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Re. Romy:<br>
<br>
From what I've observed, from 1/3 to almost half of the folks at SR
are in seriously difficult economics, a few are borderline homeless,
and one or two are actually homeless. <br>
<br>
So while it's true that most everyone here is smarter than most of
the MBAs we know, the fact that so many smart people are scraping it
for rent every month, and in some cases scraping it for food, means
something. <br>
<br>
This is what chronic underemployment looks like, and it's
maddening. And it's directly related to corporate lobbying for
unlimited H1B visas. When they say "they can't hire enough
workers," what they mean is, "...at decent wage levels." What they
want are non-citizens with no rights, who they can exploit
ruthlessly. And along the way, folks we know can't find work in
their fields. <br>
<br>
It would be interesting to take an anonymous survey (using paper
forms with check-boxes, put into a cardboard box) to find out more
about our own circumstances as a community. <br>
<br>
---<br>
<br>
A lot more poor people used to go to Burning Man, before it started
going corporate. I can't recall any protests at WalMart in the Bay
Area, but the Situationist "improper shopper" tactic of a group of
protesters peacefully but humorously pushing empty shopping carts
around the store for an hour, could be interesting. <br>
<br>
Some years ago I visited a small town in Northern CA where a new
WalMart had just opened, and almost every store along the main strip
was boarded-up. That stuff really does happen. It was as if some
kind of plague had wiped the place out. Hell, not "as if," it _was_
a plague, a virus that sucks money and jobs out of local economies
to fatten up the fat-cats far away. <br>
<br>
What the world can't afford, is the Oligarchy.<br>
<br>
-G.<br>
<br>
<br>
=====<br>
<br>
<br>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 13-05-21-Tue 5:10 AM, Romy Ilano
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote
cite="mid:EFEA96CE-CD67-4C4D-B2B4-F94B958E517A@snowyla.com"
type="cite">
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<div>Well Matt one thing that everyone here has to consider is :
are you the oligarchy?</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>SudoRoom isn't made up of the downtrodden of society.
Everyone here is probably smarter than most any MBA I've met</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Poor people don't go to burning man, poor people don't
protest Walmart. </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>(Devils advocate)</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><br>
<br>
<div>---</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Romy Ilano</div>
<div>Founder of Snowyla</div>
<div><a moz-do-not-send="true" href="http://www.snowyla.com">http://www.snowyla.com</a></div>
<div><a moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:romy@snowyla.com">romy@snowyla.com</a></div>
</div>
<div><br>
On May 21, 2013, at 1:02, Matthew Harbowy <<a
moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:hbergeronx@gmail.com">hbergeronx@gmail.com</a>>
wrote:<br>
<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite">
<div>G.,
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Your personal biases and hang ups are more of a prison
than anyone in the so called oligarchy could construct. I'm
tired of these troll posts.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>At Rutgers, every undergrad on campus had a twin bed.
Almost anyone who wanted a sexually active relationship, who
was capable of social graces, had one. For two people who
want to fuck, you'll fuck anywhere. Don't like a twin bed?
Sleep on a futon or blanket on the floor. I've personally
witnessed five person orgies on a twin bed and on a dorm
floor. Expand your mind. For me, this model you invoke of
monogamous sleeping arrangements is far from my personal
nirvana. Being able to sleep two to a bed and having a good
sex life have never been correlated for me. </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Furthermore, look how my grandparents immigrant<span></span> generation
lived. They'd squeeze families with children into rooms not
much bigger, and yet had no problems making more kids. </div>
<div>
<br>
</div>
<div>There's so many fucked up ways that our society and
government puts us at a disadvantage: sexism, classism,
racism, and the ugly specter of lowered expectations. Moral
mores and prudery. On and on. But making up new ways the
"oligarchy" are "fucking us" isn't helpful. If you don't
want to live in 200 sq ft, fine, but I would think its a
hell of a lot better than living on 8 sq ft of
wet cardboard. If you don't want to eat bugs, fine, but
don't ignore thousands of years of grasshopper consumption
by Jews (locusts and grasshoppers are specifically
enumerated as Kosher!) and Mesoamericans. </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>If you don't like the oligarchy, fine, but this made up
world with your rules is just your own oligarchy or
dictatorship, and I don't want to live in that world either.
These modest proposals are not helping me find how to
better participate at sudoroom. </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Matt (the other one, hbergeronx)</div>
<div><br>
On Monday, May 20, 2013, GtwoG PublicOhOne wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0
.8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<br>
<br>
No-Sex Apartments.<br>
<br>
(Creative commons, with attribution to "G.")<br>
<br>
In cities across the USA, a new "solution" to affordable
housing is<br>
being promoted: micro-apartments of less than 200 square
feet. New<br>
York's conrol-freak in chief, Mayor Bloomberg, is
promoting them (New<br>
Yorkers call them "Bloom Boxes"). A developer in San
Francisco is<br>
promoting them. And developers in Seattle WA are building
them by the<br>
hundreds.<br>
<br>
The Seattle apartments were recently covered in a CBS News
article, here:<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57582327/tiny-apartments-are-creating-a-big-backlash-in-seattle/"
target="_blank">http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57582327/tiny-apartments-are-creating-a-big-backlash-in-seattle/</a><br>
<br>
If you look at the picture, something immediately stands
out: a TWIN BED.<br>
<br>
As the article says, "...(the) apartment comes with a
small private<br>
bathroom, a microwave and a mini-refrigerator. There's
just enough room<br>
for a twin bed, a neatly hung rack of clothes and
shelves." (There's<br>
not even room for a desk, so forget about working from
home: it's back<br>
to the plantation for you, worker-bee.)<br>
<br>
And therein lies the catch, or more accurately the
"nudge," to use the<br>
Newspeak word for "manipulation."<br>
<br>
A twin bed is sufficient for sleeping, but not sufficient
for a regular<br>
sex life with others, much less a stable relationship.<br>
<br>
Sure, you can manage it occasionally, but for the long
term it's right<br>
out. Squeezing two people into a bed meant for one is
miserable,<br>
particularly in the hot summer.<br>
<br>
This is one form of "birth control" that won't be
controversial with the<br>
Vatican or other right-wing religious denominations. I
suppose that<br>
also qualifies as a "feature." (We won't mention the fact
that you can<br>
carry on a satisfactory solo sex life in a twin bed, lest
the twin beds<br>
be replaced with "stand-up beds" consisting of straps on
the wall.)<br>
<br>
There's no need for the Oligarchy to make an explicit No
Sex rule. They<br>
don't have to, when they can just "nudge" the architecture
to enforce<br>
that outcome by "nudging" people who might think to
disobey.<br>
<br>
Best of all (from the Oligarchy's perspective), there's
nothing to<br>
revolt against. A revolt against a type of architecture
is like a<br>
revolt against traffic jams or weather: there's no obvious
evil-doer to<br>
hurl ballots and tomatoes at.<br>
<br>
The Oligarchy likes micro-apartments because they are more
profitable<br>
per square foot of building, compared to apartments that
let you have a<br>
bed big enough for two people, and a fridge big enough to
let you keep<br>
enough food that you don't have to go shopping every day.<br>
<br>
The working masses (that would be us) who are being lined
up to live in<br>
these boxes would do well to recognize that they are also
about the same<br>
size as prison cells.<br>
<br>
The only difference is that you have the key to your cell,
just like<br>
inmates in "honor system prisons" for white collar
criminals. That, and<br>
there isn't a guard staring at you whilst you poop, though
I'd be<br>
careful about the tiny apartments that come with internet
and TV service<br>
included (no choice of carriers either), as the "smart
sensors" won't be<br>
far behind.<br>
<br>
Smaller houses and apartments are of course part of a
viable approach to<br>
sustainability: primarily through lower energy consumption
and proximity<br>
to public transport. Some years ago, a close friend and I
came up with<br>
various designs for micro-houses, from about 160 square
feet, up to<br>
about 400 - 500 square feet. A building with a 500 square
foot<br>
"building footprint" was sufficient for a family of four.
We were<br>
designing for the sake of sustainability, and for the
ability of<br>
individuals and communities to build these houses for
themselves at low<br>
cost.<br>
<br>
But as with eating bugs, it's one thing to do it by the
choice of your<br>
own free will, quite another to do it by way of getting
mercilessly<br>
milked by the Oligarchy. Especially when the Oligarchs
continue to live<br>
in 12,000 square foot (and larger) mansions with sprawling
lawns on all<br>
sides.<br>
<br>
What the world can't afford, is the Oligarchy. Darwin,
take note!<br>
<br>
-G.<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
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