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In Cairo, the Garbage Collector Knows Everything

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Re: In Cairo, the Garbage Collector Knows Everything

#71
post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you have a good thinking about journalistic practice here. It might mitigate hypothetical undesirable effects, in this case, to articulate some of the effect of the article on readers for whom the article was intended. For one example, for me, as a citizen of the US, where this article was published, I enjoyed this article, and it fostered a favorable impression of Cairo, by humanizing one of its people. In a…

oh wow that's an astonishingly wholesome take on it. and now that i think about it, one that is quite resonant with my own experience of it in retrospect. it was certainly an extremely humanizing piece and i think in that regard, it's doing one of the most noble honors (at least in my moral framework): striving to eliminate xenophobia. so much in this world tries to divide us by our national identity and our ethnicit…

> so much in this world tries to divide us by our national identity and our ethnicities, etc

It is precisely that we have real, inescapable conflicts that makes it heartening to see something transcend that.

If it transcended nothing, what would it mean? Probably nothing.

Re: In Cairo, the Garbage Collector Knows Everything

#72
post #44

See also the "Elephant in Cairo" search algorithm: 1. Go to Africa. 2. Put an elephant in Cairo. 3. Start at the Cape of Good Hope. 4. Work northward in an orderly manner, traversing the continent alternately east and west, 5. During each traverse pass: * Catch each animal seen. * Compare each animal caught to a known elephant. * Stop when a match is detected. 6. If you are in Cairo, then there are no elephants in Af…

> 6. If you are in Cairo, then there are no elephants in Africa (other than the one you placed there). Or, perhaps, other elephants already in Cairo ….

I suspect there is a "Falsehoods programmers believe about elephants" article somewhere...

Re: In Cairo, the Garbage Collector Knows Everything

#73
post #36

My brother and sister-in-law (Westerners) lived in Cairo for a few years and tell a similar humorous story. They too would just set their trash and unwanted items out in the hall where it would quickly disappear. Once my sister-in-law put out some clothes that included an old T-Shirt that had been printed for a family get-together celebrating her parents 50th anniversary. It had a large photo of her parents on it alo…

That is so sad she threw the shirt out, were they on bad terms with the parents?

Some people attach more emotional value to items like that. Some don't. I did for a long time. After a lot of big changes I kind of stopped hording things as much and it was very freeing.

Re: In Cairo, the Garbage Collector Knows Everything

#74
post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 6. If you are in Cairo, then there are no elephants in Africa (other than the one you placed there). Or, perhaps, other elephants already in Cairo ….

I suspect there is a "Falsehoods programmers believe about elephants" article somewhere...

Not to mention, falsehoods about the geography of Africa.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Agulhas

Re: In Cairo, the Garbage Collector Knows Everything

#75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

oh wow that's an astonishingly wholesome take on it. and now that i think about it, one that is quite resonant with my own experience of it in retrospect. it was certainly an extremely humanizing piece and i think in that regard, it's doing one of the most noble honors (at least in my moral framework): striving to eliminate xenophobia. so much in this world tries to divide us by our national identity and our ethnicit…

> so much in this world tries to divide us by our national identity and our ethnicities, etc It is precisely that we have real, inescapable conflicts that makes it heartening to see something transcend that. If it transcended nothing, what would it mean? Probably nothing.

this is certainly accurate. without the presence of the xenophobia in the first place, there would be no means to appreciate it when people manage to transcend it. and xenophobia obviously exists on a biological and instinctual level and has been selected for for a reason so it obviously serves a purpose, it's just a problem when it overactivates. it's all about balance and understanding that just because you feel a certain way, doesn't mean that you have to put it out there on the world

Re: In Cairo, the Garbage Collector Knows Everything

#76
post #36

My brother and sister-in-law (Westerners) lived in Cairo for a few years and tell a similar humorous story. They too would just set their trash and unwanted items out in the hall where it would quickly disappear. Once my sister-in-law put out some clothes that included an old T-Shirt that had been printed for a family get-together celebrating her parents 50th anniversary. It had a large photo of her parents on it alo…

That is so sad she threw the shirt out, were they on bad terms with the parents?

I used to never ever get rid of gifts, even if I no longer had any use for them and they were just contributing to clutter. It seemed so ungrateful.

Then I had to get rid of a lot of stuff during a very fraught move, and I thought: someone gave me this because they love me and want me to be happy. Would that person want me to obsessively, guiltily cling to something that doesn't benefit me anymore? No. They'd want me to get rid of it.

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