How will you die?

I recently read an interesting article that asked "How will you die"?  It sounds like a rather morbid topic, but if you think about it, it's a legitimate question.  Hopefully none of us have received a medical diagnosis giving us X months to live, therefore we likely just don't know.  

I suppose if you're a base jumper or a wing-suit flyer a "wardrobe malfunction" or a slight miscalculation could result in your untimely demise.  If you're a gang member, especially in a place like Chicago or St Louis, you might die in a violent shooting.  And it isn't hard to imagine a top member of the Trump administration being bludgeoned to death in prison.  But I doubt many of us fall into any of those categories.  So, what do you think will get you?  Stepping on a rusty nail?  Choking on a chicken bone?

For myself....hmmmm.  There was once a time in my life a chance I might have fallen off a cliff, or walked into an airplane propeller or been sucked into a jet engine, but those days are now mostly behind me.  I do drive daily in Dallas' insane traffic, so I suppose it's possible that might do me in some day.  I'm very careful with my firearms, so I doubt I'll pop a cap in m'self.

I have heart arrhythmia, but my pacemaker is ticking away like one of John Cameron Swayze's old Timex watches....no problem.  Otherwise my heart and all associated plumbing are in good shape.  I don't smoke, and I'm told my lungs are better than great.  I rarely drink, so I'm guessing my liver is safe, and my kidneys seem to be working as advertised, too.

No, I think some freak viral pandemic will eventually get me.  I had (past tense) a super strong, aggressive immune system, which oddly enough caused problems of its own, so I'm now taking meds to slow it down.  Now I'll probably be attacked by a flock of wayward mosquitoes carrying some deadly virus, or stung by that herd of killer ants making their way up from Mexico.  (All together now...."BUILD...THAT...WALL!  BUILD...THAT...WALL!")  *snort*

Maybe those crazy birds from Asia will find me here in Dallas and dump a load of their infected poop on me.  I really have no idea, but with my luck, it will likely be something weird that turns me into fertilizer.

How about you?  Venture a guess?

S

I think we've done this to ourselves

I think everyone in the US would agree that weather patterns the past decade or so have been totally off the charts.  Right now, for example, wildfires are burning in the Pacific Northwest, and the only reason much of the rest of he country isn't on fire, too, is because it's already burned up.

This has so far been the hottest year since records have been kept, and it's also the driest, with 63% of our land mass experiencing drought conditions, hence the wildfires.  And if you watch the news, it seems like the other 37% is flooding.  Things are just completely upside down.

Want more proof the end is near?  The official NOAA forecast for Dallas over the next five days calls for a 30-50% chance of rain every day, with the high temperatures in the upper 80's.  Pinch me!  

And now we have an invasion, caused by an abnormal amount of rain earlier in the year, of mosquitoes carrying West Nile Virus.  It's become so bad in Dallas County (I'm in Collin County, north of Dallas) that they have brought in a private air force to fog the area with an insecticide that will kill the nasty little buggers.  Now if there are any more mysterious deaths the medical examiner will have to decide if it's from the WNV or from ingesting the insecticide that is supposed to kill the WNV.  (Better living through chemistry!)

OK, now follow closely:  Very unexpectedly, scientists have found that the amount of carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere in the US has fallen dramatically to its lowest level in 20 years.  That's good, right?

Hmmmm....I'm wondering if maybe our atmosphere has undergone some sort of evolutionary change and has actually become used to CO2, so taking 20% of it out has actually pissed off the atmosphere, and now it's retaliating.  Maybe all these droughts and fires and floods and mosquitoes are just the consequence of a cleaner atmosphere.

Maybe its time we park all those Prius's and plug-ins and pull the covers off our beloved big block Chevy's.  Let's muck things up a little!  Fresh air is SO overrated.  ;)

S