Blogtrek

Drought and Flood

So far this summer we have had a severe drought. Trees were turning their leaves brown even though it is not autumn yet; or at least autumn shouldn't start in August. The reservoirs were really low, many wells were running dry, and all the grass was turning brown. Days were getting really hot since the moisture cools the air. Now all at once it is a flash flood watch. We are getting rain all day long, some of it heavy, up to 3 inches of it. I suppose this might not cause flooding because the water levels are so low, but what this could cause is the official authorities warning about a contradiction. They have already put out a Flash Flood Watch, but they are also meeting in Richmond to decide on what to do about the severe drought. So we could have the oxymoronic situation of the government trying to do something about both drought and floods in the same part of our state.

But that's life. Bang-bang. Feast or famine. All or nothing. Deficit or surplus. We take it when we get it. Too bad we can't save flood water to provide us during droughts.

Baylor and Playboy

Now I hear that a fraternity was suspended at Baylor University in Texas because a bunch of students in it posed for Playboy. Never mind that these were male students and that they had clothes on. Baylor objected to it saying Playboy was salacious. To me this is one of the most ambiguous situations I have seen. Playboy is good since it expresses liberation from the prison-like sexual mores of our society. It is not good because it exploits women (why can't they have male nudes every once in a while?). It is not good because it is gaudily commercial. Baylor is good because it is resisting an ad empire, but Baylor is not good because it says the magazine is "salacious", when actually much good literature has appeared in it, and despite their students having clothes on in the group shot. Fraternities are good because they encourage students to relate to each other. Fraternities are not good because of their hazing, drunken parties, and other crude practices. Football is not good because it is a violent sport and because people make too much of a production of it, but it can be exciting at times. I don't know who to favor here. I would come down on the side of the students (and Playboy) in this case, because they have their clothes on.