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#21
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You too envy Europe?
On Fri, 17 Jun 2016 12:54:03 -0700 (PDT), "Wise TibetanMonkey, Most
Humble Philosopher" wrote: On Friday, June 17, 2016 at 3:35:50 PM UTC-4, Vito wrote: On Fri, 17 Jun 2016 10:10:29 -0700 (PDT), "Wise TibetanMonkey, Most Humble Philosopher" wrote: On Friday, June 17, 2016 at 10:56:09 AM UTC-4, Vito wrote: On Thu, 16 Jun 2016 20:29:02 -0700 (PDT), "Wise TibetanMonkey, Most Humble Philosopher" wrote: On Thursday, June 16, 2016 at 10:50:10 PM UTC-4, John B. wrote: On Thu, 16 Jun 2016 13:24:06 -0700 (PDT), "Wise TibetanMonkey, Most Humble Philosopher" wrote: The winner gets banana dollars and a bicycle. Given that the average auto ownership in the U.S. is, according to the Bureau of Transportation, 1.9 cars per family and that USA Today has it that "The estimated average transaction price of a new car or truck sold in the U.S. in April was $33,560". I wonder whether your assertion that "The revolution should not threaten the middle class" is perhaps a littler, just a tiny bit, wrong. -- cheers, John B. You made a statement before which said that Europeans ride bikes only because they can't afford a car. That's obviously a little lie of yours because northern Europe has a large middle class. They do have a better quality of life, if anything. The Tibetan Gaitor's assertions are based on ignorance. Typical middle class Americans own homes in the suburbs on 1/4 acre or bigger lots. Euros OTOH typically live in apartments or row houses, nose to anus with their neighbors. Our model requires cars and roads because we do not want a Walmart and a factory on each/every block - something Euros are content with. There is nothing wrong with either model - each has advantages. But it is very wrong to impose one or the other as gaitor mouth wants. If he loves the Euro model he should go there. It's simple: The European model is social. The American model is antisocial. Only in your mind. My neighbors are both friendly and helpful and call on me when they need help. Their kids play and go to school together. That's social. Smelling their cooking is not. But I say again, if you prefer the Euro, or any other model, be free - go there. Today. How far is your nearest outdoor cafe? That could be a sign of social life. Why is the distance to the closest outdoor cafe a measurement of social life? Do you think that sitting out on the sidewalk in Point Barrow, where they brag that the temperature is above freezing for at least 120 days a year, is being "social"? -- cheers, John B. |
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#22
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You too envy Europe?
On Fri, 17 Jun 2016 18:22:15 -0700 (PDT), "Wise TibetanMonkey, Most
Humble Philosopher" wrote: On Friday, June 17, 2016 at 8:23:12 PM UTC-4, Alex W. wrote: On 18/06/2016 09:40, Wise TibetanMonkey, Most Humble Philosopher wrote: On Friday, June 17, 2016 at 7:12:28 PM UTC-4, Alex W. wrote: I am currently in Australia. Being neighbourly and helpful is such a social virtue, it almost made it into their constitution. But their public transport is generally as bad if not worse than in the US. The average Australian house is bigger than in the US. They spread out as much if not further. They drive big cars and SUVs as much as USaians do. And yet, they are *extremely* social and sociable -- from personal contact right up to the way government operates. So where is the socialization, drinking beer around the BBQ? ? That, too ... and they have no problem with driving for a few hours just to get there. It also means that when you roll into a town in the Outback, population 323 and a dead kangaroo, they will have service clubs (Lions, Rotary, Kiwanis, Countrywomen's Alliance, Apex etc), at least one Rugby oval, a horse-racing track, a Cricket ground, a public park and playground ... all funded, maintained and actively used by the community. It means that when people walk along the street and see someone struggling with a pram or a moving carton, they will offer to help. The other day on the bus, an old lady had trouble getting off -- so the driver put on his emergency lights, helped her off and then accompanied her a few hundred yards down the street to her house. When he got back, there was applause from the other passengers, rather than howls of outrage and complaints. It means when catastrophe strikes -- bush fires, floods -- everybody pitches in rather than sitting on their own little patch. Driving manners tell a lot about a country. Cooperative or competitive? Here's the law of the jungle, you know. United Selfish of America. What is this "Law of the Jungles" that you keep going on about? Do you mean where the biggest and meanest fellow gets to call the shots? If so, then why is it a "jungle law"? After all every human society that ever existed has been doing exactly that ever since they got big enough to pick up a stick. (People that study those things reckon that the first "tool" was a big stick.) -- cheers, John B. |
#23
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You too envy Europe?
On Fri, 17 Jun 2016 18:39:42 -0700 (PDT), "Wise TibetanMonkey, Most
Humble Philosopher" wrote: On Friday, June 17, 2016 at 9:19:43 PM UTC-4, John B. wrote: On Fri, 17 Jun 2016 12:54:03 -0700 (PDT), "Wise TibetanMonkey, Most Humble Philosopher" wrote: On Friday, June 17, 2016 at 3:35:50 PM UTC-4, Vito wrote: On Fri, 17 Jun 2016 10:10:29 -0700 (PDT), "Wise TibetanMonkey, Most Humble Philosopher" wrote: On Friday, June 17, 2016 at 10:56:09 AM UTC-4, Vito wrote: On Thu, 16 Jun 2016 20:29:02 -0700 (PDT), "Wise TibetanMonkey, Most Humble Philosopher" wrote: On Thursday, June 16, 2016 at 10:50:10 PM UTC-4, John B. wrote: On Thu, 16 Jun 2016 13:24:06 -0700 (PDT), "Wise TibetanMonkey, Most Humble Philosopher" wrote: The winner gets banana dollars and a bicycle. Given that the average auto ownership in the U.S. is, according to the Bureau of Transportation, 1.9 cars per family and that USA Today has it that "The estimated average transaction price of a new car or truck sold in the U.S. in April was $33,560". I wonder whether your assertion that "The revolution should not threaten the middle class" is perhaps a littler, just a tiny bit, wrong. -- cheers, John B. You made a statement before which said that Europeans ride bikes only because they can't afford a car. That's obviously a little lie of yours because northern Europe has a large middle class. They do have a better quality of life, if anything. The Tibetan Gaitor's assertions are based on ignorance. Typical middle class Americans own homes in the suburbs on 1/4 acre or bigger lots. Euros OTOH typically live in apartments or row houses, nose to anus with their neighbors. Our model requires cars and roads because we do not want a Walmart and a factory on each/every block - something Euros are content with. There is nothing wrong with either model - each has advantages. But it is very wrong to impose one or the other as gaitor mouth wants. If he loves the Euro model he should go there. It's simple: The European model is social. The American model is antisocial. Only in your mind. My neighbors are both friendly and helpful and call on me when they need help. Their kids play and go to school together. That's social. Smelling their cooking is not. But I say again, if you prefer the Euro, or any other model, be free - go there. Today. How far is your nearest outdoor cafe? That could be a sign of social life. Why is the distance to the closest outdoor cafe a measurement of social life? Do you think that sitting out on the sidewalk in Point Barrow, where they brag that the temperature is above freezing for at least 120 days a year, is being "social"? -- cheers, John B. It does. Pay attention next time you see a Starbucks: Intellectual life, bicycle culture and coffee. Living communities got one. Dead ones got none. Well, yes. I've seen a Starbucks, but you said "outdoor cafe". I've never seen an outdoor Starbucks (although they may exist) even in tropical countries where they don't know what "freezing" is. I've got one cafe a little over a mile away, so this is not the desert or the boondocks. -- cheers, John B. |
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