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Fungible

Posted: Sun Mar 20, 2005 12:19 pm
by M. Henri Day
I didn't realise how very useful the above adjective could be until I read the following passage in an article published in today's New York Times :
Once exploration was over and drilling had begun in other Alaska oil facilities, like the Alpine field west of Prudhoe Bay, the concept of "roadless" became more fungible [emphasis added, MHD] as gravel roads were constructed within the sites. Responding to questions about this in a recent environmental impact statement on oil development in an area farther west, Interior Department officials wrote, "the term 'roadless' does not mean an absence of roads. Rather, it indicates an attempt to minimize the construction of permanent roads."
The author, a Ms Felicity Barringer, should be congratulated on her ability to keep her tongue well ensconced in her cheek, while at the same time making it quite clear what is going on. The rest of us can be congratulated on a (presumably) new and useful addition to our respective vocabularies....

Henri

Posted: Sun Mar 20, 2005 1:08 pm
by Brazilian dude
Fungible has to do with fungi, doesn't it? :wink:

Brazilian dude

Posted: Sun Mar 20, 2005 2:16 pm
by M. Henri Day
Hallucinogenic ones, I presume....

Henri

'shroomin'

Posted: Sun Mar 20, 2005 3:43 pm
by KatyBr
certainly in this case, they must be.


In Governmental terms making a road is a very solemn, environmental concern, permission must be requested and approved, even for easment to one's own property. Even a muddy-track logging trail is considered a road. Adding gravel is most certainly considered a road. Aparently new rules are applying.

Katy

Re: 'shroomin'

Posted: Sun Mar 20, 2005 3:52 pm
by M. Henri Day
... Aparently new rules are applying.
Not surprisingly, as this is an Administration which claims to make its own «reality»....

Henri

Posted: Sun Mar 20, 2005 4:23 pm
by anders
There are fungible definitions etc. from 20 dictionaries at http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=fungible.

The general impression in Sweden is probably that the adjective fungibel was invented by the late Minister of Finance, Gunnar Sträng, modelled on fungera 'to function'. I have, however, found it in a Swedish dictionary printed in 1882, in the legal sense "of goods or commodities; freely exchangeable for or replaceable by another of like nature or kind in the satisfaction of an obligation".

Any way, few non-lawyers would have been acquainted with it before Mr. Sträng, but it caught on as a jocular term after his using it a couple of times.

Re: 'shroomin'

Posted: Sun Mar 20, 2005 8:22 pm
by KatyBr
... Aparently new rules are applying.
Not surprisingly, as this is an Administration which claims to make its own «reality»....

Henri
Ah Henri, ever the diplomat. I think roads are not all that damaging anyway, they do form with animals use as well, and as ALL us good lil' ol' liberals know, the beast is best and to be worshipped. Or should we force them to ever vary their course. As with all things ecological, it is complicated, Do I only ride a bike? wear plastic shoes? Am I willing to live in a mud hut, with no heat or cold control?
Am I willing to accept a cave as a home and oh yeah, no clothes as even 'fake' fur has it's enviromental troubles, in the manufacturing of same.

Let's just get real, Man has dominion over the earth, unless you are willing to accept manditory euthanasia at age 30(to keep populations down where damaging the environment is not an issue) speak not to me of hypocritical....




Katy

Posted: Mon Mar 21, 2005 2:36 am
by Apoclima
Of course, "roadless" areas do have roads. "Roadless" is a bureaucratic designation (jargon), not necessarily a place devoid of everykind of road.
Designated wilderness areas are to be managed to protect their undeveloped or roadless nature. The Wilderness Act prohibits commercial activities and permanent roads and facilities, except for minimum administrative requirements and for health and safety emergencies.

[Bold Mine]

However, §4 provides exceptions to these limitations, including:

· existing private rights (§4(c));

· measures necessary for minimum administrative requirements (§4(c));

· measures required for emergencies involving human health and safety (§4(c));

· continued use of aircraft or motor oats (§4(d)( 1));

· measures to control fire, insects, and diseases (§4(d)(1));

· mineral prospecting and surveys (§4(d)(2));

· establishment of new mineral rights, through Dec.31, 1983 (§4(d)(3));

· exploration and development of valid existing mineral rights, subject to "reasonable regulations governing ingress and egress" (§4(d)(3));

· establishment and maintenance of water or power facilities (including roads) under presidential authorization (§4(d)(4)( 1));

· continued livestock grazing (§4(d)(4)(2)); and

· commercial services for recreational or other wilderness purposes (§4(d)(5)).

Thus, the principal prohibitions within designated wilderness areas are for harvesting timber (except for insect or disease control), for motorized or mechanized recreation, and for general commercial services, including most road building.
Roadless Areas:

The Administration's Moratorium

Ross W. Gorte, Natural Resources Economist and Policy Specialist
Environment and Natural Resources Policy Division

April 8, 1999


Note the date! During the Clinton debacle!

Apo

Posted: Mon Mar 21, 2005 3:44 pm
by M. Henri Day
· continued use of aircraft or motor oats (§4(d)( 1));

...
I did appreciate those «motor oats», Apo (can't help but wonder what that great lexicographer Samuel Johnson, whose «definition» of «oats» caused such a scandal, would have made of them), no matter under whose debacle they occurred....

Henri

Posted: Mon Mar 21, 2005 5:44 pm
by Apoclima
Good eye, Henri!

Motor oats indeed! Those are the most dangerous oats for any environment!

Apo

Posted: Mon Mar 21, 2005 6:20 pm
by Stargzer
. . . (can't help but wonder what that great lexicographer Samuel Johnson, whose «definition» of «oats» caused such a scandal, would have made of them), no matter under whose debacle they occurred....

Henri
I had to go foraging for that definition:
Definition of "oats": "A grain, which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland appears to support the people."
Johnson: A Dictionary Of The English Language. (A selection of definitions can be found here.)
There are some other good ones there, too.

Posted: Mon Mar 21, 2005 6:27 pm
by Stargzer
And while we're on the subject of fodder:

I once read that a famous scientist (I think it was Helmholtz) was assigned to the stables at a laboratory as one of his first jobs, analyzing the feed for the horses for its elemental content. After a few weeks, he brought some results to his boss and asked him if he could see any difference in the analysis of two different feed lots. "No," he said, "They both have the same percentages of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen. There is no difference." "Correct," said Helmholtz, "Except this is the analysis of the feed before it went into the horses, and this is the analysis after it came out."

Moral of the story: Always make sure you ask the right question!

Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2005 3:34 am
by M. Henri Day
And while we're on the subject of fodder:

... "Except this is the analysis foothe feed before it went into the horses, and this is the analysis after it came out."

Moral of the story: Always make sure you ask the right question!
And a secondary moral : that which is fungible in certain contexts is not necessarily so in others....

Henri