Re: Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow

[William T Goodall]

On 24 Sep 2004, at 4:28 am, Bryon Daly wrote:
Anyone else see "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow"?
Not yet - it isn't out here until 1st October.
My rating: enjoyable as a lightweight, fun and great-looking action
movie - but if you expect a good SF story, you'll be disappointed .
It'd probably be fair to call it a almost a straight homage to the old
1930's SF serials.  The story feels a lot like what (in my admittedly
very limited exposure) I think the 1930's SF serials were like:
enjoyable adventure, but nothing too serious or deep.  James
Berardinelli's (positive) review describes it as "70% style and 30%
substance", and I agree.
I wasn't too sure about it before, but the overwhelmingly positive 
reviews mean I'll definitely give it a try.

It looks fantastic.  If you haven't followed the buzz, the notable
thing about this movie is that it was filmed almost entirely in front
of a blue screen - not props or sets.  While I didn't focus on trying
to detect the blue screen effect, it never jumped out at me, at all,
which it sometimes does.  As I recall various scenes, it doesn't
strike me at all as actors in front of a backdrop.
A forthcoming film using the same technique is _Sin City_, based on the 
Frank Miller comic books. It looks amazing.

I wish it had a deeper and more original story, one that kept the 30's
serial look/style/psuedo-technology but took into account that modern
audiences have 70 years of experience watching and reading SF.  But,
lacking that, I have to say I still had fun watching it.
And made on Macs!
http://www.apple.com/pro/video/conran/
--
William T Goodall
Mail : [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Web  : http://www.wtgab.demon.co.uk
Blog : http://radio.weblogs.com/0111221/
"Our products just aren't engineered for security." - Brian Valentine, 
senior vice president in charge of Microsoft's Windows development 
team.

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RE: Brin: Florida Hurricanes and 2000 Election Results

[Horn, John]

> Behalf Of Russell Chapman
> 
> I don't know if this has been up already (you guys are getting so 
> passionate I've tended to tune out a bit...), and I have 
> absolutely no 
> idea how accurate it is, but it is a really fascinating map 
> showing the 
> tracks of the hurricanes and the counties (or whatever you call
your 
> electoral districts) that voted Bush in 2000.
> 
> Let's not forget to change the subject if discussion ensues...
> 
> Cheers
> Russell C.
> http://203.25.67.2/images/FloridaTracks.jpg

Snopes.com has disputed this pretty well.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/bush/hurricane.asp

 - jmh
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Scouted: NyTimes Link Generator

[The Fool]

<>

-
Fox News in April, instructs employees how to report on the increasing
number of American fatalities in Iraq: ''Do not fall into the easy trap
of mourning the loss of U.S. lives''  -- NYT

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Re: Florida Hurricanes and 2000 Election Results

[Robert Seeberger]

Horn, John wrote:
>> Behalf Of Russell Chapman
>>
>> I don't know if this has been up already (you guys are getting so
>> passionate I've tended to tune out a bit...), and I have
>> absolutely no
>> idea how accurate it is, but it is a really fascinating map
>> showing the
>> tracks of the hurricanes and the counties (or whatever you call
your
>> electoral districts) that voted Bush in 2000.
>>
>> Let's not forget to change the subject if discussion ensues...
>>
>> Cheers
>> Russell C.
>> http://203.25.67.2/images/FloridaTracks.jpg
>
> Snopes.com has disputed this pretty well.
>
> http://www.snopes.com/politics/bush/hurricane.asp

Since I have a bit of an attitude with Snopes lately, I went and
checked my sources against what is shown on the map.
It is actually somewhat accurate for Charley and Frances. But Ivan
landed in Alabama rather than Florida.

IMO Snopes runs a bit loose themselves when it comes to the facts.
But they are in general terms a good resource.

xponent
When They Are Not Full Of It Maru
rob


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Re: Florida Hurricanes and 2000 Election Results

[Ronn!Blankenship]

At 05:15 PM Friday 9/24/04, Robert Seeberger wrote:
Horn, John wrote:
>> Behalf Of Russell Chapman
>>
>> I don't know if this has been up already (you guys are getting so
>> passionate I've tended to tune out a bit...), and I have
>> absolutely no
>> idea how accurate it is, but it is a really fascinating map
>> showing the
>> tracks of the hurricanes and the counties (or whatever you call
your
>> electoral districts) that voted Bush in 2000.
>>
>> Let's not forget to change the subject if discussion ensues...
>>
>> Cheers
>> Russell C.
>> http://203.25.67.2/images/FloridaTracks.jpg
>
> Snopes.com has disputed this pretty well.
>
> http://www.snopes.com/politics/bush/hurricane.asp
Since I have a bit of an attitude with Snopes lately, I went and
checked my sources against what is shown on the map.
It is actually somewhat accurate for Charley and Frances. But Ivan
landed in Alabama rather than Florida.

Apparently it liked the South so much it decided to come back for a return 
trip.Or else Texans complained so loudly about being left out that they 
sent it a ticket for a return trip.

[Ironic note:  one of the people I know on another list is a woman named 
Jeanne who lives in Florida . . . ]


-- Ronn!  :)
"Earth is the cradle of humanity, but one cannot remain in the cradle forever."
-- Konstantin E. Tsiolkovskiy
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Re: Florida Hurricanes and 2000 Election Results

[Julia Thompson]

"Ronn!Blankenship" wrote:
> 
> At 05:15 PM Friday 9/24/04, Robert Seeberger wrote:
> >Horn, John wrote:
> > >> Behalf Of Russell Chapman
> > >>
> > >> I don't know if this has been up already (you guys are getting so
> > >> passionate I've tended to tune out a bit...), and I have
> > >> absolutely no
> > >> idea how accurate it is, but it is a really fascinating map
> > >> showing the
> > >> tracks of the hurricanes and the counties (or whatever you call
> >your
> > >> electoral districts) that voted Bush in 2000.
> > >>
> > >> Let's not forget to change the subject if discussion ensues...
> > >>
> > >> Cheers
> > >> Russell C.
> > >> http://203.25.67.2/images/FloridaTracks.jpg
> > >
> > > Snopes.com has disputed this pretty well.
> > >
> > > http://www.snopes.com/politics/bush/hurricane.asp
> >
> >Since I have a bit of an attitude with Snopes lately, I went and
> >checked my sources against what is shown on the map.
> >It is actually somewhat accurate for Charley and Frances. But Ivan
> >landed in Alabama rather than Florida.
> 
> Apparently it liked the South so much it decided to come back for a return
> trip.Or else Texans complained so loudly about being left out that they
> sent it a ticket for a return trip.

Looking at the radar, it's hitting Houston a lot more than here.

I wouldn't mind a bit of rain.  We might get some tonight or later in
the weekend.

Julia
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Liberals Will Ban the Bible

[Robert G. Seeberger]

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/24/politics/campaign/24bible.html?ex=1253764800&en=e610b7f6cc429a67&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland


The Republican Party acknowledged yesterday sending mass mailings to
residents of two states warning that "liberals" seek to ban the Bible.
It said the mailings were part of its effort to mobilize religious
voters for President Bush.

The mailings include images of the Bible labeled "banned" and of a gay
marriage proposal labeled "allowed." A mailing to Arkansas residents
warns: "This will be Arkansas if you don't vote." A similar mailing
was sent to West Virginians.

A liberal religious group, the Interfaith Alliance, circulated a copy
of the Arkansas mailing to reporters yesterday to publicize it. "What
they are doing is despicable,'' said Don Parker, a spokesman for the
alliance. "They are playing on people's fears and emotions."

In an e-mail message, Christine Iverson, a spokeswoman for the
Republican National Committee, confirmed that the party had sent the
mailings.

"When the Massachusetts Supreme Court sanctioned same-sex marriage and
people in other states realized they could be compelled to recognize
those laws, same-sex marriage became an issue,'' Ms. Iverson said.
"These same activist judges also want to remove the words 'under God'
from the Pledge of Allegiance."

The mailing is the latest evidence of the emphasis Republicans are
putting on motivating conservative Christian voters to vote this fall.
But as the appeals become public, they also risk alienating moderate
and swing voters.

An editorial on Sept. 22 in The Charleston Gazette in West Virginia,
for example, asked, "Holy Moley! Who concocts this gibberish?"

"Most Americans see morality more complexly," the editorial said.
"Many think a higher morality is found in Christ's command to help the
needy, prevent war and pursue other humanitarian goals. Churchgoers of
this sort aren't likely to believe childish allegations that Democrats
want to ban the Bible."

In statement, Senator John Edwards, the Democratic vice-presidential
nominee, said President Bush "should condemn the practice immediately
and tell everyone associated with the campaign to never use tactics
like this again."

Matt Foreman, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task
Force, called the mailings an ugly contrast to Mr. Bush's public
statements. Although the president has called for a constitutional
amendment banning same-sex marriage, he often emphasizes the need for
tolerance as well.

"The president takes more or less the high road and his henchman and
allies on the right have been let loose to conduct these ugly,
divisive smear campaigns," Mr. Foreman said. "It is wedge politics at
its worst."

In any event, the Bush campaign appears confident about its religious
appeal.

The mailing seeks to appeal to conservative evangelical Protestant
pastors and political leaders who say they worry that legal rights for
same-sex couples could lead to hate-crimes laws that could be applied
against sermons of Bible passages criticizing homosexuality.

Conservative Christian political commentators often cite the case of
Ake Green, a minister in Sweden who was jailed in June for a month for
a sermon denouncing gays as sinful.

Mr. Parker, of the Interfaith Alliance, said, "I think it is laughable
to think that someone could be arrested for reading out loud from the
Bible.''

But Richard Land, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty
Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, argued, "We have the
First Amendment in this country which should protect churches, but
there is no question that this is where some people want to go, that
reading from the Bible could be hate speech."

Still, Mr. Land questioned the assertion that Democrats might ban the
whole Bible. "I wouldn't say it," he said. "I would think that is
probably stretching it a bit far."



xponent

Yeah Right Maru

rob


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Re: Cat Stevens the Terrorist

[Robert Seeberger]

Dan Minette wrote:
> - Original Message -
> From: "Robert Seeberger" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> To: "Killer Bs Discussion" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Sent: Tuesday, September 21, 2004 11:24 PM
> Subject: Re: Cat Stevens the Terrorist
>
>> Anyone have any idea why Cat Stevens is verboten?
>
> It probably has to do with him publicly endorsing the murder of
Salman
> Rushdie and other statements along those lines.
>
Possibly not true:

http://catstevens.com/articles/00236/index.html


xponent
Source and Resource Maru
rob


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Re: Florida Hurricanes and 2000 Election Results

[Nick Arnett]

Julia Thompson wrote:
Looking at the radar, it's hitting Houston a lot more than here.
I wouldn't mind a bit of rain.  We might get some tonight or later in
the weekend.
The phrase "Careful what you wish for," comes to mind.
;-)
Nick
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Re: Florida Hurricanes and 2000 Election Results

[Robert Seeberger]

Julia Thompson wrote:
> "Ronn!Blankenship" wrote:
>>
>> At 05:15 PM Friday 9/24/04, Robert Seeberger wrote:
>>> Horn, John wrote:
> Behalf Of Russell Chapman
>
> I don't know if this has been up already (you guys are getting
so
> passionate I've tended to tune out a bit...), and I have
> absolutely no
> idea how accurate it is, but it is a really fascinating map
> showing the
> tracks of the hurricanes and the counties (or whatever you call
>>> your
> electoral districts) that voted Bush in 2000.
>
> Let's not forget to change the subject if discussion ensues...
>
> Cheers
> Russell C.
> http://203.25.67.2/images/FloridaTracks.jpg

 Snopes.com has disputed this pretty well.

 http://www.snopes.com/politics/bush/hurricane.asp
>>>
>>> Since I have a bit of an attitude with Snopes lately, I went and
>>> checked my sources against what is shown on the map.
>>> It is actually somewhat accurate for Charley and Frances. But Ivan
>>> landed in Alabama rather than Florida.
>>
>> Apparently it liked the South so much it decided to come back for a
>> return trip.Or else Texans complained so loudly about being
left
>> out that they sent it a ticket for a return trip.
>
> Looking at the radar, it's hitting Houston a lot more than here.
>
> I wouldn't mind a bit of rain.  We might get some tonight or later
in
> the weekend.
>
It has been cloudy all day, but so far, zero rain.


xponent
Was Hoping For A Little Excitement Maru
rob


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Brin: Chimp can (Literally) Steal Election

[The Fool]

<>

Critics of the Diebold (search) touch-screen voting machines turned their
attention Wednesday from the machines themselves to the computers that
will tally the final vote, saying the outcome is so easy to manipulate
that even a monkey could do it. 

And they showed video of a monkey hacking the system to prove it.

In the minute-long video produced by Black Box Voting (search), Baxter
the chimp is shown deleting the audit log that is supposed to keep track
of changes in the Diebold central tabulator, the computer and program
that keeps track of county vote totals.

Black Box Voting founder Bev Harris said the demonstration shows that the
system — which will be used in more than 30 states, including Maryland —
is dangerously inadequate when it comes to stopping election fraud.


-
"Where annual elections end, there slavery begins" -- John Adams

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Re: Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow

[Bemmzim]

In a message dated 9/24/2004 6:17:05 AM Eastern Standard Time,  
[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:

I wasn't  too sure about it before, but the overwhelmingly positive 
reviews mean  I'll definitely give it a try.
 
The effects are great but the sepia tone gets monotanous after a while and  
the story is really really anoying. Indiana Jones spoofed the serials of the  
thirties but it took the story seriously while this story is actually 
incredibly  stupid and the end is a real let down




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Re: Florida Hurricanes and 2000 Election Results

[Julia Thompson]

Nick Arnett wrote:
> 
> Julia Thompson wrote:
> 
> > Looking at the radar, it's hitting Houston a lot more than here.
> >
> > I wouldn't mind a bit of rain.  We might get some tonight or later in
> > the weekend.
> 
> The phrase "Careful what you wish for," comes to mind.
> 
> ;-)

Yeah.  Personally, my biggest concern is that sometimes with the sort of
weather that brings rain, tornadoes come.  I really, really do not want
any tornadoes within 3 counties of me.  :)

Julia
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interesting website

[Julia Thompson]

http://www.mugshots.org/

Mugshots, other photos, biographies and arrest details for various
famous people who have been arrested at some point in their lives.  The
Bill Gates one is notable for his smiling in the mug shot

Julia
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Re: Cat Stevens the Terrorist

[Bryon Daly]

On Fri, 24 Sep 2004 18:18:57 -0500, Robert Seeberger
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Dan Minette wrote:
> > - Original Message -
> > From: "Robert Seeberger" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> > To: "Killer Bs Discussion" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> > Sent: Tuesday, September 21, 2004 11:24 PM
> > Subject: Re: Cat Stevens the Terrorist
> >
> >> Anyone have any idea why Cat Stevens is verboten?
> >
> > It probably has to do with him publicly endorsing the murder of
> Salman
> > Rushdie and other statements along those lines.
> >
> Possibly not true:
> 
> http://catstevens.com/articles/00236/index.html

Reading this, I get the impression that he'd be A-OK if Rushdie went
to Iran or somewhere else that follows Islamic law, and they killed
him.  He just doesn't advocate breaking other countries' laws to do
so.  So in other words: We should only kill him if the laws of the
country he is in allows us to do so.

Why, he's not a fanatic at all!
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Movie: Forgotten - minor spoiler (spoiler space inserted)

[Gary Nunn]

We saw this movie tonight and I have 3 comments:

1. In my humble opinion, it was a good movie and well worth watching.
Definitely watch on the big screen in a theater with a good sound system.

2. This is a great date movie, especially if you like to snuggle or have
someone clenched on your arm.  Ok, I admit it, *I* was the one clenched onto
my dates arm :-)

Minor spoiler

S
P
O
I
L
E
R

S
P
A
C
E

.
.
.
.
.

3. If Scully and Mulder had been in this movie, it would have made a perfect
X-Files ...







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Re: Florida Hurricanes and 2000 Election Results

[Dan Minette]

- Original Message - 
From: "Julia Thompson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Killer Bs Discussion" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Friday, September 24, 2004 6:17 PM
Subject: Re: Florida Hurricanes and 2000 Election Results


> "Ronn!Blankenship" wrote:
> >
> > At 05:15 PM Friday 9/24/04, Robert Seeberger wrote:
> > >Horn, John wrote:
> > > >> Behalf Of Russell Chapman
> > > >>
> > > >> I don't know if this has been up already (you guys are getting so
> > > >> passionate I've tended to tune out a bit...), and I have
> > > >> absolutely no
> > > >> idea how accurate it is, but it is a really fascinating map
> > > >> showing the
> > > >> tracks of the hurricanes and the counties (or whatever you call
> > >your
> > > >> electoral districts) that voted Bush in 2000.
> > > >>
> > > >> Let's not forget to change the subject if discussion ensues...
> > > >>
> > > >> Cheers
> > > >> Russell C.
> > > >> http://203.25.67.2/images/FloridaTracks.jpg
> > > >
> > > > Snopes.com has disputed this pretty well.
> > > >
> > > > http://www.snopes.com/politics/bush/hurricane.asp
> > >
> > >Since I have a bit of an attitude with Snopes lately, I went and
> > >checked my sources against what is shown on the map.
> > >It is actually somewhat accurate for Charley and Frances. But Ivan
> > >landed in Alabama rather than Florida.
> >
> > Apparently it liked the South so much it decided to come back for a
return
> > trip.Or else Texans complained so loudly about being left out that
they
> > sent it a ticket for a return trip.
>
> Looking at the radar, it's hitting Houston a lot more than here.
>
> I wouldn't mind a bit of rain.  We might get some tonight or later in
> the weekend.
>

That could be.  We got a trace of rain out of it. :-)  Now, its been
raining just north of Lufkin all day.

Dan M.


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