(In which I explain its absence with a depressing story, but then lighten the mood at the end)

It’s been what? about two and a half four years since I took this site down, although regular readers know that I’d stopped working on it a long time before that.  Why did I abandon a blog that I started in 2001?  Simple: every time I thought about writing a post I was overcome with dread.

I had spent ten years writing about outrage after outrage, using snark and humor to call a spade a spade.  (Fun fact: did you know that until recently I was actually naive enough to believe that the history of that oft-used phrase involved shovels?  I suppose I should stop using it.)  I did it because I was trying to make the world a better place.  Shut up and stop laughing — I’m serious.

But gradually two things dawned on me:

1.  Nobody remembers anything that happened more than two months ago.
2.  Nobody gives a rat’s ass.  (Now that’s a phrase I’ve got to look up.)

The incident that really drove the point home occurred during Hurricane Katrina.  People were dying of thirst and exposure in one of the most celebrated cities of this powerful, wealthy nation.

One day, a relief station was quickly set up with food, water, and medical help.  Construction equipment was brought in.  The President of the United States himself arrived.  Lots of photos were taken, hands were shaken, etc..  Then the President left.  And as soon as he’d gone and the cameras were no longer rolling they packed up the relief station and left.

And what happened?

Nothing.  The man that committed this… this monstrosity… continued in office for three more years.  No hearings, no impeachment, nada, zip, bupkis.  I had expected the citizens of this country to rise up and right this foul injustice.  But instead… nothing.  Nobody even remembers it happened.

The outrages kept piling up like uncollected garbage, and it became more and more obvious to me that anything anyone wrote about them didn’t mean squat.  Eventually I just gave up, because I was disgusted and I didn’t have anything left to say.

So… why is Atomic Deathray back?

I have a lot, and I mean a LOT, of interests.  Computers, airships, futurism, architecture, typography, old maps, sci-fi movies, 3D, archaeology, you name it.  Learning something new about them, or better yet finding something new to be interested in, has always cheered me up.

I’ve decided to let other people be outraged for a while.  I put in my time and fought the good fight, and now I’m done and that’s that.  This was my last political post.

I’m going to take a second shot at making the world a better place, simply by sharing some of the strange things I’ve run across over the years that make life fun.

I’ll also be republishing some of my funnier/more horrifying posts from the original blog.  I hope you find it interesting.  I’ll keep going as long as I do.