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The History Channel and the National Geographic Channel both have broadcast nearly identically themed programs in the last month or so on the subject of a depopulated Earth.  First came Life After People, then, last week, Aftermath: Population Zero.  Both imagined a world where humans have suddenly disappeared–for any number of reasons, with the understanding that the planet is still habitable for plants and animals–and predicts the eventual demise of all that mankind has created, from the smallest home to the grandest monument. 

Both programs used a chronological, count-up format, beginning in the first hours after humans have disappeared.  Quite suddenly, electrical systems will begin failing, as coal plants deplete their fuel.  Even largely self-sufficient nuclear and hydroelectric systems will go offline as the national grid begins experiencing massive, computer initiated fail-safe blackouts.  But once the diesel backup generators that ensure that spent nuclear material is kept cool in enormous pools shut down, those pools boil over, and radioactive material spreads.  What plants and animals it doesn’t kill, however, do pretty well.  Obviously, pets that cannot get outside are doomed, as are small breeds of dogs which are not naturally suited to survival without humans.  But cats and larger dogs can fend for themselves.  Zoo animals that can escape will adapt, assuming the weather cooperates.  Sea life thrives, as do birds.

Over time, all man-made structures that require constant maintenance will fail, from bridges and towers to houses and skyscrapers.  Essentially, what doesn’t get repainted will rust or rot, and eventually collapse.  After a few decades, cities look more like jungles, with vines and weeds and forests growing on buildings and streets.  After thousands of years it would be difficult to identify even New York City. 

One thing I found amusing in Aftermath: Population Zero was a scene near the beginning, where humans have been absent for weeks, and small wild animals like raccoons have moved into our homes.  A critter is shown foraging for food, and scurries past a box on a kitchen floor.  Thanks to HD technology, we can see that the box contains Boo Berry Cereal.  That’s right: Boo Berry survives mankind.

Yesterday evening I joined Mrs. Hill for a spaghetti dinner at the home of one her Gainesville Roller Rebel teammates.  Patsy Clothesline’s house is up on the northeast side–almost within sight of Steve and Kathleen’s house–and is a very big 1960s ranch with a huge yard.  Her husband was making the biggest pot of pasta I’d ever seen in a non commercial setting.  Lots of the other roller derby girls were there, too, and everyone enjoyed the food, followed by DVD action involving the derby team from Tampa.

I am very happy for Miriam for becoming involved with GRR; these girls are all so nice, everyone’s different and it’s good exercise, to boot.  I can’t wait until they start competing. 

First and foremost, congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. Clay on their nuptials - may they enjoy a long and happy life together.

Our weekend in Ormond Beach for their wedding was full of fun with friends.  We drove down on Friday afternoon, making a detour to Orlando to pick up some skates for Miriam.  Traffic on I-4 was miserable, and I cannot believe that people choose to live in that city.  We arrived at our hotel after dark, starving.  Jeff, Sandi and Burt were still an hour and a half away, but we managed to suppress our hunger until they could join us for dinner at Uno, across from Daytona International Motor Speedway, where they were holding some sort of race this weekend.  In fact, the NASCAR engines were loud, and audible across the entire city.

The room situation at the hotel didn’t turn out exactly as we’d planned.  There were supposed to be two rooms, each with a double bed, plus a fold-out couch.  Alas, there was one king bed in a room, a fold-out couch and a separate folding bed.  Sandi slept on the floor.  It was disappointing to all.  But the view from the eighth floor–they called our room “the penthouse”–was nice, and the Atlantic Ocean was roaring and covered in foam.

It was such a pleasure to see Burt again.  I always have a good time when he’s around, since, even if nothing particularly fun is happening, there’s still plenty to talk about; he knows a lot about every conceivable thing.  I cannot wait until our trip to Chicago.

We had meals together at several local establishments, like the aforementioned Uno, plus the International House of Pancakes, where I struggled to get my money’s worth of all-you-can-eat pancakes.  The morning after the wedding we all convened at Berties for brunch.  The waitress emphasized the long wait, but the food was good.  It was kind of special to see the bride and groom, since, in general, it’s a sign of your status as true friend to have newlyweds spend their honeymoon, in part, with you.  We also did some joy riding on the beach, and spent plenty of time lounging in the room, watching videos on YouTube and looking out at the sea.  I put my feet in the Ocean and Jeff fed seagulls.

The wedding itself was smallish, with mostly family and close friends.  I was asked to be an usher, a job for which I had no previous experience.  But there didn’t seem to be any disasters, so, all’s well.  Kathleen cleverly matched her red sweater to the curtains in the room where the reception was held, and Steve looked like a million bucks in a smart brown suit which I covet.   The music was good, as one would expect from Steve.  Their vows were nice, and the music Kathleen walked down the aisle to was a pretty choice, and a cute arrangement.  There was food aplenty at the reception, and much was made of a painting hanging in the room behind the wedding cake, which was delicious.  The photographers set up a room for guests to take pictures, and we naturally made fools of ourselves.  Steve’s parents are exactly the same as they ever were.  It’s a relief to see something stable in this world.  It was also a pleasure to see Dan and Heather and Shannon and Andrew, whom we call “Shandrew”.

That’s a very basic recapitulation of the weekend.  The photos tell the story as well as I can.  Again, huzzah, Steve and Kathleen!

I won’t lie to you people; I eat a lot of sugar. I suspect sucrose constitutes a substantial portion–if not an outright majority–of my daily caloric intake. An irony I only just acknowledged is that I know almost nothing about sugar production, including the planting, cultivation, refining and processing of cane into the delicious crystals we all know and love. I can think of no other subject so important in my life about which I know so little, outside of the realm of physics (I don’t understand Newton, but I obey the laws of classical mechanics, for example).

But that is all changing now that I am reading Sweetness and Power: The Place of Sugar in Modern History, by Sidney Mintz. I won’t call it a page-turner, since it is an academic book, with copious annotations and dull statistics. But it is informative. For instance, I never gave any thought to it, but up until a couple hundred years ago, sugar constituted a minuscule portion of the average person’s diet, and not long before that, almost no Europeans had ever even tasted it; it was unknown there before 1100. For someone like me, who frequently eats cookies for breakfast, those would, indeed, be dark ages.

I am taking a course on the history of consumption (consumerism, not the disease), and Sweetness and Power is one of our texts. Sugar’s rise from rare “spice” to global commodity was not miraculous, nor without victims. Indeed, sugar’s place in our daily lives probably would not have come to pass had the industry that brought it to all corners of the world not relied so heavily on slave labor for long. By the time human bondage was ended in the Caribbean, sugar had so endeared itself to us, that its place on our tables and in our recipes was secure.

I am looking forward to learning more about our shift from a society in which the gap between production and consumption was nonexistent, to a society in which we are entirely divorced from production of goods. That phenomenon is compounded in the United States by our gaping trade deficit:  so few products are manufactured in America.  I also wonder if we’ll explore a theory of mine, which is that we consumers no longer drive production for many goods, but that we simply buy what producers make us.

Meanwhile, I am going to go enjoy some…

First, let me say that right now it is very, very cold outside. It’s not yet eight o’clock at night and it’s literally freezing outside, and will get to 20° before dawn. This is the first real freeze we’ve had so far this winter, which has been surprisingly mild so far. Whereas in previous years our heater has seen considerable action by the first week of January, I think we’ve used it only once before the present cold snap. And I don’t regret that it has been thus. My cold tolerance has decreased since we’ve lived in this ice box we call home. I especially dislike how painfully frigid the water from the tap is. And, oh, how we need new windows!

I am one of the few people, as far as I can tell, who prefers Hungry Howie’s for my pizza needs. This evening I ordered pizza, as I have done several times recently. It costs more, of course, than making it at home, but, obviously, it tastes better, and for less than $7 I get two meals. On my last two visits, however, my local Howie’s has found a way to botch my order. Last week I called and specifically requested my pizza be made with garlic crust, NOT garlic-herb, a new flavor I saw listed in the shop. Naturally, when I opened the box I saw herbs with my garlic. So I had to wait while they made me a new pie. No big deal, mistakes happen. But tonight I went in to pick up my order–same as last time–and a calamity: they had given my pizza to the person who had just walked out, and, again, I’d have to wait while they made me a new pizza. So I take the opportunity to run up the street to Publix and when I arrived back at Hungry Howie’s they had again sold the re-made pizza to the person who had just left. They seemed genuinely embarrassed about it, though, and a few of the staff were congregated at the counter discussing what had gone so wrong. But, in the end I walked out with two large pizzas for the price of none. Regretfully, they let me know that regular garlic crust is being discontinued in favor of garlic-herb. So, another victory for Big Vegetable.

Finally, I uploaded a gallery of photos from last weekend’s visit by Jeff and Sandi, and our dinner out with Steve and Kathleen for trivia night at Kazbor’s. I don’t think anyone really enjoyed it as much as I did, but what are you going to do? It was good fun, still, to go watch episodes of Flight of the Conchords at Steve’s house. Huzzah, fun.