Where Have Friendships Gone?

 David Brooks has a column in the Times today discussing friendships, how many we can maintain at various levels of intimacy.  He ends by thinking our friendships have become fragile during the pandemic.

I'm certainly not an expert on friendships--I don't maintain the ones I once have, and since retirement I've not been creating new ones.  

I'm not sure Brooks is correct--I know my cousin's extended family has found new community bonds by having weekly zoom calls during the pandemic.  Before the pandemic, they were scattered across CA, CO, OH, PA, NH, MA, TX with much less regular contact.

I suspect the issue is what the psychologists call "availability"--we readily notice the  changes, the losses, which occur but we are less conscious of the new patterns we're establishing. 

Where Has Our Sense of Community Gone?

Short answer--damned if I know.

Longer answer--gone with dissolution of the Soviet Union. For my entire lifetime the US has had adversaries, first the Axis, then USSR. After 1991 we've had no such adversaries.  Brief flirtations with Japan as an economic rival, with Bush's Axis of Evil supporting terrorism, and later China as a rising rival don't match the threats those mid-century adversaries seemed to pose.  Today we're seeing with Russia's invasion of Ukraine we're seeing a resurgence of unity, of national feeling, etc. both in Congress and the country.

So--my answer: sense of community vanished with our enemies.

Gardening

 My two retirement hobbies are reading and gardening, in that order.  I've been gardening in the Reston community garden since a couple years after buying my house in 1976. Over the years my wife and I have settled into a selection of plants to  grow, some to eat, some to decorate.  Gardening connects me to the cycle of the seasons which was all-important to farmers when growing up. It also offers the opportunity to improve my game each year, trying different things based on the experience of last year. That's something which my mother was very much into.

The Reston garden follows organic rules, which is fine to me, except that it extends to banning preservative-treated wood for raised beds.  Not good, offends mypenny-pinching soul. 

Red Tractor--UK

 Saw a tweet complaining about the 230-odd pages of material the Red Tractor inspector wanted.  Did a search and found it's a UK scheme, as they'd say:

We are a not-for-profit company that is the UK’s biggest farm and food assurance scheme. We develop standards based on science, evidence, best practice and legislation that cover animal welfare, food safety, traceability and environmental protection. Around 50,000 British farmers are accredited to Red Tractor standards, which form the basis of buying and sourcing specifications for major supermarkets, household brands and restaurant chains, ultimately making life simpler for everyone,

50K is about half the active farmers in the UK, but I'm not sure of the definition. It doesn't mention organic products. 

I find this:

 "Results are weighted to represent the full population of farm businesses that have at least 25 thousand Euros of standard output as recorded in the annual June Survey of Agriculture and Horticulture. In 2019, this accounted for approximately 56,521 farm businesses. "  (That would be a little over $27,000 depending on exchange rate.)

Someone with ambition could, or maybe already has, compare UK distribution of farms with US. 

Signs of the Times--Regeneron

 Back in my time it was the Westinghouse Science Search but now it's Regeneron (it's a biotech company which I had to look up).

Here's the press release of this year's winners, dominated by Asian-Americans.

Two signs of the times here--Westinghouse going bankrupt, ending its sponsorship of the talent search, and reinventing as nuclear energy company, and the domination of the search by people whose ancestry isn't western European.  

I sort of regret the first--I think nuclear should have a role in moving away from fossil fuels--and applaud the second--the more brains from more areas we have working the better off everyone will be. 

War Porn

 As I sometimes do, I created this blog post  a few days ago, but with no text--just as a reminder to myself that I might have thoughts on the subject.

But I delayed, so I think Jack Shafer covers part of the topic--journalists like war partially because their audiences like war.  It's a good narrative, particularly David versus Goliath. 

When Does the Mud Dry?

 That seems to me to be a big question in Ukraine. Apparently the spring thaw there creates a lot of mud, meaning that Russian vehicles stick to the roads, which makes them targets for Ukrainian anti-tank weapons fired by drones or by ambushing troops.

But the mud won't last forever, meaning Russian tanks can maneuver and won't be sitting ducks anymore.  

Learning to Drive

 One way we progress over time is by having role models and acquiring social capital over time. 

I joined a local facebook group devoted to helping Afghan refugees so I could buy items off their Amazon wish list.  Now as a member I get their requests for help--the latest one is for people to help learning to drive and passing the driving test.

That was traumatic for me, so I thought about it.  Both refugees and some people whose families have always lived in urban areas without experience with cars face the same problems:

• first is access to a car 
• second is someone with a driver's license to sit in the passenger seat
• third is experience
• fourth is someone to take you to DMV for the test.

People whose families have drivers and cars have no real problems, but those who don't have a real hurdle to entry into the world of licensed drivers.

Resolving Ukraine

 There's discussion of establishing some sort of international guarantee of neutrality for Ukraine, suggested by the Austrian precedent.  Seems to me there are questions in getting to a resolution:

• how do we assess the balance of forces and the future--who does it favor and how sure are we of our assessment? Do all the parties have the same understanding, and do the publics in the US and EU agree with their leaders' assessment? 
• how does Putin get at least a figleaf for domestic consumption, or does he get more.  The neutrality deal and possible recognition of the two breakaway regions might do it, if Ukraine agrees.
• what happens to the Russian forces now in Ukraine--do they withdraw to Russia?
• what happens to EU/US sanctions?  How do the EU, US, and Ukraine come to a coordinate agreement on time table, etc.
• what about the damages from the war--does Russia pay any reparations?
• what confidence do the parties have in Russia's signature on any agreement? If we don't have confidence do we need to build up Ukraine's military?

It's a complex diplomatic and political situation.

Nostalgia for the System/36

 Brent Orr posted on Facebook about the System/36, which evoked a lot nostalgia from old-timers. Given the amount of cursing from the counties in 1985-90 it's a bit amusing to hear about how reliable the software and system were, etc. etc.  Lots of complaints early on which now faded away in memory.

I must admit it's rather satisfying though, because I and others invested a lot of time and energy, sweat and tears in it.  (I don't remember any blood being shed, but I remember a number of occasions where I drove my employees to tears.)