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#1 2002-10-24 09:21:01

Palomar
Member
From: USA
Registered: 2002-05-30
Posts: 9,734

Re: Diversity

Shaun Barrett wrote [taking this from the "Metric" thread]:  Hi everybody!...as far as cars are concerned, I happen to have a soft spot for the old Chevs, Dodges, Fords, and Buicks etc. from the fifties and sixties! Mobile metal sculptures, some of them were just plain ugly, but some were glorious creations which make today's designs look very bland and uninteresting.
   I agree with Clark 100% on car design. If cars get any more similar, it will be a further loss of diversity in a world which can ill afford to lose what little diversity it has left!"

*No kidding.  sad  I don't know about houses in Australia, but the same could be said for houses built in the USA for the past recent decades.  Homes in all subdivisions look alike; or very much alike at any rate.  Can't stand it.  Even the wealthy in this area have homes that look like other wealthy homes, with a few exceptions.  Living where I do, the Southwestern look is, of course, all the rage.  Stucco is common, as are flat-roofed homes.  Some people put decorations on their homes, or have little courtyards complete with wooden slat doors [which are made to look very weathered and as though they were lifted from a saloon right out of the 1870s]. 

My father, shortly before his death in 1987, bemoaned the fact that most cars and trucks look so much alike.  He said, "It used to be that you could tell a Ford from a Chevy just by glancing at it.  Now you have to look at the decals."

People around here are at least fighting back where cars are concerned.  "Low riders" aren't as "in" as they used to be with the Latino population, but quite a few folks dress their cars up with fancy hubcaps, window stickers, glitter paint jobs, etc.

Going back to the topic of houses, my favorite home in my little city is a pretty, sunny-yellow one-story house that sits on a corner; it looks as though it was built in the late 1930s or early 1940s with sloping roof and crossed white slat boards near what would be the attic area.  It has old-fashioned windows of varying shapes, and a small but cozy enclosed porch with huge unshaded windows.  The kitchen cupboards are in the old-fashion style of white wooden boards with large rectangular windows in their middles.  The lucky inhabitants of this little gem have blue and white striped awnings on the western windows.  An old-fashioned iron gate encloses the outdoor patio on the north side of the house; small multicolor holiday lights festoon the upper tips of the gate.  The lady of the house has small electric candles set in each eastern-facing window, along with Danish flags set in cream-colored potteries lining the kitchen window ledge.

I love that house, and call it "my house."  I told my husband the only thing missing from the house is a freshly-baked apple pie cooling on a window ledge and a black cat sitting on the stoop, licking its paws.  wink

That house has CHARACTER.  Actually, all of the homes in that area display diversity and character, as they were all built in the 1930s or 1940s.  I'm keeping my eye out for a FOR SALE sign...  wink

--Cindy


We all know [i]those[/i] Venusians: Doing their hair in shock waves, smoking electrical coronas, wearing Van Allen belts and resting their tiny elbows on a Geiger counter...

--John Sladek (The New Apocrypha)

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#2 2002-10-24 09:44:14

clark
Member
Registered: 2001-09-20
Posts: 6,362

Re: Diversity

Welcome to the architectural wasteland of America.


Glitter and neon,
and paint oh so bright,
Stucco and plastic:
the american birthright.

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#3 2002-10-24 20:06:09

Shaun Barrett
Member
From: Cairns, Queensland, Australia
Registered: 2001-12-28
Posts: 2,843

Re: Diversity

Here in tropical north Queensland (Australia), they used to build what were called, not surprisingly, 'Queenslanders'! These are essentially weatherboard (I think Americans say 'clapboard' ) structures with corrugated iron roofs, but elevated on poles so that the floor is about 3 metres above the ground. The elevation means more breezes and air-circulation under the floor, which is desirable in a warm climate. They also have a verandah at the front and, less commonly, at the rear.
    Some of these Queenslanders are delightful houses! Although they're relatively high-maintenance in terms of paint, if well looked after they're just a treat to behold!

    In recent decades, with air-conditioning becoming a common feature, the Queenslander is rarely built, except by die-hard purists prepared to take on the disadvantages as the price for its beauty!
    With the prevalence of termites and what we call cyclones (hurricanes in America, I believe), and the trend toward low maintenance, houses now are different. Most are built on a reinforced concrete slab which has steel rods protruding upwards out of it at 600 millimetre intervals all around the perimeter. The walls are made of hollow concrete blocks (large bricks) and concrete is poured into the hollow space where the steel rods are positioned inside the wall. Thus, about every 2 feet (in American lingo! ), the wall is a steel-reinforced, solid, concrete column. The walls are later cement-rendered (two coats) and painted.
    The termite-treated triangular wooden roof trusses have joints secured with what we call 'gangnails'. These are enormously strong. They showed one of these roof trusses on T.V., chained between two Mack trucks. The trucks tried to drive away from each other, thus tearing apart the truss. Their wheels spun but the roof truss held!
    These roof trusses are bolted to the steel reinforcing bars protruding from the top of the walls, so that the floor, walls, and roof are one integral structure. When the rest of the woodwork is completed on the roof, coloured concrete roof tiles are individually secured to that framework, or colour-bonded corrugated steel sheeting is screwed onto it.
    Colour-coded heavy-duty aluminium (read aluminum! ) window frames are securely fitted into the window openings, and the glass installed is cyclone-rated according to the altitude of the house above sea-level and proximity to the coast. A quick calculation based on the information printed on a corner of the glass in my living room window, showed that, if the window were horizontal, I could stand in the middle of a typical pane and it wouldn't give way!

    In spite of this almost universal standard of building strength in north Queensland, we still manage to produce quite a wide variety of styles, colours, and finishes. Though admittedly, the more money you're prepared to pay, the better chance you have of getting something really different.

    The reason I decided to launch into all this is because of the news items we get from America. We see the aftermath of hurricanes and tornadoes and can't believe the extent of the devastation!
    They show a small town from the air and all that's left is a few hectares of splintered wood! We just stare, open-mouthed, unable to understand why all the houses have just blown away in the wind.
    Doesn't America have different building codes for different risk zones? We have strict laws about building standards in areas prone to cyclonic winds but it appears, at least from what we've seen, that America doesn't. Is this the case?
                                     ???

    I really should apologise to Cindy for only half staying on topic with this post. It's just that this American building standards thing has occurred to us quite often recently.


The word 'aerobics' came about when the gym instructors got together and said: If we're going to charge $10 an hour, we can't call it Jumping Up and Down.   - Rita Rudner

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#4 2002-10-25 13:32:09

Palomar
Member
From: USA
Registered: 2002-05-30
Posts: 9,734

Re: Diversity

Here in tropical north Queensland (Australia), they used to The reason I decided to launch into all this is because of the news items we get from America. We see the aftermath of hurricanes and tornadoes and can't believe the extent of the devastation!
    They show a small town from the air and all that's left is a few hectares of splintered wood! We just stare, open-mouthed, unable to understand why all the houses have just blown away in the wind.
    Doesn't America have different building codes for different risk zones? We have strict laws about building standards in areas prone to cyclonic winds but it appears, at least from what we've seen, that America doesn't. Is this the case?
                                     ???

    I really should apologise to Cindy for only half staying on topic with this post. It's just that this American building standards thing has occurred to us quite often recently.

*There's no need to apologize; actually, I only created this folder because I didn't want to get off-topic from the "Metric" discussion.  smile

I have no idea about building codes.  I'm no authority on the matter by any means, but it seems to me the last really good building done of homes was prior to the 1970s; after that, it's build it as quickly as possible, as cheaply as possible, for as much money as possible.  I suppose the insurance companies are in cahoots with the contractors...who knows?

Do they have tornados in Australia?  I've heard that every continent has had them; America has the worst.  Even the best-built homes rarely survive them.  Nasty buggers, tornados.  Benjamin Franklin once chased a tornado by horseback, a few miles!  smile  He enjoyed studying weather patterns...I'll say!

The quality of just about anything built in America isn't all that great.  Prior to the influx of small foreign cars in the late 1970s, which really hit its peak in the 1980s, Ford, Chevy, etc., were getting really sloppy and lazy regarding the quality of their vehicles...which is why more people began opting for Hondas and European makes. 

I might be overstepping a bit; typical woman, I don't keep up that much with "motor trends."  tongue

--Cindy


We all know [i]those[/i] Venusians: Doing their hair in shock waves, smoking electrical coronas, wearing Van Allen belts and resting their tiny elbows on a Geiger counter...

--John Sladek (The New Apocrypha)

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#5 2002-10-25 19:23:59

Shaun Barrett
Member
From: Cairns, Queensland, Australia
Registered: 2001-12-28
Posts: 2,843

Re: Diversity

Hi Cindy!

    Australia does get tornadoes but nowhere near as commonly as America, at least not in the more heavily populated areas. I've never seen one and I don't know anyone who has.

    I realise that few structures of any description can stand up to a 'direct hit' from a large tornado, but I feel our own home here in Cairns would probably survive largely intact even if a tornado passed quite close by. I believe, from memory and without fetching out the building specifications, that we have certification up to wind gusts of 250 kms/hour. (About 155 mph.) At higher wind speeds, we might lose part of the roof and sustain some window damage, with all of the attendant water damage of course, but I believe the main body of the house would remain essentially undamaged.
    On the other hand, I suppose a direct hit from a tornado would leave us with some twisted concrete and metal, and a floor slab with shreds of wet carpet attached here and there!
    It just goes to show, Mars may be a very dangerous place in many ways, but no-one can guarantee your safety even right here on mother Earth!

    That Benjamin Franklin guy of yours was determined to live right on the edge, wasn't he?! What with running cables up into electrical storms on kites and chasing tornadoes on horseback, you have to wonder whether he was really quite as smart as he's made out to be!!   wink  (Just kidding around! No offence intended.)
                                          smile


The word 'aerobics' came about when the gym instructors got together and said: If we're going to charge $10 an hour, we can't call it Jumping Up and Down.   - Rita Rudner

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#6 2002-10-26 07:43:55

Byron
Member
From: Florida, USA
Registered: 2002-05-16
Posts: 844

Re: Diversity

With the prevalence of termites and what we call cyclones (hurricanes in America, I believe), and the trend toward low maintenance, houses now are different. Most are built on a reinforced concrete slab which has steel rods protruding upwards out of it at 600 millimetre intervals all around the perimeter. The walls are made of hollow concrete blocks (large bricks) and concrete is poured into the hollow space where the steel rods are positioned inside the wall. Thus, about every 2 feet (in American lingo! ), the wall is a steel-reinforced, solid, concrete column. The walls are later cement-rendered (two coats) and painted.
    The termite-treated triangular wooden roof trusses have joints secured with what we call 'gangnails'. These are enormously strong. They showed one of these roof trusses on T.V., chained between two Mack trucks. The trucks tried to drive away from each other, thus tearing apart the truss. Their wheels spun but the roof truss held!
    These roof trusses are bolted to the steel reinforcing bars protruding from the top of the walls, so that the floor, walls, and roof are one integral structure. When the rest of the woodwork is completed on the roof, coloured concrete roof tiles are individually secured to that framework, or colour-bonded corrugated steel sheeting is screwed onto it.
    Colour-coded heavy-duty aluminium (read aluminum! ) window frames are securely fitted into the window openings, and the glass installed is cyclone-rated according to the altitude of the house above sea-level and proximity to the coast. A quick calculation based on the information printed on a corner of the glass in my living room window, showed that, if the window were horizontal, I could stand in the middle of a typical pane and it wouldn't give way!

    In spite of this almost universal standard of building strength in north Queensland, we still manage to produce quite a wide variety of styles, colours, and finishes. Though admittedly, the more money you're prepared to pay, the better chance you have of getting something really different.

    The reason I decided to launch into all this is because of the news items we get from America. We see the aftermath of hurricanes and tornadoes and can't believe the extent of the devastation!
    They show a small town from the air and all that's left is a few hectares of splintered wood! We just stare, open-mouthed, unable to understand why all the houses have just blown away in the wind.
    Doesn't America have different building codes for different risk zones? We have strict laws about building standards in areas prone to cyclonic winds but it appears, at least from what we've seen, that America doesn't. Is this the case?
                                     <!--emo&???

    I really should apologise to Cindy for only half staying on topic with this post. It's just that this American building standards thing has occurred to us quite often recently.

Well, you sure know how to build 'em in Australia!  smile   If only if houses in America were as sturdy as you've described..espescially here in hurricane-prone Florida!

I think despite the vicious weather we get here in America, and believe me, we get it...people have a very lackadaisical attitude when it comes to what Mother Nature can do to us.  Granted, there's not much one can do to protect homes and  buildings against the sheer fury of tornadoes, but slack building codes in recent decades has left enormous streches of coastline vulurnable to hurricane strikes, as Andrew so aptly demonstrated back in 1992.  That compact, Cat 5 storm (155 mph winds) laid waste to tens of thousands of homes, which were literally smashed into splinters, although a number of older homes surivived with little structural damage. 

The whole thing turned out to be a huge scandal, about local agencies failing to implement a reasonable building code, and unscrupulous builders failing to heed even those inadequate standards...I mean, the houses might as well have been constructed out of cardboard..!

I live in a modest house built in the late 1960's...and while it's not a fortress by any means, I find it much better than the typical 2-story homes built in the go-go '80s, with high-gable end walls that catch the wind like a big sail, flimsy garage doors, and roof trusses can can barely withstand winds of 100 mph, let alone 150 mph.  The house behind mine, which was built in 1955 is the closest to what Shaun has described in cyclone-resistant construction, as it was built during a period of frequent hurricane activity in Florida.  It is a low-slung, concrete-block house with small windows set behind thick walls, a super-heavy roof that slopes in every direction so the wind doesn't catch it, etc.  I figure my house could take winds up to about 130 mph before it falls apart, that one could take 160, easy..lol.

The new, post-Andrew building codes here in Florida are much more stringent than they used to be, but I don't feel they go far enough to protect against the occassional monster storm...if only the local government authorities would travel to Queensland and learn from the folks who actually know how to build a sturdy house... tongue

As far as diversity of architecture goes here in Florida..I find it even more appalling than most areas of the country...it's montonous city around here, with look-alike cookie-cutter houses sprawling endlessly across the landscape, with hardly even any trees around to shade them..at least I have the privilege of living in an older neighborhood where there is a decent amount of vegetation and trees around...and as for the risk of trees falling onto the house in high winds, well, that's what insurance is for, right...?  (LOL...just being a typical American here...)

B

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#7 2002-10-26 09:03:57

Palomar
Member
From: USA
Registered: 2002-05-30
Posts: 9,734

Re: Diversity

As far as diversity of architecture goes here in Florida..I find it even more appalling than most areas of the country...it's montonous city around here, with look-alike cookie-cutter houses sprawling endlessly across the landscape,

*Sounds like the housing section in western Des Moines, abutting onto Interstate 35...those houses all look alike, so much so that my dad once quipped, "I wonder if the people who live there ever get confused about which house is theirs?"

--Cindy


We all know [i]those[/i] Venusians: Doing their hair in shock waves, smoking electrical coronas, wearing Van Allen belts and resting their tiny elbows on a Geiger counter...

--John Sladek (The New Apocrypha)

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#8 2002-10-26 09:24:33

Nirgal82
Banned
From: El Paso TX, USA
Registered: 2002-07-09
Posts: 112

Re: Diversity

Here in El Paso (desert southwest US) the diversity is very poor.
There is 4 or 5 different contractors that build neighborhoods.  Each new one they build contains like 100+ houses of 3-5 different designs ,not necessarily for variety, but for different price ranges.  And these designs just look like varients on a single model.  You can obviously pick out the order from cheapest to most expensive.  The small 1 story, 1 car garage, The small two story, 1 car garage, the large 1 story, 2 car garage, and the large two story, with a 2 car garage.
Its gotten so bad around here that paint jobs are even uniform.  Especially in neighborhoods built after 1990, the ones built prior to that may have differing paint jobs, because the old paint has had time to deteriorate.
I live in an older neighborhood (i think it was built in the 60s)  in which right out my window I can see more than 5 varieties of house.  I'm sure that the quality of the structure is far better than those newer homes.
I can see from my vantage point that all the houses, despite having different styles do have one thing in common, they are made of brick, and a friend of mine lives in an older neighborhood in which houses are made out of cinderblocks.
These days the houses appear to be made out of Stucco or that material the supercorporations now use to build their cubical shaped fast-food restaurants.  (remember when Taco Bell would build their restaurants out of brick to look like little missions, have you seen a freshly build one lately, they look like fiberglass cubes with the latest hip logo on the front.)
I'm no economist, but it seems plain to me that drive for profit motivates people to cut corners, and in plances where buildings are prone to natural disaster, these sort of practices are completely unacceptable, in fact they are as such anywhere.

Your friendly neighborhood Martian...
-Matt


"...all matter is merely energy condensed into a slow vibration.  We are all one consiousness experiencing itself subjectively.  There is no such thing as death, life is only a dream and we are the imagination of ourselves."  -Bill Hicks

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#9 2002-10-26 09:47:44

Palomar
Member
From: USA
Registered: 2002-05-30
Posts: 9,734

Re: Diversity

Here in El Paso (desert southwest US) the diversity is very poor.
There is 4 or 5 different contractors that build neighborhoods.  Each new one they build contains like 100+ houses of 3-5 different designs ,not necessarily for variety, but for different price ranges.  And these designs just look like varients on a single model.

*Well, I'm just "up the road" from you, in Las Cruces...45 miles from El Paso city limits.  There's only one negative comment I'll make about El Paso [since Las Cruces certainly has its faults...many of them...]:  Every time El Paso gets hit with more than 1/2 an inch of rain, the whole damn city about floats away.  I am still shocked at the level of road damage, lawn damage, sewer troubles, etc., that plagues El Paso with just a little bit of rain!  sad  I watch KVIA, and after a storm there are huge sections of impassable roads, crumbling pavement, peoples' back lawns flooded and filled with debris in the wake of the run-off; in early August, a large section of I-10 was closed down because it was totally flooded over.  Good grief, if El Paso were to ever receive an amount of rain comparable to ::just one:: Midwestern rainstorm, the whole city would either float down the Rio Grande or be pushed into Mexico.

Sorry, don't mean to sound rude, Nirgal.  Las Cruces might be spared some of these difficulties because of being set in the Mesilla Valley; I have no idea.  I'm simply shocked at how very poorly built El Paso is, how poorly planned/zoned/WHATEVER it is.  I'm wondering if the city being built right up against [on 2 sides] the Franklin Mountains isn't the main problem.  Las Cruces is built 12 miles west of the Organ Mountains, so we don't have the problem of extreme run-off via very close mountain ranges.

However, I do like visiting El Paso; it is an interesting and pretty city in many areas.  I just don't visit when it rains...

--Cindy


We all know [i]those[/i] Venusians: Doing their hair in shock waves, smoking electrical coronas, wearing Van Allen belts and resting their tiny elbows on a Geiger counter...

--John Sladek (The New Apocrypha)

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#10 2002-10-27 00:53:47

Phobos
Member
Registered: 2002-01-02
Posts: 1,103

Re: Diversity

*Sounds like the housing section in western Des Moines, abutting onto Interstate 35...those houses all look alike, so much so that my dad once quipped, "I wonder if the people who live there ever get confused about which house is theirs?"

--Cindy

I've done that with cars before.  I have a bad time remembering where I park in big parking lots and more than once I've found myself trying to get into somebody else's car.  God forbid the day my key actually fits!


To achieve the impossible you must attempt the absurd

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#11 2002-10-28 02:16:09

Shaun Barrett
Member
From: Cairns, Queensland, Australia
Registered: 2001-12-28
Posts: 2,843

Re: Diversity

Phobos writes:-

I've done that with cars before. I have a bad time remembering where I park in big parking lots and more than once I've found myself trying to get into somebody else's car. God forbid the day my key actually fits!

    I've actually gone one step further down that road, Phobos!
    The worn out key to my old green Ford seemed a little sticky in the lock as I opened the door and hopped into 'my' car. As I put the key in the ignition, I became aware that the dashboard and the knick-knacks on the parcel shelf looked strangely unfamiliar!
    I swear it took 2 or 3 seconds before the realisation of what I had done came flooding into my brain.
    I got out of 'my' car, a little quicker than I got in, locked the door pretty smartly, and moved away from the vehicle!!

    Never again, I hope!              sad


The word 'aerobics' came about when the gym instructors got together and said: If we're going to charge $10 an hour, we can't call it Jumping Up and Down.   - Rita Rudner

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#12 2002-10-28 19:58:28

Phobos
Member
Registered: 2002-01-02
Posts: 1,103

Re: Diversity

It's amazing how many cars a key can fit.  The manufacturers must only use a limited number of key templates or some keys must turn out so similiar that they work anyway even if meant to be basically unique.  Anyways it's good you realized your mishap before you drove it home and then realized you stole a car. smile


To achieve the impossible you must attempt the absurd

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#13 2002-10-28 20:07:56

Palomar
Member
From: USA
Registered: 2002-05-30
Posts: 9,734

Re: Diversity

*Well, since I don't know, I'll ask:  Shaun, which side of the road do you Australians drive on, and on which side of the vehicle is the steering wheel?

--Cindy


We all know [i]those[/i] Venusians: Doing their hair in shock waves, smoking electrical coronas, wearing Van Allen belts and resting their tiny elbows on a Geiger counter...

--John Sladek (The New Apocrypha)

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#14 2002-10-29 00:16:11

Shaun Barrett
Member
From: Cairns, Queensland, Australia
Registered: 2001-12-28
Posts: 2,843

Re: Diversity

The answer to both questions is: The CORRECT side, of course!!          big_smile


    OK OK ! We drive on the left side of the road and the steering wheels are on the right side of the car.

    Apparently, in more violent times, when two men approached each other on a road, they would keep the other guy on their right side. This was because most people were right-handed and their right arm was their sword arm. If they suddenly had to defend themselves, well ... you get the point ... Sorry!! No pun intended.

    Up until the late 1700s, travelling on the left side of the road was pretty much universal.
    Then, along came Napoleon, who happened to be left-handed! To suit his own sinistrality, he insisted all his troops travel on the right side of the roadways as they conquered most of Europe. He then insisted that everyone in the conquered territories should travel on the right side too!

    From then on, it was a war of influence. Everywhere the British went, they perpetuated the 'driving on the left side of the road' tradition, and everywhere the French went, they did the opposite. (As has so often been the case with the British and the French! )

    It seems French influence in North America and Canada outweighed British influence, and the fledgling USA wanted to discard as many British customs as possible, so people travelled on the right. Since America was the first country to mass-produce reliable automobiles in large quantities, and because they were all made for driving on the right, the outcome of this war of influence was effectively decided for most of the rest of the world. ... The French won!

    But the British were no slouches! Somewhere around 30% of the world's population drive on the left.
    As well as Australia and New Zealand (our neighbours across the Tasman Sea), 62 other countries have their steering wheels on the right side of the car. They include Britain (of course), Ireland, Japan (feudal reasons of their own, not Britain's), Hong Kong, India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Malta, Nepal, much of the Carribean, and most of Africa!

    Phew!! Sorry Cindy .... but YOU ASKED!!!     big_smile


The word 'aerobics' came about when the gym instructors got together and said: If we're going to charge $10 an hour, we can't call it Jumping Up and Down.   - Rita Rudner

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#15 2002-10-29 09:00:49

Palomar
Member
From: USA
Registered: 2002-05-30
Posts: 9,734

Re: Diversity

The answer to both questions is: The CORRECT side, of course!!          big_smile


    OK OK ! We drive on the left side of the road and the steering wheels are on the right side of the car.

    Phew!! Sorry Cindy .... but YOU ASKED!!!     big_smile

*Yeah, I read something YEARS ago pertaining to habits and preferences of English swordsmen and American gunslingers/frontiersmen having to do with the development of which side of the road we travel on [free-hand preference, gun-hand preference, etc.]; however, I can't recall any specifics. 

It's just refreshing to know that, here in the USA, we drive on the correct side of the road.  wink

Actually, I think it would be very difficult working a standard vehicle [with a shift stick] with the left hand; most people are right-handed.  I remember my father teaching me to drive a standard [a pickup truck]; it was hell on my fingers and wrists just to get the stick to shift properly, despite my being right-handed.  I still think it'd be awkward shifting with the left hand...but whatever.  smile

--Cindy


We all know [i]those[/i] Venusians: Doing their hair in shock waves, smoking electrical coronas, wearing Van Allen belts and resting their tiny elbows on a Geiger counter...

--John Sladek (The New Apocrypha)

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#16 2002-10-30 00:32:10

Phobos
Member
Registered: 2002-01-02
Posts: 1,103

Re: Diversity

Since America was the first country to mass-produce reliable automobiles in large quantities, and because they were all made for driving on the right, the outcome of this war of influence was effectively decided for most of the rest of the world. ... The French won!

big_smile I never realized that Napolean had an influence over such esoteric things as which side of the road we drive on.  Since we're on the subject of asking questions to Australians, is it true that you can see the galactic center from down under at night?  I seem to get mixed results on this.  Is it visible with the naked eye as a blob of light?  Oh yeah, did you have to work on that Ford with non-metric tools?  Can you actually find things like 3/8 inch wrenches in Australian hardware stores?  Also, what's up with that Jedi thing on the census?  I heard they might start hauling the Jedi Order off to jail.  The darkside has won. sad


To achieve the impossible you must attempt the absurd

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#17 2002-10-30 08:41:58

Palomar
Member
From: USA
Registered: 2002-05-30
Posts: 9,734

Re: Diversity

Also, what's up with that Jedi thing on the census?  I heard they might start hauling the Jedi Order off to jail.  The darkside has won. sad

*Help us, Obi-Wan Shaunobi; you're our only hope!

--Cindy


We all know [i]those[/i] Venusians: Doing their hair in shock waves, smoking electrical coronas, wearing Van Allen belts and resting their tiny elbows on a Geiger counter...

--John Sladek (The New Apocrypha)

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#18 2002-10-31 00:49:49

Shaun Barrett
Member
From: Cairns, Queensland, Australia
Registered: 2001-12-28
Posts: 2,843

Re: Diversity

To respond to Cindy's earlier post, I have just the same trouble trying to imagine changing gears right handed! It would feel weird to us southpaw drivers. And you'd have to steer with your left hand while changing with the right ... !
    Hmmm. I suppose it's just what you get used to but, if I ever have to drive in America, I'm going to make sure they give me an automatic!!     wink

    As for the centre of the galaxy, I don't believe I've ever been able to distinguish a noticeable blob of light. When we lived in the wheat belt of outback Victoria (south-eastern Australia), with some of the widest skies you can imagine and the ability to escape easily the light pollution of the town, I remember how vivid the milky way looked on a clear frosty night. Its edges were 'ragged' and the boundaries indistinct, because so many stars were visible I guess. But no, I don't remember one particular area being more prominent. Sorry!

    Yeah, Phobos! My Dad and I had a ball working on that Ford! It was a 1966 Cortina (I don't think you had those in the good ol' USA.) and all non-metric. We replaced the front suspension, the brakes, and the clutch, but the rust got the better of us in the end!
    Although I don't work on cars much any more, I still have a mixture of metric and non-metric tools in my toolbox. Many of the non-metric ones inherited from my father.
    Since I have wrenches of all shapes, sizes, and denominations, I haven't had occasion to go looking for any in hardware stores in recent years. But I guess you could probably find a 3/8'' wrench if you needed one because of all the old cars still on the road. Interesting question!

    I hadn't heard the tragic news that the Australian government has defected to the Empire. No doubt Vader is behind all the arrests.
    But fear not! The Jedi are not easily defeated and we will turn the tide. May the Force be with you!
                     Your friend, Obi-Wan Shaunobi.    smile

    Have to shampoo my hair again tonight ... so hard with this steel helmet on ... and the RUST!! It's worse than the Cortina! Maybe if I just slip it off for a few moments ... Ooohh, can feel NASA's influence ... and Vader ... they're all in it together! ... Brain hurts ... feel dizzy .... falling .. HELP!!


The word 'aerobics' came about when the gym instructors got together and said: If we're going to charge $10 an hour, we can't call it Jumping Up and Down.   - Rita Rudner

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#19 2002-10-31 09:16:14

Palomar
Member
From: USA
Registered: 2002-05-30
Posts: 9,734

Re: Diversity

But fear not! The Jedi are not easily defeated and we will turn the tide. May the Force be with you!
                     Your friend, Obi-Wan Shaunobi.    smile

    Have to shampoo my hair again tonight ... so hard with this steel helmet on ... and the RUST!! It's worse than the Cortina! Maybe if I just slip it off for a few moments ... Ooohh, can feel NASA's influence ... and Vader ... they're all in it together! ... Brain hurts ... feel dizzy .... falling .. HELP!!

*Shaun!  Put up a thin metal shower curtain in your bath!  It helps, believe me!

::activates light saber::

We must always be on guard to the nefarious schemes of Vader and NASA!  ???

--Cindy,
Lieutenant Commander, Jedi Order of Voltaire


We all know [i]those[/i] Venusians: Doing their hair in shock waves, smoking electrical coronas, wearing Van Allen belts and resting their tiny elbows on a Geiger counter...

--John Sladek (The New Apocrypha)

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