Old Man Posted April 18, 2018 Report Share Posted April 18, 2018 *curses* *reloads asteroid gun* RDU Neil 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted April 18, 2018 Report Share Posted April 18, 2018 Why not just start a flood? That worked last time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmjalund Posted April 19, 2018 Report Share Posted April 19, 2018 2 hours ago, Lord Liaden said: Why not just start a flood? That worked last time. how do you think he starts floods? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted April 19, 2018 Report Share Posted April 19, 2018 2 hours ago, Lord Liaden said: Why not just start a flood? That worked last time. It knocked back the infestation for a bit, but now it's worse than ever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sociotard Posted April 19, 2018 Report Share Posted April 19, 2018 13 hours ago, Old Man said: 14 hours ago, dmjalund said: 16 hours ago, Lord Liaden said: Why not just start a flood? That worked last time. how do you think he starts floods? It knocked back the infestation for a bit, but now it's worse than ever. Why did you give that crazy old Hawaiian any ideas !?! https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2018/04/17/historic-rain-inundates-kauai-cutting-off-hawaii-tourists-with-floods-and-mudslides/ EDIT: Oh, That was a few days ago. I just barely saw it and assumed . . . death tribble 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted April 19, 2018 Report Share Posted April 19, 2018 That’s not me. I wouldn’t start with Kauai. DC, probably. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starlord Posted April 20, 2018 Report Share Posted April 20, 2018 Atlanteans are real pinecone and Old Man 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sociotard Posted April 20, 2018 Report Share Posted April 20, 2018 One of my favorite things about reading news magazines from both sides of the political divide is seeing things they seem to agree on. One of my least favorite things is how often those agreed-upon-points still can't be translated into policy.Today's example is: Maybe states need to remove some zoning power from the local level, to improve housing availability, among other things.Liberal: https://www.vox.com/2018/4/20/17255362/sb-827-affordable-housing-supply-california(a response to SB-827 failing in California)Conservative: https://www.nationalreview.com/2017/06/zoning-regulations-local-government-restrictive-laws-hurt-american-economy/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted April 20, 2018 Report Share Posted April 20, 2018 Unfortunately, I view the NR article as a deflection from the real motivation: to enable large corporations to do as they please, where they please, and override the desires of locals as expressed in their duly elected local governments. I admit I have developed a powerful adverse reaction to any argument based in "competitiveness". I see it as the codeword du jour that means "The richest 1% wants greater latitude to screw the rest of the population out of more money." The Vox article I see as hand-wringing over a symptom rather than a root problem. There are, of course, similar issues here in Seattle; I all but certain we will have to leave the city once I retire because we won't be able to afford to live here. Fortunately, we do have a place to move to, but not everyone is in that circumstance. Cities that get the injection of wealth from high-tech industries inevitably have their property costs spike upward because there are big profits for developers to build housing that the upper economic tier wants, and more or less no motivations to preserve, let alone build anew, affordable housing for the median-income people. The entire point of the workings of industry is to make the rich who own the industries even richer, and among their motivations is a not-generally-voiced but powerful and explicit desire to make their political and economic opponents miserable. Slowly the systematic elimination of affordable housing (coupled with policy decisions to the increase in use of force by police, and shielding law enforcement personnel from prosecution for violating civil rights) will drive some of the underclass to go elsewhere, and the labor market in those places will get tighter and wages will increase. Whether this will operate on times fast enough so the economic underclass will get some indirect benefit -- i.e., actual wage increases that keep pace with local costs -- from the presence of the new industry is questionable, though I think the answer is no. Lucius 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sociotard Posted April 20, 2018 Report Share Posted April 20, 2018 I just know how the little debates I've had with my Californian Uncle go. I suggest that the zoning in his area is too height and density restrictive, and he retorts that if the population got any denser he'd "need an Uzi to defend my family". Some suburban-types are actively afraid of city-people, and they abso-friggen-screamin-lutely don't want the neighborhoods they invest in to get any more city-like, and if that makes life impossible for the poor, well too bad for them. And it is driving away the middle class in California. The only way to drive down the cost of living a bit, and address the fact that California is the number one state for poverty (after taking into account cost of living) is to force the locals to accept increasingly dense housing, and even some low-income (crappy) housing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted April 20, 2018 Report Share Posted April 20, 2018 There's a piece in Christian Science Monitor about the 50th anniversary of 2001: A Space Odyssey and how HAL is the iconic symbol for the dark aspects of technology gone wrong. (link) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted April 20, 2018 Report Share Posted April 20, 2018 8 minutes ago, Sociotard said: I just know how the little debates I've had with my Californian Uncle go. I suggest that the zoning in his area is too height and density restrictive, and he retorts that if the population got any denser he'd "need an Uzi to defend my family". Some suburban-types are actively afraid of city-people, and they abso-friggen-screamin-lutely don't want the neighborhoods they invest in to get any more city-like, and if that makes life impossible for the poor, well too bad for them. And it is driving away the middle class in California. The only way to drive down the cost of living a bit, and address the fact that California is the number one state for poverty (after taking into account cost of living) is to force the locals to accept increasingly dense housing, and even some low-income (crappy) housing. I would in no way contradict what you say, though IMO California politics has been FUBAR since their Proposition 13 in 1978, when they enshrined in their constitution a fundamental inequity, the principle that older and longer-residing citizens had privileges literally at the expense of younger and newer ones. My own state (WA) has its own political perversities, but that isn't among them. EDIT: Probably subsequent discussion should go into Simon's political thread, though. I recognize this is treading on thin ice in that regard. Mea culpa. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badger Posted April 21, 2018 Report Share Posted April 21, 2018 10 hours ago, Sociotard said: I just know how the little debates I've had with my Californian Uncle go. I suggest that the zoning in his area is too height and density restrictive, and he retorts that if the population got any denser he'd "need an Uzi to defend my family". Some suburban-types are actively afraid of city-people, and they abso-friggen-screamin-lutely don't want the neighborhoods they invest in to get any more city-like, and if that makes life impossible for the poor, well too bad for them. And it is driving away the middle class in California. The only way to drive down the cost of living a bit, and address the fact that California is the number one state for poverty (after taking into account cost of living) is to force the locals to accept increasingly dense housing, and even some low-income (crappy) housing. Well, from a different perspective on that. I didn't leave my area of birth because I like living in a rural area. ANd like space and freedom. So, yeah, I don't want things to get too "city-like". Frankly, living in a city would be a living death for me. I don't think I am emotionally/mentally built for city life which should be ok. Some city people aren't made for rural living, after all. Actually, this whole post of mine doesn't really have to do with yours directly. But, the whole afraid of city-people does strike a bit of a nerve. I think part of the reason (from my experience), is that the city-person moves in and wants the locals to change everything to what they want, and all too often change the area into the very thing that caused them to leave their city in the first place. Edit: Apologies, I read the phrase, and had to unwind with things from what I have seen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sociotard Posted April 21, 2018 Report Share Posted April 21, 2018 Valid. Although I think this is more a case of Suburban area resisting being a city than an actual rural area resisting being a city. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badger Posted April 21, 2018 Report Share Posted April 21, 2018 10 hours ago, Cancer said: I would in no way contradict what you say, though IMO California politics has been FUBAR since their Proposition 13 in 1978, when they enshrined in their constitution a fundamental inequity, the principle that older and longer-residing citizens had privileges literally at the expense of younger and newer ones. My own state (WA) has its own political perversities, but that isn't among them. EDIT: Probably subsequent discussion should go into Simon's political thread, though. I recognize this is treading on thin ice in that regard. Mea culpa. I don't think it is right (at least not in every case or even most cases), but I do think non-Californians do have a tendency to look at California, as the relative who makes bad decision after bad decision, and expects the family to clean up the mistakes (though some states wouldn't really have room to talk, but that never seems to stop one). For me, I look at some things CA does with outright confusion, but I do that a lot with my home state of VA, so..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ternaugh Posted April 21, 2018 Report Share Posted April 21, 2018 I'm firmly in the city dweller camp. Oh, I've lived in small towns, but I just like the variety of stuff that's available in a city. (My house would be fairly close to the middle of this picture). death tribble 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badger Posted April 21, 2018 Report Share Posted April 21, 2018 2 minutes ago, Sociotard said: Valid. Although I think this is more a case of Suburban area resisting being a city than an actual rural area resisting being a city. Yeah, thanks. My mind did shut that out in the aftermath. But, yeah suburban probably needs to be more leeway, suburban always feels like "city but not a city" in my mind. But, a lot of people to commute into the city from suburbs to work after all. I get a little defensive, when city vs rural even sniffs of coming up. ANd I have had the misfortune to meet a few former city livers who moved here, that wants this or that or whatever. And always think "why did they leave? Rural areas cant fully afford certain services because it isn't financially feasible, or in many cases practical. It's a balancing act of positives and negatives with the 2 types of areas". I'm in ramble mode, so I'll leave things as it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badger Posted April 21, 2018 Report Share Posted April 21, 2018 12 minutes ago, Ternaugh said: I'm firmly in the city dweller camp. Oh, I've lived in small towns, but I just like the variety of stuff that's available in a city. (My house would be fairly close to the middle of this picture). Yeah, I'm getting claustrophobic from looking at that. But, yeah, I look at just different ways of living. It just depends on what type of person one is. The things I want out of life can be found where I live now, I like the comforts I can find in a rural life. One of my cousins, became a lawyer in a city (in FL, but blast it if I can remember which city in FL at the moment). One of my dad's sisters lived in DC until she retired to live near his other sister in NC. We visited her up there once, rather than face that traffic again, I'd rather take a staring contest with Cthulhu. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ternaugh Posted April 21, 2018 Report Share Posted April 21, 2018 1 minute ago, Badger said: Yeah, I'm getting claustrophobic from looking at that. But, yeah, I look at just different ways of living. It just depends on what type of person one is. The things I want out of life can be found where I live now, I like the comforts I can find in a rural life. One of my cousins, became a lawyer in a city (in FL, but blast it if I can remember which city in FL at the moment). The picture shows roughly a quarter of the Vegas Valley. To put it to some sort of scale, major streets are generally about a mile apart, so each of those boxes of yellow lights would be about a mile on a side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cygnia Posted April 21, 2018 Report Share Posted April 21, 2018 Good doggie... Loyal blue heeler stays with three-year-old lost in bush overnight Netzilla 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ranxerox Posted April 21, 2018 Report Share Posted April 21, 2018 16 hours ago, Badger said: I don't think it is right (at least not in every case or even most cases), but I do think non-Californians do have a tendency to look at California, as the relative who makes bad decision after bad decision, and expects the family to clean up the mistakes (though some states wouldn't really have room to talk, but that never seems to stop one). For me, I look at some things CA does with outright confusion, but I do that a lot with my home state of VA, so..... California is one of 14 states that sends more money to the federal government than it gets back in benefits (link). So, I'm really not sure what mistakes it is that the family thinks they are being asked to clean up. It is certainly not financial help that they are giving us. RDU Neil and tkdguy 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wcw43921 Posted April 21, 2018 Report Share Posted April 21, 2018 RIP Verne Troyer To my mind, he would have been the first, best choice to play Mr. Mxyzptlk if any of the people affiliated with making Superman movies or TV series actually cared to make something featuring the character that was 1) faithful to the spirit of the character, and 2) present a credible challenge to the Man Of Steel. Put him in a pinstripe suit with a bowler hat and let the effects crew go to town. It could have been great. My condolences to his family and friends. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badger Posted April 22, 2018 Report Share Posted April 22, 2018 3 hours ago, Ranxerox said: California is one of 14 states that sends more money to the federal government than it gets back in benefits (link). So, I'm really not sure what mistakes it is that the family thinks they are being asked to clean up. It is certainly not financial help that they are giving us. Well, don't kill the messenger. JUst seems that seems to be the implications from some. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cygnia Posted April 23, 2018 Report Share Posted April 23, 2018 Colorado man bitten by shark in Hawaii previously attacked by bear, rattlesnake assault, Lucius and Old Man 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted April 23, 2018 Report Share Posted April 23, 2018 Sounds like he's working his way through the phylae. I see a tiger, crocodile, and eagle in his future. assault, Old Man and Pariah 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts