On 2006-Sep 02, at 20:27hrs PM, Russell McMahon wrote: > People don't want public transportation or it would have > taken off as a major part of the transportation scene. > Government "forces" PT because the authorities like playing with > toy trains and buses. In many of the worlds greatest cities there are public transport systems that make it worth using them. They are fast, efficent and a reasonable alternative to the use of private transport withing the areas that they serve extensively. Used in conjunction with park and ride type systems they can be both effective people movers and offer customer performance superior to that achievable by private transport. I suspect that a country's group-mind attitude can be an important factor in causing people to make such systems work. While Tokyo is clogged with traffic a tourist or an office worker can use the fantastic and numerous public transport systems to get to and fro more rapidly than they can by car. There are numerous privately owned subterranean railway systems operating in the city. > And nothing the military does is cost effective.... never ..... if > you include the externalities ... I'm no great apologist for "the military", but I suspect the fully costed externatilities make them always effective, so far at least. Without them the externalities seem to want to walk in and take over at immeasurable cost. Cost of a strong US military - trillions pa. Value compared to the alternative - priceless :). ^ you have not included all the externalities 10 of thousands of people dead ... to start with AGSC ^ ^ Or is it that a dead person is not a cost ? ^ > On a completely different issue ....... I have noticed that most > people when confronted with a novel > idea, rush to explain why it will not work. That is their first > reaction. They do not examine the possibilities. It's a useful reaction, as long as it's only one tool in a set. A strong defence mechanism which protects the status quo as its default response is useful as long as you can add other tools to it on demand ^ Explain why it is useful ? I don't get it .... AGSC ^ I'm also not a great De Bono cheerleader but some of his ideas are useful. Assessing each new idea etc with a list of positive, negative and interesting aspects is a good first start. His lateral thinking thinking sessions where no idea is too OTW and every idea should be used as an idea starter for new ideas can be very valuable and has its place - as long as it is not allowed to become the main way of operating day to day :-). ^ I guess I think having lots of defense mechanisms is good for the mediocre .... and makes them mediocre. Smart humans can learn and move with innovations. Dumb humans protect their turf and kill each other. AGSC ^ Russell -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ AGSC Augustus Gustavius Salvatore Calabrese 4337 Raleigh Street Denver, CO 720 222 1309 303 908 7716 cell adding " spam2006 " bypasses my spam blocker. Please place in the text or at the END of the subject line. ( i am hard to reach by phone ) All ideas, text, drawings and audio , that are originated by me, and included with this signature text are to be deemed to be released to the public domain as of the date of this communication . AGSC ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist