From: spike66 (spike66@attbi.com)
Date: Tue Apr 08 2003 - 01:09:47 MDT
Mike Lorrey wrote:
> --- spike66 <spike66@attbi.com> wrote:
>
>>Time Magazine wrote:
>>>Eliminating Hassles
...
>>>Kamen will only say that the project--codenamed "Basil"--
>>>is a high-tech human waste disposal system that, in his
>>>words, "will be to the typical American flush toilet what
>>>the toilet was to the outhouse."...
>>
>>This will never catch on...
>>Kamen might as well fuggeddaboutit.
>
> On the contrary, it would have a complementary place at eating
> contests. Imagine that little Japanese guy who ate 50 hotdogs in 5
> minutes. He is gonna need a hard core human waste disposal unit to
> handle his post-contest ejecta.
>
> On a serious note, I do think it will catch on in any jurisdiction that
> has water supply problems...
Actually this "article" was an April Fools gag. This
year was kind of a dud. I didn't even attempt a gag
because we weren't in much of a laughing mood with
the war going on. May it be over soon, oh evolution,
may this madness be over and sanity return to this
small planet.
spike
ps, I have been doing some extrapolations on war, and
the results are not so discouraging. Comparing 20th
century conflicts such as the two world wars with the
current war, we see some interesting trends. In the
first world war, we saw miles-long lines of guys attacking
each other, use of chemical weapons, utterly horrifying
loss of life. In world war 2, we saw intentional bombing
of civilian sites as well as the use of WMDs. In the
later 20th century conflicts we saw conventional wars
between powers where both had far more destructive
weapons (nukes) but did not use them.
Now we have a war in which there are certainly casualties,
but it is actually far more than ever before an information
war. {"There are no Americans in Baghdad!" said the Minister
of Information, raising his voice to be heard over the
clatter of small arms fire.} Enormous expense is being
borne by the attackers to minimize civilian casualties,
and infrastructure damage is also being minimized where
practical. Certainly the duration of conflict has
been greatly reduced from before.
Could we not extrapolate to a future where wars occur
in such a way that very little actual property damage
occurs, most of the population is unaffected, and indeed
are unaware that a war occurred? Could we be approaching
the dream future in which political leaders fight out
their differences and leave the rest of us to lead our
own lives in peace? Finally, are we on the eve of
construction?
spike
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