XPost: phl.media, pa.politics, pa.general   
   XPost: ca.general   
   From: kybyrd@pobox.upenn.edu   
      
   On Thu, 31 Jan 2008 17:09:53 GMT, dfte  wrote:   
   >   
   >"Karen Y Byrd"  wrote in message   
      
   >> Just read some history. Don't you have a lot of free   
   >> time???   
   >>   
   >> It might help you understand how recent "negative changes" that   
   >> you are so worried about are nothing compared to living 100-150   
   >> years ago before there was even dependable electrical service   
   >> for instance. You or I can't even imagine living in that   
   >> kind of environment. I mean we freak out when we lose   
   >> power in storms. Imagine not having electric power as a way-of-life!   
   >> Where if you were lucky all you did have was gas for lighting.   
   >>   
   >this is true   
      
   Yes, it's true. Just like it's true that in the not too distant past,   
   every year, people were terrified of polio epidemics. I'm old   
   enough that I can remember the last big polio outbreak we had   
   in the 1950s before the Salk vaccine was out. Do you ever think   
   about polio now? No. I rarely think about it either which is   
   remarkable since I remember quite  vividly the fear it used   
   to create.   
      
   Imagine a time when we had no antibiotics where a scratch could   
   mean death. Although we've over-used them, with the result being   
   that some bacteria have evolved to be resistant to them, I still   
   DO NOT want to live in the world my grand-parents grew up in where   
   they didn't exist.   
      
   > so its a matter of accepting your cup half full or half empty   
      
   All I'm suggesting is that you try to compare today with what   
   the past was really like without trying to romanticize   
   that past.   
      
   You mentioned that it used to snow a lot in Phila. The inference   
   being that you were worried about that as a sure sign   
   of global warming.   
      
    Sure it   
   has snowed a lot in some years. But I read something very interesting   
   today concerning local snow amounts in January: there have   
   been 20 Januarys, since 1885, where we've had an ONE inch or less   
   of snow. So you see not having much snow isn't that unusual.   
   And I remember the winter in the early 70s where we   
   had NO snow at all. So you've manufactured fear and worry   
   about the lack of local snow when there's no reason to   
   actually worry about it.   
      
   >I would rather compare to every city in the US today,   
      
   Like you've spent sufficient time in *every* large   
   city in the US today to make a sensible comparison   
   between any of them. You have to *live* in them   
   to say anything sensible and real about any of them and not   
   trust what some "news" reporter or somesuch   
   says.   
      
   >>> Many   
   >>>people from midwest talk as if none of this is happening.   
   >>   
   >> Given that I have friends in  Nebraska I can tell you that   
   >> their frame of reference is indeed different than our   
   >> own but that doesn't mean that they are free from   
   >> modern problems like drug addiction. It's just that they   
   >> don't smoke crack, they use crystal meth and alcohol.   
   >> And the "decent world" you think exists out there is   
   >> illusionary.   
   >   
   >You might think differently someday .   
      
   I doubt it.   
      
   Steve, I've been to these places out in Plains and Mid-west:   
   Scottsbluff, Gering, Alliance, Lincoln, and Omaha, Nebraska.   
   Torrington and Cheyenne, Wyoming. Denver, CO. Oklahoma   
   City, OK. Lawrence, KS. and Sioux City, IA.   
      
   Where have you been out there?   
      
   >There are variable changing conditions   
   >in the US cities .   
      
   True. But this is just generalizing.   
      
   >To some extent we have people who base reality only on   
   >the cities where they exist and make conclusions.   
      
   Of course! You're doing it all the time by accusing   
   Phila. of being completely dysfunctional by ignoring that it's   
   only dysfunctional for people who are actually dysfunctional   
   *themselves*. They'd be fucked up no matter where they   
   were.   
      
   >I was watching a news feed from Britain and they were talking about one   
   >murder as if this was unusual and it top story.   
      
   It's hard for private citizens to get guns in Britain. That's   
   the difference. But the number of people getting guns there is   
   increasing.   
      
   >So you see reality is very contrasting and some people live very much better   
   >lives ,   
      
   Sure they are. What separates you and me, obviously, is that I'm   
   doing exactly the latter right here.   
      
   >I can guarantee heredity has less impact then you   
   >think compared to pollution   
      
   I don't believe that at all. We already know that DNA   
   differs in individuals. Why can I breathe essentially the same   
   air as you and never suffer any respiratory illnesses?   
   I'm almost 60 years old. If the air was going to sicken   
   me it would have by now.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)