Yeah, I went to one of their TR0N shows. Damn that rocked. I took my then-girlfriend... I don't think she got as much out of it as I did, but damn I had a good time. I remember laughing my ass off when Jeff Bridges makes his first appearance and someone yelled "It's the Dude!"
I can't comment about the book, but I've seen the movie and read one of those "making of" books. That "making of" book talks about Ridley Scott and one of the other guys... writer or producer, I forget... arguing about whether to make Deckard a replicant or not. Scott wanted him to be a replicant, the other guy felt he was definitely human. Scott made the ending a little more ambiguous than he was gonna and that's how it ended up.
During the overseas operations in Bosnia and Somalia, US military commanders dragged their feet in carrying out their orders, undermining the mission as a whole.
I can't speak for Somalia, but as I'm reading General Wesley Clark's account of the Bosnian situation in Waging Modern War, I thought I'd comment that you don't know what you're talking about.:-)
As far as the professional army versus conscript, I find the Roman civil wars between Marius and Sulla, Caesar and Pompey to be instructive. Provided we can maintain a diverse group of soldiers from the general populous, a professional army will not become too leader-centric, too prone to despotism, IMO. This is also dependent on soldiers having access to the free press and other criticism of their leaders' political positions.
it's well documented that there are less baby boomer offspring than baby boomers. Anyway, human population is expected to peak according to the latest study linked here in _Nature_.
I don't want improvement. I want you people to leave.:-) that's my smart-ass answer. I'm also in favor of banning non-emergency vehicles altogether. heheheheh
1) In my town, downtown is largely flat with a few exceptions. Of course we can knock out all the old to make way for the new. They're doing that right now as a matter of fact. But that the new is better than the old is the myth of progress you've bought into. I don't hold any belief in the "good old days", either. You just fail to understand that different people understand the term "quality of life" in different terms. Your dream of the dense, noisy, busy, rush of some 1940s fantasy city is not my idea of quality of life.
My suggestion of long distance rail to centers of population/work is an attempt at a compromise between destroying the old and building for the future.
2) 20-50 years for just the bare beginning of physical and economic returns are not short-term inconveniences. That's a hardship for anyone at ground zero and a general difficulty for the rest of the populace. Highways here generally take from 5 to 10 years longer to build than planned. They haven't built rail here in years. Plan on doubling the extra time, expense, and pollution.
3) I like my yard. You're not gonna convince many suburbanites to live in a dense high-rise unless they absolutely have to. It's not just the pollution that drives people away from the city, it's the noise, busy-ness, lack of large cheap lots, etc. A suburban lot is generally a compromise between city and country. Many of us enjoy our compromise.
There are a limited number of yards available around any train station. If you build low-income housing or apartments there, you might have greater density but with the same problems you get from any economically disadvantaged neighborhood.
We'll be generous and say busing is good nearby and most people won't/don't park in a car garage, alleviating traffic, security, and pollution problems on the way to the train.
4) When the Baby Boomers finally die off after wrecking our economy in a social security nightmare, we're gonna take a look around and think "what the hell did we build all this for? there's no one here."
mental hospitals are a necessity, not an "option". public transportation is a convenience, not a necessity, except in a few very specific situations (e.g., downtown NYC). Frankly, I don't want my town to be like NYC.
As far as centralization is concerned, anti-sprawl advocates conveniently forget that you have to tear down all the old stuff to make room for higher, taller, greater capacity structures, which is not only very expensive but generally pisses us old timers off because we like downtown "just like it is". Also note that most construction vehicles, which you are proprosing to run non-stop for the 20 to 50 years it will take to build this fanciful happy cheaper downtown, pollute way more than your average car. Meanwhile, you're causing longer commutes with construction and greater pollution as a result of greater delays.
Anyway, the real solution is this: fuck off and stay away from my town.:-)
But seriously, I believe light rail can have a place, I just don't think centralization is the answer. Light rail can assist on the longest routes, say, across the city from a populous area to a commercial area. This allows you to concentrate on a few dense hubs from the get-go and you don't have to fuck up the downtown since you can plan it from the ground up (unlike downtown).
Despite its "retrofuture" shtick, I think this is pretty useful for non-net-enabled companies to hawk their wares online relatively painlessly. I've been searching for a physical globe with no writing on it and I suspect that one might be lurking in a print catalog somewhere I have no access to.
Before we focus on building the massive spaceships you request, let's take notice that the population *already* exceeds the resources in many parts of the world.
Indeed, distribution is the main problem. We sit here and pay farmers to raise crops and let them dry up and die. Admittedly, many of these crops are not approved for human consumption since they contain alterations we consider safe for Food[tm] (i.e., cattle, sheep, etc.) but not for people (silly FDA vs Dept of Agriculture games). But the point still holds... distribution is the main problem, for political and economic reasons. Some countries hate us and don't want our food; others cannot afford the shipping costs. It'll work itself out eventually.
That population study in Nature is really good and holds with gut feelings a lot of us have had for years. If we can keep from some World Dictatorship, affluence will help the third world catch up and their populations will drop accordingly.
I watched a show on The Weather Channel where they were saying that the melted fresh water would contribute to a colder Europe since the water cycle would keep warmer water from reaching UK, France, etc. So, you would get more freezing up north.
Basically, there are so many factors here, it's impossible to say what will happen until it happens. I dunno... I'm not personally worried until the average temperature is up 50 degrees. Then I'll start freaking out. Until then, I just intend to do my little part and not worry.
Wow, I'm impressed that the subtlety of what I said managed to slip right past you! Especially since it wasn't so subtle!
I'm well aware that copyrights last longer than life. I know Mrs. Seuss is making a pretty penny off her husband's works. Frankly, I don't think anyone should be able to collect copyright tithes from someone else's works.
Since the poor bastard is dead, I don't care that you're violating the Sneetches copyright. All hail civil disobedience in the name of truth, justice, and the American way. 8)
Not true, board members are individually liable for specific classes of offenses which depend on specific circumstances. Well, according to my Business Ethics professor a couple semesters ago. I'm not sure of the specifics, obviously, but I recall a discussion on the issue.
I agree; I think the corporation's assets should be liquidated, the Boards' asses sued individually and qua corporation, and all capital taken from former corporation used to pay the victims and clean up. I feel this way about Union Carbide and the India pollution, too.
notice my recommendation was combinatorial, not direct. I wasn't recommending "muad'dib" as a password, but rather a mix of ideas. That said, I like the acronym-based ones mentioned in another post.
See, I think picking a theme is important here. Say, names from Tolkien... something you can remember but fantasy enough to not sit there in the dictionary. And, you can do little variations that are simple. For Dune, you could, say, do your birthday digits + Muad'dib. Anne McCaffrey is another good one with apostrophes in the character names.
Use your imagination---and borrow someone else's.:-)
I agree about older games. My 2 favorite games are Ultima 7 (which is old and cheap) and Armagetron (gratis y libre). However, I have in mind adults with kids who don't own any systems buying the latest and greatest, also those people we all know that have to have the latest and greatest, and other segments like that.
Slashdot Mirror
Yeah, I went to one of their TR0N shows. Damn that rocked. I took my then-girlfriend... I don't think she got as much out of it as I did, but damn I had a good time. I remember laughing my ass off when Jeff Bridges makes his first appearance and someone yelled "It's the Dude!"
-l
(the other one)
I can't comment about the book, but I've seen the movie and read one of those "making of" books. That "making of" book talks about Ridley Scott and one of the other guys... writer or producer, I forget... arguing about whether to make Deckard a replicant or not. Scott wanted him to be a replicant, the other guy felt he was definitely human. Scott made the ending a little more ambiguous than he was gonna and that's how it ended up.
-l
During the overseas operations in Bosnia and Somalia, US military commanders dragged their feet in carrying out their orders, undermining the mission as a whole.
I can't speak for Somalia, but as I'm reading General Wesley Clark's account of the Bosnian situation in Waging Modern War, I thought I'd comment that you don't know what you're talking about. :-)
As far as the professional army versus conscript, I find the Roman civil wars between Marius and Sulla, Caesar and Pompey to be instructive. Provided we can maintain a diverse group of soldiers from the general populous, a professional army will not become too leader-centric, too prone to despotism, IMO. This is also dependent on soldiers having access to the free press and other criticism of their leaders' political positions.
-l
it's well documented that there are less baby boomer offspring than baby boomers. Anyway, human population is expected to peak according to the latest study linked here in _Nature_.
n
http://www.nature.com/nsu/010802/010802-10.html
http://www.nature.com/nature/fow/010802.html
http://www.google.com/search?q=nature+populatio
I don't want improvement. I want you people to leave. :-) that's my smart-ass answer. I'm also in favor of banning non-emergency vehicles altogether. heheheheh
1) In my town, downtown is largely flat with a few exceptions. Of course we can knock out all the old to make way for the new. They're doing that right now as a matter of fact. But that the new is better than the old is the myth of progress you've bought into. I don't hold any belief in the "good old days", either. You just fail to understand that different people understand the term "quality of life" in different terms. Your dream of the dense, noisy, busy, rush of some 1940s fantasy city is not my idea of quality of life.
My suggestion of long distance rail to centers of population/work is an attempt at a compromise between destroying the old and building for the future.
2) 20-50 years for just the bare beginning of physical and economic returns are not short-term inconveniences. That's a hardship for anyone at ground zero and a general difficulty for the rest of the populace. Highways here generally take from 5 to 10 years longer to build than planned. They haven't built rail here in years. Plan on doubling the extra time, expense, and pollution.
3) I like my yard. You're not gonna convince many suburbanites to live in a dense high-rise unless they absolutely have to. It's not just the pollution that drives people away from the city, it's the noise, busy-ness, lack of large cheap lots, etc. A suburban lot is generally a compromise between city and country. Many of us enjoy our compromise.
There are a limited number of yards available around any train station. If you build low-income housing or apartments there, you might have greater density but with the same problems you get from any economically disadvantaged neighborhood.
We'll be generous and say busing is good nearby and most people won't/don't park in a car garage, alleviating traffic, security, and pollution problems on the way to the train.
4) When the Baby Boomers finally die off after wrecking our economy in a social security nightmare, we're gonna take a look around and think "what the hell did we build all this for? there's no one here."
-l
heh.
mental hospitals are a necessity, not an "option". public transportation is a convenience, not a necessity, except in a few very specific situations (e.g., downtown NYC). Frankly, I don't want my town to be like NYC.
:-)
As far as centralization is concerned, anti-sprawl advocates conveniently forget that you have to tear down all the old stuff to make room for higher, taller, greater capacity structures, which is not only very expensive but generally pisses us old timers off because we like downtown "just like it is". Also note that most construction vehicles, which you are proprosing to run non-stop for the 20 to 50 years it will take to build this fanciful happy cheaper downtown, pollute way more than your average car. Meanwhile, you're causing longer commutes with construction and greater pollution as a result of greater delays.
Anyway, the real solution is this: fuck off and stay away from my town.
But seriously, I believe light rail can have a place, I just don't think centralization is the answer. Light rail can assist on the longest routes, say, across the city from a populous area to a commercial area. This allows you to concentrate on a few dense hubs from the get-go and you don't have to fuck up the downtown since you can plan it from the ground up (unlike downtown).
Just my intuitions and reading on the issue,
-l
Amen.
-l
Despite its "retrofuture" shtick, I think this is pretty useful for non-net-enabled companies to hawk their wares online relatively painlessly. I've been searching for a physical globe with no writing on it and I suspect that one might be lurking in a print catalog somewhere I have no access to.
Anyhow,
-l
exactly my point. I do my part; I leave the worrying to someone with psychological disorders.
-l
Before we focus on building the massive spaceships you request, let's take notice that the population *already* exceeds the resources in many parts of the world.
Indeed, distribution is the main problem. We sit here and pay farmers to raise crops and let them dry up and die. Admittedly, many of these crops are not approved for human consumption since they contain alterations we consider safe for Food[tm] (i.e., cattle, sheep, etc.) but not for people (silly FDA vs Dept of Agriculture games). But the point still holds... distribution is the main problem, for political and economic reasons. Some countries hate us and don't want our food; others cannot afford the shipping costs. It'll work itself out eventually.
That population study in Nature is really good and holds with gut feelings a lot of us have had for years. If we can keep from some World Dictatorship, affluence will help the third world catch up and their populations will drop accordingly.
randomness,
-l
I watched a show on The Weather Channel where they were saying that the melted fresh water would contribute to a colder Europe since the water cycle would keep warmer water from reaching UK, France, etc. So, you would get more freezing up north.
Basically, there are so many factors here, it's impossible to say what will happen until it happens. I dunno... I'm not personally worried until the average temperature is up 50 degrees. Then I'll start freaking out. Until then, I just intend to do my little part and not worry.
-l
Wow, I'm impressed that the subtlety of what I said managed to slip right past you! Especially since it wasn't so subtle!
I'm well aware that copyrights last longer than life. I know Mrs. Seuss is making a pretty penny off her husband's works. Frankly, I don't think anyone should be able to collect copyright tithes from someone else's works.
This is why I said what I said.
Cheers,
-l
He might have kids and chooses to stick it out in a good school district. That's what I'm doing, although I despise living in a duplex.
-l
Since the poor bastard is dead, I don't care that you're violating the Sneetches copyright. All hail civil disobedience in the name of truth, justice, and the American way. 8)
-l
Not true, board members are individually liable for specific classes of offenses which depend on specific circumstances. Well, according to my Business Ethics professor a couple semesters ago. I'm not sure of the specifics, obviously, but I recall a discussion on the issue.
-l
I agree; I think the corporation's assets should be liquidated, the Boards' asses sued individually and qua corporation, and all capital taken from former corporation used to pay the victims and clean up. I feel this way about Union Carbide and the India pollution, too.
;-)
It's just a good idea.
-l
heh, I use Dvorak. It wouldn't matter if I typed in my first name in lowercase. :-)
-l
you have to be inconsistent about it though. best to use an unlikely 1337 mix. E.g., P45swOrD. The consistent ones I'm thinking are easy to guess.
-l
notice my recommendation was combinatorial, not direct. I wasn't recommending "muad'dib" as a password, but rather a mix of ideas. That said, I like the acronym-based ones mentioned in another post.
-l
If it's an ATM there at the bank it will eat your card! Happened to me once when they gave me the wrong PIN and I tried it 3 times.
-l
See, I think picking a theme is important here. Say, names from Tolkien... something you can remember but fantasy enough to not sit there in the dictionary. And, you can do little variations that are simple. For Dune, you could, say, do your birthday digits + Muad'dib. Anne McCaffrey is another good one with apostrophes in the character names.
:-)
Use your imagination---and borrow someone else's.
-l
Are you aware that a recent study published in Nature predicts that population growth will level off over the next 100 years?
Lots of good links here.
http://www.nature.com/nature/fow/010802.html
-l
Cause Frank's gonna land there 1000 years from now.
-l
I agree about older games. My 2 favorite games are Ultima 7 (which is old and cheap) and Armagetron (gratis y libre). However, I have in mind adults with kids who don't own any systems buying the latest and greatest, also those people we all know that have to have the latest and greatest, and other segments like that.
New game prices haven't changed.
-l