Re: Permission Slips Re: Rhetorical Questions RE: Removing Dictators Re: Peaceful change L3

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 5/4/05, Dave Land <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> On May 3, 2005, at 8:17 PM, Ronn!Blankenship wrote:
> 
> > At 09:25 PM Tuesday 5/3/2005, Dave Land wrote:
> >> On May 3, 2005, at 6:32 PM, Ronn!Blankenship wrote:
> >>
> >>> At 03:30 PM Tuesday 5/3/2005, Dave Land wrote:
>  On May 3, 2005, at 10:45 AM, Horn, John wrote:
...
> >>> Oh . . . did you mean "Who do I think is calling him- or herself
> >>> 'God' when posting to the list?"
> >>
> >> Um, yeah. I guess I could have been more specific.
> >>
> >> But I really enjoyed your thorough answer.
> >
> > "Would you like to know more?"
> 
> The text of your answer was already very familiar -- in fact, I think I
> had parts of it memorized at one point. For a year or so back in the
> '80s, I dated a Mormon woman who worked with me at HP, which is how I
> recognized your answer as LDS catechism. I believe I had a substantial
> portion of it memorized at one point or another.
> 
> I credit our relationship with helping me find my way back to God.
> That, and my roommate at the time, the son of the Lutheran Bishop of
> Northern Minnesota. It was quite a time in my life, with my girlfriend
> and her bishop father speaking their faith in one ear and my roommate
> and his bishop father speaking theirs in the other. I appreciated  the
> opportunity to approach Christianity again from such diverse
> viewpoints.
> 
> So thank you, but I am already quite happy with the relationship I have
> with God. Save a seat in the terrestrial kingdom for me, I guess. I'll
> be there with all the other religion-addled brains :-).
> 
> I repeat my question... You apparently have a theory about the identity
> of the poster who called "God." I am interested to hear your theory.
> 
> Peace,
> 
> Dave

Perhaps he has no theory, yet I do: from the fact that his posts are
moderated and  occasionally blocked, he is clearly not omnipotent.
Yet, he claims to be God!
We know already from our illustrious Gnostic forebears who the false
God is: he is Samael the Blind God! Do not the Nag Hammadi codices
mark him as the 'occluded one', irrational and angry, ever fighting
the true Heavenly Father?
He attempts to divide the readers from the
adminstrators^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H to divide the earthly humans from the
true supreme deity who created all; need we more evidence?  Let those
who have eyes, see; ears, hear.


~Maru
Come, let us drink this delicious Kool-Aid and cast off the shackles
of our gross material bodies! ; )
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Re: Brin: Time Traveller Convention

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 5/4/05, Alberto Monteiro <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> David Brin asked:
> >
> > --- Alberto... explain?
> >
> Gregory Benford attended[*] the Writer's Convention in Year 4335
> (plus or minus 3) in Tellus Tertius, Timeline 2, described in Heinlein's
> book _The Number of the Beast_. :-)
> 
> >> You should _order_ your pal Gregory Benford to write
> >> down
> >> his experiences in this sort of meeting. AFAIK, he
> >> is the only
> >> living person now that took part in a Time Traveller
> >> Convention
> 
> Alberto Monteiro
> 
> [*] I gave up trying to conjugate the verbs in time-travelling tenses.

"Gregory Benford willon attenden the Writer's Convention in Year 4335
(plus or minus 3) in Tellus Tertius, Timeline 2, described in Heinlein's
book _The Number of the Beast_. "

At least, according to Dr. Streetmentioner's _Time Traveler's Handbook..._


~Maru
Time travel: Absurd Liberal Myth
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Re: Permission Slips Re: blah, blah, blah . . .

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 5/5/05, Erik Reuter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> * Dave Land ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) wrote:
> 
> > "There is a God" and "there is no God" are equally statements of
> > faith.
> 
> And "there are fearsome, invisible, undetectable pink unicorns" and
> "there are no fearsome, invisible, undetectable pink unicorns" are
> equally statements of faith.
> 
> But "there are babelfish" and "there are no babelfish" are not equally
> statements of faith.
> 
> --
> Erik Reuter   http://www.erikreuter.net/

WIthout any further data or probablities about 'babelfish', those
paired statements are all equivalent.


~Maru
But you didn't say they weren't undetectable!
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Re: Galactic scripts.

[Maru Dubshinki]

Hah- you obviously are not favored by our Google overlords; *I* can
get the Civilization board game for a mere 41.95$ !

Civilization Board Game
Only $41.95. Board game version of Sid Meyer's popular PC game.
www.gameoutfitter.com
http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/adclick?sa=l&adurl=http://www.gameoutfitter.com/Browse_Item_Details.asp/Item_ID/465/categ_id/104/parent_ids/8,104/Name/Sid_Meierprime%3Bs_Civilization:_The_Boardgame&ai=B3o1ev457QvqAK5CUsAHfgtn7AoXctwij1oCdAcCNtwHQhgMQAxgDIIaPgAIoA0iQOaoBF0FjY291bnRBZ2UxMjB0b0luZmluaXR5sgEJZ21haWwuY29tyAEB2gEwaHR0cDovL2dtYWlsLmNvbS80NzNrZnVhaDl1NXU3aW5nN2xvc2d1MzkxM2hpcmR26AEB&num=3

~Maru
I for one...

On 5/6/05, Gary Denton <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> On 4/25/05, [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> >
> > Has anyone worked on what the various galactic languages look like in
> > print?
> >
> > I have a theory that except for dots and dashes, there are no letters that
> > could be either flipped or reversed.
> >
> > No dyslexia in the Civilization of the Four Galaxies.
> >
> > William Taylor
> >
> 
> Google mail gives me Civilization 2 for $5 and a discount price for
> Civilization 3 Conquests advertisements for this email.
> 
> Sorry, I just thought that was cool when I was checking through some older
> emails. It also gives a link to a star image.
> 
> I would think that would apply to normal signage usage - not necessary for
> other communication. There may be formal, or ornamental fonts where possible
> mistaken communication is not a big issue and artistic or other
> consideration could override it.
> 
> .>>>
> 
>  About these links 
> 
> Sponsored Links
> Civilization 2 CD-Rom
> $5
> www.5DollarSoftware.com  - The classic
> strategy game now at a classic price & other great dealsCivilization 3:
> Conquests
> www.trygames.com  - Download a free trial or buy
> the full version for only $29.99. Aff
> 
> Related Pages
> 'Wonderful' star reveals its hot
> nature
> Space Ref - Apr 30, 2005 - Image: The Chandra image shows Mira A (right), a
> highly evolved red ...>
> 
> --
> Gary Denton
> Easter Lemming Blogs
> http://elemming.blogspot.com
> http://elemming2.blogspot.com
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Re: Garry Kasparov was a Steel-Drivin' Man...

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 5/6/05, Keith Henson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> At 02:52 AM 06/05/05 -0700, Warren Ockrassa wrote:
> 
> snip
> 
> >This reminds me of the Ballad of John Henry. You might or might not know
> >it; the story is that John Henry, who worked on railroads in the 1900s,
> >was faced with a steam-driven track laying machine, and he refused to
> >accept the premise that the machine was superior to human ability. So he
> >placed a bet: He would lay a mile of track before the machine could.
> 
> Please excuse my annoyance, but taking the very first Google link on "John
> Henry" would have taken you here:
> 
> http://www.ibiblio.org/john_henry/
> 
> "One such chore that figures heavily into some of the earliest John Henry
> ballads is the blasting of the Big Bend Tunnel -- more than a mile straight
> through a mountain in West Virginia.
> 
> "Steel-drivin' men like John Henry used large hammers and stakes to pound
> holes into the rock, which were then filled with explosives that would
> blast a cavity deeper and deeper into the mountain. In the folk ballads,
> the central event took place under such conditions. Eager to reduce costs
> and speed up progress, some tunnel engineers were using steam drills . . . ."
> 
> The contest was about drilling holes into rock for explosives, not track
> laying machines.
> 
> Keith Henson

He was referring to the popular legends/tall tales (not sure which;
both seem to apply) of Henry; not the historical facts. Every popular
depiction, cartoons, videos, shows, childrens' books, etc I've seen,
they all depict it as driving spikes into the ground to fasten down
rails. Not, though the truth is otherwise, as making holes for
explosives. Artistic license, anyone?

~Maru
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Re: A very good NYT article on "intelligent design"

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 5/6/05, Warren Ockrassa <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> On May 2, 2005, at 4:46 PM, Maru Dubshinki wrote:
> 
> > On 5/2/05, Warren Ockrassa <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > ...
> >> _Calculating God_, yeah. As it happens I just finished it this
> >> weekend.
> >> It's an interesting read but Sawyer leaves a gaping hole in his story
> >> (two, actually), which he also did with _Hominids_.
> >>
> >> In CG Sawyer's aliens suggest that the current universe's physics are
> >> too precisely honed toward life's development for it to be an
> >> accident;
> >> the idea is that some kind of superbeing prearranged the current "big
> >> bang" expansion to have the state it does. What we don't go into is
> >> how
> >> that entity managed to survive the previous universe's "big crunch".
> >> That's a pretty significant omission, to me.
> >>
> >> And of course the main basis for the argument that the Fohrlinors and
> >> Wreeds propose is the way extinction events occurred simultaneously on
> >> their homeworlds *and* ours (give or take a couple million years) --
> >> now if something that incredibly improbable actually had happened,
> >> sure, there'd be something worth looking at. But in order to knock
> >> aside any doubts at all the book has to suggest an additional not one,
> >> but two literal deus ex machina events.
> >>
> >> Framed in that carefully constructed context it's hardly surprising
> >> the
> >> idea of "god" finds a lot of support, but the fact is that without
> >> that
> >> elaborately constructed set of premises, the argument falls flat.
> >>
> >> In _Hominids_, BTW, the problem I had was his suggestion that
> >> consciousness developed in human brains initially as a quantum state
> >> change, something random rather than emergent that altered the way a
> >> given brain operated once and forever in the distant past. Well, how
> >> exactly did that trait get passed along to offspring? It *must* have
> >> been an emergent property of brain complexity, something that existed
> >> in DNA, or else it would never have occurred again.
> >>
> >>
> >> --
> >> Warren Ockrassa, Publisher/Editor, nightwares Books
> >
> > A goof point Warren, but you forget that genes aren't the *only* unit
> > of inheritance- culture is also inherited.
> 
> Yes -- but not biologically. If there is a discontinuity the culture
> gets lost. It is not innate.

Exactly- like I suggested, the character-in-charge-of-exposition could
use the historical examples of wolfling children to point that out
precisely.

~Maru
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Re: Garry Kasparov was a Steel-Drivin' Man...

[Maru Dubshinki]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Henry_%28folklore%29

"In a bid to save his job, and the jobs of his men, John Henry
challenges the inventor to a contest: John Henry VS. the Steam-Hammer.
John defeats the Steam-Hammer in driving spikes, but in the process he
suffers a heart attack and dies a martyr. In modern depictions John
Henry is usually portrayed as hammering down rail spikes, but older
songs often instead refer to him driving blasting holes into rock,
part of the process of excavating railroad tunnels."

~Maru

On 5/6/05, Keith Henson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> At 11:50 AM 06/05/05 -0400, Maru wrote:
> 
> snip
> 
> >He was referring to the popular legends/tall tales (not sure which;
> >both seem to apply) of Henry; not the historical facts. Every popular
> >depiction, cartoons, videos, shows, childrens' books, etc I've seen,
> >they all depict it as driving spikes into the ground to fasten down
> >rails.
> 
> Anyone who has ever paid the slightest attention when walking near a
> railroad track knows that spikes are driven into the wooden ties rather
> than into the ground.
> 
> "Track laying machines" might exist today, but they certainly did not for a
> *long* time after the early building of railroads.
> 
> >Not, though the truth is otherwise, as making holes for
> >explosives. Artistic license, anyone?
> 
> Can you go on Google and point out a few places where John Henry is up
> against a "track laying machine" or driving spikes to hold down the rails?
> 
> I have *never* seen this, but your might be right.  It has been a really
> long time since I was a kid.
> 
> Keith Henson
> 
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Re: Whale-Dolphin Hybrid Has Baby 'Wholphin'

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 5/7/05, Steve Sloan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> HONOLULU (AP) _ The only whale-dolphin mix in captivity has given
> birth to a playful female calf, officials at Sea Life Park Hawaii
> said Thursday.
> 
> The calf was born on Dec. 23 to Kekaimalu, a mix of a false killer
> whale and an Atlantic bottlenose dolphin. Park officials said they
> waited to announce the birth until now because of recent changes
> in ownership and operations at the park.
> 
> http://www.livescience.com/animalworld/ap_050415_wolphin.html
> __
> Steve Sloan . Huntsville, Alabama => [EMAIL PROTECTED]

There are so many things wrong with this...  the mother is a 'false
killer whale', the father an Atlantic dolphin (in Hawaii, mind you), 
the offspring of neither species, a 'wholphin', an unatural product of
different species- which may actually be natural in the wild...

~Maru
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Re: Earth has developed a slight eccentricity in its orbit...

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 5/8/05, William T Goodall <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

> 
> >
> > I had low expectations, but it was worse than I imagined.
> >
> 
> I think I'll save myself £5 and not bother seeing this then. What
> else is coming out in May...
> 
> The Jacket
> Ong Bak
> Palindromes.
> 
> And Sin City in June!
> 
> --
> William T Goodall

Speaking as someone who has seen it already (and was not a fanboy
prior to seeing it), Sin City is most definitely worth watching,
riveting and intense, as long as you are prepared for the violence and
etc.

~Maru
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Re: Earth has developed a slight eccentricity in its orbit...

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 5/8/05, [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> In a message dated 5/8/2005 8:55:48 PM Eastern Standard Time,
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
> 
> > Speaking as someone who has seen it already (and was not a fanboy
> > >prior to seeing it), Sin City is most definitely worth watching,
> > >riveting and intense, as long as you are prepared for the violence and
> > >etc.
> > >
> > Jessica Alba as a stripper? Does she strip or not?
> >
> >
> 
> Not down to the naughty bits

Needless to say, the movie is worth watching. :)



~Maru
Hubba hubba!
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Re: A very good NYT article on "intelligent design"

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 5/8/05, [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> In a message dated 5/2/2005 7:46:42 PM Eastern Standard Time,
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
> 
> > A goof point Warren, but you forget that genes aren't the *only* unit
> > of inheritance- culture is also inherited.  Sawyer could have just as
> > well postulated a race of hominids, humanoid pre-cursors, which are
> > poised just on the critical cusp of breaking into counsciousness, and
> > only need an inspiration or model to make the leap themselves.  One of
> > them would be bound to 'get' counsciousness eventually, and by
> > imitation it would spread vertically and horizontally (and would
> > exterminate any groups that didn't 'get' it.)
> > This substitute model has the nice side effect that the character
> > expouding it could easily segue into a learned disquisition on
> > historical 'wolflings' as an example- humans brought up with no
> > counscious human model from which to 'get' it.
> >
> 
> Except that cultural inheritence requires a brain capable of interacting with
> other brains in the society in a manner that generates culture. Culture does
> exist in other species in particular chimps where means of getting food may
> vary based on one member of the tribe via luck or intelligence ( a chimp
> einstein or at least a chimp henry ford) comes up with a new trick. But that 
> is as
> far as it goes. In order for consciousness to be a cultural phenomena hominds
> must already have very complex brains. And brains don't come cheap. they are
> expensive and time consuming to build and maintain. having a big brain means
> having a big head. this requires changes in gestational strategies (humans are
> born very prematurely. Based on a variety of comparitive tests human gestation
> should probably be about 15 months. But the head would be too big to deliver 
> so
> natural selection has favored early delivery of an infant that is completely
> incapable of even the most rudimentary tasks of independent life. By 
> comparison
> at birth a chimp has the same degree of maturation as a one year child. So
> there has to be very strong evolutionary pressure (i.e a competitive 
> advantage)
> for big brains capable of consciousness to evolve. The most likely advantage
> is that cognition communication and memory even in their most primative forms
> made hominids more successful.

I'm afraid I don't see your post's relevance- I suggested that
counsciousness coulda been a random event, which would enable itself
to be culturally passed down (and really enabling cultural inheritance
in the first place, instead of depending on genes.).

~Maru
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Re: Earth has developed a slight eccentricity in its orbit...

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 5/9/05, Ronn!Blankenship <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> At 02:33 PM Monday 5/9/2005, Maru Dubshinki wrote:
> >On 5/9/05, Ronn!Blankenship <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > > At 07:05 AM Monday 5/9/2005, William T Goodall wrote:
> > >
> > > >On 9 May 2005, at 11:51 am, Ronn!Blankenship wrote:
> > > >>
> > > >>
> > > >>I've heard a rumor that Lucas is releasing some sort of little
> > > >>film . . .
> > > >
> > > >I'm more likely to go to see House of Wax than that I think.
> > >
> > > Again, I find it somewhat strange that no one else has noted the acronym.
> > >
> > >
> > > -- Ronn!  :)
> >
> >Someone hasn't been hanging around Slashdot or Ain't it cool-  the
> >less flattering connotations of 'ROTS' has been noticed for, oh, ever
> >since the title was announced.
> 
> Lots of someones, apparently, as a lot of people (including some I would
> have thought more likely to have connections there or in SF fandom in
> general than me) had not heard of it or considered it on their own until I
> suggested it to them . . .
> 
> 
> -- Ronn!  :)

Here are two off the top of my head that a quick Slashdot search reveals: 
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?cid=9805577&sid=115694
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?cid=12452467&sid=148579
I'm sure there are even more on Slashdot and AATC, but finding'em's
waste a' time.

~Maru
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Re: coming episode...uh... three?

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 5/9/05, Warren Ockrassa <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> On May 9, 2005, at 7:06 PM, Ronn!Blankenship wrote:
> 
> > I'm beginning to think this whole list is one big Eliza program I have
> > somehow inadvertently accessed . . .
> 
> Tell me more about how cinnamon affects your perception of religion,
> Ronn!.
> 
> PS: You're an inattentive nicompoop. Who has a fetish for high
> signal-to-noise ratios.
> 
> --
> Warren Ockrassa, Publisher/Editor, nightwares Books

No, no- I'm pretty sure it was 'nutmeg';  everyone knows that the
psychedelic effects of cinnamon is debatable and probably null. But
the hallucinogenic effects of the highly prized cloves of nutmeg are
well known since the Middle Ages. Hmm. Coincidence?

~Maru
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nutmeg
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Re: coming episode...uh... three?

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 5/10/05, Robert Seeberger <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Ronn!Blankenship wrote:
> > At 11:27 AM Tuesday 5/10/2005, Dave Land wrote:
> >> On May 9, 2005, at 11:52 PM, Ronn!Blankenship wrote:
> >>
> >>> At 12:30 AM Tuesday 5/10/2005, Dave Land wrote:
>  On May 9, 2005, at 9:45 PM, Warren Ockrassa wrote:
> >
> > I don't know what you mean by 'nutmeg'.
> >
> >> But
> >> the hallucinogenic effects of the highly prized cloves of
> >> nutmeg
> >> are well known since the Middle Ages. Hmm. Coincidence?
> >
> > Do you think it's coincidence that cinnamon existed in the
> > middle
> > ages? Of course it isn't. Please pay attention. The signal to
> > noise ratio is too high.
> 
>  I see the greatest minds of our list destroyed by madness.
> >>>
> >>> You realize what that says about those of us who are left, don't
> >>> you?
> >>
> >> Either you flatter yourself by including yourself among "the
> >> greatest
> >> minds" and experience discomfort of being "destroyed by madness" or
> >> you do not consider yourself one of "the greatest minds" to begin
> >> with.
> >
> >
> >
> > I actually meant that regardless of which category I personally
> > consider myself to belong to, those do seem to be the only
> > categories
> > available to choose from . . .
> >
> >
> >
> >> I'm glad that we can have fun with this recent spate of
> >> slam-posting.
> >
> >
> >
> > Amen.  That's how it should always be.
> >
> >
> I occurs to me that this is how Brin-L was when I first joined, many
> years ago.
> That...is a cheerful thought.
> 
> xponent
> Enduring Maru
> rob
> 

I...sense a presence I haven't felt in a long time.


~Maru
Your lack of service disturbs me.Get MCI today
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Re: Br!n: Re: more neocons

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 5/11/05, Warren Ockrassa <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> On May 11, 2005, at 10:15 AM, Ronn!Blankenship wrote:
> 
> > I just wonder what can be done to solve the plight of those millions
> > of human beings, and so far haven't heard much in the way of
> > suggestions on how to save them, or an argument that the status quo is
> > somehow the best of all possible scenarios and anything anyone does
> > will only lead to more death and suffering.
> 
> Apropos to Iraq, I've asked this question a few times and so far no
> one's answered it.
> 
> So I'll ask it again.
> 
> Assuming that:
> 
> 1. The US is interested in spreading the idea/blessing/gift/[whatever]
> of democracy to the other nations of the world; and
> 
> 2. The US's security is better served by reducing, rather than
> increasing, places where terrorists can train; and
> 
> 3. In 2001 and 2002, the REAL purpose of the US was to find and
> prosecute OBL and his cabal of lunatics; and
> 
> 4. A good US presence in the middle east would be a way to see goals 2
> and 3 successfully met,
> 
> ...why was #1 not enacted in a nation that we know had terrorist camps,
> ties to OBL, and an oppressed people yearning for freedom?
> 
> In early 2002, Afghanistan was entirely beaten. The oppressive Taliban
> had finally been sent packing into the hills, OBL's main training site
> had been completely taken over by US troops, the world -- with a few
> exceptions -- was completely behind us, and it looked like it would
> only be a matter of months before OBL was chased out of his own little
> spider hole somewhere.
> 
> So why, given the above, was Afghanistan not democratized and
> stabilized entirely? With a good solid pro-US government there,
> couldn't pressure have been mounted on other nations to force
> terrorists away? Wouldn't it have been much more useful to have a
> committed and strengthening ally on a border with Pakistan? (That is,
> two such -- India, and then Afghanistan.)
> 
> What would have been imprudent or undesirable about effecting total
> democratic transformation in Afghanistan first, using it as a case
> study to prove that we could do it? Why leave Afghanistan an unresolved
> mess -- which it still is -- to go and make another unresolved mess?
> 
> What the hell were Rummy and the rest thinking? I'd really like to
> know. And I'd really like to know why anyone would suggest that the
> aforementioned course would have been *worse* than the one we're on
> now.
> 
> 
> --
> Warren Ockrassa, Publisher/Editor, nightwares Books

 "I'm worried about an opponent who uses nation-building and the
military in the same sentence. See, our view of the military is for
our military to be properly prepared to fight and win war and,
therefore, prevent war from happening in the first place."
--Bush

Here's a snippet from a piece in the Boston Globe:

"At [presidential debate, October 11, 2000] Bush recalled that the
U.S. humanitarian mission in Somalia -- begun by his father, President
George H.W. Bush -- had "changed into a nation-building mission, and
that's where the mission went wrong."

He was referring to the deaths of 18 U.S. Army rangers who were killed
in Mogadishu on Oct. 3-4, 1993, after a gun battle. U.S. forces were
soon withdrawn from Somalia.

"The mission was changed, and as a result, our nation paid a price,"
Bush continued. "And so I don't think our troops ought to be used for
what's called nation building."   "


~Maru
Hope that helps
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Re: Br!n: Re: more neocons

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 5/11/05, Nick Arnett <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> On Wed, 11 May 2005 12:47:45 -0700 (PDT), Gautam Mukunda wrote
> 
> > Not really, no.  "Those who criticize?"  No.  People
> > who pontificate endlessly but suggest nothing, who
> > attack any idea but provide none of their own, who
> > preen constantly but contribute nothing - them, yes, I
> > think that about _their_ motives.
> 
> I sense frustration.
> 
> Nick

"Hmm... Much frustration do I sense.
Hmm... Frustration leads to fear...
Fear leads to anger...
Anger! ... leads to hatred...
Hatred leads to the Flame War, hmm yes."


~Maru 
(Should I have said 'Republican side? :)
"Hmm... What up is my posterior?"
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Re: Jane Galt on retirement risk and pensions

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 5/15/05, Erik Reuter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> http://www.janegalt.net/blog/archives/005309.html
> 
> May 11, 2005
> 
> Regulating risk
> 
> There's a debate that we should be having in this country, about risk,
> but aren't, because everyone's trading scare stories about Social
> Security.
> 
> In a follow-up post, Matthew Yglesias argues with Alex Tabarrok about
> whether the United Airlines bankruptcy, in which they have just shed
> their pensions, means that Social Security is more obviously bad, or
> more obviously good, than it was before. (Will Wilkinson chimes in
> here). Defined benefit programmes are risky, Alex points out, because
> when conditions change, they tend to become insolvent. That's why the
> government needs to have one, argues Matthew; with corporate programmes
> blowing up left and right, people need some safe harbor in their sea
> of troubles. (That's one coherent metaphor, if you imagine the pension
> system to be something like Pearl Harbor. Luckily, that's not very hard
> to imagine.)
> 
> Who's right? Well, basically, there are three entities that can bear
> retirement risk: a company, a person, or a government.
> 
> There are problems with all three. People are too small to be
> actuarially sound; they can be wiped out by adverse events. Also, some
> of them are incredibly stupid about money; others like to gamble.


Who is Jane Galt?


~Maru
/had to ask
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Re: Revenge of the REAL George Lucas...

[Maru Dubshinki]

Oh come on- it was way better than the preceding two, and only a
little worse than ROTJ.  But I saw this article in USA Today and I
have to pass it along: apparently some people think Lucas is a liberal
and it reflects in ROTS (incidentally Brin, I am a little surprised
you didn't pick up on the whole 'senate voting Palpatine emperor- it
seems to fit in perfectly with your shtick.

"Politics creates a disturbance in the Force"
By César G. Soriano, USA TODAY

Since early screenings of Episode III: Revenge of the Sith began last
month, film critics, commentators and Internet bloggers have been
debating whether filmmaker George Lucas is comparing President Bush
and the Iraq war to the Dark Side of the Force. The conservative film
site Pabaah.com has called for a boycott. The topic even made NBC's
Today show.

http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/news/2005-05-17-sith-politics_x.htm
http://tinyurl.com/cmzso
(The theme of the article has been echoed many other places as well. 
Left as an exercise to the reader.)

~Maru

On 5/19/05, d.brin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
...
> David Brin replies:
> 
> For Eps I & II I was very mild mannered.  I urged
> people to go matineee after waiting 2 weeks... but
> otherwise enjoy the crap because it's GORGEOUS crap.
> Lucas subsidizes 10% of the best artists on the
> planet.
> 
> This time tho... I just can't do it.
> 
> The point that no one seems to raise re Star Wars is
> that only two out of six have happy endings.
> 
> Sure, that CAN be okay. Everyone agrees that the one Lucas
> did NOT write - The Empire Strikes Back - was by far
> the best. Its downer ending was magnificent, brave,
> hopeful elegiacal. But episodes I,II, and III? You
> know in advance that every decent and brave and heroic
> act will be futile, futile futile futile futile futile
> futile futile futile!
> 
> gah! It's like he wants us to not only worship a nazi
> mass murderer, but also evil green oven mitts...  while losing all hope. feh.
> 
> If you refer anyone on line to rants about this,
> here's one recent very colorful one in the New Yorker:
> 
> http://www.newyorker.com/critics/cinema/?050523crci_cinema
> 
> And of course my own series about this idiocy:
> http://www.davidbrin.com/starwarsarticle1.html
> 
> (I don't have any love for the New Yorker editors.  The guy
> obviously likes good SF, but they always lop off all
> the contrasts in order to give an impression that this
> garbage represents the field.)
> 
> Oh, want some subliminal clues? Try STAR WARS backwards?
> RAW RATS
> 
> Now try the initials of the new film:
> STIII ROTS.
> 
> Squint a little  at RAW RATS STIII ROTS
> and just say it out loud.
> 
> What can this clue mean?
> 
> Here is my eerie-romantic-horror tale interpretation.
> 
> The George Lucas who brought us Indiana Jones and Eps
> IV & V is still in there!  Shouting for help!  Like
> Anakin trapped inside Vader...
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Re: trolling for trolls

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 5/18/05, Erik Reuter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> * Julia Thompson ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) wrote:
> 
> > I've been asked to ask you to tone it down on personal attacks
> > on-list.
> >
> > If you make many more personal attacks on-list, the probability of
> > your being placed on moderation will be non-zero.

But... probabilities that are negative, or greater than 1- simply make
no sense! Unpossible!


~Maru
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Re: trolling for trolls

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 5/19/05, Ronn!Blankenship <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> At 05:52 PM Wednesday 5/18/2005, Nick Arnett wrote:
> >On Wed, 18 May 2005 18:45:15 -0400, Erik Reuter wrote
> > > * Julia Thompson ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) wrote:
> > >
> > > > I've been asked to ask you to tone it down on personal attacks
> > > > on-list.
> > > >
> > > > If you make many more personal attacks on-list, the probability of
> > > > your being placed on moderation will be non-zero.
> >
> >Posting a private e-mail to the public list, which I'm fairly certain was
> >done
> >without Julia's permission, is lousy netiquette.
> 
> 
> On a couple of other lists I am a member of, doing that or its converse
> (forwarding an on-list message off-list) is grounds for immediate
> dismissal, regardless of who does it or how long they have been there or
> how well liked they are.  That policy got started a year or two ago when
> someone (who was lurking under an assumed name, it seems) forwarded
> out-of-context excerpts from one list member's posts to that list members
> RL employer, which led to that person being forced into early retirement
> from the teaching job he had held for several decades.
> 
> 
> -- Ronn!  :)

And some people wondered why I use a pseudonym- well, there you go.


~Maru
You didn't think this was my real name, did you?
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Re: Scouted: Having Fun With Intelligent Design

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 5/23/05, Dave Land <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Folks,
> 
> Today at lunch, Nick and I were reading reading selections from "The Art
> of Peace" by Morihei Ueshiba, the founder of Aikido. It is a tiny book
> that contains 100-some sayings excerpted from Master Ueshiba's writings.
> Among them is this:
> 
>  "If your opponent strikes with fire, counter with water,
>  becoming completely fluid and free-floating."
> 
> The following article describes an Aikido-like counter to the growing
> trend of state school boards to insist that science instructors teach
> intelligent design as an alternative to evolution, and to teach that
> evolution is "just" a theory.
> 
> http://www.alternet.org/story/22039/
> 
> Excerpt:
> 
>  All teachers know that their first and hardest job is to gain the
>  student's attention and interest. What subject best attracts a
>  teenager's undivided attention? Sex. Happily, when it comes to
>  evolution, sex is central.
> 
>  I recommend that biology teachers begin by discussing Elisabeth A.
>  Lloyd's decidedly scientific book, The Case of the Female Orgasm. No
>  school board member should complain. The book's subtitle, "Bias in
>  the Science of Evolution," clearly fits with the new requirement
>  that teachers critique evolutionary theory.
> 
>  Darwinians can explain the male orgasm. After all, the male
>  ejaculation is necessary for the survival and perpetuation of the
>  species, and if giving the male great pleasure while doing so
>  promotes that, then natural selection would eventually endow the
>  male orgasm with that characteristic.
> 
>  When it comes to the human female orgasm, however, evolutionists are
>  stumped. No other female of the animal kingdom experiences an
>  orgasm. Professor Lloyd examines 21 evolution-based explanations for
>  the female orgasm, and demolishes every one of them.
> 
> Dave

Pardon my ignorance, but something is not scanning here:  intuitively,
I'd expect the mystery to go the other way- why a male orgasm, rather
than why female.

Consider: the expense for a male of sex (just the act) is neglible,
almost non-existent.  Not so for a female; if from an evolutionary
perspective, the sex suceeds, that leads to one hell of an expense,
esp. for a human (15 or so years of childrearing, and, of course, the
pregnancy itself).  So it would make sense that a female would need an
ulterior reason to have sex (and voluntarily take on that immense
cost)- hence an orgasm.  This reasoning doesn't really hold for males,
since they don't need a reason.
Or am I missing something basic here?

~Maru
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Re: Will someone, anyone please explain to me..........

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 5/31/05, Leonard Matusik <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> None taken Warren, I was smiling when I sent it (not smirking either!)
> 
> I'm sort of interested in a scenario where the next Thomas Edison(s) pop up 
> in places other than the USA. Technical (bio or otherwise) renders US 
> "superiority" obsolete. Consider the harware and info, both new and surplus, 
> just out there for the purchase.  Also, there are place where respect for 
> patent law and government restrictions are non-existant or winked at. 
> Innovation and reverse engineering are cheap.
> 
> It doesn't have to something "grand" either. Consider the new LED 
> flashlights. My understanding is that LEDs are nanotech devices. These things 
> will practically blind a person on a pitence of power.
>  We are then left as a nation of lab rats, dedicated to the adverse effects 
> of overindulgence.
> All of our intrigues, our plotting, and our fears will eventually melt into a 
> historical tribute to Ozymandous (sp?)

Ozymandias.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozymandias

~Maru
IPU bless wikipedia!
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Re: Senator Frist on BioWarfare

[Maru Dubshinki]

Hmm. 
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0553242660/qid=1117983080/sr=2-2/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_2/103-0035335-7082201
http://tinyurl.com/chv4o

"108 used and new, available from .01$"

~Maru

On 6/4/05, d.brin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
...
> A PS on this topic: Go onto Amazon and see if you can find a copy of
> JITTERBUG by Mike McQuay (1984),  a somewhat paranoid novel about a
> future world devastated by a horrible disease controlled by
> terrorists.  It is so creepily on target that I doubt you'll find a
> copy.  Certain interests have probably bought up all the used copies
> floating around.  If only someone would reprint.
> 
> As a contrast, also get your hands on that old chiller SEVEN DAYS IN
> MAY.  (Or at least the Frederic March Kirk Douglas Burt Lancaster
> movie.)   What a reversal.  Nowadays it is the officer corps, under
> siege, undergoing purges but staunchly defending our constitution
> tooth and nail against a presidency gone out of control.
> 
> 
> ARTICLE NOT FOR REPUBLISHING WITHOUT A CHANCE TO EDIT.
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Re: What do you call this?

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 6/5/05, Robert G. Seeberger <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> http://people.freenet.de/kraskapolski/Coolest_Picture_Ever_1.jpg
> 
> 
> xponent
> No Idea Maru
> rob
> 

Big.


~Maru
Terse
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Re: Apple on Intel

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 6/7/05, KZK <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> William T Goodall wrote:
> 
> > http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2005/jun/06intel.html
> >
> > Apple are migrating the Mac from the PPC CPU to the x86 over the next
> > two years. x86 based Macs are available for developers now, and the
> > first x86 Macs for sale to the general public will be available  within
> > a year.
> 
> Yep.  Apple wants a piece of the TCPA/Palladium Pie.

They could probably could get that just as well if they had gone with
AMD, whose processors are superior almost every which way to Intel's.
No, I think Intel made them an offer they couldn't refuse, and IBM
refused to match.

~Maru
Discount-wise that is.
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Re: items

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 6/9/05, d.brin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> 
> 
> Buried in the 700-plus page energy bill currently under debate in the
> U.S. Senate is a provision that provides hundreds of millions of
> dollars worth of federal loan guarantees for a power project
> apparently to be built by four former Enron executives. One of
> the former executives is Thomas White, former head of Enron's retail
> and energy trading in California during the energy crisis who later
> served as President Bush's Secretary of the Army The federal loan
> guarantee makes taxpayers responsible for repaying the loan if the
> company defaults, or if the project ends up not being
> economically feasible after its construction.
> 
> Meanwhile, the Justice Dept has unilaterally reduced the major
> federal civil judgement against the Tobacco industry by 90%.
> 
> Imagine the howls if a similar level of blatant bribery and
> corruption had occurred in the Clinton Administration.  But this is
> normal today.

Is anyone really surpised? Heck, Bush has been favoring big business
ever since he first came in- remember how Microsoft *was* going to be
broken up, but the DOJ's interventions on its behalf helped overturn
Jackson's ruling on appeal?


~Maru
Too bad really- if Gore had won, everybody might just be using a real OS.
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Re: items

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 6/9/05, Warren Ockrassa <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> On Jun 9, 2005, at 11:56 AM, Maru Dubshinki wrote:
> 
> > Is anyone really surpised? Heck, Bush has been favoring big business
> > ever since he first came in- remember how Microsoft *was* going to be
> > broken up, but the DOJ's interventions on its behalf helped overturn
> > Jackson's ruling on appeal?
> 
> Much as I dislike the way Windows adversely affects many lives, I
> thought the monopoly findings were questionable. MS's business tactics
> are certainly rapacious, but I don't believe they have a monopoly. Just
> a superb advertising department and strategy.
> 
> The entire MS certification program, for instance, is a stroke of
> brilliance.
> 
> > ~Maru
> > Too bad really- if Gore had won, everybody might just be using a real
> > OS.
> 
> You mean Mac or Linux? If the former, it's spreading, albeit slowly; if
> the latter ... imagine your grandmother trying to receive email pics of
> her grandkids' birthdays on a Lin system. Linux, while it's become much
> easier to use, is still rather a hacker's OS as opposed to being
> something that can work out of the box for the majority of computer
> users.
> 
> 
> --
> Warren Ockrassa, Publisher/Editor, nightwares Books

I was referring to Mac, yeah. Much as I love Linux and the BSDs, I am
not so foolish to think that everyone can (or should) use them.  Now,
that's not to say they won't catch up, but that they aren't there yet.
Between Apple and Microsoft, the choice is clear.  Is Apple ideal? No-
like most decent sized companies, they are restrictive and
power-hungry. Difference of degree, not kind.

In other news, has anyone else ran into problems with companies like
Apple or Google being overly restrictive?
I mean, yesterday, I installed the Greasemonkey plugin for Firefox
(http://greasemonkey.mozdev.org/)
and two scripts for gmail 
http://dunck.us/collab/GreaseMonkeyUserScripts#head-2b681c0a24baff8899d7163cc7f805c75e1f44e4
http://tinyurl.com/cdexy

For daring to hide ads, and rectify Gmail's gross oversight in not including a
delete button, I was banned from my account for 24 hours!

~Maru
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Re: items

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 6/9/05, Dave Land <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> On Jun 9, 2005, at 12:28 PM, Ronn!Blankenship wrote:
> 
> > At 01:56 PM Thursday 6/9/2005, Maru Dubshinki wrote:
> >
> >> ~Maru
> >> Too bad really- if Gore had won, everybody might just be using a real
> >> OS.
> >
> > Not that it would matter with us all living in caves.
> 
> What the heck are you on about? I'm guessing -- just guessing -- that
> you
> had something more in mind than continuing the four-plus year gloat-fest
> over the stolen election of 2000. Care to enlighten us?
> 
 > Dave

My guess is that he is referring to, the expectation that if Gore had
been sworn in, he undoubtedly would have done his damndest to pass the
Kyoto Accord- which, as I'm sure everyone remembers, the Republicans
histrionically predicted would utterly destroy America's industry and
economy; hence the "living in a cave".
IMHO.

~Maru
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Re: Sci-fi writers look ahead

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 6/11/05, Horn, John <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> >
> >
> 
> And see a very empty future...
> 
>  - jmh

The solution to the Fermi Paradox!



~Maru
Oh wait, nevermind, there y'all are.
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Re: Discovery Channel's "Greatest American"

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 6/11/05, William T Goodall <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> 
> On 10 Jun 2005, at 1:28 pm, PAT MATHEWS wrote:
> 
> > And your problem is? His story is very American. He (1) earned his
> > money (2) by creating (or at least finding & marketing) a product
> > never seen before,
> 
> Which product was that?
> 
> --
> William T Goodall

Oh, that's easy; it was BASI- oh, wait, that was just a port. Alright
then, QDO- no, never mind. Fine, he definitely was responsible for the
GU- wait, Xerox and Apple did that first, didn't they?  Hmm. How about
'insecurity'?  I don't think any other OS has ever beat him in *that*
department.


~Maru
Not a bug! Features!
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Re: Brin: Re: Forget global warming, let's make a difference

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 6/14/05, Erik Reuter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> * David Brin ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) wrote:
> 
> > Please drop dead.
> 
> Eventually, perhaps.
> 
> > You are a bona fide asshole and I want to hear from you never again.
> 
> I can keep playing these games as long as you can. I was going to let it
> drop, but you obviously don't want it to drop. You want to play games.
> Okay.
> 
> I may be an asshole, but at least I'm a REAL asshole, not a pretend one.
> You big whining sissy!

"Pussies don't like dicks, because pussies get fucked by dicks. But
dicks also fuck assholes: assholes that just want to shit on
everything. Pussies may think they can deal with assholes their way.
But the only thing that can fuck an asshole is a dick, with some
balls. The problem with dicks is: they fuck too much or fuck when it
isn't appropriate - and it takes a pussy to show them that. But
sometimes, pussies can be so full of shit that they become assholes
themselves... because pussies are an inch and half away from ass
holes. I don't know much about this crazy crazy world, but I do know
this: If you don't let us fuck this asshole, we're going to have our
dicks and pussies all covered in shit! "

-Team America (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Team_America:_World_Police)


~Maru
seemed time to lower the level of discourse again
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Re: Brin: Forget global warming, let's make a difference

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 6/14/05, Warren Ockrassa <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> On Jun 14, 2005, at 12:32 PM, David Brin wrote:
> 
> > PS  Today announced.  The service academies have seen
> > a plummet in applications of unprecedented
> > proportions.
> 
> The "No Child Left Behind" bill had an elegant little solution built
> into it, one that has seen essentially no publicity. Kids' school
> records are made available to military channels, presumably so the mil
> folks can better judge who is the most suitable to be the next crop of
> cannon fodder. This strikes me as being a sickening cynical practice.

What, the eugenics bit, or the civil liberties bit?
 
> Evidently neo-conservatives are comfortable with cannibalism.
> 
> Parents can opt their kids out of the "program", but the whys and
> wherefores are different from school district to school district.
> 
> More here:
> 
> 
> 
> Warren Ockrassa, Publisher/Editor, nightwares Books

~Maru
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Re: Faith crimes

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 6/16/05, William T Goodall <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4098172.stm
> 
> "Children are being trafficked into the UK from Africa and used for
> human sacrifices, a confidential report for the Metropolitan Police
> suggests.
> Children are being beaten and even murdered after being labelled as
> witches by pastors, the report leaked to BBC Radio 4's Today
> programme said.
> Police face a "wall of silence" in investigations because of fear and
> mistrust among the groups involved.
> It follows the case of a girl tortured by her guardians for being a
> witch.
> Three people, including the girl's aunt, were convicted of trying to
> "beat the devil out of" the un-named 10-year-old - originally from
> Angola.
> The report was commissioned by the Met after the death of Victoria
> Climbie in February 2000 and because of concerns over so-called faith
> crimes."
> 
> --
> William T Goodall

Human sacrifices? Mass hysteria sparked by one case?

Color me skeptical, but this sounds suspiciously like the Satanism
hysteria in the US some years back.

~Maru
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Re: Cover-up or protection?

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 6/18/05, PAT MATHEWS <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> >From: Gary Denton <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> 
> The
> >disease was unknown until 1943, when it was identified and diagnosed
> >among 11 children born in the months after thimerosal was first added
> >to baby vaccines in 1931.
> >
> No, it wasn't, looking back. The pianist/composer Blind Tom clearly had it,
> among other noted "idiot savants".  In one of Heinlein's novelettes, Lost
> Legacy, a character names several such as examples of what the human minds
> is capable of, if only we could harness it. All of them predate the
> vaccines.
> 
> And there was a great child prodigy of my childhood, Boris-something, who
> after great promise dwindled into the world's greatest expert on streetcar
> transfers. The psychology of the day blamed his terribly pushy father, which
> he certainly had, but - streetcar transfers? That man apparently had some
> mighty strange hardwiring.
> 
> Not to say the problems with mercury might not be there! The condition has
> certainly increased far beyond what population increase and better diagnosis
> could account for. Though I do like the explanation offered by Wired
> Magazine for Silicon Valley's huge increase, "We're breeding geeks there."
> 
> Pat
 
Nothing Boris- it was William James Sidis, contemporary of Norbert
Wiener (who turned out a little better, anyways). See:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_James_Sidis


~Maru
I think its more likely 'raising geeks there', but whatever...
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Re: Free book!

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 6/19/05, William T Goodall <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Charles Stross has put up a free to download copy of his new novel
> Accelerando in several formats at
> 
> http://www.accelerando.org/book/
> 
> --
> William T Goodall

I dunno... If it isn't pirated, it's just not the same.


~Maru
Yo ho, ho!
'Tis a pirate's life for me
We rip, we upload, we rifle and moot-
Down-to-load me 'earties, Yo Ho!
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Re: Stross: Accelerando

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 6/21/05, Kevin Street <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
... 
> Come to think of it, the same line of thought might preclude interaction
> between AIs and humans. What kind of intelligence could stand to wait a
> million subjective seconds between each sentence? We might just be too slow
> and boring for machines to talk to.
> 
> Kevin Street

Might, assuming they were serial intelligences.  If instead they ran
many minds in parallel, that might slow things down enough to make
conversation possible- or they could simply delegate few enough
resources to the portion of the mind handling the conversation that it
ran human-real-time.


~Maru
"Predictions are difficult, especially of AI"
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Re: Wierd News Battle Royale

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 6/28/05, Nick Arnett <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Where's the "Cat got your tongue" joke that clearly is in here somewhere?
> 
> Nick

Turn-about's fair play?


~Maru
got nuthin'
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What is religion (was Re: Religion and social capital)

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 6/28/05, William T Goodall <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> I think the Christian sacrament is more like ca-nibble-ism because
> those wafers are really tiny :)
> 
> It would be a whole lot more fun if they transubstantiated some nice
> BBQ...
> 
> --
> William T Goodall

You think far too small, my dear William.  Just imagine all the time a
God-fearing Catholic could save if they got *themselves*
transubstaniated!



~Maru
skip straight to the big finale, neh?
http://www.qwantz.com/fanart/unorthodoxy_thebestkindoforthodoxy.png
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Re: They were For it before they were Against it

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 7/11/05, Warren Ockrassa <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> I don't see how the multi-world or multiverse model is more
> conservative than Bohm's idea, though. It sounds considerably more
> complex and requires a hell of a lot more effort to make it happen. An
> entire universe at each decision node? For every possible decision
> ever? This seems more pragmatic than suggesting a particle/probability
> wave mix?
> 
> Of course I don't have the background in QM to judge, but I do have an
> idea about concepts like simplicity, elegance and so on, and the
> multiverse model is certainly not any of those things.
> 
> 
> --
> Warren Ockrassa, Publisher/Editor, nightwares Books

The MW can be simpler than the others because, it is simpler to
specify all the possible worlds than to give all the information which
uniquely specifies one solitary world out of the 10^90 or whatever
possible number.
You could think of it in Unix terms as:
* 
instead of:
foobar.txt

Or as:
ER (all real numbers)
rather than random gargantuan number:
189458735487234768934593875754645647842231445...

~Maru
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Re: Half-Blood Prince (No spoilers)

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 7/16/05, Julia Thompson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Gautam Mukunda wrote:
> > --- Julia Thompson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> >
> >>That's 260 minutes to read a 652-page book.
> >>
> >>I'd call you a fast reader, is what I would do.  :)
> >>
> >>  Julia
> >
> >
> > I'm just glad I got (and assembled) my new futon
> > yesterday, as my old one was so uncomfortable that
> > sitting on it for more than half an hour or so was
> > really unpleasant... :-)
> 
> Good for you.  :)
> 
> Speaking of assembly, a chunk of reading time will probably go into
> putting together some cabinets in the garage after kids go to bed.
> 
> And now I'm only 38 pages from the end of the other book, but have to
> stop and admit that naptime is over, and be overrun with little ones for
> the next few hours.  (It's not the overrunning that's a problem so much
> as all the head-butts the 22-month-olds have gotten into the habit of
> inflicting)
> 
> Julia

Meh- amateurs.

How about some discussion of the book?  I'm pretty happy with this
one; for all the exposition and mild climax, I've always been slightly
miffed that all the pre-existing bits of alchemy and magic and old
fairy tales and such that Rowling borrowed from were not really
extended or improved-  so you can imagine how happy I was when she
borrowed an old fairy tale element, improved it, and made it exactly
what was needed for a credible strategy for you-know-who (this is no
spoilers, right?)

On another note, all the backstory and revelations in this slow-moving
installment have made the previous novels considerably deeper, IMO. 
Anyone else think so?


~Maru

/got his at 2am. Long line. Done 4:30 am. While we're boasting...
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Re: Harry Potter - no actual spoiler, just a complaint

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 7/16/05, Julia Thompson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> THERE IS A MISTAKE ON PAGE 10!
> 
> At least in the US edition.
> 
> Was Gautam reading too fast to catch it?  :)
> 
> Julia
> 
> who is on page 10

Is it the mention of Brockdale Bridge? No Google hits.

~Maru
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Re: Harry Potter Discussion (Spoilers!!!) L3

[Maru Dubshinki]

Gautam Mukunda wrote:

> The big shock was not Dumbledore dying, of course -
> it's been obvious that that had to happen at the end
> of Book Six since, well, Book 1, probably.  What is a
> huge shock, of course, is that _Snape_ would be the
> one who murders him.  I am quite impressed by
> Rowling's skill in setting this up.  As in each of her
> other books, she plays absolutely fair with the
> reader.  We had enough information to figure out
> (before Harry does) what Malfoy was doing, for example
> - although I doubt many people will.  But in each book
> Rowling has carefully crafted a structure - we suspect
> Snape, we hate Snape, we discover that Snape is
> actually a good guy.  By this book, of course, I was
> so used to that structure that I completely failed to
> suspect Snape.  So when Snape appeared at the last
> minute - I expected him to rescuce Dumbledore
> (somehow) or perhaps even die in glorious but futile
> defense of him.  I certainly didn't expect the murder.
>  Yet again, here - Rowling actually provides us with a
> Voldemort-approved explanation for his behavior, and
> we knew (from Harry's Occlumency lessons) that Snape
> was a half-blood - although I don't recall _anyone_
> suggesting Snape as the Half-Blood Prince, and it
> certainly didn't occur to me while I was reading.

Very enjoyable analysis, Gautam.  The plot was defintely
slower than usual because of all the revelations/memories/
backstory (which, as I said, improve the previous ones. A dab
bit of retconning.). 
But I must quibble with one bit: 
How on earth can you claim that we could've figured out Malfoy's plot?
We knew that there was a plot, yes, and that it would involve
smuggling past the security (here's an interesting and timely
parallel: for all the endless cameras and paranoid signs I saw in
London, the bombers *still* got through handily, just as Malfoy and
the Deatheaters did with the endless reams of security 'round
Hogwarts.), and that two large objects would be involved, but we had
no information suggesting
that the pair of objects would be the key to circumvention.  Even
stretching Harry's observation that the security would ignore poison
in a bottle doesn't lead us to all of Malfoy's plot, and most
definitely not to a pair of space-twisting chests or whatevers as the
mechanism, esp. a pair of chests which have never been mentioned
before (IMO... I could have missed a reference or two.  Correct me
here if I'm wrong please.)  And I felt very annoyed when the Prince
turned out to be Snape rather than Voldemort. I feel a little cheated
at such dishonesty- one expected the Prince to be actually a prince,
no?

~Maru
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Re: Uplift locations and dates. Hey, Alberto?

[Maru Dubshinki]

Perhaps I've missed something rather obvious, but... 

Why don't you guys just ask Brin about all these niggling lil'
details? This is his list, and it's not like he's dead.

~Maru
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Re: Uplift locations and dates. Hey, Alberto?

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 7/19/05, [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> 
> In a message dated 7/19/2005 8:28:53 PM US Mountain Standard Time,
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
> 
> Why  don't you guys just ask Brin about all these niggling lil'
> details? This is  his list, and it's not like he's dead.
> 
> 
> 
> But, and this is the Gawds honest truth, we know more about the dating than
> he does.
> 
> Vilyehm

/boggles.


~Maru
heh, 'boggles'. Wonder if that's actually a word. 
Later... Hmm. Did you know that the OED says that Boggle was
originally derived from a wraith that a horse sees and is spooked by,
and the use of boggle as a synonym for incredulity, astonishment etc.
is very recent?
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Re: Not unexpected news

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 7/20/05, Ronn!Blankenship <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> About 3-1/2 hours ago:
> 
> <>
> 
> 
> --Ronn! :)


He's dead, Jim.


~Maru

/teh obvious
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Re: MTG_fans=3A_Yer_missin_out

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 7/21/05, Jim Sharkey <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> 
> Some of his homegrown spells are just other cards renamed.  There are a few 
> neat ones among them, but he crosses up on when things should be an instant 
> and when they should be sorceries a few times.  There are also a few that are 
> just strictly better or worse versions of other cards, which is kinda meh IMO.
> 
> The "repeat" mechanic is neat.  This is one I'd love to see; the arguments 
> alone of whether or not it's better than storm would be worth the price of 
> admission.  :)
> 
> "Stall" is...OK.  I think it would probably be better on big fatties for the 
> Timmies rather than on weenies.  A 2/2 flyer for one mana is ridiculously 
> cheap, true, and it *would* allow for a number of quick flying beats by turn 
> three, but if it doesn't come out turn one, it's practically useless.
> 
> A few of his decisions are puzzling; a pumpable 1/1 for one mana?  And it's 
> common?  It's better than Nantuko Shade!
> 
> OTOH, his costless splice spells are decent; the black one in particular is 
> cool.  Pit's Pull could rock, and the lands that allow you to choose 
> depletion or pain are neat, though maybe a bit powerful; I mean, Starlit Lake 
> would allow you to play Lightning Angel on turn 2 in Extended; that's strong 
> stuff and well worth 2 damage!
> 
> The goblin Spikes would make in their pants over Tar-Lan Palace, I think.  :)
> 
> Overall, despite any criticisms I may have made, it's not a bad effort.  He 
> managed to get a little in there for Johnny, Timmy and Spike, which is good.
> 
> Jim
> I believe in the heart of the cards Maru

Wait a sec- That's Yu-Gi-Oh! You traitor!


~Maru
anyone understand the rest of it?
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Curious coincidence

[Maru Dubshinki]

I was reading Slate the other day, and I saw the article on a new
presentation of that old mainstay, the periodic table.  It is quite
visually interesting, as the elements are arranged in a spiral (hence
the name, "Chemical Galaxy").
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemical_Galaxy

But what struck me most was the acute resemblance to Stanislaw Ulam's
prime number spiral.
http://www.numberspiral.com/
http://mathworld.wolfram.com/PrimeSpiral.html

The strange coincidences in this world sometimes are pretty impressive.

~Maru
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Re: David Brin's blog

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 8/17/05, d.brin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
/in the interests of brevity, much cut
> To this end, I have corresponded for years with experts in several
> fields, suggesting certain lines of investigation. (I'm not shy.) And
> now... you are all invited to drop in and view An Open Letter To
> Researchers In The Fields Of Addiction, Brain Chemistry And Social
> Psychology.
> 
> Paste in this address: http://www.davidbrin.com/addiction.html ...
> and feel free to tell your biologist pals. I cannot think of any
> single scientific result that might do more to help heal society and
> empower the pragmatists, while marginalizing screeching dogmatists of
> every stripe.
 /more cut

Your idea is pretty interesting: my sense of it is that you are
proposing that politics these days are not rational, and that the
reason (or a major contributing reason) is that public discourse has
been warped by extreme ideologues, who have thrived and (like a warped
Gresham's Law) driven out better, more moderate sensible commentators,
by hooking into the consumer's reward feedback loops using
self-righteousness.
I had wondered what plausible mechanisms there existed to explain that
most disagreements in politics are dishonest; have you by any chance
seen one of Robin Hanson's papers, entitled "Are Disagreements
Honest?" In it they pretty persuasively show that most arguers are
irrational, and suggest countermeasures:
http://hanson.gmu.edu/deceive.pdf
or, in Google-ized html versions:
http://64.233.187.104/search?q=cache:DKPRjOn9YOoJ:www.gmu.edu/jbc/Tyler/deceive.pdf+&hl=en
http://tinyurl.com/akr4d 

~Maru
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Re: Irregulars Question: mod format in Linux

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 8/21/05, Alberto Monteiro <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Does anyone know wtf is a .mod file in Linux? How can I get useful things out
> of it? It seems like it's a zip-like bundle of stuff.
> 
> Alberto Monteiro

Really, Alberto. I'm somewhat disapointed in you.  

But for your browsing delectation, here are some scrumptious links
(I'll be assuming here that you are not talking about the Fortran
thingy):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MOD_(file_format) ,
http://groups.google.com/group/bit.listserv.coco/browse_thread/thread/f934c8fc1a5ae2d4/fb39a89903eddc0e?lnk=st&q=.mod+file&rnum=10&hl=en#fb39a89903eddc0e
or
http://tinyurl.com/8gccq ,
http://www.modarchive.com/


~Maru

"I have millions of gathas
instant sures for every trouble
if you need a friend
try the Tientai Mountains
join me deep in the cliffs
we'll talk about truth and mystery
you won't see me though
you'll just see the mountains"
-pick up
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shide
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Re: Physics question

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 8/22/05, Andrew Paul <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Yes, and thus there are places, where time is going faster, relative to
> earth... eg places going slower (as we are going rather fast). And is
> there a minimum and maximum speed of time?
> 
> Andrew

Well, assuming Green's metaphor holds,  yes.  Quite simply: maximum
speed of time would be a constant inertial reference frame; no
accelerating in any direction.  To be the furthest into the
time-dimension (ie, farthest into the future, if that makes sense),
you would have to have a frame that was not accelerating since the Big
Bang.
Minimum speed of time is the opposite: all possible acceleration, that
is, light speed.Intuitively, this should make time stand still,
and it does. And faster still would be going backwards in time
(tachyons, anyone?).

~Maru
deaf leading the blind. Or is it blind leading the blind?
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Re: Physics question

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 8/22/05, Andrew Paul <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> No, that's good, that's what I was thinking too. And the Big Bang part
> is an interesting angle.. Is there somewhere like that, can we identify
> a centre of our universe?. And what about the maximum speed of time?
> 
> Andrew

A physical centre? No; the Big Bang happened everywhere, to paraphrase
one physicist.  It was space expanding, not stuff expanding outwhere
from one point.

~Maru
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Re: Physics question

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 8/22/05, Damon Agretto <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> 
> >Minimum speed of time is the opposite: all possible acceleration, that
> >is, light speed.Intuitively, this should make time stand still,
> >and it does. And faster still would be going backwards in time
> >(tachyons, anyone?).
> 
> Speaking of which, if this were possible, HOW exactly would time go
> backwards? Would time flow backwards ONLY for the internal time reference
> (I assume; i.e. nuclear decay would go backwards, etc), or would you
> actually be able to see the universe go "backwards" in time in the same way
> we can now see the universe go forwards?
> 
> Damon.

If a physicist were here, he'd probably smack us and tell us to
distinguish between entropy and the arrow of time/dimension of time. 
My understanding is that "going backwards" in time is the same as
moving about, just the place we move is, in our time reference system,
prior to our ownl; entropy would still proceed forward as usual.  Now,
what entropy going backwards consistently would look like, or whether
we could even be meaningfully said to live, is a whole different
kettle of worms.

~Maru
IANAP; I only play one on the radio
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Re: Mindless and Heartless

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 8/22/05, Dan Minette <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> - Original Message -
> From: "Nick Arnett" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> To: "Killer Bs Discussion" 
> Sent: Monday, August 22, 2005 6:23 PM
> Subject: Re: Mindless and Heartless
> 
> 
> > On Mon, 22 Aug 2005 17:39:30 -0500, Dan Minette wrote
> > > > Perhaps someone wants to argue that GWB
> > > > should *not* have to endure a half-hour
> > > > with her, and maybe even that he's not
> > > > accountable to her (or even the public).
> > >
> > > Why, because of her views, is half an hour with her more important than
> > > half an hour with her other son, or his father (both of whom seem to
> > > think his death is a nobel sacrifice).
> >
> > Cite, please.
> 
> Sure, no problem Nick.
> 
> 
> Others in the family bitterly opposed Cindy's stance. In a statement, her
> sister-in-law - Casey's aunt - said that "the rest of the Sheehan family
> supports the troops, our country and our president." Cindy's surviving son
> begged her to come home. It was revealed that her husband had filed for
> divorce. Their son's death, as in so many families, had strained their
> marriage rather than, as in others, making it stronger.
> 
> 
> http://tinyurl.com/cdlee
> 
> http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/20050819/cm_usatoday/cindysheehandecampsleavingverymixedmessages;_ylt=AqYNJoNff80.ib6rG5dFNmys0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3YWFzYnA2BHNlYwM3NDI-
> 
> Dan M.

Tsk, tsk, tsk, Dan.  Did you check the source?  The Drudge Report.
http://www.drudgereport.com/flashcs.htm
Let's count the weak links: first, an item on Matt Drudge's website,
who is a known (and I believe self-avowed) hard-core rightwinger.  A
weak link, but not decisive. Ad hominem and all that. I'll simply
confine myself to mentioning that Drudge has made up stuff in the
past; does anyone remember how Drudge broke the news that John Kerry
commited adultery? The item claims that they received an e-mail (a
form of communication easily faked, both on the sending and receiving
ends, as spammers demonstrate to everyone's daily dismay), which
itself is said to say:

"Our family has been so distressed by the recent activities of Cindy
we are breaking our silence and we have collectively written a
statement for release. Feel free to distribute it as you wish.

Thanks, Cherie

In response to questions regarding the Cindy Sheehan/Crawford Texas
issue: Sheehan Family Statement:

The Sheehan Family lost our beloved Casey in the Iraq War and we have
been silently, respectfully grieving. We do not agree with the
political motivations and publicity tactics of Cindy Sheehan. She now
appears to be promoting her own personal agenda and notoriety at the
the expense of her son's good name and reputation. The rest of the
Sheehan Family supports the troops, our country, and our President,
silently, with prayer and respect.

Sincerely,

Casey Sheehan's grandparents, aunts, uncles and numerous cousins. " 

How much editing the DR did is unknown.  Furthermore, it is unclear
just who is signing it: a "Cherie" certainly signed it, who is
apparently an aunt on the paternal side of the dead son, but who else
is unclear. Which grandparents (are Sheehan's grand-parents even
alive? I do not know.), unspecified (even unenumerated!) "aunts,
uncles and numerous cousins".  None of which have publicly stated that
they support the e-mail, or even that the e-mail is genuine.  Cindy
Sheehan has stated that her aunt's politics and that of several other
family members are opposite hers, but sheer probability dictates that,
which helps the probability of validity only a little.  So the most
likely scenario?  It's a plausible fake, or the aunt going it alone.

It is unfortunate that the MSM chooses to elide discussion of the source.

~Maru
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Re: This post made in honor of Ronn

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 8/23/05, Gautam Mukunda <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> An example of the true value of a Harvard education,
> drawn from a recent post on the Harvard Boston recent
> grads email list, as part of a request for a roommate:
> 
> "Looking for someone similar to the two of us already
> in the house: mid-20's young professional or grad
> student. Someone who is clean, respectful, easy to get
> along with, who values having a nice home, and
> doesn't mind emptying the dishwasher or changing the
> role of toilet paper."
> 
> So, does anyone have any ideas as to new _roles_ for
> toilet paper?  Apparently the old one isn't sufficient
> anymore :-)
> 
> Gautam Mukunda

Clearly what we have here is a rather progressive youngster, a shining
example of the further march of liberty: this wimmin, or persun, is
advocating that toilet paper be liberated from its constricted role of
cleaning our bottoms. They hold with Freud that this fixation on the
anus is infantilizing, and retarding of progress integrating the self;
in short blocking personal growth.  Thusly, we must change the "role"
which toilet paper plays to clean other areas, such as the nostrils,
or the mouth, other bodily orifices.  I dare say that in this cry for
progress we can see a covert dialectic, leading to a synthesis of the
negative, or "shadow" aspects of the whole metemphysical nature of
toilet paper: what could be more subversive than turning an item that
is meant to clean, and tragically, be immediately disposed of into a
representation of the Great Mother that the patriarchal Western
scientific society has repressed and demonized than by into the
embodiment of its enemy, waste, and permament waste at that?

~Maru
I promise I won't do that again.
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Re: Physics question

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 8/22/05, Dan Minette <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> >If a physicist were here,
> 
> There are at least two physicists here: Rich and myself.  I've only been
> active on the list for about six years, so maybe you didn't notice that I'm
> here. :-)

I did not know that.  There really should be a short page listing
names and professions of major posters, to prevent such amusing errors
as that.

> 
> >he'd probably smack us and tell us to
> >distinguish between entropy and the arrow of time/dimension of time.
> 
> That's not the real problem: the real problem in this thread is that you
> are trying to force special relativity (SR) into a classical physics box.
> In classical physics, we have x,y,z space, and a separate dimension t. We
> have  d^2 =x^2+y^2+z^2 (where d is the distance between two objects.)  The
> values for x, y, and z are coordinate system dependant: x, y, and z can be
> defined by any three orthanormal vectors (orthanormal vectors are both
> mutually orthogonal and have value 1).  The value of d is coordinate system
> independent.

A minor point: why are you representing the cartesian distance formula
in squared form? I've always elsewhere seen it as sqrt(x^2+y^2+z^2). 
And I agree partially: the time discussion is flowing out of the
absolute zero?=space travel discussion, which does suffer from the
Newtonian space problem.  But I'm not sure our time discussion is
similarly flawed.


> There is perfect symmetry.  Each observation is equally valid.
> 
> Finally, two objects that are timelike (a signal at the speed of light can
> travel from one point in spacetime to another), will have the same sequence
> in time for all observers.  Two objects that are spacelike (a signal at the
> speed of light cannot travel from one point in spacetime to another), will
> be simultaneous in one inertial system, have A before B for some reference
> systems, and have B before A in the remainder of the reference systems.
> 
> Hope this helps.  If there are any questions, just yell.
> 
> Dan M.

How exactly does that work for space-like relationships?  Is this
potential to mix up ordering of A and B what allows reverse time
travel?

~Maru
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Re: This post made in honor of Ronn

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 8/23/05, Warren Ockrassa <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> On Aug 22, 2005, at 10:02 PM, Maru Dubshinki wrote:
> 
> > Thusly, we must change the "role"
> > which toilet paper plays to clean other areas, such as the nostrils,
> > or the mouth, other bodily orifices.
> 
> Oh, I see, so its proper role, according to you, is cleaning? What a
> typically phallocentric white-male view. I suppose you expect it to be
> barefoot and pregnant besides!
> 
> And by the way, it's NOT "toilet paper". Toilet paper is the name given
> to it by its oppressors. It's REALLY "ribbon-formed tree pulp" (RFTP).
> 
> If you were REALLY interested in RFTP liberation, you'd be refusing to
> put ANY role distinctions on it. Only by being unroled can RFTP be
> truly free to reach the lengths of its potential.
> 
> 
> --
> Warren Ockrassa, Publisher/Editor, nightwares Books

I shall not lower myself to answer the baseless calumnies of this
persun, save to note solely that the statement "phallocentric
white-male view" is especially ripe for deconstruction and deviant
textual readings coming from him.  Furthermore, if this "Ockrossa"
*really* did care, like he claims, about RFTP freedom, he would never
say such biased, regressive, and outrageous to liberated sensibilities
things like "lengths of its potential."  What about square RFTPs, you
insensitive clod?! Are their viewpoints of no value, non-privileged
and censored?!

~Maru
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Re: This post made in honor of Ronn

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 8/23/05, Gautam Mukunda <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> --- Maru Dubshinki <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > Clearly what we have here is a rather progressive
> > youngster, a shining
> > example of the further march of liberty: this
> > wimmin, or persun, is
> > advocating that toilet paper be liberated from its
> > constricted role of
> > cleaning our bottoms. They hold with Freud that this
> > fixation on the
> > anus is infantilizing, and retarding of progress
> > integrating the self;
> > in short blocking personal growth.  Thusly, we must
> > change the "role"
> > which toilet paper plays to clean other areas, such
> > as the nostrils,
> > or the mouth, other bodily orifices.  I dare say
> > that in this cry for
> > progress we can see a covert dialectic, leading to a
> > synthesis of the
> > negative, or "shadow" aspects of the whole
> > metemphysical nature of
> > toilet paper: what could be more subversive than
> > turning an item that
> > is meant to clean, and tragically, be immediately
> > disposed of into a
> > representation of the Great Mother that the
> > patriarchal Western
> > scientific society has repressed and demonized than
> > by into the
> > embodiment of its enemy, waste, and permament waste
> > at that?
> >
> > ~Maru
> 
> Frighteningly enough, it wasn't entirely clear to me
> that this was a satire the first time I read it...
> 
> Gautam Mukunda

Didja like how I threw in some legitimate scholarship like Freud's
anal fixation theories of sexual maturation, and the Great mother
religious motif, and Jung's shadow, just to camouflage the nonsense?

~Maru
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Re: This post made in honor of Ronn

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 8/23/05, Warren Ockrassa <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> On Aug 22, 2005, at 10:31 PM, Maru Dubshinki wrote:
> 
> > Didja like how I threw in some legitimate scholarship like Freud's
> > anal fixation theories of sexual maturation, and the Great mother
> > religious motif, and Jung's shadow, just to camouflage the nonsense?
> 
> Since that's how it's usually done by groups with "serious" complaints,
> I'd bet that was the part that had Gautam going for a moment. ;)
> 
> Warren Ockrassa, Publisher/Editor, nightwares Books

Heh. That amuses me almost as much as writing it did.
Well shoot- now that I've thought about it a little more, I could have
had a decent paragraph ranting against the cultural imperialism of
denigrating a person's "unique" spelling.  Oh well.

~Maru
next time
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Re: The Doom That Came To N'Warlins - II

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 9/1/05, Ronn!Blankenship <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> 
> At 07:07 AM Thursday 9/1/2005, Alberto Monteiro wrote:
> >Russell Chapman wrote:
> > >
> > > Under marshall law, in a state of emergency (and I understand both
> > > have been declared) these people should be rounded up and used as
> > > labour to clean up flooded hospitals or something. Makes me so angry
> > > to think of some small business owner who is going to come in when
> > > he sorts out his home, only to find someone thought they deserved to
> > > just take the stock.
> > >
> >Those looters should at least show some ethics, like demolishing
> >the looted stores to their grounds - this would even make the
> >owners thankful, because they would get full insurance for the
> >stores.
> 
> 
> Anyone who is looting big-screen TVs, computers, DVDs, and other
> high-ticket electronic items from stores in an area where there is no
> electricity and there is not likely to be electricity for weeks at the
> earliest (more likely months) has already shown evidence of somewhat
> less-than-perfect reasoning . . .
> 
> 
> -- Ronn! :)
> 

Perfectly rational: the transportation costs of getting those items to a 
location where it would be useful
are far smaller than the cost of the items themselves, if they were 
purchased in an area with electricity. And the value
of those items are still enough to make the effort of looting worthwhile 
even after a few months of non-use.

~Maru
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Re: FLCL followup

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 9/1/05, Warren Ockrassa <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> 
> "Ride on Shooting Star" is pretty cool.
> 
> What I like, of course, is the lyrics I can get. There aren't many.
> "Spider" and "Sniper", sure. "Grunge Hamster" was a bit harder.
> 
> "Ride on shooting star" I got of course.
> 
> But there's this bit, I swear, that sounds like
> 
> "Sometimes you don't want it
> try to duke it out"
> 
> This makes sense to me. Or it did. Sometimes you don't want a thing;
> sometimes you have to fight.
> 
> So perusing the transliterations I find this, in phonetic Japanese:
> 
> sandanjû no yô ni (Sometimes you don't want it)
> utai tsutzuketa (Try to duke it out)
> 
> This is the phonetic rendering that sounds so much like "Sometimes you
> don't want it…" The translation is:
> 
> like a shotgun
> I kept on singing
> 
> I think I like my version better.
> 
> 
> --
> Warren Ockrassa, Publisher/Editor, nightwares Books


Heh. I'd like to hear what you made of "Hybrid Rainbow", or "Blues Drive 
Monster".
On a side note, have you heard any of their other stuff, like "Skeleton 
Liar" (a personal favorite)
or "Backseat Dog", or "Funny Bunny" for that matter?

~Maru
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Re: Irregulars question: Linux distributions

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 9/5/05, Ronn!Blankenship <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> 
> 
> So, any recommendations?
> 
> _
> ¹As I mentioned a few days ago when I was trying
> to get these new hard drives installed, I have
> the latest version (8.0) of Partition Magic and
> the Boot Magic program which comes with it in
> order to accomplish this (though I haven't set
> them up that way yet), and I left 100GB on the
> primary hard drive for a Linux partition, just in
> case those facts are of significance . . .
> 
> 
> -- Ronn! :)
> 

Well, Ubuntu plays nice with Windows, as do Fedora and Mandrake. Linspire is 
(I think) temporarily free as in beer, and SuSe is fairly popular. Of 
course, there is Debian as well, if you are the moral Free Software type, 
but Ubuntu is generally more useable. It's good you left a primary partition 
open. That'll make things easier.
If you don't mind building the distro yourself mostly, Gentoo has 
unparalleled comprehensive package management, which is also the most 
up-to-date. My personal experience is that it's somewhat unstable (one 
particular program, ncurses, particularly fubars things up), though as 
always YMMV.

~Maru
is a universe of possibilities. We haven't even *begun* to discuss the other 
Unixes out there!
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Re: Irregulars question: Linux distributions

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 9/5/05, Dave Land <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> 
> On Sep 5, 2005, at 6:18 PM, Ronn!Blankenship wrote:
> 
> >> is a universe of possibilities. We haven't even *begun* to discuss
> >> the
> >> other Unixes out there!
> >
> > Any suggestions appreciated.
> 
> Then I hope you won't mind a mention of FreeBSD, about which I knew
> nothing
> until I started using a FreeBSD-based flavor of Unix recently, one
> from a
> certain fruit-themed company in Cupertino.
> 
> It'll be a while 'til you can get a copy of OS X that will run on
> non-Apple Intel hardware, but in the meanwhile, FreeBSD itself is very
> well-regarded from a security standpoint and has all the requisite bits
> and pieces.
> 
> And when you *can* get a copy of OS X that will run on arbitrary Intel
> hardware, you will be in for the treat of your Unixy life.
> 
> Dave


I assume you meant to prefix "legally" in front of every ocurrence of "a 
copy", correct?

~Maru
Now me, my opinion of Mac OS X is that adherents of it are merely attempting 
to raise a prettier monopoly in place of Microsoft. MS learned from the 
best.
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Re: Katrina: Republican Political Tool(AreYouLonesomeTonightEdition)

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 9/18/05, Ritu <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> 
> 
> Warren Ockrassa wrote:
> 
> > On Sep 17, 2005, at 9:13 PM, Ritu wrote:
> >
> > > I can't reveal too many details [signed a non-disclosure agreement]
> > > but it was pretty and nice and sensible
> >
> > The first half of that sentence suggests Microsoft owns the future
> > world.
> >
> > The second half suggests the opposite.
> 
> *g*
> 
> I can safely reveal this: No Microsoft in that world.
> 
> Ritu


Hmm, so Apple triumphed and immediately set up an even more despotic rule 
than Microsoft.
But their clients are so happy with the eye-candy and user interface that 
they couldn't care less
about their enslavement?

~Maru
not really surprised
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Re: New trigonometry is a sign of the times

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 9/18/05, Robert G. Seeberger <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> 
> http://physorg.com/news6555.html
> 
> Mathematics students have cause to celebrate. A University of New
> South Wales academic, Dr Norman Wildberger, has rewritten the arcane
> rules of trigonometry and eliminated sines, cosines and tangents from
> the trigonometric toolkit.
> 
> What's more, his simple new framework means calculations can be done
> without trigonometric tables or calculators, yet often with greater
> accuracy.
> 
> Established by the ancient Greeks and Romans, trigonometry is used in
> surveying, navigation, engineering, construction and the sciences to
> calculate the relationships between the sides and vertices of
> triangles.
> 
> "Generations of students have struggled with classical trigonometry
> because the framework is wrong," says Wildberger, whose book is titled
> Divine Proportions: Rational Trigonometry to Universal Geometry (Wild
> Egg books).
> 
> Dr Wildberger has replaced traditional ideas of angles and distance
> with new concepts called "spread" and "quadrance".
> 
> These new concepts mean that trigonometric problems can be done with
> algebra," says Wildberger, an associate professor of mathematics at
> UNSW.
> 
> "Rational trigonometry replaces sines, cosines, tangents and a host of
> other trigonometric functions with elementary arithmetic."
> 
> "For the past two thousand years we have relied on the false
> assumptions that distance is the best way to measure the separation of
> two points, and that angle is the best way to measure the separation
> of two lines.
> 
> "So teachers have resigned themselves to teaching students about
> circles and pi and complicated trigonometric functions that relate
> circular arc lengths to x and y projections – all in order to analyse
> triangles. No wonder students are left scratching their heads," he
> says.
> 
> "But with no alternative to the classical framework, each year
> millions of students memorise the formulas, pass or fail the tests,
> and then promptly forget the unpleasant experience.
> 
> "And we mathematicians wonder why so many people view our beautiful
> subject with distaste bordering on hostility.
> 
> "Now there is a better way. Once you learn the five main rules of
> rational trigonometry and how to simply apply them, you realise that
> classical trigonometry represents a misunderstanding of geometry."
> 
> Wild Egg books: http://wildegg.com/
> Divine Proportions: 
> web.maths.unsw.edu.au/~norman/book.htm
> 
> 
> xponent
> Wonders How This Will Affect Power Factor Correction Maru
> rob
> 

Doesn't this scheme make it really hard to calculate distances? 
From the looks of it, it involves a lot of square-rooting.

~Maru
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Re: Guns kill people

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 9/20/05, Julia Thompson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> 
> Mauro Diotallevi wrote:
> > On 9/3/05, Nick Lidster <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> >
> >>
> >>ok I have to say it
> >>
> >>
> >>"Guns don't kill people, people kill people."
> >>
> >>
> >>Nick "high noon" Lidster
> >
> >
> > Guns don't kill people, bullets kill people. Allow people all the guns
> > they want, but make bullets illegal.
> 
> Bullets don't kill people. Pinpoint momentum trauma kills people.
> 
> Julia


Pinpoint momentum trauma don't kill people; loss of blood, changes in the
chemical balance of cells,
and bacterial infection kill people.

~Maru 
outlaw chemicals and bacteria
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Brin: Pictures of Brin

[Maru Dubshinki]

Anyone know of any Free (as in software and speech) pictures for our
beloved G. David Brin?

I ask because the Wikipedia article is shockingly devoid of his visage:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Brin

~Maru
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Re: Brin: Pictures of Brin

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 10/2/05, Doug Pensinger <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Maru wrote:
>
> > Anyone know of any Free (as in software and speech) pictures for our
> > beloved G. David Brin?
> >
> > I ask because the Wikipedia article is shockingly devoid of his visage:
> > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Brin
> >
>
> http://david-brin.tripod.com/
>
> --
> Doug

Those are nice photos, very much along the lines of what I was hoping
for. But looking the pages over, I don't see any mention of licensing,
a vital issue for Wikipedia.


~Maru
Speaking of Wikipedia, yesterday I was made an admin on it.  Go me!
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Re: Brin: Pictures of Brin

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 10/2/05, David Brin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> These photos all came from me and I give permission
> for wiki use.
>
> Problem is that you must copy them from Tripod.
> Linking to them will make tripod inactivate them.
>
> Or use images at http://www.davidbrin.com/
>
> The rest of you!  I am serializing an important essay
> on the evils of gerrymandering at
> http://davidbrin.blogspot.com/
>
> Thrive all!
>
>
> With cordial regards,
>
> David Brin
> www.davidbrin.com

I really hate to be a pain and take up more time, but I've spoken with
higher ups at Wikipedia to get exactly the image policy, and the
license must satisfy at a minimum this criteria:
They must be freely reusable by anyone, for commercial and
non-commercial purposes.  Giving permission for wiki use, while
admirable, has been decided not sufficient, as then *only* Wikipedia
can use it, which then brings you right back to proprietary licenses,
precisely the thing Wikipedia was designed to avoid. :(
If you see your way clear to licensing it under the GNU Free
Documentation License,  or perhaps releasing into the public domain,
or releasing all rights (not quite the same thing as public domain,
but effectivel), or possibly one of the Creative Commons licenses (but
not one of the ones that forbid commercial usage or commercial use),
well that would go just swimmingly with your article.

~Maru
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Re: The dark side of faith

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 10/3/05, William T Goodall <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> The LA Times has picked up on the story...
>
> http://tinyurl.com/7fxny
>
> "The dark side of faith
> By ROSA BROOKS
> IT'S OFFICIAL: Too much religion may be a dangerous thing.
.

William, we get it.  Post stories or studies now which don't
demonstrate correlation, but rather *causation*, and we'll be
interested.

~Maru
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Re: Knife of Dreams

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 10/14/05, The Fool <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > From: The Fool <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> >
> > Reminder:  It comes out tomarrow.
>
> Yes, very nice indeed.  Much better than the previous 3/5s of a book.

Does it actually dare I hope out loud?  move the plot forward
without introducing *even more* complications?

~Maru
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Re: Knife of Dreams

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 10/15/05, Julia Thompson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Ritu wrote:
>
> > Julia, if you are in the mood to read a yet-unfinished grand fantasy
> > series, George R.R. Martin's _A Song of Ice and Fire_ has my vote. I'd
> > recommend Jordan only if you have nothing else to read and are unable to
> > sleep or find other diversions.
>
> Unlikely to happen in the next 10 years.  :)
>
> Julia

Actually, you know what saddens me most about WoT?  It's not that
Jordan desperately needs an editor to trim down his series and get him
to evaluate seriously  what scenes and subplots really add to the
experience (WoT exhibits all the telltale signs of an edifice
encrusted with cruft and tottering.  When fan discussions begin
showing the signs of a full-blown academic discipline, complete with
jargon, methods,  a literature, and rank, you know that the subject
books have perhaps gotten far too baroque for their own good. Hell,
the WoT faq is beginning to approach book-length itself, and that is
just the faqs, and outdated faqs at that!), or that the length and the
sprawling plot and characters may exceed Jordan's capability to bring
to a satisfactory conclusion; no, I think of the human costs. WoT
started way back when *Reagan* was president AFAIK.  How many fans
have died, to never see WoT finished? How many readers has WoT
outlasted?

~Maru
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Re: Knife of Dreams

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 10/15/05, Julia Thompson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> The Fool wrote:
> > --
> > From: Maru Dubshinki <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> >
> > to a satisfactory conclusion; no, I think of the human costs. WoT
> > started way back when *Reagan* was president AFAIK.  How many fans
> > have died, to never see WoT finished? How many readers has WoT
> > outlasted?
> >
> > 
> > If by 'Reagan' you mean the chimperor's father...
>
> Publication date of January 1990 would indicate that Bush 41 was
> president.  (Very easy to go to amazon.com and check publication dates!)
>
> Now, when Reagan was president, the big fantasy thing I remember was
> people desperate for the next David Eddings installment.  I never got
> very far into any of his stuff.  (And this continued into the Bush 41
> administration -- at the end of 1989, no less than 3 of my friends were
> overjoyed to get the latest one of his at Christmas.)
>
> Julia

I do not trust Amazon for publication dates. In the course of my Star
Wars work for Wikipedia, I've found many publication dates that were
simply wrong, even for the editions listed as the first published. 
But in this case, yeah, it does seem to have started in '90. Still, 15
years is a long time.

~Maru
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Re: Work photos

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 11/10/05, Robert G. Seeberger <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> http://www.flickr.com/photos/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
>
> These are pictures of a project I have been working on, off and on,
> over the last few months.
>
>
> xponent
> Lots Of Pipe Maru
> rob

"Nitrous Oxide supply in The Womens Building"
http://www.flickr.com/photos/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/61875881/

Heh.

~Maru
"Say, where can I get me one of *those*?"
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Re: ChistiaNazi's and Rape: Vileness

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 12/7/05, The Fool <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> <>
>
> To put it more clearly, if a woman consents to extramarital sex, she is
> committing a moral offense which is equal to that committed by the man
> who engages in consensual sex with her, or by the man who, in the
> absence of such consent, rapes her. Christianity knows no hierarchy of
> sins. Since only the woman who is not entertaining the possibility of
> sex with a man and is subsequently raped can truly be considered a
> wholly innocent victim under this ethic, it is no wonder that women who
> insist that internal consent is the sole determining factor of a
> woman's victimization find traditional Western morality to be
> inherently distasteful.
>
> ...
>
> And while "might makes right" is the true essence of atheist amorality,
> it is not exactly the most convincing means of attempting to assert the
> moral evil of the rapist. As for Utilitarians in a demographically
> declining West, it is quite easy to make numerous cases for the
> inherent common good of rape on societal and social Darwinist grounds
> that are more powerful than the comparatively nebulous cases to the
> contrary.


Fool, you aren't advocating this, right? 'Cause there are many arguments
on Utilitarian grounds to the contrary.

~Maru
Offense by Omission?
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Re: 'The invasion of Iraq was a bandit act, an act of blatant state terrorism, '

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 12/9/05, Dave Land <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> Folks,
>
> Last night, I invested 45 minutes in watching Mr. Pinter's speech.
>
> It was stunning. Not so much the production (although the three-
> camera setup with a deep-blue backdrop and a large photograph of a
> younger Pinter was used well enough) but the man, his ideas and his
> delivery.
>
> His offer to write a speech for President Bush and his delivery of
> that speech are spellbinding. He makes no attempt to imitate Bush's
> mannerisms or accent, but the short sentences, the danger masked by a
> smile is very Bush. If you don't watch the whole thing, watch that
> bit, very near the end.
>
> Dave


Dare I hope there is a  copy of the speech floating around online, and it
was that you watched?

~Maru
Mmm, that's good demagoguery!
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Re: Online Trust L3

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 12/18/05, Robert J. Chassell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> ..
> Jurors should evaluate an article in several ways.  An encyclopedia
> entry, for example, requires one evaluation for accuracy and another
> for style.  Thus, an inaccurate article that claims the earth is flat
> might show great style.
>
> The evaluation should be on a scale of one through five, with five the
> best.  Moreover, since people pay attention to the words that frame an
> option, the scale should be:
>
> 5 -- excellent
>  much better than expected
>
> 4 -- good
>  better than expected
>
> 3 -- normal
>  expected
>
> 2 -- bad
>  worse than expected
>
> 1 -- terrible
>  much worse than expected
>
> A minimum number of jurors must judge before the results are
> published.  Otherwise, a few people will effect many.  As a beginning,
> I suggest a minimum of twelve.  However, as I said above, editors
> might want to look at infrequently judged items.
>
> Administrators must choose when (or whether) to ask editors to edit a
> modifiable posting.  As a beginning, I suggest a threshold in which a
> majority of posters say that accuracy or style is less than normal.
> (This is in addition to editing that ordinary people may do.  Editors
> are, to some extent, `insiders', which means they have duties as well
> rights.)
>
> Every one needs to see a profile of judgements.  In some situations,
> the profile will bimodal.  For example, I suspect that in 2003 in the
> United States, we would have seen a bimodal distribution of accuracy
> judgements about an article that claimed that in 2002 Saddam Hussein
> and the Iraqi government were giving chemical, biological, or nuclear
> weapons to Al Qaeda.  On the other hand, I expect that every accuracy
> judgement about a claim that the earth is flat would tell us that the
> article is at level 1, and is much less accurate than expected.
> (Style judgements might be different; the article would be wrong but
> might be well written.)
>
> At the same time, many entries will be judged the same way, so an
> average should be posted, too.
>
>
> Jurors might also tell us their confidence about their judgements.
>
> For example, regarding accuracy, many might be confident that Michael
> Faraday was not born in the 17th century since he worked in the 19th
> century, but be not so certain whether he was born in the latter 18th
> century (as he was) or early 19th.
>
> As a practical matter, I expect that jurors will be more confident in
> style judgements than accuracy judgements.
>
> A confidence scale could use five levels:
>
> 5 -- entirely certain
>
> 4 -- strongly certain, but some doubt
>
> 3 -- moderately certain
>
> 2 -- somewhat uncertain, but a little confidence
>
> 1 -- completely uncertain
>
> To show certainty, an accuracy or style profile would have to be three
> dimensional.  Each level of accuracy or style displays its own
> confidence scale.
>
> A high-resolution computer or printed output can do this readily.  The
> output is an image.  It is harder to convey the equivalent information
> on a low-resolution display, as with Lynx, or with an audio output for
> the blind, such as Emacspeak.
>
> (Since car drivers should keep their eyes on the road, audio is
> becoming more and more important.  Consequently, every design must
> consider it as one of several different kinds of output.)
>
> Is it true that in common law countries randomly selected jurors serve
> both on grand and petit juries?
>
> What more should I add?  (I am thinking of adding this, or part of
> this, to `Choice and Constraint'.  See
>
> http://www.rattlesnake.com/notions/Choice-and-Constraint.html
>
> for the HTML, the same directory for the other output formats)
>
> --
> Robert J. Chassell


Some interesting ideas here, Rob.

Looks to me like you are trying to do several things here-
you want multidemensional judgments (2, if I understand you);
one for general quality (including comprehensiveness, formatting,
and prose quality), and the other for accuracy.

It would be neat if someone were to write a plugin for Wikipedia's
wiki software (MediaWiki) which displayed a little Cartesian 2-d graph,
where x could be general quality and y accuracy (or vice versa),
and all one had to do was mouse-click in the right location, and your vote
would be registered.

~Maru
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Re: Have a Nice Winter Break...

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 12/24/05, Deborah Harrell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> Political correctness past moderation!
>
> So, hope your Solstice was Soulful, and Merry
> Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Kool Kwanzaa, and
> Delightful Diwali (although that's a bit late, I
> think!).
>
> I just finished a costumed Christmas ride, Renaissance
> dress for me and bells for Darby.  Fun!  Last night I
> decorated the tree (cut on the property), and earlier
> in the week I made rolled-and-cut sugar cookies (*no,*
> not from a tube; from scratch!).  Got a few presents
> to wrap yet, and part of tomorrow's dinner to start...
>
> Debbi
> Bashir The Cat Thinks The Tree Is For His Pleasure Maru


What? No "Nice Newtonmas?  Or what about
our Flying Spaghetti Monsterism brethren?
And as always, those poor Discordian people
are totally neglected. I expected better of you.

~Maru
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Re: Have a Nice Winter Break...

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 12/26/05, Julia Thompson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> > What? No "Nice Newtonmas?  Or what about
> > our Flying Spaghetti Monsterism brethren?
> > And as always, those poor Discordian people
> > are totally neglected. I expected better of you.
>
> OK, I'm a little fuzzy on the whole Pastafarianism thing.
>
> What, besides September 19, is considered a holy day for the followers
> of the Flying Spaghetti Monster?
>
> Julia
>
> fnord


Err...
(hm, when did I ever let facts get in the way of anything?)

Dec. 25 is. I just declared it Spaghetti day, by the power vested
in me as an official POEE Pope and Knight of the Pentagon.
So there.

~Maru
I see dead fnords.
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Re: Query on trust

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 1/8/06, Robert J. Chassell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> 
> But it is hard to convey the equivalent information on a
> low-resolution display or in one dimension.
>
> How would you display this information on a low-resolution display,
> such as Lynx, or in one dimensions, such as with text that is
> converted to speech by Emacspeak (for car drivers, for example)?
>
> --
> Robert J. Chassell
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] GnuPG Key ID: 004B4AC8
> http://www.rattlesnake.com  http://www.teak.cc


ASCII art. At the outside limit, treat a screenshot of the full resolution
output
and feed it as input to one of the video --> ASCII programs (like HasciiCam;
 http://ascii.dyne.org/. Don't know how well it works, never used it.)
Then, you can use that for textbrowsers/low-resolution displays.
I dunno how well this would be comprehensible when fed through emacspeak
however.

~Maru
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Re: Google: creator of the universe = FSM #1hit......News at 11

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 1/8/06, Robert G. Seeberger <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
...
> The worldwide popularity of the FSM puts a whole new spin on "If god
> did not exist we would need to create him" (where is that quote from?)
>
> http://urlx.org/google.com/19ef
>
>
> xponent
> Hee Haw! Maru
> rob

Voltaire.

~Maru
The ways of the wiki are dark and deep
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A clone's best friend

[Maru Dubshinki]

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=7101&refer=asia&sid=auCcoOaqyTuY

*Stem Cell Researcher Hwang Faked All Human Papers, Panel Says*

"Jan. 10 (Bloomberg) -- South Korean scientist Hwang Woo Suk faked
both his first and second papers on human stem-cell research, dashing
hopes that his work is a breakthrough in treatments for diabetes and
Parkinson's disease.

Stem cells stored at Seoul National University, DNA fingerprints and
photographs submitted to Science magazine for its 2004 paper were
found to be fabricated, the university said in a statement after a
monthlong investigation. The panel backed Hwang's claim that he cloned
the world's first dog. "

I would have been crushed if it were all vile damnable lies.

~Maru
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Re: Technique

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 1/13/06, Robert Seeberger <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
...
> I think you can make a good argument that the terrorists have won
> ~something~.
> They have caused us to volunteer to give up some freedom and
> convenience. If *I* have to be searched to travel from Houston to
> Memphis or Atlanta, then we have given up something. And I don't think
> this exact method of protection has actually made us safer than some
> less rigorous method would or could... Unless one considers Mrs.
> Smith from Peoria to be a serious threat.
>
>
> xponent
> Fragile Maru
> rob

I would argue that what they've won is a ~trillion dollar unnecessary
military expenditure (even if you discount Stiglitz's estimate solely
for the Iraq War, I'd say lumping in homeland security expenditures
for the War on Terror and the costs of Afghanistan definitely bump the
total cost of 9/11 up to one trill, easy).

One hell of a bang for their buck.

~Maru
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Re: Brin: Something of interest

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 1/26/06, Jim Sharkey <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
...
> Mr. Smith fought back against the administration, standing his ground
> that kids risking getting their limbs blown off to prosecute
> President Bush's war ought to get some more benefits.  Imagine
> thinking such a thing was appropriate!!  Well, Mr. Smith's reward for
> this one oppositional stance to the administration's policies?
> Removal from his post as chair on the committee to which he'd
> dedicated most of his 20+ years in Congress.  He may have even been
> removed from the committee entirely, but I'm fuzzy on that detail.

> Jim

>From his website, apparently removed entirely. However, "As a champion
of global human rights since being elected to Congress, Smith is proud
to have been selected as Chairman of the International Relations
Committee's new "super" subcommittee entitled "Africa, Global Human
Rights, and International Operations.""
I gues that's something...

~Maru
What? no mention on Wikipedia? Unpossible!
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Re: Hyperion (was RE: Take The Catholic Geocentrism Challenge)

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 2/13/06, Jim Sharkey <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> The Fool wrote:
> >Teilhard de Chardin
>
> Courtesy of the hearty recommendations of _Hyperion_ by all of you,
> I actually know who this guy is!  :-)  The local library *finally*
> had a copy of _Hyperion Cantos_, and I recently finished it.  While
> the two Endymion books have gotten a trifle self-indulgent IMO,
> _Hyperion_ and _Fall of Hyperion_ were excellent, and I thank the Brin
> list for pointing me toward them.  Not to mention any number of other
> tasty books!
>
> Anyone feel like having, I dunno, and actual book discussion on this
> here ostensibly SF literature list?  :)
>
> Jim
> Silly Optimist Maru

I'll take you up on that challenge.
How many different timelines do you think were interacting in the
first two books? (IMO, this is one of the fundamental questions for
the Hyperion Cantos).

Incidentally, if any of you are interested in the TechnoCore AI Ummon,
I wrote a kick-ass article on the original Ummon at Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yunmen_Wenyan

~Maru
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Re: Hyperion (was RE: Take The Catholic Geocentrism Challenge)

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 2/13/06, Jim Sharkey <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> Maru Dubshinki wrote:
> >Jim Sharkey wrote:
> >> Anyone feel like having, I dunno, and actual book discussion on
> >>this here ostensibly SF literature list?  :)
> >I'll take you up on that challenge.
>
> Uh-oh!  :)
>
> >How many different timelines do you think were interacting in the
> >first two books?
>
> Do you mean in terms of alternate/possible futures?
>
> Jim

I don't like to use those terms, since it makes the various
world-lines sound less real and influential than they were.

~Maru
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Re: Hyperion (was RE: Take The Catholic Geocentrism Challenge)

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 2/13/06, Jim Sharkey <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Fair enough.  Well, I think the Rachel/Kassad timelines diverge and
> converge at times, so that's one-and-half or two, depending on your
> POV.  I'd say Brawne Lamia's timeline could be thought of as
> another, while Het Masteen's could be third.
>
> But that's only thoughts after the fact.  Certainly the pilgrims
> share a common past, and while they seem to have possibly divergent
> futures, I never really thought of their futures as separate
> timelines.  But then, metaphysics has never been my strong suit.  :)
>
> Jim

I never thought of putting it in per-character terms. I always broke
it down into factions- ie. you had the first timeline, in which
TechnoCore and humand warred, which sent back Mnemosyne; you had the
other timeline with the twin UIs, which dispatched one of the shrikes,
and you had a third faction which sent back yet *another* shrike to
fetch Weintraub's daughter (which I suspect to have been the Reaper
faction). At least, three timelines made the most sense to me. I'd be
interested to hear your thinking on it.

~Maru
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Re: Hyperion

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 2/14/06, Jim Sharkey <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Hrm.  I think after reading the Endymion books I'd have to add a
> fourth line, wherein the Shrike is there to protect Aenea, possibly
> sent by those in the Void.  Though it could be an intercepted and
> altered Shrike from the UIs, or sent by the human UI to defend its
> third part.

The difficulty with this is, what was that fourth Shrike doing while
the other three were messing around with the pilgrims and various
political situations? I'd suggest that this was the Reaper faction AI-
since when you think about it, what Aenea did was to upset the status
quo, rip the TechnoCore out of their comfortable dead-end evolutionary
niche (forcing them out into unsearched evolutionary fitness
landscapes, laden with Lions and Tigers, and Bears oh my!); which is
exactly what Ray's reaper functions did on a smaller scale.

> The other three you listed make reasonable sense; however, I will
> admit that I never considered the various Shrikes to be separate
> timelines as much as they were foci in the war to establish one
> future.  That is, they were developed by one faction then co-opted by
> the various factions in their struggles.

That makes sense too- one Shrike and  one set of Time Tombs, not a
couple co-valent ones phasing in and out, if that makes sense-
intermittently controlled by different factions. I'm not completely
sure because I seem to remember some incidents which had to take place
simultaneously, but since I can't remember what those were, I'll drop
this.

> What I found interesting about the first two books was not the SF
> portions of it nearly as much as the *human* portions.  The stories of
> the pilgrims were all gripping, and that's what I liked about Hyperion
> more than the future conflicts and all.  It was the people in the
> books, not the events surrounding them, that really spoke to me.  In
> fact, to some extent Simmons' insistent EYKIW's (everything you know
> is wrong) in Endymion irked me, and I felt cheapened the first two a
> little bit.  I still liked them, but for different reasons and
> certainly not as much as the Cantos.

The focus in Endymion was on Raul and Aenea, who just couldn't carry
that sort of load- it took at least 6 interesting characters from all
sorts of genres and everything Simmons could warp and borrow from
Kelly's Out of Control to make the first two, and the second two just
didn't have that sort of firepower.
Endymion still made me fairly happy because it included a decent quota
of new and interesting and farout ideas, but there were far more in
the Hyperions.

> Jim
> Listening to the living Maru

~Maru
Listening to the music of the spheres
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Re: Perspectives: Political Humour from John Cleese

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 2/14/06, Nick Arnett <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> In light of your failure to elect a competent President of the USA and
> thus to govern yourselves, we hereby give notice of the revocation of
> your independence, effective immediately. Her Sovereign Majesty Queen
> Elizabeth II will resume monarchical duties over all states,
> commonwealths, and territories (excepting Kansas, which she does not
> fancy). Your new prime minister, Tony Blair, will appoint a governor
> for America without the need for further  elections. Congress and the
> Senate will be disbanded. A questionnaire may be circulated next year
> to determine whether any of you noticed.
>
>
> To aid in the transition to a British Crown dependency, the following
> rules are introduced with immediate effect: You should look up
> "revocation" in the Oxford English Dictionary. Then look up aluminium,
> and check the pronunciation guide. You will be amazed at just how
> wrongly you have been pronouncing it. The letter 'U' will be
> reinstated in words such as 'favour' and 'neighbour.' Likewise, you
> will learn to spell 'doughnut' without skipping half the letters, and
> the suffix -ize will be replaced by the suffix -ise. Generally, you
> will be expected to raise your vocabulary to acceptable levels. (look
> up vocabulary). Using the same twenty-seven words interspersed with
> filler noises such as "like" and "you know" is an unacceptable and
> inefficient form of communication. There is no such thing as US
> English. We will let Microsoft know on your behalf. The Microsoft
> spell-checker will be adjusted to take account of the reinstated
> letter 'u' and the elimination of -ize.
>
>
> You will relearn your original national anthem, "God Save The Queen".
> July 4th will no longer be celebrated as a holiday.
>
>
> You will learn to resolve personal issues without using guns, lawyers,
> or therapists. The fact that you need so many lawyers and therapists
> shows that you're not adult enough to be independent. Guns should only
> be handled by adults. If you're not adult enough to sort things out
> without suing someone or speaking to a therapist then you're not grown
> up enough to handle a gun. Therefore, you will no longer be allowed to
> own or carry anything more dangerous than a vegetable peeler. A permit
> will be required if you wish to carry a vegetable peeler in public.
>
>
> All American cars are hereby banned. They are crap and this is for
> your own good. When we show you German cars, you will understand what
> we mean.  All intersections will be replaced with roundabouts, and you
> will start driving on the left with immediate effect. At the same
> time, you will go metric with immediate effect and without the benefit
> of conversion tables. Both roundabouts and metrication will help you
> understand the British sense of humour.  The Former USA will adopt UK
> prices on petrol (which you have been calling gasoline) -roughly $6/US
> gallon. Get used to it.
>
>
> You will learn to make real chips. Those things you call French fries
> are not real chips, and those things you insist on calling potato
> chips are properly called crisps. Real chips are thick cut, fried in
> animal fat, and dressed not with catsup but with vinegar.  The cold
> tasteless stuff you insist on calling beer is not actually beer at
> all. Henceforth, only proper British Bitter will be referred to as
> beer, and European brews of known and accepted provenance will be
> referred to as Lager. American brands will be referred to as
> Near-Frozen Gnat's Urine, so that all can be sold without risk of
> further confusion.
>
>
> Hollywood will be required occasionally to cast English actors as good
> guys. Hollywood will also be required to cast English actors to play
> English characters. Watching Andie MacDowell attempt English dialogue
> in Four Weddings and a Funeral was an experience akin to having one's
> ears removed with a cheese grater.
>
>
> You will cease playing American football. There is only one kind of
> proper football; you call it soccer. Those of you brave enough will,
> in time, be  allowed to play rugby which has some similarities to
> American football, but does not involve stopping for a rest every
> twenty seconds or wearing full kevlar body armour like a bunch of
> nancies.  Further, you will stop playing baseball. It is not
> reasonable to host an event called the World Series for a game which
> is not played outside of America. Since only 2.1% of you are aware
> that there is a world beyond your borders, your error is
> understandable.
>
>
> You must tell us who killed JFK. It's been driving us mad.
>
>
> An internal revenue agent (i.e. tax collector) from Her Majesty's
> Government will be with you shortly to ensure the acquisition of all
> monies due (backdated to 1776).
>
>
> Thank you for your cooperation.
>
>
>
>
>
> --
> Nick Arnett

http://www.snopes.com/politics/satire/revocation.asp

~Maru
__

Re: Hyperion

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 2/15/06, Jim Sharkey <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
...
> I was on the fence about them because it seemed to me that Simmons'
> editor was letting him get far too verbose in some sections, probably
> adding a good 50+ pages of fluff between the two Endymion books,
> which made sections of them drag.  And then I also have a pet peeve
> about authors who change the established rules of their universe
> because it's convenient (that's why I think Goodkind's pretty much a
> hack, excepting the first and sixth SoT books), which I felt Simmons
> did a fair amount of. But the last 50-100 pages of _Rise of Endymion_
> I found to be incredibly affecting, and they rescued the series for
> me.
>
> Jim

Going off on a tangent here... you liked Faith of the Fallen? Ugh. I
was disgusted when I realized I was reading a *bad* rehash of Ayn
Rand- if I wanted Randian ideologues spouting off in fiction at me,
I'll go to the source, thank you every much. Totally spoiled the
series for me.

~Maru
One was just plain awesome though.
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Re: Um, does this make any sense?

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 2/17/06, Julia Thompson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> http://www.timecube.com/
>
> I'll explain where I found the link after a suitable number of people
> have expressed their bogglement.
>
> Julia

Did you find it here? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_Cube

~Maru
Until Emails are CUBIC in all their faces (atheistic and catholic)
mailing lists will continue to be subeverted by the Scientific
Establishment which DON'T WANT YOU TO KNOW EMAIL IS TRIANGULAR. This
comes from the obvious observation that -1 x -1=+1 is stupid and evil.
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Re: Possibly explaining why flatulence has been a recent topic on several lists

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 3/14/06, Robert Seeberger <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
...
> This thread is going down the crapper.
> 
>
>
> xponent
> Thomas Maru
> rob

I'll thank you to can that toilet talk! Won't someone think of the children?

~Maru
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Re: TV Weekend

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 3/17/06, Robert G. Seeberger <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Dr Who is on Sci-Fi tonight
>
> The final episode of FullMetal Alchemist is on tomorrow on Cartoon
> Network.
>
>
>
> xponent
> Viewer Maru
> rob

I suggest y'all watch it; it really is a good ending, especially when
you consider they had to come up with it from scratch, as  Arakawa
never penned an ending to date.

My comrades dislike the episode, as they feel it makes for a lousy
ending, but I think it is beautifully tragic and ironic (though I
never can get over how throughout the entire series, Winry gets
screwed over. Poor Winry...)

Discuss this among yourselves.

~Maru
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Re: TV Weekend

[Maru Dubshinki]

On 3/18/06, The Fool <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> --
> From: Maru Dubshinki <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
>
> On 3/17/06, Robert G. Seeberger <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > Dr Who is on Sci-Fi tonight
> >
> > The final episode of FullMetal Alchemist is on tomorrow on Cartoon
> > Network.
> >
>
>
> I suggest y'all watch it; it really is a good ending, especially when
> you consider they had to come up with it from scratch, as  Arakawa
> never penned an ending to date.
>
> My comrades dislike the episode, as they feel it makes for a lousy
> ending,
>
>
> -
> Doesn't the ending occur in the theatrical movie or am I mistaken?

Both endings are *a* ending, but not *the* ending, if you catch my
drift. Strictly speaking, the manga is canon by the usual reckoning of
these things, and both the TV series ending and the movie are not in
the manga, so take them as you will. Myself, I would've been perfectly
happy if Shamballa never came out, as it wasn't very good.

~maru
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Re: hardware suckz

[maru dubshinki]

On 3/22/06, Alberto Monteiro <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> The Fool wrote:
> >
> >> Fat32
> >
> > There's your problem _Right There_.
> >
> > Unless you are using some version of win9x that needs to be able to see
> > this partition, you need to be using NTFS.  It's better in every
> > way. And you can compress NTFS drives.
> >
> > See if you can't dig up an old version of scandisk.exe or norton
> > utilities DOS version.
> >
> But NTFS is not visible to Linux.

> If Linux did it, then Linux can fix it :-P
>
> But I still think it was not a software bug, but a hardware bug.
>
> Alberto Monteiro

Actually Linux can read NTFS, and fairly well. I once helped a
friend set it up so he could listen to his music collection - but the
real problem is that you have to go in via the command line (AFAIK),
and Windows is *extremely* hostile to CLIs, what with all the special
characters and spaces in the file names. Not to mention we couldn't
seem to get tab completion to work, so it was manual
copy-paste-quoting. Not fun.
As for writing, the devs have it working, but they caution users that
it is very much alpha and that there are drives that have been screwed
up by being written to. Not something I would use, but fortunately, it
is not a problem I will face anytime soon.

~Maru
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Re: hardware suckz

[maru dubshinki]

On 3/23/06, Steve Sloan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> maru dubshinki wrote:
>
>  > Actually Linux can read NTFS, and fairly well. I once helped
>  > a friend set it up so he could listen to his music collection -
>  > but the real problem is that you have to go in via the command
>  > line (AFAIK), and Windows is *extremely* hostile to CLIs, what
>  > with all the special characters and spaces in the file names.
>  > Not to mention we couldn't seem to get tab completion to work, so
>  > it was manual copy-paste-quoting. Not fun.
>
> If this was from Linux, couldn't you have bundled together each
> directory -- or even large directory tree -- you wanted to keep
> into a tarball on the working Linux drive? That would have at
> least saved a lot of individual file copying.
> __
> Steve Sloan . Huntsville, Alabama => [EMAIL PROTECTED]

Well, yes we could have. But this was a dual-boot system (obviously),
and there was barely enough space on the Linux partition for Ubuntu
and a reasonable selection of extra programs. So

~Maru
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Re: NASA Reinstates the Dawn Mission

[maru dubshinki]

On 3/27/06, Ronn!Blankenship <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> March 27, 2006
>
> Erica Hupp/Dean Acosta
> Headquarters, Washington
> (202) 358-1237/1400
>
> RELEASE: 06-108
>
> NASA REINSTATES THE DAWN MISSION
>
> NASA senior management announced a decision Monday to reinstate the
> Dawn mission, a robotic exploration of two major asteroids. Dawn had
> been canceled because of technical problems and cost overruns.
>
> The mission, named because it was designed to study objects dating
> from the dawn of the solar system, would travel to Vesta and Ceres,
> two of the largest asteroids orbiting the sun between Mars and
> Jupiter. Dawn will use an electric ion propulsion system and orbit
> multiple objects.
>
> The mission originally was approved in December 2001 and was set for
> launch in June 2006. Technical problems and other difficulties
> delayed the projected launch date to July 2007 and pushed the cost
> from its original estimate of $373 million to $446 million. The
> decision to cancel Dawn was made March 2, 2006, after about $257
> million already had been spent. An additional expenditure of about
> $14 million would have been required to terminate the project.
> ...

I look forward to seeing the results we'll get from the Robots of Dawn.

~M. Maru
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Re: Unspeakably offensive canine behavior

[maru dubshinki]

On 4/1/06, Nick Lidster <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> I figured id use this group for this little question... what do you all know
> about cobweb plots and its relation to chaos theory? My friend is working
> with them now and explained it just simply as they are related to chaos
> theory. Any helpful guidance would be great.
>
> Nick
>

RTFW?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cobweb_plot

~Maru
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Re: Robert Jordan

[maru dubshinki]

On 4/6/06, The Fool <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
...
> Further updates by Jordan himself:
> <>
>
> <>
>
> So help me, if I don't find out definitively who killed asmo, rggrgr!

Forget Asmodean. It was obviously Slayer or Graendal. (Lanfear, alas,
while almost perfect in everyway as a suspect, was trapped at the time
of his death.)

What *I* want to know is what Herid Fel discovered about how to refix
the Dark One's prison as well as the Creator made it, just before the
gholam made hamburger out of'im.

~maru
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Re: Tales From Earthsea.........Anime!!!!!

[maru dubshinki]

On 4/9/06, Julia Thompson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Robert Seeberger wrote:
>
> > (I'd provide a link but Wiki seems to be down)
>
> AAAIGH!  AAAIGH!  AAAIGH!  AAAIGH!  AAAIGH!  AAAIGH!
> AAAIGH!  AAAIGH!  AAAIGH!  AAAIGH!  AAAIGH!  AAAIGH!
> AAAIGH!  AAAIGH!  AAAIGH!  AAAIGH!  AAAIGH!  AAAIGH!
> AAAIGH!  AAAIGH!  AAAIGH!  AAAIGH!  AAAIGH!  AAAIGH!
>
> Julia

If you think that annoys you, a mere reader/dilettante editor, what do
you think it does to adminstrators like me?

~maru
On the positive side, it is back up, though slowly. Stupid Florida
colos and crappy power supplies!
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Re: Linux suckz

[maru dubshinki]

On 4/12/06, Alberto Monteiro <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> After a F&R [long story...], I am trying to install Fedora Core 4
> in my home computer. So far, no problem that I could not solve
> or see a chance to solve, except this:
>
>   mkswap file1
>
> returns error
>
>   file1: Permission denied
>
> Does anyone know what the hell is going on? mkswap worked with
> every other distro I tried.
>
> Alberto Monteiro
>

Reading the mkswap man page- why are you trying to use it on a file?
Shouldn't it be used on a partition? And if you are using it on a
partition, are you running as root? And if so, is your partition set
to be a swap partition?

If all that doesn't work, just use Debian or Ubuntu. :)

~maru
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