Sunday, May 2, 2021

Althouse

Althouse

"One has to wonder how these rankings are established. I lived in Georgia for 30 years owing to professional reasons. Not a day went by that I did not want to leave."

Posted: 02 May 2021 12:03 PM PDT

"Even though I lived in one of Georgia's best places (Athens, I was in the geology faculty at UGA), I never found any redeeming qualities in the Southeast. And I tried, oh I tried. I found the climate and the vegetation oppressive, the landscape depressing, and the culture alien. I finally found two good things about Georgia: Atlanta's airport (the departure lounge only, never liked baggage claim) and Delta. I retired on January 1 of this year and moved to Santa Fe three days later. This place is, for me, as close to perfect as possible (at least among places that I can afford). Everything that I hated about Georgia I love about New Mexico. Yet according to this article New Mexico ranks near the bottom in terms of quality of living." 

A highly rated comment on the NYT article "The Best (and Worst) States for Remote Work/A recent study ranked all 50 states and Washington, D.C., to find where working from home was most attractive to workers and employers." 

The study in question ranked Georgia first for "living." Factors that counted: The size of houses and housing lots and the presence of swimming pools! 

Another comment: "I have lived in several states, and visited virtually all of them. Ranking 'living environment' in New Hampshire as only the 44th best, and Colorado's as 47th, is something of a joke, although I suppose if the most important attribute that the pollster can think of is a private swimming pool, as opposed to, say, a wondrous outdoor environment, that might account for this bizarre finding."

It's a good idea for an article, as many people these days are in a position to relocate and work remotely, but the specific advice is ludicrous. Even if your favorite thing is having a swimming pool taking up your backyard, it doesn't matter who else in the same state has a swimming pool, only that it's warm enough to justify having a swimming pool. You can install a swimming pool! And why would a young person — working remotely — want the largest house and yard? How about a well-designed, easy-to-maintain smaller house? 

FROM THE EMAIL: Georgia has its proponents. Joseph says:

I am very surprised that a member of a Geology faculty would describe the landscape of Georgia depressing. The Geologists I know are interested in all landscapes and how how they are created from basic earth features. Georgia is very mountainous, and is not a lot different than North or South Carolina and Alabama. For a Geologist to write off a region of the nation is a disservice to students if this attitude is carried over into class work. 

And Temujin writes: 

I have to jump in on this one. I grew up in Michigan. Spent years around all of the Great Lakes great cities, like Cleveland, Buffalo, Chicago, and of course, Metro Detroit. I lived in New Hampshire. And for a brief period, Marin County, CA. About 25 years ago I moved to the Southeast. I will never leave it. I live in Florida now, but lived in metro Atlanta for 20 years. It is, in my humble opinion, the best major US city to live in. Period. I noticed almost immediately upon moving from Detroit to Atlanta 25 or so years ago that the black and white people in Atlanta worked together, played together, and lived their lives together more than any place I had lived, or visited. Certainly more than Boston, Chicago, LA, SF, Dallas. There is a definite welcoming attitude you get from Southeasterners- from the Carolinas down to Florida. I know it creeps out a lot of Northeasterners and that's your baggage if it does. And yes, I know- there is black-white disharmony visible in Atlanta. Well...welcome to the world, especially the world progressives have created.

Atlanta is a strikingly beautiful city. It is lush- so green, so full of trees of all kinds, flowering shrubbery. You've seen the Augusta National in the spring at The Masters? You should see Atlanta in the spring. It's gorgeous. Winding, hilly roads, lush greenery, flowers everywhere: azaleas, dogwoods, Bradford pear trees, Magnolias, and more. And, like any great city, it has varied neighborhoods. That the commenter missed it speaks more to the commenter than the city. As for the State- I loved the people of Georgia. They welcomed me, allowed me to become part of their community. I will always regard Georgia with affection.

I love the ATL airport and frankly think its a marvel at efficiency, moving more people through there every day, week, year than any airport in the world, and doing it well. I used to travel every other week, so I was there a lot- for 20 years. Delta was phenomenal the entire time (right up until they recently got woke). My baggage got lost twice in 20 years. We're talking hundreds of flights to various cities and only twice was my baggage lost. And even then, only for a few hours. They got it delivered to me that night. Someone should do a documentary on Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson Airport. There is no other at that volume close to the efficiency of that place.

That the commenter calls the culture of the Southeast 'alien' is a clear note to me that they come from the Northeast. My bet is New York. We have relatives up there and they have the same attitude. "What? Come down there to visit you? There? I don't think so. It's so...racist. Maybe someday. But if you want to see us, you'll have to come here. We have the plays, and the Lincoln Center." As if everybody goes to plays and the Lincoln Center daily. Please. They still view the south as something out of "To Kill a Mockingbird". Whenever I leave the Southeast to go up north, it's always a drop in attitude. The climate is darker, the people are gloomier, and the hand-wringing never stops. Of course this commenter ran to Santa Fe. That makes perfect sense. It's a hideaway. Don't talk to me. Don't look at me. Let me hide among the arteests. Again- please.

I've lived in and seen all of this country a hundred times over. I've always loved California, but let's face it, they're a mess there. The Southeast has the weather, the water, the people, the attitude and spirit that are among the reasons it is the center of growth in this country. It is what people are looking for. The people are voting daily with their feet.

Now...I have to go out and enjoy the rest of our sunny day.

"Perelman crammed every joke he could think of into every sentence and polished his pieces relentlessly until they couldn’t get any crazier."

Posted: 02 May 2021 06:55 AM PDT

"There's a story that a friend called him up while he was writing something, and Perelman said, 'I'll call you back when I finish this sentence.' He called back the next day and said, 'O.K., what do you want?' When I first read Perelman, it was completely over my head. Half the words he was using didn't exist in the real world, as far as I knew—and I was twelve, I'd been around. I figured one of us was nuts. Later on, when I had started writing for a living and picked up a few more multisyllable words, I checked him out again. I've been a fan ever since."

 From "John Swartzwelder, Sage of 'The Simpsons'/The first major interview with one of the most revered comedy writers of all time" (The New Yorker).

There's a lot about "The Simpsons" in there too. For example, the key to writing Homer Simpson is to think of him as "a big talking dog":

One moment he's the saddest man in the world, because he's just lost his job, or dropped his sandwich, or accidentally killed his family. Then, the next moment, he's the happiest man in the world, because he's just found a penny—maybe under one of his dead family members. He's not actually a dog, of course—he's smarter than that—but if you write him as a dog you'll never go wrong.

Sunrise.

Posted: 02 May 2021 06:32 AM PDT

IMG_4518

IMG_4516

"There are no statistics about the number of platonic, best-friend marriages, and many people who are in them aren’t open about their situation."

Posted: 02 May 2021 06:28 AM PDT

"But chat boards on Reddit and within smaller asexual and aromantic communities have popped up recently, suggesting this could be a larger portion of the marriage population than numbers portray.... Many of these relationships... begin because the couple wants their family life separate from their romantic lives, as they don't find their romantic lives to be stable. Others may be disenchanted with love, and feel that longstanding friendships with a history of resolving conflict may feel like a safer bet... Platonic marriages have been prevalent since marriage became an institution, while marrying for love is more of an oddity in human history.... In the United States, where marriage is incentivized with tax breaks and other couple privileges, getting married to someone with whom you are not romantically attached affords multiple benefits... 'Meeting people is hard, getting a bond and romantic feelings is hard, and more and more young people are starting to realize that there are other benefits to marriage other than romantic love: I mean, isn't the point to marry your best friend?... So why can't it be your literal best friend?'"

From "From Best Friends to Platonic Spouses Some people are taking their friendships to the next level by saying 'I do" to marriages without sex'" (NYT). 

The article discusses a lot of individuals and throws around a lot of picky terms — asexual, aromantic, pansexual, demisexual — but one thing stands out: They're all women! Maybe I missed a man in there somewhere, but come on, NYT, if it's all women, discuss why!

And as for those picky terms women are using to describe their experience of sexuality, "demisexual" was a new one for me. The NYT says: "Demisexual is defined as only being sexually attracted to someone with whom you have an emotional bond." I guess that means you never feel sexual toward anyone you've just met. You have to fall in love (or something) and then sexual feeling may emerge.

For the record: I think a Platonic marriage is a fine idea. You're forming a household, taking advantage of various laws that privilege marriage, and perhaps raising children. You want a family, a home, a feeling of stability and you don't need or don't want sex as part of that relationship. You either get your sex somewhere else or you don't want sex at all. That's a perfectly legitimate choice to make in life, and good for the women who've found that kind of lifelong friendship.

(To comment, email me here.)

"Hi, yes I am the guy. It had happened in 2017... Thank you guys for still remembering me."

Posted: 02 May 2021 05:50 AM PDT

"When Joe Biden was the presumptive nominee against Donald Trump, they quickly vilified his accuser Tara Reade as a mentally unwell liar..."

Posted: 02 May 2021 05:45 AM PDT

"... just as they did in the 1990s to the group of women who accused Bill Clinton of various levels of sexual impropriety, including rape. When something like the presidency is at stake, female accusers of key Democratic male leaders are to be mocked and destroyed, not believed. That is because there is no discernible principle at play. It is only about power. Why was the highly educated Christine Blasey Ford to be believed with no evidence in her accusations against Brett Kavanaugh, and why is Stringer's accuser, political consultant Jean Kim, to be believed, but Reade was not, even though she had more evidence of contemporaneous complaints to support her allegations? But the far more important point is that any culture that is willing to destroy reputations and lives based on totally unproven accusations is one that is inherently corrupt and unjust. The ability to destroy someone's life with nothing more than an uncorroborated claim voiced more than eighteen years after the alleged incident is a power with which nobody should be trusted."

From "The Left Continues to Destroy Itself and Others With Evidence-Free Destruction of Reputations/Equating accusations with proven fact is reckless and repressive. It is also standard behavior in liberal politics, whereby they ruin lives without a second thought" by Glenn Greenwald (Substack)(Stringer is NYC mayoral candidate, City Comptroller Scott Stringer). 

(To comment, you can email me here.)

Management move.

Posted: 02 May 2021 05:13 AM PDT

Caitlyn Jenner didn’t expect to get asked this on her Saturday morning coffee run, but she favors protecting girls' sports in schools.

Posted: 02 May 2021 05:04 AM PDT

(To comment, email me here.)
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