Definitions by miskatonic jack 2
exurban
♦ Where people live who drive an hour to a well paying job.
♦ Where your neighbor's house is 100 ft from your own and both are 50 meters (164.041 feet) from the road.
♦ Where gated communities are built with 2 acre lots and the homeowners association is constantly in fear of non-conformity and people using that land to grow their own food as well as any landscape which is reverting to it's natural state.
♦ Where your neighborhood centers around a golf course and the closest retail is 4 miles (6.43737 km) away
♦ Where your zip code's tallest building rises 2 storeys and the population density never goes beyond 1,000 people per square mile.
♦ Where rich white people go in order to avoid ethnic minorities, same thing with their country clubs.
♦ Where the water table is irreversibly contaminated by all the lawn chemicals the residents use.
♦ Where the treeless lawn surrounding one's ranch house is used for parking, sports, and an area where one's many dogs and children can run wild and wreck havoc.
♦ Areas idealized by people like Frank Lloyd Wright and Joel Garreau (writer of Edge Cities).
♦ Areas reviled by people such as Paolo Soleri and James Howard Kunstler.
♦ Where your neighbor's house is 100 ft from your own and both are 50 meters (164.041 feet) from the road.
♦ Where gated communities are built with 2 acre lots and the homeowners association is constantly in fear of non-conformity and people using that land to grow their own food as well as any landscape which is reverting to it's natural state.
♦ Where your neighborhood centers around a golf course and the closest retail is 4 miles (6.43737 km) away
♦ Where your zip code's tallest building rises 2 storeys and the population density never goes beyond 1,000 people per square mile.
♦ Where rich white people go in order to avoid ethnic minorities, same thing with their country clubs.
♦ Where the water table is irreversibly contaminated by all the lawn chemicals the residents use.
♦ Where the treeless lawn surrounding one's ranch house is used for parking, sports, and an area where one's many dogs and children can run wild and wreck havoc.
♦ Areas idealized by people like Frank Lloyd Wright and Joel Garreau (writer of Edge Cities).
♦ Areas reviled by people such as Paolo Soleri and James Howard Kunstler.
Land in exurban areas is used in the most wasteful, unsustainable and impractical ways. It's not at all uncommon for property owners to have a half acre of their spread paved over. I've even heard of aviation enthusiasts
exurban by Miskatonic Jack 2 November 23, 2010
spread
They had a 4 acre spread on the outskirts of "town" and a large gun collection. They were afraid of the government.
spread by Miskatonic Jack 2 November 23, 2010
meters
Meters-
A metre (m), also spelled meter, in measurement, fundamental unit of length in the metric system and in the International Systems of Units (SI). It is equal to approximately 39.37 inches in the British Imperial and United States Customary systems. The metre was historically defined by the French Academy of Sciences in 1791 as 1/10,000,000 of the quadrant of the Earth’s circumference running from the North Pole through Paris to the equator. The International Bureau of Weights and Measures in 1889 established the international prototype metre as the distance between two lines on a standard bar of 90...
- Encyclopædia Britannica
A metre (m), also spelled meter, in measurement, fundamental unit of length in the metric system and in the International Systems of Units (SI). It is equal to approximately 39.37 inches in the British Imperial and United States Customary systems. The metre was historically defined by the French Academy of Sciences in 1791 as 1/10,000,000 of the quadrant of the Earth’s circumference running from the North Pole through Paris to the equator. The International Bureau of Weights and Measures in 1889 established the international prototype metre as the distance between two lines on a standard bar of 90...
- Encyclopædia Britannica
meters by Miskatonic Jack 2 November 23, 2010
MSA
Metropolitan Statistical Area
In the USA this refers to an urban cluster (continuously built up area,) or clusters of 50K people of more each, the county it (or they) sit in, as well as the counties (or townships in New England) where significant numbers of people commute to and from that county. It includes urban (high density,) suburban (lower density,) and exurban (rural nonfarm) areas, as well as farmland.
In the USA this refers to an urban cluster (continuously built up area,) or clusters of 50K people of more each, the county it (or they) sit in, as well as the counties (or townships in New England) where significant numbers of people commute to and from that county. It includes urban (high density,) suburban (lower density,) and exurban (rural nonfarm) areas, as well as farmland.
Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA)
Definition: Geographical divisions, determined by the United States Office of Management and Budget, for the purposes of census data and other urban population calculations. The divisions are primarily based on urban areas, and tend to follow town or county borders. The MSAs can also be broken down into smaller “Metropolitan Divisions.” Previously called Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area (SMSA).
-BusinessDictionary.com
Definition: Geographical divisions, determined by the United States Office of Management and Budget, for the purposes of census data and other urban population calculations. The divisions are primarily based on urban areas, and tend to follow town or county borders. The MSAs can also be broken down into smaller “Metropolitan Divisions.” Previously called Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area (SMSA).
-BusinessDictionary.com
MSA by Miskatonic Jack 2 November 17, 2010
Vonnegut City
Nickname for Indianapolis IN as well as it's vicinity in many cases. Birthplace of writer, humanist, environmentalist satirist and wit Kurt Vonnegut, writer of such acclaimed science fiction novels as Slaughterhouse Five & Galapagos, and one of the most influential American writers of the 20th century.
Vonnegut City by Miskatonic Jack 2 November 17, 2010
Anthropocene
The Earth's most recent epoch, one marked by an explosion in the human population along with all which will likely come with it:
-Deposits in the Earth's strata coming from such products & byproducts as plastics, concrete, asphalt, metal alloys, radioactive and other toxic wastes as well as everything else added by our modern industrial and post-industrial civilization.
-Climate change
-What will likely be the Earth's 6th largest mass extinction
In just two centuries, we humans have wrought such vast and unprecedented changes to our biosphere that we actually might be ushering in a new geological time interval, and will alter the planet for millions of years.
-Deposits in the Earth's strata coming from such products & byproducts as plastics, concrete, asphalt, metal alloys, radioactive and other toxic wastes as well as everything else added by our modern industrial and post-industrial civilization.
-Climate change
-What will likely be the Earth's 6th largest mass extinction
In just two centuries, we humans have wrought such vast and unprecedented changes to our biosphere that we actually might be ushering in a new geological time interval, and will alter the planet for millions of years.
Zalasiewicz, Williams, Steffen and Crutzen contend that recent human activity, including stunning population growth, sprawling megacities and increased use of fossil fuels, have changed the planet to such an extent that we are entering what they call the Anthropocene (New Man) Epoch.
First proposed by Crutzen more than a decade ago, the term Anthropocene has provoked controversy. However, as more potential consequences of human activity -- such as global climate change and sharp increases in plant and animal extinctions -- have emerged, Crutzen's term has gained support. Currently, the worldwide geological community is formally considering whether the Anthropocene should join the Jurassic, Cambrian and other more familiar units on the Geological Time Scale.
-ScienceDaily
First proposed by Crutzen more than a decade ago, the term Anthropocene has provoked controversy. However, as more potential consequences of human activity -- such as global climate change and sharp increases in plant and animal extinctions -- have emerged, Crutzen's term has gained support. Currently, the worldwide geological community is formally considering whether the Anthropocene should join the Jurassic, Cambrian and other more familiar units on the Geological Time Scale.
-ScienceDaily
Anthropocene by Miskatonic Jack 2 November 14, 2010
Gun Fu
Gun fu is the style of sophisticated close-quarters gunplay seen in Hong Kong action cinema and in Western films influenced by it. It often resembles a martial arts battle played out with firearms instead of traditional weapons.
The focus of gun fu is style, and the usage of firearms in ways that they were not designed to be used. Shooting a gun from each hand, shots from behind the back, as well as the use of guns as melee weapons are all common. Other moves can involve shotguns, Uzis, rocket launchers, and just about anything else that can be worked into a cinematic shot. It is often mixed with hand-to-hand combat maneuvers.
"Gun fu" has become a staple factor in modern action films due to its visually appealing nature (regardless of its actual practicality in a real-life combat situation). This is a contrast to American action movies of the 1980s which focused more on heavy weaponry and outright brute-force in firearm-based combat.
The focus of gun fu is style, and the usage of firearms in ways that they were not designed to be used. Shooting a gun from each hand, shots from behind the back, as well as the use of guns as melee weapons are all common. Other moves can involve shotguns, Uzis, rocket launchers, and just about anything else that can be worked into a cinematic shot. It is often mixed with hand-to-hand combat maneuvers.
"Gun fu" has become a staple factor in modern action films due to its visually appealing nature (regardless of its actual practicality in a real-life combat situation). This is a contrast to American action movies of the 1980s which focused more on heavy weaponry and outright brute-force in firearm-based combat.
Before 1986, Hong Kong cinema was firmly rooted in two genres: the martial arts film and the comedy. Gunplay was not terribly popular because audiences had considered it boring, compared to fancy kung-fu moves or graceful swordplay of the wu shu epics. What moviegoers needed was a new way to present gunplay-- to show it as a skill that could be honed, integrating the acrobatics and grace of the traditional martial arts. And that's exactly what John Woo did. Using all of the visual techniques available to him (tracking shots, dolly-ins, slo-mo), Woo created beautifully surrealistic action sequences that were a 'guilty pleasure' to watch. There is also intimacy found in the gunplay-- typically, his protagonists and antagonists will have a profound understanding of one another and will meet face-to-face, in a tense Mexican standoff where they each point their weapons at one another and trade words.
The popularity of John Woo's films, and the heroic bloodshed genre in general, in the West helped give the gun fu style greater visibility. Film-makers like Robert Rodriguez were inspired to create action sequences modelled on the Hong Kong style. One of the first to demonstrate this was Rodriguez's Desperado (1995). The Matrix (1999) played a part in making "gun fu" the most popular form of firearm-based combat in cinema worldwide; since then, the style has become a staple of modern Western action films.
The popularity of John Woo's films, and the heroic bloodshed genre in general, in the West helped give the gun fu style greater visibility. Film-makers like Robert Rodriguez were inspired to create action sequences modelled on the Hong Kong style. One of the first to demonstrate this was Rodriguez's Desperado (1995). The Matrix (1999) played a part in making "gun fu" the most popular form of firearm-based combat in cinema worldwide; since then, the style has become a staple of modern Western action films.
Gun Fu by Miskatonic Jack 2 September 2, 2010