AK,
I just want to thank you for your mini-essay on sustainability and 'Mericanism. It's the funniest thing I've read in a long time. I keep it posted beside my desk to remind me what's *really* important in this life.
Oh, you were serious? Oh.
PBR to you too!
Ralph
In a message dated 11/12/07 12:11:07 PM, akester@cfl.rr.com writes:
Erik,
I am totally with Bill and his line of thinking. And to be honest, you sound sorta like you hate freedom. The freedom to build whatever the hell you want and flip the bird to the world is our American right. Its in the Constitution, which you probably can barely read since you sound like you were educated in the public school system.
You must realize you need a 4 car garage, where can you put your Hummer, Expedition, boat and jet ski. And what kind of hippy wants 3 people to crowd into a tiny 4000sf house with dinky 12 ft ceilings. How can you not derive supreme pleasure over designing these knowing their utilitarian function? And of course the next logical step in questioning this way of thinking would be to go work for Greenpeace and build houses of crap. There is no in-between or gray on this issue or any other issue, just like in all of real life.
Why don't you go shoot or save some deer, I am not sure which but they both make sense. I think as long as you eat the deer it is OK. Which is why I pick up every liberal tree hugging squirrel I run over.
Who cares if they are not energy efficient, require tons of building materials, could house a small 3rd world village, can be nearly impossible to properly structurally engineer because the more cut up a roof line the more architecturally pleasing it is, and above all, are completely over the top look at me and all of my insecurities and I am so trying to keep up with the joneses and drowning in debt to do so. Just cash your check and be happy you got a job in the greatest country ever (or GEEEETTTT OUUUUTTTT). If you stopped hitting the bong and put out the incense long enough, one day you may open up your own company and do whatever you want with whatever conscious you have. I mean, I don't believe in Jesus as my saviour but we engineer lots of churches. I think strip clubs are a waste of money but I would design them too. Liquor stores, gun shops, drug dealer's house, Al Gore's save the earth hippy house or a steel framed behemoth to support Rush's 400psf LL requirements, whatever pays my bills. Conscious and caring are for pansies, bunch of liberal fuzzy warm feeling crap.
Now drink a case of PBR and maybe you will wake up on the RIGHT side of bed and realize how good you got it in 'Merica.
Andrew
erik gibbs wrote:
> I do not like engineering large, very large custom homes with a lot of
> wastefull architecture.
Then quit, and go to work for Greenpeace or some outfit like that. Maybe
you can get involved in making homes out of Wildebeest dung, or some
other such thing that is more in line with your religious convictions.
(BTW, to me, "sustainable buildings" are the ones still standing after
an earthquake or a hurricane).
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2 Message:0002 2
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From: Bill Polhemus <bill@polhemus.cc>
To: seaint@seaint.org
Subject: Re: Sustainable companies
Christopher Wright wrote:
>
> On Nov 9, 2007, at 9:27 PM, erik gibbs wrote:
>
>> What are your thoughts on sustainable structural engineering/
>> building and or what companies implement this design method?
> We live in a wasteful way because we've always had more than enough of
> everything.
We live in a "wasteful way" because that's the nature of human beings
whenever possible.
You want to see creatures living in a "wasteful way?" See what happens
when deer are allowed to grow in population with no natural predators
around.
Andrew Kester, PE
Principal/Project Manager
ADK Structural Engineering, PLLC
1510 E. Colonial Drive, Suite 301
M 407-921-1617
F 321-249-0349
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