pqtd #115 Paleo Time Machine!

Recently, I built a time machine!  It was amazing, that first time I fired it up- the rainbows of lights that surrounded me in my little contraption as I spun away through time, into the past.  The walls of my machine were vibrating rapidly, and a strange music of deep, resonant chords seemed to go right through me- and then, with a thud, I landed.

I had gone into the past, as planned.  I looked out upon a scene at once strange and familiar: in front of me was a typical street in an American town, but it was subtly different from what it had been in my time.  I could see a glass telephone booth around the corner, for I had fortuitously landed in an alley between two large brick buildings. 

Leaving my machine, I covered it with large sheets of plywood that were strewn through the alley, disguising it.  Then I walked up to the telephone booth in the street ahead. 

Old, antique-looking street lamps flickered on overhead, as it was early evening.  A man was talking on the telephone in the booth, wearing a wide-lapeled suit, a felt hat, and smoking a cigarette.  “I’ll tell ya’, Harry,” he said, “the doc says my ticker ain’t so hot!”  He had a loud, aggressive voice.

To the side of the booth was walking an attractive middle-aged woman, with a long dress, a big slouch hat, and a cigarette in a long holder.  She was walking a small dog. 

I felt woefully underdressed, for in 1945 no one would dress like someone from 2016 unless he was a beggar.  A t-shirt and blue jeans, along with sneakers was completely inappropriate for a grown man!  ‘I should have anticipated this’, I thought.  I decided to kind of lurk in the shadows, so as to not draw attention.

More people came by, most walking, some in the big flashy sedans of that era.  And almost all of those folks were smoking cigarettes!  I wanted to walk up to them, and warn them about the dangers of smoking, but I knew what would happen- they would be angered, and think I was insane, especially since I had no qualifications and was dressed so poorly.  Anyone who did notice me looked at me either with faint contempt, or else pity at my forlorn appearance, dressed as a bum.

On the wall to my right, just up the street, was a large advertisement in the form of a sign:

More Doctors Recommend MARLBORO Cigarettes than Any Other!!

There was a picture of a smiling Medical Doctor, wearing one of those big shiny metal head mirrors and a stethoscope.  In his mouth was a cigarette, smoke lazily drifting up as he looked down the throat of a patient!

I knew it was hopeless; no one would listen to me warn of health dangers well known in the future.  They all just believed the common paradigm of the time, which was that cigarettes were fine and dandy, and nothing would shake that conviction!

I went back down the alley, and went back to 2016.

In 2016, I continued with my blog and podcast, warning people about the extre

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