A friend of mine is a family practice doctor whose clinic works with low-income families and people from rough situations. She has noticed that people with smaller or no support systems come to the clinic more often for small complaints. With no one to talk to and share difficulties with, small health problems can feel overwhelming. My friend said it breaks her heart to see, and what she really wished she could do was prescribe these people some friends. Friends are very powerful.
Quoting Utah Phillips, who was relating a conversation he had with Ammon Hennacy:
You know you love the country, you just can't stand the government, get it straight. He quoted Mark Twain to me... "Loyalty to the country always; loyalty to government when it deserves it."
A guest on an NPR show the other day speculated that a partnership with Facebook was part of the motivation for the split. The gentleman described Facebook's new "tell everyone exactly what you are doing right now including naming the movies you are currently watching" plan, and then speculated that current privacy laws wouldn't allow Netflix to share information about DVD rentals. The privacy laws for streaming, he thought, might be a bit hazier, and by separating the two Netflix might be free to share that information with Facebook.
Sorry I can't find a link to the article at the moment. It was the first not-insanely-unreasonable argument I had heard for the division. (although perhaps still a bit unreasonable.)
Exactly. The department I teach in at the university is constantly under pressure to stop failing students. It puts them behind a semester, because they are failing prerequisites, and after failing a second or third time, they often drop out.
The administration is unceasingly concerned about the retention rate, both for their reputation, and the money they are losing; they are thinking about the years lost, not just a semester or two of tuition.
(If they would quit dropping their enrollment standards it might just sort itself all out, but that is a whole different kettle of fish.)
I would have to site Ted kaczynski as an exception, then. He was a brilliant mathematician, actually working in complex analysis. He also blew up many people.
Although I would generally agree with you about the fabulous quality of land lines, I have to think of my parents and laugh. They live in a rural area, and sometimes after a good rain they'll be in the middle of a call when they'll be able to faintly hear their neighbor, about a mile away, talking to someone else. It's a pretty strange experience.
Sarah Susanka has written several books about living in small houses. She emphasizes building rooms that will be used on a daily basis, and eliminating the formal rooms like you mention. She has a website here.
I personally don't care if they're in it for their wallets. If one person recycles a moniter (or whatever) that would have otherwise gone into a dump (and consequently into the groundwater) I say, "good for them". Assuming the customers have a little self control and don't go on a spending spree after droping off the electronics, it isn't hurting them a bit.
My parents live in the country (in the midwest) and didn't have the option of cable, so they have directv. During very heavy rain storms they will lose their signal. It's definately the heavy rain, and not the lightning. The rain is rarely that bad, so my parents feel like the service is still worth it. It's also pretty funny to see Matlock freeze in the middle of a cross-examination.
Just being able to go from transparent to opaque could be a great feature. Think of small apartments with these windows instead of walls; transparency between rooms would make the place feel larger and more livable. If your friends come over you can just darken the windows to your messy kitchen. (You would probably want to make sure that the controls for the windows to the bathroom don't fall into the wrong hands...)
A friend of mine from India was recently trying to decide between two jobs, one with the US Government and one in the private sector. He was leaning toward the government job, because he enjoyed the work more, until he talked to a collegue who had just joined the NSA. She told us how the agency required her to report all of her international friends, and keep tabs on their meetings. She had to get special permission to travel abroad. He decided, on the spot, to take the job at the private company.
A higher tax on gas would have negative effects on a wider community than just SUV owners. Farmers depend on gas to run their tractors, grain trucks, well, pretty much everything on the farm. Raising the tax on gas would have a huge impact on the farming industry, expecially smaller farms that don't have a giant corporation to absorb the extra expenses. These are people who are using large quantities of gas not because of the image associated with farming, but because without it they would still be hitching the pow to the oxen.
it was possible that viruses like Ebola could be assembled in laboratories, but there were only a few people in the world with that skill.
i would like to think anyone who has read The Hot Zone by crighton is being plagued by the same tingles of fear running up and down their spines. all it takes is one of the few...
the hot zone is about an ebola outbreak, and the descriptions of liquidized organs seeping out every opening is enough to give ghengis kahn nightmares.
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A friend of mine is a family practice doctor whose clinic works with low-income families and people from rough situations. She has noticed that people with smaller or no support systems come to the clinic more often for small complaints. With no one to talk to and share difficulties with, small health problems can feel overwhelming. My friend said it breaks her heart to see, and what she really wished she could do was prescribe these people some friends. Friends are very powerful.
You know you love the country, you just can't stand the government, get it straight. He quoted Mark Twain to me... "Loyalty to the country always; loyalty to government when it deserves it."
(Yes, that is a quote of a quote of a quote.)
Sorry I can't find a link to the article at the moment. It was the first not-insanely-unreasonable argument I had heard for the division. (although perhaps still a bit unreasonable.)
Exactly. The department I teach in at the university is constantly under pressure to stop failing students. It puts them behind a semester, because they are failing prerequisites, and after failing a second or third time, they often drop out. The administration is unceasingly concerned about the retention rate, both for their reputation, and the money they are losing; they are thinking about the years lost, not just a semester or two of tuition. (If they would quit dropping their enrollment standards it might just sort itself all out, but that is a whole different kettle of fish.)
Two cannibals are sitting around a fire eating. One says to the other, "Gee, I hate my mother-in-law." The other replies, "Well, try the potatoes."
The Oracle of Kevin Bacon
I don't know how long I spent looking for an actor with a Bacon number of 5, but I finally found one. Now if I could only remember his name!
I would have to site Ted kaczynski as an exception, then. He was a brilliant mathematician, actually working in complex analysis. He also blew up many people.
Although I would generally agree with you about the fabulous quality of land lines, I have to think of my parents and laugh. They live in a rural area, and sometimes after a good rain they'll be in the middle of a call when they'll be able to faintly hear their neighbor, about a mile away, talking to someone else. It's a pretty strange experience.
Sarah Susanka has written several books about living in small houses. She emphasizes building rooms that will be used on a daily basis, and eliminating the formal rooms like you mention. She has a website here.
My parents live in the country (in the midwest) and didn't have the option of cable, so they have directv. During very heavy rain storms they will lose their signal. It's definately the heavy rain, and not the lightning. The rain is rarely that bad, so my parents feel like the service is still worth it. It's also pretty funny to see Matlock freeze in the middle of a cross-examination.
".. I think it will be perfect again.." meaning that it was perfect the first time...?
Unfortunately, $400,000,000 doesn't appear to cover it. According to this article, the cost of the project was $820 million.
Just being able to go from transparent to opaque could be a great feature. Think of small apartments with these windows instead of walls; transparency between rooms would make the place feel larger and more livable. If your friends come over you can just darken the windows to your messy kitchen. (You would probably want to make sure that the controls for the windows to the bathroom don't fall into the wrong hands...)
A friend of mine from India was recently trying to decide between two jobs, one with the US Government and one in the private sector. He was leaning toward the government job, because he enjoyed the work more, until he talked to a collegue who had just joined the NSA. She told us how the agency required her to report all of her international friends, and keep tabs on their meetings. She had to get special permission to travel abroad. He decided, on the spot, to take the job at the private company.
A higher tax on gas would have negative effects on a wider community than just SUV owners. Farmers depend on gas to run their tractors, grain trucks, well, pretty much everything on the farm. Raising the tax on gas would have a huge impact on the farming industry, expecially smaller farms that don't have a giant corporation to absorb the extra expenses. These are people who are using large quantities of gas not because of the image associated with farming, but because without it they would still be hitching the pow to the oxen.
i would like to think anyone who has read The Hot Zone by crighton is being plagued by the same tingles of fear running up and down their spines. all it takes is one of the few... the hot zone is about an ebola outbreak, and the descriptions of liquidized organs seeping out every opening is enough to give ghengis kahn nightmares.