visions of the future

I could follow this cat into dreamland.

Our “hospital at home” program is almost finished. They’re trying to clear up a urinary tract infection that has proved to be stubborn. So the visiting nurse has come and gone, after administering two antibiotics, and we are fruitlessly trying to get a refill of Patty’s prescription (can’t breathe without it!). They like to keep you on hold for half an hour and then disconnect you.

Then there’s the operation on the colon cancer, toward the end of February. I hope it’s not toward the end of me.

Oh, I pray we have a quiet afternoon! We have another nurse at suppertime, assorted couriers, and calls from doctors and administrators somewhere in Dallas, TX (don’t ask).

When I was a boy, to talk on a TV screen with someone a thousand miles away, live, was the stuff of science fiction–all very Star Trek. I can’t get over how much of it is now part of day-to-day reality that everybody takes for granted.

Holy cow, man–you made it to the future!

When most people put Mentos candy into a bottle of soda, as seen in this video, they get a kind of eruption. But my friend Mr. Frothee, when he does it, gets visions of the future. Like these.

*America now has a “social credit system,” like China’s. You gain points for doing and saying things the government approves of; and then you’re allowed to do things like buy food, ride the bus, or replace broken shoelaces. If your social credit rating goes down, you lose your privileges.

*Every four years, Emperor Michael Bloomberg appoints the president and members of Congress. He has spent $20 billion to amend the Constitution to this extent. “But it was worth it,” he says.

*Three out of five Americans now live in collective community residences. (“These are not nice places,” says Mr. Frothee.) Your social credit rating determines how often you will be allowed to go outside. Undercover privacy inspectors are always on hand to make sure you have no privacy.

Mr. Frothee does not enjoy being clairvoyant. “It kind of gets to you, after a while,” he says. “My only comfort is the fact that I’m certifiably crazy and these visions don’t have any chance of coming true.”