Re: brin-l-books stats
David wrote: I never read this one, so I resisted the temptation to rate it "useless". You were tempted to rate a book you haven't read? I did rate the C.S. Lewis books, _Perlandra_ etc, as "useless". Mentioning other planets does not make an allegory into science fiction. (Similarly for _Animal Farm_.) Mentioning? Out of the Silent Planet was set on Mars, Peralandra on Venus. Most of the science was ridiculous by todayâs standards but the creation of alien species to tell a story, however allegorical, is really the reason these books are classified as s.f. The selection of books seems to be very haphazard. I sort of admired the humor in Harry Harrison's _Stainless Steel Rat_ series. But I couldn't remember which ones I had read, and so just voted for the first one as a proxy for the series. And in a similar vein, why was Keith Laumer's _Retief_ series omitted? These two could be partially remedied by giving most authors an "other books" entry. Then if I wanted to vote for Michael Swanwick's _The Iron Dragon's Daughter_, I could approximate my true feelings by voting for it as an "other book". As is, I had not read the two books of his that were listed, and simply did not vote on him at all. (Not that this would have helped me vote for Jeff Noon's _Vurt_, since none of his books are listed...) William will add books to the list as they are suggested - I believe that's how most, if not all of the books listed got there. -- Doug ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: All good things...
--- Julia Thompson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > What was the first? > > Julia Hi Julia. The first was Excelsior Education, which I founded in Boston in the fall of 2000 to provide mathematics enrichment to highly gifted students in the Boston area. It was fun, and quite profitable, since I had no expenses :-) = Gautam Mukunda [EMAIL PROTECTED] "Freedom is not free" http://www.mukunda.blogspot.com __ Do you Yahoo!? Friends. Fun. Try the all-new Yahoo! Messenger. http://messenger.yahoo.com/ ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: brin-l-books stats
William T Goodall wrote: > > Just to make things even more exciting I have calculated this table > using a simple trimmed mean where a single 'best' and a single 'worst' > rating are excluded and the remainder averaged. Since I'm throwing away > two scores for each book each book has to be rated a minimum of five > times rather than three. > > There are now 1416 book ratings by 23 users. If you forgot where it > was:- > > http://books.scattersoft.com > > So this is the SF top ten... > > Hyperion, Dan Simmons 1 ... I never read this one, so I resisted the temptation to rate it "useless". I did rate the C.S. Lewis books, _Perlandra_ etc, as "useless". Mentioning other planets does not make an allegory into science fiction. (Similarly for _Animal Farm_.) It's a good site, but I do have some criticisms that I can't seem to repress. The voting process is not at all intuitive, where one has to select the votes to change (from "none"), go to another screen, enter the numbers with drop-down menues, and then confirm the votes. Why not just have a drop-down menu for each book, with an additional option "not voted on" preselected? The selection of books seems to be very haphazard. I sort of admired the humor in Harry Harrison's _Stainless Steel Rat_ series. But I couldn't remember which ones I had read, and so just voted for the first one as a proxy for the series. And in a similar vein, why was Keith Laumer's _Retief_ series omitted? These two could be partially remedied by giving most authors an "other books" entry. Then if I wanted to vote for Michael Swanwick's _The Iron Dragon's Daughter_, I could approximate my true feelings by voting for it as an "other book". As is, I had not read the two books of his that were listed, and simply did not vote on him at all. (Not that this would have helped me vote for Jeff Noon's _Vurt_, since none of his books are listed...) ---David ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Counting
There have been 301 conversations since this first message I received on gmail. I participated in 63 of them. I was curious about the number of emails but gmail counts conversations based on subject line instead. So 60 conversations a week with from 1 to 69 messages. Gary "Big Mouth" Denton #1 on Google for easter lemming notebook 1st! On Mon, 26 Apr 2004 16:47:47 -0500, The Fool <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > A terrorist targets liberals ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Day After Tomorrow movie [WITH spoiler]
In a message dated 5/31/2004 6:19:27 PM US Mountain Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: My son and I thought it was the best comedy so far this year. Every possible disaster movie cliché was packed into the movie. My wife kept making shushing sounds at us because we were laughing out loud throughout the whole movie. Dan M. SPQR no...that's not right. Ah. SPOILER * * * * * * Do you see any more reoccurring roles for the now standard, clinched, and to be expected NYC black man and dog in any other movies, SF, disaster, or other. In I. Robot, will a dog piss on a robot's leg? How about having them show up in the next Woody Allen New York City movie, only to storm off camera saying that non of these people are real. Could the dog be trained to bite someone's naked ass in a NYPD Blue episode? Have they made a guest shot on Letterman yet? Vilyehm ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Day After Tomorrow movie [no spoilers]
- Original Message - From: "Gary Nunn" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Brin Mail List" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Saturday, May 29, 2004 1:28 PM Subject: Day After Tomorrow movie [no spoilers] > > I watched this movie yesterday and I left the theater a little bit > stunned and disturbed. > > I realize that the meteorological science was stretched a bit, In the same sense that a F6 tornado is a bit windy. :-) It was so bad it was good. > The special effects were exceptional (in my humble opinion), the acting > was fair to good and the story was well written. > > I thought it was well worth seeing on the big screen. > > A word of warning though, if global disaster movies tend to scare or > disturb you, you should consider passing on this one, it was very > intense. My son and I thought it was the best comedy so far this year. Every possible disaster movie cliché was packed into the movie. My wife kept making shushing sounds at us because we were laughing out loud throughout the whole movie. Dan M. ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: brin-l-books stats
- Original Message - From: "Andrew Paul" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Killer Bs Discussion" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, May 31, 2004 7:33 PM Subject: RE: brin-l-books stats > From: Robert Seeberger [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > - Original Message - > From: "Andrew Paul" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > > From: William T Goodall [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > There are now 1416 book ratings by 23 users. If you forgot where it > > was:- > > > >http://books.scattersoft.com > > >So this is the SF top ten... > > >Hyperion, Dan Simmons 1 > > I will have to go and vote, if for no other reason > then to overturn this travesty of literary justice. > > ** > Excellent book! > What's your problem with it? > Yes, it was a not bad book, but I don't think it sits alone as the best SF book ever written. And anyway, I want my turn at rigging a net poll ! ** LOL! It's an artifact of the small sample. It only reflects the amassed opinion of those who voted for it. (Which reminds me..I need to go and vote there myself) Next time a crusade pops up, I'll message you quick like! xponent Non-Hacker, Spin Smacker Maru rob ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Sticking it to Hannity
- Original Message - From: "Kevin Tarr" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Killer Bs Discussion" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, May 31, 2004 10:35 AM Subject: Re: Sticking it to Hannity > > > Why do you say he isn't likable? Hamster Boy has all the personality of a high school jock (The kind that gets killed in the first reel of a film). >Not defending him but comparing it to the > presidential barbecue question*: would you rather have Al F. or Sean at a > backyard party? You're joking right? Who in their right mind wouldn't choose Franken? The guy is a SNL alumnus. You do recall that the 80s were "The Al Franken Decade" and that those "Al Franken Decade" coins are highly collectable! Seriously though, Hannity is not anyone I would care to talk to, but I would highly enjoy listening to Franken talk, even if he were just reading the phone book. The guy is a fairly awesome humorist. > > *Somewhere was written, "I don't care if Bush, Gore, or Kerry shows up as > long as they bring their daughters." Clinton wasn't mentioned. I don't find their daughters interesting (at least as much as I have seen of them). But of the rest, Clinton is the only one who sounds interesting as a "beer across a table" conversationalist. Gore, for a conversation in a library. And its a toss up or a tie with Bush and Kerry to watch WWE Wrestling with. > > I don't go out of my way to listen, it's my fourth choice when he's on > live, but second after seven PM, when it's a tape delay show on a different > station. I don't like the show and he's a poor broadcaster, but better than > hearing the gloryholes or phillthies play baseball. I've never been to the > website. I like Drudge's site because of all the handy links he leaves laying around. I like Glenn Beck too. > > Does this site or radio show complain about CNN's polls? What, CNN isn't > partisan? > CNN may be partisan at times, but it isn't promoting blatant spin like Hannity or Limbaugh. At its worst it might be like current Drudge, but that's a stretch since they *do* have to at least appear to have journalistic integrity. Hannity, Limbaugh, and Drudge are not under any such constraints as far as their websites are concerned. xponent Smiter Of Hamsters Maru rob ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
RE: brin-l-books stats
> From: Robert Seeberger [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > - Original Message - > From: "Andrew Paul" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > > From: William T Goodall [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > There are now 1416 book ratings by 23 users. If you forgot where it > > was:- > > > >http://books.scattersoft.com > > >So this is the SF top ten... > > >Hyperion, Dan Simmons 1 > > I will have to go and vote, if for no other reason > then to overturn this travesty of literary justice. > > ** > Excellent book! > What's your problem with it? > Yes, it was a not bad book, but I don't think it sits alone as the best SF book ever written. And anyway, I want my turn at rigging a net poll ! Andrew ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: brin-l-books stats
- Original Message - From: "Andrew Paul" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Killer Bs Discussion" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, May 31, 2004 6:52 PM Subject: RE: brin-l-books stats > From: William T Goodall [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > There are now 1416 book ratings by 23 users. If you forgot where it > was:- > >http://books.scattersoft.com >So this is the SF top ten... >Hyperion, Dan Simmons 1 I will have to go and vote, if for no other reason then to overturn this travesty of literary justice. ** Excellent book! What's your problem with it? xponent Cantos Maru rob ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
RE: brin-l-books stats
> From: William T Goodall [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > There are now 1416 book ratings by 23 users. If you forgot where it > was:- > >http://books.scattersoft.com >So this is the SF top ten... >Hyperion, Dan Simmons 1 I will have to go and vote, if for no other reason then to overturn this travesty of literary justice. Andrew ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
brin-l-books stats
Just to make things even more exciting I have calculated this table using a simple trimmed mean where a single 'best' and a single 'worst' rating are excluded and the remainder averaged. Since I'm throwing away two scores for each book each book has to be rated a minimum of five times rather than three. There are now 1416 book ratings by 23 users. If you forgot where it was:- http://books.scattersoft.com So this is the SF top ten... Hyperion, Dan Simmons 1 Foundation, Isaac Asimov =2 Foundation and Empire, Isaac Asimov =2 Second Foundation, Isaac Asimov =2 Slaughterhouse-Five,KurtVonnegut=3 The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula KLe Guin =3 Dune, Frank Herbert =4 Gateway,FrederikPohl=4 The Fall of Hyperion, Dan Simmons =4 A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter MMiller =5 A Deepness in the Sky, Vernor Vinge =5 The Man in the High Castle, Philip KDick=5 A Fire upon the Deep, Vernor Vinge 6 Ringworld, Larry Niven 7 The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, Robert AHeinlein=8 To Your Scattered Bodies, GoPhilip Jose Farmer =8 Blood Music,GregBear 9 Cryptonomicon, NealStephenson =10 Startide Rising,David Brin=10 The Reality Dysfunction,Peter F Hamilton=10 -- 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: Reviews for Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ"
From: William T Goodall <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Reply-To: Killer Bs Discussion <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: Killer Bs Discussion <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: Reviews for Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" Date: Mon, 31 May 2004 00:48:49 +0100 On 30 May 2004, at 10:23 pm, Travis Edmunds wrote: From: William T Goodall <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Reply-To: Killer Bs Discussion <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: Killer Bs Discussion <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: Reviews for Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" Date: Wed, 26 May 2004 19:01:27 +0100 On 26 May 2004, at 3:44 pm, Travis Edmunds wrote: From: William T Goodall <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Reply-To: Killer Bs Discussion <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: Killer Bs Discussion <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: Reviews for Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" Date: Tue, 25 May 2004 18:56:25 +0100 On 25 May 2004, at 5:27 pm, Travis Edmunds wrote: From: "Robert Seeberger" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >The Devil "is" us, but then so is God. > > > > It is entirely possible that God and his Devil do indeed exist. At the least as some sort of natural metaphor. Or perhaps as tangible beings that we cannot yet identify. Who really knows? Or they may be kinds of cheese, possibly goat. Maybe vegetarian. Perhaps even processed... I dunno about the cheese bit...I'd say they're more likely to be different types of wild berries. Concur? Heretic! Allright, allright! They're cheese... -Travis "and berries" Edmunds I suppose they could be White Stilton with Cranberries. But apricot pieces seems more likely... Yeah, for sure! Swiss with apricot pieces. Deep Theological Discussion Maru* After some deep theological THOUGHT, I came to the conclusion that green peas aren't entirely out of the question...combined with Kraft thin slices. *So is 'Little Nicky' or 'Dogma' the film with the most profound theological insight made in the last thirty years? Seeing as how Kevin Smith absolutely RULES, I would be inclined to go with Dogma. However, one must not underestimate the 'profound theological insight' of Little Nicky. -Travis "profoundly insightful theologian" Edmunds _ STOP MORE SPAM with the MSN Premium and get 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?pgmarket=en-ca&page=byoa/prem&xAPID=1994&DI=1034&SU=http://hotmail.com/enca&HL=Market_MSNIS_Taglines ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Bullying and Battering
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > In a message dated 5/31/2004 7:20:18 AM US Mountain Standard Time, > [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > > > My brain hurts.and I don't want to be tested on it later. > > Is your brain feeling battered? :) > > If I say yes, are you going to throw it into the deep frier? > Vilyehm > --- > And no answering that you > can't find a monk intellectual > enough to call deep. Damn. There goes the easy response. :) (Actually, the only monk I've really known was deep. And a very interesting person.) OK, how's this: No, we're using the deep fryer for the turkey this year, so it would have to be the roasting pan. Julia ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Top Ten Least Exciting Druge Report Headlines
Top Ten Least-Exciting Drudge Report Headlines 10. "Bea Arthur Sex Video Released" David B., Atlanta, GA 9. "Dan Quayle Postage Stamp Makes Its Debut" Robin H., Tampa, FL 8. "Coleslaw: It Really Is Delicious" Jeffrey S., Buffalo, NY 7. "UN Sanctions Al-Qaeda For Abusing 'U after Q' Rule" Marc D., Venice 6. "It's Official: Americans Enjoy Pie!" Paul K., Kansas City, MO 5. "Michael Moore Marries Giant Doughnut" Jess R., Morrisville, NC 4. "Nader At The Beach (Exclusive Photos!)" Bruce A., Fairfax Station, VA 3. "Richard Simmons Rumored To Be Gay" Mark L., Knoxville, TN 2. "Scientists Clone Dennis Kucinich" John B., Montgomery, AL 1. "I'm Not Wearing Pants! Developing..." Ryan C., Wilmington, DE http://www.cbs.com/latenight/lateshow/top_ten/contest/ xponent Developing Maru rob ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Bullying and Battering
On Mon, 31 May 2004 02:03:02 -0400, Damon Agretto <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Saturday he seems to write that a period of nearly four hundred years > > is too short a time for a "lively literary and scholarly environment" > > to develop under Islam in Spain but the two - three hundred years of > > Catholicism must have been the roots of it. ??? Perhaps I am > > misinterpreting something there. I'd better quote that: > > Yes, you are misinterpreting. What I was pointing out is that the scholarly > liveliness of the Medieval Muslim world could only be based on the material > it recovered from the old Roman areas, areas that were now Christian. They > recovered such materials and reintroduced them into Europe at a later date. Just some brief interjections before BBQ. It is not clear and seems unlikely that the Moors in Spain were using materials found in Spain. As a center for learning for the Islamic world, why Islamic progress dimmed after Spain was reconquered, it had access to materials from all over the Mediterranean. > > > I would say this argument is not only contradictory but > > Nothing contradictory about it if you consider where these materials came > from. > > > To continue then, now that I had earlier agreed with him about there > > not being a Dark Ages, Damon writes "that Europe was too busy trying > > to survive to develop a lively literary or scholarly movement during > > this period (specifically the so-called Dark Ages)." ??? > > Just because there was no lively intellectual development during this period > does not automatically make it a dark age. There WAS literary and scholarly > development during this period, but not on the same level as before or > after. But there were other things going on too, the aformentioned fusion of > Classical, Germanic, and Judeo-christian mentalities. It was a time of > ferment and development, and a time of struggle. But it was not "dark" > either. I had already agreed it was not Dark. I am not sure how a lack of "lively intellectual development " as you state and again your "literary and scholarly development... but not on the same level as before or after" could be described then? Are you suggesting it was the Dim Ages? > No, what I'm saying is that the influence of Augustine's and others writing > caused a fundamental shift in attitudes towards classical learning. I > certainly do see a break here in mentalities. Perhaps, I would have to study this more. It may be that it was an improvement, recognizing and using Plato was useful at this time was an improvement from tossing all the pagans out. Recognizing and using Aristotle centuries later was another improvement. Note that it was Aristotelian arguments used against Galileo later so while this was progress it was a slow evolution and had further to go. > > > Damon has objected more than once that the Church was engaged in a > > struggle to survive > > I never objected to that. You are misrepresenting what I said. A misunderstanding here. You had objected to my arguments using as a basis that the Church was engaged in a struggle to survive. > indicates he > > acknowledges it was suppressing liturgy and laws it disagreed with. > > Which is not the same as supressing classical learning either. I don't know, where do you draw the line? Some classical writers and philosophers would be out of favor with the Church, like Aristotle was until he was accepted centuries later. I'm still agreeing with Damon. A Dim but not Dark Age and a very slow evolution toward somewhat more openness in ideas and debate. Of course this implies that before Augustine the Church was very dark. Gary Denton - Pool and BBQ Maru #1 on Google for lemming lesbian spank inferno ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Sticking it to Hannity
On Mon, 31 May 2004 11:35:28 -0400, Kevin Tarr <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >Now Sean Hannity isn't a very likeable fellow, but The Majority Report > >(and by extension AAR also I believe) really have it in for him. They > >also seemed to object to an "unscientific" poll on a partisan site. So > >the proposal made was that everyone listening go vote at Hannity's > >site and they even suggested a simple method for voting multiple times > >(it doesn't involve any hacks). > > >rob > > Why do you say he isn't likable? Not defending him but comparing it to the > presidential barbecue question*: would you rather have Al F. or Sean at a > backyard party? > > *Somewhere was written, "I don't care if Bush, Gore, or Kerry shows up as > long as they bring their daughters." Clinton wasn't mentioned. > > I don't go out of my way to listen, it's my fourth choice when he's on > live, but second after seven PM, when it's a tape delay show on a different > station. I don't like the show and he's a poor broadcaster, but better than > hearing the gloryholes or phillthies play baseball. I've never been to the > website. > > Does this site or radio show complain about CNN's polls? What, CNN isn't > partisan? > > Kevin T. - VRWC I would invite Al Franken to my Texas BBQ. Sean is a lying blowhard. Of course, the other side will say that about Al. Spinsanity - which attacks all sides of the political spectrum - had this to say about Hannity. The blowhard next door The boyish Sean Hannity seems poised to inherit Rush Limbaugh's mantle. And he isn't letting little things like facts get in his way to the top. http://www.spinsanity.org/columns/20020826.html Distortions and lies are par for the course throughout 'Let Freedom Ring' because, without them, Hannity wouldn't be able to make the continual stream of over-the-top accusations against liberals. BTW, I never vote multiple times in an online poll. Gary Denton - Invite a Blowhard for BBQ Day Maru #1 on Google for Easter Lemming ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Sticking it to Hannity
At 09:59 AM 5/31/2004, you wrote: List volume has been down lately(pretty much every list I am on), so it hasn't been taking up loads of my time like it often does. So last Thursday night I was goofing around, surfing the web and ended up listening to Air America Radios webcast. The show on at the time was The Majority Report with Garafalo and Seder. It was an interesting show, but prior to one of their commercial breaks, Sam Seder mentioned a "Poll" at hannity.com where surfers had a choice between Bush, Kerry, and Nader, and had Bush Winning with 95%. Now Sean Hannity isn't a very likeable fellow, but The Majority Report (and by extension AAR also I believe) really have it in for him. They also seemed to object to an "unscientific" poll on a partisan site. So the proposal made was that everyone listening go vote at Hannity's site and they even suggested a simple method for voting multiple times (it doesn't involve any hacks). rob Why do you say he isn't likable? Not defending him but comparing it to the presidential barbecue question*: would you rather have Al F. or Sean at a backyard party? *Somewhere was written, "I don't care if Bush, Gore, or Kerry shows up as long as they bring their daughters." Clinton wasn't mentioned. I don't go out of my way to listen, it's my fourth choice when he's on live, but second after seven PM, when it's a tape delay show on a different station. I don't like the show and he's a poor broadcaster, but better than hearing the gloryholes or phillthies play baseball. I've never been to the website. Does this site or radio show complain about CNN's polls? What, CNN isn't partisan? Kevin T. - VRWC Rainy days 'n Mondays ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Bullying and Battering
In a message dated 5/31/2004 7:20:18 AM US Mountain Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > My brain hurts.and I don't want to be tested on it later. Is your brain feeling battered? :) If I say yes, are you going to throw it into the deep frier? Vilyehm --- And no answering that you can't find a monk intellectual enough to call deep. ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Sticking it to Hannity
Robert Seeberger wrote: > One thing I think both sides came away with is that these silly > unscientific polls on partisan sites don't amount to anything, but can > stir up a ton of crap. Any poll on a conservative site has a good chance of being broadcast to a bunch of non-conservatives via mailing lists. And the non-conservatives will hit the heck out of it to let the conservatives know what they think. (General goal is to get the non-conservative view with over 50%, it seems.) Julia ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Bullying and Battering
Damon Agretto wrote: > > To expand on the idea of continuity vs. revolution. > > Gary seems to be suggesting that there must be a zero-sum belief here; > either you believe in continuity or you don't. I completely reject this. In > certain cases, there is continuity. In others there is not. Is it kind of like intellectual punctuated equilibrium? That's what it looks like to me -- there's a prevailing worldview for a period of time, and then a shift over a relatively short period, and then a different stable worldview for awhile. But the shifts seem to be coming faster recently. Maybe we're heading toward a singularity. Julia how many ideas did I throw into that one, now? ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Bullying and Battering
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > My brain hurts.and I don't want to be tested on it later. Is your brain feeling battered? :) Julia ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Sticking it to Hannity
List volume has been down lately(pretty much every list I am on), so it hasn't been taking up loads of my time like it often does. So last Thursday night I was goofing around, surfing the web and ended up listening to Air America Radios webcast. The show on at the time was The Majority Report with Garafalo and Seder. It was an interesting show, but prior to one of their commercial breaks, Sam Seder mentioned a "Poll" at hannity.com where surfers had a choice between Bush, Kerry, and Nader, and had Bush Winning with 95%. Now Sean Hannity isn't a very likeable fellow, but The Majority Report (and by extension AAR also I believe) really have it in for him. They also seemed to object to an "unscientific" poll on a partisan site. So the proposal made was that everyone listening go vote at Hannity's site and they even suggested a simple method for voting multiple times (it doesn't involve any hacks). Being bored this sounded like enormous, albeit tedious fun. So I went and voted for Kerry a couple of hundred times. By bedtime, Kerry was up to 50%, Bush at 49% and Nader with 1%. AFAIWasC that sent an adequate message to the dittohead set, so I went to bed satisfied that I had played my part in the political game of dirty tricks. Before I headed to work the next morning the poll had changed with Kerry having 75% and Bush and Nader at 23% and 2% respectively. So I went to work wearing a . When I returned home from work, and after reading my email, I decided to follow up on the mischief to see if there was any fallout. (Who knows, maybe Hannity would threaten to prosecute me) What I found was quite a bit of blog groupie talk on both sides of the fence across several sites. The upshot was that Hannity's webmaster had not only shut down the poll, but had deleted it, even from the archives(quite reasonable IMO since it *had* been exploited) and replaced it with a poll with only anti-Dem choices: What is your reaction to Al Gore after hearing his rants about President Bush? *Finally lost it *Needs more meds *Should find a peaceful island Very crafty Mr. webmaster dude! The blog responses were the most entertaining. Majority Report Radio's blog was quite self congratulatory and many were looking for new polls to conquer. While I was sleeping (slacking some might say) one guy had written a voting program in Java(voting for Nader actually), another guy wrote one in C, and another in VB. (don't have any idea if they were effective or how much a part they played in the outcome) Hannity's poll and the exploit were compared to the Diebold situation and everyone seemed ready to take on Bush in November. Over on Free Republic things were quite different. The Freeps (as they style themselves) only discovered what was happening 10 hours too late, and were desperately trying to "save" the poll by voting once per person. There was a lot of lather, and blathering about how the site had been hacked (it wasn't), how it was a liberal invasion(it was), and confusion as to why they couldn't change the vote by voting. IOW they had no clue as to how it was done. (Really, it was just too simple) But everyone seemed ready to take on Kerry in November. One thing I think both sides came away with is that these silly unscientific polls on partisan sites don't amount to anything, but can stir up a ton of crap. Myself, I would have thought Hannity had more adherents. Before the exploit about 2000 votes had been cast on the poll, and the exploit added 18,000 to 22,000 more. (The poll ended with 25,000 votes before it was cancelled which means Hannity fans and freeps and the like were able to muster an extra 3 or 4 thousand votes by that time) http://www.majorityreportradio.com/weblog/index.php http://www.hannity.com http://www.majorityreportradio.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-comments.cgi?entry_id=203 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1143891/posts xponent http://www.pythonline.com/plugs/idle/FCCSong.mp3 Maru rob ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Scholars lecture on 'Buffy' show
At 06:21 AM 5/31/04, William T Goodall wrote: http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/ Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1085955306460&call_pageid=968867495754&col=9 69483191630 "Asked in a recent interview how he felt about the fact his texts are dissected by scholars, Whedon said: "I take these things enormously seriously, and so do my writers. We don't come at it from a point of view of `that would be cool.' If somebody does I fire them. "Cool is easy to come by, but the heart of a thing, what really matters is why we're there ... the oddities within myself and the oddities within the show that we're not aware of or in control of/ are absolutely worthy of study. Did I expect people would get together and take them seriously? I did not ... I find it enormously gratifying." How gratifying he might have found hearing 300 scholars who had just finished their chicken-and-Jack-Daniel's pie belting out his songs, we can only imagine." It might depend on whether they could carry a tune in a No. 3 washtub . . . -- Ronn! :) ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Scholars lecture on 'Buffy' show
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/ Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1085955306460&call_pageid=968867495754&col=9 69483191630 "Asked in a recent interview how he felt about the fact his texts are dissected by scholars, Whedon said: "I take these things enormously seriously, and so do my writers. We don't come at it from a point of view of `that would be cool.' If somebody does I fire them. "Cool is easy to come by, but the heart of a thing, what really matters is why we're there ... the oddities within myself and the oddities within the show that we're not aware of or in control of/ are absolutely worthy of study. Did I expect people would get together and take them seriously? I did not ... I find it enormously gratifying." How gratifying he might have found hearing 300 scholars who had just finished their chicken-and-Jack-Daniel's pie belting out his songs, we can only imagine." -- William T Goodall Mail : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web : http://www.wtgab.demon.co.uk Blog : http://radio.weblogs.com/0111221/ Those who study history are doomed to repeat it. ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Bullying and Battering
Andrew said: > Ahh, yes, truly said. > Do you think it is sufficiently illuminating > to be classified as a Renaissance? An Enlightenment, surely. Rich GCU One Line Reply ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
RE: Bullying and Battering
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > My brain hurts.and I don't want to be tested on it later. > But oh what fun readings from them both. Two intellectual > lights much much better than any old flame. William Taylor > Ahh, yes, truly said. Do you think it is sufficiently illuminating to be classified as a Renaissance? Andrew ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
