​Sung to the tune, Dust in the Wind by Kansas: 
 
Same old song
Just a drop of salt on the snow-bound road
All we do
Salts the water, though we refuse to see
Salt in the wind
All we are is salt in the wind
 
Last week we got a minor dusting of snow. Temperatures the next day were forecast to rise in the snow melting range. Did that stop the salt trucks from pouring it on during the morning commute?  Nope.
 
They were out in force, laying out the road salt in chunks, parking lots getting salted and sidewalks crunchy under foot. All to get rid of that dang snow for about 3-4 hours.
 
Keeping our roads, sidewalks and parking lots safe during winter snowstorms is important. I get it. But there’s overdoing it with the salt thing. There has to be a better way that doesn’t impact the environment so treacherously.
 
When you live in Wisconsin, once the snow flies, you drive a car that’s encased in salt. As that washes off your vehicle, and mixes with the salt on the roads, the runoff goes where? Into the grass, siphoned into pools, ponds, streams, lakes and rivers. It increases water salinity, a silent negative for our waterways, greenery and animals.
 
I watch this over-salting and it really gets to me. Recently after an inch or two of snow, and the consequent massive salting disproportionate to the snowfall, the roads dried quickly in the sun the following day and started to create salt storms (similar to a dust, sand or dirt storm).
 
Driving down I-94 towards Milwaukee, you saw clouds rise from the interstate. A white banket billowed from the wind and speeding cars along the three lanes headed east as the salt broke into powder and blew along.
 
Though I have no proof, I found my eyes burning, and presumed it was salt in the wind. For several days, my eyes hurt, stinging, then it went away when rain washed the residual salt powder off the streets.
 
Isn’t there a better way to keep our roads safe and clear in the winter (and, quite frankly, reduce the rusting of our vehicles and the cracking of asphalt and pavement from salt infiltration)? With our entrepreneurial talent and know-how, I’m sure the engineers can come up with a reasonable solution the reduces our salt intake. Wouldn’t that be healthy? Sounds like a slogan.

Here are a few thoughts from this non-engineer. All you entrepreneurs can take it from there:
 

• Heated coils in the asphalt (I’ve seen this technology applied in sidewalks, but not roads, so I guess it’s too costly. Maybe you can figure out how to improve the technology and lower the cost.).
• Develop salt spreaders with minimal settings (only dropping light amounts rather than massive dumps). Alternately, have several settings based on the snow amount, type and how cold the temperature is so that only the most minimal necessary amount of salt is applied. Use AI to figure out the gauge.
• Invent a new snow melting mixture better for the environment, roads and vehicles.
• Build a blast furnace that trails the plow trucks to super heat the pavement so it burns off and evaporates all the moisture instantaneously.

I’m no engineer, so I freely acknowledge these are likely to be technically difficult. But hey, use this as your personal nudge. All you creative engineers unite and get this done. We’ll all benefit.

​Many years ago, when our dad was about my current age, there was a discussion around our house and Oprah Winfrey came up in that discussion. My dad said at the time, “Oprah who?”
 
Now, even back then, Oprah was a household word and had been for years. Famous to just about everyone except our dad. We were stunned when he showed a total lack of recognition, “Dad, where the heck have you been the last 10-15 years?”
 
Who knows? He wasn’t following popular culture.
 
Scarily, I can now relate to him. There are several examples that demonstrate how culture is passing me by.
 
One is the brouhaha over Bad Bunny playing at the Super Bowl. Let’s backtrack. Bad Bunny gets announced as the halftime musician. My response, “Who is Bad Bunny?”
 
Perhaps I have vaguely heard the name. Most likely, because he didn’t pertain to my life, I flushed that data. Not enough brain space to let him in.
 
All the hoopla followed with people taking sides on patriotism. I had no frame of reference. Since 2021, I have never heard of three of the Super Bowl halftime performers: BB, Weeknd and Usher.
 
Does the Super Bowl make them culturally  relevant? I’m not sure, but there are certainly a lot of testy people who think it’s the biggest deal on the planet when it’s not.
 
I don’t know any of those three bands. I don’t know their songs. I couldn’t sing along with the lyrics. Couldn’t imitate the guitar solos or drum rolls (if there were any). This doesn’t diminish their talents or elevate any of them to stardom. It just means popular culture is passing me by.

This happens to many people once you get past the age of 60 or so. You have other things to focus on, perhaps your health, a hobby or grandkids. You may still be working your butt off to pay the bills and not have time to focus on music or movies or sports to divert your anxieties.
 
I caught a bit of Green Day opening before the Super Bowl. I know them. I can sing (badly) some of their refrains. I like the beat. If they were given the halftime show, yeah, I would know them. But all that means is I know of a band from my limited cultural forum (mostly from my past; I don’t listen to much new music).
 
Your brain fills up with age. Perhaps that’s why we hark back to the music we know. It’s familiar. It provides good memories. We know the riffs and lyrics. We stick with the culture we know. It’s a familiar refrain.
 
And that, I believe, is what revved so many engines about BB on social media. One side doesn’t want new culture. The other side embraces it.

I like new culture. It invigorates our society, pushes us, forces us to examine assumptions and beliefs. That’s extremely healthy for an individual and for society at large.

Others want to stay mired in the past. I like my old music. When new music comes along that gets me singing the refrain and imitating the drum solos, tapping my knees, I buy in. Please let me know when you hear the next J. Geils Band enter the scene. I’ll be their biggest fan.
 
The Super Bowl is probably the single most over-hyped event in the United States. We turn it into a battleground. It’s not. It’s a professional football game. We should take that for what it’s worth: entertainment. Turn it on or turn it off. Your choice. Stop ranting and frothing at the mouth.