Re: Abortion
Brother John [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: ] I assume that everyone here reads Brin's blog at ] http://davidbrin.blogspot.com/. Am I right? Yes, of course. ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: RFK Jr. interview
--- In [EMAIL PROTECTED], Nick Arnett [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: You are confusing a factual conclusion with a political conclusion. Whether or not Iraq had WMD stockpiles or programs is a factual conclusion for which the intelligence services are suited. Whether that threat is immediate, imminent, urgent, or mortal is a political conclusion that is properly the province of the political arena. Are you saying that Iraq, despite having no WMDs, Other than Scott Ritter (last in Iraq in 1998), did any of the intelligence services actually conclude that Iraq had no WMD stocpiles or programs before the war? JDG ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Prehistory
Charlie Bell wrote: On 01/08/2006, at 8:45 AM, Brother John wrote: As a child that raised white mice and rats as much as I did snakes, I can attest that white rats are much, much better pets than white mice. Mice bite and their urine stinks something awful. Neither is true of white rats. Rats actually make very nice pets, much better pets than hamsters of gerbils. Of course, that is just my person opinion. But it is based on personal experience. At last, some common ground. (Of course, you were probably raising rodents to feed to snakes, but I'll forgive you...). I never had white rats, I had a pair of dark chocolate brown rats with white bellies. The breed is Black Berkshire, and they were _Rattus norvegicus_, or the Common Brown or Norway Rat (the most common pet rat, although a few people do breed Black Rats (_Rattus rattus_). Rats are *great* pets. Really social, and really smart. I have a friend with hairless rats. Those sound like fun! (And being furry can be a liability around here for a good chunk of the year.) Julia ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: RFK Jr. interview
On 8/1/06, jdiebremse [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Are you saying that Iraq, despite having no WMDs, Other than Scott Ritter (last in Iraq in 1998), did any of the intelligence services actually conclude that Iraq had no WMD stocpiles or programs before the war? Programs and intentions, yes. Stockpiles, no. You didn't know this? Nick -- Nick Arnett [EMAIL PROTECTED] Messages: 408-904-7198 ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Look on my works, ye mighty...
On 7/30/06, Charlie Bell [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Not yet - it's silly money in the bookshops here, and the library doesn't have it yet. But don't wait on me, i'll just put the discussion to one side 'til i can catch up. Charlie Far be it from me to encourage breaking of - oh, what the heck. You know you can find it online pretty easily, right? For example, a quick search turned up an audio version of all things: http://www.isohunt.com/torrents.php?ihq=collapse+diamond ~maru ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: My Wraptures-ready Sunday
On 7/30/06, Gibson Jonathan [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Greetings Tribe of Brin,
For those of you who use graphics in your work and play I have a small
treat.
I am pleased to announce to this small group the imminent public
offering of my multi-CD image libraries. Not a must-buy Wall Street
deal to buy stock in an image company, but a gift to the world open
source-ish. I'm hoping to generate good ju-ju releasing this
intellectual property after many years under moth-ball, The hope is
traffic flocks, leaves a gratuity, and {ideally} purchases the newer,
snappier, yet-more clever HD-sized textures vastly better suited to
this XXIst century. You folks are invited to scratch-n-sniff the
original collection as I prepare for a fall-winter launch of my
high-def Pro line. I'm only telling a handful of friends and you folk
as I am not terribly interested in generating publicity - yet. I'm
eager for technical business feedback and of course curious where the
low-key viral marketing leads. If I suddenly end up with a tiger by
the tail, then all the better.
http://www.formandfunction.com/wraptures/index.html
...
Gigabytes of fun. Enjoy!
- Jonathan -
For what it is worth, your link is down for me.
~maru
___
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Collapse
Two questions: 1) I've never been involved in one of these, so, what exactly do we do? 2) When do we start? Jim ___ Join Excite! - http://www.excite.com The most personalized portal on the Web! ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: My Wraptures-ready Sunday
On Jul 30, 2006, at 8:31 PM, Gibson Jonathan wrote:
http://www.formandfunction.com/wraptures/index.html
Way back in the early days of multimedia I had heady sand castle
dreams
of ROM baronies built on a foundation of seamless, tile-able,
textures.
Walking around the first MicroSoft CD ROM conference {hard to imagine
hosting one today} I was enthused about converting my lifelong
penchant
for visual patterns with recent eye-candy three-d work I'd been doing
and determined to expand refine the growing tool chest for sale to
other graphic professionals.
Those of us who either (a) worked at or around Apple in the early 90s or
(b) toiled at multimedia in the halcyon days of HyperCard remember
Wraptures well.
When it became clear that the Jonathan Gibson of Brin-L was /that/
Jonathan Gibson, smiles spread across the faces of those of us who (c)
both worked at Apple in the early 90s /and/ toiled at multimedia in the
halcyon days of Hypercard.
Thank you for your gift, Jonathan!
Dave
___
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Re: Collapse
Jim Sharkey wrote: Two questions: 1) I've never been involved in one of these, so, what exactly do we do? 2) When do we start? Read. If we have a leader, the leader says Well talk about chapter(s) X starting on day N. Read that part of the book, think about what struck you as interesting or worthy of discussion. I don't know when we start. I was going to wait until someone posted the Here's the start of discussion for chapter 1 or whatever, then scramble to skim that chapter in my book and offer an occasional comment. I'm sure someone else has a better answer. (I can barely keep my schedule, my husband's schedule and the kids' schedules straight, my own being the most complicated this week (only because I did 3 different things last night), without figuring out when something is going on online without a clue-by-four type of reminder.) Julia ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: My Wraptures-ready Sunday
Hullo maru dubshinki,
Sorry, I almost missed your notice, but a quick peek into my mail
directory I just had to open up yours and Dave's thread. My ISP is
on holiday and this left my domain server down a few hours this AM.
It's all up and dandy now. Try again.
I said, 'Enjoy' and I mean it, dammit!
- Jonathan -
PS - once again, staging via
http://www.formandfunction.com/wraptures/index.html
Final domain will simply be www.wraptures.com, but will auto-magically
redirect once this is all public.
Dave,
Thanks for the kind words.
I enjoy the gift society model wherever I can apply it and I am hopeful
this catalyzes positive changes in my recent {lack of} career.
I'm counting on the panache associated with this long-gone resource
being on tap will stir the hearts of graphic professionals enough to
throw a few nickels in the tip jar out of teary nostalgia loosen
billfolds {ever so gently} for the stimulating new stuff. Back in the
day these were considered overkill and I often heard their 1024x512
pixel resolution called monsters, but they seem almost quaint now. I
aim for my new ones to get as many rave reviews and to be even longer
lived.
Addendum: for those familiar with Wraptures I'll note that not all from
the original collections are available - yet. I'm simply not sure what
would happen to my old school chum running the server {gratis} if some
sunny morning a sizable portion of DTP shops in Asia start downloading
them when some notable blog makes mention. Almost all the 512x512 are
up, but time+space+ISP costs are yet to be determined I am a tad more
tentative about all the 1024x512 as planned at the outset. I will get
there eventually, however. I went ahead and bit the bullet by putting
the high-res ones up to measure demand.
- JG -
Aside: Just between you, me, Killer B's, and the NSA, I worry my son
will have no college fund. This was tough though doable when I went to
school {$11K/yr Tulane 1986}, but costs are so vastly more expensive
now {$43K Tulane 2006} that I worry how any of our off-spring will
finance upper education in the coming decades. Immigration to Europe
-or- Australia is a serious consideration for us.
On Aug 1, 2006, at 10:48 AM, Dave Land wrote:
On Jul 30, 2006, at 8:31 PM, Gibson Jonathan wrote:
http://www.formandfunction.com/wraptures/index.html
Way back in the early days of multimedia I had heady sand castle
dreams
of ROM baronies built on a foundation of seamless, tile-able,
textures.
Walking around the first MicroSoft CD ROM conference {hard to imagine
hosting one today} I was enthused about converting my lifelong
penchant
for visual patterns with recent eye-candy three-d work I'd been doing
and determined to expand refine the growing tool chest for sale to
other graphic professionals.
Those of us who either (a) worked at or around Apple in the early 90s
or
(b) toiled at multimedia in the halcyon days of HyperCard remember
Wraptures well.
When it became clear that the Jonathan Gibson of Brin-L was /that/
Jonathan Gibson, smiles spread across the faces of those of us who (c)
both worked at Apple in the early 90s /and/ toiled at multimedia in the
halcyon days of Hypercard.
Thank you for your gift, Jonathan!
Dave
___
http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
On Aug 1, 2006, at 9:38 AM, maru dubshinki wrote:
http://www.formandfunction.com/wraptures/index.html
...
Gigabytes of fun. Enjoy!
- Jonathan -
For what it is worth, your link is down for me.
~maru
Jonathan Gibson
www.formandfunction.com/word
___
http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Collapse
Jim Sharkey wrote: Two questions: 1) I've never been involved in one of these, so, what exactly do we do? 2) When do we start? Jim Oy, people chomping at the bit. Sorry. I was going to get it started tomorrow night but I'll get it going tonight. What I intended to do is post a brief summary of the chapter and perhaps pose a few questions regarding the content. I was going to lead the discussion in this manner for the first couple of chapters and ask for a volunteer to lead chapter three. If that works out, perhaps we can do kind of a round robin thing. If not, I will attempt to keep the discussion going myself, though I'm betting I'll have at least a little bit of help. Sorry to be delinquent, I wanted to give everyone atime to pick up a copy of the book. The more the merrier, eh... -- Doug ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: RFK Jr. interview
--- In [EMAIL PROTECTED], Nick Arnett [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Are you saying that Iraq, despite having no WMDs, Other than Scott Ritter (last in Iraq in 1998), did any of the intelligence services actually conclude that Iraq had no WMD stocpiles or programs before the war? Programs and intentions, yes. Stockpiles, no. You didn't know this? So, you are saying that in 2002, a major intelligence agency concluded that Iraq had no WMD stockpiles of any kind? JDG ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
WorldCon 2006 Roll Call
I'm planning to attend my first WorldCon (and first con even remotely that big) in LA at the end of this month. Is anyone else on the list going? __ Steve Sloan [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.sloan3d.com ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: RFK Jr. interview
On 8/1/06, jdiebremse [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: So, you are saying that in 2002, a major intelligence agency concluded that Iraq had no WMD stockpiles of any kind? No. You've inverted the statement. The NIE, as well as Tenet in later public statements about that NIE, said that they believed that Iraq had stockpiles of chemical and biological agents, but they were not weaponized. There was no delivery system that they were aware of, just an intention or programs to create them. Makes it kind of hard to argue for an imminent threat, doesn't it? Have you read the declassified parts of the NIE? And Tenet has summarized it several times in public venues. He has been very clear about saying that this was not an intelligence community failure by telling us what the intelligence actually said. He hasn't come right out and said that the administration's public statements were not justified by the intelligence reports, but he doesn't really need to. It is obvious if you compare the two. Nick -- Nick Arnett [EMAIL PROTECTED] Messages: 408-904-7198 ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Moving to Montana Soon?
Collapse by Jarred Diamond Part One: Modern Montana Chapter One: Under Montana's Big Sky Diamond picks Montana for his first chapter because he can gage the attitudes of the people that live there, because it provides a contrast to the more fragile societies discussed in later chapters and because it illustrates the five main themes of the book: human impacts on the environment; climate change; a society’s relations with neighboring friendly societies; a society's exposure to acts of other potential hostile societies; and the importance of a society's responses to it's problems. He uses Montana as a reference for the reader. A familiar situation with which we can relate to the more severe problems he discusses later on. A similarity to my home town of Morgan Hill, Ca. to the Bitterroot Valley is the contrast in attitudes of the old timers; farmers and ranchers with sizeable land holdings and upper-middle class to upper class professionals with a fondness for the small town atmosphere in close proximity to a major metropolitan area. Morgan Hill has a slow-growth policy that allows a limited number of new housing units per year. This is frustrating to landowners because there is a huge demand for housing in the area. Montana's environmental problems include toxic wastes, forests, soils, water, climate change, biodiversity losses and introduced pests and while Diamond classifies Montana as probably the least damaged of the lower 48 states, the problems he describes seem severe. One interesting conundrum he discusses is the conflict between businesses that exist to make money and moral obligations to clean up after themselves. Is this a good argument against the preeminence of a free market economy or can we have both a strong economy and a clean environment? Another interesting point that he raises is the fact that while native Montanan's are extremely suspicious of government and especially Washington, they are heavily subsidized by the federal government; If Montana were an isolated island, as Easter Island in the Pacific Ocean was in Polynesian times before European arrival, its present first world economy would already have collapsed, nor could it have developed that economy in the first place. Is it hypocritical of Montana’s people to be unsupportive of the Federal Government while they have their hand in the till? Montana's problems are somewhat interesting. We can understand and empathize with them because we face many of the same kinds of problems. In comparison with the disaster that occurred on Easter Island described in Chapter Two: Twilight at Easter, however, the problems our country faces (at least the short term ones) seem like small potatoes. Fascinating! Read on. -- Doug Me and the pygmy pony over by the dental floss bush, maru ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
