator needs to process the energy and then deliver it individually to every home and business in the country through a complicated method of wiring and outlets.

The thing that will ultimately be most difficult about this blog is whether or not I will be able to find ways to really make us think about stuff. It could very easily become rather monotonous in tone and offer nothing new. At the very least, I hope that people are looking at this information and recognizing our underlying capacity of amazement. Either that, or finding entertainment in bizarre CGI photos of historic moments.

Such a simple device...

I didn't want to have to get so gross so soon. Truly. I'm just trying to build a base here, and well, a lot of the time, this kind of topic has the ability to ostracize people. Yet, it still exists as a thing that we take for granted and definitely deserves to be categorized as such. I thought about building this up a little more, but who am I kidding? You've already seen the image below and know exactly what I'm about to talk about.

Look at this thing. So unassuming. So bland. And yet, probably one of the things that we'd be least likely to want to give up in the inevitable unlikely event of a complete and total apocalypse. Everywhere you go, there's a bathroom. Even when you go into a store and you really have to go, but all the employees tell you they don't have one...they're lying. They absolutely have a bathroom. They're just hiding it away from your use so that you don't mess it up or do nefarious things in there. They know what you're up to. Don't try to hide it.

But the fact remains that even if they deny you that ability, you won't have to travel far to find one. Somewhere close exists a restroom for you to use. And yet, that's a thought that never really crosses our mind. The fact that in many parts of the world, this is a luxury of the highest order. We can use this machine and completely eradicate any trace of disgust just by pushing a lever. Which doesn't even account for the fact that society is now heading towards a world where levers aren't even necessary. The toilets themselves now take care of that so you don't even have to touch anything. (Which could possibly lead to a future "for granted" of our robot overlords.)

These changes are almost rudimentary but really incredible when you give it some thought. To think the simplicity of a toilet, it easily gets brushed aside our thoughts despite the fact that toilets are probably indispensable to our individual identities. Go ahead. Attempt to picture your life without a toilet and see how much things change for you. They probably will...a lot.

We take too much for granted...

Today I was driving back to work from my lunch break, when I saw this guy standing in the street.



Well, all right. Not that guy specifically. He was actually kind of a schlubby delivery guy with iPod headphones as opposed to an part-Asian model who takes pride in the fact that he holds letters like playing cards.

The point is, it got me thinking. Specifically about how spectacular the postal service is. For all our whining and complaining about their slow delivery and losing mail, we lose sight of the fact that here is an organization who is able to bring a physical object from one place to another in a matter of days. Sometimes, even hours. The concept is so crazy that the guy who invented FedEx got a poor grade on a college paper because his professor didn't believe that a business plan for overnight delivery would be viable.

I'll be the first to admit that I'm not very patient. I hate ordering online half the time because I don't want to wait for it to arrive. When I want something, I want it immediately. But here's where the being taken for granted part kicks in. One hundred years ago, the world just said too bad. You could give it to some guy on a horse and maybe he'd deliver it or maybe he wouldn't. I suppose you could also have trained one of those little pigeon guys to deliver it, but we all know how distracted they get. Your letter to your mistress might get delivered to your wife. Awkward.

The logistics necessary to make this all happen are just incredible. So much organization and trial and error have needed to be done in order to create what is now just an expectation by modern society. Despite the postal service's continuing irrelevance as a daily delivery service, they still provide something awesome that we never really seem to take the time to appreciate.

So that's what this blog is going to become. A (hopefully) daily reminder of all the things that we take for granted and why they are so awesome.