RE: Battlestar Galactica mini series
From: Gary Nunn [EMAIL PROTECTED] As a kid I liked the original Battlestar Galactica, even though it is so cheesy that it is almost painful to watch as an adult, but I really Yeah, I feel just about the same way. liked the remake tonight. A smartass woman Starbuck seems to work here. And no matter how evil she is, you gotta love Six. Ok, maybe just us Male Testosterone Filled Pigs will love Six. I didn't see it, but I watched the hour-long preview show that talked all about it, and I was totally put off by it. IMHO, the biggest reason for a Galactica remake is to recapture the nostalgia for the characters, the Cylons, and the storyline. It looked to me like this remake changes many/most of the characters substantially, changed the nature of the Cylons, and made a lot of changes to the basic storyline. It might be a good show in its own right, but those kinds of changes make me think the creators were more interested in making their own show, using BG as the hook for viewers, than in respecting the original material. It's not that I think remakes need to be 100% faithful to their source material, but a lot of the changes I saw struck me as gratuitous. _ Winterize your home with tips from MSN House Home. http://special.msn.com/home/warmhome.armx ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Scouted: Latest news from the world of science . . .
Tiny fossil of crustacean is oldest record of male animal Well-endowed sea creature is nearly half a billion years old David Perlman, Chronicle Science Editor Friday, December 5, 2003 ©2003 San Francisco Chronicle | Feedback | FAQ URL: sfgate.com/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/12/05/MNGT93GQS21.DTL [Photo of specimen] Scientists studying the evolution of common sea creatures whose ancestors date back nearly half a billion years have discovered what must be the oldest animal fossil whose gender is unequivocally male. An animal's soft body parts hardly ever remain apparent as the organs fossilize and are gradually replaced by stone. But in the case of the 425 million-year-old crustacean, only two-tenths of an inch long, the scientists were able to clearly discern a penis. The copulatory organ is large and stout, said the team of scientists, led by David J. Siveter of the University of Leicester in England, in their report today in the journal Science. The prominent copulatory appendage indicates that the specimen is a sexually mature adult male. The scientists have named their fossil species Colymbosathon ecplecticos, which means swimmer with an astoundingly large penis. The specimen, a new member of a widespread class of tiny shelled animals called ostracodes, was discovered in a deposit of Silurian period rocks in Britain's Hertfordshire. To determine the shapes of the fossilized soft tissues, Siveter and his colleagues developed a technique they call shave and photo. Under a microscope they shaved thin layers of the indecipherable rock, photographed each layer and then assembled the images into what amounted to a virtual reconstruction of each separate organ, they said. What is striking about the tissues the scientists recovered, including its compound eyes and the soft appendages it must have used to swim and scavange for prey, is how closely they resemble the same organs among many of the modern ostracode species. This is a demonstration of unbelievable (evolutionary) stability, said Thomas M. Cronin, an ostracode specialist with the U.S. Geological Survey in a commentary also published in Science. Although ostracodes have evolved and diversified into some 30,000 living or extinct species, these guys have just been plodding along totally unfazed. Ostracrode shells are common in oceans all over the world. Their fossils are often used by scientists to determine the age of ancient seabeds where they are found, as well as to study ancient climate changes and as timetables for the pace of evolution in other animals. At UC Berkeley's Museum of Paleontology, Kenneth Finger, who specializes in the evolution of ostracodes, noted that given the right kind of stable environment, many other organisms might undergo little evolutionary change for millions of years. The horseshoe crab, for example, has remained stable for at least 250 million years, and so have several other crustaceans, Finger said. On the other hand, he said, while many of the soft tissues in the ostracode from the Silurian period show a striking similarity to modern ones, I bet if you could get a DNA sample from the old one, you'd find plenty of differences. Like their ancestors, modern ostracodes have penises that, relative to their body size, are larger than almost any other animal, he said. In the modern species at least, the penis is normally retracted in a coil that extends swiftly during copulation. The reconstruction of the fossil ostracode's organ does not show that configuration. E-mail David Perlman at [EMAIL PROTECTED] ©2003 San Francisco Chronicle | Feedback | FAQ Page A - 2 ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
iTunes at Twenty Million
http://news.com.com/2100-1027_3-5117275.html?tag=nefd_top Apple Computer said Monday that it has now sold more than 20 million songs in fewer than seven months through its iTunes song store. Online buying patterns are also beginning to emerge, pointing to potential ground rules for the new services. Apple director of marketing Peter Lowe said that 45 percent of songs downloaded through iTunes had been sold as part of a full album, rather than in single song form. That indicates many people are still interested in purchasing large numbers of songs, or full albums, despite having a la carte options, Lowe said. Additional research from the NPD Group indicated that iTunes customers bought more music than did ordinary offline consumers over the first four months of that service's operations. The average iTunes customer bought 49 songs online during that time, or the equivalent of about an album a month, compared with the average teenagers purchase of a CD every two months, said NPD vice president Russ Crupnick. The Macintosh audience may not be representative of the larger market, however, since Apple buyers tend to have higher incomes and greater technological sophistication than the PC audience as a whole, and have previously had less access to the free file-swapping services. -- William T Goodall Mail : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web : http://www.wtgab.demon.co.uk Blog : http://radio.weblogs.com/0111221/ 'The true sausage buff will sooner or later want his own meat grinder.' -- Jack Schmidling ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Black Market Body Parts
Several of us had the beginnings of a talk in chat last week on black market body parts and the upswing in people selling off parts of their bodies. There is going to be a Talk of the Nation/afternoon NPR discussion on this today. I think I might be glad I am working through that time. It might be a reality, but oh g, there is enough heart ache in families that help relatives never mind those that feel it is the only thing they have to sell. Dee ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Electromagnetic Fields are Evil and Must Be Destroyed . . .
Ronn!Blankenship wrote: The findings suggest that our attitudes to religion are underpinned by biology -that some brains are physically built to be more receptive to divine thought, and that this explains why religion induces apathy in some and fervour in others. One scientist has even built a kind of God helmet -- a headset that can induce the feeling of an unseen presence by bathing the temples in electromagnetic fields. --Anjana Ahuja, God on the brain, The Times of London, April 17, 2003 Or perhaps it suggests that God works through our parietal lobes, in particular. -- Nick Arnett Phone/fax: (408) 904-7198 [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Battlestar Galactica mini series
Robert Seeberger wrote: I dunno about Six. I figure if you are going to design an artificial woman, your gonna build her more like 7of9. What about Andromeda's Avatar, Rommie? Alberto Monteiro ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Black Market Body Parts
Dee wrote: Several of us had the beginnings of a talk in chat last week on black market body parts and the upswing in people selling off parts of their bodies. Last week, br police arrested a group specialized in the organ black market: they recruited volunteers to sell the kidney, shipped them to Africa, and [there is honesty among thieves] brought them back. Alberto Monteiro ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
RE: iTunes at Twenty Million
-Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of William T Goodall Sent: Tuesday, December 09, 2003 05:17 AM To: Brin-L Subject: iTunes at Twenty Million http://news.com.com/2100-1027_3-5117275.html?tag=nefd_top Apple Computer said Monday that it has now sold more than 20 million songs in fewer than seven months through its iTunes song store. This, to me, is great news. Isn't their goal to sell 100 million tracks by the 1st years anniversary of the Windows launch? Online buying patterns are also beginning to emerge, pointing to potential ground rules for the new services. No kidding! I work all day long with sales metrics to understand item relationships for AMZN, and I'd love to dig into 20MM transactions to see what patterns emerge.. ^_^ marketing Peter Lowe said that 45 percent of songs downloaded through iTunes had been sold as part of a full album, rather than in single song form. That indicates many people are still interested in purchasing large numbers of songs, or full albums, despite having a la carte options, Lowe said. Its also an implied economics (similar to reverse implied odds in poker ^_^) - the more single tracks you purchase from an album, the cheaper the rest of the album gets on a per track basis. Additional research from the NPD Group indicated that iTunes customers bought more music than did ordinary offline consumers over the first four months of that service's operations. The average iTunes customer bought 49 songs online during that time, or the equivalent of about an album a month, compared with the average teenager's purchase of a CD every two months, said NPD vice president Russ Crupnick. A CD every 2 months? Dear god, I buy an album a week, at least ^_^ I'm embarking on a bit of experiment, though. Every time I want to purchase an album, I try to get it via iTunes first. With a batch of recent new releases, though, I'm noticing a trend to include a DVD of bonus footage, extra songs, videos, etc, which makes purchasing the physical copy more attractive. Curse you, marketeers! The Macintosh audience may not be representative of the larger market, however, since Apple buyers tend to have higher incomes and greater technological sophistication than the PC audience as a whole, and have previously had less access to the free file-swapping services. Perhaps, but these numbers also include the Windows iTunes.. -j- ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Battlestar Galactica mini series
Surprised there hasn't been more discussion about this on-list. Did anyone dislike it? I have a running debate on my gaming list about its merits (or de-merits). On its own I thought it was pretty good and entertaining. Compared to the original its MUCH better (I thought the original a bit corny). My friend obviously disagrees (on both points)... Damon. __ Do you Yahoo!? New Yahoo! Photos - easier uploading and sharing. http://photos.yahoo.com/ ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
RE: Battlestar Galactica mini series
-Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Damon Agretto Sent: Tuesday, December 09, 2003 12:30 PM To: Killer Bs Discussion Subject: Re: Battlestar Galactica mini series Surprised there hasn't been more discussion about this on-list. Did anyone dislike it? I have a running debate on my gaming list about its merits (or de-merits). On its own I thought it was pretty good and entertaining. Compared to the original its MUCH better (I thought the original a bit corny). My friend obviously disagrees (on both points)... The universe conspires against my ever seeing ANYTHING BSG related - I missed the original, missed reruns, and TiVo decided I'd prefer to watch Celebrity Poker instead (which, to be honest, is true) Ever since Riverworld, the cancelling of FarScape in favor of Scare Tactics... I've little use for SciFi -j- ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
RE: Battlestar Galactica mini series
From: Damon Agretto [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Surprised there hasn't been more discussion about this on-list. Did anyone dislike it? I taped it but haven't watched it yet. I was watching MNF instead. I did see bits and pieces when I jumped over during commercials and timeouts and wasn't completely turned off (as I was by the first few minutes of _RiverWorld_). I'll be able to jump into the conversation after I'm able to catch up! - jmh ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
RE: Battlestar Galactica mini series
-Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Horn, John Sent: Tuesday, December 09, 2003 12:53 PM To: Killer Bs Discussion Subject: RE: Battlestar Galactica mini series From: Damon Agretto [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Surprised there hasn't been more discussion about this on-list. Did anyone dislike it? I taped it but haven't watched it yet. I was watching MNF instead. MNF? -j- ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
RE: Science Fiction In General...
-Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Julia Thompson Sent: Monday, December 08, 2003 07:01 PM To: Killer Bs Discussion Subject: Re: Science Fiction In General... On Mon, 8 Dec 2003, Travis Edmunds wrote: From: Robert Seeberger [EMAIL PROTECTED] -Tolkien (I suppose THAT'S just a given) Whadya think of the movies? I was disappointed in the Two Towers. It deviated too much from the book(something that always aggravates me) The first flick however, was decent. Interestingly enough, my mother-in-law, who has never read the books and isn't likely to, either, was more confused by the first one when she saw it in the theater than the second one. Not sure just what that means or says, but I'm sure it's something. I just finished watching TTT:EE last night. MUCH improved. -j- ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
RE: Battlestar Galactica mini series
From: Miller, Jeffrey [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] MNF? Sorry, Monday Night Football. The Rams were on, of course... - jmh ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Electromagnetic Fields are Evil and Must Be Destroyed . . .
On 9 Dec 2003, at 6:33 pm, Nick Arnett wrote: Ronn!Blankenship wrote: The findings suggest that our attitudes to religion are underpinned by biology -that some brains are physically built to be more receptive to divine thought, and that this explains why religion induces apathy in some and fervour in others. One scientist has even built a kind of God helmet -- a headset that can induce the feeling of an unseen presence by bathing the temples in electromagnetic fields. --Anjana Ahuja, God on the brain, The Times of London, April 17, 2003 Or perhaps it suggests that God works through our parietal lobes, in particular. Or that these sensations indicate a brain disease which can be artificially induced. -- William T Goodall Mail : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web : http://www.wtgab.demon.co.uk Blog : http://radio.weblogs.com/0111221/ How long a minute is depends on which side of the bathroom door you're on. ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Battlestar Galactica mini series
From: Alberto Monteiro [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-To: Killer Bs Discussion [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Killer Bs Discussion [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Battlestar Galactica mini series Date: Tue, 9 Dec 2003 14:03:36 + What about Andromeda's Avatar, Rommie? Alberto Monteiro Mmm.Rommie... Or perhaps one better.thinking of Star Trek Enterprise _ Protect your PC - get McAfee.com VirusScan Online http://clinic.mcafee.com/clinic/ibuy/campaign.asp?cid=3963 ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Electromagnetic Fields are Evil and Must Be Destroyed . . .
William T Goodall wrote: On 9 Dec 2003, at 6:33 pm, Nick Arnett wrote: Ronn!Blankenship wrote: The findings suggest that our attitudes to religion are underpinned by biology -that some brains are physically built to be more receptive to divine thought, and that this explains why religion induces apathy in some and fervour in others. One scientist has even built a kind of God helmet -- a headset that can induce the feeling of an unseen presence by bathing the temples in electromagnetic fields. --Anjana Ahuja, God on the brain, The Times of London, April 17, 2003 Or perhaps it suggests that God works through our parietal lobes, in particular. Or that these sensations indicate a brain disease which can be artificially induced. -- Nick Arnett Phone/fax: (408) 904-7198 [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Superfluous quotation marks are evil and must be suppressed
I am tired of all of the unnecessary quotation marks that people seem to need to put around various words and phrases. My weariness at seeing so many extra quotation marks grows from an increasing conviction that they are merely a substitute for good writing, by people who don't know how to indicate emphasis on certain words or phrases. Nothing to do with this list, just something I had to share. Nick -- Nick Arnett Phone/fax: (408) 904-7198 [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Battlestar Galactica mini series
Travis Edmunds wrote: What about Andromeda's Avatar, Rommie? Mmm.Rommie... Or perhaps one better.thinking of Star Trek Enterprise Is there any nice android - or shoud I say _ginoid_? - in Enterprise? Alberto Monteiro ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Superfluous quotation marks are evil and must be suppressed
Nick Arnett wrote: I am tired of all of the unnecessary quotation marks that people seem to need to put around various words and phrases. I think we should quotation marks when the word being quotes is used with an ironic value. For example, if I believe that the police of my country is ineffective, I will say quote brazilian police /quote. Alberto Monteiro ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Battlestar Galactica mini series
From: Alberto Monteiro [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-To: Killer Bs Discussion [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Killer Bs Discussion [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Battlestar Galactica mini series Date: Wed, 10 Dec 2003 02:32:39 + Is there any nice android - or shoud I say _ginoid_? - in Enterprise? Alberto Monteiro No, but there is a nice Vulcan. A really nice Vulcan. Love her personality.. _ Add photos to your e-mail with MSN 8. Get 2 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/photospgmarket=en-caRU=http%3a%2f%2fjoin.msn.com%2f%3fpage%3dmisc%2fspecialoffers%26pgmarket%3den-ca ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
RE: Superfluous quotation marks are evil and must be suppressed
From: Nick Arnett [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-To: Killer Bs Discussion [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Superfluous quotation marks are evil and must be suppressed Date: Tue, 09 Dec 2003 16:16:48 -0800 I am tired of all of the unnecessary quotation marks that people seem to need to put around various words and phrases. My weariness at seeing so many extra quotation marks grows from an increasing conviction that they are merely a substitute for good writing, by people who don't know how to indicate emphasis on certain words or phrases. Nothing to do with this list, just something I had to share. Nick Well, that was a little superfluous in and of itself. What, with the resultant backwash being a veritable tsunami of self defeat. One has a duty however, to overlook such brash and barbed broadcasts, as to err is to be Human. I shall leave you now with a quotation. A word to the wise is wasted, the stupid people are the ones that need it - Solomon Short Travis _ Protect your PC - get McAfee.com VirusScan Online http://clinic.mcafee.com/clinic/ibuy/campaign.asp?cid=3963 ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Letter from Baghdad (crosspost)
This was posted by ABFAS on the other list. I haven't read all of it yet, it is very long, but it's quite informative/interesting/revealing. http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?031124fa_fact1_b A rather long snippet: In the summer of 2002, when the Administration began leaning toward an invasion of Iraq, Haass asked Erdmann to analyze twentieth-century postwar reconstructions. In fifteen single-spaced classified pagesepic length for a State Department memoErdmann applied the ideas in his dissertation to a series of case studies from the two world wars through more recent conflicts such as Bosnia and Kosovo. One of Erdmanns fundamental conclusions was that long-term success depended on international support. In the short run, he explained to me one evening, the foundation of everything is security, which partly depended on having sufficient numbers of troops. You dont have to look too far to see that isnt the case here. And I dont fault the people who are here. Theres no way any fault should be put on the kids in the 3rd I.D. or the brigade commanders. The question is, why werent more people put in? That was the concern of my projectwere we prepared to do what it took in the postwar phase? Last fall, Secretary of State Colin Powell circulated Erdmanns memo to Vice-President Dick Cheney, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, and the national-security adviser, Condoleezza Rice. Maybe it wasnt read, Erdmann said. Erdmanns view that rebuilding Iraq would require a significant, sustained effort was echoed by the State Departments Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs. Throughout 2002, sixteen groups of Iraqi exiles, cordinated by a bureau official named Thomas S. Warrick, researched potential problems in postwar Iraq, from the electricity grid to the justice system. The thousands of pages that emerged from this effort, which became known as the Future of Iraq Project, presented a sobering view of the countrys physical and human infrastructureand suggested the need for a long-term, expensive commitment. The Pentagon also spent time developing a postwar scenario, but, because of Rumsfelds battle with Powell over foreign policy, it didnt cordinate its ideas with the State Department. The planning was directed, in an atmosphere of near-total secrecy, by Douglas J. Feith, the Under-Secretary of Defense for Policy, and William Luti, his deputy. According to a Defense Department official, Feiths team pointedly excluded Pentagon officials with experience in postwar reconstructions. The fear, the official said, was that such people would offer pessimistic scenarios, which would challenge Rumsfelds aversion to using troops as peacekeepers; if leaked, these scenarios might dampen public enthusiasm for the war. You got the impression in this exercise that we didnt harness the best and brightest minds in a concerted effort, Thomas E. White, the Secretary of the Army during this period, told me. With the Department of Defense the first issue was Weve got to control this thingso everyone else was suspect. White was fired in April. Feiths team, he said, had the mind-set that this would be a relatively straightforward, manageable task, because this would be a war of liberation and therefore the reconstruction would be short-lived. -- Doug ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
RE: Superfluous quotation marks are evil and must be suppressed
From: Nick Arnett [EMAIL PROTECTED] I am tired of all of the unnecessary quotation marks that people seem to need to put around various words and phrases. My weariness at seeing so many extra quotation marks grows from an increasing conviction that they are merely a substitute for good writing, by people who don't know how to indicate emphasis on certain words or phrases. Back in high school, one of my teachers ranted about this, and then told us a good rule of them for when they are appropriate. She said that putting quotations around a word/term means you are saying it needs to be defined/explained. That might be because you are introducing an unfamiliar technical term, or, more commonly these days, as scare quotes, using the word/term in a sarcastic sense or are disputing it. Ie: You might use freedom fighters in quotes, if you actually consider them terrorists. I don't really see completely misplaced quotes too often, but often see them (over)used in assorted political diatribes. I.e.: referencing about Bush's 2000 election. _ Wonder if the latest virus has gotten to your computer? Find out. Run the FREE McAfee online computer scan! http://clinic.mcafee.com/clinic/ibuy/campaign.asp?cid=3963 ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
