The Euro at $1.55

In "tim \(not at home\)"
wrote:



"Bert Hyman" wrote in message
...
In "tim \(not at home\)"
wrote:


"Mxsmanic" wrote in message
...

The time may come when those automobile-oriented cities will be
decimated instead. If fuel is truly unavailable, or is so
expensive that it simply cannot serve as a basis for commuting,
people will have no choice but to abandon large cities that depend
on automobiles, or redesign parts of them to
accommodate mass transit, bicycles, or walking, while the rest of
the metropolitan area decays slowly into rust and dust.

unfortunately, not in my lifetime

But fortunately, you have the complete freedom to move to any place
in the world that implements your model of the ideal city. I'm sure
you can even find places where large portions of the metropolitan
areas are decaying into rust and dust.

what's that got to do with a desire that towns should be build to be
more pedestrian friendly?

Just suggesting that simply because you happen to be in some place,
there's no reason to expect it to change simply to accomodate your
desires.

There are already lots of places around the world that meet your
criteria; why demand that every place in the world be the same?

--
Bert Hyman St. Paul, MN

"Bert Hyman" wrote in message
...
In "tim \(not at home\)"
wrote:



"Bert Hyman" wrote in message
...
In "tim \(not at home\)"
wrote:


"Mxsmanic" wrote in message
...

The time may come when those automobile-oriented cities will be
decimated instead. If fuel is truly unavailable, or is so
expensive that it simply cannot serve as a basis for commuting,
people will have no choice but to abandon large cities that depend
on automobiles, or redesign parts of them to
accommodate mass transit, bicycles, or walking, while the rest of
the metropolitan area decays slowly into rust and dust.

unfortunately, not in my lifetime

But fortunately, you have the complete freedom to move to any place
in the world that implements your model of the ideal city. I'm sure
you can even find places where large portions of the metropolitan
areas are decaying into rust and dust.

what's that got to do with a desire that towns should be build to be
more pedestrian friendly?

Just suggesting that simply because you happen to be in some place,
there's no reason to expect it to change simply to accomodate your
desires.

But I'm not in that place. I happen to think that we should be building all
towns to be pedestrian friendly.

tim

tim (not at home) wrote:

"Bert Hyman" wrote in message
...
[]
Just suggesting that simply because you happen to be in some place,
there's no reason to expect it to change simply to accomodate your
desires.

But I'm not in that place. I happen to think that we should be building all
towns to be pedestrian friendly.

In the UK at least, that's certainly the trend, and a welcome one. Given
how busy the pedestrianised areas get, I'm surprised there aren't more-
particularly in central London, which is ravaged by traffic IMO, despite
the effects of the congestion charge.

[Cue Mike with horror stories of skateboarders... ]

--
(*) of the royal duchy of city south and deansgate -www.davidhorne.net
(email address on website) "If people think God is interesting, the
onus is on them to show that there is anything there to talk about.
Otherwise they should just shut up about it." -Richard Dawkins

On Sun, 16 Mar 2008 18:36:03 +0000, (David Horne,
_the_ chancellor (*)) wrote:

tim (not at home) wrote:

"Bert Hyman" wrote in message
...
[]
Just suggesting that simply because you happen to be in some place,
there's no reason to expect it to change simply to accomodate your
desires.

But I'm not in that place. I happen to think that we should be building all
towns to be pedestrian friendly.

In the UK at least, that's certainly the trend, and a welcome one. Given
how busy the pedestrianised areas get, I'm surprised there aren't more-
particularly in central London, which is ravaged by traffic IMO, despite
the effects of the congestion charge.

[Cue Mike with horror stories of skateboarders... ]

Don't you two DARE start again, or it'll be detention for both of you
- and you'll have to write out 100 times "I must not pollute RTE with
silly arguments." Is that clear? Now, you're both intelligent and
informative posters - let's keep it that way, eh? By the way, the
second hour of detention would be cleaning out the broom cupbaord and
helping Mr ScRunge the caretaker in the boiler-room: now you don't
want that, do you? So BEHAVE!



Keith (formerly of Bristol UK)
now moved to Berlin/nach Berlin umgezogen

Keith Anderson wrote:

On Sun, 16 Mar 2008 18:36:03 +0000, (David Horne,
_the_ chancellor (*)) wrote:

tim (not at home) wrote:

"Bert Hyman" wrote in message
...
[]
Just suggesting that simply because you happen to be in some place,
there's no reason to expect it to change simply to accomodate your
desires.

But I'm not in that place. I happen to think that we should be
building all towns to be pedestrian friendly.

In the UK at least, that's certainly the trend, and a welcome one. Given
how busy the pedestrianised areas get, I'm surprised there aren't more-
particularly in central London, which is ravaged by traffic IMO, despite
the effects of the congestion charge.

[Cue Mike with horror stories of skateboarders... ]

Don't you two DARE start again,

Moi?

No, that thread's done, which is why I couldn't resist!

--
(*) of the royal duchy of city south and deansgate -www.davidhorne.net
(email address on website) "If people think God is interesting, the
onus is on them to show that there is anything there to talk about.
Otherwise they should just shut up about it." -Richard Dawkins

On Sun, 16 Mar 2008 18:55:20 +0000, (David Horne,
_the_ chancellor (*)) wrote:

Keith Anderson wrote:


Don't you two DARE start again,

Moi?

No, that thread's done, which is why I couldn't resist!

Horne, I'm doing my best to ensure that Saint Arteey's Academy is a
place of serious learning; of exchange of knowledge and experience. I
wish to avoid any "But, Sir, he started it again" comebacks. Do I make
myself clear, boy?


Keith (formerly of Bristol UK)
now moved to Berlin/nach Berlin umgezogen

On the particular moment of Sun, 16 Mar 2008 19:10:42 +0100 in
relation to Mary's disappointingly immaculate rumpy pumpy, Mxsmanic
put forth:

William Black writes:

So in Delhi, where it's much hotter, people ride pedal cycles to commit
suicide?

Actually, Delhi is not hotter than Phoenix. They have about the same average
summer temperatures.

And I didn't say anything about suicide.

People who ride bicycles in extreme heat sometimes die, both in Phoenix and in
Delhi. Human beings are built the same way everywhere, with the same
temperature and humidity tolerances.

Australian Aboriginals were well documented for their abilities to go
for days without food, and being able to have a constant body
temperature with just one side facing a campfire. Europeans weren't
able to do this when they arrived.

I'd like to know why you think people are so homogeneous.
--
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DFM - http://www.deepfriedmars.com
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--

On Sat, 15 Mar 2008 10:33:28 -0700, Hatunen wrote:

On Fri, 14 Mar 2008 19:03:50 +0100, Dusty Furtile Morrocan
wrote:

On the particular moment of Fri, 14 Mar 2008 09:23:10 -0700 in
relation to Mary's disappointingly immaculate rumpy pumpy, Hatunen
put forth:

On Thu, 13 Mar 2008 15:23:34 -0700,
"EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)" wrote:

It's getting to a point where they CAN'T - and it will be a definite
problem in the American Southwest, where "public transportation" is
largely non-existent!

That's silly. They'll just start buying more economical cars,
like they did during the gas crisis some decades ago.

And there's transit in the southwest. Why, Phoenix is
inaugurating its new light rail system, isn't it?

By roughly how much are they expecting car usage to drop?

Damned if I know.

Oooh! I know this one!
The answer is: zero.

Americans (outside of NYC and SF) have a cynical view of public
transportation. Most folks agree that public transportation is a great
idea and should be implemented. But their agreement is predicated on
the understanding that other people (poor and/or brown people) will
use these services, leaving the highways freer for single-occupancy
vehicles. Preferably SUV's, in fact.

This dynamic is undeniable. I see it in every city. Seattle is a
perfect case in point. Battles rage over the monorail/light-rail/bus
systems. But none of the ragers ever actually USE these systems.

Here's a story for you:

A liberal/lefty friend of mine in Seattle decided to have a day at the
zoo with his wife, kids, and some friends who have kids. The zoo is a
simple 3-mile bus ride from his door. He told his friends (also
environmentally-conscious liberal lefties) to meet at his house and
they would all take the bus to the zoo. His friends were incensed and
disgusted at the idea.

Ride the BUS? With our CHILDREN? Are you MAD???

They insisted on driving in their SUV. It's for the CHILDREN. Their
safety is foremost.

This is just one story. But the American mind is just geared that way.
We drive. End of story. Packing into public transportation with the
kind of people who would use public transportation is a sign of
poverty and failure. What would everyone think if they knew you took a
bus? And let's face it: a tram is just a bus on rails.

My own story inre public transportation is a tale of woe. For years, I
worked in my city's downtown core. In fair weather, I rode a bike
(mostly trail). In foul weather, I rode the bus. The bus stopped at my
driveway and dropped me 50 yards from the office. Aside from the
occasional smelly vagrant, it was awesome.

Now, I work in an office park at the farthest northern reaches of the
city. The bus company had to re-organize due to a financial crisis
(ie, not enough passengers) and their routes changed. I can no longer
take the bus, even if I wanted to. Their earliest route would require
me to do two bus changes totaling 90 minutes of travel time, leaving
me late for work every day. It's a 15 mile bike ride each way through
dangerous traffic on roads with no bike lane. No way.

So now I'm a fully-fledged American commuter. I drive my Subaru as a
single occupant vehicle back and forth every day. It's stressful,
expensive and I hate it. I have contemplated moving closer to the
office, but I live in an Eden here on the southside, and who knows how
long I'll work at this office?

Alas, alack.

- TR
- I can haz European-style mass transit pleez?

"Keith Anderson" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 16 Mar 2008 18:36:03 +0000, (David Horne,
_the_ chancellor (*)) wrote:

tim (not at home) wrote:

"Bert Hyman" wrote in message
...
[]
Just suggesting that simply because you happen to be in some place,
there's no reason to expect it to change simply to accomodate your
desires.

But I'm not in that place. I happen to think that we should be building
all
towns to be pedestrian friendly.

In the UK at least, that's certainly the trend, and a welcome one. Given
how busy the pedestrianised areas get, I'm surprised there aren't more-
particularly in central London, which is ravaged by traffic IMO, despite
the effects of the congestion charge.

[Cue Mike with horror stories of skateboarders... ]

Don't you two DARE start again, or it'll be detention for both of you

What have I done!?

tim

On the particular moment of Sun, 16 Mar 2008 19:12:13 +0100 in
relation to Mary's disappointingly immaculate rumpy pumpy, Mxsmanic
put forth:

Dusty Furtile Morrocan writes:

Telecommuting sucks though. I've done it, and hate it. It means your
work life and home life are not separated, which causes all sorts of
problems. Also, there are many times when it's just better to speak
with colleagues in people, especially when you need to discuss or
explain something.

An interesting idea, but I can't see it ever catching on.

Most people like in-person interactions.

A better idea is a type of work that can be done remotely, like telecommuting
but not as an employee. Unfortunately, there aren't many occupations like
that. Writing is one of them, however.

That's why I've always suggested you do technical writing/translation.
Pays much more that normal translation and can be done from home.
--
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DFM - http://www.deepfriedmars.com
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