Signing Off

The photo to the right, a television test pattern perhaps remembered by any older readers, was placed on screen while the station was off the air. Regrettably, I too am going "off the air," having decided that words no longer matter; what matters is work on things that grow, things that are real, not abstractions.

The Western world seems to me to be circling the drain in a death spiral of despair that I have chosen to avoid to the degree possible. I have moved to a rural zone in a so-called Third World country in which modern consumerism is far, far away. I am every day more content with the choice I have made and hope to live out my life on this small plot of ground which I've been permitted to use for my needs on this pilgrimage. I till this land and it produces food, if all goes well. I manage to earn enough money to subsist, though at a level well below that of poverty level in "developed" countries. My needs are small, and I make a constant effort to reduce them still further.

I thank all those who have read what I've written here, and hope I may have been of some service to those who have written me with questions. I can offer no more suggestions, save that
for those who have ears, let them hear that the footsteps seem to be growing louder... and closer. Act accordingly. Best of luck and Godspeed.

This is Ripley, last survivor of the Nostromo, signing off.