On Tue, Jul 17, 2001 at 07:00:56PM -0400, Isaiah Weiner wrote:
> On Tue, Jul 17, 2001 at 06:21:26PM -0400, Paul M Foster wrote:
> > So the environmental wackos are going in a certain direction and they
> > don't know where they're supposed to end up? And they don't know because
> > they haven't gotten there yet?
>
> Basically. Liken it to software development. The US government, when
> developing, say, attitude adjustment modules for satellites, didn't know
> how to track the progress of the procedures until after they'd done it a
> few times. Then there was the problem of not reusing code, so you ended up
> with programmers re-inventing the solutions every time. As you stream
> lined the process, you could relate certain portions of the project to past
> projects, see what changed, and come up with a better estimate of where you
> stood in relation to the beginning and end of the project. The polution
> of the earth hasn't completed yet, or we'd know how much toxic waste it
> took to destroy an ecosystem. Right now, there's no aggregation of the
> data $persons collect on the various ecosystems being destroyed. So
> there's nothing to compare anything to ,and educate the environmental
> community on precisely what's happening and where projections will go.
> Right now it's very much like this:
>
> * stranger walks onto scene of angry mobsters *
> <stranger> Hey, what're we mobbing about?
> <mobster> The environment's being destroyed, dude!
> <stranger> I'll jump on the bandwagon, even though I could do more good
> by contributing to research!
>
> > Yep, makes perfect sense. ;-}
>
> I'm detecting a slight hint of sarcasm. Please wave the sarcasm flag if
> you're going to use it; I have a hard time catching it.
>
The original statement was patently absurd (though apparently true). My
comment served to outline that fact. The winking smiley with the crooked
smile highlighted the humorous absurdity of the whole thing.
Sarcasm? That was no hint. It was a 24x36 poster emblazoned in
International Orange. I did, however, have the loudspeakers on "2",
though. ;-}
Paul
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