Making It Up As I Go Along #391

Unicorn Prowlers
Great headlights of sun illuminate the darkness to a point of daylight. Shadows abound, birds rouse from their nests early, and raccoons scamper back to their lair.

Oops, it’s simply a car passing.

New headlights are advertised on TV now. Headlights that allow you to see so much more. And I’ve seen some of these things on the road. One of the things the ads don’t show you being able to see is the whites of the eyes of blinded oncoming drivers.

The way around the constant flicker from low beam to high beam... install sun beams. Why is this not illegal?

It shows the lack of common sense in today’s society. Where we need to spell everything out, and if we don’t, it’s our fault for not rather than their fault for not cluing in. For instance... soon after the law hit Ontario banning driving and talking on the cell phone at the same time, people had to specify driving and texting shouldn’t be done either. You’d think if we’re told not to hold a cell phone to your ear and talk, it goes without saying you shouldn’t look down at it and type as you drive.

Texting, for a short time, was a way around not being able to use your phone while driving. These halogen lamp headlights are a way around the high beam issue. “Cop tell me not to drive with my high beams on, I’ll show him... these ain’t no high beams!”

So now we can spot unicorns in the woods (so TV tells us). Talking unicorns!

Perhaps we don’t need to see so well at night that mythical beasts become reality. And what of the expression, “caught like a deer in the headlights”? Will driving around with halogen headlights cause all deer to remain motionless... blinded for hours... in the middle of our night time roads? Blinded deer statues propped up in the middle of the highway... an obstacle course of deer.

Flocks of birds must bounce of the windshields of halogen lit cars like some sort of living hail. Hail the size of golf balls? Try the size, and shape, of sparrows, finches, and robins all crashing into the car the way they do lit sky scrapers in the downtown core.

I guess, at this point in the game, it’s good for the small percentage of the population who drives around with the sun beams. The get to see as if driving by day, and it’s only a small part of society that has to endure the flash of blindness. You could even set up watches and post alerts on the news... Halogen lit car traveling eastward on highway 417, last seen at the Vanier exit ramp! Other drivers could change their route to avoid it as if avoiding rush hour traffic. But imagine if we all switch to halogen lights. Thousands of bird carcases, statuesque deer, confused unicorns, and a multitude of cars dropped into ditches or wrapped around trees. All as a result of headlight blindness.

For the religious amongst us, when you’re out driving at night and you think you must have died... for the love of God, DON’T go towards the light! It’s likely not the path to heaven... but just some guy who recently made a purchase at Canadian Tire... out on the prowl for Unicorns


THURSDAY...
— Long day thanks to bad sleep. I fell asleep around 10:45 last night... woke at 12:30... lay awake until 2:30... TV until 3:15... back to bed for another hour before the alarm for work.
— Make it through things better than I thought I would. Still, a general feeling of unsettlement in and around the office these days. It slowly drains.

FRIDAY...
— Busy day. Some very busy times and some quiet time near the end of shift. Out to supper from work... my first go of Vietnamese food. Good stuff.
— Home for some TV afterwards... very tired but staying up until around 2:00 to try to get set for night shift.

SATURDAY...
— Alone at work on a quiet Saturday night.

SUNDAY...
— Slept until 1:30. That’s late for me, even coming off night shift. Still fighting this cold/flu thing. A scratchy throat has got a cough on the go for the last two or three days. So tired of this... three weeks of feeling under the weather. But it’s not uncommon, many people have the month long virus.

MONDAY...
— When I get home from work I’m feeling like the sickness is just about out of me. Sleep for four hours or so and then catch up on the Sunday TV... bless PVRs. Geoff arrives in the evening and we hang out some before he hits the hay. Another round of the Keg is coming tomorrow.

TUESDAY...
— Laundry by day... steak by night. Meet Geoff at the Keg and have a great meal. Then home, stuffed and lounging in front of the tube watching the new nature program on Discovery, “Life”.

WEDNESDAY...
— Bowling is fun. Lucky comeback for me in the second game and I get the high score after being 5th through six frames. But it’s good with Jamie, Annick, Julia, and Tom as a team.
— Walk tonight. Hour and fifteen minutes. Need to do more of this stuff.