"Don" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@news1.newsguy.com:
Q. What is an Economic Stimulus Payment?
> A. It is money that the federal government will send to taxpayers. >
> Q. Where will the government get this money?
> A. From taxpayers.
>
> Q. So the government is giving me back my own money?
> A. Only a smidgen.
>
> Q. What is the purpose of this payment?
> A. The plan is that you will use the money to purchase a
> high-definition TV set, thus stimulating the economy.
>
> Q. But isn't that stimulating the economy of China?
> A. Shut up.
>
HA!
Well, I'm still not buying an HDTV. I just might go buy a bunch of glass (now that I've taken the class and remember how to do it) and make me a Door Lite, so I can take down the cheesy ribbed plastic (put it up for privacy) - use textured glass for privacy without blocking light:
formatting link
- they make the glass in Washington State :) . And maybe make a small panel for a friend.
((My current Bird Window is turning out pretty well ;) so I'm psyched! ))
(((((If I so desperately wanted a better TV pic, I guess I'd first try putting on my glasses to watch )))))
"EDS" wrote in news:QOSdnWT3gKXh-4bVnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@comcast.com:
It'd just be nice if people occasionally learned from history...OTOH, I don't really expect such a radical change of human nature to occur withing my lifetime (if ever).
"Don" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@news3.newsguy.com:
I was primarily referring specifically to the "incentive cheque".
Most people know things are awry, I agree; I don't observe, however, that all or even most people simply don't know what to do - it seems to me that people have been, for many years, *unwilling* to mkae necessary individual changes.
Part of the problem is that, although elected officials *technically* are the employees of the taxpayers/citizensm, what happens in practice is taht people readily and willingly relinguish responsibility and effort, giving it up to elected officials and basically allowing, or even
*asking*, those officials to take control.
Control is a hard thing - it requires a willingness to (1) learn about
*all* sides of the issues, (2) accept the burdens associated with making decisions that will inevitably make *someone* unhappy, and (3) accepting responsibility for one's own errors, and I don't mean irrelevant crap like "I made the mistake of smoking one joint when I was 17", I mean for the important adult decisions.
It's similar to people who put all of their trust in medical personnel to the extent of questioning nothing whatsoever, and don't do any sort of self-education about their own health so as to ensure that they, and their loved ones, are being correctly treated. I'm seeing this right now woth family members - one relative had to have emergency surgery, and has been confused and delerious for over a week since the surgery - only one erlative is even *thinking* about the possibility of a stroke, while everyone else is just not posing *any* questions. It seems to me that the same exact thing tends to occur with politicians.
At the same time, people are part of the problem, because they spend so much time and energy and hot air jumping up and down about silly and/or minor things that the issues which actually impact *everyone*, and even ones that have global importance, are glossed over.
One thing that is needed is individual involvement/action, from the tiniest things to the most major.
At the same time, an "activity book" might be a good idea - something like one of those "For Dummies" series books, "How to improve the world - and your own life - for dummies". THe problem is that a lot of people don't *want* to consider making any changes in their world outlook or attitudes. They want things to be fixed by "Them"/"somebody else"/"those people who are responsible". Plus, what you get is alot of bickering, because too many poeple are moer concerned with having thier "special case" seen to, than with trying to work together with others who are different.
Usually, all of that means gov.t is designated the "problem solver". But gov.t isn't necessarily the best vehicle for "fixing things" for solving problems or making changes, because gov.t is a bureaucracy - any action requires the "stamp" so to speak of a passel of offices. SO change has to start form the roots, and work upwards. Individuals have ot make changes, and then also not only demand, but see to it, rather than the other way around.
"Don" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@news3.newsguy.com:
Well, it's certainly something that a hell of a lot of architects and architectural designers (and lots of other folks ;) ) have considered part and parcel of building design. Even the simplest use of colored glass can, if used right, just add so much to the expereince of a space. It's almost downright mystical ;)
I won't finish my bird panel until TUesday, but then I'll try to take a decent photo and post it somewhere. I'm still toying with the design for the Door Lite.
And then there are the techniques like sandblasting, etching, enamel on glass, fusing, painting/printing/airbrushing on it using pigments that fuse into the glass upon heating, and so on! The possibilities truely are immense.
ANd, with the copper foil method, invented by - who else? - Tiffany, you can even build sculptrues with it. Or glass houses
And there is molding, of all sorts.
And then there also is glassblowing - tho' it's getting increasingly expensive, as IIRC the ovens must be kept up to temperature at all times (because it's even costlier to shut them down and heat them back up). But seeing glassblowers at work is like watching them do a strange pas de deux with some sort of Volcano god, manipualting fire and freezing it so to speak.
You *know* I'll help find you info on glass, if you can't
19 years ago we visited Chartes Cathedral, and were awed by the stained glass. The cobalt blue colors of the west window ware unbelievable, when the afternoon sun came through, an intense blue color layer appeared to float just above the floor by some optical illusion. Absolutely spellbinding! Also some great glass in the Ste Chappele in Paris. The walls are apparently almost all stained glass with very thin stone columns. There is also a church here in Boston with Tiffony windows that is quite beautiful. He used layering of glass to give three dimentional depth to the scenes. EDS
"EDS" wrote in news:QNCdnUWW4b7Xl4DVnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@comcast.com:
I am officially envious ;)
They took as literal the statement that "God is Light", and tired to give it an earthly interpretation and presence - if Jesus was the WOrd made Flesh, ina way, the cathedrals were to be the Word made, not so much Stone, but vehicles for that Light. That thought is in my mind when I see pictures of those works. I can only imagine how powerfully bautiful they might be in person.
WHen you consider Quantum Physics, maybe they had the right idea. Sound/music is compression/decompression waves, light is part of the spectrum of electromagnetic waves, and IMO therefore analagous to music.
But it's late and I'm tired, so I'm tending to wax a bit too mysticolyrical or something =:-o So I'll be merciful and stop ;)
Tiffany and Lalique are tough to top ;) . IIRC, Tiffany invented techniques for making glass as well as for assembling it. I think it's teh Youghiogheny company which says it's revived his techniques (or at least some of them), so it'd be interesting to see their products.
BTW, wasn't it you who recommended the book "Guns, Germs, and Steel"? I've been reading it - fascinating, and make s lot of sense to me.
"EDS" wrote in news:aNidneFEIuFmSoDVnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@comcast.com:
THat was a good recommendation, thanks (I'm reading it before I read the one regarding why/how societies fail). I never agreed with people who made purely racial arguments - even *if* certain traits, such as learning style, are predominant in the descendents of a certain group/family of explorers/wanderers who first occipied a given area, there is no basis for arguing that a different learning style makes for lower or higher problem- solving ability, if only because this can't even be observed in day-to-day life (well, unless perhaps one has lived in some tiny isolated hamlet, or pocket of this or that subculture, all one's life, and even there, if someone with a different learning style doesn't appear to have "normal" intelligence/problem-solving-ability, it's often more because the perceptions of those around the individual have created a prejudicial environment). Anyhoo, so Diamond's thesis makes a great deal of sense to me, and describes something I personally had long suspected, especially given the fact that complex Western society/culture supports, and thereby actively encourages, a *reduced* level of problem-solving ability because people who are less curious and less active make fro metter wage-slaves. Diamond vaguely hints at this, stating that studies reveal that, on an individual-by-individual level, without bias in favor of being able to turn on a TV set, modern "primitives" (hunter-gatherers. nomads, and the like) actually tend to have *better* problem-solving abilities than do people is large, complex soceities, becasue the former tend to not live very long if they don't have their wits about them and can't solve very real problems of survival.
At any rate, it's been quite interesting read, so thanks for the suggestion :)
"EDS" wrote in news:NrKdnSsJHqEsPoLVnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@comcast.com:
Well, I'm glad if the amuse more than they annoy =:-o I know I go off on a lot of tangents, btu that's onyl because th eworld is such a complex and wacky place ;)
Cool. Keep those brain cells firing! At least it keeps on efrom being bored ;)
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.