Re: I've done it again!
"Adam C. Lipscomb" wrote: > > Alexander Norman Lipscomb (Alec) was born at 7:46 AM on Monday, August > 11th. Congratulations!, if a little belated. -- Matt only 900 messages to go... ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: br!n: feudalism meme in america
So how exactly IS promising goods and services to a lord in exchange for land different from my leasing a house? I probably could do it as barter if I had to--but money is easier. Your definition of feudalism might stretch so far that it is meaningless. No, my definition of feudalism is very specific. Its different from leasing a house because you don't enter into a relationship with your landlord; you do not swear to uphold and defend him from all others, promise to render upon him specific services when asked, in exchange for your land, his protection, and his support. Your landlord doesn't come by when you're unemployed and give you food (typically), nor does he act as your lawyer in court, or protect you from burglars. Instead you give him money and he lets you live in his house. I'm sure there were "good" lords, just as there were "good" slave masters. But we're talking about the system of feudalism AS A WHOLE, aren't we? So the correct thing to do is to average coercion used over all lords, to produce an average coercion coefficient for the system as a whole. Or something like that. Perhaps I haven't been clear in what I'm trying to say. Feudalism, as a "system" (though custom should be a better word) does not create a pyramid shaped society by its very existance; such a society must already exist. Whether lords could coerce others into feudal relationships, or were "good" or "bad" is irrelevant; they can be all these things WITHOUT feudalism. Which is my point, specifically wrt the original article. Which is why I dislike the term used in that fashion. Especially when feudal relationships, specifically in the European Middle Ages, was less a pyramid and more a spider web of interlocking relationships, with the king at the top and everyone else trickling down to the bottom. Socially a knight may be below a count, but this doesn't mean a knight need listen to a foreign count (that is, one who is not his direct overlord). There was a phrase during the Middle Ages: "The man of my man is not my man." So did you learn the correct definition of feudalism in school, or something? Let's have it verbatim, then... : ) Feudalism is a relationship, usually between a lord and his vassal, in which a specific service is exchanged for payment in kind, with mutual obligations between both parties That's the short version. For the long version, read Carl Stephenson's _Medaeval Feudalism_. Damon. Damon Agretto [EMAIL PROTECTED] "Qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum." Now Building: Tamiya's M26 Pershing ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: br!n: feudalism meme in america
Was this a freely made agreement between equals or was it a situation where one man owned the land through inheritance and the other had no option other than to work in the service of the lord. Where there the lord got to decide the terms of the agreement and if the peasent did not agree the power of the state would come down upon him. Feudalism was not a free market state. It was in fact just the opposite. The rise of trade unions helped to destroy feudalism First, as previously stated, peasants are outside the feudo-vassalic relationship. They belonged to something known as manorialism. Second, should the would-be vassal disagree with the arrangement, its not the power of the state he has to worry about (the modern concept of the State, indeed, did not exist in the middle ages) but the power of his lord. Why should the king care about the troubles between a baron and his vassal, unless it proved to be a serious disturbance to the peace? The would-be vassal can disagree with the terms as long as he realizes there are consequences to disagreement. Usually this meant ejection from his lands, forcefully if he did not vacate them (because then whatever rents or resources he collected becomes stealing). Damon. Damon Agretto [EMAIL PROTECTED] "Qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum." Now Building: Tamiya's M26 Pershing ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Scouted: The Ultimate Roleplaying Purity Score
"Horn, John" wrote: > > > From: Horn, John > > > > > From: Doug Pensinger [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > > 99.83% pure > > > > You and Dove... > > Oh, damn! That's Ivory. > > G And Ivory is only 99-44/99% pure, IIRC. (Not having a bar of Ivory handy, I can't confirm, though.) When I was in grade school, we did soap carvings once. Everyone had to bring in a bar of soap and a pocketknife. (I'm guessing the pocketknife would be forbidden these days) I managed to carve a passable fish out of a bar of Ivory. In fact, Ivory was the recommended soap, but someone came in with another brand because she was allergic to Ivory. Julia still has that pocketknife ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Week 1 Picks
At 04:27 PM 9/7/2003 -0500, you wrote: - Original Message - From: "John D. Giorgis" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Saturday, September 06, 2003 10:05 AM Subject: Week 1 Picks > MIAMI over Houston - Incredibly, on Sunday Houston will lose its first > Opening Day game in history. Incredibly, the Texans are undefeated on opening day. Even more incredibly, they beat Miami on both sides of the ball. Last years most sacked quarterback didn't get sacked at all and the Texans defense pretty much shut down last years best running back. Its a bit early to reassess either team. Miami played a very dumbed down game. Lots of coaching mistakes will likely not be repeated in the future. And while the Texans appear to be much improved, teams will not now look past them as Miami seems to have done. Texans 21 Miami 20 Amazing! rob Unfortunately, Miami always makes coaching mistakes. They will not get better. The Ramswow what an idiotic thing they did. I do not think their coach is bad, but he did make many other bad decisions today. The bears.next weeks spread against the vikes will be 17, at least. The falcs...I had my fingers crossed. Either the girls aren't that good, or they can win. But they need a second receiver. A 260 pound tight end is not the answer. Heck, even the first receiver didn't do good. Steelers..again, the ravens were idiots, but the steelers looked better than I thought. Kevin T. - VRWC and now off to watch the Phils-mets baseball game ;-) ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
RE: Scouted: The Ultimate Roleplaying Purity Score
At 06:31 PM 9/7/2003 -0500, you wrote: > From: Horn, John > > > From: Doug Pensinger [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > 99.83% pure > > You and Dove... Oh, damn! That's Ivory. G - jmh Put the Ivory down poacher! Kevin T. - VRWC I like scrambled eggs ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
RE: Scouted: The Ultimate Roleplaying Purity Score
> From: Horn, John > > > From: Doug Pensinger [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > 99.83% pure > > You and Dove... Oh, damn! That's Ivory. G - jmh ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
RE: Scouted: The Ultimate Roleplaying Purity Score
> From: Doug Pensinger [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > 99.83% pure You and Dove... - jmh ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: munch in America, KFC contest
At 06:22 PM 9/7/03 -0400, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: In a message dated 9/7/2003 11:58:19 AM US Mountain Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: > >All I wanted to do was to ask if Ronn or Steve could get ahold of a NASA > >spacesuit so that we could win $5,000 in the KFC popcorn chicken commercial > >contest. > > > > Hunh? > Maybe it's only a regional promotion. On TV, Kentucky Fried Chicken is running new ads promoting their popcorn chicken. You can win $5,000 if you make and send in your own commercial. Thirty seconds long on video or DVD. Don't recall seeing it aired here. -- Ronn! :) ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Brin: Transparent Society
Gary Nunn wrote: I have no problem with my family knowing where I am at, at all times, however, I am not sure how I feel about my employer having the ability to track my location at all times. I could easily see this becoming a required condition of employment for some people. The opposite is commonly true here. Many employers provide company cars which include GPS trackers, so that the employer always knows where the employee is, but his family doesn't. They come up with all sorts of justifications, but it seems to me they want to be looking over the employee's shoulder to make sure he's doing what he's being paid to do. Cheers Russell C. ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: munch in America, KFC contest
In a message dated 9/7/2003 11:58:19 AM US Mountain Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: > >All I wanted to do was to ask if Ronn or Steve could get ahold of a NASA > >spacesuit so that we could win $5,000 in the KFC popcorn chicken commercial > >contest. > > > > Hunh? > Maybe it's only a regional promotion. On TV, Kentucky Fried Chicken is running new ads promoting their popcorn chicken. You can win $5,000 if you make and send in your own commercial. Thirty seconds long on video or DVD. See www.kfc.com So I wanted one where the guy in the spacesuit uses his $175,000 government issued grabber to pick up the orangish looking rock, hold it in his hand, then open up his faceplate and pop it into his mouth and do the standard to the commercials yell of flavor... ...and then have the camera pull back as the director yells "CUT" as scripts are thrown about and the boom mike drops and hits the astronaut and everybody breaks for lunch and uses their cellphone to call KFC. Second idea: If you have a museum display of typical martian landscape, fix uo a "No eating in the museum" sign. Standard issue focus group designed "dude" guy stands next to the sign as guard walks by. Dude then pops a martian rock into his mouth and goes "Wow!" Guard comes backdude innocently stands next to display. Guard leaves. Second rock gets popped into mouth. Then camera zooms in on rear bluejeans pocket of dude where empty KFC popcorn chicken scoop box is seen pocking out of the top. I have no video camera- William Taylor - Easier than the 90 second Nike Superbowl commercial I did. ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: br!n: feudalism meme in america
In a message dated 9/6/2003 7:45:23 PM Eastern Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: > Of course I could go on to say that feudalism was an agreement between two > men in which one did service for the other in exchange for land, and has > nothing to do with rulership. But then, I don't think > anyone really cares > about history anymore, or "getting it right"... :( Was this a freely made agreement between equals or was it a situation where one man owned the land through inheritance and the other had no option other than to work in the service of the lord. Where there the lord got to decide the terms of the agreement and if the peasent did not agree the power of the state would come down upon him. Feudalism was not a free market state. It was in fact just the opposite. The rise of trade unions helped to destroy feudalism ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Week 1 Picks
- Original Message - From: "John D. Giorgis" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Saturday, September 06, 2003 10:05 AM Subject: Week 1 Picks > MIAMI over Houston - Incredibly, on Sunday Houston will lose its first > Opening Day game in history. Incredibly, the Texans are undefeated on opening day. Even more incredibly, they beat Miami on both sides of the ball. Last years most sacked quarterback didn't get sacked at all and the Texans defense pretty much shut down last years best running back. Its a bit early to reassess either team. Miami played a very dumbed down game. Lots of coaching mistakes will likely not be repeated in the future. And while the Texans appear to be much improved, teams will not now look past them as Miami seems to have done. Texans 21 Miami 20 Amazing! xponent The City Rejoices Maru rob ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: br!n: feudal post re: munch in America
At 02:40 PM 9/7/03 -0400, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Such deep thoughts in that last post... AOL froze up on me there. I was using the last saved message for the email address All I wanted to do was to ask if Ronn or Steve could get ahold of a NASA spacesuit so that we could win $5,000 in the KFC popcorn chicken commercial contest. Hunh? Not really worth it now, was it? William Taylor Well if the moon is made of green cheese, then Mars must be You don't even want to ask what causes the color of Uranus . . . -- Ronn! :) ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: br!n: feudal post re: munch in america
Such deep thoughts in that last post... AOL froze up on me there. I was using the last saved message for the email address All I wanted to do was to ask if Ronn or Steve could get ahold of a NASA spacesuit so that we could win $5,000 in the KFC popcorn chicken commercial contest. Not really worth it now, was it? William Taylor Well if the moon is made of green cheese, then Mars must be ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Scouted: The Ultimate Roleplaying Purity Score
Julia Thompson wrote: >That's cool. I forwarded the link to Dan. He did badly on >System Knowledge, but got a 12.26% on Hacklust. (He started >playing in 6th grade, and DMed some rather, um, interesting >campaigns. Seeing as I started some 22+ years ago myself, I can completely understand that. :) >Overall, he had a purity score of 49.4%. Pretty good! Better than some long-time vets I forwarded the link to. >BTW, if you're trying to create your own world and just happen to >have easy access to AutoCAD for other reasons, you can have a lot >of fun doing up your maps with it... Mapmaking has always been my weakest GMing skill. Most of the other GM skills one could call "core" skills I'm adept at, but I've rarely ever been able to create I thought were as good as they could be. Jim ___ Join Excite! - http://www.excite.com The most personalized portal on the Web! ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: brin: feudalism meme in america
___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: 2003 NFL Preview
Doug Pensinger wrote: > > Julia Thompson wrote: > > > (I was living in New England in the mid-1980s. 'Nuff said. At least I > > was used to that sort of thing, being a Red Sox fan and all) > > > > > You should hate the Raiders too then, eh? Well, something has happened a lot more recently to get them into my good graces. Nothing like your husband's office being in Alameda to provoke secondary loyalties I'm not a huge Patriots fan these days, but I'll root for them against a majority of the other NFL teams. (I have some sort of hierarchy going. Within the hierarchy, there are 3 divisions -- teams I like, teams I don't really care much one way or the other about, and teams I don't like.) The office has moved across the Bay recently, but given what happened 3 years ago in Texas Stadium, I'm *not* going to be liking the 49ers anytime soon. They'd have to at *least* dump Terrell Owens before I'd root for them under *any* circumstances. (I'd even root for the *Redskins* against the 49ers, and that's saying a *lot*. If I'd even watch the game, that is) Julia ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Scouted: AI?
Sonme of you may have heard about this one before, I hadn't. The man who mistook his girlfriend for a robot: http://www.popsci.com/popsci/science/article/0,12543,473054-1,00.html Ticia ',:) -- [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: 2003 NFL Preview
Julia Thompson wrote: (I was living in New England in the mid-1980s. 'Nuff said. At least I was used to that sort of thing, being a Red Sox fan and all) You should hate the Raiders too then, eh? Doug ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
W's Unprecedented Attack On The Environment
http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2003/36/ma_494_01.html Bush's Unprecedented Attack On The Environment By Osha Gray Davidson Dirty Secrets No President Has Gone After The Nation's Environmental Laws With The Same Fury As George W. Bush -- And None Has Been So Adept At Staying Under The Radar In the early 1980s you didn't need to be a member of EarthFirst! to know that Ronald Reagan was bad for the environment. You didn't even have to be especially politically aware. Here was a man who had, after all, publicly stated that most air pollution was caused by plants. And then there was Reagan's secretary of the Interior, James Watt, who saw no need to protect the environment because Jesus was returning any day, and who, in a pique of reactionary feng shui, suggested that the buffalo on Interior's seal be flipped to face right instead of left. By contrast, while George W. Bush gets low marks on the environment from a majority of Americans, few fully appreciate the scope and fury of this administration's anti-environmental agenda. "What they're doing makes the Reagan administration look innocent," says Buck Parker, executive director of Earthjustice, a nonprofit environmental law firm. The Bush administration has been gutting key sections of the Clean Water and Clean Air acts, laws that have traditionally had bipartisan support and have done more to protect the health of Americans than any other environmental legislation. It has crippled the Superfund program, which is charged with cleaning up millions of pounds of toxic industrial wastes such as arsenic, lead, mercury, and vinyl chloride in more than 1,000 neighborhoods in 48 states. It has sought to cut the EPA's enforcement division by nearly one-fifth, to its lowest level on record; fines assessed for environmental violations dropped by nearly two-thirds in the administration's first two years; and criminal prosecutions-the government's weapon of last resort against the worst polluters-are down by nearly one-third. The administration has abdicated the decades-old federal responsibility to protect native animals and plants from extinction, becoming the first not to voluntarily add a single species to the endangered species list. It has opened millions of acres of wilderness-including some of the nation's most environmentally sensitive public lands-to logging, mining, and oil and gas drilling. Under one plan, loggers could take 10 percent of the trees in California's Giant Sequoia National Monument; many of the Monument's old-growth sequoias, 200 years old and more, could be felled to make roof shingles. Other national treasures that have been opened for development include the million-acre Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument in Arizona, the 2,000-foot red-rock spires at Fisher Towers, Utah, and dozens of others. And then, of course, the White House has all but denied the existence of what may be the most serious environmental problem of our time, global warming. After campaigning on a promise to reduce emissions of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide, Bush made an abrupt about-face once elected, calling his earlier pledge "a mistake" and announcing that he would not regulate CO2 emissions from power plants-even though the United States accounts for a fourth of the world's total industrial CO2 emissions. Since then, the White House has censored scientific reports that mentioned the subject, walked away from the Kyoto agreement to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, and even, at the behest of ExxonMobil, engineered the ouster of the scientist who chaired the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. So why aren't more people aware that George W. Bush is compiling what is arguably the worst environmental record of any president in recent history? The easy explanations-that environmental issues are complex, that war and terrorism push most other concerns off the front pages-are only part of the story. The real reason may be far simpler: Few people know the magnitude of the administration's attacks on the environment because the administration has been working very hard to keep it that way. Like any successful commander in chief, Bush knows that putting the right person in the right place is the key to winning any war. This isn't just a matter of choosing business-friendly appointees for top positions. That's pretty much standard operating procedure for Republican administrations. What makes this administration different is the fact that it is filled with anti-regulatory zealots deep into its rank and file-and these bureaucrats, unlike James Watt, are politically savvy and come from the very industries they're charged with regulating. The result is an administration uniquely effective at implementing its ambitious pro-industry agenda-with a minimum of public notice. Take the case of mountaintop-removal coal mining. As the name implies, this method-the predominant form of strip mining in much of Appalachi
Re: Scouted: The Ultimate Roleplaying Purity Score
Jim Sharkey wrote: > > The lower the score, apparently the geekier: > > Hacklust: 43.4% > Senstive Roleplaying: 36.71% > GM Experience: 21.74% > System Knowledge: 77.26% > Livin' La Vida Dorka: 36.78% > > I am 45.54% pure. Average Score: 67.9% > > This merely confirms what I always believed: I am an RPG geek. > > Jim > But I'm OK with that Maru That's cool. I forwarded the link to Dan. He did badly on System Knowledge, but got a 12.26% on Hacklust. (He started playing in 6th grade, and DMed some rather, um, interesting campaigns. Nothing like having 2 roommates in a campaign, one of whose characters keep doing stupid things or failing saving throws, and the other being unable to tolerate him anymore animating all the dead characters and using them for his own nefarious purposes. Dan never let him have more than 3 animated ones at a time, citing decay. And sometimes he'd sacrifice one or two spectacularly to save his own darn skin, of course) Overall, he had a purity score of 49.4%. BTW, if you're trying to create your own world and just happen to have easy access to AutoCAD for other reasons, you can have a lot of fun doing up your maps with it (Among other things, we developed a technique for getting more realistic coastlines that took some time, but resulted in something very nice.) Julia ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: 2003 NFL Preview
Matthew and Julie Bos wrote: > > On 9/6/03 11:49 PM, "Kevin Tarr" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > The bears will suck so bad they'll wish they were playing in Champaign > again. > > You said that just to get at me. You are still angry that the Bears keep > beating the Falcons no matter how good or bad they are. But what really > angers me is that both you and John picked the Lions over the Bears. No > matter if you are the only other list-member who owns Kix albums; you have > really crossed the line. > > As long as the Bears beat the Packers on Monday night when the stadium > opens, all else can be forgiven. You know, you might trigger my extreme dislike for the Bears to come back with that kind of attitude. :) (I was living in New England in the mid-1980s. 'Nuff said. At least I was used to that sort of thing, being a Red Sox fan and all) Julia ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Scouted: The Ultimate Roleplaying Purity Score
The lower the score, apparently the geekier: Hacklust: 43.4% Senstive Roleplaying: 36.71% GM Experience: 21.74% System Knowledge: 77.26% Livin' La Vida Dorka: 36.78% I am 45.54% pure. Average Score: 67.9% This merely confirms what I always believed: I am an RPG geek. Jim But I'm OK with that Maru ___ Join Excite! - http://www.excite.com The most personalized portal on the Web! ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
voting machine companies setting up lobbying / PR blitz
http://www.onlinejournal.com/Special_Reports/082603Harris/082603harris.htm l They are promising a massive PR and media campaign, polling, market surveys, a full congressional lobbying effort, approaching and rolling academics and key organizations over to their side, setting up a panel of academics to refute anything troublesome http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0308/S00175.htm ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Roy's Rock and 'God-haters'
> In this case, however, I suspect that Mr. Hill and those who think and feel > like him feel that they have already argued at length with abortion doctors > in general and perhaps with that doctor in particular and have concluded > that no amount of further arguing will dissuade them from performing > abortions. > Their argument is rightly with society as a whole for permitting abortions. And, in a democracy, at what point are you justified in taking the law into your own hands, if you cannot persuade others to your line of thinking. Is sincerity and true depth of feeling sufficient? What about someone who feels equally strongly on some other point of view - can an environmental extremist shoot lumberjacks to keep them from chopping down ancient redwoods? (Again, just for purposes of discussion.) > Or they might point out also that by the above logic the guy > who operated the gas chamber at a Nazi concentration camp was not an > immediate threat when he was having breakfast at home in the morning, so > would one have had to wait until his hand was actually on the switch that > would drop the cyanide to be justified in shooting him? > That was during wartime, and the guy with his hand on the switch was a member of the SS, not a physician who (you know) did more than just perform abortions. They call them "abortion doctors" but most of them do far more than that, and it would be nice to have that acknowledged. Barnett Slepian, the Buffalo obstetrician who was shot in his home in front of his children, took on the most difficult pregnancies and saved countless newborns, but no one ever remembers that; instead, they call him an "abortion doctor." But that's changing the subject. Maybe it's my moral blindness, but I do not equate fetuses with living people. Performing an abortion is not the same as committing murder, in my eyes. It's certainly not the same as gassing a roomful of naked, terrified Jews. Someone about to shoot a person - yes, shoot him if there's no other way to stop him. The SS officer about to drop the cyanide - absolutely, kill the Nazi bastard. And then kill him again. But a doctor? Even one preparing to perform an abortion? I just don't agree. Tom Beck www.prydonians.org www.mercerjewishsingles.org "I always knew I'd see the first man on the Moon. I never dreamed I'd see the last." - Dr Jerry Pournelle ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
