Quinoa is a great example of this trend and the positive and negative this can bring to poor regions.
Small overview: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/20/world/americas/20bolivia.h...
1,939 karma · joined February 28, 2013
Small overview: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/20/world/americas/20bolivia.h...
Old growth forest that did not get planted by humans have a much more chaotic distribution that's influences by fires, fallen trees, local fauna, and competition for sunshine with other trees.
The Sentinelese people react violently to outsiders, but many (maybe even most) first contacts of Europeans with various natives was peaceful on the part of the locals.
There's enough variation even in just the modern world that I'd feel comfortable saying that aggressive responses to strangers/outsiders is not inherent but a feature of some cultures.
Why it's in some cultures and not others is probably a very complex topic worth investigation.
As the article mentions, the gameplay is significantly easier than Ingress. Also, the theme is much more family friendly and less paranoid. It's got cute pocket monsters you can collect throughout the day. Additionally, the camera aspect makes it built-in social sharing material, especially since it's a palatable theme.
I'm not going to share Ingress photos with anyone else, but a humorous picture of Magickarp flopped on the beach is fun to share.
I'm seeing a lot of people who are completely ignorant of Pokémon playing this game. I see parents downloading it to go on walks with their kids. It's fun, easy, and fits in nicely with people's aspirations (more exercise).
None of that was really in place with any of the previous iterations. They were all too "serious", dark, and/or niche audience.
I suspected Niantic expected this to be a moderate hit with Ingress players and Pokémon fans - both were a niche audience. It's the gameplay and family-friendly theme that has made this as popular as it is.
This author has never been to a cat hoarder's house. Yes, the smell is that bad. The ammonia can be bad enough to literally burn while breathing and requires respirators to trap
Add it Victorian era hygiene standards and construction along with the boiling cabbage and fish offal, and you've got the recipe for a horrible smell.
Like many modern cat hoarders, they start as semi-rescues, then gradually snowball to more cats than can be provided for. It's fascinating that this tale seem remarkably similar, including the somewhat standoffish approach of law enforcement (who often will not or cannot get involved until it becomes a health hazard).
It's conceivable that we will be able to send a probe to Europa that can drill through the ice to sample an alien ocean and maybe even find life!
You can talk to people today who remember life before flight was really around, and for whom the universe was mostly just a background to evening activities. Every time we look out with more modern equipment we find the universe is more and more vibrant.
Alien worlds inhabited by other intelligences than ours would be amazing though.
They don't optimize for happy customers. They optimize for being the place you go to buy things online first and profit. Oddly, they bought Zappos which is orientated to customer happiness.
I wish I was making that up.
https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/26589529219124838...
I did not grow up with parents who raised me this way and had little to no contact with grandparents. My parents were also often cash strapped.
You and I know that saving up for quality products is a better approach. I learned it by watching my parents buying a cheap stand mixer every two years (max) growing up. Then I worked at a kitchen store and learned that there were some KitchenAids still working after 75 years. I saved up my paycheck and may have been one of the only 17 year olds to ever buy a KitchenAid. I'm still using it over 15 years later.
Thing is... I didn't have three kids, a mortgage, and other more pressing uses for my money. Once you get into a debt spiral you rarely have the cash needed to purchase the stuff of the quality you need to make it last. Instead you buy crappy stuff at the dollar store to make until the next paycheck.
Of course, they do still purchase more things than I do as they haven't learned the other part of this lesson -- if you can't afford the quality version you should probably make do without it.
Also note, the equipment, space, and know-how for repairing things is not available to many (probably most).
Carbon dioxide is certainly a concern, but most of its problems will never produce a place that people shouldn't stumble or explore because of unseeable danger.
I often think of the story of the Goiânia accident to be applicable. Four people ended up dead because two people stole something they thought might have value but was radioactive.[1]
It is prudent to assume that dangerous waste should be disposed of in a way that assumes there won't always be guards.
Giants, cyclops, menehune, elves, and such have been invoked frequently to "explain" the achievements of past humans. Now aliens are popular because apparently past humans didn't have brains, manpower, and time.
A variety of web sites have tried to fill the need, but the money needed for local news far exceeds the revenue they're able to generate.
People SHOULD be voting at the local level where their votes still matter quite a bit, but generally don't through an interesting combination of apathy and ignorance (e.g. few people actually know who their rep on the city council is and what their basic platform is).
The following quote perfect illustrates the goals:
"The idea, of course, is that the peaceful slumber of the suburbanite should not be interrupted by the noise generated by the transaction of commerce or any other public-sphere human activities"
Most Americans want to have an estate where they aim to live independently and completely unaffected by their neighbors. They don't want to hear them, see them, or ever have to directly interact with them unless desired.
This can be often rationalized as safer because if other people are physically less likely to interact in any fashion they are less likely to cause harm. It can also be rationalized as better financial sense as these "ticky-tacky" boxes are designed to be bland and therefore have mass appeal. HOAs especially help this as they prevent your neighbor's choices from impacting your resale value.
As long as Americans continue to value trying to live a life as separate and as unaffected as possible you will have something very much like Suburbia
Most who rail against suburbs (like me), do so because we have a different set of values and beliefs about community. For those who like suburbs it's about trying to build a personal community that you opt in to be part of.
This idea that community or your social network is something each gets to determine for themselves is seen in a lot of political debates. This fuels charter schools, school vouchers, zoning laws, etc. It's interesting because it cuts across political boundaries.
The performances could be live or prerecorded, obviously charging more for live. The performers could be captured via some form of 3d capture.
The viewer could then have their choice of viewing angle. Think how much fun it would be to watch a musical from the stage!
Some artists might even start experimenting with making it interactive.
I live far away from most cultural events, and would absolutely adore being able to catch a ballet again without having to get on a plane.
For the last 40 years, Americans have been bombarded with the idea that voting doesn't matter. That "both" sides are just the same. That all politicians are crooked and corrupt. These are all lies.
Our voting levels are abysmal, especially at the local levels where politicians such as Feinstein get their start. Low voting levels means only a small and vocal minority of people actually have to be convinced to vote for a person. Or at least not vote for another person. Running for election continues to cost more and more money, which perpetually give money an advantage.
Meanwhile, many places like Arizona continue to make voting as difficult as they legally can. Most other places continue to avoid making it easy to be an informed voter. My favorite state's approach to voting is still Oregon. Vote by mail and including a wonderfully produced voter pamphlet to help inform voters.
Elections can have huge impacts. It just requires people to ACTUALLY VOTE. Most of these politicians represent the people who do vote. Or at least strive to not work against things they value. Look at how powerful the Tea Party style Republicans are right now.
I won't say money isn't a problem in elections. It is. I won't say popular vote doesn't have its downsides. It does. Elections in America need to be reformed to allow more nuances than two party platforms and to help ensure everybody can take a part in the process.
It's a perverse fantasy to look at elections and declare them a fantasy. They do matter and have changed this country so much since the Civil Rights Act reshaped the country. Conservatives figured out how to use a minority of very motivated voters to craft a political movement that has changed everything about this country. For good or ill will depend on your politics, but it would be the height of ignorance to pretend it didn't.
Regardless of politics, Trump has a very idiosyncratic approach to speaking. His mastery of this approach reminds me strongly of the Orwell essay linked above.
I've no desire to debate Trumps policies on HN, but find his approach to speaking quite interesting.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_and_the_English_Langu...