Re: Definition of SF

2004-10-04 Thread G. D. Akin
JDG wrote (belatedly):

 At 08:19 AM 8/25/2004 -0700 Nick Arnett wrote:
 Doesn't science fiction require *fictitious* science, i.e., stuff that
 hasn't been discovered/invented yet?

 This would eliminate novels like _Alas, Babylon_, _On the Beach_, and _A
 Canticle for Leibowitz_ - which I would be uncomfortable with.

 I guess the first question that would need to be answered is, does
 speculative fiction exist as a separate genre for or as a subset genre of
 science fiction.   My preference would be for the latter - science fiction
 includes any speculative fiction about the future, as well as any fiction
 involving outer space or alien life forms.Of course, this definition
 would make things like _Red Storm Rising_ and Isaac Asimov's short story
 about sugar-based aliens part of the science fiction genre, but I don't
 have a problem with that.

-

I think the three post-nuclear war novels you list are definitely SF, unless
you discount the soft science of psychology, sociology etc.

I thought the sugar-based aliens story was by Ray Bradbury, but its been
so long since I read it, I'm not sure.

George A



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Re: Open-Shop,

2004-10-04 Thread Dan Minette

- Original Message - 
From: Robert Seeberger [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: Killer Bs Discussion [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Sunday, October 03, 2004 9:31 PM
Subject: Re: Open-Shop, Closed-ShopRe: What are the real rules? and a bit
on unions


 Dan Minette wrote:
  - Original Message -
  From: John D. Giorgis [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  To: Killer Bs Discussion [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  Sent: Saturday, October 02, 2004 8:43 AM
  Subject: Open-Shop, Closed-ShopRe: What are the real rules? and a
 bit
  on unions
 
 
  At 11:29 PM 9/17/2004 -0500 Dan Minette wrote:
  If you were to argue that open shop laws hurts workers, then I'd
  agree with you.
 
  I woudl also argue that closed-shop rules hurt workers, by making
  them bound to a Union which may or may not represent their
 interests
  and violates their freedom of association.
 
  They can always work elsewhere, that's what people who oppose their
  work contributing to campaign contributions of the owners are told.
 
 
  I work in an open shop, and under a legal prohibition against
  striking, and our union has managed to negotiate some of the most
  favorable benefits in the federal government.
 
  Federal employees are in a very unique situation.  They can
 influence
  the people in charge of the entity they work for in a way that no
  other employees can.  This has a lot to do with Federal employees
  being the only area for union growth now..., bucking the trend of
  unions dropping from about a third to about an eight of the
 workforce.
 
  If you look at the history of the labor unions, you will see that
  nothing was gained in private industry just by an open shop union
  asking pretty please.  Rather, unions were able to negotiate good
  wages when they had the ability to adversely affect the
 profitability
  of their employers if they refused. Strikes have long been the tool
  used to do this.
 
  Lets look at an open shop with a strike.  A union, which represents
  60% of the employees goes on strike.  The other 40%, who are not in
  the union, aren't part of the strike...pretty well by definition.
 If
  the strike is successful, they are in a win-win situation...they get
  the wages and benefits won by the strike and they kept on working.
 
  If the strike fails, they are no worse off than before, and are
  considered more reliable workers by the management than the
  troublesome union workers. Thus, the union workers will be the first
  to be laid off...in an open shop/right to work state, if the
  management understands enlightened self interestand most do.

 It is often a little more complicated than that. In the recent CWA
 strike, non-union workers tended to honor picket lines. Why? Because
 it is their pocketbook being affected too. (At the time of the strike
 I had been eating lunch at the CWA local every work day for three
 years or so)

Do people who refuse to cross picket lines sit at home without income, or
do they often find work at other sites until the strike is over?  I'd be
surprised if a non-union worker would do without pay for weeks.  I wouldn't
be surprised if they just crossed that site off their list and went
elsewhere.

Dan M.


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Re: Mt. St. Helens On Eruption Watch

2004-10-04 Thread Travis Edmunds

From: Russell Chapman [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Reply-To: Killer Bs Discussion [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: Killer Bs Discussion [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: Mt. St. Helens On Eruption Watch
Date: Fri, 01 Oct 2004 11:11:11 +1000
Travis Edmunds wrote:
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/afp/20040927/helens.html
Sept. 30, 2004 — U.S. geologists warned Wednesday that a surge in seismic 
activity at Mount St. Helens in the state of Washington could spark a 
volcano eruption.
Gosh - I hope not - it is one of the centrepieces of my Christmas holiday 
plans, along with Rainier and some other spots in the Cascades.
Chartering a plane to go hunting for flying saucers?
-Travis Kenneth Arnold, 1947 Edmunds
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RE: Job growth by president

2004-10-04 Thread Travis Edmunds

From: Robert G. Seeberger [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Reply-To: Killer Bs Discussion [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Job growth by president
Date: Fri, 1 Oct 2004 18:54:47 -0500
http://www.sagarmatha.com/jobs2.gif
Sagarmatha. Isn't that the Nepali name for Mt. Everest?
-Travis
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Re: This World In Arms

2004-10-04 Thread Travis Edmunds

From: Doug Pensinger [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Reply-To: Killer Bs Discussion [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: Killer Bs Discussion [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: This World In Arms
Date: Sat, 02 Oct 2004 16:20:17 -0700
On Sat, 02 Oct 2004 15:31:08 -0400, John D. Giorgis [EMAIL PROTECTED] 
wrote:

At 12:19 PM 10/2/2004 -0700 Dave Land wrote:
Republicans were different then.
Ahem.   As were Democrats.
The difference being that the Dems are _better_ now.
Personally, I'm all about the Marijuana Party of Canada. But that's just me.
-Travis they're strongest in British Columbia Edmunds
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Re: Br!n: Re: The opinion of heaven?

2004-10-04 Thread Travis Edmunds

From: David Brin [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Reply-To: Killer Bs Discussion [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: Killer Bs Discussion [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: Brin: Re: The opinion of heaven?
Date: Sat, 2 Oct 2004 17:38:55 -0700 (PDT)
As for lecturing me about schaedenfreude. again, it is
your fearless leader who openly supports an idological
movement that officially looks forward to 150,000
people getting a special pass to heaven, then millions
suffering in a pre-ordained stage show battle, and the
BILLIONS being cast down to roast in hell.
That is quite the revelation...
-Travis
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Re: Mount St. Helens cam

2004-10-04 Thread Nick Arnett
Gary Nunn wrote:
Mount St. Helens cam
Updated every 5 minutes...
http://www.fs.fed.us/gpnf/volcanocams/msh/
I've been watching it for the last few days... the server often can't 
keep up, so it becomes necessary to reload manually.

Apparently now that the warning level is 3, the camera is unattended.
Nick
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Re: Br!n: Re: The opinion of heaven?

2004-10-04 Thread Nick Arnett
John D. Giorgis wrote:
I thought it was the far-right, fundamentalists who propose that the 
Left Behind series reflects Christian doctrine and theology.  I am 
most definitely not one of them; the popularity of those books disturbs me.

First off, when did the Left Behind series become an ideological
movement?   
That's not what I said.  I was describing a group of people who seem to 
think those books reflect Christian doctine and theology.  Call 'em 
rapture freaks or end-times fanatics... but I think there's a group out 
there that David was describing.


Secondly, subsequent to becoming an ideological movement,
when did it start adopting official positions? Dr. Brin's emphasis of
the terms ideological movement and officially strongly hinted to me
that he wasn't referring to something as nebulous as readers of the Left
Behind series who also take such books literally - but instead must be
referring to a group large enough to take, quote, official positions.
The group of Christians would match the terms ideological movement and
officially much better.
Yes, if one takes them out of context and ignores the reality that 
people use the word official to mean more than one thing.  And that is 
my official opinion.

Secondly, since when did President Bush become a far-right fundamentalist
who propose(s) that the 'Left Behind' series reflect Christian doctrine and
theology?   Again, George W. Bush, quote, openly supports,
Christianity  he does not openly support the Left Behind movement so
far as I know.
There's a movement?  Does it have official positions?  ;-)
Did you realize that Tim Lahaye, one of the Left Behind authors, is and 
has long been a very politically active person and helped put Bush 
in office?  Many consider him the primary organizer behind the extreme 
politics of Falwell, etc.  He was doing that long before the books.

The White House won't say if Bush has read the books.
Nick
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Re: Br!n: Re: The opinion of heaven?

2004-10-04 Thread John D. Giorgis
At 08:17 AM 10/4/2004 -0700 Nick Arnett wrote:
The White House won't say if Bush has read the books.

But this isn't what Dr. Brin said, now is it?

As for lecturing me about schaedenfreude. again, it is
your fearless leader who openly supports an idological
movement that officially looks forward to 150,000
people getting a special pass to heaven, then millions
suffering in a pre-ordained stage show battle, and the
BILLIONS being cast down to roast in hell.

He said openly supports an ideological movement.So, maybe you and I
can both agree that what Dr. Brin said so vociferously was patently false?

I would also note that President Bush has been very open about his
Christianity.   Moreover, as Dan Minette has noted, the open expressions of
this Christianity have, if anything, been indicative of someone who is not
a member of the rather tiny millenialist movement among evangelical
Christians.   

JDG
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   The liberty we prize is not America's gift to the world, 
   it is God's gift to humanity. - George W. Bush 1/29/03

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Re: Debate

2004-10-04 Thread Dan Minette

- Original Message - 
From: Gautam Mukunda [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: Killer Bs Discussion [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Friday, October 01, 2004 4:35 PM
Subject: Re: Debate

 Apparently - the most recent polls have Kerry winning
 the debate but (at least the ones I've seen) not
 making up any ground in the actual polls.  I've been a
 little distracted, so I'm certainly not as informed as
 I'd like to be.  We won't really know until about 72
 hours after the debate, when the first round of
 spinning is over.

It's now a bit over 72 hours, and the results seem to be that Kerry has
pulled from about 6 points down into a tie.

Dan M.


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Re: Debate

2004-10-04 Thread John D. Giorgis
At 11:18 AM 10/4/2004 -0500 Dan Minette wrote:
It's now a bit over 72 hours, and the results seem to be that Kerry has
pulled from about 6 points down into a tie.

I'm very curious as to what tonight's ABC News/Wash Post will show for that
reason.   I don't put much stock in the Time or Newsweek polls that were
out this weekend, and the Gallup poll - while one of the best the week
before an election, is notorious for its exaggerated swings in the leadup
months. Time and Newsweek polls, which have to poll earlier due to their
publication schedules, also were the only ones to show a bounce following
the Democratic National Convention.   In other words, all the polls we have
seen so far use methodologies that tend to produce swing, so these results
are hardly unexpected.While Rasmussen showed Bush +3, I don't put much
stock in that poll either, as the robot-calling method remains untested.

Unfortunately tonights ABC/Wash Post poll is a tracking poll, so isn't
necessarily comparable to their earlier results.   I'm still very
interested, just since there isn't much else to go on.

JDG

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   it is God's gift to humanity. - George W. Bush 1/29/03

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Re: Br!n: Re: The opinion of heaven?

2004-10-04 Thread Julia Randolph
On Mon, 04 Oct 2004 08:17:13 -0700, Nick Arnett [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
 
 Did you realize that Tim Lahaye, one of the Left Behind authors, is and
 has long been a very politically active person and helped put Bush
 in office?  Many consider him the primary organizer behind the extreme
 politics of Falwell, etc.  He was doing that long before the books.
 
 The White House won't say if Bush has read the books.

Given that, from what I've heard, Bush doesn't tend to read, period, I
think it somewhat unlikely that he's read those particular books.

A few years ago, I visited my parents-in-law, who attend a
Pentecostal-type church.  Before the service, someone came up to my
mother-in-law and was going on about the first book, and how everyone
should read it.  The way she talked about it creeped me out a bit.

I have since received the first two books as gifts (from someone else)
and have not read either yet.  They're pretty far down on my list. 
Maybe in 2007 or 2008, I might get to the first one
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Re: Bush Blows Debate: Talks to Rove in Earpiece!

2004-10-04 Thread Dave Land
On Oct 3, 2004, at 3:24 PM, Doug Pensinger wrote:
Erik wrote:
On Sun, Oct 03, 2004 at 04:37:38PM -0500, Robert G. Seeberger wrote:
http://bellaciao.org/en/article.php3?id_article=3562
During the Presidential Debate Bush made what may be his most costly
error- he exposed that hes using an earpiece to help him answer
debate questions.
In the middle of an answer bush said, now let me finish as if
someone was interrupting him - yet nobody did - he was talking to the
person in his earpiece.
When I heard that, my guess was that Kerry made had just made some
contrary facial expression or hand motion (I couldn't see Kerry when
Bush made the comment).
Did anyone who COULD see Kerry notice what Kerry did just before 
Bush's
remark?
I don't suppose that that is out of the question, but unless Bush 
actually glanced over at Kerry it's hard to believe that he saw a 
gesture.

I can't get to the video, apparently CSPAN is pretty popular at the 
moment, is there another site that has the video avalilable?
From the CSPAN video, it doesn't appear that he was talking to Kerry, 
but to the host. I don't know which camera was covering him at that 
moment, but It appeared to be pretty close to straight in front of 
Bush's podium, which would have put it somewhere behind the host, 
audience-right. In my experience (I've worked in live TV), people who 
speak to their earpiece generally address a point above and behind 
themselves on the side in which the earpiece is installed, usually the 
right. When bush points to whomever it is he's addressing, it seems to 
be directly below the camera. If he wanted to address Kerry, he would 
have pointed off-camera, frame-right.

Dave
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X-Prize Won!

2004-10-04 Thread John Garcia
It seems as if Burt Rutan has been successful in his quest to win the  
X-Prize.

http://www.aviationnow.com/avnow/news/channel_aerospacedaily_story.jsp? 
id=news/xpri09304.xml

Could this be the beginning of a new era for spaceflight?
john
get me a ticket maru
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Re: This World In Arms

2004-10-04 Thread Dave Land
On Oct 2, 2004, at 4:20 PM, Doug Pensinger wrote:
On Sat, 02 Oct 2004 15:31:08 -0400, John D. Giorgis 
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

At 12:19 PM 10/2/2004 -0700 Dave Land wrote:
Republicans were different then.
Ahem.   As were Democrats.
The difference being that the Dems are _better_ now.
That is the point I was making.
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X-Prize

2004-10-04 Thread John Garcia
here is the link i should have sent
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/04/technology/04CND-SPAC.html?hp
john
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Re: X-Prize Won!

2004-10-04 Thread Damon Agretto
 Could this be the beginning of a new era for
 spaceflight?

Sure do hope so. As I've always maintained the true
advances in space exploration will come about through
the pursuit of the almighty dollar rather than the
heady pursuit of science, or just because its there.
But I think that's a GOOD thing!

 get me a ticket maru

You have $200K. Can I have some? :P

Damon.


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[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum.
http://www.geocities.com/garrand.geo/index.html
Now Building: Legends Aussie Centurion Mk.5/1




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Re: Definition of SF

2004-10-04 Thread Ronn!Blankenship
At 05:55 AM Monday 10/4/04, G. D. Akin wrote:
JDG wrote (belatedly):
 At 08:19 AM 8/25/2004 -0700 Nick Arnett wrote:
 Doesn't science fiction require *fictitious* science, i.e., stuff that
 hasn't been discovered/invented yet?

 This would eliminate novels like _Alas, Babylon_, _On the Beach_, and _A
 Canticle for Leibowitz_ - which I would be uncomfortable with.

 I guess the first question that would need to be answered is, does
 speculative fiction exist as a separate genre for or as a subset genre of
 science fiction.   My preference would be for the latter - science fiction
 includes any speculative fiction about the future, as well as any fiction
 involving outer space or alien life forms.Of course, this definition
 would make things like _Red Storm Rising_ and Isaac Asimov's short story
 about sugar-based aliens part of the science fiction genre, but I don't
 have a problem with that.
-
I think the three post-nuclear war novels you list are definitely SF, unless
you discount the soft science of psychology, sociology etc.
I thought the sugar-based aliens story was by Ray Bradbury, but its been
so long since I read it, I'm not sure.

Nope.  Asimov.  One of his many stories in the shaggy-dog genre.
-- Ronn!  :)
Earth is the cradle of humanity, but one cannot remain in the cradle forever.
-- Konstantin E. Tsiolkovskiy
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Re: Brin: needing to set up a blog

2004-10-04 Thread Richard Baker
David said:

 Do any of you have a favorite blog site that works well, is easy to 
 set up and performs as promised?

It's not a blog site, but if you have a proper account somewhere that
lets you run perl then I can recommend the Movable Type weblog
publishing system. I've been using it to publish my own weblog for
almost two years and have never had any difficulty with it.

As I'm borrowing the account that's running Sharp Blue I can't offer you
hosting there, but I can set up a test blog that you can use to play
with the software if that would help your choice.

Rich
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Re: Definition of SF

2004-10-04 Thread Warren Ockrassa
On Oct 2, 2004, at 3:41 PM, JDG wrote:
At 08:19 AM 8/25/2004 -0700 Nick Arnett wrote:
Doesn't science fiction require *fictitious* science, i.e., stuff that
hasn't been discovered/invented yet?
This would eliminate novels like _Alas, Babylon_, _On the Beach_, and 
_A
Canticle for Leibowitz_ - which I would be uncomfortable with.
Actually wouldn't _Leibowitz_ still make it under the SF bar? In the 
last section there's a kind of diaspora or colonization that takes 
place off Earth in spacecraft.

All I recall of _Babylon_ -- it's been years -- was that one of the 
characters was obsessed with tobacco. Civilization lay in ruins and 
billions were dead but he was worrying about stuffing his pipe ... 
which might have been Frank's point.

Never read the third. But if we're looking at apocalyptic fiction, what 
about films like _Failsafe_ or _Dr. Strangelove_ (which, I've always 
believes, is more accurate a picture of government than most 
non-satirical movies)? It's all very good drama but I don't know if I'd 
call it SF unless one means 'speculative fiction -- which one could 
argue *all* fiction is. ;)

--
Warren Ockrassa, Publisher/Editor, nightwares Books
http://books.nightwares.com/
Current work in progress The Seven-Year Mirror
http://www.nightwares.com/books/ockrassa/Flat_Out.pdf
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Re: Brin: needing to set up a blog

2004-10-04 Thread Warren Ockrassa
On Oct 4, 2004, at 2:03 PM, d.brin wrote:
Do any of you have a favorite blog site that works well, is easy to 
set up and performs as promised?
I've had little (uh, actually no) trouble with blogspot.com. If you're 
on OSX there's even freeware you can use to write your articles locally 
and post them when you're ready to make them live.

Tres convenient.
--
Warren Ockrassa, Publisher/Editor, nightwares Books
http://books.nightwares.com/
Current work in progress The Seven-Year Mirror
http://www.nightwares.com/books/ockrassa/Flat_Out.pdf
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Re: X-Prize Won!

2004-10-04 Thread Ronn!Blankenship
At 12:59 PM Monday 10/4/04, John Garcia wrote:
It seems as if Burt Rutan has been successful in his quest to win the
X-Prize.
http://www.aviationnow.com/avnow/news/channel_aerospacedaily_story.jsp? 
id=news/xpri09304.xml

Could this be the beginning of a new era for spaceflight?

Anyone note the significance of the date?

-- Ronn!  :)
Earth is the cradle of humanity, but one cannot remain in the cradle forever.
-- Konstantin E. Tsiolkovskiy
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Good news, bad news . . .

2004-10-04 Thread Ronn!Blankenship
My stepbrother got married this weekend.  (Not technically -- they had 
really gotten secretly married over a year ago but hadn't told 
anybody.)  His son was supposed to be his best man, but didn't show 
up.  They found him later in his hotel room, dead from an apparent 
accidental overdose.


-- Ronn!  :)
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Re: Open-Shop,

2004-10-04 Thread Robert Seeberger
Dan Minette wrote:
 - Original Message -
 From: Robert Seeberger [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 To: Killer Bs Discussion [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 Sent: Sunday, October 03, 2004 9:31 PM
 Subject: Re: Open-Shop, Closed-ShopRe: What are the real rules? and
a
 bit on unions


 Dan Minette wrote:
 - Original Message -
 From: John D. Giorgis [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 To: Killer Bs Discussion [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 Sent: Saturday, October 02, 2004 8:43 AM
 Subject: Open-Shop, Closed-ShopRe: What are the real rules? and a
 bit
 on unions


 At 11:29 PM 9/17/2004 -0500 Dan Minette wrote:
 If you were to argue that open shop laws hurts workers, then I'd
 agree with you.

 I woudl also argue that closed-shop rules hurt workers, by making
 them bound to a Union which may or may not represent their
 interests
 and violates their freedom of association.

 They can always work elsewhere, that's what people who oppose
their
 work contributing to campaign contributions of the owners are
told.


 I work in an open shop, and under a legal prohibition against
 striking, and our union has managed to negotiate some of the most
 favorable benefits in the federal government.

 Federal employees are in a very unique situation.  They can
 influence
 the people in charge of the entity they work for in a way that no
 other employees can.  This has a lot to do with Federal employees
 being the only area for union growth now..., bucking the trend of
 unions dropping from about a third to about an eight of the
 workforce.

 If you look at the history of the labor unions, you will see that
 nothing was gained in private industry just by an open shop union
 asking pretty please.  Rather, unions were able to negotiate good
 wages when they had the ability to adversely affect the
 profitability
 of their employers if they refused. Strikes have long been the
tool
 used to do this.

 Lets look at an open shop with a strike.  A union, which
represents
 60% of the employees goes on strike.  The other 40%, who are not
in
 the union, aren't part of the strike...pretty well by definition.
 If
 the strike is successful, they are in a win-win situation...they
get
 the wages and benefits won by the strike and they kept on working.

 If the strike fails, they are no worse off than before, and are
 considered more reliable workers by the management than the
 troublesome union workers. Thus, the union workers will be the
first
 to be laid off...in an open shop/right to work state, if the
 management understands enlightened self interestand most do.

 It is often a little more complicated than that. In the recent CWA
 strike, non-union workers tended to honor picket lines. Why?
Because
 it is their pocketbook being affected too. (At the time of the
strike
 I had been eating lunch at the CWA local every work day for three
 years or so)

 Do people who refuse to cross picket lines sit at home without
 income, or do they often find work at other sites until the strike
is
 over?  I'd be surprised if a non-union worker would do without pay
 for weeks.  I wouldn't be surprised if they just crossed that site
 off their list and went elsewhere.

Now that I'm thinking about it, as I recall, SBC sent *everyone* home
for the duration of the strike (3 days IIRC). Management had to man
the posts for the duration, and even some non-members were hanging
around the union hall and had to be asked to leave (as were we union
electricians who ate lunch there) because a round of negotiations were
to take place in the hall that afternoon.

As to your question, non-union open shop members who honor pickets do
exactly what union open shop members do when there is a strike on. It
is not like there is some artificial distinction that causes different
needs for different groups.
Some union situations are exactly the way you have described and
others the way I described in regards to open shops. It is determined
by the nature of the contract the union has with a company.
In the case of my union (IBEW), even though Texas is a Right To Work
state, contractors who are signatory with the IBEW can hire only union
labor (Except under special circumstances). But then, we have no right
to strike either because that is also part of the contract with NECA.

I sorta let my point drift away in the previous post while writing my
example,G, but basically, there are quite a few very different
setups for union labor regardless of the State. It kind of helps to
know the background of a particular example and how it differs from
other situations, because generalities do not always apply to the
situations a person is most familiar with.
How Things Work is very dependent on the wording of the contract
between a union and a company. State and Federal laws just do not tell
the entire story.

xponent
Collective Bargaining Maru
rob


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Re: X-Prize Won!

2004-10-04 Thread Medievalbk
 
In a message dated 10/4/2004 3:07:25 PM US Mountain Standard Time, 
[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:

Anyone note the significance of the date?




Broderick Crawford Day?
 
Vilyehm Teighlore
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Re: Brin: needing to set up a blog

2004-10-04 Thread Julia Thompson
d.brin wrote:
 
 With a major political salvo about to be posted (I'll let you all see
 it first), I feel I had better finally bite the bullet and set up a
 blog for public discussion.
 
 Unfortunately, I've just wasted several hours trying to get blogs set
 up at both livejournal.com and blogger.com  Both efforts raised blood
 pressure without offering any success.  Maybe it's the fact that I
 use a Macintosh (that should not matter), but with both Netscape and
 Explorer both sites were simply unusable and atrocious.
 
 Do any of you have a favorite blog site that works well, is easy to
 set up and performs as promised?
 
 Thanks.

Dan has a blog at his own domain, using Moveable Type as the blogging
software.  He's very happy with it.  I don't know who's hosting his
domain (I know one hoster that *isn't*, but that's a tale for another
day), but wherever it is that he's having it hosted, everything he wants
to do there is doable.  If you'd like for me to put him in touch with
you about it, let me know, I'm sure he'd be happy to get you information
about it.

(I'll share the domain name with anyone who asks off-list.)

Julia
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L. Gordon Cooper, 1927-2004

2004-10-04 Thread Ronn!Blankenship
Another of the original _Mercury_ astronauts is gone:
http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2004/oct/HQ_04335_cooper_dies.html
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An Emulation Sensation

2004-10-04 Thread Robert G. Seeberger
http://www.click2houston.com/technology/3741612/detail.html?treets=houtml=hou_digsts=Ttmi=hou_digs_1_03150110042004


http://tinyurl.com/3l93o



A startup claims it has created software that lets programs run on any
operating system—and any processor—without slowing down. Is the hype
for real this time?The topic of program emulation is not something
that will light a fire in many people’s hearts, or put a spark in
their eyes. But run the topic by IT professionals and you’ll likely
see a glimmer of hope—followed by a dismissive wave. They’re enchanted
by the promise of the technology, but haven’t exactly been thrilled
with the offerings to date. Big promises, piddling results.Software
emulators—software that allows another piece of software to run on
hardware for which it was not originally intended—have been an elusive
goal for the computing industry for almost 30 years. The ability to
port software to multiple hardware configurations is something
companies such as IBM, Intel, and Sun Microsystems are constantly
working on. Software emulators do exist today, but most are narrowly
focused, allowing one particular program to run on one other processor
type. Sometimes, performance suffers with the use of an emulator.

It was with a shock, then, that I read the announcement by tiny
Transitive Software of a new product, Quick Transit, that it claims
“allows software applications compiled for one processor and operating
system to run on another processor and operating system without any
source code or binary changes.” My first thoughts went straight to the
heart of the Linux/Microsoft battle. Could this software emulator be
used to run Microsoft programs on Linux? And wouldn’t that be inviting
the full wrath of the Microsoft legal team?

I called the Los Gatos, CA-based startup to learn more and ended up
talking with CEO Bob Wiederhold, who spoke from Manchester, England,
home of the company’s engineering offices. Wiederhold immediately
dashed my grander ideas. “If we tried to run Windows programs on a
Linux platform, Microsoft would be upset,” Wiederhold said. “That’s
not what we’re trying to do.” Wiederhold’s initial goals are less
incendiary, but could bring about big changes in the way companies
manage their technology assets. What’s more, the technology could
eventually drift down to the consumer level, where it could allow
older video games to play on newer versions of game platforms (such as
Microsoft’s Xbox, or Sony Playstation). The initial target market for
the product, however, is large computer makers.

Wiederhold says Quick Transit has been in development for nine years,
and that it’s the first software emulator that works with a broad
array of processors with minimal performance degradation. Typically,
software emulators—when they do work—suffer performance hits; a cursor
arrow struggles to move across the screen, or there's a two-second
delay after clicking on a file menu before the dialogue box opens.
Analysts who have seen Quick Transit report that it exhibits no such
degradation.

The release has generated some buzz, along with doubts. “People are
excited,” says Wiederhold. “But there’s also quite a bit of skepticism
surrounding the announcement. That was expected. We claim to have made
a pretty big breakthrough and don’t think people will believe it until
they can see the [shipping version]. Transitive claims it has six
companies signed up for the product, but declined to identify them;
Wiederhold says the first customer announcement will come in the next
couple of months.

If the product actually does what Transitive claims it can do, it
could have a big impact. Among the biggest expenses and headaches for
IT departments today are the management of servers, the migration of
software, and hardware upgrades. Businesses often hold off on
upgrading or switching servers because of the time and cost involved
with migrating their software to the new hardware. A product such as
Quick Transit could make the migration much easier and less costly.

Another potential benefit could be an increased ability for IT staffs
to consolidate servers. IT departments often run multiple servers,
each for a specific task—there’s a file server, a mail server, and so
forth. These servers are often vastly underutilized, not running near
their capacity. A program such as Quick Transit could enable a single
server to run multiple tasks, reducing the management hassle and
budget overhead from running multiple units.

Astute readers will notice a lot of “could” and “potentially” and
“might” in this story. Software emulators such as Quick Transit have
had high hypes only to deliver poorly. And with Transitive keeping the
unveiling restricted to a handful of analysts until its first customer
ships, you can’t get much more definitive than that. I trust the
analysts I spoke with for the story, having known them for years. And
they’re aware of the broken promises software emulators have left in
the past. That’s what makes 

Re: Brin: needing to set up a blog

2004-10-04 Thread Nick Arnett
d.brin wrote:
With a major political salvo about to be posted (I'll let you all see it 
first), I feel I had better finally bite the bullet and set up a blog 
for public discussion.

Unfortunately, I've just wasted several hours trying to get blogs set up 
at both livejournal.com and blogger.com  Both efforts raised blood 
pressure without offering any success.  Maybe it's the fact that I use a 
Macintosh (that should not matter), but with both Netscape and Explorer 
both sites were simply unusable and atrocious.

Do any of you have a favorite blog site that works well, is easy to set 
up and performs as promised?
We could get something going on www.mccmedia.com... but if you're going 
to make big trouble, it might not have the bandwidth necessary... ;-)

Nick
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Re: Good news, bad news . . .

2004-10-04 Thread Robert Seeberger
Ronn!Blankenship wrote:
 My stepbrother got married this weekend.  (Not technically -- they
had
 really gotten secretly married over a year ago but hadn't told
 anybody.)  His son was supposed to be his best man, but didn't show
 up.  They found him later in his hotel room, dead from an apparent
 accidental overdose.

My condolences to you and your family Ronn!.
The tale is horriffic, I can only imagine your Stepbrothers grief.


xponent
Struck At My Core Maru
rob


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Re: Brin: needing to set up a blog

2004-10-04 Thread David Brin

--- Julia Thompson wrote:
  
 Dan has a blog at his own domain, using Moveable
 Type as the blogging
 software. 

This looks like an ideal approach to host discussions
at http://www.davidbrin.com/  Thanks.  I'll bring it
up with my webmaster.

But it looks a bit complicated to set up and right now
my need is to set up a discussion place as quickly as
possible. ANyone who wants to can look over what I've
currently set up at http://www.davidbrin.blogspot.com/

It looks kind of messed up.  Don't know why.  Anyone
who wants to test it is welcome.

Best to you all.
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Re: L. Gordon Cooper, 1927-2004

2004-10-04 Thread Julia Randolph
On Mon, 04 Oct 2004 18:09:34 -0500, Ronn!Blankenship
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
 Another of the original _Mercury_ astronauts is gone:
 
 http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2004/oct/HQ_04335_cooper_dies.html

Who's left?  (Or is that in the article which I haven't read yet?)

 Julia
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Re: X-Prize Won!

2004-10-04 Thread Robert Seeberger
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
 In a message dated 10/4/2004 3:07:25 PM US Mountain Standard Time,
 [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:

 Anyone note the significance of the date?




 Broderick Crawford Day?


Uh..C.W. McCall good buddy!



xponent
Rubber Duck Maru
rob


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Re: Brin: needing to set up a blog

2004-10-04 Thread Warren Ockrassa
On Oct 4, 2004, at 4:25 PM, David Brin wrote:
But it looks a bit complicated to set up and right now
my need is to set up a discussion place as quickly as
possible. ANyone who wants to can look over what I've
currently set up at http://www.davidbrin.blogspot.com/
It looks kind of messed up.  Don't know why.  Anyone
who wants to test it is welcome.
Well, it's legible but the big post you mention isn't there; is that 
what you mean? Or were you thinking it'd have a different visual style, 
or what? (The dashboard can handle a lot of the visual settings...)

--
Warren Ockrassa, Publisher/Editor, nightwares Books
http://books.nightwares.com/
Current work in progress The Seven-Year Mirror
http://www.nightwares.com/books/ockrassa/Flat_Out.pdf
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Re: Brin: needing to set up a blog

2004-10-04 Thread Robert Seeberger
David Brin wrote:
 ANyone who wants to can look over what I've
 currently set up at http://www.davidbrin.blogspot.com/

 It looks kind of messed up.  Don't know why.  Anyone
 who wants to test it is welcome.

Well...it won't let me comment, therefore it oinks.G

What you really want is a cockadoodledoo!G


xponent
Raise the Flag Maru
rob


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Re: Brin: needing to set up a blog

2004-10-04 Thread David Brin

--- Warren Ockrassa wrote:Or were you thinking it'd
have a different visual style, 
 or what? (The dashboard can handle a lot of the
 visual settings...)

On a Mac I am now looking at it using Netscape and
MS/internet Explorer.  Netscape cuts off the upper
part including the blog title.  Explorer crams my
initial posting in a long column only a couple of
words wide, at the right.  In neither case is it easy
to see any controls
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Re: X-Prize Won!

2004-10-04 Thread Amanda Marlowe
Ronn!Blankenship asks:
 Anyone note the significance of the date?

Sputnik!




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