Don't entirely agree with Elph but there's a grain of truth there: you can't separate art from the context in which it is produced, consumed, distributed etc and the institution of "classical music" nowadays is a braindead and everything else dead rotting corpse.

The taste and aesthetic sensibility of the average concertgoer (who is most likely a middle aged lawyer) are straight up r-worded. It speaks volumes that the kind of popular music that's catered to them is the "classical crossover" of Sarah Brightman, Andrea Bocelli, Lara Fabian, Il Divo etc. Increasingly, classical performers adopt a similarly kitschy and embarrassing aesthetic (Khatia Buniatishvili, HAUSER etc).


The reference understander

The Biden admin could be doing more to fulfill their campaign promises about drilling, but right now they are caught in an unprecedentedly hard place, with the sudden ban on Russian oil and people complaining about prices at the pumps.

Here's an at-a-glance guide to what's been going on:-

https://s.abcnews.com/images/Technol...5_16x9_384.jpg

(That sudden dip from Trump's peak shows the effect of the pandemic, more than Trump's remorse over tribal lands and environmental damage - at least, that's how I read it.)

Let's face it, humans aren't known for their forward thinking.

^ Yes, that's a real worry - and what's worse is that some plans put in place in the past, that seemed pretty forward thinking at the time, are now barely adequate for the new circs. This Lake Mead/Hoover Dam update has some interesting details about good intentions being thwarted:-

:wavey: Hi Paul! I hope you are doing ok. I always remember that it was thanks to your rec that I first heard this magical song from Gillian Welch:-



I hope you are still Chillin' With Gillian, like I regularly do!

If you are describing what I think you are, you're right to point out a backward step in energy conservation, elph. You can see from these photos a change that has taken place in Mexico:-

1. Wide entrance and gloomy interior tells you that this traditional "mom and pop" store uses little elec light and is ventilated by natural air movement, plus probably a ceiling fan

https://s3-media0.fl.yelpcdn.com/bph...NYK2ohGw/l.jpg

2.This is one of a country-wide chain of shops. Even on the sunny day this photo was taken, you can see the ceiling is ablaze with recessed lighting, and the glazed entrance doors promise the cool of airconditioning within. Everything is bright and modern, with banks of glass-fronted refrigerators, and they are open about 18 hours a day. It's v difficult for mom&pop to compete with this kind of appeal, which I will confess I also succomb to on a hot day:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...CA_andatti.jpg

Twenty thousand of these energy-guzzlers in Mexico :(

I'll take a Mom & Pop place over one of those every day of the week, and twice on Sunday. The smells, the warmth, the owners being really nice most of the time, can't beat that. It reminds me of an ice cream joint in a neighbouring city. It's locally run. Walking in, you're punched in the face with the smell of cinnamon, as they make their own waffle cones. There is NO way I'd want to go to Dairy Queen after experiencing that!

Conservation is frowned upon in my city. Take water for example. We have a lovely river here that supplies our drinking water. Every second summer or so, the city tells the citizens to conserve water. Water levels are low! The next summer, they jack up our water bills because we didn't use enough water. The cycle continues. We're told our rates went up to upgrade the sewers, yet each time it rains, sewage gets dumped into the river. Somehow, I don't think the city is upgrading the sewers like they said they'd do.

Government buildings, standing nearly empty for over two years, have all kinds of lights on all the time.