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Do you know how to light a lantern? How to keep one lit? Do you even have a lantern?

A musing inspired by the recent extreme weather on the East Coast: Earlier I made fun of those people who were angry because the ground would not spout gas after the power went out. This has led to some reflection on my part, though. We live in a time of magic. We have grown up in a time of magic, so much so that many of us take our environments for granted. We push a button. Water spouts into a fountain. We push another button. Invisible waves heat our leftovers. We enter a dark room. We flick the switch. We then start moving a little plastic curvy thing around to get to this mysterious thing called Itunes.

Here’s the question for readers: The power goes out. Really out. The zombies have made repairs impossible. What do you do then? Having a generator is obviously a good plan but that generator is only buying time for awhile, keeping the magic alive through another piece of magic called a generator.

How many of the daily devices that populate your life do you actually understand? Obviously it’s not practicable to try to learn how to construct all of the electric/electronic genies that grant our daily wishes, but I would suggest that a little time in the library or bookstore might be a good idea. Too much magic is not necessarily healthy — and it’s all magic until you understand the mechanisms under the surface.

Why are there so many words on this word search?

Wayyyrrzzurrr zzohmnee wuhrrzznn zihhwurr zzurrnghzh?

It’s sad that we never got to see the episode in which the Enterprise traveled back in time to a year not much later than our own(?). What we know from other time travelers: Uhura immediately recognized that large portions of the Earth’s population were speaking zombie. She then convinced Kirk to slingshot further back in time to prevent the apocalypse. No reliable reports are available as to exact details of what happened next, but we can reasonably surmise that Kirk kidnapped the small group of scientists responsible for the Apocalypse Virus, recognizing that their efforts to breed the virus were in violation of the Prime Directive. Or in violation of something anyway. Knowing Kirk as we do, we might guess that he realized that the zombie apocalypse was not the intended fate of mankind, but an unexpected aberration in the time stream, requiring that the Enterprise alter the future which, of course, required the Enterprise alter the past.

Kirk must have been quite busy for awhile. Did it work out? It’s impossible to say. We may be living in a post-Enterprise universe in which Kirk has already taken those misguided scientists away. Or we may be on the wrong side of the timeline, still waiting for the day when Uhura first hears the slurred utterances of our undead companions.

If we didn’t survive the apocalypse, though, how do we even know about the existence of Lieutenant Uhura, the woman who saved humankind?

Time travel’s tricky stuff.

I am pretty sure I can get a job as a proofreader at Yahoo.

Ahhmmm buuhhrdeezzhhuhrr ahhgahguhuh dahhbbzz broorreeddurhdd Yawooh.

Never go near large, blue waste containers. 

There are two possibilities: The man in the blue container thought of this. If so, he’s probably a protozombie and does not have much time left. His friends are most likely in about the same shape. A more intriguing possibility is that his friends decided to use public waste management services to dispose of their former friend. This idea might have some potential if we could find a way to keep the container upright. Could a zombie climb out of a large, blue waste container? Maybe not. If we just made these blue plastic boxes a little taller, we could ensure that no zombie could climb out. Once this zombie knocks the can over, though, he will be able to slither out.

I see an entrepreneurial opportunity for the man or woman who creates the cradles needed to keep the waste containers upright. Other related opportunities include truck incineration systems to insure that no zombies drag themselves out of the garbage truck, since mashing may be inadequate for our purposes. A large market will obviously exist for protective gear for waste management personnel.

Like cars that run on hydrogen, this is an idea whose time has come. Also like those hydrogen cars, this is an idea whose time may go whizzing right by. Just as the hydrogen car stagnates, waiting for hydrogen stations, the zombie waste management system may go undeveloped waiting for zombies.

Will we have the foresight to enter this market in time?

I was surprised to discover Buffy was real. Who knew there were actually vampire slayers?

Ahhzz brahhzzdddduhzguhvuur (B)uhhvvveezzz reel. ooohhhnoohhzzuhhrr ahglee ahhbayrrzzullayerrs?

It was way too close. I was on my way to work, not really thinking about the threat. Humans hardly do think about the threat until it is upon them. Even then, as soon as the immediate danger passes, they may start reflecting upon where they will go to get that beer or piece of cheesecake to drive the recent attack from their mind. As a race, we seem to have a lot of difficulty focusing. I note that the day after the Obama/Romney election, Yahoo had reverted to headlining Cameron Diaz’s spiffy dress. That’s us.

But I’m walking into school when suddenly I’m grabbed from behind. The damage looks bad in the picture but it’s pretty much just jagged fingerbones ripping through my respectable, gray shirt. I wrenched away and started to run, but he/it grabbed my knee and again I had to force my way out of  that bony grip. I was lucky. This guy had obviously been dead a long while. His reach exceeded his grasp.

I’m sorry to say the high school’s a total loss. Oh, they look OK. They can pass for your average adolescents and they are pretending to eat the Uncrustables for breakfast and the pizza for lunch. But I can see below the surface. It won’t be long before they fully convert. I’m staying for now, though. Someone has to keep the world posted.