(TFT) Counties, Blocks

[Mark Tapley <mtapley@swri.edu>]

At 17:24 -0400 3/27/09, Chris wrote:
> Possibly closer to States. Some of our traditional counties still 
> relate back to Celtic kindoms, roman administrative areas or Anglo 
> Saxon kingdoms.

:-) <slows speech to a drawl> Two of our States were once nations.

Texas, (birthplace of TFT), and Hawaii.

But I think neither for any stretch of time the English would 
consider as "historical". Kamehameha I united Hawaii c. 1795 and it 
was admitted to the union in 1959; Texas was an independent nation 
only from 1836-1845.

Since the institution of the Interstate Highway System (spit), the 
Federal government has been not-so-slowly eroding states' rights. I 
suspect the equivalence to English Counties may be correct. I also 
suspect advancing transportation and communication technologies have 
led (and will continue to do so) to a serious homogenization of most 
developed countries.

At 14:37 -0400 3/25/09, Jay wrote:
> Down a step needs SimCity type tile/hexes.
> World Book says a "typical" city block is 135' by 95', or very 
> roughly 100 by 75 BM-hexes.
> What do you think for scale?

A city block is at a nice scale for many things. Manor house, Castle, 
Simcity "atom", roughly the smallest unit that could be considered 
"held" in a battle through the streets. Not sure exactly how many MH 
equate to a block (although the 135' by 95' is not a bad number) and 
whether there's an influence of terrain (smaller "blocks" on steeper 
land?), but for city-building, I think I'd pick that. But my opinions 
may have been warped by playing a lot of SimCity.

At 14:37 -0400 3/25/09, Jay wrote:
> Easier if there's a frontier, but Stefansson says that Iceland was 
> the largest landmass ever discovered by European's that had no 
> native population.
> I suppose we don't get to count the Moon..., China may settle her first.

Antarctica. Still not settled, though, unless you count the 
scientific outposts.

At 14:37 -0400 3/25/09, Jay wrote:
> Primitive Secret Societies - E. Michael Mendelson
> " In primitive societies we do not find many examples of secret 
> societies designed to oppose or overthrow the existing regime.

?? Any societies that *are* designed to oppose the regime are 
"secret". I'll have to think about his assertion that the majority of 
"secret" societies are otherwise.

> ...This is a fundamental element in the constitution of all human 
> groups; a rich life requires diversity, but at the same time, 
> diversity cannot be allowed to run riot if the society as a whole is 
> to endure. "

See above. I certainly had the image of a blender in mind when I 
wrote about modern societies being "homogenized". For aesthetic 
reasons, I'd really like to outlaw chains of restaurants, so that 
dining out became a much stronger function of the locality (even to 
neighborhood) that one is dining in.

In game terms, one might want a "homogenization" parameter for 
society, or one might be able to tie it directly to technological 
level. Sadly, that more or less seems to be the case for modern 
society. I think there would be a negative correlation between 
homogenization and the overall "happiness" parameter; again, that 
might effectively tie directly to technological level. iPods 
notwithstanding, about every study I've seen says more tech -> fewer 
smiles.

--
						- Mark     210-379-4635
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Large Asteroids headed toward planets
inhabited by beings that don't have
technology adequate to stop them:

				Think of it as Evolution in Fast-Forward.
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