Report on Ganj Dareh Meeting/will-be-heard participation (R=73%/W=32%):

      Discussion Groups Active: 16,731 Forums & 22,387 Klatsches
     Processing comment: The following conversation contains the first reference to the recent influx of people into Ganj Dareh that characterizes them as a separate group with a specific name.
      Notable excerpts: Round-robin Klatsch "Rendezvous of Futures"
     By: Soff Nataav Elecdigital [Neighborhood Xref=Pugwash]
      .text-only (monochrome): What do we call these people?
     By: Jou Lupukki Rovaniemi [Neighborhood Xref=Pntrhydfendigaid]
      .text-only (color): Who?
     Soff Nataav: These people spilling out of the gong-she, crawling all over my neighborhood, buzzing for this 'Rendezvous of Futures.'
      Jou Lupukki: I heard about that, but I haven't seen a stranger in a long time.
     By: Mich Eldu Frénoy [Neighborhood Xref=Mawddach]
     .text-only (monochrome): Why do we have to call them anything?
      Jou Lupukki: How about 'Die Gastarbeiter?' After all, we invited them here, didn't we?
     Mich Eldu: 'We' didn't. That enfant gƒté, enfant perdus, enfant terrible, Har Norma Byukan, invited them.
     Soff Nataav: Careful, friend. We work in a medium open for all in Ganj Dareh to see, good or bad. Anyway, how many Gastarbeiter so far?
     Mich Eldu: 2,468. They're expecting another 1,003 today, twice that tomorrow. Less than a percent of our normal population, but growing fast. Here: check out the passenger lists = cue/Em-Deh: §¶
     Soff Nataav: Most of these came by train.
     Mich Eldu: All came by train. BH isn't letting anyone fly who doesn't have a job. And none of these people have jobs. 'Guest Workers' indeed (snort).
     Jou Lupukki: What's it like, traveling by train?
     Soff Nataav: Where have you been? Never on a train?
     Jou Lupukki: Who's got time these days? I've got the combine fiducia for business, and no time for pleasure travel.
      Mich Eldu: It's not that much slower, if you stick to expresses; they cruise at .8 Mach.
     Jou Lupukki: Airliners go supersonic.
      Mich Eldu: Only over the oceans.
     Jou Lupukki: Orbliners go hypersonic.
     Mich Eldu: Do you know how much that costs?
     Jou Lupukki: It all costs me the same: nothing.
     Mich Eldu: Do you know how much that costs the useOver="myPopup.startHelp('Term:collective',this)" onMouseOut="myPopup.clearHelp()">Collective?
      Jou Lupukki: (shrug) How much can it be?
     Mich Eldu: For all air travel, we're talking non-renewable, portable, high-impulse, even hypergolic fuels, expensive to find and refine, expensive to carry, and impossible to clean up after. We're also talking pressurized, even vacuum-proof vessels. We're talking brute power versus atmospheric resistance in geometric proportion to cross-section. With the Collective paying à outrance for each passenger. Trains dominate travel on Yeibichai for a good reason.
     Soff Nataav: So, even as a kid, you didn't go by train?
     Jou Lupukki: Naw, my folks always wanted to go far away, intercontinental mostly. And that was when anybody could go anywhen as long as you could get a reservation.
     Mich Eldu: Still can on other continents.
     Jou Lupukki: Yeah, so what's it like on a train?
     Soff Nataav: Quiet, might even call it 'peaceful.' Scenery's usually nice, and if not that, it's interesting. Lots of windows. You can sit with other folks and chat, or you can sit off by yourself and think — or read — or just be alone. That's the part I like.
     Mich Eldu: For mass transit, trains still beat planes. Cheaper because they require less complex infrastructure. Safer because when they break, they don't explode. Less polluting because they use solar power which they generate from their own tracks and reclaim when they brake. More available in more places for all these reasons.
     Jou Lupukki: And who do you work for?
     Mich Eldu: Used to work for, you mean. An airline combine. Why do you ask?
      Jou Lupukki: You seem awfully convinced about trains.
     Mich Eldu: I am. On trains I can be my own man, go my own way, seek my own kind and places. But enough! Revenons á nos moutons.
     [Jou Lupukki requests pulse: out of 397,004 active in klatsch, 76% agree with her, 22% nay, 2% abstain]
     Jou Lupukki: 'Die Gastarbeiter' it is, then.
     Mich Eldu: They bring the continent to us, and we send empty trains back to the continent. Ha ha!
     Soff Nataav: Yeah, but what are they bringing with them? There's goes a Gastarbeiter family now, outside my zhuhndí window, trudging down my path. What are they bringing with them?
     Jou Lupukki: I wonder about that, too, though my window is clear ... for now.