As I drove to work a couple of days ago, only mildly irritated at the rush hour traffic, I started thinking about the incredible diversity of all those people. That the cars keep moving at all is a wonder in itself. Hundreds of individuals as different as finger prints all moving in a controlled and somewhat chaotic dance to as many destinations. All of those brain cells firing at the same time, thousands of thoughts ebbing and flowing in the course of a few miles. Amazing. So many singularities expressing their individuality in everything from what they drive to how they drive. It made me think of that Mission Impossible movie where the lead actor, who is really a spy but has a cover as a transportation specialist, is at a party and tells one of the guests that traffic is like a living organism and can be predictable depending on the overall stimulus that it’s subjected to. At least I think that’s how it went. Kind of like a “hive mind”, I suppose. For anyone that drives in traffic I’m sure one would agree that you can just feel what is happening and can almost communicate without any physical cues.
As we moved along I started to notice more than just the cars themselves. There were all manner of bumper stickers, everything from political statements to school logos to espousals of love for one’s wife. You have to wonder what motivates someone to put a particular sticker on their car. Aside from the obvious that the person wants to be heard, I started thinking about that particular person’s life and what brought them to say definitively “Coexist” where the letters are all stylized religious or cultural symbols. I think in all of my life I’ve only had one bumper sticker on a vehicle that I drove, Love Your Mother with a symbol of the earth at the end. To me it was just a simple way to say “take care of this planet we live on, it’s the only one we have”. Of course that was long before it was popular to see something like that as a pagan imperative to worship gaia, some primal Greek goddess that embodies earth. If I could have seen that coming there’s no way that sticker would have made it to my bumper. It wasn’t just the stickers though. License plates of a large variety graced many of the cars. Some advocating for helping schools, others with duck stamps or images of field and stream, the ever present university tags, farmers, retired military, reserve military, veterans of foreign wars and the personalized alpha numerics like “LITIG8R” or “MS TUTU” or “POOTIE”. Have you ever noticed the Toyota symbol on the back of that type car when they are turned upside down? It’s pretty suggestive.
Though there seems to have always been stickers in the rear windows of cars, I’ve noticed more and more the last couple of years that lots of women feel compelled to put their monograms back there. I really don’t get that. Maybe that’s what one does when you don’t really have a political or cultural statement to make but still want to personalize your ride in some way. Possibly a “herd mentality” that mandates a need to get in there with something. There are lots of Buck marks, big deer antlers with a note saying “size matters”, pink John Deere logos, Calvin peeing on some other brand of car or truck, stickers advocating some web site. Like the one I saw in town the other day that advertised “PickaStateParanormalResearch.Com”. The ones I like best though are the “In Loving Memory” ones. Gone but we still love you and miss you and you are not forgotten. After seeing so many lewd Calvin stickers, it kind of blew me away the first time I saw one where he was kneeling at a cross. Calvin was a brat at times but all things considered, he was pretty good kid with a highly active imagination. Somehow, the kneeling at the cross one seemed more appropriate to me.
You know, I suppose all of those labels mean something to these people. I wonder if it can be expressed in how I felt when seeing the Tattoo person or the Piercing Saved My Life person. Did these folks pursue those courses because they needed a way to express how they felt about life? Were they so disillusioned by what the largest part of society said was correct that they followed a path less travelled, standing there in the world’s face with a pride that says I did it my way? Hoping that someone will see through it all and in this wide world will notice that they are alive, intelligent and have some purpose and value in life? It’s easy to see how anyone can get to a place where they feel so ignored and outcast that when promised hope and change it’s like cool water in a dry land. Maybe they had a lonely or misunderstood period in life when what they now advocate was all they had to hang onto. Surely all of these people have some reason for taking a stand on whatever issues they so openly offer for others to think on.
As my drive came close to the end, I noticed one last window label on a pick-up truck ahead of me. At first I couldn’t make out what it said and thought “Yeah, it’s got a hemi” or “Can Ya Hemi Now?” but as I drew near, I realized it said Lonesome Highway Man. When I got closer I could see that he was a big fellow with a beard and he was wearing a baseball cap. He didn’t seem to be dejected or sad, just a guy on his way to some place. I wondered what his story was. Did he travel a lot of back roads? Was he forever driving to far off places, never able to be at home? Did he have a family that he wanted to be with? Maybe he was always on the road and didn’t have time for a life outside of the drive. Maybe he had accepted his life and decided to live it in peace, recognizing it for what it is and who he is. Maybe the man was just as content as he could be with his own company. As I drove on past, I figured it’s possible that he knows his name and is ok with it.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Chemistry Lesson
Lately, I’ve noticed more big trucks running up and down the interstate. Most of the time, it’s your standard box trailers with a company logo on the side but I’ve also seen flat beds with all manner of cargo being transported to who knows where. Wide sheets of steel, pipe, machinery, military equipment, you name it. Though the big rigs can be an inconvenience, I’m actually happy to see them out there. It says to me that the economy is still moving. It tells me that interstate commerce is alive and that’s a good thing. What caught my eye the other day was a truck hauling carbon monoxide gas. Now I’ve seen those tanks with oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, helium, etc., labeled on the side but never carbon monoxide. It seemed really odd to me. What earthly purpose could this gas have in industry that would require it to be produced and transported? As far as I knew, it was nothing more than a poisonous gas that had no purpose and was to be avoided if at all possible. The thing stuck with me the whole day though and piqued my curiosity enough to do a little research.
After searching the web for a while, it occurred to me just how little I knew about chemistry. I have never had any formal education in the subject but felt that I knew enough to be at least a little conversant in this area. I’ve always had an affinity for science subjects but my interests were geared more toward earth science and astronomy. Of course I’m not an expert in those areas either but I have studied some and am curious in those regards. Looking back on my life, if I had chosen a career field in the sciences, I believe that I would have enjoyed volcanology. It’s mountainous, of course.
The first place I looked for information about carbon monoxide was Wikipedia. I quickly realized that I needed more basic information about the chemical structure of things to understand just what the article was trying to tell me. This led me to a site that is geared mostly toward children and explains the periodic table of elements. It was actually a sort of two edged sword as on the one hand it reaffirmed how inadequate my knowledge base is in the subject but on the other hand gave me a sort of elation to know that there are very young people out there who are studying chemistry. It made me feel confident that difficult technical matters are not being abandoned by our youth and that brings promise for a brighter future. Anyway, it didn’t take long to understand that carbon monoxide is not a basic element in the periodic table sense but is actually a compound made up of one atom of carbon and one of oxygen. Though it occurs naturally in some ways, this natural occurrence seems insignificant in the larger scheme of things. It exists primarily due to the partial oxidation of carbon containing compounds. The interesting part is how it is produced by chemical manufacturing processes and its ultimate uses in our world.
This understanding that the stuff is dangerous to humans and animals has been around for a long time. The Greeks and Romans used it to execute people. The Nazis used it to euthanize people. During times when gasoline was in short supply, it has been used to fuel automobiles and is currently used to convert coal and biomass to diesel fuel. Though there are some absolutely nefarious applications for it, there are also some relatively benign uses as well. Take the creation of acetic acid, for instance. Plastic water bottles, photographic film, wood glue, synthetic fibers and fabrics are all by products of acetic acid and a result of carbon monoxide manipulation. This same acid, when diluted, is a common household product. Think vinegar. One thing that surprised and disturbed me a bit was the use of carbon monoxide to enhance the red color of meat we buy in the grocery store. Apparently, it keeps the red color longer so we mere mortals are enticed to believe that it is fresh. Food producers use this type of processing in many of the products we consume, like fruits and vegetable, pasta, cheese, ready to eat meals, seafood, etc. They call this MAP or Modified Atmosphere Packaging. Ever wonder why some of those packages of meat in the store have that puffy clear wrap on them?
It is truly amazing to me how little we know about the world we live in. Life on planet earth seems so “every day” on the face of it. Little do we realize how complex our existence is. Something that we all know can be dangerous but at the same time is as innocuous as carbon monoxide has so much impact in our daily living. It just leads me to believe that I am actually very ignorant of my surroundings. It takes me to the modern adage “question authority” and speaks to me of the need to understand that there is more to my existence than meets the eye.
After searching the web for a while, it occurred to me just how little I knew about chemistry. I have never had any formal education in the subject but felt that I knew enough to be at least a little conversant in this area. I’ve always had an affinity for science subjects but my interests were geared more toward earth science and astronomy. Of course I’m not an expert in those areas either but I have studied some and am curious in those regards. Looking back on my life, if I had chosen a career field in the sciences, I believe that I would have enjoyed volcanology. It’s mountainous, of course.
The first place I looked for information about carbon monoxide was Wikipedia. I quickly realized that I needed more basic information about the chemical structure of things to understand just what the article was trying to tell me. This led me to a site that is geared mostly toward children and explains the periodic table of elements. It was actually a sort of two edged sword as on the one hand it reaffirmed how inadequate my knowledge base is in the subject but on the other hand gave me a sort of elation to know that there are very young people out there who are studying chemistry. It made me feel confident that difficult technical matters are not being abandoned by our youth and that brings promise for a brighter future. Anyway, it didn’t take long to understand that carbon monoxide is not a basic element in the periodic table sense but is actually a compound made up of one atom of carbon and one of oxygen. Though it occurs naturally in some ways, this natural occurrence seems insignificant in the larger scheme of things. It exists primarily due to the partial oxidation of carbon containing compounds. The interesting part is how it is produced by chemical manufacturing processes and its ultimate uses in our world.
This understanding that the stuff is dangerous to humans and animals has been around for a long time. The Greeks and Romans used it to execute people. The Nazis used it to euthanize people. During times when gasoline was in short supply, it has been used to fuel automobiles and is currently used to convert coal and biomass to diesel fuel. Though there are some absolutely nefarious applications for it, there are also some relatively benign uses as well. Take the creation of acetic acid, for instance. Plastic water bottles, photographic film, wood glue, synthetic fibers and fabrics are all by products of acetic acid and a result of carbon monoxide manipulation. This same acid, when diluted, is a common household product. Think vinegar. One thing that surprised and disturbed me a bit was the use of carbon monoxide to enhance the red color of meat we buy in the grocery store. Apparently, it keeps the red color longer so we mere mortals are enticed to believe that it is fresh. Food producers use this type of processing in many of the products we consume, like fruits and vegetable, pasta, cheese, ready to eat meals, seafood, etc. They call this MAP or Modified Atmosphere Packaging. Ever wonder why some of those packages of meat in the store have that puffy clear wrap on them?
It is truly amazing to me how little we know about the world we live in. Life on planet earth seems so “every day” on the face of it. Little do we realize how complex our existence is. Something that we all know can be dangerous but at the same time is as innocuous as carbon monoxide has so much impact in our daily living. It just leads me to believe that I am actually very ignorant of my surroundings. It takes me to the modern adage “question authority” and speaks to me of the need to understand that there is more to my existence than meets the eye.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)