Autocrats & Oxymorons

Wouldn't it be great if you could move through time? (Yes, I know we're moving through time right now--wiseass!) I mean faster than normal! Wouldn't it be great to see how things turn out?

I had a notion--that I can't remember--about inventing a time machine just out of spite. "Oh yeah? I'll show you; I'll create a time machine and then we'll see who's nuts!!" Or something like that. Boy I wish I could remember!

(Maybe I invented a time machine in the future, came back in time and erased my memory of inventing it. The future was so horrible, I had to be prevented from inventing it! Yeah that's it!)

But the other half of the notion was about the great uses of the time machine. Most stories about time travel have someone going back to learn about the best stocks, gambling wins, lottery numbers and the like. I wouldn't do that! (Yeah, right)

I'd love to go back in time and see how the surrounding region was different, to compare past and present. What was Arizona like, say, 200 years ago? No traffic jams on Rt.101 North, no opulent homes dotting Camelback Mountain, no glitzey casinos--desert and shrub brush as far as the eye can see. Sounds great to me.

With my luck, I'd be attacked and devoured by a mountain lion. Or a giant prehistoric squirrel. They had those 200 years ago didn't they? "The Squirrel Age" I believe it was called. Yep, Arizona was a peculiar place.

Almost as peculiar as it is now.

I have been cautioned to talk but be careful not to say anything. I do not consider this a difficult task. -- Mark Twain