The very many questions-not-worth-their-own-thread question thread XXV

[Cutlass]

 

[hobbsyoyo]

ermahgerd, brilliant!

 

[bhsup]

I uh... easter egg birthing ritual?!

 

[hobbsyoyo]

It's a facehugger from Alien.

So can someone explain exactly what the Amish can and can't do? Groups of them come into town in minivans and it's always the same van so I assume they own it. Also, i inspected their clothing today and saw several items that looked decidely industrial in origin. I just don't get the point of their technological prohibitions if they are allowed to break them.

I know that different Amish groups have different rules on technology but there has to be some sort of general rules, right?

 

[Borachio]

<nvm>

 

[Farm Boy]

General rule of the Amish local variances aside? Don't let technology become pervasive enough that it takes over your life. YMMV.

Also, are you positive they were Amish and not Mennonites?

 

[bhsup]

Also, are you positive they were Amish and not Mennonites?

I was just about to ask that. While we have Amish, there are a LOT of Mennonites in Missouri as well. Downright liberal, those Mennonites!

 

[hobbsyoyo]

I have no idea, I can't tell just by looking at them.

They are pretty wary of the general public though, if that helps any. We used to get a regular lot come in to Goodwill when I worked there and they borderline rude in how they interacted with me.*

*And for the record, I was damn good and exceedingly friendly as the lead cashier - there was a reason why they put me in that position to begin with.

___________

Still, I guess I'm missing something because I thought the Amish/Mennonites have absolute prohibitions.

 

[Farm Boy]

If they're out shopping, they sound like Mennonites. They get out and about, but they're really still very insular. I would expect any interaction with them to be awkward by default, particularly if there you are a general population male and their womenfolk are present. They tend to wear the bonnets. The men look closer to general population norm, but still not quite.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Yeah the women wear bonnets. The men have beards, wear plain shirts and pants (didn't check for zippers or buttons or fasteners or anything) with suspenders. I noticed that the suspenders had a little plastic piece on the back where the two shoulder straps are joined and that they boots some of them were wearing were definitely not hand-made. Also, some had glasses that looked to be mass produced but that's a bit harder to tell.

And they were awkward both with and without the women and when it was just the women. I don't know, it wasn't quite rude but it almost was. You definitely get the feeling that they'd rather not be talking to you even when you're just trying to politely do your job.

So the Mennonites can drive cars and own manufactured goods? Oh and they were buying doritos today when I ran into them, though I don't think that's taboo for them.

 

[Farm Boy]

Almost certainly Mennonites then. I'm not up on the finer details of how they usually live, but I know they shop in major chain stores that tend to have low prices. I've eaten next to a group of them in a Wendy's once, so they'll do that. I think they were traveling on I-39.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

We should do some research on them. Do you think they obey seatbelt laws?

Spoiler :

 

[Farm Boy]

 

[Cutlass]

Yeah the women wear bonnets. The men have beards, wear plain shirts and pants (didn't check for zippers or buttons or fasteners or anything) with suspenders. I noticed that the suspenders had a little plastic piece on the back where the two shoulder straps are joined and that they boots some of them were wearing were definitely not hand-made. Also, some had glasses that looked to be mass produced but that's a bit harder to tell.

And they were awkward both with and without the women and when it was just the women. I don't know, it wasn't quite rude but it almost was. You definitely get the feeling that they'd rather not be talking to you even when you're just trying to politely do your job.

So the Mennonites can drive cars and own manufactured goods? Oh and they were buying doritos today when I ran into them, though I don't think that's taboo for them.

Amish own manufactured goods. They just froze the tech they would buy at around 100 years ago.

 

[Farm Boy]

Many of them will run house batteries for lights for when they really need them on. They'll usually have a central landline somewhere that they can use to call for help if there is an emergency. They just usually don't want to be connected/reliant on the grid/tech for everyday tasks. Horses for agriculture is a good example. They can breed and train the horses. It's less feasible to try and manufacture replacement parts for a John Deere tractor in-house. Plus then you might run the risk of being too devoted to maintaining the tractor than the work itself. Which I think is more the jist than when the tech in question was developed?

 

[Cutlass]

I can't speak to why they have made the decisions that they have. I know that they have a preference to stick to muscle powered tools. But many of those tools are more advanced than something which would have been common in the mid 19th century. As to the others, I don't know that they are entirely unwilling to use more modern stuff, but rather that they minimize to the greatest extent feasible.

Which just made me wonder if they use sewing machines? And if so, electric or pedal powered?

 

[Farm Boy]

I would guess most of them would use one made of fairly contemporary materials, but with a pedal for the power? That seems to be what google suggests, but depending on what you're searching for it might just be giving me what I want rather than what is accurate.

 

[PlutonianEmpire]

Not too long ago, new research suggested that the Earth is directly on the inner edge of Sol's HZ, or very near it, with it being at 0.99-something AU (1= being of course the distance between Earth and Sol itself). For this question, let's assume this to be true.

Now, factor in AGW.

Are we screwed?

 

[Borachio]

According to Ramirez et al 2013 the figure is 0.97.

But in the very long term, I'd say yes we're screwed.

In the shorter term (~200 years) there's a fair amount of latitude (!) for human beings to continue inhabiting some parts of the Earth even given quite high temperature (6C) increases. Just not without a lot of people dying. Or substantial changes in technology.

But why is too much heat (and energy) a problem? Heat death is the ultimate and unavoidable fate, isn't it?

I realize you'll find this disappointing.

 

[LegionSteve]

Not too long ago, new research suggested that the Earth is directly on the inner edge of Sol's HZ, or very near it, with it being at 0.99-something AU (1= being of course the distance between Earth and Sol itself). For this question, let's assume this to be true.

Now, factor in AGW.

Are we screwed?

Depends what you mean by screwed?

From the bits I have read of the various climate change threads I would expect suffering and probably death for millions of poor people in the worst affected areas. Rich people will just move elsewhere, of course.

Or were you thinking of a much longer timescale than that?