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[LarryB!]

Speaking of arid barren places....

https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/13/us/scottsdale-arizona-grass-ban-new-houses/index.html

Xeriscaping becomes the law?  About fuggin time.

[Espnthree]

Re: Affirmative Action.
By Ted Rall


Democrats benefited in November 2022 from the  Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade. They probably will not get a similar boost from Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard.
An Economist YouGov survey found 59% of Americans, including 57% of independents, approve of the court decision against racial preferences in college admissions. Only 27% disapprove.

Even 36% of Democrats approve of the ruling. Many of them are probably left leaning white men like me, who never cared for race based affirmative action. Like most white guys my age I turn 60 next month I have been told more than once that I was being passed up for a job, an award or a gig because my demographics were now disfavored. I shrugged and moved on, these slights neither destroyed my life nor turned me into a racist. But I came to see how affirmative action can sour race relations. My ancestors were poor European immigrants who arrived in the 19th and 20th centuries.

What does slavery have to do with me?

My senior year at Columbia University, I received no financial aid. I was 28, returning to finish my degree after six years, and the $36,000 I had earned the year before disqualified me. My first job after graduating was as an office assistant at the admissions and financial aid office. As I was struggling to pay my student loans, I processed an application from a black woman my age. I was told she had a multimillion dollar trust fund and was awarded a full scholarship because the university needed her for diversity reasons.

Later I worked as a math tutor at a private school in Manhattan. One day the director called me aside to inform me that I was being let go. I asked what I had done wrong. Nothing, the kids love you,You are doing a great job. We want to hire a black tutor instead.
 Do you know anyone? He smiled, showing no regret or sympathy.
As a good liberal, I was expected to understand

A few years ago a Hollywood producer approached me about developing one of my autobiographical humor books into a TV series. After a series of meetings, my agent called to ask if I would be willing to change the lead character, based on me, to a person of color. It is  almost impossible to sell anything based on a white male these days,p

The idea did not bother me, and I agreed. It was not enough. My agent later told me that studios were not interested even in a project created by and based on the book by a white male.

Some people react to being passed over for being white, Asian or male with aplomb, regarding their own setbacks as a price worth paying to right past injustices. Some magnify every grievance and become hardened bigots.

Most handle it the way I have, by swallowing the unfairness and putting it behind them. Race based affirmative action is gone in college admissions, and perhaps soon in the workplace as well. People like me will not mourn it.

Mr. Rall is a political cartoonist, columnist and author, most recently, of The Stringer

[facilitatorn]

Some magnify every grievance and become hardened bigots.

You found yourself in that sentence right there. 

Pro tip, the author did not intend it as the recommendation you clearly think it is.

[Oiled]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jul/15/florida-hurricane-insurance-crisis-climate

DeSantis needs to stop fighting culture wars that are political posturing for the 2024 race and start working with the legislature and other governmental groups to find solutions to problems that Floridians really care about.

Ideas like:
building smaller, more easily insurable, affordable homes farther from the water,
subsidize architectural choices that better handle wind and flood,
promote wetlands and other green spaces that help buffer communities against storms,
etc.

[facilitatorn]

I do not think he will. DeSantis and Florida republicans only have one policy goal, to speed the advent of Armageddon for all the people of Florida. If a policy does not bring on the end of the world they do not waste their malicious energy supporting it. Your ideas run right against their core philosophy as it could potentially help many many people.

[FlyingVProd]

I was born and raised in the desert, it was a great place to grow up. And my Mother still lives in the desert, she has solar power with a battery system for her home, and she has a swimming pool, so she can run her air conditioner cheaply and the filter system for her pool is cheap to run, she loves it. And she only lives 80 miles from Los Angeles, so she is not so far out in the wilderness. And the Antelope Valley has aerospace and defense, and NASA, etc, so there is a good economy there, with a lot of good smart people in the area, and good schools, it is a good area.

And yes Bambu, people need to keep building pipes, acquaducts, dams, lakes, etc, in the desert in order to provide water for residents, as well as for growing Winter Vegetables, etc.

Theodore Roosevelt Lake in Arizona helps to provide water for residents as well as for growing Winter Vegetables, etc.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Roosevelt_Lake

And solar power is well suited for the desert.

The desert has a lot of wide open cheap land, in Arizona, and in New Mexico, and a lot of people are retiring to the desert. And rich people from California are selling their expensive homes in California and they are moving to the desert in Arizona, and they love it, Lisa Brando who was a daughter of Marlon Brando lives in the desert of Arizona and she loves Arizona.

And the band the Scorpions even wrote a song about Arizona. And Rob Halford of the band Judas Priest lives in Arizona. Lots of famous people live in Arizona now.

And Palm Springs in California has always been a desert playground for the rich and famous, though Palm Springs is not cheap anymore. I like the Mid Century Modern homes in Palm Springs with the palm trees and a swimming pool, like how Frank Sinatra lived in Palm Springs.

Of note as well, is that Las Vegas turned into a wonderful city thanks to Hoover Dam, the American Dream is alive and well in Las Vegas.

The desert is great.

Salute,

Tony V.

[Espnthree]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jul/15/florida-hurricane-insurance-crisis-climate

DeSantis needs to stop fighting culture wars that are political posturing for the 2024 race and start working with the legislature and other governmental groups to find solutions to problems that Floridians really care about.

Some  of my friends in Florida think the opposite. He should stay in Florida as Governor because they like the work he is doing there.

Ideas like:
building smaller, more easily insurable, affordable homes farther from the water,

There is very little market for new small landlocked houses.

subsidize architectural choices that better handle wind and flood,
promote wetlands and other green spaces that help buffer communities against storms,

Already done in many places.My brother lives in a subdivision that was built on those guidelines and needed only a broom to clean up after the last hurricane.

[FlyingVProd]

In Italy they built acquaducts, and they cut tunnels through solid stone to run water through the tunnels, and in Rome they had running water in their homes, and they had indoor toilets with plumbing, etc. The Italians were way ahead of everyone on the issue of water and development.

In Peru they have puquios which are underground canals for water to run and they turned a desert into a garden, there is debate about if the Natives built the puquios with the help of the Spaniards or if the Natives built the puquios on their own.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puquios

We can put our unemployed people and our new immigrants and refugees, etc, to work building things which benefit all of us, instead of just giving the people money to be on welfare and to not do anything, then we should pay them to build acquaducts, and dams, etc, etc, etc. The USA built a lot of dams during the Great Depression, and we built the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco during the Great Depression. Public Works Projects are good for humanity and they are good for America. We can turn the desert into a garden, and we can have plentiful Winter Vegetables, etc. Instead of turning people away at our Southern Border then we need to put them to work on Public Works Projects. And along with water issues, we can also work on clean transportation issues such as High Speed Trains, and Subways, etc, we can put the people to work instead of paying them to sit around and do nothing, or instead of turning people away at the Southern Border then we can invite them in and we can put them to work. And we can put the homeless people to work on Public Works Projects, etc.

And it makes one feel good to contribute to the construction of America. My Grandfather helped to build an acquaduct here in California for water, and my Father worked for the Los Angeles County Road Department when I was born and he helped to build our Highway System, and the Road Department sent my Father to Pepperdine for free to study Business and Management because they wanted for him to be a leader at the Road Department, it was a good job and he should have kept it and he might still be alive, instead of getting struck by lightning while loading Hay into a Rancher's barn in Oregon and dying way back in 1977. But anyhow, when I drive on the Highway then I know my Father helped to build that Highway, and when I drink water I know my Grandfather did work to help to supply our water. There is a satisfaction that comes with getting to be a part of our community and working on Public Works Projects. And I helped to build a Public School for children, and I helped to build a Laboratory at China Lake Navy Weapon Center, and I helped to build the Visitor Reception Area at NASA at Edwards Air Force Base, etc, it feels good to be a part of something bigger than myself, and to contribute to the USA. Like President Kennedy said, ask what you can do for America and not what America can do for you. Instead of just giving free money and housing to healthy people then we need to put them to work instead on Public Works Projects.

Salute,

Tony V.

[facilitatorn]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jul/15/florida-hurricane-insurance-crisis-climate

DeSantis needs to stop fighting culture wars that are political posturing for the 2024 race and start working with the legislature and other governmental groups to find solutions to problems that Floridians really care about.

Some  of my friends in Florida think the opposite. He should stay in Florida as Governor because they like the work he is doing there.

Ideas like:
building smaller, more easily insurable, affordable homes farther from the water,

There is very little market for new small landlocked houses.

subsidize architectural choices that better handle wind and flood,
promote wetlands and other green spaces that help buffer communities against storms,

Already done in many places.My brother lives in a subdivision that was built on those guidelines and needed only a broom to clean up after the last hurricane.

It is a shame DeSantis exiled all the builders. There will be no new homes built and no homes repaired as long as he is governor.

[bambu.]

China would soon turn a desert into a lush green wonderland.

[Oiled]

https://archive.li/2023.07.16-103931/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/16/climate/climate-geodesic-dome-house.html

Domes make good homes. 

[Hairy Lime]

China would soon turn a desert into a lush green wonderland.

As in that noted lush garden area known as the Gobi pastureland. You fucking idiot.

[FlyingVProd]

China would soon turn a desert into a lush green wonderland.

The Chinese helped to build our railroads here in the USA.

We can do great things if we have peace, and if we work together, and we can feed the hungry, and we can house the homeless, etc.

Israel is growing eggplant in Israel the size of watermelons, Israel can teach a lot to the Chinese and to the world on the issue of growing food in the desert.

If we are wise, and if we have peace and teamwork, then we can grow gardens in the desert, and we can feed and house all of our people.

And even just having good people open HOSTELS for $15 per night where the homeless people can take a nice hot shower and sleep in a bed. We need for people to provide a shower and a bed without making huge profits, there needs to be cheap hostels like in Rome. Maybe the Chinese can help to open Hostels, and the Filipinos can help, etc.

We can do great things if we have peace and teamwork.

Salute,

Tony V.

[facilitatorn]

The 10 worst states to live and work in are all red ones. The list is topped and tailed by the two big ones, Texas and Florida.

No surprises there.

[bambu.]

China would soon turn a desert into a lush green wonderland.

As in that noted lush garden area known as the Gobi pastureland. You fucking idiot.

Not that sort of desert.
Btw, Australia sells sand to Arab nations.
Sells camels to Arab nations, some for racing.....and camels to America.