As I am browsing through online newspapers of world renown, I am getting ever more confused. More to the point, I am losing my grip on reality. Could any of this be true? Actually, could any of this be of interest to anyone? Having spent a quarter of an hour browsing, I abandon my search. Nothing on offer is of any interest to me. In fact, nothing strikes me as true, either. By and by, my mind wanders to the fall of Rome. Is this how it felt back then? The meaninglessness of it all strikes me as a repeat of sorts. The repeat. All the real problems the world faces are shoved to the side, and all the inane problems of this day and age are thrust to the front. Child abuse. Healthy food. Cybercrime. Same sex marriage. Political shenanigans. New drugs. Best investments. Drone wars. Royal weddings. Gang rape. Contemporary art. Food scarcity. Soccer tournaments. Minus the technological embellishments to our name, it all sounds pretty familiar. It takes me a while to remember that all my memories of Rome come from so many books rather than from personal experience. Some sixty generations later, it cannot be otherwise. But the fall is definitely in the air, and that is all there is to it. At best, collective memory is wafting my way. If there is any confusion about the goings on, it has to do with Rome. Rome, what Rome?