Whitcomb: Our Smart Masked Neighbors; Easy Crop; Bad Housing Strategy; Don’t Screw Up the Probe

Sunday, August 21, 2022

Robert Whitcomb, columnist

 

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Robert Whitcomb, columnist

“With any luck heaven will be much

like here, now, on a good day: pleasant,

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but not too, its joys unsaturated, its lusts

remaining, fractionally, lusts.’’

-- From “Mass for the Middle-Aged,’’ by Peter Goldsworthy (born 1951), Australian  poet and fiction writer

 

 

That it will never come again
Is what makes life so sweet.
Believing what we don’t believe
Does not exhilarate.

That if it be, it be at best
An ablative estate —
This instigates an appetite
Precisely opposite.

-- Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

 

 

“The generality of men are so accustomed to judge of things by their senses that, because the air is indivisible, they ascribe but little to it, and think it but one remove from nothing.”

-- Robert Boyle (1627-1691), Anglo-Irish scientist and inventor. He’s considered the first modern chemist.

 

 

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The wind through the parched leaves these days sings fall.

 

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PHOTO: CC:2.0 Paxson Woebler

As a reminder that humans are far from the only intelligent creatures around us, consider raccoons -- those wily, rather distant relatives of bears who have learned how to thrive in suburbia and cities. They may be smarter than dogs. We have some charming families of them near us in our Providence neighborhood. We see their heads pop out of holes in trees, stormwater culverts and other refuges. But cute as they are, don’t get too close to them. They’re wild animals, which can become very aggressive if they feel threatened, and you don’t want to be bitten or scratched by them.  And, rarely, some contract rabies.

 

Their ability to get around our impediments in order to grab food seems to strengthen over the years. That may be because the smarter ones are more likely to survive and pass on their genes.

 

In any case, their dexterity and ingenuity (they’re good at opening trash cans, boxes and other manmade objects), not to mention their bank-robber-style masks, make them great fun to watch – from a few feet away.   I love seeing them use their hands, or rather front paws, with five long, tapered fingers and long nails. They lack thumbs, so they can't grasp objects with one hand/paw as we can, but they use both forepaws together to lift and then manipulate objects with a curious elegance. If they also had opposable thumbs like us, we’d be in big competitive trouble.

 

 

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Cherry tomatoes may give you the best value of vegetables you plant, at least within the limitations of city or suburban space. They grow fast,  don’t take up much room and each plant produces lots of tomatoes, which serve as easy snacks. The main drawback is that they require a hell of a lot of water.

 

We just planted a second crop, which should do well in our increasingly warm late summers and autumns. Maybe a third crop, too?

 

But raccoons, which are omnivorous like us, like tomatoes too. So you might want to sprinkle some Critter Ridder or similar product near your plantings.

 

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I’ve been surprised by the number of people I know who have continued to be the recluses that they were compelled to be in varying degrees in the worst of the pandemic (so far). They’ve decided that they much prefer their own company.

 

They remind me of an old friend in Laurel, Miss., who, when asked if he’d like to meet someone new, said: “No thank you. I’m no longer taking applications.’’ And of an elderly aunt of mine who refused to attend a big birthday party in her honor. She felt she’d seen quite enough people. (But it turned out to be a pretty good party anyway.)

 

 

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PHOTO: file

I miss those cocktail lounges and simple bars in which a pianist would play mellow (to the point of soothing melancholy) show tunes and jazz. A high-school teacher of mine, Philip Zaeder, who partially paid his way through Yale by working as such a piano player, called such music “wan.’’

 

These joints were perfect venues for reflection.

 

When I worked in such big cities as New York, Boston, Philadelphia and Paris these places, often called “piano bars,’’ were common. Not so anymore. Now many, perhaps most bars feature huge TV screens featuring pro sports and political commentary and/or cacophonous rock. Not an advance for civilization and mental health.

 

 

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PHOTO: file

Bad Economics

With the cost of housing having soared over the past few years, some Providence politicians and others are touting rent control.

 

Pandering! Rent control serves to discourage the creation of more housing, leading to even higher prices over time and fewer housing options. And rent control is very difficult to enforce, can bollix up the local economy and can lead to corruption. Gonzalo Guervo, a candidate for mayor of Providence, rolled out a rent plan this week.

 

Better to provide outright housing subsidies to low-income individuals and tax and other incentives to developers to build more multi-family rental and other housing. That should include “factory-made housing’’ – like mobile homes -- cheap and fast to make in large numbers but with more quality control than is found in the construction of much conventional housing.

 

Every time that some developer announces plans to build more – and desperately needed! -- housing in a Providence (or other city) neighborhood, locals complain that there will be more traffic because, obviously, there will be more people around, and seek to block it. It’s a city, folks, expect it to be crowded! It’s supposed to be. Indeed, for many people, that’s its charm. Good luck in enjoying city attractions without city traffic, though it would be nice if more people would walk or get on a bike and reduce car traffic and take a bite out of America’s grotesque obesity epidemic.

 

 

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Nathan Bishop Middle School PHOTO: Will Morgan

Don’t Scare Them Away

We know a young couple with three small kids who are moving from Providence to a Boston suburb. They have enjoyed living in Rhode Island’s capital, but one of their reasons for moving is its public schools. Both husband and wife attended public schools in other states and want their children to go to public schools, too.

 

But with a few exceptions (most notably Classical High School) Providence’s public schools are subpar. Of course, it has some good private schools, but they are unaffordable for most families. Anyway, the public school situation is a major reason why the young couple – the sort of people the city needs because they’re smart, civic-minded and pay a lot in taxes – have decided to move.

 

They’re a reminder of why Providence, working with the state, urgently needs to fix the city’s school system for their cultural and economic health.

 

 

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Back on my old hobby horse: There are sharp limits on how much poverty can be reduced without reviving that old institution called marriage, in which a father helps pay for, and otherwise raise, children and is clearly legally and morally obligated to do. It’s  especially depressing to see all these photos of (mostly urban) politicians with their children and no father/husband in the picture. Bad models!

 

Plenty of marriages are disasters but the lack of marriages even more so, spawning social disorder at great cost to society.  Still, I’ll have something to say soon about the myths regarding “nuclear families’’ -- married heterosexual couples with kids -- back in the ’50’s.

 

 

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RI's sports betting app

State Pushes Addiction

Much of sports beyond the high-school level is becoming an adjunct of the huge sports-betting industry, which continues to create ever more gambling addicts. Massachusetts is doing its part to make things worse by now allowing – actually, encouraging  -- sports betting in order to get more tax revenue – instant gratification on whatever electronic device you want.

 

The release of dopamine during gambling occurs in brain areas similar to those activated by taking certain widely abused drugs. Similar to drugs, repeated exposure to gambling and its associated uncertainty and anxiety, as well as its happy rush, produces lasting changes in the human brain.

 

Remember that betting is rife among poor people.

 

So state government will inevitably cause another increase in the social ills associated with addictive gambling – substance abuse, bankruptcies, embezzlements, etc.

 

 

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PHOTO: file

WalletHub has declared Massachusetts the best state to live in based on affordability, the economy, education and health, quality of life and safety.

 

Rhode Island, a much poorer state, was way down at 28th, and Connecticut, with its troubled cities, a mediocre 25th.  But New Hampshire was 6th, Maine was 11th and Vermont 12th. Those are known for their calm, civic-minded cultures and, yes, relatively homogeneous populations.

 

Interestingly, two other states with large urban populations and high taxes, like the Bay State,  ranked high– New Jersey 2nd and New York 3rd.

 

The central factor: Good public services and the willingness to pay for them. The worst states to live in, as usual Trump cult states. Suckers!

 

But as always, take all such rankings with skepticism. Comparing apples with oranges, etc.

 

To read the whole list, hit this link:

 

 

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As we move toward high harvest season, let’s hope that there are more partnerships between our region’s farmers and food banks, which always need fresh produce. It beats getting stuff from agribusinesses hundreds or thousands of miles away and shipped here by fossil-fuel-guzzling trucks. Let’s

encourage more regional self-sufficiency in as many sectors as possible.

 

 

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As my Connecticut colleague Chris Powell  rightly notes in a column: “{T}he transgenderism craze that is sweeping politically correct circles, which include many news organizations, is upending and mangling the English language here and there, especially in regard to pronouns.’’ And ignoring the facts of biology….

It's getting tedious.

 

 

Clean-Energy Advances

It’s gratifying to see the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority moving toward an electric-bus system, at first slowly. That means less pollution, especially in our urban core, and less money to petrostate dictators abroad and Trumpian fossil-fuel moguls lording it over some Red States.

 

More good news on the energy front.

 

Researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's (LLNL's) National Ignition Facility, in Livermore, Calif., have made an important advance in nuclear fusion by achieving “ignition” of hydrogen plasma. The results have been published in three peer-reviewed papers. This is an important step toward the long-sought goal of getting energy from nuclear fusion rather than from  nuclear fission, whose drawbacks include the creation of highly radioactive waste material.

 

In nuclear fusion, hydrogen atoms collide with enough force that they fuse together to form a helium atom,  releasing large amounts of energy in the process. Once hydrogen plasma is "ignited," the fusion reaction becomes self-sustaining, producing enough power to maintain heat that could be used to make steam to spin turbines to create electricity.   

 

Fusion would be one of the most efficient and least polluting sources of energy possible. The only required fuel would be hydrogen, and the only by-product helium, which is heavily used in industry and something we could use more of.

 

Another reason to hope that we’ll escape from the clutches of fossil fuel perhaps sooner than we’ve been hoping.

 

 

Grand Juries Are Secret, too

The full affidavit behind the FBI search of Trump’s Palm Beach palace should not be released. Among other perils to the successful completion of the investigation, to release all this stuff would expose key information about witnesses that would expose them to threats from Trump and his gangster Fascist cult. Indeed, it could endanger their lives, given the violence that some of the Fuhrer’s followers embrace and Trump encourages.

 

It's not for nothing that some legal-system operations, such as grand jury proceedings, are kept secret before trials.

 

The investigation of traitor Trump is ongoing. Releasing more information about it could not only sabotage the probe; it could imperil national security even more than this low-life wanna-be dictator and his cynical enablers already have.

 

And please stop calling the Trumpers “conservatives’’! They’re far-right, leader-adoring “populists’’ that recall the Nazis. Among other things, real conservatives believe in the rule of law and in respecting political and civic institutions.

 

 

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I’m reminded every day that Rudy Giuliani’s father was a mobster.

 

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PHOTO: file

“In War: Resolution,
In Defeat: Defiance,
In Victory: Magnanimity
In Peace: Good Will.”

-- Winston Churchill

 

 

Liz Cheney is a rigid reactionary, and I don’t agree with many of her views. But in being willing to go down to defeat in her Wyoming congressional race to protest the takeover of the Republican Party by gangsters, she has done something that will be noted at the top of her real obituary, not just her political one.

 

But she’s far too hopeful in implying that the party can return to responsible “conservatism” from the fascist “populism’’ that now dominates it. The party has been rotting at least since the con man House Speaker Newt Gingrich injected a massive amount of lies and demagoguery into it in the 1990s.

 

Any democracy, especially a heavily damaged one likes ours,  urgently needs a new, responsible, idea-rich right-of-center party, but it’s hard to see anything like that appearing soon.

 

 

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Given the tradition of the bloodthirsty tyrants who created and maintained the Russian and Soviet empires, it’s not surprising that the current tyrant uses heartless violence to try to reassemble the multi-nation despotism that broke apart in 1991 as the empire’s captive nations sought freedom from Moscow.

 

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The U.K.’s inflation rate hit 10.1 in July. Impeach Biden! And Brexit is certainly working out well, Old Chap!

 

Hit this link for a tour of world inflation:

Robert Whitcomb is a veteran editor and writer. Among his jobs, he has served as the finance editor of the International Herald Tribune, in Paris; as a vice president and the editorial-page editor of The Providence Journal; as an editor and writer in New York for The Wall Street Journal,  and as a writer for the Boston Herald Traveler (RIP). He has written newspaper and magazine essays and news stories for many years on a very wide range of topics for numerous publications, has edited several books and movie scripts and is the co-author of among other things, Cape Wind.


 

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