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  From an article in The New York Review of Books: [A student] was asked on a graduate-school application to write three hundred words about the aphorism "less is more." She responded instead with a haiku: A wall torn down or a single door that opens can mean so much more.

In anticipation of the big move, we started decluttering the house, and recently have become more systematic and intentional about it. Next month, Linda retires, thereby declutting her personal schedule after having been employed continuously for 40 years (45 if you count her graduate school stipend; 46 if you count the year she was an RA at Strong Hall). We’re both embracing the opportunity to subtract the detritus that accumulated over all these decades. Some items evoke smiles and memories before they are donated to Goodwill or go into the recycle bin. The results are finally becoming obvious, as the basement empties and bookshelves become vacant. We still have a long way to go, and less and less time to finish the job. Anyone who has ever made a wood carving or admired the marble statues David and the Pietà understands the role of subtraction in creativity. I’m looking forward to creating a new life in the years that remain to us, and subtraction is sine qua non for that.

It appears that, vaccines nonwithstanding, COVID-19 will be endemic for a long time. Enforcing masking and social distancing/lockdowns are not sustainable in American society. We need engineering fixes that don't depend on each person's sense of civic responsibility. Kevin Drum points to two engineering fixes that would dramatically reduce infection rates: better ventilation and installation of far-UV illumination. As he notes, "Here in California we've spent billions earthquake proofing our infrastructure. Why don't we do the same for virus proofing?" Read the rest here: https://jabberwocking.com/civil-engineering-both-high-and-low-tech-can-help-fight-covid-19/

  I really hate even having to dignify the absurd ammosexual myth that to stop a bad guy with a gun, all you need is a good guy with a gun. This myth comes from watching too much TV and too many movies. That's not reality. Look, the Buffalo shooter was confronted by an armed guard at the grocery store. The shooter had body armor and the element of surprise, and the bad guy with the gun killed the good guy with the gun. I'm reading now that the Texas school shooter also had body armor and was confronted by *three* good guys with a gun. The bad guy was able to shoot his way into the school past the three good guys. Can we please drop this phony idea now? Per Josh Marshall over at TPM (paywalled): "When you combine high powered rifles and body armor, these guys are close to unstoppable, at least at first. That’s not their only advantage. These shooters have all accepted that they’re likely going to die within minutes. They also, by definition, have the element of surprise. Un...

"Few crimes are more harshly forbidden in the Old Testament than sacrifice to the god Moloch (for which see Leviticus 18.21, 20.1-5). The sacrifice referred to was of living children consumed in the fires of offering to Moloch. Ever since then, worship of Moloch has been the sign of a deeply degraded culture. Ancient Romans justified the destruction of Carthage by noting that children were sacrificed to Moloch there. Milton represented Moloch as the first pagan god who joined Satan’s war on humankind: First Moloch, horrid king, besmear’d with blood Of human sacrifice, and parents’ tears, Though for the noise of Drums and Timbrels loud Their children’s cries unheard, that pass’d through fire To his grim idol. (Paradise Lost 1.392-96) Read again those lines, with recent images seared into our brains—“besmeared with blood” and “parents’ tears.” They give the real meaning of what happened at Sandy Hook Elementary School. That horror cannot be blamed just on one unhinged person. It was...

Setting aside the questions of when "life begins" and the roll of the nanny state, there are negative economic implications for the overturning of Roe: "“The bottom line is, if abortion is not available, women’s economic opportunity is limited, children are born into much more difficult circumstances and that effects those children’s prospects later in life.” All things that increase costs on society." *snip* "Once again, the conservative way of living, one of selfishness is blinding them. Life is an experience of singularities to them. Then again, authoritarian, unitary executive allows for nothing else. It is inducing a more difficult life for themselves than is necessary. Unfortunately, the rest of us suffer too. To keep this economic, the Right, the Republicans do not have a word for “externality”. It is a concept, a truth of life that just does not exist in their world." Read the rest here: https://angrybearblog.com/2022/05/outlawing-abortion-it-is-a...

The world needs to replace fossil fuels with nuclear, solar, wind, tide and geothermal power. We're finishing our 9th year with rooftop solar, which provides ca. 25% of our electricity needs annually. On the other hand, our furnace, stove, oven, water heater and clothes dryer are all gas. Natural gas (methane) burns cleaner than coal, but it is still a fossil fuel. That said, 70% of electrical generation in Missouri comes from coal, so replacing electric appliances with gas is at least somewhat less polluting. When we move to RI, we'll give up the rooftop solar. Nearly 90% of electric power in RI is fueled by gas. So both electric and gas appliances in RI are operating on fossil fuel. Ditto electric vehicles. I doubt we'll install rooftop solar on the house we eventually move to in RI. We will have an energy inventory done to identify ways to minimize wasted energy. But remember, just because it's electricity doesn't mean it isn't using fossil fuel.