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Topic: Things you don't care about, but should. (Read 12216 times)
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Merusk
Terracotta Army
Posts: 27449
Badge Whore
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New concept. Things that irritate/ worry you from your field, shared for the rest of us and why we should worry and how it affects us. Idea from: Trippy's concern about the Blizz win over the Botters, and my recent education on a few "minor" upcoming building code changes. Concern: The building code is getting stupid, and too many special interest groups are getting their fingers in the pie with an unregulated code group that most states adopt. The group I'm talking about is the ICC. They've got a noble idea, standardize building codes so that across the country you're assured the same standards of housing. They accomplished that about 10 years ago, however, and now have simply been adding things that only add cost to construction, for marginal safety. The latest examples are: Lateral Load (Wind) Bracing, Structural Load, Soils composition and Fire Suppression systems. I could go off on the first few, but it's really detailed and I don't want to hit TLDR. That last one is the one that really gets me, though. The latest code revisions that will be adopted by states sometime next year for inclusion by 2010 mandate a home sprinkler system in every house in America. This isn't being driven on any scientific study or a plethora of statistics that say fire suppression systems would have saved lives in hundreds of home fires. It's being driven by that video of the Stanton club fire in 2003 that's been shown at several code meetings and the FPS lobby. Why does this concern me and you? Because municipal water systems CAN NOT handle a FPS in every new home in a subdivision. They also add about $15k to the base cost of homes. That translates to about $30k for homeowners prior to the taxes that'll have to be raised to upgrade water systems. This puts all houses even farther out of range of blue-collar people, because new home values set the standard for all homes. It also completely ignores that some cities in the West and South West are already having enough problems meeting their current water demand. Then you come to the problem of, "Well what if a small fire sets off the system and extinguishes it? Lack of fire doesn't shut off the system, so does homeowner's insurance say "Fuck you, it's flooding" or cover all damages. If they cover all damages, water is one of the worst things to have in your house, the repairs are extensive and expensive to undo that kind of mess, so this will only serve to raise the rates of everyone in the end to cover the increased dollar amount of payouts. This troubles me greatly.
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The past cannot be changed. The future is yet within your power.
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voodoolily
Contributor
Posts: 5348
Finnuh, munnuh, muhfuh, I enjoy creating new written vernacular, s'all.
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Why should we give a shit about what happens to people who buy into cardboard McHousing/urban sprawl?
edit: that's a rhetorical question.
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stray
Terracotta Army
Posts: 16818
has an iMac.
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The person behind the keyboard. [edit] Damnit! Merusk, I won't fuck up your thread.  I actually do care about you, y'know?
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Paelos
Contributor
Posts: 27075
Error 404: Title not found.
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I'm concerned about American businesses eventually switching from US GAAP to IFRS in order to more standardize total global accounting practices. While this is a good idea in theory, it basically fucks all current accountants into learning something else, which sets us further back in the global economy. On top of that it opens the door for many more grey area accounting frauds because the IFRS system is much more principles-based, rather than rules-based. Making accounting more a judgement call than it already is, which almost nobody outside of the field realizes, is a bad thing in my view.
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CPA, CFO, Sports Fan, Game when I have the time
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lamaros
Terracotta Army
Posts: 8021
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Yeah this should have been started in politics.
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Oban
Terracotta Army
Posts: 4662
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I am not posting until this gets moved to politics.
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Palin 2012 : Let's go out with a bang!
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climbjtree
Terracotta Army
Posts: 949
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I am not posting until this gets moved to politics.
Whoops!
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Salamok
Terracotta Army
Posts: 2803
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Isn't it kind of costly to force cold weather building standards on warm weather areas? Or building standards for humid areas on stuff built in dry climates? Shit seems like some of the cold dry states building practices would be mold heaven in a gulf state.
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Paelos
Contributor
Posts: 27075
Error 404: Title not found.
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I am not posting until this gets moved to politics.
Well, I might as well get my shots in before the jackals pick over the remains.
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CPA, CFO, Sports Fan, Game when I have the time
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Trippy
Administrator
Posts: 23657
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We can move it if that's what Merusk wants.
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Paelos
Contributor
Posts: 27075
Error 404: Title not found.
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We can move it if that's what Merusk wants.
If that's what he wants he'd have started it in that retched cesspool.
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CPA, CFO, Sports Fan, Game when I have the time
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apocrypha
Terracotta Army
Posts: 6711
Planes? Shit, I'm terrified to get in my car now!
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I'll bite here, with 2 concerns from the 2 different fields I've worked and studied in.
Firstly, antibiotic resistant bacteria and drug development. Because of 60 years of over-prescription of antibiotics we are now seeing an increasing incidence of resistance to multiple antibiotics in community-acquired infections. Some common infections, e.g. Staphylococcus aureus, when in difficult infections such as biofilms in prostheses, catheters, etc, are now so hard to treat that there is only really one drug (linezolid) available, and use of that is being tightly controlled in an effort to delay widespread resistance developing.
At the same time, the vast majority of drug development research is profit driven because.. well... capitalism, yo. Drug development is costly and time consuming. It can cost 10's of millions of $ and 10-15 years to get a drug to market. With antibiotics the chances are that your drug will only be useful for another 10-20 years due to the aforementioned resistance development. So drug companies put their R&D dollars where the profit is - viagra clones and diabetes drugs. The $ returns on willy drugs are so huge that that's all the drug co's want to know about. Type 2 diabetes and other obesity related drugs are also big. Diabetes takes 30 years to kill you, you never get better from it and you need constant medication to control it - i.e. drug development nirvana.
So, we've got a rapidly increasing bacterial resistance to the drugs we have and very few new drugs being developed. Apocalyptic scenarios are easy to create in those circumstances and after having worked as a molecular biologist for 15 years it scares the shit out of me. Back before we developed the first antibiotics life was very different. Things we see as minor today, like an infected wound, become regularly fatal without good antibacs.
Unless we start devoting serious resources to developing drugs that will probably be highly unprofitable in the long run then we're all going to die in a bubbling, pustulent mess of hardcore ninja bastard gangrene.
I was gonna write about how difficult it's becoming to take photographs in public now because of the whole terrorism paranoia and fear crap but I've gone on long enough already :)
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"Bourgeois society stands at the crossroads, either transition to socialism or regression into barbarism" - Rosa Luxemburg, 1915.
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FatuousTwat
Terracotta Army
Posts: 2223
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Humanity.
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Has anyone really been far even as decided to use even go want to do look more like?
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schild
Administrator
Posts: 60350
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Things you don't care about, but should. A career plan.
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stray
Terracotta Army
Posts: 16818
has an iMac.
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Damn man, you're starting to sound like me. Must be a Texas thing.  edit: On a serious note .. animal cruelty... i just can't make the leap to vegetarian, let alone vegan... but a part of me would like to. so much bad shit goin' on
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« Last Edit: October 10, 2008, 12:30:45 AM by Stray »
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schild
Administrator
Posts: 60350
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It's not a Texan thing. I am apathy incarnate.
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stray
Terracotta Army
Posts: 16818
has an iMac.
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Well, I'm right there with ya.
What was your degree in btw? Film studies, right? We should make a horror movie. About apathy.
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schild
Administrator
Posts: 60350
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Art Studio, minor in film history.
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Ironwood
Terracotta Army
Posts: 28240
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My penis.
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"Mr Soft Owl has Seen Some Shit." - Sun Tzu
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Merusk
Terracotta Army
Posts: 27449
Badge Whore
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We can move it if that's what Merusk wants.
If that's what he wants he'd have started it in that retched cesspool. Well, yeah that was my initial thought. Then I realized I didn't want it to get so overtly political, partisan AND ignored by a large chunk of the boards which dropping it in politics would do. I thought about Gen.Disc but figured it'd wind-up in Politics within two posts if I did that. I'd rather this say quasi-serious but not turn into a series of flames and back-patting. Isn't it kind of costly to force cold weather building standards on warm weather areas? Or building standards for humid areas on stuff built in dry climates? Shit seems like some of the cold dry states building practices would be mold heaven in a gulf state.
There are provisions for cold weather, the nation is divided into "Zones" according to your latitude and traditional weather patterns. Humid/ dry areas concern the location of vapor barriers but not much else. The cold weather thing does bring up a question of "what happens to a house with a sprinkler system in Minnesota/ Alaska? Do you have to build a chase wall below your ceiling since you can't run water pipes through an attic.
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The past cannot be changed. The future is yet within your power.
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Bunk
Contributor
Posts: 5828
Operating Thetan One
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Fine, I'll bite. The number of Realtors I deal with every day that are utterly shocked when I tell them that the software subscription they purchased is under a one year contract. When I bring up the EULA, they respond with "no one ever reads that". These are people who are dealing with half million dollar contracts for people, and they do not think to read a license agreement, or I don't know, maybe ask questions before handing out thier credit cards?
On the same vane, I am frightend by the number of Realtors that run thier businesses out of checking accounts that go in to over draft on a $30 double billing.
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"Welcome to the internet, pussy." - VDL "I have retard strength." - Schild
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Nevermore
Terracotta Army
Posts: 4740
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I'm concerned about American businesses eventually switching from US GAAP to IFRS in order to more standardize total global accounting practices. While this is a good idea in theory, it basically fucks all current accountants into learning something else, which sets us further back in the global economy. On top of that it opens the door for many more grey area accounting frauds because the IFRS system is much more principles-based, rather than rules-based. Making accounting more a judgement call than it already is, which almost nobody outside of the field realizes, is a bad thing in my view.
But it's a great opportunity for anyone who's just started learning accounting recently. 
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Over and out.
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Nebu
Terracotta Army
Posts: 17613
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Money.
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"Always do what is right. It will gratify half of mankind and astound the other."
- Mark Twain
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schild
Administrator
Posts: 60350
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Yegolev
Moderator
Posts: 24440
2/10 WOULD NOT INGEST
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The cold weather thing does bring up a question of "what happens to a house with a sprinkler system in Minnesota/ Alaska? Do you have to build a chase wall below your ceiling since you can't run water pipes through an attic.
The obvious solution is halon.
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Why am I homeless? Why do all you motherfuckers need homes is the real question. They called it The Prayer, its answer was law Mommy come back 'cause the water's all gone
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voodoolily
Contributor
Posts: 5348
Finnuh, munnuh, muhfuh, I enjoy creating new written vernacular, s'all.
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Why should we give a shit about what happens to people who buy into cardboard McHousing/urban sprawl?
edit: that's a rhetorical question.
Okay, it's not that rhetorical. I'm concerned that American obesity is driving the need for a family of three to demand to live in 3000+ square feet of urban sprawl that a) they can't afford (see current financial crisis) b) takes up space formerly occupied by trees and wetlands (see aftermath of Hurricane Katrina), and c) their asses shouldn't be big enough to require in the first place (see current food crisis).
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Engels
Terracotta Army
Posts: 9029
inflicts shingles.
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f13
<runs>
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I should get back to nature, too. You know, like going to a shop for groceries instead of the computer. Maybe a condo in the woods that doesn't even have a health club or restaurant attached. Buy a car with only two cup holders or something. -Signe
I LIKE being bounced around by Tonkors. - Lantyssa
Babies shooting themselves in the head is the state bird of West Virginia. - schild
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Yegolev
Moderator
Posts: 24440
2/10 WOULD NOT INGEST
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I'm concerned that American obesity is driving the need for a family of three to demand to live in 3000+ square feet of urban sprawl that a) they can't afford (see current financial crisis) b) takes up space formerly occupied by trees and wetlands (see aftermath of Hurricane Katrina), and c) their asses shouldn't be big enough to require in the first place (see current food crisis).
I never considered obesity a factor in the desire to buy a large home. Or do you mean 3000sqft of yard? I'm not arguing against either position, just having a tough time with the link.
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Why am I homeless? Why do all you motherfuckers need homes is the real question. They called it The Prayer, its answer was law Mommy come back 'cause the water's all gone
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voodoolily
Contributor
Posts: 5348
Finnuh, munnuh, muhfuh, I enjoy creating new written vernacular, s'all.
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I think obesity should be a factor, but it's more the metaphorical gluttony that I was talking about (but not articulating very well before coffee). And I meant 3000 sq.ft. homes, not lots.
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K9
Terracotta Army
Posts: 7441
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I'll bite here, with 2 concerns from the 2 different fields I've worked and studied in.
Firstly, antibiotic resistant bacteria and drug development. Because of 60 years of over-prescription of antibiotics we are now seeing an increasing incidence of resistance to multiple antibiotics in community-acquired infections. Some common infections, e.g. Staphylococcus aureus, when in difficult infections such as biofilms in prostheses, catheters, etc, are now so hard to treat that there is only really one drug (linezolid) available, and use of that is being tightly controlled in an effort to delay widespread resistance developing.
At the same time, the vast majority of drug development research is profit driven because.. well... capitalism, yo. Drug development is costly and time consuming. It can cost 10's of millions of $ and 10-15 years to get a drug to market. With antibiotics the chances are that your drug will only be useful for another 10-20 years due to the aforementioned resistance development. So drug companies put their R&D dollars where the profit is - viagra clones and diabetes drugs. The $ returns on willy drugs are so huge that that's all the drug co's want to know about. Type 2 diabetes and other obesity related drugs are also big. Diabetes takes 30 years to kill you, you never get better from it and you need constant medication to control it - i.e. drug development nirvana.
So, we've got a rapidly increasing bacterial resistance to the drugs we have and very few new drugs being developed. Apocalyptic scenarios are easy to create in those circumstances and after having worked as a molecular biologist for 15 years it scares the shit out of me. Back before we developed the first antibiotics life was very different. Things we see as minor today, like an infected wound, become regularly fatal without good antibacs.
Unless we start devoting serious resources to developing drugs that will probably be highly unprofitable in the long run then we're all going to die in a bubbling, pustulent mess of hardcore ninja bastard gangrene.
I was gonna write about how difficult it's becoming to take photographs in public now because of the whole terrorism paranoia and fear crap but I've gone on long enough already :)
echoing this 100%.
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I love the smell of facepalm in the morning
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Brogarn
Terracotta Army
Posts: 1372
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No it's power. Then women.
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Paelos
Contributor
Posts: 27075
Error 404: Title not found.
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No it's Sugar -> Power -> Women.
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CPA, CFO, Sports Fan, Game when I have the time
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Oban
Terracotta Army
Posts: 4662
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Fine...
International logistics security
Airlines in America
The growth of Islamic banking
Cuba, post-Fidel
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Palin 2012 : Let's go out with a bang!
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Evildrider
Terracotta Army
Posts: 5521
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Alien Invasions.
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Signe
Terracotta Army
Posts: 18942
Muse.
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I should care about my credit rating, but I don't. I also don't care about dead celebrities.
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My Sig Image: hath rid itself of this mortal coil.
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