Cav's Place

This post has been sitting in my drafts for a very long time and it’s not about being an open book, but actually about books. The title comes from a question I saw on OkCupid once, which asked where would you choose to place a glass of water if you had to let go of it and the only choices were an open book, a grand piano and a DVD player. I actually felt a little offended by the idea that some, or perhaps many, would choose to place it on the open book. What can I say, I don’t care too much about pianos and see nothing wrong with placing it on the DVD player…

It keeps being said that people read far less now than they did in the past. That’s certainly true, but I’m not sure it means that people have really changed. Since most people make the vast majority of their choices before a certain age and then stick to them for the rest of their lives, the available choices and society’s pressure play a large part in this. The more other options were available to you at the time you made it, the more relevant a choice is. I wonder how many of those who are past a certain age and complain that people don’t read anymore would have still chosen to read themselves if the society they lived in when they were young would have been as it is today.
The reduction of the number of people who choose a certain option is a direct result of increasing the number of options. Books offer both entertainment and information, and presently there are certainly many more means of obtaining either than there were in the past. That’s a good thing, it offers each person a better chance of engaging in the activity they like the most instead of the one they dislike the least. Choosing other means of obtaining information makes perfect sense too, since it is faster to do so and the information obtained through more modern means can also be more recent than the one found in a book, both factors being very important. On the other hand, completely eliminating reading from your leisure activities is a matter of personal choice and it can say something about the person’s character; whether that something is good or bad depends on the kind of people you want around you.
Another cause is the fact that society pressures people towards instant gratification. Reading takes time and that is something many have preciously little of. Society promotes the idea that “time is money” and the desire for more money. It also promotes ambition and the drive for achievement. People are pressured against “wasting” their time on leisure activities instead of using it to take a few more steps in the rat race. This, of course, only makes it all that more relevant when a person still chooses to read for pleasure these days, making a clear statement about their personality.
Saying again, I don’t think people have changed. Many just go with the flow, without thinking or caring, while many others give in after only a brief struggle. The fact that the “flow” changed doesn’t make those who went with it in the past any better than those who do so now. Those who make the choice to go against it now, however… They’re the ones who matter.

But, besides information and entertainment, books offer something else. They offer a starting point for your dreams, your fantasies, that little (or not so little) world inside your head. When you read a book you create the world, the characters and the action inside your mind. Though you are taken through it all, it’s not provided to you as a series of images which you can just sit there and absorb, as is the case of movies. You need to take the words and sentences and put them together over a period of time. And once you have it in your mind, you can expand upon it, use it as a “blueprint” or just as training for your imagination, before working on your own fantasies.
Taking only that into consideration, one could assume that perhaps the imagination of the average human has improved so much that it no longer needs such training. But one look around is enough to prove that assumption wrong. Human imagination did not improve and the fact that it’s being used even less makes it even less likely to do so in the future. That results in less individualism and less detachment from everyday struggles. In turn, that causes more stress, which results in a lot of other problems, less caring for others and the world as a whole and certainly less chance for improvement.
Of course, many people simply aren’t inclined towards being imaginative. They wouldn’t accomplish much if they took that path, so trying to make them to improve that part of themselves is pretty useless at best. It can actually be detrimental to try to make them read, as it happens in school, because they will struggle and get very little, if anything, out of the experience, making them avoid it and any other imaginative endeavors even more in the future. They are who they are and shouldn’t be forced to change unless they try to make others who are different become like them. However, they should be offered other effective means to relieve stress and, especially, incentives to care for others and the world as a whole.
On the other hand, people who are inclined to be imaginative should be encouraged. It could actually be beneficial to have them swim against the tide in the beginning, just so you’ll know they have made a choice and are not just going with the flow, but after a while it should get easier. They should be encouraged and helped, because they’re the ones who can make this world better, and that’s something that’s sorely needed. And since liking to read fiction, especially the kind that isn’t too anchored in “reality”, is a trait these people generally have in common, it might be useful in easily telling them apart from the rest. A decision certainly could not be based solely on this, but it could be a factor.

This was supposed to be about books and ended up being focused way more on several other things, but thinking about reading for pleasure is what started me on this train of thought.
Just make sure not to put hot, wet or dirty things on open books, all right?

Several months ago, an article from ENN made me want to write a post about the water footprint, which is something that even many of those from the Western world who do care about their environmental impact tend to pay little attention to. Another, more recent, article offers more details and does a better job of presenting the scale of the problem.

We use freshwater as if we had an unlimited supply of it, which we obviously don’t, and pollute even what we do have. Not only that, but global warming is also gradually reducing the amount we can gather by traditional means, especially in areas which were relatively arid to begin with. This might not be immediately obvious in the colder areas, where rapidly melting glaciers actually increase the supply of water (and likely cause more frequent floods), but that’s just a temporary situation and as soon as those glaciers will be gone those areas will face extreme shortages.
But humans know they live on a blue planet, which means that water does exist and they only need to make it suitable for drinking. To that end, desalinization plants have been developed and are being used to turn saltwater into freshwater. The process poses health and environmental risks, but why would people worry about that when they need the water, right? Yet another example of human shortsightedness, always looking for ways to produce more instead of using less.

As with most environmental problems, a necessary but not sufficient condition which needs to be met in order to reduce the water footprint of the human race is to drastically reduce the population. But until a noticeable number of people will stop thinking with their gonads we need to look for other methods which could at least buy the world, and us, some time and then hope it’ll be enough for that “awakening” to take place.
One such method would be the implementation of water recycling systems. I believe that small-scale ones would be a better idea, each covering only a small group of buildings or even a single building. If they would be efficient enough, the water could even be reused for drinking, therefore drastically reducing the amount of water taken from the environment once an adequate amount is flowing through each such system. If not, it could at least be used for watering plants and washing, and after washing it could go to the toilet.
But speaking of the efficiency of such systems, it would greatly benefit from the reduction of the number and quantity of harmful substances we use and eventually throw down the drain. Of course, the fact that such systems would benefit from less toxins is only a nice side effect, the main beneficiary being the planet as a whole. The water rendered unusable due to the substances dumped in it also counts for our water footprint!
As for the toilets, those are an issue in themselves. Using freshwater to move waste products through the sewers is very wasteful! I’m sure we are capable of coming up with better methods if we’d only try hard enough. After all, some are already making progress. Yes, it will require drastic changes and will be hard to implement, but that’s what you get for using flawed designs for so long.
If you want something easier to do, I would also point out that a significant amount of water is used for entertainment purposes, such as amusement parks or swimming pools. Those are things we could do without, or at least try to replace freshwater with saltwater where possible. It won’t be a popular idea, but few good ones are.
As for informative endeavors, I’ll skip over the awareness campaigns and ask for detailed studies aimed at determining the exact water footprint of each product and encouraging the use of those which have a relatively low one compared to others of the same type. Besides information, considering the fact that their pockets (or bank accounts) are yet another thing humans think with, the encouragement could and perhaps should also take the form of financial incentives. Taxing products with a high water footprint and using the money to subsidize similar ones with a lower one would go a long way.

I’m aware that the above suggestions deal mainly with what governments and corporations could do. That’s because I am still convinced that anybody who cares to know what are the little things they can do in order to help when it comes to environmental issues already does, and those who don’t care now still won’t care even if you try to tell them one more time.
What most who are interested in reducing the environmental damage they cause do has more to do with what options they feel are within their reach than with their own convictions and desires. I for one find myself in the unpleasant position of wishing to do more about this issue but not having access to effective and reasonable means of doing so.
The existing infrastructure has great impact… But that applies to everything and is a topic for another time.

I’m aware that these changes would cause problems for many people in the immediate future, but I can’t say that I care. Humans need to take responsibility for their own actions and face the consequences.
I’m looking at this from an environmental perspective and know that such changes are required in order for this planet to still support life as we know it. Incidentally, we are also a known life form which resides on Earth and would therefore greatly benefit from the results of these actions in the long run.
This world would be so much better for all the creatures who call it their home if humans would occasionally exhibit at least a part of that intelligence they claim to possess. And if they could also add some genuine concern for things other than their own immediate well-being into the mix, I’m quite sure that a lot of problems would get solved.

I have just noticed that a lot of post numbers have been skipped over the past months. Feel quite bad about it, I liked them to be ordered nicely like that. As it is, it looks like I’ve been deleting a lot of posts. Weird, isn’t it? Hardly writing anymore, but bothered about something as silly as that…
Either way, if anybody else considers this to be an issue and hasn’t stumbled upon a solution yet, I’m trying one. Let’s see if it works.

Took this test quite some time ago and kept meaning to post the result but never got around to it. Seems fair enough, and so does the second result. The description for Fallen Angel is “You have not found your place in this world yet and wander as a lost soul. Your wings have been clipped but you know deep inside they will grow back. You need to fly free and proud. Fallen Angels are spiritual beings who were trapped by flesh, and are now seeking to spread their wings again.”
There’s just one little problem with this, namely that I don’t think I’m an empath… Details…

There is a book fair taking place here these days and I thought I’d go take a look… Didn’t mean to buy anything, that’s a scary prospect for me anyway, though last year I did walk away with something from there. The problem is that I didn’t even look. Walked around once so I won’t say I went there only to leave again, but I hardly even glanced at anything.
That happened because I saw a girl who I thought looked just like Andra waiting at the entrance. Seemed to look just like she did in those pictures she sent me when we talked about a year ago, but with her hair back to its natural color. I was startled to say the least, but since I had just noticed her in passing I meant to turn and take a good look in order to make sure that I was just imagining things. But I didn’t manage to do that because, as I was turning, I noticed out of the corner of my eye that she had turned her head and was staring right at me. Or at least I assume she was staring at me, there was nobody else passing by her at that moment. I didn’t dare to look anymore, I just got myself out of there as fast as I could, short of breath and shaking.
Of course I’m well aware that the chance of that girl actually being Andra is infinitesimal. She’d need to be in Bucharest, which would first require her being in the country again. Then we’d need to somehow happen to be in the same place at the same time. Yes, a book fair would be something she could be interested in, though when we talked she said she hadn’t read anything in quite some time, but it lasts five days so it’s still unlikely to be there at the same time and notice each other as well. Still, since I don’t know anything, the possibility of her being here can’t be completely ruled out, which means that it is at least remotely possible to have passed right by her. The fact that she turned and stared at me doesn’t help either, as that could signify recognition.
Just imagine how much I’ll be beating myself up over this from now on…