[extropy-chat] scarcity absurdities ? (was gm biodiesel 'em)

[Amara Graps]

>  In a similar vein.  I was rather surprised to see,
>  back when the Soviet Union was collapsing and the
>  Berlin wall was coming down, all the folks in the
>  street nicely dressed in sturdy, warm, even stylish
>  (if practical) attire.  What ever happened to the
>  impoverished victims of communism?...

Some are dead...

Many had/have family who send packages of things regularly. High quality
items like wool sweaters, they usually had for 20 years, taking extremely
good care of it through the years. When I met my former East Germany
colleagues in 1995 at a conference, the quality of their clothes was not
noticeable. I think that there could be any number of reasons to explain
what you saw.

I visited the Soviet Union twice  (spending about two months, living
with my relatives in Tallinn  and Cesis, before the Baltics gained their
independence. There was a grayness to everything. General attire at that
time was the kind of clothes one could find in a Goodwill store 30 years
ago. My relatives are in the professional music business so their
clothes were much more important; they those bought in Finland, or
elsewhere when they had opportunities to go out. One suit, one dress,
certainly no clothes horses there.

It will need at least another generation to erase that time, but the
life there is progressing nicely.

Amara

Lest we Forget
http://www.amara.com/Independence/LestWeForget.html

-- 

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Amara Graps, PhD          email: amara at amara.com
Computational Physics     vita:  ftp://ftp.amara.com/pub/resume.txt
Multiplex Answers         URL:   http://www.amara.com/
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"What is important is to spread confusion, not to eliminate it."
   -- Salvador Dalí