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Technology has always found its greatest consumer in a
nation's war and defense efforts. Since the last attempts at a
"Star Wars" defense system, has technology changed
considerably enough to make the latest Missile Defense
initiatives more successful? Can such an application of
science be successful? Is a militarized space inevitable,
necessary or impossible?
Read Debates, a new
Web-only feature culled from Readers' Opinions, published
every Thursday.
(11919 previous messages)
lchic
- 09:41pm May 24, 2003 EST (#
11920 of 11966) ~~~~ It got understood and exposed
~~~~
This problem of "everybody's business being nobody's
business" was a key problem - maybe the key problem |
Showalter
Meaning ?
There are things that NEED to be done, that SHOULD be done,
that HAVE to be done ..... yet those who should be doing them,
those with the means ... are failing to recognise the problem
- thus failing to work towards the solutions necessary to ..
say 'upgrade' existance.
Begs the question - what needs to be done, what needs to be
worked towards, what are the basics that will upgrade humanity
...
... Energy, food, clothing, shelter, and security ?
lchic
- 09:59pm May 24, 2003 EST (#
11921 of 11966) ~~~~ It got understood and exposed
~~~~
Love on the Dole (1941) Drama 1 hrs. 29 min.
Deborah Kerr, Clifford Evans, Mary Merrall
Filmed in the North Country of England, this is a film noir
set in the 1930s as a family struggles with poverty and
unemployment. Depressing and realistic, it portrays the
lengths to which a family can go in order to survive., though
there is some humor interlaced to keep the bleakness under
control. The beautiful, sepia-tinted photography enhances the
portrayals, which are excellent. ~ Tana Hobart
http://entertainment.msn.com/movies/movie.aspx?m=118929
The Grapes of Wrath
John Ford's The Grapes of Wrath is arguably the director's
greatest movie, and the rare Hollywood film superior to its
literary source (a view shared by the novel's author, John
Steinbeck). Indeed, it is the movie that sums up the impact of
the Great Depression, at least on rural America, better than
any other film of its time (and there were hundreds that
tried, by everyone from Frank Capra to Preston Sturges). From
the opening shot of Tom Joad's return to the ruined land where
he grew up, the movie is a study of people whose dreams and
hopes wither away like the drought-stricken crops. Yet Ford
managed to make a movie that wasn't utterly pessimistic,
despite its story and setting: the performers and script
availed him of indomitable characters, convincingly portrayed,
with the result that even the most cynical viewers were
persuaded of Ford's artistic vision. Henry Fonda, who'd been
an up-and-coming leading man, solidified his image as an
upright hero with an almost mystical bent in his portrayal of
Tom Joad; Jane Darwell became the archetypal rural matriarch;
and even the bit players, such as Ward Bond and Grant
Mitchell, got relatively rare opportunities to play against
their usual types as beneficent characters. The movie became a
strange case of fiction transcending fact, as Ford's images
(photographed by the great cinematographer Gregg Toland)
became more representative of the period than most documentary
photography. Countless filmmakers have quoted from The Grapes
of Wrath (there's a very funny audio-visual reference in Close
Encounters of the Third Kind), and Ford himself never made a
more compelling social statement despite several attempts (The
Sun Shines Bright, Sergeant Rutledge, and others) over the
next 20 years. ~ Bruce Eder
----
Both reviews refer to photograph - a document, a record of
the GREAT DEPRESSION ... markets were down, people were down,
nations were down -- but why?
lchic
- 10:04pm May 24, 2003 EST (#
11922 of 11966) ~~~~ It got understood and exposed
~~~~
Quagmire - Krugman
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/24/opinion/24KRUG.html?n=Top%2fOpinion%2fEditorials%20and%20Op%2dEd
"" Though talk of deflation fills the air, most of that
talk is subtly but significantly off point. The immediate
danger isn't deflation per se; it's the risk that the world's
major economies will find themselves trapped in an economic
quagmire. Deflation can be both a symptom of an economy
sinking into the muck, and a reason why it sinks even deeper,
but it's usually a lagging indicator. The crucial question is
whether we'll stumble into the swamp in the first place — and
the risks look uncomfortably high.
lchic
- 10:11pm May 24, 2003 EST (#
11923 of 11966) ~~~~ It got understood and exposed
~~~~
Every new generation of people (in advanced economies),
like to distinguish themselves from former generations by
re-inventing the wheels of fashion .... slighty altering the
spin of a skirt, opting for dots or stripes after years of
'plain' ....
Catering to the perceived needs of the tweenies, teenies,
twenties ... is a production push button for an economy ...
creating employment.
---
Unfortunately many areas of the world are still into trying
to achieve the basics --- but not succeeding.
Why so?
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