OT: Public transport

[Commander Kinsey]

Even if I use my neighbour's son's taxi?

[Commander Kinsey]

The only hitchhikers I've found who said they always get lifts quickly were two f****ng gorgeous nineteen year olds. I went out of my way to take them where they were going, and got in late for work. My boss understood the excuse.

[Commander Kinsey]

The trouble with media is they only report the times it happened, not the millions it didn't. Best to ignore all the shit you read in newspapers. It's high time they all closed down. I see they're struggling to get subscriptions.

[rbowman]

The problems the US caused in the first place?

That was the gift that keeps on giving. It only took the CIA 60 years to 'fess up. I wonder if they had anything to do with Euromaidan but I'm not going to live that long.

[rbowman]

Ultimately after refinements to make people responsible. The original white bike scheme didn't work in Amsterdam and it didn't work here.

[Scott Lurndal]

It goes back far, far further. Think Safavid empire. Think British Empire (anglo-persian war). Then there was the Balfour declaration which has lead to suffering and violence in the middle east.

[rbowman]

Agreed. I was looking at the time frame where the US decided it was the big dog after WWII. The ouster of Mossadegh chiefly benefited the Anglo- Iranian Oil Company. Apparently the Brits weren't up to playing the 'Great Game' anymore so the CIA showed them how it was done.

Personally I'd rather deal with Persians than Arabs but so it goes.

As far as the Balfour declaration, that was Perfidious Albion at its best. iirc they sold the same cow to the Arabs, Jews, and French. I will go no further into that minefield.

The US has also demonstrated the proper way to handle Vietnam to the French and Afghanistan to the British, Russians, and the whole list of empire builders that went home worse for wear.

At least Vietnam sorted itself out, which it would have done anyway if left alone.

[micky]

Another example is the public phone. Phone booths all over the place were referred to as public phones, and the few that are left still are, even the government didn't own any of them. They were owned by one or another phone company but meant to be used by the public.

Public parks are almost always owned by the government, but that does not mean public phones and public transsportation has to be because ownership is now what makes them public. In fact if there is some forest or park-like land that is owned by the government but people are not allowed in for some reason, it's not a public park, even if the government owns it. There is such a place near me, Soldiers Delight Natural Environment Area, owned by the state of Maryland, but part of it (the most interesting part) is closed to visitors bedause they are afraid we'll step on some endangered plant. That part is not public.

[micky]

Even though the government....

NOT what makes them public. Darn.

[Snit]

On Jun 3, 2023 at 3:18:49 PM MST, ""Commander Kinsey"" wrote [e-mail]:

This is an insane claim.

[Cindy Hamilton]

I get excellent food, medical care, and jobs in a midwestern college town. You couldn't pay me to live in a city.

What does "better women" even mean?

[John Larkin]

More options. Cities and college towns attract and concentrate all sorts of odd and smart people, so each of us has a better chance of meeting our best mate than we might in a small town. A college town has many of the aspects of (some) cities: good food, good coffee, smart people, lots of interaction.

Evolutionarily, concentration of people, especially into high-skill high-cost areas, means that the extremes of the normal distribution are more likely to meet and mate. So we get more geniuses and more autism.

[John Larkin]

This paper estimates 83%.

People are social creatures and a tribe probably benefits from having a bit of the autism traits in its gene pool. But MIT and San Francisco distort the historic concentration of the related genes, so spectrum-y people have a higher probability of mating with similar types. That's not necessarily bad.

I accidentally found a bunch of youtube vids by autistic and ADHD and ADD people. Many make the interesting argument that not all such variations are "disorders." Personally, I think that most people are too influenced by social effects, which is why we have lame circuit designs and flame threads and wars.

Mo works with autistic kids. Severely affected ones can be damaged, rolling around on the floor and screaming and not talking. But many mild cases can be very talented.

Google famous autistic people

[rbowman]

In Tel Aviv?

[Commander Kinsey]

You share expensive things like combine harvesters. Why the f*ck would you share a bicycle? I can get those on freecycle!

[Commander Kinsey]

Not sure how needlework will save you.

[David Brooks]

Steve Jobs, who died in October 2011, is quoted as saying:

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice.

And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

[pothead]

I admire Steve Jobs.

Another great saying by him is this one:

"Here's To The Crazy Ones"

"Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do."

[David Brooks]

Yes, indeed!

Some folk think that *I* am one of the crazy ones! ;-)

[Commander Kinsey]

Why? It's just accepting some people are inferior. You surely can't believe we're all the same?