News from My Road Trip

Some real news as well

As I reported last week, my wife and I had to go on a brief, but long trip:

https://rayhorvaththesource.substack.com/p/i-will-be-away-for-a-few-days

Let me thank you for your good wishes for the road and for the two kind invitations that I would not have been able to accept, anyway, because I was on a schedule.

My wife and I had to take care of family business. There was no room for diversions, because my wife’s garden needs weeding and watering. It was a day’s drive in both directions and a one-day stay. However, as I mentioned it a few times before, I was feeling very, very tired in the last few weeks, and it turned out I was not feeling well, either. By the time we got back, I slept 42 hours of the next 48, although I couldn’t help posting for June 19th:

https://rayhorvaththesource.substack.com/p/reading-for-june-19th

I am still recovering, which will limit my posting capacity for a little longer, but I’ll be around.

Although I had no internet access, I was able to read e-mails on my eight-year-old cell, which ensured me that Substack authors, with hardly any exceptions, are still regurgitating the same old, which I prefer not to do, anyway:

https://rayhorvaththesource.substack.com/p/topics-i-avoid

Here are a few details from the trip.

The gelatinous splashes are still on the windshield, just like last fall:

Crossing West Virginia and Maryland, the usual rusty highway bridges await the visitor. They occasionally collapse, as it happened recently in Pennsylvania, where trusted authorities made sure at least human remains were eventually recovered from the rubble:

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/philadelphia-bridge-collapse-may-snarl-morning-commutes-northeast-2023-06-12/

WV and MD police are apparently busy handing out speeding tickets, because the highways need constant repair to the extent that you can barely travel more than 50 miles in peace before being informed about “construction ahead,” where “fines are doubled” for exceeding the speed limit. To me, it was somewhat new that besides the usual “radar enforced” warning, there were several “photo enforced” signs as well.

There was no need for “zero tolerance” warnings, because the scheme was clear. The gentle reminder that travelers were in the power and goodwill of various authorities was bluntly and constantly delivered.

The greatest change in the form of the latest technological improvement, however, was waiting for us in the metro area of our arrival.

When I checked my phone for Wi-Fi availability, it turns out that the apartment in which we stayed was surrounded by at least 28 wireless routers, the following abomination among them:

https://www.verizon.com/home/

Out of curiosity, I called up Verizon, and my suspicion proved well-founded. They are selling “Wi-Fi” that works through 5G signals, and they are even proud of it and said to me, “You don’t even need a cable outlet.”

In our humble abode, there are about four Wi-Fi signals (I don’t use Wi-Fi), all of then weak, and even the cell signal strength is mostly one or two out of five (during the two minutes a day, when I turn on our cell to check for messages), so I’m not sure how far that exposure affected my condition. Still, exposure can always be considered among the major threats of today’s technologies. After all, “covid” symptoms incidentally coincide with those of radiation poisoning:

I could hardly wait to get back.

We had a welcome committee in our rear window:

Cardinal mom, sitting on her nest.