Re: Irregulars: Help me identify a book
--- Horn, John [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Recently, in a fantasy RPG, our GM introduced a warrior race that I found very interesting. They were expert horsemen, human and somewhat similar to the Mongols or the Huns. What was unique about them was that they road small horses, almost ponies, and had spears attached to their saddles. The GM said they were from a book he had read sometime back. Unfortunately, he couldn't remember the name of the book (and/or series). To make matters worse, this particular GM is terrible at pronouncing words (you should see how he mangles some of the names in LOTR) and even worse at spelling. He called them Katians but couldn't remember if that was exactly right or how to spell it. I'm hoping this just might ring a bell with someone on the list who can point me in the right direction! I don't recall such a book, but there have been many cultures with mounted warriors over the centuries. Horses 2500+ years ago were generally much smaller than those of today - look at Assyrian bas-reliefs, and note the diminutive stature of their chariot horses: http://jade.d.edu/Andrade/WorldLitI2332/Meso/warhorse.gif http://jade.d.edu/Andrade/WorldLitI2332/Meso/menleading.jpg This site is actually about re-creating mounted combat, and has some errors, but the second article below is fairly detailed and has pictures/drawings: http://www.classicalfencing.com/mountedintro.shtml The history of Mounted Combat can be traced at least as far back as the ancient Assyrians in 750 BC. It continued through the Eastern horse cultures of the Scythians, Sarmatians, Magyars, and Avars... http://www.classicalfencing.com/articles/shock.shtml ...Our lances for practice and the joust were blunted, or rounded off at the tip, without a sharpened metal spear head. The field of engagement for the couched lance is approximately 20 to 30 degrees on either side of the horse's head. Or as I describe in my book, between eleven and one o'clock on the overhead clock, with the horse's head at twelve. Impact beyond this angle results in a severe twisting, torquing action likely to cause the lance to slip or skip off the target and clothesline either or both riders...At some point in the history of mounted combat, (a moment shrouded in antiquity) a man on horseback was fighting with a spear...Shock Combat then, as I will define it for this article, is the utilization of the horse's motive power to increase the force behind a spear or lance held in a couched position... He details various saddles, saddletree and stirrup usage WRT mounted combat. The Scythians were horse-archers in combat: http://www.brama.com/news/press/001022scythian_history.html Maps and quotes from Herodotus: http://www.silk-road.com/artl/scythian.shtml This history of the horse in culture is from the Kentucky Horse Park: http://www.imh.org/imh/kyhpl1b.html#xtocid2243625 This is a wargaming site, with Jennites as mounted warriors (I like the magic antler mask to put on your horse so it can leap like a stag!): http://dnd.starflung.com/jennite.html ...Apart from the animals identified in the Hollow World books, there are several rarer monsters and animals present...Two of the more important critters are the cheval and the werehorse. The chevalls (described in B10) live among the horses of the Jennites, ensuring that they are protected from dangers or the EXTREMELY rare Jennite who mistreats their steed. They consider the Jennites by far the most civilised peoples and fight alongside them... Well, it was fun to look up this stuff, even if it doesn't answer your question! Debbi Lead Mare Maru U U ;) __ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Hotjobs: Enter the Signing Bonus Sweepstakes http://hotjobs.sweepstakes.yahoo.com/signingbonus ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Habitable Planets: was Notes on Uplift
At 12:13 AM 1/9/04, Trent Shipley wrote: As a side note, Asimov's Galactic Empire includes 25M planets in a single Galaxy, all of them terraformed in the past 22,000 years. But Asimov was optimist about the existence of habitable planets, we know for sure that there can't be habitable planets around, for example, Epsilon Eridani, where Asimov placed Baleyworld-Comporellon. We do? -- Ronn! :) ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Uplift Parity: was Notes on Uplift
Trent Shipley wrote: There are two sorts of instability. One level of instability is at the level of the lineage. The other is the stablity of the inter-species political order. Moderate or serious disparities in wealth curves mean that a lot of lineages die out. Having lineages die out is not necessarily a problem for Galactic political stability. In real life lineages are usually short lived--even in lineage oriented societies like the middle east or in Samoa. Political instability results when MAJOR lines die out. When the King dies without issues you get wars of succession. Ok. But it seems that in the Uplift Universe few lineages die, or there would be more aliances based on ancestry than on religious faith. With enough repression *very* repressive regimes can last a long time--but usually dont. Moderately unfair regimes can be very stable, look at the wealth curve for the USA. I don't think there is a correlation between the longevity of a regime and its repressionism. But it is _very_ unstable. I claim that the rate should be quite close to 1 client : 1 patron, so that _most_ lines would be mantained for long periods of time. Lets talk in terms of total clients uplifted during a patron's main sequence existence. In that case a replacement rate of one under total fairness gives this histogram. Ok, I get your point without the histograms :-) I propose: So, you would have 35% of _all_ species failing to have a client? That's too much IMHO. With 200K species the odds of having more than, say, 12 clients would be vanishingly small. Unless a species is very long lived, which should _also_ be rare. Alberto Monteiro ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: A List A List!!!!
Reggie Bautista wrote: Right now, it seems that our g*vernments and j*diciary powers and doing whatever they can to prevent tourists from crossing the border :-/ Do you know if this is affecting Brazilian students who go to college in the USA? No. But I guess that most people will think twice before sending their children into such a dangerous journey. It doesn't make sense to lay out a study plan, with enormous costs, and then have the danger that an idiot at La Migra decides that your are an Al-Qaeda affiliate. I had two or three Brazilian friends when I was attending the University of Missouri at Kansas City Conservatory of Music. Those statistics don't have scientific value :- Alberto Monteiro ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Holy Blood Holy Grail
Reggie Bautista wrote: Oh, come on, it was *loads* of fun, and probably not a bad thing to read before rewatching the second and third Matrix movies. It does a pretty good job of capturing the essence of the Merovingian way of looking at things, which was a metaphor the Wachowski brothers used both blatantly and not-so-blatantly in all three of the Matrix films. I didn't say it wasn't fun, just that it's only slightly less accurate than the JFK was killed by CIA Reptoid Cubans with ice bullets whacknoodle books. Speaking of lovely bits of whacknoodlery, has anyone read _Hidden Stories of the Childhood of Jesus_ or _Hidden Politics of the Crucifixion_, wherein author Glenn Kimball claims, among other things, that Jesus and Pilate attended the same Druid University? Whacknoodlery indeed. Or is it. ;-) I found out about these books four or five years ago when I heard the author on Coast to Coast with Art Bell (on a night Bell was not hosting, as I recall). Make of that what you will. Ooooh! Adam want! Adam C. Lipscomb [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://aclipscomb.blogspot.com ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Habitable Planets: was Notes on Uplift
Ronn!Blankenship wrote: But Asimov was optimist about the existence of habitable planets, we know for sure that there can't be habitable planets around, for example, Epsilon Eridani, where Asimov placed Baleyworld-Comporellon. We do? Doesn't Epsilon Eridani have a hot-Jupiter orbiting it in an elliptical orbit that crosses the region where liquid water is possible? Alberto Monteiro ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
SCOUTED: Dan Simmons' Ilium and Olympos Optioned
http://www.comingsoon.net/news.php?id=2938 Visual effects company Digital Domain and Barnet Bain Films (What Dreams May Come) have optioned author Dan Simmons' sci-fi novel Ilium and its sequel, Olympos, to adapt into a feature film. Simmons will also write the screenplay. His Hyperion saga is a multi-volume space opera widely compared to the Dune series. -- William T Goodall Mail : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web : http://www.wtgab.demon.co.uk Blog : http://radio.weblogs.com/0111221/ Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons. - Popular Mechanics, forecasting the relentless march of science, 1949 ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Return of the King Review Re: my mini review
From: Julia Thompson [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-To: Killer Bs Discussion [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Killer Bs Discussion [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Return of the King Review Re: my mini review Date: Mon, 05 Jan 2004 16:28:44 -0600 Quick question: Have you seen Blade Runner and read _Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?_? Julia Nope. Any good? -Travis _ Add photos to your messages with MSN 8. Get 2 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=dept/featurespgmarket=en-caRU=http%3a%2f%2fjoin.msn.com%2f%3fpage%3dmisc%2fspecialoffers%26pgmarket%3den-ca ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Return of the King Review Re: my mini review
From: Dan Minette [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-To: Killer Bs Discussion [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Killer Bs Discussion [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Return of the King Review Re: my mini review Date: Wed, 7 Jan 2004 18:11:10 -0600 I think that I see the difference in what Travis just wrote and what he appeared to be saying earlier. I don't think there is a difference whatsoever. I'm still making the same point. People have a right to want what they want about movies. I see no reason why someone says that they are bothered the divergence of a movie from a book But, to me, Travis's earlier comments indicated some objective problem with the movie because it didn't follow the book more closely. Yes and no. I agree with what Jeffrey said pretty much 100%, but my point is completely different, rendering Jeffries argument's inconsequential. If you specifically look at what he said, and compare it to my question posed the other day, you will understand my point of view. -Travis a Saturn Vue is the worst view Edmunds _ The new MSN 8: smart spam protection and 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail http://join.msn.com/?page=dept/bcommpgmarket=en-caRU=http%3a%2f%2fjoin.msn.com%2f%3fpage%3dmisc%2fspecialoffers%26pgmarket%3den-ca ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
RE: Return of the King Review Re: my mini review
From: Miller, Jeffrey [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-To: Killer Bs Discussion [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Killer Bs Discussion [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: Return of the King Review Re: my mini review Date: Wed, 7 Jan 2004 16:19:09 -0800 Hey, Shakespeare was what *I* was gonna drag out next ;) -j- Drag it out. -Travis cry havoc and unleash the dogs of war Edmunds Well as long as they're poodles... _ STOP MORE SPAM with the new MSN 8 and get 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=dept/bcommpgmarket=en-caRU=http%3a%2f%2fjoin.msn.com%2f%3fpage%3dmisc%2fspecialoffers%26pgmarket%3den-ca ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
An interesting tidbit of information.
A local author, Kenneth J. Harvey, who actually lives just down the road from me (Small-town Newfoundland) has been included in five Best of 2003 lists for his latest novel titled The Town That Forgot How To Breathe. These lists include: -Top 25 Fiction list for Amazon.ca -CBC's Hot Type -Harrowsmith Magazine -January Magazine -Halifax Herald Harvey's book explores how outport Newfoundland is in danger of losing touch with it's past, and garners praise from Nobel Prize winning author, J.M. Coetzee, who called the novel an eerie and gripping story, the work of an extravagantly haunted imagination. -Travis just thought this was cool since I know the man Edmunds _ MSN 8 helps eliminate e-mail viruses. Get 2 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/viruspgmarket=en-caRU=http%3a%2f%2fjoin.msn.com%2f%3fpage%3dmisc%2fspecialoffers%26pgmarket%3den-ca ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Double Standards on Regional Bigotry
From: The Fool [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://atrios.blogspot.com/2004_01_04_atrios_archive.html#10734072882524 2265 Double Standards on Regional Bigotry Imagine if I ran an ad which went something like George Bush should take his negro lynching, anti-intellectual, pig feet eating, sister-screwing, wife beating... before the farmer's wife then finishes the sentence: ... KKK-loving, right-wing freak show back to Texas where it belongs. Mine's slightly more over the top than the actual Club for Growth ad, but it's no more incorrect. -- http://washingtontimes.com/national/20040105-103754-1355r.htm In the ad, a farmer says he thinks that Howard Dean should take his tax-hiking, government-expanding, latte-drinking, sushi-eating, Volvo-driving, New York Times-reading ... before the farmer's wife then finishes the sentence: ... Hollywood-loving, left-wing freak show back to Vermont, where it belongs. Correction: In the ad they say: Howard Dean should take his tax-hiking, government-expanding, latte-drinking, sushi-eating, Volvo-driving, New York Times-reading, body-piercing, Hollywood-loving, left-wing freak show back to Vermont, where it belongs. Once again showing that anything printed by Sugar Daddy Moon's Propaganda Arm, The Washington Times, should be gone over with a fine grained comb. http://www.pandagon.net/mtarchives/000487.html -- For some reason it's perfectly valid to make just about any regional stereotype about the Hollywood and Northeastern elite, (which, we should remember, was just code for JOOs and Negro-lovers), but people get all sensitive when one stereotypes the South and Texas. I don't think such regional stereotypes are particularly enlightening or useful, but nor do I think their invocation should provoke the kind of outrage that genuine racism should. But, why the double standard? Of course, the amusing thing about the Club for Growth ad is how wrong it is - Vermont is not part of the elite Northeast to the extent that it exists, it's a small rural farm state. ...for the record, Vermont has precisely two Starbucks for all those latte drinkers to go to. http://www.starbucks.com/retail/locator/ViewAll.aspx?a=1CountryID=244S tateID=25FC=RETAILCity= ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Sugar-Daddy Moon calling for Stalinist Purges of Gays
http://www.gorenfeld.net/blog//2004_01_01_barchive.html#1073631007412820 88 Leading conservative figure calls for gays to be eliminated You know how Dennis Kucinich will wax all optimistic and say things like, When I'm president... Well, Washington Times/UPI publisher and GOP patron Sun Myung Moon does that kind of daydreaming too, except with some very different ideas of what he'd do. As posted this week by Moon's webmaster, here's the Times owner -- the man behind the premiere Republican newspaper -- laying out what life would be like if he were king. There will be a purge on God's orders, and evil will be eliminated like shadows. Gays will be eliminated, the 3 Israels will unite. If not then they will be burned. We do not know what kind of world God will bring but this is what happens. It will be greater than the communist purge but at God's orders. This brain-melting argument for God as a more homophobic version of Stalin also makes a reference to a Bush meeting. And that's what some Washington reporter really should be looking into. Forget the Holy Handkerchief jokes and cute references to mass weddings in bridal advice columns -- it's time to ask what this guy is doing in the mainstream of a major American political party. Did I mention he's also getting tax money for Abstinence-Only Education? I probably did. P.S.: Yes, this is actually Moon himself, not his henchman Dr. Kwak (a frequent guest at Washington Times media seminars), who is speaking at the beginning. If you read the transcription carefully, you'll see that Moon takes the mic from Kwak about midway through -- whereupon he asks how many are in the audience, and begins referring to himself, in the third person, as True Father. -- Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprise, every expanded project. - James Madison ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Return of the King Review Re: my mini review
Travis Edmunds wrote: From: Miller, Jeffrey [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-To: Killer Bs Discussion [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Killer Bs Discussion [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: Return of the King Review Re: my mini review Date: Wed, 7 Jan 2004 16:19:09 -0800 Hey, Shakespeare was what *I* was gonna drag out next ;) -j- Drag it out. -Travis cry havoc and unleash the dogs of war Edmunds Well as long as they're poodles... Cry ribbit! and unleash the frogs of war. (I own a button with this on it.) Julia ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Return of the King Review Re: my mini review
Travis Edmunds wrote: From: Julia Thompson [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-To: Killer Bs Discussion [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Killer Bs Discussion [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Return of the King Review Re: my mini review Date: Mon, 05 Jan 2004 16:28:44 -0600 Quick question: Have you seen Blade Runner and read _Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?_? Julia Nope. Any good? I ask because it goes back to the movie based on the book discussion. Blade Runner is based on _Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?_. The movie took all sorts of liberties and did a lot of really cool stuff, and I'm wondering what you'll think of it all once you've seen the movie and read the book. Julia yes, that was a suggestion ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
RE: Losing Our IT
The problem is not a lack of highly educated workers, said Scott Kirwin, founder of the Information Technology Professionals Association of America. The problem is a lack of highly educated workers willing to work for the minimum wage or lower in the U.S. Costs are driving outsourcing, not the quality of American schools. Our IT dept was recently attacked in a press release by this group recently, accusing Freightliner of outsourcing legacy programming to overseas workers. The reality is that Freightliner contracted out legacy programming support to a U.S. consulting/staffing company. This company then started a process to use off-shore workers for this work. Regardless, Phone support, computer programming and web development/design are becoming commodity markets. U.S. IT workers in these professions are at risk of significant reductions in salary for the same positions, especially with secure remote console technologies in place today. I would agree with the association's statement, but the group appears to me to be on a rampage lately, which is understandable, since their constituents are at high risk of becoming not-professionals... Nerd From Hell ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
RE: Davidbrin.com blocked by WebSense
Why would Freightliner want to ban Cultural Institutions as a category? It seems to be harmless enough... We block the obvious categories, and allow catgories like Cultural Institutions to count towards the non-work-related quota some people are on, but I can't imagine banning it. I know the guy who sets the policy, and I suspect he just goes with the default settings. Freightliner is strange when it comes to internet access. Not every employee gets access, in fact, less than half have access. What really irks me is that ESPN is allowed, but cultural institutions are not. One of these days, when I get mad enough, I will start parsing through the proxy logs to see what are the top 10 web sites the exec's go to. Nerd From Hell Cheers Russell C. ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
The Perfect Ice Storm recipe
Perfect Ice Storm Recipe Ingredients: 6 inches of snow 2 inches of rain Artic Winds to 70 mph Instructions: Prepare at sea level. Pre-refrigerate air to below freezing. Add 6 inches of powdery snow Stir with 40 mph gusts Add humidity from the Columbia. Funnel artic air through river gorge until thoroughly chilled. Heat the upper tray (altitude of 1000 feet or higher) to 40F Cool the lower tray (below 500 feet) to 20F Add 2 inches of rain. Spread over 3 days. Should harden immediately. Mix should form a 1 solid sheet of ice. Spread over city. After mix hardens, do not plow. Allow vehicles to break up the ice into slush. Lower temperature, leave overnight or until slush freezes. Do not plow. Note: Do not add salt to road mixture, use gravel sparingly. If you run out of de-icer, turn off airport for 3 days until mix softens. If any trees still have leaves, cycle freezing/thawing until limbs break off. Make sure limbs don't fall on cars, people or power lines. Nerd From Portland My Ice Storm story (other than falling down getting out of a bus) is when my dog escaped out of the front door, he immediately fell, slid off the porch, down my front yard, and halfway down the street before finally coming to a stop. I would have won awards if I would have had a video camera. Took us 10 minutes to get him back in the house. The ice was thick enough for me to stand on, if you call it standing. If you busted through, there would be 3-20 inches of powder underneath. Before I cleared the ice off my porch, my kids could have gone sledding starting from the entry way. ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
RE: Icky recipe
-Original Message- From: Damon Agretto [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, January 02, 2004 3:52 PM To: Killer Bs Discussion Subject: Re: Icky recipe Best not read any further if of a squeamish disposition. S Q U E A M I S H S P A C E S Q U E A M I S H S P A C E 4. To eat, dip the live shrimps in the dipping sauce. Well look at it this way: at least they're not in pain when you eat them! ;) ... and it's a way for you AND the shrimp to get Sauced at the same time! Nerd From Hell Damon. = Damon Agretto [EMAIL PROTECTED] Qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum. http://www.geocities.com/garrand.geo/index.htm l Now Building: __ Do you Yahoo!? Find out what made the Top Yahoo! Searches of 2003 http://search.yahoo.com/top2003 ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
RE: A List A List!!!!
You can find some excuses that will keep you alive, even if this woman will never again consider you a human being. I suspect that this is the reason behind the list item. If someone acknowledges a pregnacy, and the pregnacy results in a miscarriage, there is a degree of shame involved (at least here in the U.S.) for the woman. Its sometimes safer to know only when the baby is successfully born, that a woman is (or rather was successfully) pregnant. Nerd From Hell -- Ronn! :) ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
RE: Return of the King Review Re: my mini review
-Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Travis Edmunds Sent: Friday, January 09, 2004 08:15 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Return of the King Review Re: my mini review Yes and no. I agree with what Jeffrey said pretty much 100%, but my point is completely different, rendering Jeffries argument's inconsequential. *grin* I love being inconsequential. It takes all the responsibility off me ^_^ If you specifically look at what he said, and compare it to my question posed the other day, you will understand my point of view. Y'know, Travis, several of us did just that, and still didn't understand. That's why we asked you to elaborate a little. :( -j- ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
RE: Return of the King Review Re: my mini review
-Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Travis Edmunds Sent: Friday, January 09, 2004 08:18 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: Return of the King Review Re: my mini review From: Miller, Jeffrey [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-To: Killer Bs Discussion [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Killer Bs Discussion [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: Return of the King Review Re: my mini review Date: Wed, 7 Jan 2004 16:19:09 -0800 Hey, Shakespeare was what *I* was gonna drag out next ;) -j- Drag it out. Nah... too much effort, not enough payoff. Besides, someone already did just that. :) -j- ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
RE: An interesting tidbit of information.
-Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Travis Edmunds Sent: Friday, January 09, 2004 09:13 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: An interesting tidbit of information. A local author, Kenneth J. Harvey, who actually lives just down the road from me (Small-town Newfoundland) has been included in five Best of 2003 lists for his latest novel titled The Town That Forgot How To Breathe. Hey, there's been some buzz here at AMZN US HQ about that book.. I really should read it. Harvey's book explores how outport Newfoundland is in danger of losing touch with it's past, Wasn't Newfoundland where the CA government cut off all the shipping of food supplies to in the 50's, or something? Some sort of economic embargo? I know, it sounds nutty, but I remember something about it.. -j the most famous author I know is Alison Bechdell, who really IS Moe miller- ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
RE: Double Standards on Regional Bigotry
-Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of The Fool Sent: Friday, January 09, 2004 09:47 AM To: Killer Bs Discussion Subject: Re: Double Standards on Regional Bigotry In the ad they say: Howard Dean should take his tax-hiking, government-expanding, latte-drinking, sushi-eating, Volvo-driving, New York Times-reading, body-piercing, Hollywood-loving, left-wing freak show back to Vermont, where it belongs. I'd just like to chime in and say that none of the things in that list I, as a Vermonter, find objectionable, except for the sushi eating. Sushi in Vermont is like challenging the Grim Reaper to a game of chess where you'll spot him 2 queens. ...for the record, Vermont has precisely two Starbucks for all those latte drinkers to go to. ...but we also elect the only Socialist member of congress, kept WalMart out for years, there's no McDonalds in the state capitol (the ONLY captiol city not to have one..), have a socialist redistribution of property tax money for education, and at last check, are the only state where they had to truck in anti-gay marraige protesters. -j- ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
RE: The Perfect Ice Storm recipe
*snip* Did they open the airport yet today? Last night we had endless news reports about how Amtrack and greyhound were booked solid with SEattlites unable to fly down.. -jeffrey geez, people, its only 2 hours by car... miller- ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
RE: Return of the King Review Re: my mini review
-Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Julia Thompson Sent: Friday, January 09, 2004 11:29 AM To: Killer Bs Discussion Subject: Re: Return of the King Review Re: my mini review I ask because it goes back to the movie based on the book discussion. Blade Runner is based on _Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?_. The movie took all sorts of liberties and did a lot of really cool stuff, and I'm wondering what you'll think of it all once you've seen the movie and read the book. For that matter, Blade Runner is one of the few clear-cut examples where a Director's Cut is vastly superior to the original -j- ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Flight Sim and Witch Hunts
--- In [EMAIL PROTECTED], The Fool [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/28/34776.html Flight Sim enquiry raises terror alert By Andrew Orlowski in Las Vegas Posted: 08/01/2004 at 22:39 GMT Get The Reg wherever you are, with The Mobile Register A mother's enquiry about buying Microsoft Flight Simulator for her ten-year-old son prompted a night-time visit to her home from a state trooper. Julie Olearcek, a USAF Reserve pilot made the enquiry at a Staples store in Massachusetts, home to an earlier bout of hysteria, during the Salem witch trials. So alarmed was the Staples clerk at the prospect of the ten year old learning to fly, that he informed the police, the Greenfield Recorder reports. The authorities moved into action, leaving nothing to chance. A few days later, Olearcek was alarmed to discover a state trooper flashing a torch into to her home through a sliding glass door at 8:30 pm on a rainy night. Olearcek is a regular Staples customer and schools her son at home. The Staples manager simply explained that staff were obeying advice. Shortly before Christmas, the FBI issued a terror alert to beware of drivers with maps, or reference books. At one time it was rare to find US citizens, in the safest and most prosperous country in the world, jumping at their own shadows. Now we only note how high. I work with some ..middle age, Russians, and they are starting to discuss a feeling of Deja-vu they are experiencing. These discussions usualy end with the concept that we should really start worrying when we ~no longer~ hear about such things in the media. ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Flight Sim and Witch Hunts
From: Jan Coffey [EMAIL PROTECTED] I work with some ..middle age, Russians, and they are starting to discuss a feeling of Deja-vu they are experiencing. These discussions usualy end with the concept that we should really start worrying when we ~no longer~ hear about such things in the media. Speaking of Things that do not make the news: hand up for the number of people here who heard about the the right-wing domestic terrorist with a real WMD cynanide bomb that was captured last month in texas? He also had one of the largest arsenals of conventional weapons found, among other things. Ocinus keeps track of it: http://dneiwert.blogspot.com/2003_11_30_dneiwert_archive.html#1070438123 63042389 Can anyone tell me why this story is not leading the evening newscasts? CBS 11 Investigates Poison Gas Plot Federal authorities this year mounted one of the most extensive investigations of domestic terrorism since the Oklahoma City bombing, CBS 11 has learned. Three people linked to white supremacist and anti-government groups are in custody. At least one weapon of mass destruction - a sodium cyanide bomb capable of delivering a deadly gas cloud - has been seized in the Tyler area. Investigators have seized at least 100 other bombs, bomb components, machine guns, 500,000 rounds of ammunition and chemical agents. But the government also found some chilling personal documents indicating that unknown co-conspirators may still be free to carry out what appeared to be an advanced plot. And, authorities familiar with the case say more potentially deadly cyanide bombs may be in circulation. Imagine if these had been Muslims. http://dneiwert.blogspot.com/2003_11_30_dneiwert_archive.html#1070499027 94836725 http://dneiwert.blogspot.com/2003_12_14_dneiwert_archive.html#1071533773 61761053 http://dneiwert.blogspot.com/2003_12_28_dneiwert_archive.html#1072570325 55368697 http://dneiwert.blogspot.com/2004_01_04_dneiwert_archive.html#1073612777 98022325 ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Flight Sim and Witch Hunts
At one time it was rare to find US citizens, in the safest and most prosperous country in the world, jumping at their own shadows. Now we only note how high. I work with some ..middle age, Russians, and they are starting to discuss a feeling of Deja-vu they are experiencing. These discussions usualy end with the concept that we should really start worrying when we ~no longer~ hear about such things in the media. My college advisor (who should rot in hell for deciding that my two already completed physics courses weren't good enough with only one semester to go) was investigated by the FBI twice because of the number of radio antennas at his house. The first time was 1978, the second 1983. The 1983 people refused to acknowledge that they were there in 1978, even though he kept copies of forms he had to sign. His family had been in America for at least four generations. So this is not a new thing. I want follow up investigations on suspicious purchases. How many people were saying the FBI didn't connect the dots on Oklahoma City or 9/11? But one person gets a visit by the cops and suddenly it's 1953 USSR? (Year chosen at random.) The fools story was so not newsworthy that a British paper has to publish it. The Boston Globe must be shatting themselves over being scooped. Kevin T. - VRWC Hand me my torch, I have to make an enquiry into this dark hole. ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
RE: The Perfect Ice Storm recipe
At 02:32 PM 1/9/04, Miller, Jeffrey wrote: *snip* Did they open the airport yet today? Last night we had endless news reports about how Amtrack and greyhound were booked solid with SEattlites unable to fly down.. -jeffrey geez, people, its only 2 hours by car... miller- Well, I know someone who was stuck in Pocatello trying to get back home to Fairbanks because the airport he needed to go through was shut down . . . and that's a little more than a two-hour drive . . . -- Ronn! :) ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Holy Blood Holy Grail
- Original Message - From: Adam C. Lipscomb [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Killer Bs Discussion [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, January 09, 2004 6:14 AM Subject: Re: Holy Blood Holy Grail Reggie Bautista wrote: Oh, come on, it was *loads* of fun, and probably not a bad thing to read before rewatching the second and third Matrix movies. It does a pretty good job of capturing the essence of the Merovingian way of looking at things, which was a metaphor the Wachowski brothers used both blatantly and not-so-blatantly in all three of the Matrix films. I didn't say it wasn't fun, just that it's only slightly less accurate than the JFK was killed by CIA Reptoid Cubans with ice bullets whacknoodle books. So where is it inaccurate exactly. Most of the history in the book was a but beyond the scope of my education, but I found the hypothesis at least plausible. Anyone here have some expertise in those eras of history? Damon? xponent Weird History Maru rob ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
RE: Return of the King Review Re: my mini review
I ask because it goes back to the movie based on the book discussion. Blade Runner is based on _Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?_. The movie took all sorts of liberties and did a lot of really cool stuff, and I'm wondering what you'll think of it all once you've seen the movie and read the book. For that matter, Blade Runner is one of the few clear-cut examples where a Director's Cut is vastly superior to the original At least, that *I* can think of. -j- ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Habitable Planets: was Notes on Uplift
At 06:37 AM 1/9/04, Alberto Monteiro wrote: Ronn!Blankenship wrote: But Asimov was optimist about the existence of habitable planets, we know for sure that there can't be habitable planets around, for example, Epsilon Eridani, where Asimov placed Baleyworld-Comporellon. We do? Doesn't Epsilon Eridani have a hot-Jupiter orbiting it in an elliptical orbit that crosses the region where liquid water is possible? It has a Jupiter-like planet. Not a hot Jupiter (a ~ 0.1 AU): the figure I seem to recall is a = 3.3 AU. I don't recall the eccentricity. Guess I'll have to look it up. 16 Cygni B, a well-known solar analogue (though possibly not as close as 18 Scorpii, which was described this week as a near-twin of the Sun) has a Jupiter-like planet whose orbit does cross from the equivalent of near the orbit of Venus to outside the orbit of Mars. -- Ronn! :) ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Return of the King Review Re: my mini review
On 9 Jan 2004, at 11:13 pm, Miller, Jeffrey wrote: I ask because it goes back to the movie based on the book discussion. Blade Runner is based on _Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?_. The movie took all sorts of liberties and did a lot of really cool stuff, and I'm wondering what you'll think of it all once you've seen the movie and read the book. For that matter, Blade Runner is one of the few clear-cut examples where a Director's Cut is vastly superior to the original At least, that *I* can think of. Sergio Leone's _Once Upon a Time in America_ has a 227 minute director's cut that was chopped to 139 minutes by the studio for the original US release. The full version is a great movie, the short version isn't... But the rest of the world saw the full version, so I suppose it doesn't count. And Jennifer Connelly, in her first movie, played the younger version of Elizabeth McGovern. -- William T Goodall Mail : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web : http://www.wtgab.demon.co.uk Blog : http://radio.weblogs.com/0111221/ There's an old saying in Tennessee -- I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee -- that says, fool me once, shame on -- shame on you. Fool me -- you can't get fooled again. -George W. Bush, Nashville, Tenn., Sept. 17, 2002 ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: SCOUTED: Poincare Conjecture (Really) Solved?
At 09:15 PM 1/8/04, Kevin Tarr wrote: At 09:14 PM 1/8/2004, you wrote: At 06:14 PM 1/8/04, Kevin Tarr wrote: At 06:51 PM 1/8/2004, you wrote: (For those who have forgotten their topology, the Poincare Conjecture states that every simply connected closed three-manifold is homeomorphic to the three-sphere.) http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/West/01/07/math.mystery.ap/index.html http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20040107.wmath17/BNStory/International/ http://www.boston.com/news/globe/health_science/articles/2003/12/30/century_old_math_problem_may_have_been_solved/ http://www.sltrib.com/2004/Jan/01082004/nation_w/127178.asp Hey! Watch it with the dirty talk. It says homeomorphic, not homomorphic. Don't you know the difference? I Left Out Meromorphic Because I Didn't Want The Question To Be Too Complex Maru -- Ronn! :) I'm too sophomoric to bother to read. A is homeomorphic to B means that there is a homeomorphism which maps A to B. A homeomorphism is a bicontinuous bijection. HTH. -- Ronn! :) ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: SCOUTED: Poincare Conjecture (Really) Solved?
Ronn!Blankenship wrote: ... I'm too sophomoric to bother to read. A is homeomorphic to B means that there is a homeomorphism which maps A to B. A homeomorphism is a bicontinuous bijection. A bijection is a function that is one-to-one and onto. A function is a particular kind of set of ordered pairs. A function is one-to-one iff ... I have a vision of producing a definition tree for the word homeomorphism, which I'll write as an outline: homeomorphism bicontinuous continuous open set (undefined term) inverse image inverse bijection one-to-one image onto image (O.K., so it's not a tree...) function Cartesian product ordered pair (undefined?) And I'm sure I left some stuff out. ---David ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: SCOUTED: Poincare Conjecture (Really) Solved?
Very good! In fact, so good I'll let you explain the rest of the statement of the Poincare Conjecture . . . ;-) At 08:09 PM 1/9/04, David Hobby wrote: Ronn!Blankenship wrote: ... I'm too sophomoric to bother to read. A is homeomorphic to B means that there is a homeomorphism which maps A to B. A homeomorphism is a bicontinuous bijection. A bijection is a function that is one-to-one and onto. A function is a particular kind of set of ordered pairs. A function is one-to-one iff ... I have a vision of producing a definition tree for the word homeomorphism, which I'll write as an outline: homeomorphism bicontinuous continuous open set (undefined term) inverse image inverse bijection one-to-one image onto image (O.K., so it's not a tree...) function Cartesian product ordered pair (undefined?) And I'm sure I left some stuff out. ---David -- Ronn! :) Who has his hands full on another list attempting to explain causality violation to laypeople . . . ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
SCOUTED: Suns Of All Ages Possess Comets, Maybe Planets
http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/press/pr0401.html Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics Press Release Release No.: 04-01 For Release: 9:20 a.m. EST, Monday, January 5, 2004 Note to Editors: An image to accompany this release is online at: http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/press/pr0401image.html Suns Of All Ages Possess Comets, Maybe Planets Atlanta, GA- In early 2003, Comet Kudo-Fujikawa (C/2002 X5) zipped past the Sun at a distance half that of Mercury's orbit. Astronomers Matthew Povich and John Raymond (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics) and colleagues studied Kudo-Fujikawa during its close passage. Today at the 203rd meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Atlanta, they announced that they observed the comet puffing out huge amounts of carbon, one of the key elements for life. The comet also emitted large amounts of water vapor as the Sun's heat baked its outer surface. When combined with previous observations suggesting the presence of evaporating comets near young stars like Beta Pictoris and old stars like CW Leonis, these data show that stars of all ages vaporize comets that swing too close. Those observations also show that planetary systems like our own, complete with a collection of comets, likely are common throughout space. Now we can draw parallels between a comet close to home and cometary activity surrounding the star Beta Pictoris, which just might have newborn planets orbiting it. If comets are not unique to our Sun, then might not the same be true for Earth-like planets? says Povich. SOHO Sees Carbon The team's observations, reported in the December 12, 2003, issue of the journal Science, were made with the Ultraviolet Coronagraph Spectrometer (UVCS) instrument on board NASA's Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) spacecraft. UVCS can only study a small slice of the sky at one time. By holding the spectrograph slit steady and allowing the comet to drift past, the team was able to assemble the slices into a full, two-dimensional picture of the comet. The UVCS data revealed a dramatic tail of carbon ions streaming away from the comet, generated by evaporating dust. The instrument also captured a spectacular 'disconnection event,' in which a piece of the ion tail broke off and drifted away from the comet. Such events are relatively common, occurring when the comet passes through a region of space where the Sun's magnetic field switches direction. Cometary Building Blocks More remarkable than the morphology of the carbon ion tail was its size. A single snapshot of Kudo-Fujikawa on one day showed that its ion tail contained at least 200 million pounds of doubly ionized carbon. The tail likely held more than 1.5 billion pounds of carbon in all forms. That's a massive amount of carbon, weighing as much as five supertankers, says Raymond. Povich adds, Now, consider that astronomers see evidence for comets like this around newly formed stars like Beta Pictoris. If such stars have comets, then perhaps they have planets, too. And if extrasolar comets are similar to comets in our solar system, then the building blocks for life may be quite common. Understanding Our Origins In 2001, researcher Gary Melnick (CfA) and colleagues found evidence for comets in a very different system surrounding the aging red giant star CW Leonis. The Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite (SWAS) detected huge clouds of water vapor released by a Kuiper Belt-like swarm of comets which are evaporating under the giant's relentless heat. Taken together, the observations of comets around young stars like Beta Pictoris, middle-aged stars like our Sun, and old stars like CW Leonis strengthen the connection between our solar system and extrasolar planetary systems. By studying our own neighborhood, we hope to learn not only about our origins, but about what we might find out there orbiting other stars, says Raymond. Other co-authors on the Science paper reporting these findings are Geraint Jones (JPL), Michael Uzzo and Yuan-Kuen Ko (CfA), Paul Feldman (Johns Hopkins), Peter Smith and Brian Marsden (CfA), and Thomas Woods (University of Colorado). Headquartered in Cambridge, Mass., the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics is a joint collaboration between the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and the Harvard College Observatory. CfA scientists, organized into six research divisions, study the origin, evolution and ultimate fate of the universe. For more information, contact: David Aguilar, Director of Public Affairs Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics Phone: 617-495-7462 Fax: 617-495-7468 [EMAIL PROTECTED] Christine Lafon Public Affairs Specialist Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics Phone: 617-495-7463, Fax: 617-495-7016 [EMAIL PROTECTED] Last modified on Monday, 05-Jan-2004 09:21:03 EST Comments or Questions? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___
SCOUTED: Double Pulsar
http://www.ras.org.uk/html/press/jod0401.html Jodrell bank Observatory Press Release: First-Known Double Pulsar Opens Up New Astrophysics Date:8 January 2004 Embargoed: Not for release until 2:00 pm Eastern Time (7:00 pm GMT) Thursday, 8 January 2004 The following press notice has been received from Jodrell Bank Observatory, University of Manchester, UK, and is forwarded for your information - Peter Bond (RAS Press Officer - Space Science) Contact details for this release are listed at the end. An international team of scientists from the UK, Australia, Italy and the USA have announced in today's issue of the journal Science Express [ 8th January 2004 ] the first discovery of a double pulsar system. They have shown that the compact object orbiting the 23-millisecond pulsar PSR J0737-3039A with a period of just 2.4 hours is not only, as suspected, another neutron star but is also a detectable pulsar, PSR J0737-3039B, that is rotating once every 2.8 seconds. Professor Andrew Lyne of the University of Manchester points out that While experiments on one pulsar in such an extreme system as this are exciting enough, the discovery of two pulsars orbiting one another opens up new precision tests of general relativity and the probing of pulsar magnetospheres. The same team previously reported [Nature 4th December 2003], the discovery of pulsar A in a close binary system which is rapidly losing energy by gravitational radiation. The stars will coalesce in only approximately 85 million years, sending a ripple of gravity waves across the Universe. The discovery of the system shows that such coalescences will occur more frequently than previously thought. The news has been welcomed by gravitational wave hunters, since it boosts their hopes for detecting the gravitational waves says Prof. Nichi D'Amico of Cagliari University. The double neutron star system was first detected using the 64-m Parkes radio telescope in New South Wales, Australia. Subsequent observations were made both at Parkes and with the 76-m Lovell Telescope of the University of Manchester in Cheshire, UK and revealed the occasional presence of pulsations with a period of 2.8 seconds from the companion pulsar. Already, four different effects beyond those explained with simple Newtonian gravity have been measured and are completely consistent with Albert Einstein's theory. Dr. Richard Manchester of the Australia Telescope National Facility says The fact that both objects are pulsars enables completely new high-precision tests of gravitational theories. This system is really extreme. Future observations of the two stars will measure their slow spiral in towards each other as they radiate gravitational radiation - a dance of death leading to their ultimate fusion into what may become a black hole. General relativity predicts that the two stars will slowly wobble like spinning tops allowing new tests of the theory. Another unique aspect of the new system is the strong interaction between radiation from the two stars. By chance, the orbit is seen nearly edge on to us, and the signal from one pulsar is eclipsed by the other. Dr. Andrea Possenti of Cagliari Astronomical Observatory says This provides us with a wonderful opportunity to probe the physical conditions of a pulsar's outer atmosphere, something we've never been able to do before. The surveys designed by the team to discover new pulsars at the Parkes Telescope have been extraordinarily successful. They have discovered over 700 pulsars in the last 5 years, nearly as many as were discovered in the preceding 30 years. The discovery of this double pulsar system will be the major jewel in the crown. PUBLICATION A.G. Lyne, M. Burgay, M. Kramer, A. Possenti, R.N. Manchester, F. Camilo, M.A. McLaughlin, D.R. Lorimer, N. D'Amico, B.C. Joshi, J. Reynolds and P.C.C. Freire. A Double-Pulsar System - A Rare Laboratory for Relativistic Gravity and Plasma Physics. Science, 8 January 2004. IMAGES AND ANIMATIONS Some images and animations representing this system can be found at http://www.jb.man.ac.uk/research/pulsar/doublepulsar/ BACKGROUND INFORMATION A pulsar is the collapsed core of a massive star that has ended its life in a supernova explosion. Weighing more than our Sun, yet only 20 kilometres across, these incredibly dense objects produce beams of radio waves which sweep round the sky like a lighthouse, often hundreds of times a second. Radio telescopes receive a regular train of pulses as the beam repeatedly crosses the Earth so the objects are observed as a pulsating radio signal. Pulsars make exceptional clocks, which enable a number of unique astronomical experiments. Some very old pulsars, which have been spun up to speeds of over 600 rotations per second by material flowing onto them from a companion star, appear to be rotating so smoothly that they may even keep time more accurately than the best atomic clocks here on Earth. Very
TV Editing
http://blog.deanforamerica.com/archives/003038.html TV Editing All day long we've seen the television news repeating a short edited segment of a single line taken from a Canadian television show. Here's the full transcript. The discussion centered around the pros and cons of caucuses and primaries: Dean: On a Saturday, is it easy for me to go cast a ballot and spend 15 minutes doing it, or do I have to sit in a caucus for 8 hours? Guest: This is a good thing, though. Dean: I don't think so. I don't have the time to do it. It doesn't get people involved. It drives people out of the process, and leaves the people who are left in the process -- the professional people who get paid to be there. Guest: Let the people in the neighborhoods convince you, say... Dean: They can't convince me. I've got my kid's soccer game. I've got my second job. I've got all these other reasons that I can't do these things. Guest: If that's the case, the 15 minutes you're going to devote to politics in your year is a pretty perfunctory involvement in politics. Dean: Not necessarily. I read the papers, maybe I watch television. I form my opinions, I get to go exercise my opinion. But I can't stand there and listen to everyone else's opinion for eight hours about how to fix the world. Compare this to the way it is reported on television: NBC Voice Over: Dean even suggested the caucuses were a waste of time for ordinary people Dean: I can't stand there and listen to everyone else's opinion for eight hours about how to fix the world. The power of editing to create a story. ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
