Paris, Los Angeles
Sometimes there's no place like home.
The sky as I was leaving for dinner the other night. And, I must say, driving across town on a Thursday night instead of the usual Friday was downright civilized -- some traffic, but not a lot, and not parked traffic. I called Gregg to ask why: "Is it a holiday, or maybe a nuclear winter?"
As usual, a very nice shot.
Jeff at March 8, 2008 7:15 AM
Thanks. Sometimes, I can't believe I get to live here.
Amy Alkon at March 8, 2008 7:26 AM
Really nice shot. Love the nature/industrial juxtaposition. Almost makes me want to live there...
Mary at March 8, 2008 7:49 AM
Ahem. What is so pretty about power lines? "Nature/industrial juxtaposition" of this type means that nature, and in the long run we, lose.
Radwaste at March 8, 2008 8:42 AM
Rad, you know I'm for nuclear power, but until then, I can't run my computer and turn on my TV and lights by bicycling up the energy.
I live in an urban area, and I love living in an urban area, and power poles are part of that. Sometimes, I see beauty in the stuff that's supposed to be ugly. The outline of the power poles in front of the sunset. Makes it interesting. Different than every beach/palm tree sunset you've every seen.
Amy Alkon at March 8, 2008 9:40 AM
I hate Raddy's comment. "What's so pretty about power lines" is that they've allowed several generations of people to live at a standard of health, comfort, safety and dignity undreamt of by men throughout time. Your "juxtaposition" is inane: There's nothing about power lines that means that anyone "loses."
Crid at March 8, 2008 11:39 AM
Well-said, Crid.
Amy Alkon at March 8, 2008 11:50 AM
Oh, boy. I sure wish you'd actually seen what happened in your neighborhood when it was built. Your statements are mirrored daily all over central Florida as developers advertise what they have brought to the state. Ignore the brown air over the state and intracoastal waters tainted in my own lifetime so that I can no longer eat what fish remain; ignore the clueless people whose homesites literally kill off thousands of creatures. Hey, maybe that's not the case in coastal desert like SoCal, but don't you have constant reminders of how foolish some construction is, in mudslides, wildfires and ever-looming water rationing? Of course you do.
I'll tell you about Lake Dot. In Orlando, it was originally, as you might guess, a sinkhole lake, mere hundreds of feet across. One house was followed by others, as people vowed to their families they would own a waterfront home. Local wildlife was thought of as intrusive and methodically exterminated. Lake Dot, eventually ringed with houses, died because the homeowners did not realize that "biodegradable" means "bacteria break this down"; algae and microorganic blooms depleted the lake's oxygen and killed it. Since then extensive Federal and state intervention has been applied to restore it and others to life.
Cookie-cutter "stick/drywall" homes are all over central Florida now; the next time you fly into Orlando (MCO) and are leaving the airport, look just past the frontage road at the houses built as close together as the fire code will permit. County Commisions are elected, and they can't even slow development. Got an eagle in a pine tree slated for the bulldozer, holding things up? Oh, what a shame - some vandals cut it down at night (this happened twice on Merritt Island, where I grew up).
New Floridians, at least, think they have a deal because their place is new, and the house they used to have elsewhere is not. Sometimes, they can see water, and they think that's just wonderful - but it's not like they plan to actually get in it. Not one of them has walked through their area before the bulldozers hit. And not one of them wonders what it means when a contractor tells them they must have fill dirt under their foundation to raise the lot four feet above their access road.
-----
Power lines merely represent "more of the same": continuing, conspicuous consumption using 1950s technology because it's cheap. You just can't claim that that's modern any more. Actually, you couldn't in the first place.
There is merit in having all sorts of things available, but there are an awful lot of conveniences which are costing you in ways you don't care to think about. And that's why I'm yelling: people turn paradise into hell by overcrowding it, and then think what they have is the best that could ever be, simply because they don't know what used to be there.
-----
You want a prettier picture than power lines? That's easy. Imagine feeding a wild Great Blue Heron by hand, or playing with a brown bear cub. I've done both. A car got the bear's mom; I dunno what happened to "Henry", as Pop called him.
Hey, Mom was once at Waikiki when The Royal Hawaiian was the only hotel there. Go ahead: tell me that the concrete there makes things more beautiful today.
Amy, you have the Insight for personal reasons which include its low immediate impact. I am simply adamant that what is good for the individual is good for all of us; we cannot pretend to care for the Amazon rain forest and ignore - even bless! - what happens the exact same way, for the same reasons, at home.
Radwaste at March 8, 2008 6:54 PM
> Oh, boy. I sure wish
> you'd actually seen
> what happened...
Dude, what's wrong? Are you all upset about Favre's retirement or something?
> Ignore the brown air over
> the state and intracoastal
> waters tainted in my own
> lifetime
Don't tempt me. Seriously, you've coming off like a mid-life crisis... "My own lifetime" is the tell. People like the modernity of their homes and all their economic freedoms and all the goods and services that come from working the land hard...
But then a favorite hillside gets a new apartment building, and suddenly things have gone too far.... As if history (and the lives of other families) could have been brought to halt at their favorite moment (often corresponding --by remarkable statistical prescience-- with the hour in which they lost their virginity).
> Cookie-cutter "stick/drywall"
> homes
What, is your complaint aesthetic? If they mixed in some Victorian Italianate along with all the Tudors and Cape Cods, would you be happy?
> conspicuous consumption
Which bothers you, the consumption or its visibility? Do you not want to see people enjoying modernity? Do you want everyone to be ashamed of it? Or do you want them to not have it at all?
A wicked percentage of humanity still doesn't have the blessings you're mocking, and they're planning to get them, whether it hurts your feelings or not. There's no reason you deserve them more than anyone else, right?
> 1950s technology
So like, your problem is with the wiring codes?
> because it's cheap.
Everything that works is "cheap." The whole fucking world is built on price points. I wish people could understand this. Listen, the fan belt on a Lexus is almost precisely as reliable as the one on Chevrolet Aveo... And both were supplied by the lowest bidder. That's what standards do, they allow commerce to move forward. If you pay more for one than the other, it's because of the marketing, and it's your own damn fault.
> people turn paradise
> into hell by overcrowding
> it
Riiiiiiiggghhhtt... PJ O'Rourke once described population-worriers: "There's just enough of me, but a little too much of you."
> Imagine feeding a wild
> Great Blue Heron by
> hand, or playing with
> a brown bear cub.
Thanks for the poignant moment, nature boy. I've seen things while scuba diving that can't be described in English, and I'm certain that some of it's been lost in the years since.... But I've learned not to cluck. We can spend all the time at the petting zoo we want, but it doesn't improve other people's lives as much as moving to Florida did.
> Mom was once at Waikiki
> when The Royal Hawaiian
> was the only hotel there.
> Go ahead: tell me that
> the concrete there makes
> things more beautiful
> today.
Hundreds of thousands of people are living there that didn't when your mother danced to Dorsey. Presumably they find it beautiful indeed.
"Wang... It's a parking lot!" --Rodney Dangerfield, Caddyshack, 1980
You're having a bad weekend. Get over it. Send your usps address to cridcrid_at_gmail and I'll send you a book gratis... Clear it all up right away.
Crid at March 9, 2008 2:06 AM
Power lines merely represent "more of the same": continuing, conspicuous consumption using 1950s technology because it's cheap
The house I live in was built in 1907. Other houses around here are as old or pretty old.
Who's going to pay to have other technology, and how much will it cost?
Amy Alkon at March 9, 2008 4:26 AM
In 2002, I had a gallery show in Zurich. My wife and I loved the city. We couldn't put our finger on just what made the city so aesthetically pleasing, until we realized there were no power lines or telephone poles; everything was buried underground.
...of course, our enjoyment of the city was marred by the blatant and unsettling anti-semitism of the twenty-somethings who we spoke to during our visit. I can't tell you how many times one of these pukes would insist on talking about 9/11 and saying things like, "well, you know it was the jews...", expecting us to nod our heads in agreement. The fact that they were unashamed to say this sort of shit in front of my (jewish) wife was just galling. This was still only about six months after 9/11, too. Scary.
COOP at March 9, 2008 7:33 AM
"Hundreds of thousands of people are living there that didn't when your mother danced to Dorsey. Presumably they find it beautiful indeed."
Well, I see you weren't too busy to miss the point.
When would you stop pouring concrete? Apparently never, so long as people moving in thought concrete was what was best.
Amy, you're paying for it now, but the "market" is concealed by energy trading, the interference of government agencies like public service commissions and so forth. I bet you know already that CA is being squeezed all the time by water and power demands, so it's likely that the state will be the first to ration electricity, thus creating demand for advanced energy-conservation systems. There is already precedent in the actions of the California Air Resources Board, which actually directs automotive markets and has for years.
None of this is new, but some things are shunted aside because they're unpleasant. Sometimes people think so long as somebody made money and no law was broken, then everything is all right. Well, no. All I'm getting at is, don't think that what you're looking at is either the best it's ever been, or the best it could be, even as things have been worse, because natural resources run out. Hey, you have a real disaster not far away. Go see Salton City via Google Maps.
Radwaste at March 9, 2008 10:28 AM
I've been to Salton Sea in the flesh; it's only a few hours' drive. It's not a bad outing! My boss made a movie about it once. There's things to hate-hate-hate about it, but the Lake by Mistake is not without charms. Coastal migratory fowl have claimed it as a waystation during seasonal transit. And some people still think it could be made into an attractive place to live. I think those people are wrong, but I think they're wrong about the San Fernando Valley, too. The existence of the Salton Sea does not mean the end of the earthly world. Anyone who's ever walked its downwind coast knows better: Nature is always with us, and nature always wins.
> so long as people moving
> in thought concrete was
> what was best.
You say that with the absolute certainly and deficient irony of a man who's very comfy living on the infrastructure on which he lives. You know that no one's going to decide that the water lines to your shower and toilet --or the power lines to your toaster and TIVO-- are a blight on the environment to be retroactively withdrawn. You got yours....
Dude, I can't believe you're being so squirrely this weekend. What's the deal? Did your mistress turn you down or something? What? Snap out of it! Let's build a new power plant or something!
Crid at March 9, 2008 12:27 PM
Per Coop, I'd rather have power lines over every 'burg on the globe than anti-semitism in any of them.
Crid at March 9, 2008 12:28 PM
Downwind shore, not coast. Sorry. I'll make it up to you.
Crid at March 9, 2008 12:31 PM
I like concrete, and the other signs you're in an urban area. I'm city-positive, and civilization-positive.
Amy Alkon at March 9, 2008 12:41 PM
Me too. As Lee Ving once sang,(?) "I love livin' in the city!"
COOP at March 9, 2008 4:03 PM
>>>>You say that with the absolute certainly and deficient irony of a man who's very comfy living on the infrastructure on which he lives.
I like driving bulldozers, but it seems at some point we have to pull up the rope ladder and get by with what we have in the tree house. We don't have infinity.
doombuggy at March 9, 2008 4:03 PM
Fascinating choice of words. So you presume that when that rope gets pulled, you'll be one of the ones up in the branches above the floodwaters, right?
Crid at March 9, 2008 6:51 PM
My treehouse had better have a phone to call Costco and the Thai restaurant, or I'm gonna starve and/or die of thirst. Oh yeah, and indoor plumbing and cable Internet.
Amy Alkon at March 9, 2008 10:58 PM
Crid - did you notice the developmental signs at Salton City - the dozens of avenues with "Sea" in the name? Have you noticed the erosion destroying the town roads? Have you been there when it's downwind of the Sea, with the flies and the stink of the dead water? Did you know about the seabird kills there, as thousands of them at a time land in water laced with pesticide from the river flowing from Mexico?
Single-family homes on an acre are very nice. So are well-built condos and properly-restored houses in neighborhoods, I assume, like Amy's. But they are rarely the answer, and almost never when the question is how to live the least impactful life and retain the quality of same.
----
Amy, I apologize for going off like this, here. I'm pleased you're back, as I think, based on your comments and columns, you have the right idea about a great many things, including personal activism.
Radwaste at March 10, 2008 3:10 PM
> dozens of avenues with "Sea"
Yes. Point?
> stink of the dead water?
It's horrible, but don't call it dead. Last time I checked (2002ish) there was no authoritative explanation for the evil funk. It's probably not something good... No one would argue that the lake is what's supposed to be happening to that geography by any thoughtful context. But you shouldn't equate it with necrosis just because it offends the nose. ("Jazz isn't dead, it just smells funny" - F. Zappa, circa 1971)
> water laced with pesticide
> from the river flowing
> from Mexico?
What, I'm responsible for the whole world? You made the correct point backhandedly... While the Sea contains contaminated drainings from California agriculture north and south, the most dangerous stuff is coming from the less-developed, less-responsible nation. Mexico needs more modernity, not less.
The Salton Sea may not even be the most tragic environmental failure visible from its own shores. The Chocolate Mountains have been used for gunnery and aerial bombing practice for decades. They'll eventually be mined for gold... and that probably won't be good for them, either.
> how to live the
> least impactful life
That's not my goal. I'm on this planet today . And like every organism that went before or can ever follow, I'm going make changes as I move through it. If I was religious, I'd say it's because that's what God wants me to do. As an atheist I'm content that there's no rational choice. The air in your lungs right now is the waste of organisms that thrived for three billion years, long before any creature had a spine. They didn't do it for your benefit. They were making their way.
> when the question is
Do you have other questions, or are you being glib? I think the question is how people can live well. The answer, heard around the world for millennia, is that people want houses. Some "developments" --such as Centralia, Pompeii, and the Salton Sea-- don't work out. But the latter is a mostly just an economic bungle. Investors lost money, but it's nothing special to weep for. Terre Haute, Indiana isn't the city its founders hoped it would become, either.
To hear these simplistic cluckings from a guy who argues with enthusiasm and nuance for nuclear power is confounding. I really think you're off base. If not, then by all means... You should surrender your home, synthetic clothing, processed foods, communications, life-extending medications and all the rest to move naked into the wilderness.
The rest of humanity is moving in the other direction. If you put your car on eBay, maybe we'll bid... Not that you'll need the money.
Crid at March 11, 2008 1:04 AM
>>>>I think the question is how people can live well.
Well put.
Still, at some point we have to evaluate the absolute level of resources at our disposal. The Norse on Greenland lived well, until they didn't anymore.
doombuggy at March 11, 2008 6:18 AM
Maybe their culture had other problems... Authoritarian inflexibility, etc. I bet it was more like Mexico than the United States.
Crid at March 11, 2008 12:57 PM
Also, there's no such thing as "the absolute level of resources at our disposal."
Crid at March 12, 2008 1:06 AM
"That's not my goal. I'm on this planet today."
And that's why we are, ever so slowly, dying.
Radwaste at May 28, 2015 4:44 PM
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