patrick.net

"In my Utopia overpopulation will be dealt with."

Do you want to build a ringworld, or go ahead and tackle a Dyson sphere?

With a strict enough set of bylaws, condos and gated communities can do just that.

We also need a way to keep away the undesirables. A society cannot be great if it tolerates bad elements.

Other solutions include creating a highly successful cult that prohibits procreation.

Do you want to build a ringworld, or go ahead and tackle a Dyson sphere?

Maximum solar energy?

Other solutions include creating a highly successful cult that prohibits procreation.

Procreation is necessarily. But the current system appears to be upside down. Ideally, we want the right people - and the right people only - to have children. The reverse is happening.

Utopias? I might prefer a townhome layout to a SFH, with two exceptions. First, moving "real" furniture up stairs is not fun; and second, the SFH usually includes some sort of private outdoor space where you can put a hot tub, victory garden, or even just grass.

Transportation is the key; there is such much beautiful country out there, but it's just not feasible to commute. (Define "God's country": any place where it's hell to make a living.) There's a nice essay on the economics of public transit here that I think is worth a read. Other than that, proper enforcement of lane discipline and setting speed limits in accordance with established traffic engineering principles would also save a number of lives as well as improving road courtesy, seatbelt use, etc.

I think going police state is actually the wrong way to help clean up a community; it may get immediate results, but inevitable spins out of control to end up either an East Palo Alto or a "Pleasantville". My opinion is that focusing on community involvement is better, with a firm application of force when needed and /only/ when needed.

Oh, ringworlds and orbitals rock! If you have the tech to build them, you likely have transportation problems well in hand, plus everyone can have all the space they want. Scarcity is for primitives.

Transportation is the key; there is such much beautiful country out there, but it’s just not feasible to commute.

Telecommuting should be encouraged.

All roads should become toll roads so that the costs of transportation can be passed on to the users. This WILL lead to better resource allocation.

East Palo Alto

I thought EPA screwed up because of rent control. I have yet to see a nice city that is rent-controlled.

Any attempt to "protect" the people with price control will only hurt them more.

requiem,

I'm certainly not advocating any kind of a police state. Any time someone is transferred to a new mil. base they will rec. an "indoctrination" about local places in town where there have been problems, how to find your way to the hospital and sometimes you'll be assigned a "sponsor".

So it's more about "upholding" tradition as one of the cleanest and safest bases than brow beating anyone. In some cases there really doesn't have to be a threat of conformity. When I was stationed at Long Beach, CA (right off of Santa Fe Ave.) the sirens NEVER stopped! 24/7 emergency goin' down somewhere! Who wanted to get kicked out and have to deal with some apt. complex's "stabbing of the week"?

"I thought EPA screwed up because of rent control. I have yet to see a nice city that is rent-controlled."

Allegedly, there are some really nice rent control apartments in NYC and Santa Monica, and some pretty good ones in SF...though they're probably nice inspite of the rent control, rather than because of it.

requiem,

I thought Peter P was talking about the overpopulation problem. The most obvious solution to the problem is to create more land surface (by building up, building down, orbital colonies or whatever).

As for the commuting problem. A transfer booth or transfer beam or dial-a-travel will do just fine.

I thought Peter P was talking about the overpopulation problem. The most obvious solution to the problem is to create more land surface (by building up, building down, orbital colonies or whatever).

Reducing total population growth to zero is also effective. This is the only thing I have in common with environmentalists.

The best solution to commuting is to end work. Make computers and robots do all the menial/not fun/drudge work. People can work for fun or lifestyle upgrade, but make work optional.

The best solution to commuting is to end work. Make computers and robots do all the menial/not fun/drudge work. People can work for fun or lifestyle upgrade, but make work optional.

Possible. The only "perfect" economic system is to have seemingly unlimited resource.

"Possible. The only “perfect” economic system is to have seemingly unlimited resource."

Yes! Now would you please get on with creating fusion power, making an army of skillful yet completely loyal robot servants and building that Dyson sphere. I'd like to see it soon so I can retire early.

I'm not sure overpopulation is a problem; it's just that so many people are clustered because of poor transportation options. (Though, cutting down on kids would help a great deal.)

DinOR: if the motivation is not to be kicked out, isn't that a sort of passive-aggressive browbeating? Just tossing out ideas; from my own experience, I think the "upholding tradition" aspect or similar is more than enough for most of the inhabitants.

I’m not sure overpopulation is a problem; it’s just that so many people are clustered because of poor transportation options. (Though, cutting down on kids would help a great deal.)

If people is the problem that having too many people will be a big problem.

Upholding tradition aspect only works if you have a relatively homogenous group of individuals sharing similar views and objectives. It's no good if you live next door to a flipper owned house rented out to four illegal migrant families or a meth brewer.

Even well intentioned new immigrant families tend to neglect outside upkeep.

requiem,

The truth is that the base housing in Long Beach at the time (early 80's) wasn't all that enviable. It had been built in WWII and was showing it's age. But it was affordable and orderly and just outside LB was Hell Hole of the first and worst order!

At the time LB had a higher per capita murder rate than Detroit. Property crimes were so commonplace the PD didn't even respond. Santa Fe Ave. that ran along the east side was known as the Ho Chi Minh Trail b/c it was wall to wall Vietnamese strip clubs etc. To their credit LB has cleaned up somewhat but even Ocean Blvd. was scary. It was a hangover from the Viet Nam era (and boy did it look it). Tattoo parlors, peep shows and pawn shops. In contrast base housing looked LIKE utopia!

Even well intentioned new immigrant families tend to neglect outside upkeep.

Is this a cultural issue or an available-time issue? (serious question) The case of the flipper and the migrant workers seem solvable by the application of sane economic/immigration/security policies. The meth brewer, well, that's what the local police are for. So, if we end up with a rational environment, will the immigrant family still be neglecting the upkeep?

In contrast base housing looked LIKE utopia!

Perhaps Utopia is relative.

austingal,

I tend to lean toward your vision. People that live in climate extremes may want to consider earth sheltered options, folks in moderate climates probably won't worry about it.

The reason I got interested in water catchment systems was for all the rain we get in Oregon our shared well was a pain in the a$$. Always needed work, parts or maint. and by August you couldn't do laundry and dishes at the same time. Is that crazy or what? The spring break quake of 1993 changed our water table that much!

I think it's more a cultural and a learning curve issue. Chinese people (and presumably Japanese and Koreans) don't really know how to take care of grass. They're also cheap, so they won't water enough to keep the grass green and doesn't seed or fertilize on time.

The best way to get an immaculate lawn/garden is to have the HOA hire an outside contractor to do all the work. You get efficiency of scale and it cuts down weekend noise pollution, and enforcement becomes a non-issue.

Just for fun!
Put your utopian ideals to the test by creating your own nation state over at

www.nationstates.net

Your government can accept, reject and dismiss an outstanding issue every day, and your answers will affect how well or how badly your country turns out.

You can join together with others to create regions and when you get big enough you get admission to the United Nations.

/Just for fun!

The building is filled with mostly quite wealthy people who live in gorgeous rentals because there is absolutely no incentive for them to move out of those apartments, ever.

But are they updated with modern kitchens and marble baths? There is not much incentive for landlords to renovate rent-controlled buildings, right?

Rent control is quasi ownership. The renters can afford to update the interior at their own expense.

The main point is that while there are many problems with rent control, I don't think you can blame EPA on rent control.

The main point is that while there are many problems with rent control, I don’t think you can blame EPA on rent control.

Must be the feng shui.

Prop 13 is vaguely a form of rent control. This is why I am not a supporter.

It is a mistake. We will see more and more examples of resource misallocation because of Prop 13.

I think the bubble blogs are driving some Realtors insane.

I like marinite, but I am against making accusations against realtors or other individuals.

One of my friends lives in that building and she did a major renovation of the kitchen and baths and redid the floors, major paint job, gorgeous curtains, etc.

If there is a legally-enforcable long-term lease, why not?

Has anybody read this?
http://marinrealestatebubble.blogspot.com/2006/09/local-broker-slams-this-blog_11.html

I think the bubble blogs are driving some Realtors insane.

As the bubble collapse becomes undeniable to even the most obstinant perma-bull, watch out for idiots like this to start wagging an accusatory at blogs like this one. Who know? Maybe LAY will sue Peter P for personally lowering her house value by 40%.

I guess we'd better start wearing camo & body armor --"shoot the messenger" season's just started and there are millions of FBs with itchy trigger fingers out there.

watch out for idiots like this to start wagging an accusatory finger at blogs like this one

Maybe LAY will sue Peter P for personally lowering her house value by 40%.

It is impossible that any blogger can affect the market as a whole.

This blog is not even targeted towards any particular local market.

Moreover, everybody knows that the bubble collapses because the Fed has increased interest rate 17 times straight. ;)

@ newsfreak re: opals

One reason why opals in Oz cost more is that they're probably 'solid' opals - ie a whole stone, rather than a 'doublet' (where a thin section of opal is glued under glass - looks almost the same, but isn't nearly as costly). As well as doublets, many stones touted as 'opals' are in fact synthetically made in a lab.

As for them being more expensive....I bought my opal direct from e-opals. It seems that the link isn't working any more, but I know that many smaller opal mining communities in Aus (including Coober Pedy) have online sites to sell stones - easier, and much cheaper for everyone, than travelling to the Nulllabor to pick your stone by hand!

As with all gemstones, the better the quality the more you pay. I'd have to see the descriptions of the US ones vs the Oz ones to see if they're comparing apples with apples, so to speak. Having researched opals quite a lot when buying the stone for my ring, I got quite good at finding the duds and reading between the lines.

A bit like the 'true' reading of Realtorspeak......

How about a vertical city in which elevators are all you need to get around?

Diminishing returns Peter. THere’s a reason why increasingly higher buildings are approaching asymptotic limits.

interestingly, elevators turn out to be relatively energy efficient, in that it takes energy to raise them, but they return energy to the grid on the way down by using the electric motors for regenerative braking... apart from losses in the system and maintenance costs, they're not too environmentally unfriendly... or so i've been told...

interestingly, elevators turn out to be relatively energy efficient, in that it takes energy to raise them, but they return energy to the grid on the way down by using the electric motors for regenerative braking… apart from losses in the system and maintenance costs, they’re not too environmentally unfriendly… or so i’ve been told…

For really tall buildings, we probably need a whole new paradigm because the cables will be too long/heavy.

well, yeah, we don't want to build them to the moon...

you could have 'stepped' elevators that go to some number of storeys, then you have to change...

potentially, more people get sunlight and 'a view' with taller buildings rather than 4-5 storey buildings, but I'm presently fighting the state govt who want to put 100 m towers near my place to help their crony capitalist mates who are selling the land... the towers just won't be human scale and will be intimidating, which is admittedly a somewhat subjective architectural appraisal, but not without its adherents...

alien Says:
Concrete is DEFINITELY bad karma - beyond even a hummer! Check the carbon cycle figures out…

just on that, i'm actually quite interested in polystyrene mouldings with 5mm concrete render (despite what people say about them - this is not a joke! you haven't seen the dreary buildings here) and general rendering as a business idea going forward, in conjunction with some more 'green' ideas around water tank designs -- is there a greener material to do exterior mouldings and rendering than using cement? even firing bricks is pretty energy intensive. are there any other formable and smooth finish rapid cladding products out there that are low EE?