Household items placed outside for people to take care of and use. Of course, this because the exponential advancement of manufacturing machines and methods that will make items worthless. And as a consequence, also given us too much time on our hands.

A broom resting next to the street rubbish bin.

A comfy chair at the bus stop.

Weeding tools lying in the shopping center verge.

Basket ball resting in public court.

Mop and bucket in public toilet.

A bit of responsibility and a bit of care, world. Would this be called an advanced race?
-- wjt, Sep 07 2009

Halfbakery: Live-In Gardeners Live-In Gardeners
My take on the subject, the thing that's lacking is not the stuff being left outside, it's the care required by human beings to keep things neat and tidy. Instill a sense of pride, and social investment and maybe you're on your way to making a societal change that encourages "community", social responsibility, integration and participation in a way that leaving sofas outside doesn't quite address. [zen_tom, Sep 07 2009]

A vacuum cleaner outside a teenager's bedroom. Yeah, right, that's gonna work. []
-- coprocephalous, Sep 07 2009


//And Obama would be proud.//

As would I. This is the way the world should work. Sadly, it doesn't. And yes, this is a WIBNI.
-- wagster, Sep 07 2009


What, I'm supposed to wipe the street with this broom while others mess it up? I don't even agree with the placement of the bin to begin with, it should have been over there on the corner and if the city refuses to put enough bins around town I'm supposed to help out? After they squandered my hard earned money on bins they could have got at half the price over at that store. But no they got bins that are not asshole proof so they need to be replaced every 6 months, guess who got that contract.

Dude 4 people can stand in the place a comfy chair takes up. Do you have any idea howmuch it costs to put a comfy chair in every busstop in town? Who is going to clean them? Who is allowed to sit in them?

So now the shopping center that sells low quality products for top dollar, pays wages beneath all moral standards, and uses every trick in the marketing book to extract the very life out of our second mortgage and fifth creditcard wants me to clean up the weeds? Let's get the CEO instead and slay him with a whip.

Basketball left in public court, please, you cannot be so naive that you actually think it will stay there for more than an hour. The kids will play with it and relocate it even if they are not thieves.

Mop and bucket in public toilet? Where is the soap? Where is the HOT water? Mopping the floor won't do much good anyway. The toilet bowl and rim and the sink and water faucet, those are the things that need cleaning and you need a lot more cleaning products for those.

I am not a cynical basterd you just didn't think this through at all. This is not the way the world should work. The way the world should work is that everybody takes responsibility for themselves and not thrust it on others.
-- zeno, Sep 07 2009


Why would Obama be proud of abandoning soft furnishings at the bus-stop? He's a President, not a bin man.

If the world were an infinite resource, and we were churning out sofas willy nilly, then perhaps it would be reasonable to consider leaving them outside to get wet and rot and gather mold - but it's not.

Likewise, it's a lovely idea to consider pooling our resources for the benefit of the community, but it's been done before (no, 21, not just in Russia) consider roads, libraries, schools, the police, health-care, museums, the post-office, swimming pools, national parks and all of those other perfectly normal (un-communist) things that have been around long before Obama. In fact, the word municipal has been in the dictionary since 1540, dating back to the latin municipis, suggesting it has been a perfectly normal, day-to-day concept, non-associated with Obama, George Bush, or even Karl Marx dating back to Roman times - that's over 2000 years ago, if that's long enough for you)

The reason this idea doesn't work immediately for smaller objects is that it needs people to be employed to maintain/take care of them. Brooms wear out, basket balls are punctured etc, and tools/sofas really shouldn't be left outside.

So, you need to be prepared for someone to take care of these items, and the grounds in which they are found - but, of course, you will need to tax people in order to support such public efforts, and then people like [21 Quest] and [zeno] will start making complaining noises either about imagined communism or perceived waste and mismanagement (one of these is a more valid complaint that the other).

But no, that's still not communism, you're just choosing whether to pay for some things up front (using the combined purchasing power of your community, managed by an elected public servant to take advantage of economies of scale on your behalf) or you pay on your own, private usage basis, losing your collective advantage, but still subsidising other people through their private employment. One form of subsidy is direct, the other will go through a string of people, each of whom will take their various percentages before finally paying the guy who made the stuff. None of this is ideological, it's just economics.

Still not convinced? If you go to Canada, you can pick up a municipal bike in most of the cities (OK, Toronto anyway) on trust. And in Switzerland you can climb a mountain and find a *house* that's been put there for people to stay in, stocked with food and drink for lost climbers. No communism anywhere, just plain old economics, and a little bit of ol' timey community spirit, like they have in cowboy films - (you know, that kind of "GOOD" communism - oops, I mean "old-fashioned values")

In London, there is a transport system that is subsidised by the government, the same as in (communist?) New York and most other cities that operate a mass transit system - I guess Obama would be proud of all of them as well (and you know what, so should you be 21). Then there's the military, the CIA and other government funded organisations, all paid for by the people, for the good of the people, I guess Obama is proud of them too. <sarcastic>Jeez, what a pinko.</sarcastic>
-- zen_tom, Sep 07 2009


OK, well that's all right then ;)

In his defence, there's quite a bit going on right now, high unemployment, recession etc - and maybe what is needed is some government intervention, similar to the interventions of governments in the past that helped get out of similar scrapes - sure, that means higher taxes for those who are still working, or greater government borrowing (neither of which is great) but if it puts things in place that couldn't be funded privately - like the Golden Gate Bridge - (taking advantage of the lower overall prices and wage costs that can be commanded during difficult economic conditions) and, if that investment puts something into place that saves money in the long run, and keeps people in work - it might not be so bad - ask not what your country can do for you and all that - quite rousing, if you're in the mood.

But anyway, sorry 21.
-- zen_tom, Sep 07 2009


//and not getting much back from their government//
Is this the government the Right has been saying there should be less of?
-- coprocephalous, Sep 07 2009


The main problem is the division between what is mine and what is public in the local area around my house. That public area is mine, shared though. Should I care for it, of course.

I don't know what to do about the people who don't want to care about their property. They are only damaging themselves in the long run. Plus, showing responsibility allows you access to the more dangerous, cool toys.

As a public parent, I think I will always be cleaning up after the kids and babies. Its a parents duty of an advanced race.

Technology should make life easier, more comfortable and cheaper, this includes outside. Comfortable bus stops are probably a good indicator of level of a race.

Probably this is an assured future point anyway if we are advancing as a species.
-- wjt, Sep 08 2009


Suggestion. Name change.
-- blissmiss, Sep 08 2009


//Comfortable bus stops are probably a good indicator of level of a race// You're obviously not British!
-- zen_tom, Sep 10 2009


The feeling of a city is hard from the outside. Mostly this was due to materials having to handle the weather and the kids. We will fix that, home everywhere, not just in the private castle.

[zen tom] Are the English an advanced race?
-- wjt, Sep 10 2009


//Household items placed outside for people to take care of and use.// - This, especially if done with //worthless// items is called littering.
-- loonquawl, Sep 10 2009


//[zen tom] Are the English an advanced race?//

Ha touché - that's debatable, and it depends on with whom you are debating - to an American, or Australian, then absolutely - however, to a Belgian (to pick one North European country at random) then it's a whole other story (the French and Dutch are both particularly interesting anti-anti-examples - the French having disgusting bus stops, and the Dutch having beautiful ones - the English (and, interestingly, the Belgians) being a strange and unique mix of the two extremes)
-- zen_tom, Sep 10 2009


// the French having disgusting bus stops, and the Dutch having beautiful ones - the English (and, interestingly, the Belgians) being a strange and unique mix of the two extremes//

We English just have no f*cking buses, and they're overpriced.
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Sep 10 2009


The natural world is 'designed' to be messy isn't it. All the beautiful complexities have clean up systems. Humanity, being natural, is therefore naturally messy.

Man's new technologies, because of the capability of planning are an attempt to go against this grain. Don't get me wrong it's all good stuff. The outfall of these efforts is a taint on the natural order. The natural world just doesn't have the clean up tools. As [MaxwellBuchanan] put it, /just no f*king buses/.

We are slowly understanding that we have to design the clean up tools in parallel to the new technologies but to do this cultural growth properly it has to happen to the ubiquitous printed silvered polymer at the comfy bus-stop.
-- wjt, Sep 11 2009


"sure, that means higher taxes for those who are still working, or greater government borrowing"

Maybe the U.S could stop spending trillions of dollars on their military and fighting expensive wars?

Maybe they could stop subsidizing the agriculture industry and dumping their excess grain and corn on world markets pushing millions into poverty?

Maybe they could try looking after their population instead of questing for world domination?
-- Eggplant, Sep 12 2009



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