Towns may be fine with a certain number of chamber pots but the tearing up of the corner of a room to make a privy that runs down the rafters and out and down the building to the street made the Thames run brown (where they got their water) and made the burning of both London and Ancient Rome a blessing to those who survived. Most of the elevation in life expectancy has come from better diet and serious handling of human wastes. That IS civilization. Without that you have no serious cities just towns.
REH ----- Original Message ----- From: "Brad McCormick, Ed.D." <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Ray Evans Harrell" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Cc: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, February 03, 2003 7:57 PM Subject: Re: [Futurework] The world of work > Ray Evans Harrell wrote: > > Brad, > > > > What are you talking about? If you lived in a forest all you would need > > is a stick. > > > But cities make sewers necessary and necessary sewers make > > taxes necessary. > > cITIES DO NOT MAKE SEWERS *NECESSARY*. People got along > (and in parts of the world still get along...) > quite well dumping their chamber pots in the street in > front of their front door. Or at least such a society was > able to reproduce its individual and species life. > > > Are you suffering the same disconnect around taxes as > > that teenager who complained about those liberal media? > > Did you get the impression I am against *paying taxes* -- like > George W Bush, for instance? > > I specifically > said that I would like to go back to the old way of > paying taxes where I deducted my actual medical expenses at the > end of the year rather than trying to figure out next year's > medical expenses this year. Let me be more specific > about my frustration and sense of helplessness: > We have replaced rationality with gambling in the > deduction of medical expenses. The help we need to do > our taxes today are not just accountants but > also fortunetellers (sorry > for the pun there). > > Does this help? > > ??? > > \brad mccormick > > > If you weren't > > so intelligent I wouldn't bother but there must be something I'm missing > > here. Could you enlighten me? > > > > REH > > > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: "Brad McCormick, Ed.D." <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > Cc: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > Sent: Monday, February 03, 2003 5:50 PM > > Subject: Re: [Futurework] The world of work > > > > > > > >>[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > >> > >>>All this emphasis on cleaning toilets would make Dr. Freud wonder about > >>>us. As for me, my version of very unpleasant jobs is making out my tax > >>>returns. My tax accountant cleans up my forms, scrubs like mad and is > >>>worth every penny I pay when she presents me with a clean, scrubbed form > >>>ready for my signature. > >> > >>[snip] > >> > >>Well, in psychanalytic jargon, addicted bean counters are > >>"anal retentive". > >> > >>But I think there is a difference between cleaning toilets > >>and making out tax returns: Toilets help us deal with a > >>natural problem (you wouldn't want to go back to where > >>people dumped their chamber pots out the window onto > >>the street, would you?). But our tax returns are > >>an unnecessary and wilful imposition on us, which, > >>unlike the progress in sanitation (one recent > >>improvement: toilets that use less than 1/2 the water of > >>the old ones), is getting worse. I think that deducting > >>one's medical expenses at the end of the year made a > >>lot more sense than trying to predict next year's > >>medical expenses before this year has > >>ended. Dealing with the tax forms don't feel better than > >>diarrhea or constipation, just a different nuance > >>of frustration. > >> > >>\brad mccormick > >> > >>-- > >> Let your light so shine before men, > >> that they may see your good works.... (Matt 5:16) > >> > >> Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. (1 Thes 5:21) > >> > >><![%THINK;[SGML+APL]]> Brad McCormick, Ed.D. / [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >>----------------------------------------------------------------- > >> Visit my website ==> http://www.users.cloud9.net/~bradmcc/ > >> > >>_______________________________________________ > >>Futurework mailing list > >>[EMAIL PROTECTED] > >>http://scribe.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework > > > > > > > > > -- > Let your light so shine before men, > that they may see your good works.... (Matt 5:16) > > Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. (1 Thes 5:21) > > <![%THINK;[SGML+APL]]> Brad McCormick, Ed.D. / [EMAIL PROTECTED] > ----------------------------------------------------------------- > Visit my website ==> http://www.users.cloud9.net/~bradmcc/ > _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://scribe.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
