Global Moistening

And feeling it too. I feel as if the moisture is slowly penetrating me—I know, I know, in reality I'm moister inside than out, but it's an impression—and that after a few more days I'll be able to take a butter knife and carve myself up into slices, like a block of tofu. Then again, maybe how I feel is like meat cooked for a long time in moist heat. You could take a fork, no knife at all, and take me apart. "Look at that!" people would say. "It just falls right off the bone!"

This makes me think about the tropics. What if the whole world becomes tropical sometime soon? This will be a problem. Aristotle said that the temperate regions tended to produce great civilizations, since they were more refreshing and stimulating. Later scholars scolded him for this, since there actually have been great civilizations that arose in tropical regions. Aristotle just didn't know about them, which you can hardly blame him for. Plus which, I think he was just like me—when it was hot and sticky he probably sat around feeling miserable, and assumed everyone else did. You don't feel like founding a great civilization when you're like that; you don't feel like doing much of anything. Some bright, shining day, people will come to install central air in my house, and when they get done installing it they'll ask me how I want it set, and I'll say, "Norway."