"Patrick Turner" <info@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:47DFA110.157A3DAB@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>
> keithr wrote:
>>
>> "Patrick Turner" <info@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
>> news:47DF8796.C9FDF1CB@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>> >
>> > Was not the repeating rifle a boon the North in the American war of
>> > Independance?
>>
>> not really it hadn't been invented then - muskets were all the rage.
Come
>> in
>> useful for killing indians though and all but wiping out the bison
>
> Easier to kill everything and think and talk later, the good ol american
> way!
Shoot first and ask no embarissing questions later.
> Well, if you kill everything, you don't have to talk later.
> Problems are so much more easily solved when you have simply blown it
> away.
> And wild bison could be replaced with cattle ranches.
>
>
> We had a similar policy here in Oz. We tried to get the aboriginies
> to breed themselves out of existance. Many horrid ways were found to
> discourage them.
> Our Govt has just publically apologized for all the crap, and number od
> indigenous are increasing.
The histories of the Aboriginals and the North American Indians have a lot
of parallels, they were both the subject of genocide which I suppose was
considered acceptable in those days. They both have problems with alcohol,
but the Indians are better off these days than the Aborigionals since they
own their own reservations which are effectively independant little
states.
So they own their mineral rights, and, since they are not subject to state
law, are free to run casinos in states where gambling is not allowed. some
tribes have become quite rich on that.
> We have to invent the wisdom to ensure everyone gets a fair go.
>
> There are more dead kangaroos killed by the roadside than ever before.
> If they were bison, they'd make a bigger mess of a car when you hit one.
> Hitting an average roo is about like hitting an average 10 yr old kid.
> Grim, but country dwellers are used to the carnage of Oz wildlife.
> They are not inclined to double fence heights.
If you drive in New Hamp****re in the US, you see huge yellow signs saying
"Brake For Moose". I don't know if you have ever seen a moose, but anybody
encountering on on the road and not braking, would definitely have a
faulty
sense of self preservation. But then New Hamp****re is different, seatbelts
are compulsory until the age of 18 then who cares, they also have safety
rest stops on the freeways that inevitably contain a state run liquor
shop.
> But you are right, but wasn't it the spiral rifling in barrels and the
> bullet and cartridge which was faster to reload than the muzzle loader
> and powder
> was it not?
First came the paper cartridge (which set off the Indian mutiny) and
rifling
then the percussion cap then the breech loader and the metallic cartridge
(The Martini Henry rifle for instance) and lastly the repeating rifle.
> We had a do***entary I saw about the American Civil War shown here
> about 10 years ago when I may have watched it.
Probably the one made by PBS, the nearest thing that the yanks have to the
ABC. If so, it was a very good program, about 5 episodes I think.
> Invented "better devices" were of great assistance to whoever won.
>
> But how many Americans die on the roads each year?
I don't know, probably similar per capita to here.
> So just how good is the motor car?
At what? If you live in Australia or the US, and you are in the middle
cl*****, chances are you live in a spread out suburb, and a car is an
essential part of life. If you live in Europe or Japan there is a much
greater chance that you live in a high density area with reasonable public
trans****t and the car is a luxury. When I lived in Weston Creek, I don't
think that I could have done without a car, now I live on the north coast
of
NSW I still need it, carrying the groceries up the hill from Woollies
would
be a drag on foot. To get to the major shops by bus would be an all day
job
and then there would be the problem of carrying the purchases home, I
can't
see the bus driver being impressed with me carrying a 6 metre length of
pipe
from Bunnings on his bus. So I need my car, but in general, I only need to
fill it up every 3 weeks or so.
> What will americans do when oil runs out?
Thats a way off yet, I don't expect to see it in my lifetime, although it
will get progressively more expensive. It has gone up more in the US than
here. When I went to live there in 1998, petrol was 90c per gallon (4
litres) there and just under $1 per litre here. Now it is pu****ng $1.50
here
but $4.00 per gallon there. Someone has come up with a process to turn
carbon dioxide and water into hydrocarbon fuel, that could kill two stones
with one bird but at what cost has yet to be determined. The biggest red
herring is bio fuel, the world will starve if they try to replace oil with
that.
> Its better to stay at home and pipe your music through some
> ever so slightly noisy tubes than go out searching for an
> ultimate experience.
Depends what you like, peronally I have never found a system that can come
near the live performance, and that usually involves some travel.
> But most western civilisations are afflicted by the
> affluenza disease where the more you get, the more you want.
>
> We are gonna affluend the whole ****ing planet.
That was predicted back in the 60's when the "Club of Rome" put out their
re****t "The limits to growth", they were laughed at then.The author Vance
Packard also wrote a number of prophetic books like "The Wastemakers" but
those views weren't fa****onable and clashed with the basic tennets of
capitalism
> Not by tommorrow, but in a thousand years things will have to be very
> different indeed
> if our species is to survive; hint, let's genetically modify our
> species,
> and then we can live in any sort of world. First we have GM crops,
> then GM animals, and why the heck not GM people?
>
> If we get all the problems we see around us fixed, we'll get bored out
> of our minds,
> so ppl will think of new exciting things, like having GM kids
> to win gold medals at the Olympics, and then we will move right along
> from there.....
> All the rules we know now are set to be broken by the coming explosion
> of knowledge.
I don't know about an explosion of knowledge, but there is an explosion of
information. When I started with the company that I work for we sold
computer storage units that could hold 128 9 gig drives, now the biggest
model can contain 2700 1 terrabyte drives. Where all that information is
comming from and why people find the need to keep it is beyond me, but I
suppose that it keeps a roof over my head and puts a bit by for
retirement.
Keith
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