Re: Time to talk about Global Warming [was Re: Maccies aren't fanatical? (by the way, what is a "Maccie?)]

In article <unun721r5jdmepga8np985vgbmq7ndroiu@xxxxxxx>,
Mayor of R'lyeh <mayor.of.rlyeh@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Tue, 30 May 2006 03:24:55 -0400, ZnU <znu@xxxxxxxxxxxx> chose to
bless us with the following wisdom:

In article
<gmgraves-AFF4DE.23523429052006@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
George Graves <gmgraves@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

In article <znu-84CAEC.23501529052006@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
ZnU <znu@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

In article <VcWdnerJ9q76AObZnZ2dnUVZ_s-dnZ2d@xxxxxxxxxxx>,
GreyCloud <mist@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

George Graves wrote:

Like I said, material goods is only part of the equation. The burden
of
overpopulation is not necessarily want (especially in the developed
world) but rather a social buden that infrastructures, both physical
and
sociological, simply will not be able to keep abreast of. I believe
firmly that the United States, with HALF ther population that we now
have, would be a stronger, richer and more vital society
experiencing
more sustainable economic growth and a higher quality of life for
all.


The quality of life factor is quite important. One of the items
addressed in the Rand study showed that when the population density
increases, there will be reduced freedoms as a result. We are now
starting to see the fringes of our freedoms slowly disappearing from
more laws being passed.

This honestly sounds like complete nonsense to me. Are people in major
cities less free than people in rural areas? I suppose it depends on how
one defines 'freedom', but it doesn't particularly seem that way to me.

Yes it does depend on how one defines freedom. Someone living in a rural
area can play their stereos loud when they want to. City dwellers
cannot. Rural residents can often step out their back door and engage in
a little target practice. Discharge a firearm in the city and you'll get
arrested. Want to remove an old oak tree on your own property in the
country? Just do it. Try that in many urban areas and you'll be fined.
Want a satellite dish? In the country, just put one up. In the city,
even on your own property, many CC&Rs and city ordinances make it
illegal to do so. These are just a few examples.

On the other hand, there are a huge number of things people living in
cities can do that people living in rural areas can't. At least not
without a 'drive for three hours' (or possibly three days) step coming
first. I can walk to at least four world-class museums in less than 30
minutes.

I hear this kind of thing a lot from city people. When I ask them 'But
how often do you?' they usually become extremely interested in the
state of their shoes.

I hit up each of the major museums a couple of times a year. But I
probably do *something* in NYC that I couldn't do outside of a major
city at least a few times a week. (Or twice a day, five times a week, if
you count 'walking to work', which isn't possible for most people in the
US.)

If I stand in line for a while, I can get free tickets to half
the live-audience shows on TV.

Wow! I'm packing a bag and moving to New York tonight! 8)

I can wander trough hip art galleries and buy $10 shots in hip bars.

I can get overpriced drinks here too. Of course I usually gat a good
blues band at the places I buy them at instead of being served by some
some snotty twit who thinks he's better than everyone else because he
works the bar at the flavor of the month of bars.

I can get pretty much any kind of food,

You can do that anywhere.

Not to quite the same extent. I'm willing to bet most of the population
of the United States doesn't live within delivery range of a Turkish
restaurant.

meet any kind of person,

Most of them are overrated.

Which is why it's so important to have access to a large selection.

and make money doing jobs that don't exist elsewhere.

And many them aren't needed anywhere else.

I was thinking along the lines of working in things like marketing,
publishing, theater, etc. which are concentrated in NYC and a few other
major cities.

If one defines freedom in terms of the range of choices one has
available, major cities offer quite a lot of it. I doubt Mayor would
agree,

Partially. Cities do offer choices. However the choices they offer
tend to be the kind of things that annoy me. Give me wide open spaces
and the freedom to do, build and set off any kind of device I care to
make.

but at least some of the above (not so much the $10 shots)
appeals to me much more than cutting down oak trees or blasting my
stereo. And judging from the property values in Manhattan, I don't think
I'm alone.

The property values are largely driven by things like building
restrictions and rent control.

Even the rent controlled apartments in Manhattan are expensive by most
standards. And yes, while it's true one could probably lower the cost of
housing by building 150 story apartment towers all over the place, the
fact that you'd have to resort to that sort of thing shows how high
demand is.

The American Dream isn't a fourth floor walkup in Tenement Row after
all.

The concept that there's only one American Dream has always been one of
the sillier notions in our society. Particularly since it directly
conflicts with so many of the other happy notions Americans have about
their country.

--
"Those who enter the country illegally violate the law."
-- George W. Bush in Tucson, Ariz., Nov. 28, 2005
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Time to talk about Global Warming [was Re: Maccies arent fanatical? (by the way, what is a "Macc
    ... Yes it does depend on how one defines freedom. ... Discharge a firearm in the city and you'll get ... cities can do that people living in rural areas can't. ...
    (comp.sys.mac.advocacy)
  • Re: San Francisco So Far
    ... city and country. ... talking real country, as in I can see horses across the street out my ... Many of who live in Cities can't understand how country hicks do it ... parks of all types and historic attractions. ...
    (rec.food.cooking)
  • Re: San Francisco So Far
    ... city and country. ... Many of who live in Cities can't understand how country hicks do it ... I'm a reformed country bumpkin... ...
    (rec.food.cooking)
  • Re: Persisting Information across forms
    ... Country displays the selected record from ... > transfers them to the Cities page (in this case a listing of cities filtered ... > list which brings them to the City record. ... > TransferParameters) which holds the parameters I want to pass along. ...
    (microsoft.public.dotnet.framework.aspnet)
  • RE: Address fields and nulls
    ... country, states in the USA, départements in France, cantons in Switzerland ... A set of correctly normalized tables in this context would include Cities ... (in this database all addresses included a 'city' even though it often might ... provided without the county or without a second line for the address such as ...
    (microsoft.public.access.gettingstarted)