Re: [SPAM] RE: SF in college
Travis Edmunds asked George A: Next term I'm taking Major American Authors. Do you know who you'll be covering? -Travis According to the course syllabus, here is the list with comments by the instructor (who I've take before, he's excellent): Robert Frost's Poems, with introduction and commentary by Louis Untermeyer. (Selections include well-known lyrics such as The Road Not Taken as well as dramatic narratives such as Home Burial, where meaning and intent of the poet are less obvious.) The Awakening, Kate Chopin. (A pioneering work of feminist literature from the late nineteenth century, which presents a troubled upper class wife.) Pudd'nhead Wilson, Mark Twain. (Twain's second serious attack on slavery-written after Huckleberry Finn. Hilarious and savage, showing Twain's pessimism toward the end of his life.) The Big Sea, Langston Hughes. (Autobiographical novel with typical Langston Hughes' tone and sensitivity. Hughes' formative years up to about age 38, including The Harlem Renaissance.) The Crucible, Arthur Miller. (Historically faithful to the essence of what happened in the Salem Witch Trials, 1692, and a symbolic story for the HUAC/Joseph McCarthy witch-hunting of the 1950's.) The Sweet Hereafter, Russell Banks. (Account of a tragic bus accident which took the lives of fourteen children and how a small town in upper New York State tried to cope with the disaster. Absorbing but depressing-from a previous student of English 439.) -- George A ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Irregular Question: DVD?RW
I realized that I still had my work account directory remotely mounted in /usr (over the internet, before we had much security in place), and now it (including several of my project development trees) was busily being deleted via my home pc. That is really horrible. I can imagine myself doing just that. I don't always remember my remote mounts (which would be local, without security) Thank you for the warning. -- Robert J. Chassell [EMAIL PROTECTED] GnuPG Key ID: 004B4AC8 http://www.rattlesnake.com http://www.teak.cc ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
How to thank a big company
Sometimes I'm particularly happy to have friends in the newspaper business. http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/columnists/leigh_weimers/10429642.htm Nick ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Are You A Neocon? Neocon Quiz
On Dec 15, 2004, at 5:23 PM, Robert J. Chassell wrote: I find it fascinating that neither they nor anyone else are talking of spending that amount of money on alternatives to fossil fuel. With tens of billions spent on development, I bet the price of alternatives would come down below the costs of fossil fuels (including the military costs of defending routes and such). Speaking of military, what do we imagine will happen when fossil fuels get low enough in reserve that there just aren't enough to go around any more? Either the world's armed forces will eventually grind to a stop, or there'll be a commitment to retooling, I'd imagine; meanwhile civilians wouldn't get any. Given that humans tend to be shortsighted, and given that the money-grubbing bastards that run most companies don't see past the end of the fiscal year, I bet there's been no quiet development of alternative energies at all. Of course if there *has* been covert development, whichever company/government was doing it would have a commanding lead both in terms of profit and offensive/defensive power. -- Warren Ockrassa, Publisher/Editor, nightwares Books http://books.nightwares.com/ Current work in progress The Seven-Year Mirror http://www.nightwares.com/books/ockrassa/Flat_Out.pdf ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Are You A Neocon? Neocon Quiz
On Thu, Dec 16, 2004 at 05:26:52PM -0500, Damon Agretto wrote: Oh I dunno. I don't think any company is going to let the situation go to the point where there is no more oil. To make a viable product during the Oil Embargo, and to meet customer demands, more fuel efficient cars were developed. When the wells run dry the automotive industry is going to be forced to develop new technologies, or be forced to close their doors or be replaced by a competitor. Capitalism might be callous, but they will respond to market demands if the demand is strong enough... I think you are both underestimating the duration of the transition. I doubt the cross-over point will be reached in our lifetimes, but in general what will happen (barring a revolutionary technological advance) is that fossil fuels will gradually get more expensive (I'm talking 50-100 years order of magnitude here). Fossil fuels won't just run out. As the easy sources are used up, people who really need the fossil fuel will pay more for people to extract the fuel from the really difficult places that had been previously ignored. Eventually the price of fossil fuel will exceed that of alternative energy sources (mostly solar and wind), which will also probably come down in price a bit over the years. At some point in the future, the prices cross over and some time after that alternative energy surpasses the 50% point and keeps going. -- Erik Reuter http://www.erikreuter.net/ ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Are You A Neocon? Neocon Quiz
On Dec 16, 2004, at 3:26 PM, Damon Agretto wrote: Speaking of military, what do we imagine will happen when fossil fuels get low enough in reserve that there just aren't enough to go around any more? I guess we'll just need to develop pocket fusion reactors to go along with our A-grav, rail guns, and directed energy weapons... Dang, forgot about them. Either the world's armed forces will eventually grind to a stop, or there'll be a commitment to retooling, I'd imagine; meanwhile civilians wouldn't get any. Given that humans tend to be shortsighted, and given that the money-grubbing bastards that run most companies don't see past the end of the fiscal year, I bet there's been no quiet development of alternative energies at all. Oh I dunno. I don't think any company is going to let the situation go to the point where there is no more oil. To make a viable product during the Oil Embargo, and to meet customer demands, more fuel efficient cars were developed. When the wells run dry the automotive industry is going to be forced to develop new technologies, or be forced to close their doors or be replaced by a competitor. Capitalism might be callous, but they will respond to market demands if the demand is strong enough... I agree, but the trouble is that those developments were all reactive. They came into existence after the crisis had been reached. The US military doesn't accept *any* new weapons design overnight. It can take years for one proposed vehicle to be approved. And these are all air- and ground craft that run on conventional fossil fuels. For a non-fossil fuel alternative to work, we'd be looking at, first, a major powerplant refit, which would have to go through years of extensive failure-mode testing, and any engine change could well affect every other system on any given vehicle. I don't expect it would be as easy as, say, converting a Diesel engine to run on vegetable oil (which is itself not very easy). One of the things we're constantly reminded of by the fossil fuel interests is how generally impractical, difficult, costly and, most of all, expensive any conversion will be. If this propaganda happens to be true, it could be decades before we have decent new military vehicles, and in the meantime the remaining fossil reserves would surely all be acquired by the governments of the world to keep their fighting forces in operation. So the best we can hope for might be that the propaganda is a lie; alternatively, we might be fortunate enough that someone with some foresight has been pouring black project funds into alternative developments for the last couple of decades, and is now waiting for the time when there's no oil left to unveil a new class of equipment, catching all opposition flatfooted. (I'm just enough of a pessimist to fear neither is the case, a cynic to suspect the former, and a realist to suspect the latter.) Slavish commitment to fossil fuels, opening up land reserves for oil and so on -- these really aren't very conservative strategies on balance. They're very short-sighted and long-term foolish, and their negative future effects will be felt by many people alive today. -- Warren Ockrassa, Publisher/Editor, nightwares Books http://books.nightwares.com/ Current work in progress The Seven-Year Mirror http://www.nightwares.com/books/ockrassa/Flat_Out.pdf ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Are You A Neocon? Neocon Quiz
Warren Ockrassa wrote: One of the things we're constantly reminded of by the fossil fuel interests is how generally impractical, difficult, costly and, most of all, expensive any conversion will be. If this propaganda happens to be true, it could be decades before we have decent new military vehicles, and in the meantime the remaining fossil reserves would surely all be acquired by the governments of the world to keep their fighting forces in operation. It's not just about fuels... development of easier-to-maintain systems would also be a big win. We have a lot of military equipment that needs maintenance time that is a multiple of operational time. Maintainence costs for the Marines have doubled in the last 15 years. IIRC, their AAVs, about which I've learned a bit lately, require about 10 hours of maintenance for every operational hour. They were breaking down so much while crossing the countryside in Iraq that there was a lot of concern about what might happen if one broke down in combat. Nick ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Are You A Neocon? Neocon Quiz
It's not just about fuels... development of easier-to-maintain systems would also be a big win. We have a lot of military equipment that needs maintenance time that is a multiple of operational time. Maintainence costs for the Marines have doubled in the last 15 years. IIRC, their AAVs, about which I've learned a bit lately, require about 10 hours of maintenance for every operational hour. They were breaking down so much while crossing the countryside in Iraq that there was a lot of concern about what might happen if one broke down in combat. You'll be happy to know, then, that the DoD is looking to dump the AAVP7A1s in favor of a new vehicle to be fielded after 2008: http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ground/aaav.htm I think its pretty slick, with a VERY USEFUL increase in firepower compared to the -7A1s (which are armed only with an M2HB .50CAL and a 40mm Mk.19 AGS). The only other thing I would have liked to have seen is an under-armor ATGM system, such as used on the Bradley and BMP-1/3 vehicles. I also think its about time, as the design of the current fleet of AAVs are pushing 35 years old... Damon. Damon Agretto [EMAIL PROTECTED] Qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum. http://www.geocities.com/garrand.geo/index.html Now Building: Revell of Germany's M60A3 ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Irregulars question: new HD
I've just installed a new HD in my new computer. The first time I booted, the computer didn't, because it seemed that there were no HDs. Then I reopened it [a dangerous experience, because now I can't close it] and removed one jumper. Now it boots and it seems to run like before, but it recognizes no new hardware. What idiocy am I doing? Alberto Monteiro PS: the sound seems to have broken too :-/ ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
RE: Irregulars question: new HD
I've just installed a new HD in my new computer. The first time I booted, the computer didn't, because it seemed that there were no HDs. Then I reopened it [a dangerous experience, because now I can't close it] and removed one jumper. Now it boots and it seems to run like before, but it recognizes no new hardware. What idiocy am I doing? Alberto Monteiro Depending on the age and brand of motherboard, and depending on which direction the wind is blowing, you may have to go into bios at boot up and tell bios to autodetect the drive. If you are not sure, you can probably get into bios by pressing the delete key or F2 at the very beginning of the boot process. There should be instructions on your screen (probably very briefly - like 1 or 2 seconds) and which key to press to enter bios. Once in bios, there should be a choice something like Autodetect IDE Devices or IDE Setup or something like that. I typically set the different drives to Autodetect. Not sure how experienced you are with computers, so I apologize if I told you something that you were already aware of :-) Hope this was helpful. Gary ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Julia's Tommy
Everyone, Julia Thompson (who has been a manager of the Brin list for longer than anyone in history, as far as I know) just called me to say that she'll be off e-mail indefinitely. They're at Austin Childrens Hospital because one of the twins, Tommy, has been sick a lot and became very dehydrated. She said he hasn't been gaining weight lately, which is not good for 15-month-old, of course. The hospital admitted him and rehydrated him with IVs, which perked him up quite a bit. Now they're doing all sorts of tests to try to figure out what's wrong. It goes without saying -- but I'll say anyway -- that Julia and her husband are very worried for their son. I've asked Dave Land to step in as backup manager, which he's always on call for (if only because he and I are the only ones with physical access to the server!). Julia asked me to share this news with you all, saying that she knew that there would be people here who would start praying for them as soon as they knew (as Dave and I have). Nick ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Irregulars question: new HD
Gary Nunn wrote: I've just installed a new HD in my new computer. The first time I booted, the computer didn't, because it seemed that there were no HDs. Then I reopened it [a dangerous experience, because now I can't close it] and removed one jumper. Now it boots and it seems to run like before, but it recognizes no new hardware. What idiocy am I doing? Depending on the age and brand of motherboard, and depending on which direction the wind is blowing, you may have to go into bios at boot up and tell bios to autodetect the drive. If you are not sure, you can probably get into bios by pressing the delete key or F2 at the very beginning of the boot process. There should be instructions on your screen (probably very briefly - like 1 or 2 seconds) and which key to press to enter bios. I did that, without success :-/ Once in bios, there should be a choice something like Autodetect IDE Devices or IDE Setup or something like that. I typically set the different drives to Autodetect. Yep. But no new HD Not sure how experienced you are with computers, so I apologize if I told you something that you were already aware of :-) Since I am probably doing something _very_ stupid, any help is apreciated. After some hours fighting with Windows, I could format the new HD. But Linux still doesn't see it. And it seems that I broke the soundcard, because the computer is silent :-/ Alberto Monteiro ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Irregulars question: new HD
On Dec 16, 2004, at 6:49 PM, Alberto Monteiro wrote: I've just installed a new HD in my new computer. The first time I booted, the computer didn't, because it seemed that there were no HDs. If the BIOS sees it, your OS should as well. Have you checked the Linux HW compatibility lists? Also, you mention jumpers -- do you have a main boot drive set up already? And is it jumped to run as the master? In my experience cable select options don't work very well. In such a case the other drive has to be configged as the slave. This is assuming IDE, of course. PS: the sound seems to have broken too :-/ Oh dear. HW interrupts? -- Warren Ockrassa, Publisher/Editor, nightwares Books http://books.nightwares.com/ Current work in progress The Seven-Year Mirror http://www.nightwares.com/books/ockrassa/Flat_Out.pdf ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Julia's Tommy
Please pass on prayers and good wishes from Cheryl and me. Julia is the best. If there's anything we can do. db Everyone, Julia Thompson (who has been a manager of the Brin list for longer than anyone in history, as far as I know) just called me to say that she'll be off e-mail indefinitely. They're at Austin Childrens Hospital because one of the twins, Tommy, has been sick a lot and became very dehydrated. She said he hasn't been gaining weight lately, which is not good for 15-month-old, of course. The hospital admitted him and rehydrated him with IVs, which perked him up quite a bit. Now they're doing all sorts of tests to try to figure out what's wrong. It goes without saying -- but I'll say anyway -- that Julia and her husband are very worried for their son. I've asked Dave Land to step in as backup manager, which he's always on call for (if only because he and I are the only ones with physical access to the server!). Julia asked me to share this news with you all, saying that she knew that there would be people here who would start praying for them as soon as they knew (as Dave and I have). Nick ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
our steep slide
And it goes on. Accelerating, every day. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002112639_diss08.html Oh... I just realized something chilling. The UNDERLYING reasons for putting social security into the stock market has not yet come out. And it's the nastiest thing yet. The true reason is simple. The very smartest of the insatiable aristos (as opposed to satiable aristocrats who are loyal to a diamond shaped social order) can see the writing on the wall re: energy and other blue chip industries. They know that certain stocks that are now high-priced will be worthless within a decade. Other businesses that WILL be valuable need a lot of capital investment that they would like to provide, making them owners of the next IBM/ARCO. In the stock market there is a saying that you needn't make money by finding a good company; all you really need is to find a bigger fool to unload your bad stocks onto. The accounting scandals at brokerage houses, a few years ago, showed this precise syndrome in action. So did the SL scandal under W's dad. It is really rather routine. Completely standard for each decade's insatiable to pull this trick. But these prior scandals pale in comparison to the con artist racket of getting fifty million boomers to put their Social Security into stocks at JUST the moment when the aristocracy is looking to unload a bunch of dogs, amounting to several hundred billion dollars of bad investments. With that several billions, they can position themselves well in the real winner industries of the 21st Century. ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Are You A Neocon? Neocon Quiz
What if the Chinese offer to pay for some of the natural gas they expect to buy from Iran in Euros rather than dollars? There are some real, technical, problems in the export of gas over long distances. It's not a piece of cake like oil No. Evidentally, the Chinese are offering to pay for a batch of liquified natural gas tankers. Some are saying that they also are considering a central Asian pipeline, which would be more defensible than a sea route. In any case, shipments are not supposed to start for quite a while. The amount of money involved is said to be $100 billion, with an option to double. It is a big deal. I find it fascinating that neither they nor anyone else are talking of spending that amount of money on alternatives to fossil fuel. With tens of billions spent on development, I bet the price of alternatives would come down below the costs of fossil fuels (including the military costs of defending routes and such). -- Robert J. Chassell [EMAIL PROTECTED] GnuPG Key ID: 004B4AC8 http://www.rattlesnake.com http://www.teak.cc ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Are You A Neocon? Neocon Quiz
Speaking of military, what do we imagine will happen when fossil fuels get low enough in reserve that there just aren't enough to go around any more? I guess we'll just need to develop pocket fusion reactors to go along with our A-grav, rail guns, and directed energy weapons... Either the world's armed forces will eventually grind to a stop, or there'll be a commitment to retooling, I'd imagine; meanwhile civilians wouldn't get any. Given that humans tend to be shortsighted, and given that the money-grubbing bastards that run most companies don't see past the end of the fiscal year, I bet there's been no quiet development of alternative energies at all. Oh I dunno. I don't think any company is going to let the situation go to the point where there is no more oil. To make a viable product during the Oil Embargo, and to meet customer demands, more fuel efficient cars were developed. When the wells run dry the automotive industry is going to be forced to develop new technologies, or be forced to close their doors or be replaced by a competitor. Capitalism might be callous, but they will respond to market demands if the demand is strong enough... Damon. Damon Agretto [EMAIL PROTECTED] Qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum. http://www.geocities.com/garrand.geo/index.html Now Building: Revell of Germany's M60A3 ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Are You A Neocon? Neocon Quiz
On Dec 16, 2004, at 3:44 PM, Erik Reuter wrote: I think you are both underestimating the duration of the transition. I doubt the cross-over point will be reached in our lifetimes, but in general what will happen (barring a revolutionary technological advance) is that fossil fuels will gradually get more expensive (I'm talking 50-100 years order of magnitude here). Fossil fuels won't just run out. OK, I can see that, I think -- rather than it being like a soda straw suddenly sucking the last of the Coke, and then nothing, it'll be a gradual tapering off that will economically *force* a changeover. Should the fuel issues take that long to develop, and they very well might, you're probably right about the way the transition will take place. Eventually the price of fossil fuel will exceed that of alternative energy sources (mostly solar and wind), which will also probably come down in price a bit over the years. Solar and wind -- you ever watch _Mythbusters_? They had a few free energy devices and schemes on a while back, and all throughout the episode I was wondering what people were thinking. We're orbiting the biggest fusion reactor within four lightyears, and there's plenty of free energy in windpower as well. Yet there were inventions that included using large tanks filled with expandable gases (I think LPG) that would use solar heat to rotate the tanks in and out of cooling baths; and there was some ludicrous scheme to string up about 20m of wire to suck RF energy out of the air and power a digital watch. (It didn't work; they got half a volt, no more.) And this was seen as more practical than creating a small turbine-powered windmill. Goofy stuff. There are some very remote areas on reservations here in AZ that are running on solar now. Panels are installed on a per-house basis and suck up juice all day long and drop it into banks of rechargeable batteries, which are then used by night to power lighting, TVs and so on, everything running 12V DC. Overall, it seems this scheme was designated as more efficient than stringing transmission lines and dealing with cable maintenance. -- Warren Ockrassa, Publisher/Editor, nightwares Books http://books.nightwares.com/ Current work in progress The Seven-Year Mirror http://www.nightwares.com/books/ockrassa/Flat_Out.pdf ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Are You A Neocon? Neocon Quiz
Damon Agretto wrote: You'll be happy to know, then, that the DoD is looking to dump the AAVP7A1s in favor of a new vehicle to be fielded after 2008: http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ground/aaav.htm Yeah, the AAV is expected to be phased out in favor of the AAAV in 2012. I'll just hope we don't need 'em. Nick ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
