Re: The Periodic Table of Dessert
http://www.eblong.com/zarf/periodic/closeup.html Ah. I've seen a different poster with the same title, that had pictures of the desserts...mmm...desserts... :::drools::: Tom Beck Sweet Tooth Maru www.prydonians.org www.mercerjewishsingles.org I always knew I'd see the first man on the Moon. I never dreamed I'd see the last. - Dr Jerry Pournelle ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: God, Religion, and Sports Medicine
On 9 Jul 2003, Deborah Harrell [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote I was trying to write from the 'neutral agnostic' position, while acknowledging that I in fact am a person who has had numinous experiences. But I cannot prove that scientifically to someone who has not experienced such a moment. You can tell people that you had the experience: that constitutes a report. That report, that gathering of information, can be as scientific as any other gathering of information. The *implications* of the experience are a different matter. Like atoms, the implications are invisible to the unaided eye and silent to the unaided ear. But just as people came to accept the existence of atoms by figuring out what their or other entities' existence implied, and then investigated as best they could, so the implications of numinous experiences can be figured out by studying reported occurrences, which are many. Numinous experiences do occur. I don't know anyone who denies that. It is the same with apparitions and stigmata. They occur, too. Yet some people will state that such experiences are delusional, or the products of a weak mind; ... Yes, of course. There is a question here: what do you mean by the word delusional? Do you mean that the reports of people having numinous experiences are false and that the people making those reports or repeating them, like me, are (perhaps inadvertently) lying? Or do you mean that the reports are truthful, in that they accurately record people's experiences? Is the question whether reports of numinous experiences are like reports of the voices heard by some schizophrenics: in our culture, almost everyone agrees that such the reports tell us a about the minds and bodies of the people who hear voices, but not too much about the subject matters about which the voices talk. The issue is not whether some people have such experiences, but how they are interpreted. Within a single culture, there is no question. Everyone interprets the experience the same. But people in different cultures interpret apparitions, stigmata, and numinous experiences differently. Yes; but some people do not (cannot?) have these experiences at all, so they think of others - or themselves - as 'delusional' or 'defective.' Well, there are people who say I could not have traveled once around the world, because the world is flat. If I had tried, I would have fallen off the edge. To them, my round the world trip must indicate I am 'delusional' or 'defective'. Pretty clearly, there is a question of your or my judgement here: do you judge such people as right or wrong? Who is 'delusional' or 'defective', those who say that your reports of your experience indicate you are 'delusional' or 'defective', or those who say that your reports indicate a widespread human capability? You could argue that that capability is as important as having a sufficiently efficient metabolism so as to survive on little food, which many say is why grandmothers were supported in paleolithic times, and thus were able to pass on cultural rather than genetic learning. It also goes without saying that numinous experiences can and do confirm statements of liturgy that are unfalsifiable in other ways. But for those who cannot believe in such experiences, there is no scientific proof to replace the faith of the believer/experiencer. I don't understand you. A numinous experience is undeniably convincing to the person who has the experience. But is it true that such experiences mean that Confucius was right? Do such experiences, by Hindus, tell us that the Hindu pantheon is a correct statement about the nature of the universe? Somehow, I doubt you are arguing that numinous experiences, however convincing they have been to Confucians or Hindus, prove that Christianity is wrong. But I doubt you are arguing that Christianity is wrong. Moreover, I suspect that you agree that Confucians and Hindus as well as Christians and others have had numinous experiences. Then the question becomes, what can we figure out from this experience that humans so frequently report? As the late anthropologist, Roy Rappaport, pointed out, numinous experiences transform the dubious, the arbitrary, and the conventional into the correct, the necessary, and the natural. This is important because members of a paleolithic band must cooperate, which is to say, members must behave often enough in what everyone thinks of as a `correct, necessary, and natural' manner, else the band will die. Yes, spirituality must have been a 'centripetal' force in such bands, although in huge masses as we have grown into now, it has become a force that too often flings apart... Definitely true. As Alan Page Fiske, another anthropologist points out (in Structures of Social Life), in addition to three other ways of
Re: GOP axis of hate
The Fool wrote: http://www.sltrib.com/2003/Jul/07072003/commenta/73077.asp Is U.S. Congress being led by grand old gay bashers? By Harold Meyerson Special to The Washington Post Scalia's justifications for discriminatory conduct sound terribly familiar. Change homosexual to Negro and Scalia is at one with the authors of Plessy v. Ferguson's mandate for separate but equal schools, and the judges who upheld anti-miscegenation statutes. What a load of propaganda. Perhaps if they presented their arguments without all the name calling and conjecture... -- Matt ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Project Orion
Project Orion by George Dyson 2002, Henry Holt and Co ISBN 0-8050-7284-5 (pbk) Recently, George Dyson wrote a book on Project Orion, a project on which his father, Freeman Dyson, worked in the late 1950s. The project designed a heavy spaceship that could carry people to other planets in a reasonably time. The spaceship would be driven by exploding nuclear bombs behind it, one or two very second for 10 or 20 minutes. (As I say below, it occurs to me that the Chinese might want to fund such a project now.) The key technical understanding was that a steel plate, covered by a thin coating of oil, could survive a nearby nuclear explosion. The oil (which could be sprayed on) would ablate; the steel plate, while accelerated violently, would survive. The steel `pusher' plate would be coupled through two shock absorbing systems to a multi-thousand ton human-carrying main body. The human passengers would survive because the shock absorbing systems would convert the high acceleration, short pulses of the exploding bombs into a gentler, longer, 2 to 6 gravity, bearable acceleration. The huge mass of the spaceship would provide shielding against the radiation from the explosions, as well as against radiation from solar flares and the like. The bigger the spaceship, the smoother the ride and the thicker the shielding. Moreover, the bigger the spaceship, the lower the incremental cost for bombs, since it is cheap to make bombs bigger, once you have an initial hydrogen bomb. According to calculations by Freeman Dyson, about 10 people over the world would die from radiation poisoning from each launch. He made this calculation at a time when the same calculations told him that about 1000 people died each year from the then on-going atmospheric nuclear tests. (Dyson was very disturbed by the amount of radiation released in each launch; he hoped that bomb designers could design `cleaner' bombs.) No Orion spaceships were built. One reason is that the US Air Force, who liked bombs, could not figure out a reason to explore the solar system. NASA, on the other hand, did not like bombs. Then the test ban treaty came along. While Orion might be considered `peaceful', and thus permitted, few wanted to explode any atomic bombs in the Earth's atmosphere. I think that if the project had started two or three years earlier, so that a vehicle had already been designed by the time Sputnik was launched in the Fall of 1957, the US would have built and launched one in the summer of 1958. This launch would have `proven' US prowness over that of the Soviets, taken place while numerous atmosphere nuclear tests were taking place, and taken place before ICBMs with thermonuclear warheads became a primary US strategic weapon. But, as I said, the project died. Nonetheless, it provides for great `what if' parallel world questions. As for the present: it occurs to me that the Chinese government might want to undertake an Orion project. They could technically. From their point of view, the Chinese government might seek a fleet of Orion spaceships carrying nuclear weapons. They would gain immediate defensive strategic parity with the US. They could offer a promise of retaliation to Japan and South Korea if any neighbor attacked. Moreover, they could threaten to attack any US warship that came to defend Taiwan against mainland threats, without risking too much that the US would launch an all out nuclear attack. The Chinese could do this by launching an Orion vehicle straight up, not crossing the US, to orbit beyond the distance of the moon. This would mean that a Chinese attack could not be undertaken quickly, which would comfort the US. (The US might well consider an Orion vehicle in low earth orbit as highly dangerous, since if permitted to cross over the US, it could launch a nuclear attack with almost no warning.) A distant orbit would also mean that missiles attacking the Orion vehicle would be visible for a long time. Either they could be destroyed, or the Orion vehicle could simply turn its pusher plate towards it, so when the attacker exploded, the Orion vehicle would simply experience a shove as it did during launch. Contemporary laser and particle beam weapons are too weak to have much effect on an Orion vehicle. The US would, of course, build and launch its own Orion vehicles, but design and construction might take several years. In the meantime, the Chinese government could aim for `re-unification' with Taiwan both by intimidating Taiwan more strongly than now, and by offering more benefits for accepting mainland colonization. Possibly, mainland China could take over Taiwan. Certainly, the goal is one that the Chinese government supports. The issue for it is risk and cost. Is it worth bringing the `rebel' province to heel? For the Chinese, an Orion project would provide it with a way to intimidate Taiwan, a way to gain strategic parity with the US, and a way to offer Chinese scientists,
Re: Project Orion
They use a Project Orion type spaceship in the Niven/Pournelle novel Footfall to launch a military mission to the F'i'thp conquered space station. That was the first place I ever heard of Project Orion (and a lot of other unconventional weapons ideas from the past, such as Thor). Tom Beck www.prydonians.org www.mercerjewishsingles.org I always knew I'd see the first man on the Moon. I never dreamed I'd see the last. - Dr Jerry Pournelle ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
RE: Project Orion
From: Robert J. Chassell [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Project Orion by George Dyson 2002, Henry Holt and Co ISBN 0-8050-7284-5 (pbk) Recently, George Dyson wrote a book on Project Orion, a project on which his father, Freeman Dyson, worked in the late 1950s. The project designed a heavy spaceship that could carry people to other planets in a reasonably time. The spaceship would be driven by exploding nuclear bombs behind it, one or two very second for 10 or 20 minutes. (As I say below, it occurs to me that the Chinese might want to fund such a project now.) Sh... Don't give them any ideas! Sheesh. Obligatory third line. Obligatory grin tag. - jmh ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Project Orion
From: Robert J. Chassell [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project Orion by George Dyson 2002, Henry Holt and Co ISBN 0-8050-7284-5 (pbk) No Orion spaceships were built. One reason is that the US Air Force, who liked bombs, could not figure out a reason to explore the solar system. NASA, on the other hand, did not like bombs. Then the test ban treaty came along. While Orion might be considered `peaceful', and thus permitted, few wanted to explode any atomic bombs in the Earth's atmosphere. Couldn't Orion be assembled in orbit to avoid the atmosphere effects? It certainly would be far far more expensive to do that way, but if the atmospheric detonations are the biggest hitch... _ Tired of spam? Get advanced junk mail protection with MSN 8. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Project Orion
Bryon Daly wrote: Couldn't Orion be assembled in orbit to avoid the atmosphere effects? It certainly would be far far more expensive to do that way, but if the atmospheric detonations are the biggest hitch... The whole point of this Orion thing is to put stuff into orbit. Going from ground to orbit is harder than going from orbit to escape speed [1st order approximation: two times harder] Alberto Monteiro ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Brin-L Weekly Chat Reminder
This is just a quick reminder that the Wednesday Brin-L chat is scheduled for 3 PM Eastern/2 PM Central time in the US, or 7 PM Greenwich time, so it just started a little while ago. There will probably be somebody there to talk to for at least eight hours after the start time. See my instruction page for help getting there: http://www.brin-l.org/brinmud.html __ Steve Sloan . Huntsville, Alabama = [EMAIL PROTECTED] Brin-L list pages .. http://www.brin-l.org Chmeee's 3D Objects http://www.sloan3d.com/chmeee 3D and Drawing Galleries .. http://www.sloansteady.com Software Science Fiction, Science, and Computer Links Science fiction scans . http://www.sloan3d.com ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Project Orion
From: Alberto Monteiro [EMAIL PROTECTED] Bryon Daly wrote: Couldn't Orion be assembled in orbit to avoid the atmosphere effects? It certainly would be far far more expensive to do that way, but if the atmospheric detonations are the biggest hitch... The whole point of this Orion thing is to put stuff into orbit. Going from ground to orbit is harder than going from orbit to escape speed I certainly see the benefit of that, but I had thought the big point of Orion was that the relative weight efficiency of its propulsion method (vs. say, rocket fuel) made more/longer acceleration (and thus higher travel speeds) possible, enabling interplanetary (and interstellar) exploration. I think I've seen Orion pitched as a way to reach a nontrivial fraction of light speed (IIRC, 10%) for a mission to another star. _ The new MSN 8: advanced junk mail protection and 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: The Boob Timeline
From: Robert Seeberger [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: The Boob Timeline Date: Tue, 15 Jul 2003 22:20:33 -0500 http://www.dribbleglass.com/boobs/index.htm *Approved By Men Everywhere Hey! I posted this story from ananova a few months back and Alberto said it never happened! A Brazilian woman is shot during a confrontation between police and drug dealers and is saved by her silicone breast implants. Implants are no longer just visually appealing, but are also a personal safety measure. ...and I'm sure some plastic surgeon's going to use *that* little selling point in their brochures. :) Jon Le Blog: http://zarq.livejournal.com _ Help STOP SPAM with the new MSN 8 and get 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Project Orion
Bryon Daly [EMAIL PROTECTED] asked Couldn't Orion be assembled in orbit to avoid the atmosphere effects? It certainly would be far far more expensive to do that way, but if the atmospheric detonations are the biggest hitch... Yes, and indeed, in the 1960s, Werner Von Braun and others suggested just that. Saturn rockets would lift the parts to orbit. That proposal died when more senior people at NASA decided that NASA had no mandate for crewed exploration of the solar system, just a mandate to send a few men to the moon. -- Robert J. Chassell Rattlesnake Enterprises http://www.rattlesnake.com GnuPG Key ID: 004B4AC8 http://www.teak.cc [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Let's talk about
streaming audio ;-) I investigated those USB memory things. While the concept is good, they are unpractical for my situation. I want enough music to listen to for nine hours. For a $99 256MB stick, it'd take me three days, or three sticks, to get enough music for one day. I don't know how, but a third stream failed for me at work. It's not like they are being blocked, they just fail. Now there is other stuff I've listened to at work for a while, they still work fine, but my music doesn't. I know I'm not the only one streaming, and no one has told me to stop, it's not part of the corporate policy, but I'm having trouble. I could ask someone...nah. So I bit the bullet and got two things: streaming MP3 recorder software and a new CD-RW drive. I've recorded three days of music already onto my hard drive here at home. Of course, what does my brother tell me today, as I'm putting the CD recorder in the computer? Have you ever heard of Launch? http://launch.yahoo.com/ I tried it at work and it worked, very crisp stream.g. I know if I like it, it will stop working. So I'll record at home. Kevin T. - VRWC rambling ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
practical joke
This is bad. Work appropriate. http://www.sparklet.com/~royce/trams/hair/ Kevin T. - VRWC curly ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Thanks! (Was Re: Revealed: food companies knew products wereaddictive)
From: Bryon Daly [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-To: Killer Bs Discussion [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Revealed: food companies knew products were addictive Date: Sun, 13 Jul 2003 23:48:31 -0400 Welcome back, Jose! I'd been wondering why I hadn't seen any posts from you in a long while. -bryon Thanks SOO much, Bryon. It is a thorough pleasure to read you all again. I've been away.. had to recoup my energies to return back to the world of the living. JJ _ The new MSN 8: advanced junk mail protection and 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
New Armin pictures
I finally posted these pictures of Armin and family in the Alps, three weeks after I got his email. Why did it take so long? I just plain got an attack of the lazies. ;-) But, I think the results are worth the wait. I went directly to Armin's FTP site (with his permission, of course ;-) ) to download the full-sized versions of the pictures. I chopped their pixel width in half, which is still about 50% wider than the versions in the email. The new pictures are the four on the bottom of this page: http://www.sloan3d.com/cgi-bin/memberpix.cgi?person=armin __ Steve Sloan . Huntsville, Alabama = [EMAIL PROTECTED] Brin-L list pages .. http://www.brin-l.org Chmeee's 3D Objects http://www.sloan3d.com/chmeee 3D and Drawing Galleries .. http://www.sloansteady.com Software Science Fiction, Science, and Computer Links Science fiction scans . http://www.sloan3d.com ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
RE: Why we cast novels
On Thu, 10 Jul 2003 15:24:08 -0400, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I especially miss the novelty LP album covers (like my original Led Zeppelin III cover with the picture wheel in it) and the double albums with suitable-for-hanging-in-your-dorm-room trippy artwork inside. It's a real shame: the death of the LP and the small size of CD and tape covers seem to have killed most of that whole art-concept aspect of albums. I miss the cover of Monty Python's Matching Tie and Handkerchief (if you've seen it, you know what I mean). Actually, I miss Matching Tie and Handkerchief. Well, I own the LP, but if you've heard it only on CD, you've unfortunately completely missed the joke, which is that is the world's first (and most likely only) three-sided album - they cut two grooves into one side of the vinyl LP, so the record player (what an archaic concept and word!) played first one track and then the other - which is utterly impossible to duplicate on CD. Sigh. And the Instant Record Collection was great for filling out the incomplete shelf! Dean ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Let's talk about
Kevin Tarr wrote: streaming audio ;-) http://launch.yahoo.com/ I tried it at work and it worked, very crisp stream.g. I know if I like it, it will stop working. So I'll record at home. I think I'd rather it didn't work - I get good quality sound, good playlist, BUT I only get the first 23 seconds of each song! drives me nuts. I hear great songs I haven't heard for a while, and before I can Alt-Tab to rate it, it's over... As a complete newbie to streaming audio, I don't know what I should be expecting, but I'm guessing this isn't it... Cheers Russell C. ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: God, Religion, and Sports Medicine
Robert J. Chassell wrote: Some science fiction readers ask whether a sapient artificial intelligence, with the intelligence, the emotions, and the wisdom of a human, but not his looks, are out because they are not built in God's image, or whether they are in. (I once had a long discussion with an Iranian on just this question; when I returned to the US, I mentioned the discussion to a friend. He wondered whether among Christians such as himself any entity that did not appear overtly as God's image could be considered `in'.) Daniel Defoe satirized this kind of distinction making by describing a war between those who broke the pointed end of an egg and those broke the more gently rounded end. Everyone agrees that major decisions should not be based on the choice of which end of an egg to break. I believe that Dr. Seuss's _The Butter Battle Book_ does something similar, in that there is a war between those who hold their bread butter side up and those who hold their bread butter side down. Had quite an arms race going there in that book. Julia ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
RE: Political Compass
On Tue, 15 Jul 2003 12:02:11 -0700 (PDT), Deborah Harrell wrote: Couple of years ago at a party, some guy actually asked me my sign...I managed not to laugh, but only just, and womanfully refrained from snapping Off Limits! ;-) I thought that was old enough that it was nostalgically quaint now. Seriously, did you reply negative? :) Dean ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Political Compass
Deborah Harrell wrote: --- Ritu [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Ronn!Blankenship wrote: Here are a couple of links to pages giving an explanation (with pictures, which I can't post on this list): http://www.firstlightastro.com/skiesabove/archive/010915.shtml http://cse.ssl.berkeley.edu/lessons/indiv/beth/beth_precess.html Thank you. :) They were more than sufficient. Ritu, who now has something new to say when people offer to read her horoscope I'm still a Cancer, according to the correct astronomy dates, but under the 'traditional' system it's Cancer-cusp-Leo, which 'fits' my personality better than straight Cancer. Although perhaps a better fit would be Cancer-cusp-Lupus, if such a thing existed... evil grin So are birthday greetings in order here shortly? Doug ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Trudeau on political differences
Maybe it's just me, but Sunday's Doonesbury reminded me of past list discussions. http://www.doonesbury.com/strip/dailydose/index.html?uc_full_date=2003 0713 http://makeashorterlink.com/?R2D961745 Dean ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: God, Religion, and Sports Medicine
From: Julia Thompson [EMAIL PROTECTED] Robert J. Chassell wrote: Daniel Defoe satirized this kind of distinction making by describing a war between those who broke the pointed end of an egg and those broke the more gently rounded end. Everyone agrees that major decisions should not be based on the choice of which end of an egg to break. I think you might mean Jonathan Swift, author of Gulliver's Travels? (Dafoe wrote Robinson Crusoe). In GT, the little endians broke the pointier side, and the big endians broke the more rounded side. As a bit of trivia, the computer world uses big-endian and little-endian to describe the bit/byte-ordering of computer words (of 2 or more bytes). Big Endian means the Most Significant Bit comes first, while Little Endian means the Least Significant Bit comes first. These terms were first applied to computers in this 1980 paper, On Holy Wars and A Plea For Peace: http://www.isi.edu/in-notes/ien/ien137.txt In it, the author compared the MSB/LSB debate to the GT's endian war, and then argued for everyone standardizing on one or the other choice for the greater compatibility of all computers. Sadly, it is a failed cause. I believe that Dr. Seuss's _The Butter Battle Book_ does something similar, in that there is a war between those who hold their bread butter side up and those who hold their bread butter side down. Had quite an arms race going there in that book. Then there's his Star-Bellied Sneetches book, one of my favorites. (Probably second to The Lorax, my all-time favorite Seuss). _ Tired of spam? Get advanced junk mail protection with MSN 8. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
New pictures of Jose
I've just added a couple of pictures of Jose to the memberpix page. Thanks to a lot of help from Dean and Dee, I came up with a silly title for the first picture. The other picture is a pretty cool cartoon: http://www.sloan3d.com/cgi-bin/memberpix.cgi?person=jose __ Steve Sloan . Huntsville, Alabama = [EMAIL PROTECTED] Brin-L list pages .. http://www.brin-l.org Chmeee's 3D Objects http://www.sloan3d.com/chmeee 3D and Drawing Galleries .. http://www.sloansteady.com Software Science Fiction, Science, and Computer Links Science fiction scans . http://www.sloan3d.com ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: New pictures of Jose
From: Steve Sloan II [EMAIL PROTECTED] I've just added a couple of pictures of Jose to the memberpix page. Thanks to a lot of help from Dean and Dee, I came up with a silly title for the first picture. The other picture is a pretty cool cartoon: http://www.sloan3d.com/cgi-bin/memberpix.cgi?person=jose And so, I am immortalized on the hollowed halls of Sloan. May God have mercy on my soul. :-) Thanks, Steve. JJ _ The new MSN 8: advanced junk mail protection and 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
