I Was Just Thinking: Vehicle Light Bulbs, Progress and Mark Twain

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May I share with you an example of how far technology can take us and how utterly ridiculous it can be?  When I bought my pretentious, small Chevrolet pickup truck — back in the last century — it had already been running for six years to which I’ve added twenty more! I call it pretentious because it’s listed as a crew cab — meaning it has two tiny, folding, uncomfortable seats behind the two regulation ones.

I figured I was still capable of doing minor — and some of the major — repair and maintenance, so I bought the mechanic’s manual for it. It was about 100,000 miles later when one of two lights that shine on the instrument panel burned out. The other one was sufficient until it, too, ceased illuminating. Time to consult the manual.

The instruments are located in a recessed box in the dashboard and the lights are located outside the box. When I read the instructions on replacement of those lights, the first thing it said was “First remove the dashboard.”  I knew I was in deeper than I wanted to be, so I drove to the dealership and asked the man at the counter if he could give me an estimate on the cost of doing the job. 

He pulled out a large book which estimates how long a specific job is normally expected to take and — after jotting down a number of figures — told me that is would cost around $500.Five hundred dollars to replace two stinkin’ little light bulbs? Besides, many of us know from experience that an estimate of $500 often means closer to $600, but what’s the alternative? I don’t blame the mechanic, but have had bad thoughts about the designer ever since.

My first thought was to try to find a baseball cap with a flashlight mounted on the bill that I remember seeing in one of those catalogs of useless junk which seem to appear in my mailbox, but I haven’t been successful. So, I see two other options: 1) hold a small LED flashlight between my teeth or 2) don’t drive at night (which shouldn’t be much of a problem since it’s been a year or more since my last “night driving” following a concert in Corbet Theater on the Centralia College campus).

Then, as the mind wanders, my thoughts turned to the book by Aldous Huxley, “Brave New World.”  When it was published in 1932 it was considered too negative to be anything but fiction, but have you read it again recently? Probably not. I’ll confess I haven’t, but it’s now on my bucket list. It’ll certainly provide enough comparisons with modern day living to fill at least one column.

With the rapid rate technology is now advancing, how many years will it be before we have to look at a handheld device to tell us when to perform a bodily function? An exaggeration, of course, but actually I think that by then, we won’t have to hold any external device because everything needed to control our lives will be on a chip implanted in our brain at birth. I won’t be around to see it happen, but I wouldn’t bet against my children seeing hints of it in their lifetimes.

Enough of that. On the very day that the Washington State Supreme Court handed down its’decision declaring that the death penalty is illegal, I came across Mark Twain’s thoughts on the subject. The quote comes from “Mark Twain’s Notebook:”



“All crimes should be punished with humiliations  —lifelong public exposure in ridiculous & grotesque situations — & never in any other ways.  Death/gallows makes a hero of the victim, & he is envied by some spectators & by the imitated,” Twain wrote.

“Hanging is not based on knowledge of human nature,” he continued. “When (sic) death penalty was instituted, revenge was the object, & passionate quick revenge.  But now when our object is deterrant, (sic) not  punative (sic), the death penalty is an anachronism & is irrational & ridiculous. It is the opposite of a deterrent, often.”

Twain’s punctuation and spelling may not be up to today’s standards but his feelings certainly were, although I disagree with his belief that humiliation and ridicule will solve any problems. I just think such action would only increase the resentment against society.

 

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Bill Moeller is a former entertainer, mayor, bookstore owner, city council member, paratrooper and pilot living in Centralia. He can be reached at bookmaven321@comcast.net.