The librarians I know are adamant about keeping private the records of what patrons have checked out or searched. I don’t know the history you refer to, where library records were used to identify certain sections of society. Where can I read more about that?
I lived and worked in Oregon in the early 90s, and this is huge news. I’ll admit I’d gradually let cynicism overtake hope this outcome was possible. Now on East Coast, interesting to me that I’m first reading about this from BBC News and not US east coast media, which I believe has never appreciated the scale or importance of these land use decisions.
Last month while cleaning out a relative’s house, I made my first trip to a metal scrap yard. I had fishing weights (lead), old copper pipes, rolls of electrical wire, broken aluminum chairs - and street signs. I assumed the scrap yard would reject the street sign since, if they would accept it, why wouldn’t people steal them routinely? To my surprise they accepted everything, asked no questions nor asked for ID, and paid cash.
The incentives here are clear.
Maybe it’s the point of sale that needs closer scrutiny since police can’t guard all the light poles 24/7.
How much plastic in the ocean gyres might be our supposedly recycled plastic?
Has anyone audited this by putting a few GPS-tracked plastic bottles into the recycling stream to see how many went to landfills or incinerators vs. being dumped in the ocean on the way to alleged recycling?
A cartography professor of mine once advised me to take another career path because cartography was dying; he added, “Google Maps has terrible maps- but no one seems to care.” It heartens me to see in HN comments that some are noticing.
A pet peeve of mine is when water bodies go unlabeled.
An old-fashioned paper map like the kind inserted in National Geographic mags when I was wee included a breathtaking amount of information, but that requires careful design so element labels don’t overlap etc.
A municipality is run by a group of individuals elected by other individuals, whereas you have framed your housing policy proposal as if pitching to a dictator.
Imagining how we might govern unfettered by frustrating negotiations with others is fun but dangerous.
I love the resume itself: the non-fussy font, wording, and layout is refreshingly straightforward. It makes me want to take your dad to lunch and hear all his stories. My grandfather piloted a B-29 in 1945, and his brother was an early computer scientist; maybe their paths overlapped. Warm regards to your dad!
If I could take you all to the pub, I would, because you are fun to talk to and listen to. But I can’t.
I go to the pub with other people and enjoy their company, but many of them don’t find interesting the kinds of things discussed on HN. At times, that makes me feel lonely in a crowd, Which is why I also come to HN.
Yes we are friends, but if I did not also have the pub friends I would feel lonely.
While post leads with “the White House is pushing…” in fact the report was requested by Congress:
“In the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy […] was directed by Congress to develop a five-year – “scientific assessment of solar and other rapid climate interventions in the context of near-term climate risks and hazards.” /1
In my experience two hurdles thwart honest conversations on this topic:
1.) Euphemisms- A social worker once told me that incontinence is frequently when families feel they can no longer keep an elderly person at home. It’s rough to talk about and to deal with.
2.) Guilt- Barring dementia, old people get to make choices, including bad ones, but adult children often take away those choices because they will feel guilty “if something happens.” Use the Golden Rule: it WILL be us soon.
Having said that, I have no answers and try never to judge. Every situation is unique.
Jack London helped me see how those in control (here the New Orleans owners of enslaved people, the merchants, and/or the politicians—author says many were all 3) would likely respond to an event (including disease) so as to preserve their own position and then claim that as moral and scientific:
In The Iron Heel, referring to owners of northern factories with child labor and other ghastly working conditions, Jack London wrote,
“When they want to do a thing, in business of course, they must wait till there arises in their brains, somehow, a religious, or ethical, or scientific, or philosophic, concept that the thing is right. And then they go ahead and do it, unwitting that one of the weaknesses of the human mind is that the wish is parent to the thought.“
I try to stay personally vigilant in remembering how my mind can trick me this way. The trick works in so very many contexts.
Maybe regret (about the past) and worry (about the future) are similar because they serve to deflect one’s attention from the here and now.
Trust that your past self chose as best they could then, and have compassion for that past self. Those experiences gave you skills and perspective you can use now.
I have found that big changes can be good, but never underestimate the power of marginal changes too. Walk instead of drive, go out a different exit, ask someone to lunch, try the random thing on menu, stay up later or get up earlier, try the book on the Librarian’s Choice table.
Re:long term costs for maintenance, seems like there should be a secondary market for 3D-printing replacement knobs, buttons, and related parts. No inventory needed. Especially if the knob designers had that in mind at the outset.
From a vegetarian perspective, turning meat into sausage, paste (pate) and other goo is also pretty weird. So weird, in fact, that it gets compared to legislating and the trope is: no one needs to see either made because it’s just too unsettling.
Some meat-eaters get bored of meat in its original form so process it into something else tasty - and likewise some vegetarians.
On this read, I noticed Multivac answers 7x adding a few more words, maybe to imply progress toward its final answer:
INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR MEANINGFUL ANSWER.
INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR A MEANINGFUL ANSWER.
THERE IS INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR A MEANINGFUL ANSWER.
THERE IS AS YET INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR A MEANINGFUL ANSWER. (4x)
LET THERE BE LIGHT!